I John 2:18-23

Sidenote, I found out yesterday that one of my very dear friend is moving away in 3 weeks. I knew she was probably moving soon but not that soon. Her husband is currently our youth minister. They are leaving for him to become a pastor in Columbus, Ms. I have had 3 very close friends move since June. Its been very hard and its very easy for me to want to slip into my old habits of pushing people away and building walls. It's my way of protecting myself.

S- v.19 These people left our churches because they never really belonged with us;otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left us it proved that they never belonged with us.

O- I see this all the time in the American church. People come to the church building because its expected, out habit, or out of guilt. These people never had a personal relationship with God. They are just going through the emotions. Our church has experienced a rapid growth in the last 2 years. We went from around 700 on Sunday mornings to over 1300. A lot of these people have come from sister churches that are having problems, a small percent are new believers, but the majority come for the social reasons. My prayer for everyone coming through our doors is that they each have a personal realtionship with God; that its a daily part of their life not just Sunday morning religion.

A- That I will reach out to these people in my church and in my community. That I need to be bold and not just assume. Many people in our churches will still be sitting in their chairs come rapture time.

P- Lord, help me to an instrument. Show me ways to show these type of people your love and how there is so much more than religion. Open the eyes of the people in the church who truly don't know you. Who may have head knowledge, but not heart. Amen