Putting on the Skits...

March 11, 2009

Putting on the skits…

I’m certain that you have heard of the tragedies of the day...11 killed in south Alabama, 16 killed in a school in Germany.

We pray for those who remain that have been so grievously harmed.
We pray for those who will soon spout forth foolishness...I know that soon they will say it was “the evil gun” that did it…

One particular event demands the attention of the true believer in the Most High God.

This past Sunday a pastor in Illinois was murdered.

He was killed in the midst of a corporate gathering. He was speaking. A young man approached him, spoke to him, then began to shoot.

We know that these kind of events have been a part of the faith from the beginning.
We know that such continue.
We know that there will be an increase in attacks.

I believe that the day is here that being of the faith will be considered to be detrimental to society and the country.

Jesus warned us of such…


John 16:1-4
1 "These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling.
2 "They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.
3 "These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.
4 "But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you bat the beginning, because I was with you.

NASU

An hour will come, and is here, when attacking True Believers will be considered as service to God.

This is occurring! Whether their god be the True God (religionist attacking in the name of the Lord) or the false gods of man...false religions, government.

But, there was something else that was manifested this past Sunday at the church where the pastor was killed.

This is something that I have seen many times through the years.

I believe that it reveals a problem within the body of Christ.

Many comments were made by the folk that experienced the Sunday tragedy. Several mentioned that...well...first let me say this.

When such events happen there is confusion.
Initially, we don’t know what is happening.
We don’t believe our eyes.
This I know.
It is natural.
There is a moment of processing that occurs.
We must move beyond the natural.
True Believers immediate response must be something different...

Yet, the witness stated that when the pastor was shot…when the first bullet hit the pastor’s Bible and the Word exploded into confetti, many of the people thought it was a skit...play-acting.

This is understandable, because, in practice, the Body of Christ is being deceived.

My longstanding concern is that we have structured/orchestrated “our worship services” in such a way that the natural response of the people is that a play, a skit, etc. is occurring.

I think this speaks much.

Let me give you a couple of personal examples…

Several years back I was meeting with a group of young men and women aged 12-19. Their “youth” pastor and I would meet with them from time to time and have a “tag-team” time of questions and answers.

Someone asked a question about viewing a movie...I believe it was related to the initial “Harry Potter” movie. We talked of the demonic activity in the movie, etc. I asked them “which is of greater service for the Kingdom of God?...what is more exciting?...watching a depiction of such on a screen, or having lunch with a friend at school..praying for him...proclaiming the truth over him and watching the demons let go of him?”

They were taken aback in silence.

Then I said, “I know why you react like that. You’ve never considered such. You had rather “watch it on a screen.” That is what you know of faith. You watch. You watch the choir sing. You watch the pastor preach. You watch the “service.”

Most of the Body of Christ is like that.

Where are the believers that will instantly arise and proclaim to evil “in the name of the Lord be gone!!!”?

Most who profess faith do not even know that such is an option.

Most think that such things are skits...not real...only for the past...

Most believers are trained to respond in the natural, not in the Spirit.

We can command evil to leave. Here is an example.

Acts 16:18
18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
KJV
(Read the entire account sometime)

One more quick example.

Sometime shortly after the previous encounter I was a local church at a music program…a seasonal event…

Choirs, instruments, video clip excerpts...

But something bothered me (no joke! Happy)

The varied video clips shown between the songs were good, but why clips? One particular video vignette could have been done by me and my wife. It spoke of a particular situation with a child...how God walked them through, etc. etc. It was good, but why not the personal, public proclamation of God’s redemption from those within the local Body.

I think I know some reasons why…

We prefer the distance of “the show”…a personal example of failure and redemption from family and friends within the Body would be “too much.”...
We prefer the “plausible deniability” of truth modeled in fiction...
We prefer to walk in ignorance as to what is really happening with one another…
We prefer false intimacy…

We do the same thing with God.

We prefer to worship...from a distant...not too intimate...an observer standing off...
We prefer to live “before the Lord” in the same manner.

We then bear the fruit of such in our lives and in our children.

Such “believers” will not be prepared for the days to come.

We will think that things are a “skit”.

We will be useless for the Kingdom and those of the world.

Where are the ones whose mind and spirit are trained through intimacy with God to immediately arise and say “be gone!!” to the demonic?

Where are the ones whose initial reaction to evil...to disease...to sickness...etc. will be “in the name of the Lord...!!”?

Determine to pursue such…to the praise of the glory of His grace…

Today’s reading from the “So That’s Why” Bible consists of pp. 351-356.

Blessings!!