Ever since we got back from our trip to Colorado where we spent great family time and also carried out the Great Commission as far north as the Estes Park area, the Lord has been stirring me. I found this message I did about 2 years ago this morning at around 3:30AM. I get up early before someone can ruin it! LOL! It became clear to me what the Lord has been showing me. Many Americans love a personal billboard, Facebook, where they post most anything, including what food they eat, and even post pictures of their surgeries! When I see food posted on Facebook, I think of all those around the world that will not get a meal today. I see too many people bearing to much of their body on Facebook. My goodness! What would your Dad and Mom say about that! As I scan Facebook it is quite evident many Americans have created designer religion. What a world! COVID turned the world upside down and it has changed us forever. Not good!
Many Americans have huge egos. I was telling my friend Mike Fisher from Windom, Minnesota that I was taught years ago that EGO stands for “edging God out.” Many Americans create their own world. Its live everyday in America, it plays out on Facebook and all other social media. What does God think about all this?
A question for us all, Are we drawing people to ourselves, or to JESUS?
I love this for folks that head up ministries, it preaches to me, “Your ministry is not about you.” It helps keep me on line!
As we travel, last year through New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, we talk to many. Many Americans no longer go to Church. According to a 2022 survey, 31 percent of Americans never attend church or synagogue, compared to 20 percent of Americans who attend every week. More Here Why you ask? The top reasons we get is: “I did not get anything out of going to Church.” “We watch Church on the internet or TV now.” “The Church turned to political.”
That TV preacher will not be doing your funeral. I will be officiating a funeral today.
Here is the message I did about 2 years ago…….
A Harvard College professor once said that young people want to feel that they “belong” more than anything else. The fact is most people, if not all, want to feel acceptance — particularly by those in their circle.
The 21st century phenomenon of Facebook — conceived and given birth at Harvard — tapped into the deepest of human needs — to belong. This social media outlet has become something like a personal billboard, where the most intimate thoughts are posted on a wall in cyberspace. One woman posted that she longed to belong. When she realized that the only life she belonged in was her own, she set about creating her own world.
People of all ages want to belong to something, even if just belonging to their own way. This is why so many seek to join the clubs, gangs, or even churches. Yet society reflects the craving for a designer world, one that suits every whim. We want things to go our way, according to our own timeline, and at the pace of our own choosing. We want designer clothes, designer technology, designer homes and cars, even designer religion.
King Solomon wrote about his search for personal satisfaction saying, “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.… Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11, NIV).
The human race has always been on a quest for acceptance, yet it is unwilling to accept the One who is truth — but the world doesn’t want to belong to Him. Don’t be satisfied with anything less than God’s forgiveness and acceptance.
Email me, pastordewey@fggam.org if I can help you.
