"Mrs. Bailey hoarded every possession but life itself, and now that was gone. But her death actually occurred years before her heart stopped beating. Her death was signaled when she first began to clutch at life. "If you would save your life, you will lose it; But if you lose your life for My sake, you will find it." (Matt 16:25)
"The church is engaged in a similar struggle. We are in a death drift that moves us from serving to preserving. We feel it carrying us along. Our spontaneous fellowship soon becomes a program. Bearing one another's burdens becomes a budget line item. Self-sacrificing friends become paid professionals with titles (counselor, minister, director) and salary packages, longevity guarantees, and retirement benefits. Our meeting places turn into 'holy places' with stained glass, polished oak, and locks. Taking 'no thought for tomorrow' becomes sentimental rhetoric as we build bigger barns and amass insurance and endowments and reserve funds against the unpredictable events of our future.
"But the church has no future. We have only the present. In this present moment we must spend, lavish, and give away our tomorrows for the sake of His kingdom today. In short, we must die. Today. That is the only way to save our lives. The church is called to live at Golgotha. If perchance tomorrow morning we discover that our depleted spirits have a new supply of energy, that the emptied offering plate is full once again, and from sacrificial dreams whole new dimensions of life have burst forth, then we will begin to understand something of what the resurrection is about. On the other side of death, each death, stands our risen Lord. And He beckons us." - Lupton
I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His suffering; becoming like Him in His death.
Morgan "Look at Jesus only." }|{
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