Here is where I should brag and boast about all the good things that are happening at Burgaw Baptist and yes, things are up. But, if you would, please allow me to go in the opposite direction. While I am glad for the numerical blessings what I really long for is Christ—that the heart and spirit of Christ would be realized through you and me.
Fighting who I am is my greatest battlefield. I say ministry is not about the numbers but then I find myself thinking and acting as if numbers are the ultimate goal. I stress the need for prayer and then find my own prayer life languishing. I speak of our need for the power of the Holy Spirit and then I rely upon myself. I cannot help but believe there is more to ministry than this. To take a metaphor from the Mosaic tabernacle—I’m tired of sitting in the courtyard—I long to stand in the Holy of Holies and revel in the unlimited, unfettered glory of God.
Sunday (yesterday) we spoke of Christ and the blood atonement and because of time restraints I didn’t really get to where I felt the Lord wanted me to get—beyond the logic there is the Logos. As believers we need to remember that Christ is nearer than our own soul and our most private thought and He is our high priest. HE IS HERE. Prayer is not our attempt to shout across an infinite space to an absent God. HE IS HERE. The Holy Spirit is not an “it”. HE IS HERE. The kingdom of God will never be advanced by explainable marketable church growth.
As your pastor I want to encourage you to intensely long for Christ. The church’s shallow satisfaction with numerical increase has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff wooden quality that we have tried to replace with fake choreographed religious antics is because we lack holy desire. Satan is counting on our complacency. No matter how legitimate our excuses may seem if they quench our passion for the deep things of God they are the enemy of our soul. Intense passion for God is essential and without it there will be no real spiritual progress. Our goal is not a momentary swelling in the body of Christ but spiritual health and strength that lasts beyond our generation into the next. Come with me, let us deny our apathetic proclivities, and hunger and thirst until HE fills us with HIMSELF.
