Quit Dragging The Corpse

Revelation 3:1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.

Churches are failing. Some due to neglect of the pastor and congregation. Some because they were birthed in strife and division and God will not bless that. Some were birthed in the boardroom and nurtured by businessmen who used best demographics and best business practices. Many new companies do not make it past year three. Many new starts fail or or have no more than churches in decline for years and yet they feel successful.

You can start a new "church" business and it will fluctuate like the stock market as you constantly seek to brand and rebrand yourself using marketing strategies. You may have a strong CEO, but still it will bottom out. Humans constantly seek the new and improved. They are bar hoppers. Sooner or later, something more sparkly or tastier than your product will come around and they will leave. We are in an age of wandering sheep and screaming goats. We seem to have a load of tare and few who care.

The church birthed by Christ and sustained by the Holy Spirit will not fail because "the gates of Hell shall not prevail." It may be the gates of recessions, cultural changes, persecution, and even COVID-19, but His Church will stand and even grow.

If your church is constantly struggling financially, in constant strife and your membership declining with maybe one new person for every five that leave then maybe you are having an extended "Weekend At Bernie's" just dragging around a corpse hoping it will raise from the dead trusting in many people and things but not the God who can raise the dead.

All of the seven churches in Revelation died out including the ones He praised. There is no courage or honor keeping open an near empty building until the last person dies. It is bad stewardship and detrimental to the few members that remain.

We need to get past pastor and building worship and back to Jesus worship. We need to close the boardroom and get back to the prayer room. We need to quit dividing and start uniting using buildings for homeless shelters, food banks, tutoring or sell them to have funds for such things.

God called us to be one. And if we do not become one many of us will be done for many reasons. Put away childishness, selfishness and foolishness. Let Him use you to build His kingdom, not yours. Let Him be God and watch Him build what you cannot. Your glory years needs to be over.

We need to make His Glory the focus. His vision is 20/20. Allow His vision to take place in what seems like a crisis. Let this be a shaking of our weak foundations that we might run to Him to build us on the rock of His truth. 120 people shook the world, but 81 churches cannot move two-thirds of this town's population. We have a form of godliness. Let us seek the power! Amen! Maranatha!