Hokey Pokey Christians

Today, so many of us are just like the Israelites on Mt. Carmel. We have not studied our Bibles enough to be able to say, “This is what the Bible says,” and we hop from foot to foot, limb to limb, not knowing where to stand. While the names of today’s “gods” are different from Elijah’s time, we have our own Ba’als. We waffle between what God calls us to do, but we end up committed neither to God nor or false “god.” We are just lukewarm.

We might not realize it, but we are “Hokey Pokey” Christians when it comes to our faith. (sing) We put our right foot in, we take our right foot out, we put our left foot in, and we shake it all about. We do the Hokey Pokey and we turn ourselves about…(speak)and that’s how we create doubt. We have to go all in with God. We have to put our “whole selves in” and never take them out.

I cannot speak for any of you here tonight; I can only speak for myself. If I am unsure of what I believe about God, if I am confused about who he is and what he requires of me, then it is easy for me to let the world become more important than God, and I become lukewarm.

Only you know where you are tonight. If you are lukewarm, I invite you to come to the altar during our closing hymn, pray at your seats, and again when you go home tonight. Ask God’s forgiveness and let him know you want to burn as hot as coals or be as refreshing for him as a cold drink of water.

As we sing this final hymn, the altar is open.