How you gonna keep em after they've seen

There was a song sung during WWI about the farm boys who left to go fight in Europe, and in particular France.  It was about the anguish many fathers felt when their sons came back from the war. 

How 'ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm (After they've seen Paree)? 

You probably can sing it.  We treat it lightly today but it was a real problem then.  Returning to a difficult life didn't have much appeal when they had seen something better.   I understand it.

The same is true spiritually.  We all satisfied until a holy discontent drives us forward.   We hunger for more.  We are desperate for something real.  We are no longer willing to settle.  Once we have experienced a level of Glory, anything less seems like spiritual pollution.  

We might tune in to a TV or Radio program and hear something good, for a bit.  But it's not what we really want.  Once in a great while a song will come on the radio and stir us.  Mostly not.  

Quietly and personally we will enter into that place.  Sometimes alone.  Sometimes in a small group.  

Occasionally we will find that place in a church.  A special service perhaps.  A time when God moves and the leader goes where God is going.  Sometimes in a conference.  

When the Glory comes, the light comes, you become unwilling to settle for anything less.

It's the thing that happens when someone comes into your church and "Blows it Up".  It's what pastor leadership fears.  Don't stir up my people, I can't have them running off looking for more.  He's worried about losing members and his members are worried about losing their minds "Spiritually".  They have tasted and seen that the Lord is GOOD..  now they are asked to come back to on moldy stale morsels.   

This is not a condemnation of the Church.  She is precious.  She is holy.  She is a bride.   

Yet, is this the Church Jesus married?  Is this what He destined her to be?  Shouldn't it be about the Glory?  Shouldn't it be about manifesting HIM to the world?  Doing all the Stuff HE DID, and greater?  

IF your fellowship, church, group or whatever is threatened by a move of God breaking out down the street, then you have a glory deficit.  

Teaching is fine.  We need to hear.  We need to grow.  We need to be stretched.  But you can't build much telling people over and over and over and over..

Songs are great, to start with, but when does singing songs end and worship begin?  There is a place of transition and you know it when it happens.  Maybe we shouldn't sing any songs?  Or what?

Fellowship is fine.. but it can't hold people.

Programs and missions are OK.. but most won't be part of those either.  

The truth is people are hungry for three things:

1. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves.  Something they can enter into.  Something they can contribute to (other than money).  Something that will give them a chance to be who God called them to be.  Something that will help them make a difference.  Something that helps them see how they fit in the grand scheme of things.  They have no desire to be a spectator, but a participant.  That's what a MEMBER should be.  

2. They want to touch the eternal, the reality that is not temporal, to go behind the veil.. if only for a moment.  They need to sense the manifest presence of GOD.   They need to have an awe.. and awe that hits them again and again.  This is what people hunger for and why they go here and there.  It must be something that takes them places they have not yet been... the unexplored country.  It's a spiritual journey.. yet it is as real as driving 2000 miles.   It never gets old.  It never is routine.  It is as if JESUS HIMSELF might just show up and walk down the aisle.. because He does.   It's as if Angel Choirs enter into the worship and surround the whole.. because they DO.  This comes by a sacrifice.. a true sacrifice ... of praise.

3. They want to see JESUS manifest himself in other people's lives.  They want to be instruments of that transformation as they are gifted and called.  Doing the Stuff:  Salvation. Restoration. Repentance. Deliverance. Defined Destiny Discovered.  Wholeness.  Healing.  Resurrection.  Wisdom.  Understanding.  Discernment.  Enlightenment.  Strength.  Prophetic Purpose.  Forgiveness.   Faith for Miracles.  Provision.  Protection.  Joy and Peace in the storm.  Perseverance in difficulty. AND facing the end of all things in this life with confidence.  That doesn't come by a preacher preaching. That comes as the whole body ministers to one another in Holy Ghost power and authority.  Anyone would be willing to be part of that kind of ministry, church, fellowship, group.

IF you just allow these three things to flow unhindered in your ministry.. you cannot fail and you won't worry about keeping them.  You won't be able to keep them away.