The Higher Calling
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO YOU ALL!
It's time for us to be real with one another because we're dying with this lethargic, shallow minded bullsh** that we keep spewing forth to one another in hopes to get people to believe that we're okay. I don't buy it...it's a crock of crap and I love the realness that this writer put forth in their questions. These are the real deal questions of life. I was talking with a friend of mine yesterday that was visiting Atlanta. They attended the church that I used to attend, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church that is under the leadership of Bishop Eddie Long. When they called me after service, they were at such a loss for words. I asked them if anything was wrong and all they could respond is, "I bought the tape for you, listen to it, and then we'll talk!" If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that statement after leaving New Birth, I'd probably be a millionaire. But the truth of the matter is this, Bishop Long ministers straight from the heart and couples his delivery with transparency...in turn, it causes a true seek to manifest in the minds and hearts of the listeners and there you have the reason why the church is busting at the seams at 30,000 in membership. This isn't the only reason why the church has grown the way it has, but one of the main reasons is when you're at New Birth, you kinda don't feel like you're even at church...other than the praise and worship. After that, the music changes and you feel as if you're on a Space frontier and you're going where few people dare to go! You feel like you've been transformed into a different realm and I really don't do it justice because I can't even think of the appropriate words to describe it.
However, I'm writing this because I wonder why more people don't leave churches today, burdened the way I used to leave New Birth. I mean, listening to my friend and his inabililty to put in words just what happened in service took me back to the 5 years that I was a member and how many Sundays I stood in the tape line to purchase the tape so I could rehearse the word for that day. I would listen to the tape no less than 7 times and then dialogue with other members as to how I could apply the word in my life.
Why do preachers give such a watered down presentation of the gospel today? Why are there so few places where the word of God is being spoke WITH POWER! I can't help but think of the book of I Samuel when the bible records that the word of the Lord was rare and the lamp in the tabernacle had almost gone out! I'm not trying to be prophetic but that's exactly where we are in the body of Christ today. We have a generation hungry for the word but we have clergy who are stuck in how the word was delivered in 1940. Not everybody, but some are stuck in the 60's and 70's as well, and very few people are delivering a word that is relevant to the times that we are living in.
It's time to be real with ourselves if we're going to reach this generation...we have to do exactly what the children of Israel did when they were exiting out of Egypt. They took the best of their traditions, not everything went with them. WE might need to leave testimony service back in the 70's. No disrespect intended, it was good for the time, but today, there's something greater that God is calling forth. We need to embrace the new things that God is speaking for NOW in this dimension. We may need to think about not using the Hammond B3 (this is for the Black Church), and look into using the synthesizer in order to change up our presentation. We may need to look at each of the denominations and see what was good and keep it, but what was done just merely for the fact of tradition, discard. If we don't take the time to do this, we'll have more and more people falling by the wayside. I look back at my days at New Birth and I truly have to thank God for waking up the me inside of me that was dormant. In other words, I was going nowhere fast! I had a form of godliness because I looked like church but I had no power. I couldn't live Sunday night what was spoken forth on Sunday morning...but I could shout and sing with the best of them. If the hammond B3 was playing behind the preacher, you could expect me to be waving my hands.
However, there was still an emptiness inside that no one ever addressed, that is, until I stepped foot into New Birth in January of 1994. I call it the year of the Great Awakening because I could no longer run in circles and avoid the Higher Calling of God that was on the inside screaming to get out!
Every single one of us has a Higher Calling that has to be awakened...if you're going to church and you're just going through the motions...then maybe, no not maybe, you need to find where your mail is being delivered too on Sundays. You need to find a place where the word is not preached with tickling verbage that makes you feel good...you need a place where God convenes and confronts you in the deeper recesses of your soul. It may hurt, but there comes a time when we have to grow up and move past the fluff that we like so much. I don't know about you, but I am tired of church, the way it's been. I didn't give up my fun in the world to come in church and live with all these rules and regulations. I mean, my god! I didn't give up all that I did, to come and watch a preacher get off on a 3 point sermon...I've got to live on the word that he delivers and it's a bit of a slap in the face to confine God to just some quick encouragement on Sunday. NO, it's time for reality to be displayed from the pulpit to the pews with ministry and outreach from the spirit to the spirit! I'm going to end this now...but I hope you get my point. We have to REPRESENT the Gospel in such a way that it wakes up the Higher Calling that is inside of us that will bring us into our destiny and purpose.
