Why is America in the condition it's in?
It's the church's fault. Yes it is. Everything starts with the church. It is all our responsibility. We need to find out what to repent of and confess it and repent of it. On behalf of the whole church. The way Daniel did on behalf of Israel.
Should we confess the sins of churches we don't agree with, the liberal churches, the ones that claim to be Christian but deny the authority of scripture, the ones that have women pastors and gay pastors and accept homosexuality instead of warning that it will lead a person to hell? If Daniel took on the sins of all Israel it seems we should do this for all churches that claim to belong to Jesus Christ. But we have enough to confess and repent of even in the doctrinally good churches.
Why are the churches so weak? Why don't we have the power that the early church had? I'm not even talking about the miraculous powers although I think we should be ashamed that we don't see those either. I'm talking about the power of witness, of conversion, of salvation, the "living water" that Jesus PROMISED would flow from everyone who believes in him. Of course that's miraculous power itself. But you know what I mean.
I've wondered about our powerlessness for years. Of course there are bogus signs and wonders in some churches and that has a discouraging effect, but in general our weakness must be because of sin in various forms. It must be because we don't repent and don't pray enough. It's discouraging. I pray about it, but something is in the way. Here is a sweet sermon by Bill McLeod, one of my all-time favorites, on this very problem, Rivers of Living Water. The list is alphabetical, scroll down. He has another I haven't yet heard I believe is on the same topic, A Tragic Discrepancy . Bill McLeod led a great church revival in Canada in the 70s and he has also spoken on that in great detail, such as in this series at You Tube, very worth listening to. It takes PRAYER, PRAYER and more PRAYER and the prayer leads to repentance and making things right and great conversions follow. This is what we need. Am I the only one who thinks this? I don't have the perseverance either, but shouldn't we be praying for this for each other? It's terrible that the church of the living God is such a fleshly mess.
And we ARE a fleshly mess. Good grief isn't it obvious? Don't we live just like the unbelievers? Aren't fleshly methods used to support church business instead of spiritual methods? I'm thinking now of AUCTIONS to raise money for important projects. This is TERRIBLE. People donate worldly services and items to be auctioned and they all have a great old time bidding and eating and raising money for their important cause. THIS IS A DISGRACE! The church should operate ONLY BY GOD'S METHODS, ONLY BY THE SPIRIT. By prayer, by prayer, by repentance and PRAYER.
Silly entertainments, worldly stupidities. At the very least it dissipates whatever spiritual life the church has. It's a distraction even if it's not exactly a sin. Really it IS a sin that the church has sunk to such a level. It's not just the compromising churches, the seeker-sensitive churches, the self-esteem churches, the Bible-denying churches, it's the GOOD CHURCHES that are failing in these ways.
Preaching that is from the head and not the spirit. Delivered with a proper emotional tone, but it's ACTED, it's a PERFORMANCE, instead of coming from the heart, from the Spirit of God. ONLY THE SPIRIT can touch others with the gospel of God. CAN'T YOU SEE THAT? I'm thinking of LOTS of preaching I hear from many sources.
And there is sin in the churches too, tolerated sin. I know some churches insist that divorce is acceptable in some circumstances, but when I read Jesus on the subject I can't see it. I can't see that deacons or elders could ever have been divorced and remarried. I know many in this situation, including a pastor who was divorced and remarried. I can't say for sure but I worry that this is one basis for weakness in churches. And sin begets sin too. Eventually just the forms and shadows of the faith are kept up week after week, and the flesh is quite capable of pulling off a credible imitation as long as there's nobody around with spiritual discernment. Radical repentance is needed but this requires that the Holy Spirit come and convict people. Start with prayer, prayer, prayer and more prayer.
IF WE'RE THE BODY OF CHRIST WE'RE A HEADLESS BODY TOO MUCH OF THE TIME, a zombie staggering around blind.
Do what one pastor once did -- his name isn't coming to me, but I'll put it in when I remember it -- He BURNED his sermons because although they were doctrinally fine and true and fit to affect his hearers, they were not winning any souls and not changing any lives -- oh now and then and here and there but nothing like what the Bible seems to promise. They were of the flesh and not the spirit. Guess what happened when he burned his sermons? He was nearly bowled over by the Spirit of God almost immediately and God began adding converts to his church. AND HE PREACHED THE SAME KINDS OF SERMONS, only now they were of God and not his own fleshly head tripping. Samuel Chadwick I now think.
We send missionaries out who are quite sincere but also lack the power of the Spirit and don't even know it. They may labor hard for a foreign people and love them and help them in many ways -- BUT THEY LACK THE POWER OF WITNESS, THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE CONVICTING SPIRIT. They don't know what they lack or that they lack anything. They may make a few converts, but converts as weak as themselves. They don't pray enough. They don't fast.
THEY DON'T FAST. Even PASTORS don't fast. They should be fasting and praying FREQUENTLY that God would move in their churches. Bill McLeod started praying early mornings during the week and found that he prayed more and more as time went on and his burden increased for God to move in His church, until he was praying many hours every day. Then he got his people praying in various ways too. It took years but finally God came in great power to his church and many other churches.
Bill McLeod fasted much. I haven't been able to sustain a fast very well for a long time and I feel terrible about it. This is necessary. We need to fast, and we need to fast a LOT if we want to see God's power.
Lord, set a fire under your people. Set a fire under me until I'm right with you and can believe in You to receiving the rivers of living waters.
Well, I've said all this before here. I probably shouldn't say it again until I've succeeded at following my own advice. In fact, make that a prayer. Lord, make it happen. Amen.
You Must Be Born Again
2 months ago