But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen. (2 Peter 3:18)
The mark of a Christian who is growing and maturing in faith is one who is always increasing their praise level.
The more knowledge we have of Him,
the more we realize the grace He’s lavished on us,
the more glory we should be giving Him…
now AND forever!
Amen.
I read a lot of reports, books, and surveys that talk about the number of unchurched people in America. Sadly, my experience is that most of these are actually dechurched people. In other words, they are folks who were involved in a church at one point in their lives, but then felt like church wasn’t doing it for them any longer.
I’m not sure that I have the answer that will cure this. Actually I’ve got a lot more questions:
I think the answer might be “No” to all of these questions.
“I suspect that most Christians today are fairly satisfied with the state of their faith. They have a ‘good enough’ experience of Jesus and they’re not really thirsting for much more. But the job of pastors is to help people realize that splashing around in the mud puddle of faith is nothing compared with sailing on the ocean of God’s grace and power (as C.S. Lewis says). We must whet the appetites of our people for a greater experience of the Lord’s reviving power. When we do, they will begin to seek it more fervently.” —T.M. Moore
“We’ve given people just enough of Jesus to be bored, but not enough to be transformed.” —David Kinnaman
“The outer courts are filled with distraction. It’s hard to hear. The holy place is still. And when you get into the inner courts, all the other voices vying for our attention are silenced. I’m afraid that most of us live most of our lives in the outer courts. We’re too Christian to enjoy sin, but we’re too sinful to enjoy Christ. It’s time to press in. It’s time to press on.” —Mark Batterson
If we are truly living as disciples of Jesus Christ, Christianity should be the most exciting, rewarding, and fulfilling way to live! That’s how I want it to be for me and for my church! What about you?
Craig T. Owens 