The year 2012: was it just another year? It was one of 65 years for me, not quite so many for Pat. Was it a year of prosperity? Was it a year of success?
I was watching a news program last night, and the subject matter was "Why is the church diminishing?"
The denomination that they were discussing decreased by 18 % over the last year. The last time that I talked to my friend Mike, he said that only about 30% of the people in the U.S. attend church. "I wonder if only 30% celebrated Christmas!"
Some years back, there was a young man who came to our church, and his ministry was giving prophetic word to people. "And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favor both with the LORD, and also with men." I Samuel 2:26(KJV). This word was given to me, and the note attached read, "Prosperity and Success." Finally a word from The Lord , and right up my alley!
In those days my idea of prosperity and success, was money, and more money! The only problem, is that it isn't Gods idea. He knew that money would have been my total failure, and it still would be even today. As I have stated before, if the sermon doesn't preach to the preacher, it isn't of God.
Money how we lust after it, and if you are honest with yourself, you probably lust after it also. The true meaning of success should have nothing to do with our financial status. The world will judge how successful one is by how much wealth they have accumulated, and too often we judge ourselves by how much we have accumulated. We should be judging ourselves by how well do we follow the government of The Lord. "Now the preacher is meddling, with the Preacher!" Stewardship is what the Word teaches. "Spend what He has given correctly!" As The Lord is revealing this to me, it isn't easy to hear. But it is in my best interest to adhere to His revelation.
Our Christian walk is always the same: line, upon line, precept, upon precept, here a little, there a little. If it were any other way we couldn't handle it!
2012 was a prosperous, and successful year. Through study of the Word, and prayer, and sharing our blog, many are growing in The Lord , especially the Preacher!!
Emma bagged her first pheasant's!!!
I was watching a news program last night, and the subject matter was "Why is the church diminishing?"
The denomination that they were discussing decreased by 18 % over the last year. The last time that I talked to my friend Mike, he said that only about 30% of the people in the U.S. attend church. "I wonder if only 30% celebrated Christmas!"
Some years back, there was a young man who came to our church, and his ministry was giving prophetic word to people. "And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favor both with the LORD, and also with men." I Samuel 2:26(KJV). This word was given to me, and the note attached read, "Prosperity and Success." Finally a word from The Lord , and right up my alley!
In those days my idea of prosperity and success, was money, and more money! The only problem, is that it isn't Gods idea. He knew that money would have been my total failure, and it still would be even today. As I have stated before, if the sermon doesn't preach to the preacher, it isn't of God.
Money how we lust after it, and if you are honest with yourself, you probably lust after it also. The true meaning of success should have nothing to do with our financial status. The world will judge how successful one is by how much wealth they have accumulated, and too often we judge ourselves by how much we have accumulated. We should be judging ourselves by how well do we follow the government of The Lord. "Now the preacher is meddling, with the Preacher!" Stewardship is what the Word teaches. "Spend what He has given correctly!" As The Lord is revealing this to me, it isn't easy to hear. But it is in my best interest to adhere to His revelation.
Our Christian walk is always the same: line, upon line, precept, upon precept, here a little, there a little. If it were any other way we couldn't handle it!
2012 was a prosperous, and successful year. Through study of the Word, and prayer, and sharing our blog, many are growing in The Lord , especially the Preacher!!
Back to the question of why the church is diminishing. The three people that were discussing this were two lay persons, and a pastor. The laity asked the pastor, what should the church do to grow? His answer was to make it more attractive. The laity were not in agreement, they thought it needed to stay more mainline and I agree with the laity. The church is the place that we go for instruction. Wal-Mart is where we go for a bargain. Sometimes we need to hear something that challenges us, and understand that The Lord loves us and knows that we need correction. We desperately need to know we are loved, and love from The Lord often comes in the form of correction. It's called tough love, and the government of God is what we need.
Emma bagged her first pheasant's!!!
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