While the familiar bread of the Word of God when chewed again (let that word not depart from your mouth but meditate on it {chew} day and night) can and does offer great comfort, what is missing in most churches is the WORD of Wisdom, the WORD of Knowledge, the WORD of Prophecy, the WORD of Exhortation, the WORD of Destiny, the WORD that brings Healing, the WORD that casts out Demons, the WORD that reveals the hearts and intents of Man, the WORD that empowers, the WORD that while not understood when brought to understanding changes the atmosphere.
Those words are missing in most churches. Too much preaching. Too much teaching. Too many familiar phrases that while the word of God have become cliched. Some word has become to many hearers so hackneyed that reading them or attempting to teach them to a congregation has no impact whatsoever. Such is the Lords Prayer, the 23rd Psalm, most of the Beatitudes, Malachi 3, Prodigal Son, Parable of the Talents. We NEED a fresh word in the church that blows the lid off the dusty spirits and brings these important teachings to a new light.
I'm sorry to say, preaching and teaching just don't get it any more. It all must be in love, but look at the 1 Corinthians 12-14 instructions and ask yourself, how much of THAT word am I experiencing in my church? Less then you think. IF you read them all carefully, you won't find a Word about preaching and teaching. Everything else..yes. Yet, most of our church services in the western church are 3 songs, a couple prayers, a lecture and an offering, don't forget the offering. Some include a communion and a benediction. ALL good, but anything predictable in a church service is flesh.
There MUST be a pregnant expectation of the unexpected. There must be an adventure into undiscovered territory. There must be a sense that JESUS might just manifest bodily at any second, walk thru the walls as it were. IF a leader says, not now Jesus, we have to get on to the sermon....you know thats what would happen. It's time to break the back of routine religion. It's time for the famine to end. I don't know him really well, but one who is dangerous in this realm is Kevin Leal. I want to be more dangerous than I am. I had a pastor say to me once, "If you went to my church you would scare me". I no longer want to be one who scares, I want to TERRIFY church leaders into freshness and the expectation of the very unusual. Stale bread is breaking the heart of God when HE wants to supply fresh manna every time the Body comes together.
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