Leaving Changed: The True Impact of Worship
Ezekiel 46:9
...he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate...he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in…
When we meet with the Lord, we should never go back out the same way we came in! Perhaps the biggest tragedy of this generation is the countless millions of people who attend church every week, but always go out the same way they came in. If our day is ever going to see a great revival, then something has got to change! We cannot continue as we are and expect things to get better. We have got to stare truth in the eyes and begin doing right no matter what. Repentance is a word which desperately needs to be revived in these times.
The trouble is, there is a generation which has come up who does not know the Lord or His ways. It is difficult to repent of something that you don’t think needs repenting of. Sadly, this is not only true of unbelievers, but it is also true for the church by large. What about the Laodicean church in Revelation chapter 3? They said, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;” Then Jesus said that they knew not that they were “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked”. The entire problem was their lack of knowing. They were totally ignorant of a need for change. They were happy just the way they were, because they were enjoying themselves.
I’m afraid that too many of us are more worried about being comfortable than we are being conformable. Paul said in Philippians 3:10-11, “That I may know him [Jesus], and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” Here’s the thing; to be comfortable in your present state is to die in your present state, but to be conformable unto the death of self is to be resurrected with Christ in newness of life!
Why is it that we only think of the costs of dying to self, without thinking of the rewards? For the Christian, life does not end at the cross; it only begins! Let us therefore determine that from this day forward, when we come before the presence of the Lord, that we will allow Him to speak to us of the changes we must make, so that we can say of a surety that we left a different way than we came!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill
...he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate...he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in…
When we meet with the Lord, we should never go back out the same way we came in! Perhaps the biggest tragedy of this generation is the countless millions of people who attend church every week, but always go out the same way they came in. If our day is ever going to see a great revival, then something has got to change! We cannot continue as we are and expect things to get better. We have got to stare truth in the eyes and begin doing right no matter what. Repentance is a word which desperately needs to be revived in these times.
The trouble is, there is a generation which has come up who does not know the Lord or His ways. It is difficult to repent of something that you don’t think needs repenting of. Sadly, this is not only true of unbelievers, but it is also true for the church by large. What about the Laodicean church in Revelation chapter 3? They said, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;” Then Jesus said that they knew not that they were “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked”. The entire problem was their lack of knowing. They were totally ignorant of a need for change. They were happy just the way they were, because they were enjoying themselves.
I’m afraid that too many of us are more worried about being comfortable than we are being conformable. Paul said in Philippians 3:10-11, “That I may know him [Jesus], and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” Here’s the thing; to be comfortable in your present state is to die in your present state, but to be conformable unto the death of self is to be resurrected with Christ in newness of life!
Why is it that we only think of the costs of dying to self, without thinking of the rewards? For the Christian, life does not end at the cross; it only begins! Let us therefore determine that from this day forward, when we come before the presence of the Lord, that we will allow Him to speak to us of the changes we must make, so that we can say of a surety that we left a different way than we came!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill