"A Contrast of Pilgrims and Strangers"

The following are excerpts of a message I preached recently called "A Contrast Between Pilgrims and Strangers". I just kind of had it on my heart while thinking about the future of the Apostolic Church... and individual congregations at large:

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Hebrews 11:13
13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

A CONTRAST OF PILGRIMS AND STRANGERS

I’m standing in this pulpit tonight craving an answer to a question that drives me every day that I live. There’s something in me that desires to know, in the depths of my soul, that this is the kind of Church that God can bless.

Because I know that I have to give an account for this Church my heart and mind is consumed with making sure that this is the kind of Church that God can bless. What kind of Church is it that God can bless? Well, I stand assured according to scripture that God can bless a…
• Doctrinally sound Church. I thank God this congregation is on a solid foundation of Apostolic doctrine.
• Holy Church. I’m honored to be the Shepherd of a congregation that wants to be holy. Some of you would live just as holy if it was never preached in this pulpit again.
• Sensitive Church. I think we can all agree that a move of God is futile if there’s not someone sensitive enough to react to the prompting of the Spirit.
• Passionate Church. I’ve seen God bless ‘passion’ when there were other elements that weren’t exactly right. God loves people who are passionate and blesses them, oft times, in spite of personal struggles.

But in the midst of all that there is another attribute that I think God marks and determines to pour out His blessings on. We sometimes overlook it but I think it’s important to know that God blesses a ‘progressive’ Church! In fact, I think it goes without saying that the day we cease being progressive is the day we start dying as a congregation!


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That’s why progressive Churches are growing Churches! God loves a progressive Church so much that God said, “I’ll bless you if you’ll just be willing to follow after my purpose! I’ll honor you if you’ll just be willing to pursue my presence and chase after the things that I love!”

I’m convinced that God intended this church to be a progressive church. In fact, I can go all the way back to the Church in the wilderness and show you that God was always willing to bless a progressive Church! Look with me and consider that…
• After 400 years of slavery to Egypt God told Israel, “Get ready because tonight I’m going to lead a Church out of Egypt!” How? It was going to be called a ‘Passover’ and a death angel was going to pass over the land and kill the firstborn of every household. The only way to escape, according to God, was to…
o gather your family together,
o slay a lamb,
o put blood on the doorposts,
o eat the lamb until you be filled
 oh, and by the way, put your shoes on and a staff in your hand because you’re going to make a journey that takes you forevermore out of the bondage of this land!

Get your shoes on because God blesses a progressive church!

• Shall I remind you that the Red Sea opened up to provide a one way path for them to cross over but, just as importantly, it closed up behind them. It was more than a journey for which there was no return; it was God’s blessing on them for being a progressive Church!

Don’t fear the journey because God blesses a progressive church!

• It was called the ‘Church in the wilderness’ but don’t forget that in that wilderness there was a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. It was there to signal when it was time to journey yet again if they were going to stay in step with the Will of God.

Keep following God because God blesses a progressive church!

When you read your Bible you find that as long as they stayed a progressive Church it seemed God would…
• Honor and bless Israel time and again
• Make exceeding great promises to Israel
• Quickly rise to the defense of that wilderness Church.

I guess what I’m trying to say tonight to this congregation is that it’s all too easy to forget that…
This walk with God is supposed to be a journey!
That’s the reason that God said we go from ‘glory to glory’!

Oh, someone hear me right! I’m going to go a step further and tell you that if this walk with God is supposed to be a journey then I have to also believe that…

Every service is supposed to be a journey!

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God said they weren’t just ‘traveling’ or out on some spiritual stroll; they were strangers and pilgrims! Every step they made they made with a purpose in them that said, “I’m not content to just be sitting in the Church where I can ‘touch’ blessings… I want to possess a place where I dwell in the blessings of God!”

Oh yes, it said they were ‘strangers’. That meant that following God meant that sometimes things wouldn’t look like they’ve looked the last 20 years of living for God! It meant that sometimes my worship is going to look different and my burden is going to feel different… but that’s okay because I’m taking new land and conquering new battles!

What I’m trying to preach tonight goes far beyond sitting in a pew tonight like you sat in a pew five years ago! What God’s trying to say to this Church goes far beyond coming in here tonight and having a good service and marching back out into our comfortable spiritual rut!

