Last night I had the opportunity to preach at the 5th Sunday worship service in Elba. FBCE, Westside and Elba United Methodist gathered for worship at Westside Baptist Church.
I preached on the subject of renewal, revival and awakening. There is much said about "what" the church needs to attempt so that we may experience the end of decline. I have many books that are dedicated to exploring the issues of church growth, health, renewal and revitalization.
If we desire to experience an awakening in our denomination and a revival in our churches it must begin with individuals seeking after God. We must begin to call persons to spiritual renewal and lead them to spiritual vitality. When this event occurs our churches will experience a sense of revival. From there - we can only pray that God will bring another awakening that would radically change our communities, states and nation.
The main contributing factor to the decline of churches isn't our devaluing of the Great Commision, but our lack of dependence on spiritual power. Our churches are saturated with persons that need spiritual renewal. I pray we will begin to humble ourselves and seek the face of God - 2 Chronicles 7:14. Are you praying for renewal in our churches? Or, are you fixated on what is wrong with church?
We can definately learn lessons from the Old Testament. Take Jeremiah and Lamentations. Throughout the book of Jeremiah, he is prophesying what will happen to God's people. In Lamentations, he is reflecting on what just happened. Jeremiah is not saying "I told you so", but is broken hearted over the fact that God's people didn't listen. Now jump to Revelation and see what John has discovered about the 7 churches. Which church are we in? We see what the end is for these churches, but are we (the church today) going to be like the Israelites and ignore the warnings - even though it has been laid for us out what will happen if we don't change?!!
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