Today, I began meeting with all of our volunteers prior to the start of the Sunday morning rehearsals. I have recently felt impressed of God to ask those who lead our church in worship to examine themselves prior to stepping onto the stage to lead others... to make sure their hearts are right... to confess sin... and to make sure they are truly prepared to lead worship. I enjoyed our time and look forward to these moments in the days ahead. Our Interim Worship Leader started today -- Welcome to the team, Travis.
The service started with two baptisms and four new members becoming part of our church family! Following that, we took time to vote on our 2010 church budget. This may surprise some of you, but the vote to increase our budget during this economic downturn and to raise our support for world missions passed unanimously. It confirmed that our church members are placing their trust in God, and not in the dollar. I know God is well pleased with such a step of faith!
In the morning service, I concluded the sermon series on the book of James with a message on healing. James places the responsibility upon the sick, to notify their elders. Pastors aren't mind readers...! He also tells the sick to examine themselves to see if their illness could be the result of personal and/or unconfessed sin. James then places responsibility upon the elders to pray, anoint with oil (medicinal reference), encourage trust in God, to share salvation, to encourage restoration of relationships, and repent before the Lord.
The Sunday evening service addressed the topic of being lukewarm in our faith. Lukewarm believers are not fully committed to or passionately pursuing Jesus Christ. Lukewarm believers are satisfied with meeting the minimal requirements (i.e. - church attendance, tithing, etc.). They are okay with being "good enough" or at least appearing more spiritual than the next guy. They want to know how far they can go, before a behavior is considered sinful. They want to be popular, rather than Christlike. They live for the moment, instead of eternity. They live for Christ, as long as it is convenient and fits into their plans. Sadly, this describes too many in today's church. Billy Graham said, "The greatest mission field in all the world is the American church." Francis Chan said, "The American Church is a difficult place to fit in, if you want to live out New Testament Christianity." I closed by asking our folks to examine themselves and turn up their spiritual temperature. Will you do the same?
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