Can We Be The Church?

We had just finished sharing in night two of what is scheduled to be three nights of ministry at Lift Him Up Ministries in Brownsville, Florida. The hour was late, and the 2 o’clock lunch from 9 hours earlier had completely worn off. Not knowing who would be open at this late hour, Deb prayed for the Lord to lead us to a place that was open somewhere the Lord wanted us to go. As always, the Lord was faithful. He directed my hands and within minutes we pulled up to an all night diner. Outside were the three employees, enjoying the night air. It became immediately obvious at this time there were no customers say this worn-out couple that had now disturbed their rest. Their mild frustration, while obvious, was quickly disarmed by our apology for disturbing their break and opened the door for conversation. My wife Deborah and I were physically tired, yet spiritually charged, after two nights of services experiencing the manifest presence of God, having witnessed miraculous healings, words of knowledge, prophecy, bondage broken, and deliverance in the lives of people hungry for God. By the direction and power of God, we had helped others begin walking in their giftings and witnessed the transformation of people once timid, fearful, and bound up in guilt, shame, and sin, now being set free. Some, for the first time, were experiencing the Spirit of the God of all creation working in and through them. Yes, we were and are spiritually charged. These three young women working the late hour soon fell victim to our compassion, conversation, and the love of Jesus that was so obviously oozing out of us. They quickly opened up and began asking questions like: “Do you have a church?” “Where do you live?” “What is your family like?” Then, statements followed that truly hurt my heart to the very core. I felt ashamed of what we, the church (generally speaking), have projected our God to be. They told us of pastors who come in and begin flirting with them; others who come in with women other than their wives, of churches that have kicked them out because of their lifestyle (one was living a gay lifestyle). They shared their fears of church because of the fakeness they witnessed in so-called believers. My heart ached! In the midst of the conversation, a local pimp joined the crowd and by no choice of his own he too heard this testimony of the church. I truly wondered, “Has he too been disillusioned by the church, by God’s people?” As another couple joined the small gathering, I could not help but have compassion on them as their service was truly interrupted by the fact that the two waitresses and one cook were standing motionless, with a couple at the counter. These three young ladies were seemingly unaware of anyone else but these two people filled with something they desired. Before leaving, the five of us joined together in prayer. We asked the Lord to reveal Himself to these young ladies, to pour out His Spirit upon them, and that He would show them His love, His genuine love, so they would encounter the genuine God. As I reflect upon last night, my heart continues to ache. It aches that in so many places across this great land, a land founded upon God, there are so many who have not met Him, the true God; their perception of God so often filtered and confused by the frailty and failings of man—the result of sin. Whether it is pastors, leaders, those who claim to believe, or whether it is those who have never known the Lord or those who have turned away, we, the people created in the image of God, all too often paint a counterfeit picture of Him who saved us. I’m not pointing fingers and I am not judging. I don’t need to. That is the job of the Holy Spirit, but my heart is grieved, and my fellow believer, yours should be as well. If you call yourself a follower of Christ, you have a responsibility, one to reflect your creator, not your fallen self. Look, we all fall, we all fail, and we all need grace. We need the blood of Jesus, but the world does not need to see our failings, they need to see the victory over sin in us! Can we purpose to reflect the true character of God—His power, His love, His victory, His glory, His hope—the power over sin that He has given us to a fallen world? The power over sin by grace in Jesus Christ, can we show that more than we show our failings and our need for grace? Can we do more to make this life in Christ more desirable than a life lived for the world? Can we be the church? Pastor Gene Burroughs