Worship, The Church, and a Little Sincerity

hey everybody, I'm going to post a podcast edition of this very soon so if you don't want to read you can wait for that. I'll post and link you, and advertise it on facebook so you should be able to find it pretty easily. Anyway... now to what God's dealing with me today....

Worship is something that I will never fully understand.
The more I come to understand it, the more I understand that I’m only scratching the surface and there is always more to strive for.

This morning I got to see The Parachute Band live here at Integrity. We are their recording label so they come and just led a worship service. It was awesome, and I found myself surprisingly moved by it and as the speaker came up and gave a message on worship I was only half listening as I tried to figure out exactly why this short service had changed my heart so much.

I realized how long it has been since I have been able to openly, passionately worship. Since True Spin ended before school let out I haven’t been able to, the Church that I’ve been working at (and have resigned now) is very traditional with their hymns and southern gospel “twang” to their music. I learned the lesson early that worship is not about music, it’s not about style, it is an attitude of the heart.

So have I been foolish and not been sincerely worshiping all this time? I don’t feel bad about worshiping differently in different places, if I were to worship at this traditional church in the passionate expressive way than I would be a distraction to everyone else, and whether that is their fault or not, is it my place to be a distraction?

Or perhaps the problem is not with me, and what I had missed was a body of sincere believers crying out to God in whatever way their hearts desire.

The way I see it, the church in America (generally speaking) has traded tradition for complacency, and it was such a seamless trade that it has gone nearly un-noticed in all but the most passionate congregations.

Why does the Church population drop off drastically from 50 downward, then ever increasing down to my age and into youth, then suddenly it goes back up again in Children.

Two generations missed it. They missed the point.
They missed that church is not about practicing an empty religion and it’s not about tradition, it is about JESUS CHRIST and his LOVE FOR US.
It is about SINCERE WORSHIP and LOVING our brothers and sisters—our family in Christ!

And it’s nagging at this entire generation that we’ve missed something, that there is more to life and we MUST FIND IT.
That’s why the number of Children in Church is rising, because may not care enough to help themselves, but they love their Children and want them to find… something… more.

And now this generation, seeking as they may be… we are no different than our parents, we have the same choice… and this generation is not choosing wisely.

We need hope! We need examples! We need people who will shove their fears and inhibitions where they belong and STAND for what they believe in. Why is the Church in America complacent? Because its vast majority have decided that sitting in the pew is the only that is required of you.

I have heard so many times in my church in the last few months “the Devil is after me and he makes it hard.”

Don’t you dare blame anyone but yourself.

The Devil is not some supernatural figure whose sole purpose is to have you catch every red light and make your boss have a bad day. His purpose is to keep you out of the will of God, and if he succeeds, well it’s you that screwed up, because that “mean old Devil” has no authority over you.

So Church, it is high time that you quit shoving off your responsibilities on others and you stood up for yourself and your life MEAN SOMETHING.

The reason I am so blunt and harsh about this is because I have personally seen a church that could have been a magnificent outreach in the community, to display love and the hope found in Christ. But instead they are blinded by tradition, and the complacency that followed.

Why is the Church in America collapsing? It is because they are complacent and comfortable and they are outside the will of God.
Why am I leaving the Church I have been at for 7 months? It is because they are complacent and comfortable and they are outside the will of God.

This is not supposed to be comfortable, and Church is not supposed to make you happy. It is supposed to bring you to God… and HE will make you whatever he wants you to be.

We are called to worship in spirit and in truth, which means we will worship in sincerity, and we will always be open to whatever God calls us to do. Like love other members of our church. To take off the mask of “I’m doing good” to “I feel like my life is falling apart.” When we wear that mask in front of the family of Christ we rob our selves, our church and our Father God of our sincere worship.

Every single one of us is a part of the Church, and we all can make a difference.
The choice is yours

1 Timothy 4:12
John 13:15
-Israel