God is not impressed

“His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.”
Psalms 147:10-11

God is not impressed with the size of our church buildings or the sound and lighting system. Is it wrong to have lights and amplified sound? No! However what we need most is what only God can do. What we need is for the Spirit of God to open blind eyes, convict distracted husbands, and restore broken families. What we need is for the saints to be grieved over the spiritual ruin in our world and be moved to action. But the truth is that we have learned how to attract a crowd on Sunday morning with our programming and activities. We've learned how to entertain the crowd and keep them for a little while. We know how to put on a show. But all along God is looking down and saying, "looks like they got it all figured out. They don't need me. Yes, the church prays, but its not a praying church. They are not looking to me for my guidance, wisdom and power to fulfill my mission to make disciples of all nations."  When we try to find in something or somebody what we can only find in Jesus we are practicing idolatry. In his new book, Old Paths New Power, Daniel Henderson writes, "We are beyond carved idols, but we have varieties of mechanisms in our promotional repertoire that compete with the glory of God. In our local churches, many components of our worship experiences come close to a modern carved idol. They are not chiseled with wood but technologically mind-blowing products sold in Silicon Valley, designed by Sony, manufactured by Microsoft, or promoted by way of high-tech projection. While none of these modern worship supplements are wrong, I doubt the Lord is going to bring revival in such a way that our gadgets get the glory."   If we would seek in prayer the glory of God in the face of Jesus, we will find that God's manifest presence will do more in a moment than the latest gadget could ever do in a life time. The glory of God will not only transform us into the image of Christ, it will change our hearts to grieve over the things that God grieves over.

But sadly, although lives all around us are on a wide road that leads to destruction, including some of our own children, we don't weep before God in prayer. We are in a spiritual coma. We sit on our couches and watch television all day or zone out on our smart phones watching YouTube videos or playing silly games. The condition of the church today is not one that will move God to send revival; rather the the condition of the church is one that necessitates for God to send a wake up call. In fact, the alarm is already sounding in the spiritual decline we see in our nation, in the changing laws that threaten our religious freedoms, and the increasing violence in our cities. Do we hear the alarm? Will we not fall to our knees and repent of our complacency? "...the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.” Psalms 147:10-11