In our own walks we often trust in our own works and abilities rather than falling upon the rock of Christ as the spiritually helpless ones we are. Unless we do see the utter spiritual bankruptcy of the flesh and seek the only recourse, to be Spirit-filled, then we are doing no better than profaning the divine altar with a graving tool. In my own case, I have learned the hard way that I am of no use to God unless I am a helpless wretch before Him. If I try to serve Him with my own “wisdom” and “learning” and “abilities” I soon find myself bitter and angry and frustrated and in a huge dry spell creatively. However, when I give up my rights to this ministry and seek only to be obedient while remaining in the background through it all does God send the joy and direction

The focus of our ministries, whether it is all on God, His purposes, and His ways or whether it is on men or self, is also what marks whether what we are doing is God glorifying or merely another profane work of the flesh. The daily walk of the regenerate believer is a ministry. How we deal with all those with whom we interact each day is part of our ministries. Therefore, all who know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour have a ministry. What we must do is examine our walks to see if we are profaning the altar of God with the ways of the flesh or whether we are obediently ministering as led by the Spirit.

When we see churches use entertainment to attract people to them, even to the point of substituting secular music for praise and worship, we are witnessing the human touch, the encroachment of what is of the flesh into what should be treated as sacred.

I used to be a Deacon in a church  that went Purpose Driven in the early 1990’s. The last Easter I was a member there before God moved my wife and I to another city, we rented the local High School auditorium because ours was not big enough for the expected “crowd” that our pastors anticipated after their big marketing push. They advertised on TV. They ran full page ads in the local newspapers. They ran ads on the radio, including secular radio stations.

Many of our Deacons were given the duty of parking cars. It was a big deal. I’m not sure what I was expecting to happen that Sunday. The band on the stage played very modern music with a light show. Then the pastor preached a very short message that was more of an invitation to visit our church than the gospel. When he was done preaching, the bad played the closing song. I usually worked down front at our church services to assist those who came forward at the invitation. However, we were told to not come forward that Sunday. The service closed with the band playing the song “Desperado” by the Eagles as people filed out. I felt as if I was in the Twilight Zone.

Some have told me that they do not like expository preaching. They get bored. Their minds wander. If the “music” is too traditional then that just compounds the problem for them. Now, what are they really saying through this? Aren’t they demanding that they be entertained? Television, movies, video games, et cetera have all overloaded the part of our brains that deals with pleasure. We have become overloaded with sensory inputs. Now those things that used to hold our interest seem drab and boring and we find ourselves wanting to get away from whatever is causing this so we can get back to feeding our brains what they want. The problem is that once this cycle starts it is very hard to break away from the sensational in order to hear the profound.

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