We tried a new church today...

I started this blog because many a times, late at night when my mind is flowing with good thoughts, sometimes God speaks. And I never had a place to store those thoughts other than in my brain. So I started this blog and tonight is one of those nights. Its currently 1:04 in the morning, I have orientation for my first day of a new job tomorrow morning and I'm in bed thinking about churches & the Holy Spirit and now I'm out of bed with my laptop blogging about it. Odd, huh?

So we tried a Baptist church today. Its our first Sunday trying a new church after having just left our old church. Why did we leave our old church? Well the short and true story for the Bennett family is we were at a Missions Banquet our church puts on and the worship was awesome, I cried, I praised God, it was awesome. Then the sermon was awesome as well and by the end of it, I wanted to open up my check book and financially share in God's work to the best of my ability. Then our associate Pastor got up to speak and immediately the Holy Spirit informed me something was very wrong. That combined with many oddities that were occurring as well is what prompted the Bennett family to leave.

So again... we tried a Baptist church today. It was very nice. The Pastor had a very good sermon and definitely appears to be a true man of God. I very much liked him. What Sarah & I didn't like however, was the worship. We sang hymns (which is more than fine) but what bothered me was not a single hand in the place was lifted up in worship. That doesn't mean for a second that no hearts were lifted in worship, but it didn't fit a style of worship that we're accustomed to and in retrospect doesn't feel like a place where I could openly weep or get excited during worship and not have the whole congregation staring at me. I'm not saying the church isn't what God has for us but it didn't feel like a good fit.

So then we went to Sunday School and boy, oh boy was the teacher fired up. He started off with what was on the front page of the newspaper and how there are all kinds of alternatives (activities) open to folks besides going to church on Easter. He then went on to read the whole Easter story, from crucifixion through being raised from the dead and letting Thomas touch Jesus' scars. I learned a few details that in merely reading the Bible I had missed in the past. It was very good.

But the teacher also mentioned a few things that really jumped out at me, especially for being from a Baptist Church. He said, "I believe every Christian should be a Spirit filled Christian". He mentioned that while explaining why he was deviating from teaching the next section in their Bible Study curriculum and instead teaching what God put on his heart.

Then, he later talked about the story of a guy going on a cruise and eating peanut butter sandwiches every day until the very last day when he decided he would eat from the scrumptious buffet and pay whatever it cost. This guy then went to the buffet only to find out that it was free the whole time! The teacher then asked how we as Christians don't take all that is available to us from God. At the time, the 2 statements didn't click until I was lying in bed just 40 minutes ago. Is he talking about the gifts of the Spirit being available for today? I don't know, but I think I'll call him and talk to him about it.

However, I firmly believe God does have a lot more for us that we as Christians don't take advantage of. Is it possible to live every moment, making every decision based on the Holy Spirit's prompting? Is it possible to laugh and joke with the Holy Spirit and bring Him into every facet of our daily walk?? Is it possible to pray God's heart for 15 minutes one night only to 2 months later be asked to recite it to the church congregation? Is it possible to reach for your Bible to read His Word and instead have God say, "Rest. You'll need it." Is it possible to look for a job for 2 months with no optimistic outlook to only 5 weeks later having 2 companies begging for you to come work for them all on the same day??? YES. YES!!! All this and more is possible with God.

Unfortunately I'm so easily distracted by the dirt bikes, busy-ness and sin of this world that I often miss where and what I should be doing...

So to try and tie all this up. Are we going back to the Baptist church? I haven't ruled it out, but I think after eating from the buffet it might be hard to go back to not eating from the buffet.

Tim.