And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.  Matthew 16:18 

 

It’s never too late to learn from our blunders. Here are seven: (1) We’ve made unbelief a doctrine. While third-world nations believe God for New Testament results, we teach our seminary students that God doesn’t do miracles anymore. (2) We’ve tolerated division. Who needs the devil when we’re so adept at hating one another in the name of denominational loyalty? (3) We’ve cultivated a religious spirit. We’ve taught that Christianity is about avoiding things like ……. As a result we’ve lost our joy, because intimacy with God cannot be achieved through performance. (4) We’ve encouraged ‘super stars’. Consequently, some of our preachers have stopped modeling servanthood, and have forgotten that Jesus washed feet and rode on a donkey. (5) We’ve equated money with success. We’ve found a way to ‘theologize’ greed, instead of using our God-given prosperity to feed the poor and reach the world with the Gospel. (6) We’ve stayed in the pews and become irrelevant. We freak out when somebody uses rap or rock music to reach the younger generation. Instead of engaging the culture, we’re hiding from it. (7) We’ve taught people to be escape-artists. Instead of ‘occupying till He comes’, we’d rather be astronauts and fly away. We read rapture novels when we should be praying for those living on the verge of martyrdom. Why can’t we have their kind of faith? We can - if we’re willing to pay the price and commit ourselves fully to God!