Going deep with God

GO DEEP!!!!

Well I have started back at therapy and I can tell you, "IT HURTS!!!" There are times when he presses on trigger points that I think I am going to levitiate. Just kidding about the levitation, but not about the pain. But if I am going to find that healing he will need to continue to go deep.

Lately the Lord has been showing me something that is so important in ministry. So here it goes:
It seems to me that often in Christian circles we are content with leading people to Christ and talking to them about Jesus. Now statistics tell us that the average Christian leads less than 1 other person to Christ during their lifetime. There is something seriously wrong (I mean with what we are doing not that the statistics are wrong).

For those who are invloved in "evangelism" we can sometimes take the approach of leading someone to Christ and then moving on to the next person. There is a real problem with that approach. Here is why!!!

If the message we preach is forgiveness without repentance we are sharing a cheap gospel. In Luke 24:47 we find written, "Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." I am understanding that it is not enough to just stand on the corner and tell someone they need to be forgiven or preach forgiveness, it is part of the message but not the whole message. The message we share needs to include repentance.

Repentance means to turn from the direction we are heading and go in the opposite direction. Repentance means turning and going towards God. It means we need to teach those who pray for forgiveness how to really go deep with God and learn from Him. Maybe I am wrong but I think the church has often been guilty of sharing a watered down gospel.

I know churches keep lots of statistics. I think the most important thing a church should keep track of is not how many new members they have, or how many new converts, but on how many disciples did they make.

Just like the illustration I shared about my therapist having to go deep to bring healing and help me to move forward with strength, the same thing needs to happen in our walk with God. We need to go deep and help others to go deep and become disciples of Christ. It requires more of us and of those we disciple.