Genesis 35:7 "There he built an altar, and he called that place El Bethel"
It's time for church revolution. It's time we start renaming our places of worship. I'll start: From now on, Community Baptist Church will be El Community Baptist Church. Why? Because it's time we started worshiping the God of our churches, and not the institutions and denominations themselves.
In Genesis we read of Jacob's journey to truly becoming Israel. It's a long process and I believe that chapter 35 is where he finally becomes that man. He buries the household gods, sanctifies his family, and makes a stand. He renames Bethel (House of God) to El Bethel (the God of the House of God). This is a key step. No longer will he worship the place or the experience, he will worship the God who made that experience possible. That is the key stage for any ministry.
Our churches today are still caught up in worshiping experiences, methods, buildings, ministries and personalities. We are caught up in a Cult of Christian Personality. We follow trends and programs, books and methods, and worst of all - we follow men. These have become our means of measuring success and attaining worldly recognition. We need a radical overhaul - a fire sale. Everything must go. Every treasure we've built up on earth needs to be burned and the ashes scattered to the wind.
The key for Jacob was that he didn't try to recreate his first experience at Bethel - He came and offered himself up completely new and expectant of new experiences. Our churches need to stop trying to recreate experiences and programs and pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This can only start when we totally let go of all our baggage, all of our preconceived ideas of 'church' and simply let God go to work through us.
Read Ezekiel 47 - it's the perfect illustration of the step of total abandonment to God. I'll explain further in my next posting. For now - pray for an open mind to be willing to do what God wants to do. Look directly at Him. Don't be like the beggar in Acts 3 who had to be told to focus. Look clearly into the face of Jesus and let Him be the God of our churches.
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