I read a comment on Facebook from a friend who asked why someone would want to go to a church that left them “drier” than when they went in.  And I agree fully.  Church is not entertainment, but rather a continuation of the worship you SHOULD be doing every day at home, where you go to be taught, encouraged, corrected, and healed by God’s Word.  Sadly, many churches have made big business out of entertaining the people.  And people wonder why they aren’t seeing the works of the Holy Spirit there.  I commented back to the effect that if the “Washer” was present, it wouldn’t be like that.

What do I mean by the “Washer”?  Specifically I mean the One who washes away our sins, who heals all our diseases, namely Christ Jesus of Nazareth.  If He isn’t there, then it’s “Drier than desert sand”, or as many would put it, “Business as usual” in church.  Does God show up for every church service?  I would have to say NO, for if the Holy Spirit is there, He will cause change in every life present, and not everyone wants to be changed.  God does not show up at your church or meeting to entertain you.  He shows up to CHANGE you into the image of His Son.  And if you are not being changed into the image of Christ Jesus, either He is not showing up at your church, or YOU are not submitting to Him, or possibly BOTH.

Not everyone agrees with the things I write, but if I’m writing something that does not agree with the written Word, then show me chapter and verse, and I will quickly recant.  But know this: I am NOT interested in playing church, nor will I go to minister somewhere to tickle people’s ears.  The Holy Spirit always leads me in the way He wants me to go, and I share it with whosoever will listen.  Not everyone is willing to surrender “their will” and “their religion” or “their theology” to the Holy Spirit and be completely led by Him.  I’m not talking about being led by ME, for I’m human and can make mistakes.  But if I show you in black and white what God clearly says, and you still don’t want to comply with God’s Word, then that’s where my obligation ends, and I’ll move on.

The Lord Jesus said this when He sent His disciples to minister:
Luk 10:1  After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.
Luk 10:2  Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
Luk 10:3 Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.
Luk 10:4  Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way.
Luk 10:5  And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house.
Luk 10:6  And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again.
Luk 10:7  And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.
Luk 10:8  And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:
Luk 10:9  And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
Luk 10:10 But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,
Luk 10:11  Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
Luk 10:12  But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.
Luk 10:13  Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
Luk 10:14  But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you.
Luk 10:15  And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.
Luk 10:16  He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.

That last verse should scare people.  If we neglect to hear what is written in God’s Word and let it change us into His image, then what hope do we have in the end of being accepted by Him? Many believe if they belong to such-and-such church, they are saved.  The Word of God denies that.  The fact that there will be FEW saved scares me even more.  Most churches preach God is a loving God who will let us live however we want, and we can still be saved.  Again, here is what the Lord Jesus said:

Luk 13:23  Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,
Luk 13:24  Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
Luk 13:25  When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:
Luk 13:26  Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.
Luk 13:27 But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
Luk 13:28  There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.
Luk 13:29  And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.
Luk 13:30  And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.

There are many popular ministers who preach a “warm and fuzzy” gospel that has great appeal to the ears of the hearers, satisfying the longings of the flesh, but leaves the soul absolutely dry of the presence of the Holy Spirit.  They would rather be entertained, than changed into the image of Christ Jesus.  Actually, when it gets right down to it, people resist change.  Nobody really likes being corrected, and I didn’t either, until the Holy Spirit told me that unless I let Him change me, I could not be His child, and therefore, I could not inherit everlasting life.  That was all it took for me to lay down “MY” will, and say, LORD, mold me into the image You want me to have. But not everyone is that “easy”.  Some are real hard-heads, who think they have all the answers, and nobody else is right.  Well, there is only ONE right, and that is GOD, and all the rest of us are a mess, whether we want to think so or not.  Only as we submit ourselves to the correction of the Holy Spirit, do we come to the place that we can look back and say, “Wow, I thought I was right about that, but God’s Word has shown me differently.”

God has given me a lot of understanding about healing through the years, because I have sought and obeyed Him, but I don’t know it all, nor do I claim to, but this I DO KNOW:  If we are not willing to be corrected by His Word, even though we THINK we are right, we will stay right where we are at and become altogether un-teachable and prideful.  Gradually through the years the LORD has had to reprogram many things I THOUGHT were God’s truth, but were only “doctrines of men”.  And boy, those are hard to turn loose of, let me tell you!  There are people who will defend their “religion” to their death, even if God’s Word clearly shows it to be in error.  But there ARE those who hear and receive the Word of God, and are hungry enough for the truth, that they will give up what they previously held tightly, in order to let God have His way with them.  Is change hard and uncomfortable?  It CAN be.  But for the one who desperately wants God’s best, it is easy to allow oneself to be molded by Him into what He has created them to be. It just depends on how much value you put on God’s Word versus “doctrines of men”.

The Apostle Paul dealt with some stiffnecked people back in his day, too, nothing has changed in 2000 years.  He offered Timothy the following advice:
2Ti 4:1  I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2Ti 4:2  Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
2Ti 4:3  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2Ti 4:4  And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
2Ti 4:5  But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

People continue to loyally go to churches year after year, going in sick or depressed, or spiritually dry, “because grandpa and grandma went there, mom and dad went there, and that’s just the way we do things.”  They go in sick, and come out sick.  Tell me, is that the Gospel that Jesus preached?  Is that what His disciples went out and preached?  How is it then that we settle for the “drier” when we should be seeking the “Washer”?  This is what I think, for what it’s worth: If you are not seeing signs and wonders following the Word of God being preached where you go to worship, as it is written in Mark 16:20, then it’s time to ask yourself WHY not.  God confirms HIS WORD, but not “doctrines of men”.

Don’t you think it’s high time to give up dry religion and be filled with the Holy Spirit, as it is written in John 7:37-38? In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.