The American church needs to step up its game.
In a recent sermon, Pastor Greg Locke encouraged Christians in our nation to step up to the plate and be the people that God has called us to be, completely, boldly on fire for the Lord.
Instead of running away from God’s power and might, we are called move toward it.
“Religion has lied to us and denomination has bound us,” Locke says. “We have become so formal and traditional in the things of God in the American church that we, like Paul said to Timothy, have a form of godliness but we deny the power thereof.”
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God isn’t after our formality as much as He is after our faith. It appears as though the church has lost its true awe and wonder for the Lord and living in the power of the Holy Spirit.
“There is an empty package in America and it’s called the body of Christ,” Locke says. “The American church has a form of godliness but she doesn’t have enough Holy Ghost power.”
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One of the reasons that the American church may be experiencing a lack of Holy Ghost power is because of less time spent in community with other believers. Yet, it is the people who vaguely attend services that the current church culture has accommodated life for.
“The bulk of people in America go to church twice a year,” Locke says. “Christmas and Easter…and we have tried to build our whole life around people that are not following Jesus.”
“We’ve tried to dumb down the Bible for people that are biblically dumb. We’ve tried to take the supernatural out of the Bible and make it superficial because it allows people to sit in a chair and feel comfortable about their lukewarm condition and never praying, never fasting, never reading the Bible,” Locke says later in the message.
Locke also notes the lack of Spirit-filled power that pastors have today as a contributing factor for congregants’ less than ideal levels of enthusiasm for true revelation of God’s holiness.
“You see, pastors that don’t believe in the power of God are nothing more than CNN and Fox News anchors. They’re just feeding you full of a bunch of malarkey to keep from being able to sleep and rest at night,” says Locke.
Above all, a recommitment to spending time directly with the Lord is what is needed above all else from God’s people and for a revitalization of the American church.
“You only get full when you fall in consecration and humility before the Lord,” Locke says.
While we are called to go and preach the gospel to all creation, it is not our job to become like the world. In order to effectively be the church, we must genuinely place the Lord above all other things in our lives. It is from the overflow of the Holy Spirit that we are able to pour into others.
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Abby Trivett is content development editor for Charisma Media.
Phil Hotsenpiller 
Stephen Strang 
