Losing My Religion? "Scandalous"

Losing my Religion? "Scandalous"

Illus.

There is a story that tells about a man who was looking for work without any luck for many weeks. So he decided to take a break and visit the zoo. While he was at the zoo, he asked the zookeeper if they had any openings.

The zookeeper motioned the man over to a tree and whispered, "Our gorilla just died last night, and we’re expecting a group of children to come this afternoon. They will be very disappointed if they don’t get to see a gorilla. If you’re willing to get into a gorilla outfit and just swing around in the cage, I’ll pay you $10 an hour."

The man thought about the children, and he thought about the money, and then he said, "yes." So he got into the gorilla suit and entered the gorilla cage. Just then, the children began to file by. The man decided he was going to give the children a show by swinging on a tire. He swung so high, that he landed into the next cage, the lion’s cage.

Immediately the man in the gorilla suit began to scream and rattle the cage. The children also began to scream as the lion slowly approached the gorilla. When the man in the gorilla suit thought all was hopeless, the lion said, "Mister, you better shut up before we both lose our jobs."

Of all the creatures that God created...Only mankind has the capability

of dressing up and acting as something other than what God intended.

When I was growing up and also in my adult life… I was encouraged to believe that you should never want to miss a church service, because you never knew what you might miss.

And that has been true… Because I have been privileged to be present

through the years in the glorious presence of God in a lot of church services that those who were not present clearly missed out on.

And I am sure that's the way it is been down through the ages…

After all there were only so many present for the sermon on the mount…

And there were only so many present there on the day of Pentecost...

The same holds true the day the outpouring happened at Azusa Street…

And while there were 5000+ men, women and children there for the feeding

of the 5000....there was room for so many more that could've been there

and witnessed one of the greatest miracles we have talked about

for thousands of years

Mr. Stetzer. According to the Hartford Institute of Religion Research, more than 40 percent of Americans "say" they go to church weekly. As it turns out, however, less than 20 percent are actually in church. In other words, more than 80 percent of Americans are finding more fulfilling things to do on weekends.

Furthermore, somewhere between 4,000 and 7,000 churches close their doors every year. Southern Baptist researcher, Thom Rainer, puts the estimate higher. He says between 8,000 and 10,000 churches will likely close this year.

Between the years 2010 and 2012, more than half of all churches in America added not one new member. Each year, nearly 3 million more previous churchgoers enter the ranks of the "religiously unaffiliated."

James 4:13-14 NKJ

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what isyour life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away

What this says in a nutshell is...society lives like there's no tomorrow

and the next thing you know, there's not..

life is like a vapor and the older you get...the more everyday you realize it

We've seen it happen down through the years...church's were vibrant,

they were staples in the community where needs could be met

and lives could be changed...they were real power houses!

And just like the children of Israel thought that they could manage on their own…

The next thing you know the people stopped coming regularly and thought that they could take care of their own needs and their own lives without having

to attend or go to church...

There will always be something else that appears to be more enticing

Or important to do...other than going to church

TBS not to for sake the assembling of yourselves together

We could blame it on the accuser… And that's..what..Society would like to do

this morning and I'm sure that many of you as I have done the same thing on

different occasions.

I believe that would be called no blame game...you know

as to the fact how it is not your fault and you somehow shift the blame