Have you ever felt really good about something Spiritual taking place in your life? I have many times in my walk with Christ, through many of the ministries I've been a part of, and life victories empowered by the Spirit. But, I've found that many times our selfish human nature treasures some of these moments more than others. I had a huge awakening recently that took me back, I was guilty of the one thing that I despise that plagues churches around the world every day! That pet peeve of mine, that I said I'd never let happen again, slipped right by me undetected! Let me fill you in...... I feel that churches are plagued by a selfish "its about us" attitude. I don't think its on purpose most of the time but its still prevelant! For example, take an inventory of the church you attend. What are the ministries, the functions, the activities? The next question is this, who do those things benefit? The people inside the walls or those without? Typically, the answer is always the same, it benefits YOU! OK, so now you know my peeve so lets get on with the story. You see, I began a new work in April and God has put together a mighty core of people and our vision is to BE the hands and feet of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We want to be doers of the Word! Evangelism, Discipleship, missions, outreach, and community relations top the list of our passions! So as we're outgrowing our place of worship we began the work of finding a new home. Last Friday we made the desicion to try a new place and we're set to be there this coming Sunday. Well here's my confession that I revealed to our people on Sunday night. Sunday morning was awesome, songs were great, announcing the good news had everyone in a great mood (you see we presently meet in an old chicken coop, seriously lol), and the Spirit of God began to move during the sermon. I could see it on the faces of many. There was someone there that I had personally been praying for, praying for God to move in their life. As the altar call was given this someone comes forward and surrenders to Christ! Now understand, I was extatic! The problem came that afternoon, as I was sitting on my couch contemplating the message God had given me for the night worship I was pierced through by conviction! As I sat there God brought back to my memory my personal actions of late, I saw the MANY people I had told about our move, I saw the many times I spoke about it on social media, I thought about "the feeling" it gave me. Then He showed me how I hadn't even mentioned how God saved another one from Hell that morning, how shallow and quick "the feeling" was about the move God had made, how NOT ONCE I had blasted social media with the story of this someone's redemption! I was floored, sad, I felt ignorant, ashamed, and I repented! You see, I was more excited about "the move" and the dinner we was having after our first service there, than the soul and life that God had miraculously intervened in! I confessed that night and challenged our people! I told them there was no way that the first thing we did as a group would be for our own benefit! This Saturday, a day before we ever step foot in the new place, we are taking our shoes of comfort, complacency, and ease off and stepping into our communities to impact the people outside the walls instead of pampering the ones within! Don't let this attitude slip in on you, trust me, I despised it, yet fell for it!
