Matter Of The Heart

Matter of the Heart

My main thrust in ministry since coming to this Church has been growing the church. Growing the church like Jesus did through friendship evangelism and discipleship. Jesus gave us the most effective example of how the church should multiply by training the laypeople. He gave us the very best evangelical doctrine of church growth ever devised. Churches that have gone back to the basics and followed Jesus example have become the most successful at church growth. However, before we strife for church evangelical outreach and discipleship, let’s get to the heart of the matter. The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart. What is the condition of the matter of your heart? Where does your true devotion lie?

Churches and church membership are caught up in a very secular society, which doesn’t feel that going to church, living a godly life, or living for God are relevant concerns. We are busy living the American dream, enjoying life and attempting to stay ahead of our bills to bother with the church, the bible and God. We have better things to do than commit our lives, time or money to such an old-fashioned way of thinking. Believing in God is fine but spending time to find out about God, is that really necessary? Go to church on Sunday, are you serious? I believe in God, that’s enough for me.

Can you see the way in which the world is portraying Christianity? Christianity, to the world, is a private matter between you and God. The world feels everyone should deal with God in their own way and their own time. Just look at television programming! Look at the so-called prime time Christian series that Hollywood is allowing us to view. Promised Land, Touched by an Angel, It’s a Miracle and others. There is much talk concerning God’s forgiveness, God’s will, God’s love, heaven, angels and such other Christian topics. I am still waiting! I am still watching! I am still wishing for one of these shows to share the real crux of the matter, where does Jesus fit into all this worldly Christianity? What about Jesus, the Son of God, Calvary Hill, or salvation through the blood of Jesus? Give me any inclination that Jesus is still as important as God loves me

The world is attempting to desensitize the most important fact of the Christian message and that fact is Jesus. This isn’t a new way of thinking it is the same old lie Satan has been implanting in the minds of men for ages. It’s the same lie that the Sanhedrin used to crucify Jesus on Calvary Hill. It’s the same lie, which the Crusades used to kill pagan’s centuries before us. It’s the same lie which nations use to go to war with each other for their religious pursuits. Jesus isn’t important; it’s the way we perceive God, now that’s important! The bottom line is, we are not taking Jesus serious enough to spend quality time with him in our lives. We are not serious enough to keep the Sabbath holy.

Did you catch what I just said? I feel we finally hit the nail on the head. Could it be some of us don’t take Jesus serious? We don’t spend enough time with Jesus and we don’t keep the Sabbath holy. How can we commit to something that we can’t take serious? We would be wise not to depend on NBC or CBS for our spiritual food. We are just like the rest of the world; we deal with Jesus on our own time! That’s if we deal with the issue of Jesus at all. We have more important things to concern ourselves than with Jesus. We have our all-important places of employment, we have all our debts, we have to spend time with our loved ones, we have all the yardwork and then there are the home improvements. We need time to get away on vacation and time for entertainment. We then need to work more and more overtime to pay for all the luxuries of life we busy ourselves about. Where could we ever find time to fit Jesus into the equation of our lives? Isn’t it enough just to believe in Jesus? Do we really have to commit to a Christian lifestyle and servanthood is really out of the question? Serving is really out of the question, it is not really realistic, I couldn’t possibly fit another thing into my busy schedule. After all isn’t that the kind of conservative fanatical right jargon I read about in the newspaper and hear about on the talk shows?

Again folks, the bottom line is, on whom are you depending? From the very beginning of time God has posed that very question to every person who ever lived. On whom are you depending? Do you rely on God for your spiritual, physical and mental needs? Or are you attempting to do it on your own? Do you rely on God for your needs or do you try to do it by yourself? As long as things are going good, the people of this generation wouldn’t think of God except as a novel concept. But what happens if trouble comes along, well then God is the first person they are willing to pass the buck too. This isn’t anything new; people have been passing the buck for centuries.