Monday, June 21, 2010

The Church is For Me, Right?

Philippians 2:3-5 (NLT) Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

The church is not here for us. We ARE the church and we are here for the world.

I’m not sure when exactly the attitude changed, probably very early on in the church’s history, but it did. A believer somewhere at some time in history began to think that the church was for there to please him and to meet every single whim of his family and their ‘ministry’ needs. It caught on and became very popular as it’s still with us today. It was wrong then, and this consumer, bless-me, take care of my needs, mentality is still wrong.

Whoa, whoa there Pastor Ed... sounds a little heavy for a Monday morning! It’s not meant that way my friend, please hear me out:

I read a story recently of a man who came to his pastor after service and said, “Pastor, I have only one thing to tell you. My answer is yes. Now, what’s the question.” The pastor looked at him a little confused, tapped him on the shoulder and said “God bless you son.” Then the pastor greeted the next person in line.

The following Sunday the same guy came up in line again and repeated the same words, “Pastor, my answer is yes. Now what’s the question?” This time the pastor took it in and decided to take the young man out to lunch where again, the young man said, “Pastor, my answer is yes. Now what’s the question?” Finally overcome with curiosity, the pastor asked, “Can you please tell me what you mean by that?”

The young man smiled and, with great passion said, “Pastor, I was hooked on everything bad, about to lose my family, sliding down a slippery slope toward certain destruction. Then Jesus intervened.” Tears began to well up in his eyes, “Because of what Jesus did for me, my answer to you is yes. You are my pastor, and I’ll do whatever you need. If you want me to rock babies, I’ll rock babies. If you want me to usher, I’ll usher. If you want me to mow the lawn, I’ll be there at 6 am every Saturday morning. My answer to you will always be yes. Now, what’s the question?”

Loving Jesus,
Pastor Ed


Response
I have been a listener of your radio ministry for about a year or so. I work as an outside sales rep, so I have time everyday to listen to your program on KRKS. I had been to Calvary Aurora once since listening to your show, but was drawn to go on the morning of the May 18th. The Holy Spirit's message that day seemed to be specifically directed towards me. I believe that you were finishing up a series on God's will for your life. Then you read from Ephesians 5:18. It was like a light came on. I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit. So there I was sitting in the last row, my head pointed to the floor to cover the embarrassment of the stitches above my eye. When my eyes welled up with tears, tears of pain and frustration, tears of joy and deliverance. I knew that God was speaking to me.

When you asked for those to stand up and make a proclamation for Jesus Christ at the end of the service, my knees stiffened and head rose up. I stood to proclaim him in front of others so he would proclaim me in front of the Father. I became a believer! Like I said in the beginning of my letter, I had always believed in Jesus, but my actions would say otherwise. I can proudly say that due to Jesus' Spirit and His love for me that I have not had a drink in four weeks and I am working on reconciling my sins with the Lord. I always hear you say on your radio show that the world wants us to be a recovering addict, but in Jesus you are recovered. I couldn't agree with you more.

I would like to thank you for your radio ministry and for your testimony. If it were not for your devotion to the Lord and proclaiming His Word, people like myself would never be saved. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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