Do You Have Life? - From His Heart - Week of October 7, 2016

One Sunday, I had an interesting conversation with a man who was visiting my church.  He was very excited about the service.  He said to me, “This church is not like my church.  This church is alive.  This church just feels different!”  I thanked him for his comments and explained to him what he felt in the church was the manifest presence of God.  When the living God is among His people, the church is ablaze with excitement as the people come to encounter the King of kings.     
 
Some time ago, I ran across an insightful quote from George Whitefield, the great revivalist of yesteryear.  God used this British evangelist to shake America in the late 1730s and early 1740s.  Upon returning to England after one of his trips to America, Whitefield made this sobering statement,“I am greatly persuaded that the generality of preachers talk of an unknown, unfelt Christ.  And the reason why congregations have been so dead is because dead men preach to them.”  What a sad indictment on the pastors and churches of 18th century America.  Sadder still, it continues to be true in the 21st century!     
 
I believe there are multitudes of dry, lifeless churches in our world today where preachers tell people of a Jesus they don’t even know and never truly seek.  They often preach “feel good sermonettes” that lack the Word of God, the fear of God, and the power of God.  The result is a dull and boring religious service that is void of life, vitality, and the manifest presence of God.  The Hebrew word for such a meeting is Ichabod – “the glory of the Lord has departed."  When the glory of God leaves a church, all that is left is the futile effort of man.  As the Hebrew strongman Samson tragically discovered, when God departs, so does the strength for victory.       
 
CHECK YOUR LIFE
 
Is your life alive with the glorious presence of God?  Do you talk about "an unknown, unfelt Christ" … or do you really know Him, love Him, and see Him working in your life each day?  Do you seek to do His will with all your heart? 
 
If you are living a lifeless, joyless, powerless “churchianity,” the time isnow to trade it in on the real thing.  Jesus said, "I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly" (John 10:10).  The Lord wants you to have life, not religion.  He wants to fill you with His joy, peace, and power.  He wants to be real to you and real in you.  That is true Christianity!  His presence within makes all the difference in the world!    
 
Peter told the crowd in Acts 3:19, “Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Perhaps you need to humble your heart before God and ask Him to forgive you and change you from the inside out.  Perhaps you need to tell Him you are tired of going through the motions of religion, and you want life! 
 
He will answer that prayer.  He wants to refresh your soul.  He wants to save and transform your life.  Don’t wait any longer living in Ichabod!  Enter into the life Jesus died and rose for you to have … a life overflowing with peace, power, and the manifest presence and glory of God.

Love,

Pastor Jeff Schreve,
From His Heart Ministries