Okay, stay with me and you’ll understand this post.
There was a time in our lives that Chad and I loved Taco Bell. The 7-layer burrito, cheap tacos, cinnamon twists, and Mexican pizzas- yes!! 👍🏼 All. Day. Every. Day.
In 2018, Taco Bell was actually named the best Mexican restaurant in the United States. Really?? 👎🏼
I was raised close enough to Mexico that going across the real border for real Mexican food was the norm in our family.
Our family found another small restaurant that serves great, authentic Mexican food. I couldn’t help but think how many of those who voted in the Harris pole in 2018, to make Taco Bell #1 in the US, have probably never tasted real Mexican food. So they don’t have anything (real) to compare it to. They voted based on the American versions of Mexican food they had tasted.
Well, that’s how I feel about the Church!
There are so many people in this world who have been fed fake church, with regurgitated sermons and sound bites fit for social media, but not effective in changing lives, that they keep voting for feel-good Sunday experiences and “don’t mess with my life” safe messages by staying in said churches, but have no idea what real church looks like.
Church is not motivational speeches, emotional support groups, or “all-the-feels” with a side of smoke machines and thumpin’ base. It is not where to go to validate your misinterpretation of the Bible so that it fits your expectations of what God should allow because you want to engage in sin.
No, I have been to Church, and can tell you church is:
*where miracles still happen;
*where the unadulterated Word of God is preached by servants of the Lord who actually heard from God themselves and didn’t purchase or poach sermons off the Internet, nor were they told by their denomination head what to say;
*where members give up their seats so visitors can sit while they stand in the foyer or outside because an extra hundred or two hundred showed up, and many members donate prizes (high dollar ones), food, time, and energy so that those same visitors can win prizes, eat lunch, play games, and fellowship after service all for free just so they would come and hear the Word (which can actually save their soul from hell!);
*where members week after week serve in the nursery (even some who don’t have kids), in media (so those who can’t be in person can still receive the Word, and lyrics and Scriptures can be viewed on the screen), in hospitality (so all who come through the door are greeted with a smile and questions are answered), on the worship team (to literally lead us into God’s Presence)
*where the Pastor speaks the Truth, whether it messes with your agenda or emotions, because they love you enough to not allow you to
1) go to hell,
2) live a lie, and/or
3) lead others astray.
Y’all, stop running for the border! You know it’s gonna have you running for the bathroom later.
And stop choosing fake church!!
Don’t settle for punching a ticket on Sundays by just attending- That won’t get you to heaven. Don’t settle for a pastor who is more concerned about staying on schedule than staying in His Presence. Don’t settle for the hype of sound-bites and Instagram-worthy photo-ops; your church should be messing you up once in a while in a good way!!
If you don’t know what I am talking about, chances are you are in a fake church, with a fake pastor, and listening to fake sermons which are masking the fact that you are going to hell.
Hell is real. And it’s your choice. If you don’t know that, change churches!!
Reflections of His Image 