Thoughts from the Ananias/Sapphira thread

I don't like feeling pressured by someone into any kind of spiritual activity. Even if it's something very small.

Countless times I've heard sermons where the preacher is fishing for applause:
"blah, blah, blah, so forth and so on...amen? amen? C'mon, you can clap for that."

I never clap for that.


Worship "leaders" saying:
"Give God a clap offering" after a song

Really? Are you sure you don't want me to clap for you? No thanks


The last church I attended, a guy put together a "prayer drive" to have a bunch of people drive down every street in town and pray for each house and family as we drove by. I went along, feeling the Holy Spirit had led me to go. But when it was only me and him, he got fed up. He made sarcastic comments like "I'll bet if we offered them lunch they'd come."

I stopped going, too, feeling that it was going to turn into human compulsion rather than a Spirit led project.


However, in a slightly different scenario, I spoke from the pulpit about a Spring Cleanup at that church. I was on the Property and Space committee, and the pastor asked if any of us wanted to announce it from the pulpit. I said something to the effect of:

We're having a day of cleanup, and we need help. But I want to tell you who I want to see here. If you regularly help with child care, or you teach Sunday School, or if you're on the worship team, or serve on committees, we are not looking for your help. I want to see somebody here that doesn't give a hoot about anything here.

If you walk across the parking lot every week, and give no thought to how it stays clean, I want you here. If you use the bathroom every week, and have never bothered to think about who empties the trash, I want you here. If you like the lights all working, but have never thought about the guy that maintains them, I want to see you here.

I gave a pretty pressured announcement, for sure. But, it was not necessarily a "spiritual" event. I looked at it as a common courtesy from those who use the facility all the time, but never contribute anything. That cleanup day, we had our highest turnout.

 

The "crunching" sound from stepping on toes gets people's attention pretty quick. If their toes were stepped on, they shouldn't have been there to begin with.

 

It was a wake up call Brother Willis, a wakeup call!:love2:

 

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

James L, once again I find myself in agreement with you. One of my pet peeves - and I pray about it - is a speaker who constantly asks for responses. I have to fight down the urge to say something like "When you say something and the Spirit moves me..."

But Mom attempted to teach me polite behavior.

Your request for assistance on clean up day was marvelous. That is the proper spirit.

Which reminds me; has anyone ever noticed how all sorts of people will 'amen' a speaker condemning homosexuality, but when the lack of (agape) love - or gluttony, or selfishness - is mentioned, they will remain strangely quiet?