As You Head Off to Church...Don't Forget Your Phone

Question:  If you didn't have a cell phone (gasp) and someone offered you one...whatever kind you wanted, what would you ask for?  Now, I'm not just talking about the brand, I'm talking about the functionality, the battery life, the design, the storage, the works!   

What would you want?

While your mind is rattling off a list, I have some more questions for you.

What do people who don't have Jesus in their lives, but who have heard about Him, and who are being offered the special gift of being His...what do they want from Him? 

How do they receive from the invisible God?  

Before Jesus ascended back to heaven, He commissioned His disciples and ultimately us to spread His gospel. So it's through you and I that His love and many other of His attributes are made manifest and visible to those around us. It will be through Jesus working in us that they will get their wish list!

So, if you were a phone in the hands of non believer or new believer, what do you offer?  I ask you this because often as we head off to church on Sundays or Saturdays we're looking for how WE can get OUR breakthrough or blessing.  Church and any other gathering of Believers is not for our benefit alone.  We attend to worship in unity and to be equipped to grow daily in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  When we leave, we are to pour out and share what we have been given to the world so that Jesus may be recognized, believed and glorified. 

Are you a brand new phone out of the box, beautiful and full of promise but nonoperational because you never plugged in to the Source and truly accepted Jesus as YOUR Lord and Savior, technically just being a "church goer".   There is so much more my brother and sister.  Plug in when you get to church today! 

Are you a phone all charged up but only offering the basic functionality - the calculator, the telephone, the text, the calendar.  You're helpful, but only to a certain degree.  You can only offer the

basic church jargon and Hallmark card bible phrases to those around you, but there is no evidence in your life that there is so much more to having a life in Christ.  In fact, phones like this can make people either decide they don't want to be like you and they push for more or they decide that there's nothing to this "Jesus thing" and they become disenchanted with obtaining a relationship with Jesus. 

Are you the phone full of great apps, functionality, storage and cool ring tones, but are functioning "off-line"?  It's all there plain as day, but only operational to a certain degree.  You're helpful to others, but are not making an impact in their lives. You look just like any other "good" person out there.  Truly, you won't look any different, no matter what you say or do... until you get "connected".  

So, if that's you. What makes you connected?

The Holy Spirit.  Receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit allows

followers of Jesus to operate in the totality of their calling as ambassadors and delegates of His love and government.  Everything that He places in you has the capability to operate at full capacity bringing life and joy to others.  
When you hold your phone in your hand, you expect it to provide you with answers, connections to others, entertainment, assistance, reminders, directions because you have downloaded the apps to do so.  You purchase the storage so that you can get all that you desire.   Spiritually speaking, God purchased your storage, your ability to hold all that He wants to pour in you, through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary's cross.  Jesus is the way and He made the way open so that we can come boldly before the throne of grace to ask of God what we need and to worship Him in intimacy.

Our weekly visits to church should be times of charging up and downloading new apps. Why? Someone will be looking for a "phone".  Someone will need to call on Jesus.  Someone will need to find directions to heaven.  Someone will need a recipe for living holy.  Someone will need a photograph of God's beauty. Someone will need to send a message to a friend or family member about His goodness.  Someone will need to hear the songs of praise.  Someone will need a light.  Someone will need a reminder.  

So, as you head off to church, don't forget your phone.  Charge up and download. Give God the glory and be the breakthrough and blessing for someone else.

"so that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to US in Christ Jesus."   

Ephesians 2:6b

" I chose You and appointed you to go and bear fruit"

 John 15:16

"to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up" 

 Ephesians 4: 12