What We Really Need
Jerry Watts
1 Samuel 1:1-20
Read text / Video/ ''Houston we have a problem!'' For the young people, this is a movie. However, for people my age and older, this was and is real life. Things seemed to be going well for the crew of Apollo 13, right up to the moment of the 'explosion', then their world was turned upside down.
Over the past 9 years I have had the privilege of hearing our friend, Bro Kevin Hamm preach dozens of times. It seems that he begins most of his messages with the same general thought. He says it in many ways, but it normally is something like, ''We're in a mess.'' And he is right on point. We are in a mess as a culture, as a country, and sadly, as a church.
In his book ''Storm'', Pastor Jim Cymbala tells the story of being in his 26th floor apartment the night that ''Super-storm Sandy'' came in. It seems he was there alone and had real uncertainty about the strength of the building. He relayed how he would look out the window from time to time toward lower Manhattan and be encouraged by the skyline. It seems that this particular skyline served almost like a compass to those who lived in Brooklyn. Then in the midst of the storm something unusual happened. Lower Manhattan disappeared in the dark of night. In fact, Super Storm Sandy (as is the case in all storms) had knocked out the power so all the lights were out and there was no longer any skyline to serve as a point of reference. He then mused if perhaps what he was seeing was a metaphor of what is happening to the church in the USA. Have we lost our power and is our light going out?
We have a deep need in this country. Sadly, our leaders seem clueless. Sadder yet, is that the very people who have access to the answer for every problem we face don't really see it as the answer, or worse yet, see it and for some reason, are not willing to be the 'one' to call for it.
Every year we gather for our ''Community Revival''-but to what end? That is, what do we want ...
Jerry Watts
1 Samuel 1:1-20
Read text / Video/ ''Houston we have a problem!'' For the young people, this is a movie. However, for people my age and older, this was and is real life. Things seemed to be going well for the crew of Apollo 13, right up to the moment of the 'explosion', then their world was turned upside down.
Over the past 9 years I have had the privilege of hearing our friend, Bro Kevin Hamm preach dozens of times. It seems that he begins most of his messages with the same general thought. He says it in many ways, but it normally is something like, ''We're in a mess.'' And he is right on point. We are in a mess as a culture, as a country, and sadly, as a church.
In his book ''Storm'', Pastor Jim Cymbala tells the story of being in his 26th floor apartment the night that ''Super-storm Sandy'' came in. It seems he was there alone and had real uncertainty about the strength of the building. He relayed how he would look out the window from time to time toward lower Manhattan and be encouraged by the skyline. It seems that this particular skyline served almost like a compass to those who lived in Brooklyn. Then in the midst of the storm something unusual happened. Lower Manhattan disappeared in the dark of night. In fact, Super Storm Sandy (as is the case in all storms) had knocked out the power so all the lights were out and there was no longer any skyline to serve as a point of reference. He then mused if perhaps what he was seeing was a metaphor of what is happening to the church in the USA. Have we lost our power and is our light going out?
We have a deep need in this country. Sadly, our leaders seem clueless. Sadder yet, is that the very people who have access to the answer for every problem we face don't really see it as the answer, or worse yet, see it and for some reason, are not willing to be the 'one' to call for it.
Every year we gather for our ''Community Revival''-but to what end? That is, what do we want ...
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