HolySample

A HOLY CHURCH.

GOD IS PURIFYING HIS CHURCH.

As the world emerges from a global pandemic, the Church has gone through a significant journey. Whether we like this or not, there has been some significant sifting and shifting across the Church around the world. Pastors have fallen, congregations have become displaced, leaders have burnt out, people have walked out, and the remaining faithful have been left to work the rest out.

I wonder if the church had ventured away from its original design. I wonder if celebrity culture had successfully crept its way into the church. I wonder if the church started to become too much like the world, instead of reaching it. I wonder if the church became more about entertainment than encounter. More about program than about the people. More about pride than humility. More about consumers than disciples. I wonder if the church had gone a little off-course.

I truly believe that God has used this time to purify His Church. To remove the things that are not of Him, and return us to Him.

The Church is returning to repentance. Returning to surrender. And returning to hunger. The desire to see an outpouring of the Spirit across the entire Church has been awakening, and people are not just finding new life in Jesus, but they are dying to their old lives, repenting of their sin, and following Jesus. COMPLETE life turn arounds.

2 Chronicles 7 reminds us to humble ourselves, pray, seek God, and repent. And in return, God will heal our land. He will revive what has been dead, redeem what has been stolen, and He will restore what was broken. A great outpouring of God’s Spirit is upon us, and God is waiting for a HOLY CHURCH to receive it.

We ought to be a church that is set apart. The world has an expectation of us. They expect us to be divided, they expect us to live double lives, they expect us to not have integrity, they expect us to have a hidden agenda, they expect us to be different than what we preach. And the antidote to this kind of church is a HOLY Church.

We need churches that look different from what has been presented to the world. I have found that some people don’t have an issue with Jesus, they have an issue with the Church. And this is not Jesus’ fault, this is something that we need to take ownership of and change. The way the world sees us, depends on us. When the world looks at us, they should see Jesus, and if they don’t, something needs to shift.

We might not have it all together, we might not be perfect, and we will get it wrong sometimes. But Jesus wants to come back for a holy bride. A holy church. Thank God, He doesn’t just love the Church, but He builds it too (Matthew 16). So, if His job is to BUILD the church, then our job is to BE the Church. We need to let God build us, mold us, shape us. Correct us. Purify us. Sanctify us. And set us apart. Then, and only then, will we be the Holy Church that He has called us to be.

QUESTIONS:

1.What do I need to let God purify and refine in me?

2.How can I serve my local church to help it become all that it can be?