I want to tell this Church tonight why what I’m preaching tonight is so foreign to some of you. It’s because it’s been too long since you were a pilgrim taking new land and you’ve become just a traveler who can visit a spiritual dimension three times a week but run right back to the safe, secure comfort of your religious routine!

Somehow God wants to remind us there’s a difference between pilgrims and travelers! He wants us to take a fresh look at out lives and realize that…
• Pilgrims forge new ground and possess kingdoms.
o Travelers just take religious vacations to realms they soon return from and can never claim as their own!
• Pilgrims conquer enemies and become stronger as a result.
o Travelers just visit the battlefield three times a week and rush back home without ever growing any stronger!
• Pilgrims leave monuments behind them of victories won.
o Travelers leave nothing but a shadows that disappear and footprints that blow away with time!

It’s the will of God… it’s the Divine plan of God… that some of you…
• Daddies stop being travelers that run right back to your spiritual rut and start being pilgrims that carve a path that your children can follow!
• Mothers stop being travelers that slip into the promised land of dominion during an altar call and start being a pilgrim that lives in the land of spiritual authority over the spirits that trouble your family!
• Young men stop being travelers that make temporary journeys to that place where God tries to call you into a greater work and start being pilgrims that marches to a commitment in God that you refuse to return from!
• Young people to stop being travelers that can vacation in and out of worship and witnessing and start being pilgrims that crosses over all peer pressure once and for all never to return to the fear of what those around you will think about your praise or testimony to a lost world!

God’s reaching for some of you right here tonight and He wants to know if you’re a…
• Pilgrim or just a traveler?
• Conqueror or just a temporary vacationer?
• Monument of God’s power or just a fading shadow?

I’m preaching about pilgrims and travelers! And the danger is much greater than just not doing anything significant for God; the basic law of nature is the survival of the fittest and the Bible says in…

Isaiah 33:8
The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth:

Oh yes he did! Isaiah come right out and said that, “The path of the wayfaring man just won’t amount to much and the traveler ceaseth…” One translation says, “…he eventually just fades away!”

I’m preaching tonight because I don’t want anybody ‘fading away’!
I’m here to help someone find life beyond your comfort zone!

The forgotten reality of the Apostolic movement is that God never called us to be travelers!
• He called us to be pilgrims taking new lands and conquering new kingdoms!
• He has impacted us to take dominion over every principality and power that would stand against us!
• He’s destined us to be blessed as long as we’re willing to go where we’ve never gone, do what we’ve never done and be what we’ve never been for the cause of God!

Don’t you call that crazy; God calls it blessed!

You don’t point at people like Abraham and tell them that they are crazy for leaving the comfort of the Ur of the Chaldes! He wasn’t crazy because he wasn’t just a traveler; he was a pilgrim! His journey wasn’t just wandering around on a vacation but it was an intentional journey driven by the fact that God told him “Abraham, everywhere your feet step I’m going to give it to you for a possession!”

Okay... I'll stop.

But I think we're facing a two edged sword with the Church of 2008. I still believe in what some call 'holiness' and I don't think it challenges our growth potential (at least it doesn't here).

We are to be holy (that requires spiritual disciplines) and we are to be progressive. Someone lied to this generation and told them that we can't be both!

God's Church... the Apostolic Church... should be making great strides in the spirit instead of stranded in pews that are far too familiar with the contours of their posterior.

God help this Apostolic Church of 2008 to be spiritually led and conviction driven.

[Coonskinner]

Great message. Thanks.

[Joseph Miller]

Awesome message as always.

[Barb]

Originally Posted by Steadfast

We are to be holy (that requires spiritual disciplines) and we are to be progressive. Someone lied to this generation and told them that we can't be both!

God's Church... the Apostolic Church... should be making great strides in the spirit instead of stranded in pews that are far too familiar with the contours of their posterior.

God help this Apostolic Church of 2008 to be spiritually led and conviction driven.

Love this part...

[Cindy]

Great message. Thank you Lord for this man of God.

[Sister Alvear]

Thank you very good stirring thought...I don't want to camp out on Ur's doopstep but want to go on to another city...