i am guilty

it seems like every time i preach another sermon out of the book of acts it just shows even more where the church is lacking today. we have abandoned the original ways of the apostles and early followers. we have stopped seeing the importance of getting out in our communities and telling others the good news. we have stopped trying to live in the power of the holy spirit. we have given up on the power of god in our lives. we won't make a stand against our friends or family let alone in front of someone who could punish us for our belief in god.

the church has become this place for scarred people to meet and talk about what they should do if they lived in a perfect world. we don't take the things pastors say seriously-or our pastors aren't saying that it is important to spread the word outside the four walls of the church. we just get together and huddle up and act like our faith is just something very personal and that doesn't come with any costs-when jesus clearly said to count the costs before following! jesus clearly said that faith in him would lead to divisions among families and friends. jesus said if people would hate on him and eventually kill him why should we expect our lives to be different if we are his followers!

yet we sit back and talk about how much god wants to bless us in our church and that if bad things happen then we must have sinned-this is far from the truth. yes god wants to bless us but he wants to bless us so we can be a blessing to others-not so we can be more comfortable and spend more on ourselves!

as i think about thanksgiving this week i am ashamed that i didn't get involved in some kind of feeding people program to help those who are less fortunate-instead i will trek off and enjoy a comfortable meal while people are starving. i have a real hard time with this-should we spend the day with our families or should our families spend the day doing for people who have little to be thankful for? what do you think?