Do You Need Refreshment?

Water that stands alone becomes stagnant; Water that is a moving body is refreshing and is refreshed!

-Julie Coggins

We are all supposed to be a part of a body of believers.  Many reasons contribute to why we don’t have a home church.  Sometimes, we think we can walk this road alone.  Why?  Maybe we went to an imperfect church.  Let me inform you, they pretty much all are.  Maybe someone hurt us.  I have to tell you, this will happen whether we are in church, or at work, or if we leave our house!  Maybe we feel there is not a church like what we are looking for. 

Well, I understand.  We are used to the “Perfectly” recorded worship in our  CD changers, the outlined sermons of  the top ten preachers we watch- before we make our trek to the church with the peeling paint, the dirt parking lot, and the hard backed pews. 

Let me tell you, this is the main thing you need to know about selecting a church.  You need to find a Pastor with a burning fire for Jesus, more than the natural bent towards pleasing the crowd.  Find a Man who would rather linger on His face before God, than rubbing shoulders with Community leaders. 

You can’t go any farther with Jesus than the one you have as your Shepherd!

Once, you have found that man, everything else is pretty much relative.  You are called to back that man.  If you see an area of need, that is probably where you are needed!  You see, as you flow in this moving body, towards the deep “Living Water”, you will automatically feel a refreshing!!

The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

Proverbs 11:25

But if you remain alone, I promise, the water that you have will dry up or become stagnant.  It does not matter how much Bible knowledge you possess, you will never have that thrill of the Word you’ve received from God, being confirmed.  Or the “front row seat” when the friend you bring to church gets saved. 

This is what it is about. 

People are seeking a fresh flow of water.  Even in the natural, no one pays for bottled city water.  They will pay top dollar for fresh and cold spring water.  

The same goes for people who are seeking Jesus; they don’t want the cloudy polluted “not too sure you are saved” Christian, but they seek out the “Real-deal” Christian!

 -Julie Coggins

Just know, YOU can catapult the little church on the corner to become “the Beacon on Main St.”  And it will have been because you didn’t adhere to a feel-good, community friendly, cool church but instead stood beside a Church without compromise; dedicated to preaching the true unadulterated Truth of God’s Word. 

It might seem a pretty narrow road, but that is the road we are called to travel. 

 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matt.7:14                      

Flowing does mean giving of yourself and your time and your talents.  Giving your life!  Not just a day, but all of your days.  I am not promising that by flowing with this moving body, you won’t hit a rock or that something might try to stop you from a closer, deeper experience with Jesus.  But I do have a scripture that sums up, what Jesus promises. 

The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

John 10:10