It started me thinking.  I am presenting a message Sunday on The Winning Church: A Praying Church.  The emphasis is on prayer and its impact on winning the lost.  Incidentally, I can’t find one command to pray for the lost!  Not saying we shouldn’t, just that the specific command isn’t there!  Oh well….I digress.

What is prayer?  Isn’t it conversing with God? And, like all other conversations in our lives, isn’t there a time to just hang and talk, a time to really get intense, a time to just pour out your heart, a time to engage in light banter?  In other words, no “formulas,” no “ten step plans.”  Just talking with God…and listening in return.

Here’s the point…hot prayer with God still has a powerful effect.  Just ask James, who happened to write something along those lines….hint: it’s James 5.16!  So, let’s get off the snide and start chatting with God.  He’s been waiting a long time for some of us to get started!

It’s the idea of the path.  The Hebrew construction indicates a “well worn” path to run on.  In other words, this isn’t this guy’s first trip to the tower.  He knows how to get there, because he’s been there before!

Driving through the country yesterday, I saw an interesting sight.  A guy was driving his lanwmower down the side of a busy, four lane, highway!  No house, stores, businesses in sight.  Just woods, rain, of course, and this fellow on his lawn mower!  What was really interesting was the fact there was a well worn path in the tall grass.  That guy had made whatever trip he was making before!

I know God will receive us anytime…from anywhere.  But, in our day of unimaginable trouble, isn’t it good to know where to go when calamity strikes?  Let’s take this as a challenge…if we have allowed our path to God’s saving presence to grow up a little, let’s start wearing a new path to His salvation again!  After all, He’s there waiting on us!

A group of men who changed the world heard that call, right in the middle of their busy lives, and left everything dangling so they could follow Him.  Could it be Jesus is calling to us….not necessarily to leave everything behind, but to place Him first in our lives?  Could it be the reason they changed their world and we haven’t changed ours lies in this one simple decision…He really is worth following completely?

I wonder how many people are “in” church, but just observing. They may not be caught up in the grand specatacle of architechure, for costs and tastes have altered that era. But they could very well be caught up in the “show,” the “performance,” the “entertainment.” And, like those of us who have milled around the edges while the faithful in the great arenas of faith from bygone days received no spiritual nourishment from what others did, so those who pass by and admire a nice building or sign, even those who sit and simply observe the “goings on” of a service, but never really enter worship, arent’ benefited spiritually.

Perhaps it’s time to carry Jesus to the edges of the camp and let Him do His wondrous works there. I am enthralled that last week over one hundred families were fed in our food program…hundreds of people didn’t wake up hungry this morning because of some dedicated givers and workers. I relish the idea that two adults came to Christ during that time of sharing. That’s pushing Jesus out to the edges…but there are so many more…so many left hurting. Jesus is calling us to carry His name, His message, out to the every edges of our society. Let’s hear His impassioned plea, be broken by the lonely crying of the hurting, and carry Him with us into the edges of our world. Who knows, someone might just be lingering around because they really do want to know if He’s real to you!

I don’t know all the answers about how to bring this about. There are the obvious; prayer, fasting, repentance, the usual precursors of revival. Yet I think we tend to stop there because those things work…..on us! We get changed, revived, and feel as if we have accomplished something…and we have!

However, to really change our culture, to see people come to Jesus, we are going to have to take the next step and do what my great friend Luther Quinly calls, “engaging people in spiritual conversations.” In case you don’t know him, Luther has been one more successful pastor. He has built great works everywhere he has ever been and has seen hundreds of people won to Christ. He’s a great role model for any pastor to follow!

Luther and I both officiated the wedding, so we had time to talk and I was moved by his analysis. I agree wholeheartedly. We must get our lives turned, on fire, dedicated to Christ. Following that, we must once more enter our lost world with the intent of engaging people with Christ…not shoving Him at them, but leading them to Him. For years I have called these “divine appointments.” Let’s start looking for them again. He’ll make them for us….it’s up to us to keep them!

I made the point everywhere the church has been, it has done the following:  First, sent out missionaries to other lands.  Second, it has then died or become so inconsequential, it’s of little or no value.  Finally, Islam has come behind and filled the void left by a powerless church.  Spend some time, trace the movements of church history, you’ll discover for yourself what I proposed is true!

Today, we face an alarming encroachment in America of Islam…an Islam bent on world domination.  The only answer I can see is a powerful church, an on fire church, complete with signs and wonders, bringing deliverance to the multitudes.  Of course, that is not the church we see spread across America.  Instead, we have become engrossed in the pursuit of the approval of both a lukewarm church establishment and a blind-to-the-gospel world.  While our focus has been on their accolades and acceptance, the Owner of the church has been relegated to a position outside, a spot from which He patiently knocks and asks for admission to His own dwelling.  I fear our stubborn resistance to His gentle knocking is going to be replaced by the shrill sounds of the battle cry of Islam…and then, we will beg Him to once again occupy His house, but at great cost!

Today….now….let’s return to Him with our whole heart and let Him bring healing into our lives, our homes, our church!

To think that not only does God grant us forgiveness, He also keeps up His passionate pursuit of our lives by guiding us, teaching us, watching over us with His all seeing eyes. What a God we serve!

On a different note…what a great day we had yesterday! A wonderful time of worship followed by more food and fun than should be allowed! The church family gathered and celebrated our Independence by giving thanks to God for all we have and then an old fashioned cookout and fun time. It was a blast…and it was in keeping with what the Bible calls “fellowship.” God’s up to something…and part of it is bringing His people together! Hope you had a great time and, if you missed it, will be with us next time!

God bless…have a great day!