The Perfecting Church

There are things in our lives and this world that can only be overcome by fasting and prayer. We’ve all experienced it at one time or another. We give the right effort and commitment to progress or overcome, we just lack the right know how and tools. God has given us a gift in fasting and prayer. Fasting and prayer give us access to a dimension of faith that can’t be entered any other way. Fasting and prayer delivers us from the exhaustion that comes from trying to do the right thing with the wrong tool.

There's a unique and devastating exhaustion we can experience in this life. It's an exhaustion of the heart that comes when we start looking for another god. If you give your life to Jesus and follow Him long enough, you will experience times when you see Him moving in the lives of others, but feel as if He’s abandoned you. There will be times when people around you are being healed of their conditions, promoted and progressed in life, but you will remain stuck in your trouble, hardships and pain. The drift that can happen in our hearts when we experience this, brings an exhaustion that leaves us going through the same motions, but inside our affections and heart commitment have gone looking for another god. We become exhausted by wandering and searching for someone or something to give us what we want.

We live in a globally connected, 24/7 world, that’s been sped up to warp speed and tied together in a world-wide web. They say that New York City is the City that never sleeps, but we’ve become a nation of sleepless cities and people. Our never stop, always connected world is destroying our souls. We’re losing ourselves to exhaustion. Technology has taken the limits off of everything in this world except us. We were created with limits. We were made for God. We were created to be human beings, not human doings and we must learn to do the one thing in a do it all world.

Exhausted. There’s an epidemic of tired in this world. Chronic fatigue, anxiety, sleeplessness, depression are at epidemic levels all around us and in many cases it’s simply because we’re tired or more accurately stated — exhausted. This series is going to reset and restore us by taking us to answers that medicine alone can not provide. It’s time to get delivered from exhausted.

If you’ve been in a relationship of any kind — family, friendship, marital you have experienced offense. Offense can turn even the most fruitful relationship on its axis. If it is not acknowledged and unaddressed, offense can tear at the very fabric of a relationship and destroy it. Offense is a divisive weapon, creating a narrative that attempts to override the truth of God’s word.

The Greater Philadelphia region is comprised of Philadelphia, the four suburban counties of Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware and the Southern New Jersey counties of Burlington, Gloucester, Camden, and Salem. This region is shaped by Philadelphia, the 6th largest city in the United States and Camden the county seat of Camden County — the largest county in Southern New Jersey. Philadelphia is affectionately known as the City of Brotherly Love and Camden’s motto is, In A Dream I Saw a City Invincible — an excerpt from a Walt Whitman’s poem where he dreamt of a utopian city where love triumphed and flourished. It is here that God has called us, The Perfecting Church, not just to live and worship, but to be a part of His eternal plan to impact and transform this region by extending the Kingdom of God.

The Church of Laodicea is an example of the destructive power of pride. When we think too highly of ourselves and wrongly of Jesus, we end up lukewarm. Lukewarm is worst than any other position we could be in — it’s too close to God to be cold and too far to be hot. God’s letter to the Church of Laodicea provides a prescription for the lukewarm ones.

Compromise provokes the divine discipline of God. It’s among the Church’s most destructive enemies. When we willingly lower God’s standard, we destroy ourselves and the power of our witness from within. Wherever there is compromise, Jesus comes with His two-edged sword drawn to deliver us from being lost.

Nothing challenges our faithfulness and loyalty like pain, suffering and loss. It’s not hard to find commitment when times are good, expectations are met and winning is the norm. But faithfulness is a part of our character that can’t be seen until circumstances aren’t optimal and staying committed carries no obvious benefit. It takes a special kind of person to keep it together and a special kind of Church to stand together during times of pain, suffering and loss — God reserves a special kind of reward for those who do. He has a special kind of love for Smyrna.

First Love is not an emotion. First love is God. The God of Heaven is our first love; He knew us, named us and embraced us before the world was. His love is the First Love here in the earth too. All other loves are secondary loves. The Church loves Him because He first loved Her. We must embrace and vigilantly work to keep first love first.