Be Church....Or Play Church....

Judges 2:10
When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.

This is the heart of the problem in my part of the world today.
A generation that has grown up and does not know God.
Oh, they know about God.
They have gone to church.
They sat in Sunday School.
They even went to Awana's and R.A.'s
But they do not know God.
There is a difference between knowledge about God...
and knowledge OF God.

The one thing that our neck of the wood's has always prided itself on is "We are the Bible belt".
That meant that every person from Skint Shin Flat's, Arkansas to Puddin'ville, Alabama knew who Jesus was.
If that was true....
If that is true...
Then where is the Power?
In this regard, I am under the assumption that the real church (not the professing church) should be operating under the influence of God's Holy Spirit.
There should be a distinct call on everyone who claims to be a believer that defines who they are and what they do.
You may be thinking that I'm getting out there into the dark realm of fanaticism....
I don't think I am.
I just know that there are some things that Jesus commanded the disciples to do that over the years may have gotten watered down in the re-telling.
Things like....
"Go!"
Go where?
"Into all the nations".
Does that mean that we all pack up and vacate the good ol' US of A?
No...but it does mean that some will pack up and vacate the good ol' US of A.
Go could mean your street.
Your county or city.
But the main emphasis is to "GET OUT!"
O.K....now I'm out...now what?
"Make disciples!"
Let's see...where is my "Instant disciple making kit? What did I do with it?"
How did Jesus make disciples?
He surrounded himself with some men and then modeled before them the behaviors and attitude of someone who is living under the Kingdom of God. Someone who is going, doing and saying only what He hears the Father instructions say to do.
"This is too much work. Don't you know that is why we hire Pastor's. They can devote themselves full time to such stuff."
Do you not know that being a follower of Jesus is not a part time job.
It is a lifestyle...
The lifestyle of being a believer should not be crowded out by job's or hobbies or vacation or even weekends off. No...I'm not talking about discarding everything, putting on a brown robe and sandals and walking around trying to measure your love for God by the droop of the religious frown on your face.
I'm talking about falling in love with this Jesus to the point that He consumes you.
You tell your story to others because you just can't help it.
You give your money not because someone manipulated you by guilting you into turning loose.
You do it because you love Jesus. That plus you truly understand the truth that nothing really belongs to you anyway. God is just letting you use the money. It's His to start with so when He asks us to give, to help, to support...we do so, like Scripture says...."Cheerfully!"

"teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you."
Ah Ha! Found the loop hole.
"Observe"....that means to watch....to sit back and see what happens. Right? No!
I could ask you, "Do you observe the holiday we call Christmas?" You'd probably say, "Your Ding-Dong Skippy I do...we got the tree, the presents...the jack frost nipping at our noses".
To observe doesn't mean watch...
It means "DO!"
In other words, Jesus told the disciples to go out and replicate in others, the things I showed you how to do.
What things?

Oh, things like praying for people to be healed.
O.k. Michael, you're getting off into places you shouldn't go.
Really?
I'm just crazy enough to think that God still heals. And If I don't pray for folks then no one is going to get healed. Get real....I don't have any power to heal. I'm just a conduit, an empty pipe through which God can heal. I'm just being obedient and doing what He commanded me to do.

How about casting out and breaking off of demonic spirit's?
Yep, that's part of the whole "observing" package.
You won't hear this one talked about or taught on much.
Truth is.....
The devil has done a pretty good job convincing the church he doesn't really exist, therefore there is no need for believers to engage in such antiquated thinking.
Reckon how many people walk into the church on Sunday with "Boogers" hanging all around them?
I think maybe we should get some wisdom in how to do Spiritual Warfare.

I could go on and on...
But the bottom line is that if we claim to be followers of Jesus...
If we claim to be THE church...
Then we should be "Doing The Stuff" that Jesus did.
After all He commanded us to.
What if a place truly existed that taught how to be a follower of Jesus?
I mean really taught it....
More than that...what if they modeled it. Demonstrated it. Showed you how.
Would that be cool or what?
What if there was a place where there wasn't an A-team and a B-team, but just a bunch of folks who were crazy enough to believe Jesus actually called them to do the Kingdom work of heaven right here on good ol' planet earth.
What if such a place existed?
I will tell you more later......

God on you....
mb