Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Note to Pastors....


1.   When your church members tell you they do not like CHANGE or NEW THINGS, just smile and tease them about that, because they do not mean it.  Let me repeat:  THEY.  DO.  NOT.  MEAN.  IT.  All you have to do is look in their driveways (they are not driving a 1948 Pontiac, but something much newer).  Look in their living rooms (they have computers and HD flat-screen TVs).  Look in their closets (they are not wearing their grandparents clothes, but newer and attractive clothing).  And, oh yea, look at the cell phone in their hand (they no longer use a rotary phone).

2.  When your church members tell you they do not like THINGS TO GET BIGGER, just smile and tease them about that too, because they do not mean it.  Let me repeat:  THEY.  DO.  NOT.  MEAN.  IT.  All you have to do is ask them, “Do you want your checking account to get bigger?” or “Do you want your business to get bigger?” or “Do you want your pension plan to get bigger?” or “Would you like receive a bigger paycheck each week?  Why, then, do you want your church to stay small?”

3.  Tell your people if they do not love Jesus, enjoy fellowship and worship with the saints, or appreciate serving the Lord, THEY WILL NOT LIKE HEAVEN and GOD WILL NOT MAKE YOU GO.  Heaven is for the Redeemed, the saints of God whose robes are white as snow and dipped in blood (Rev. 7:14).  Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people (John 14:1-6).  C. S. Lewis’ book “The Great Divorce” makes the point that the hell-bound would be miserable in heaven for the simple reason they do not fit.

To follow Jesus means change, and lots of it – change and more change.  It means kingdom advancement and a bigger church because Jesus is building the Church.  And the best way to know whether or not we will “fit” in heaven is to love the things of the Lord in this life.

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