(I will continue with Real Talk Part III, on Tuesday)
It's time for us to be real with one another because we're dying with this lethargic, shallow minded bullsh** that we keep spewing forth to one another in hopes to get people to believe that we're okay. I don't buy it...it's a crock of crap and I love the realness that this writer put forth in their questions. These are the real deal questions of life. I was talking with a friend of mine yesterday that was visiting Atlanta. They attended the church that I used to attend, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church that is under the leadership of Bishop Eddie Long. When they called me after service, they were at such a loss for words. I asked them if anything was wrong and all they could respond is, "I bought the tape for you, listen to it, and then we'll talk!" If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that statement after leaving New Birth, I'd probably be a millionaire. But the truth of the matter is this, Bishop Long ministers straight from the heart and couples his delivery with transparency...in turn, it causes a true seek to manifest in the minds and hearts of the listeners and there you have the reason why the church is busting at the seams at 30,000 in membership. This isn't the only reason why the church has grown the way it has, but one of the main reasons is when you're at New Birth, you kinda don't feel like you're even at church...other than the praise and worship. After that, the music changes and you feel as if you're on a Space frontier and you're going where few people dare to go! You feel like you've been transformed into a different realm and I really don't do it justice because I can't even think of the appropriate words to describe it.
However, I'm writing this because I wonder why more people don't leave churches today, burdened the way I used to leave New Birth. I mean, listening to my friend and his inabililty to put in words just what happened in service took me back to the 5 years that I was a member and how many Sundays I stood in the tape line to purchase the tape so I could rehearse the word for that day. I would listen to the tape no less than 7 times and then dialogue with other members as to how I could apply the word in my life.
Why do preachers give such a watered down presentation of the gospel today? Why are there so few places where the word of God is being spoke WITH POWER! I can't help but think of the book of I Samuel when the bible records that the word of the Lord was rare and the lamp in the tabernacle had almost gone out! I'm not trying to be prophetic but that's exactly where we are in the body of Christ today. We have a generation hungry for the word but we have clergy who are stuck in how the word was delivered in 1940. Not everybody, but some are stuck in the 60's and 70's as well, and very few people are delivering a word that is relevant to the times that we are living in.
It's time to be real with ourselves if we're going to reach this generation...we have to do exactly what the children of Israel did when they were exiting out of Egypt. They took the best of their traditions, not everything went with them. WE might need to leave testimony service back in the 70's. No disrespect intended, it was good for the time, but today, there's something greater that God is calling forth. We need to embrace the new things that God is speaking for NOW in this dimension. We may need to think about not using the Hammond B3 (this is for the Black Church), and look into using the synthesizer in order to change up our presentation. We may need to look at each of the denominations and see what was good and keep it, but what was done just merely for the fact of tradition, discard. If we don't take the time to do this, we'll have more and more people falling by the wayside. I look back at my days at New Birth and I truly have to thank God for waking up the me inside of me that was dormant. In other words, I was going nowhere fast! I had a form of godliness because I looked like church but I had no power. I couldn't live Sunday night what was spoken forth on Sunday morning...but I could shout and sing with the best of them. If the hammond B3 was playing behind the preacher, you could expect me to be waving my hands.
However, there was still an emptiness inside that no one ever addressed, that is, until I stepped foot into New Birth in January of 1994. I call it the year of the Great Awakening because I could no longer run in circles and avoid the Higher Calling of God that was on the inside screaming to get out!
Every single one of us has a Higher Calling that has to be awakened...if you're going to church and you're just going through the motions...then maybe, no not maybe, you need to find where your mail is being delivered too on Sundays. You need to find a place where the word is not preached with tickling verbage that makes you feel good...you need a place where God convenes and confronts you in the deeper recesses of your soul. It may hurt, but there comes a time when we have to grow up and move past the fluff that we like so much. I don't know about you, but I am tired of church, the way it's been. I didn't give up my fun in the world to come in church and live with all these rules and regulations. I mean, my god! I didn't give up all that I did, to come and watch a preacher get off on a 3 point sermon...I've got to live on the word that he delivers and it's a bit of a slap in the face to confine God to just some quick encouragement on Sunday. NO, it's time for reality to be displayed from the pulpit to the pews with ministry and outreach from the spirit to the spirit! I'm going to end this now...but I hope you get my point. We have to REPRESENT the Gospel in such a way that it wakes up the Higher Calling that is inside of us that will bring us into our destiny and purpose.
(I will continue with Real Talk Part III, on Tuesday)
posted by Pastor Rich at 5:30 PM
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