Well beloved believer, based on what books and articles are trending at present time; it appears that many, self-styled believers will stand before God with their lists of excuses with headings something like this: “The Top Ten Reasons I Abandoned Your Church”.
Let’s see:
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25)
I keep searching for the words; “except when”. I cannot find them!
It seems the devil has us busily focusing on and judging the entertainment and convenience value of the church. The church was not ordained of God to be an entertainment center, but a place of sacrifice: sacrifice of praise; sacrifice of prayer; sacrifice of worship; sacrifice of discipleship; sacrifice of giving; sacrifice of loving; sacrifice of encouraging, and more. And all of these sacrifices are to be made by each child of God for the purpose of honoring God and expanding His Kingdom through our spiritual growth resulting in movements of the Spirit through believers who come out of the ‘Upper Room’.
Jesus told His disciples and other followers at His time of ascension, basically this: Do not depart, do not separate from one another, but wait for the promise of the Father.
Consequently, based on His Word they began a season of sacrifice (selfless prayer) in the Upper Room waiting for something they did not yet understand completely. They were sacrificing comfort, and doing without the best of experiences they might have had somewhere else. Why? They were waiting for God to come into their place of sacrifice. And, He did! And when He did, they no longer remembered their sacrifices as they left the place of sacrifice, not in the power of entertainment, but in the power of the Holy Spirit of God Who came into their sacrifices, and exploded in the world around them.
We have lost the spirit of sacrifice toward God. A large portion of the church’s gifts and offerings are spent on making ourselves comfortable.
Visit an underground church in a communist controlled country and you might understand sacrifice in worship. America needs her churches of our LORD Jesus Christ to awaken to the fact that we are not clubs of entertainment, but might Spirit-wind driven movements of the Kingdom! Come on, church; be the Church!
