Hi Sidewalk,
Thank you for your kind words.
We are not supposed to be like the Dead Sea, with no outlet. The Dead Sea cannot support life but it can support people of leisure. You can float on your back in the Dead Sea but you can't drink it's water so you will end up a person of leisure that dies of thirst.
Another person in this thread talked about us being in the middle of a harvest. Fields, white with harvest and the Church with such an opportunity, is introspective and inward.
Jesus had no one who shared his heart except His Father, because they were one. Jesus kept His will in harmony with His Father's. He did not search endlessly for someone who would agree with Him or someone that He could agree with. His heart was fixed and if all the disciples left Him, He was not going to be shaken from His Father's will.
If we are whole in Christ and enjoying the close fellowship and security of His heart then we will be about our Father's business. We won't entertain any thoughts that detract from His will.
Look, there has always been a religious system and there always will be.
If we have the Spirit of God indwelling us our attitude should be an overcoming attitude. We are here to seek and to save the lost and make disciples. Of course we cannot save, as we are only conduits of Jesus Christ. We are His voice, His arms, His hands, and His feet, but He is the substance in the temple. We are containers and the container holds the substance but can never be the substance. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels..."
We simply need to get out of the way (self), removing all the obstacles, open our cartons and let the love of God pour out of us.
There are many things that quench the Spirit of God in us. Fear, hurts, bitterness, unforgiveness, rivalries, pride, strife, etc, etc. These things will turn us into the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is well,,,DEAD, because it is selfish and has no outlet to others. And a lot of people find comfort and solace and leisure in the Dead Sea. I want the Living Waters!
We must look away from all that is not of Him, that which seeks to destroy us and make us unfruitful in Him and we are to allow Him to be all that He wants to be in our lives.
We are the impediment, not others. We need to wake up and realize that Christ is alive and wants to live in us and wants to touch not only the lost but also our brothers and sisters.
We are to "rule in the midst of our enemies" and not let our enemy rule in our midst.
For far too long I bemoaned the fact that the churches were all messed up and woe was me because I could not find any fellowship. I even thought that house churches were the answer, but they aren't. Christ is the answer and always be.
I found plenty of fellowship, long hours of fellowship, real, genuine fellowship when I repented of my discontentment and ungratefulness and let the rivers of living waters flow out of me like they are supposed to. And you know something? The more I loved people and thought about them instead of myself, the more I was made whole.
One thing I learned that was very important in my life was to draw men to Christ and not to people or churches. Not to home church and not to particular institutional churches. Just draw men to Christ and let Him be their Shepherd. And the flip side is that I don't draw men away from their place of fellowship whether it is a house church or an institutional setting, because and this is very important, it is wrong to be part of a divisive spirit even if you think you are right and it is wrong to draw people away from valuable, genuine relationships. There are genuine relationships in all kinds of settings.
We don't have to be part of all the division, strife and discontentment. There is no time for that. Jesus Christ is on the move...are we on the move with Him?
