Hi everyone. It’s been quite the year at the Dacus home, but through it all, God was, and still is here, just not in the traditional sense. We have stopped doing ministry, at least like we were, and we are taking a Sabbatical, for lack of a better word.
My wife got sick in February with Perforated Diverticulitis. She was in an out of the hospital for 3 months. After trying and trying to get the holes to heal on their own, they finally gave up and she had surgery in May.
Then shortly after that, my wife asked me for a divorce. Yeah, us, a divorce! Then out of desperation, I decided to seek God. I have sought God for years, but just not like this. I went to see someone that knows him quite well and hears his voice. This person heard God on some things in my life,God showed up, some things were broke off me, my family and our lives and there was a miracle!
Now, my wife and I are still my wife and I. The divorce is off and we are going strong. In all that mess, I learned a few things. One; when God needs to get your attention, he will do what he has to in order to get it. Even if those things hurt. In the words in a former teacher of mine, he stirs up the nest so its uncomfortable. If you still dont listen, they will get downright unbearable.
Well, he stirred up our nest something awful. I am stubborn, I needed a brick to hit me upside my head and that’s exactly what God did!
The next lesson in all this is that sometimes he takes more than praying to break through. In my case, I had to find some nutural party that could hear God on my behalf and point out the problems.
Ok, so that is fixed, so now what God?
In the course of the years of my life, I have been a missionary in Russia, Alaska, all over the US and Nicaragua.
Then I became a Pastor. I served in a few churches, served on Church boards, did more traveling, started an internet Church and/or ministry, started a non-profit ministry that helped people with their needs and did whatever else I thought God needed.
But in all this time, even though what I was doing was good, it was more about me than it was about God. I wanted to help those in need, I wanted to start a Church, I wanted to start a ministry. See the problem?
It was more about what I wanted than what God wanted. Even though these were all good and right things, that does not matter one bit if that’s not what God told you do to.
In the words on an old Prophet/Singer; “To Obey is better than sacrifice. God does not need your money, he wants your life”.
So I had to lay all this down. These days, I work full time, pay my bills, and take care of my family. Right now, this is my only ministry and I am proud to do it.
I don’t even attend Church much anymore. Yeah, I go occasionally just to stay connected to what God is doing there, but that aint much. Church bores me. It’s the same old things that its been for way to long.
We go to Church, sing a few songs, hear a nice sermon, then leave in the very same condition, and with the very same issues that we had before. There is little to no change, there is little to no relationship, there are little to no needs being met. Church has become a cold, ritualistic, business or making money and entertaining Christians.
The church has become the very same monster now that it was back when Jesus walked the earth full of Pharisees and Sadducees, bickering, anger, resentment, and hurt. It is the very same thing that Jesus fought against some 2000 odd years ago. We have truly lost our 1st love.
I am convinced now more than ever that the Church is dying a slow death. O, not the real Church. The Church in reality is us. You and me. Anywhere 2 or more believers are gathered together Is Church.
The Church that I refer to that is dying is this corporate 4 walled monster than lives in buildings. This monster is called Religion.
Sure, this religious monster does do some good things, but that’s not enough. This monster needs Jesus, but cant get to him because it’s a monster. Monsters are just too big.
Jesus is all about one on one intimacy. That intimacy just does not exist in these large buildings. Or it does, it does not exist for long and exist on a small scale. What Jesus is after in these last days is real. The only way to be real is one and one.
When we go to these Churches, we put on our religious masks and pretend. We pretend that we are good and holy. We pretend that we know God and he knows us. All the while God is crying out for intimacy. The intimacy that he just cant find in these Churches. He cant break through the walls we have put up. (Pun Intended)
We are in the middle of a revival. But its not the revival that we think. Our concept of a revival is a big tent with singing, preaching, a preacher leading the charge, and men coming to the alter for prayer.
In Star Wars, when the Jedi leadership was trying to figure out what to do with Luke. To the Jedi, the prophecy said that someone (Luke) was going to rise up and destroy the Syth. But not only was this not happening, but Luke had become a Syth himself. This made no sence at all to the Jedi.
Yoda piped up and said that the prophecy might have been misinterpreted.
We have misinterpreted the Bible. In fact, the Bible can sometimes get in the way. (Sometimes I think we need to throw out the Bible so we are forced to go to God. No I am not talking about actually throwing out our Bibles. What I am saying is that anything that gets in between God and us has become an idol.That idol does not have to be a statue of gold, silver or bronze. An idol can be anything. It can be money, rock stars, music, church, and yes, even the Bible can be an idol. If to you the Bible has become a stumbling block of endless words that need defining, and digging deeper to find more and more hidden meanings, and the subject of endless debate and conjecture, then it has become a problem.) God’s concept of revival is not the above. God wants intimacy; God wants this corporate monster that we have created, called the Church, to die, and the real Church (You and me) to come forth.
I am not sure how to get there just yet, but the answer is not going to be found in “Church”. The answer is going to be found in The Church, The Church of You and me and God!
