Introduction to a 3-part series....
These past Sunday at my home church, McConnell Memorial Baptist Church in Hiawassee, Ga., our YOUTH TEAM, led my our incomparable Youth Pastor, Jeremy Pearson, as well as the visiting band and Worship leader, Blake Goss; along with youth speaker/pastor extraordinaire, Nick Hurst, came to share their "gifts" at McConnell for a youth-centric weekend movement known as WKND! Now this is not the first year our church has done such an event, but it was the first time we opened the weekend retreat to other churches in our area...and the Holy Spirit drew young people from 5 other area churches to come and meet the Lord at McConnell...
AND
THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED AS OVER 150+ TEENAGERS (IN GRADES 6-12 ) CAME TO
MEET THE LORD FOR THE FIRST TIME; OR RENEW THEIR COMMITMENT TO WALK DAILY WITH HIM;
OR DEVOTE THEMSELVES TO FOLLOW THE LORD'S LEADING INTO FULL-TIME MINISTRY. IN FACT,
OVER 25 YOUNG PEOPLE GAVE THEIR HEARTS TO THE LORD AS THEY TURNED FROM THE SINS
OF THEIR YOUNG LIVES TO THE NEWNESS OF GOD'S GRACE AND MERCY IN COMMITMENT TO
FOLLOW HIM AS NEW BELIEVERS. ANOTHER DOZEN OR SO ALSO COMMITTED TO FOLLOW GOD'S
LEADERSHIP INTO FULL TIME CHRISTIAN MINISTRY FOR THE LORD AND THE WORK THAT HE
WILL GIVE THEM TO DO.
And the climax of the WKND retreat was the corporate worship service with all the young people that had been at the retreat along with our Sunday morning worship crowd; gathered as ONE BODY IN CHRIST to sing and praise our Heavenly Father for all that had been done in these young lives. And that's what got my gray matter percolating with the thoughts that I want to share in a three-part series entitled... UNLOCKING THE DOOR... or...WITHHOLDING THE KEYS?
You see, in my mind, the church is often the WORST evangelistic tool that God has in His arsenal to bring the wandering soul to the life-saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. What do I mean by such a statement? Let me explain.
On
any given Sunday morning, in places of worship around the globe, you will find
an enormous number of God's followers (His children, if you will), comfortably
dressed and sitting warmly (or coolly) in their "assigned" seats, singing praises and songs of worship; applauding
after the choir's marvelous performance of The Old Rugged Cross; then turning
the pages of their Bibles or looking on the jumbotrons at the pastor's outline
for today's sermon. AND DUE TO THE HEIGHTENED SECURITY FOR MOST CHURCHES THESE
DAYS....THIS ALL HAPPENS BEHIND LOCKED DOORS. Now of course, when the sermon is
concluded, the invitation given and the song of surrender sung, we wait, often
impatiently for the Holy Spirit to move someone out of the pew and down the
aisle to come to Jesus...and when no one comes, we have the benediction and
move toward the doors of the church....which by now have been UNLOCKED.
HOWEVER, IT IS MY CONTENTION...THE CHURCH IS STILL IN LOCKDOWN!
So, come back tomorrow and read more about how the doors of the gospel are being held captive in the body of the church and how God wants us to use the 3 keys at our disposal to unlock those doors and stop withholding the keys to the kingdom.
Living
for Jesus....turning the key,
WPQ
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