When the Thrill is Gone: The Watch Letter

June 17-18, 2023

Are you sitting in the stands or taking a stand for God?

The pastor is not an entertainer. He is a messenger of God. And God is not here for our amusement. Yet too often, God finds us spectating -- watching or listening to what he says for entertainment, instead of actually receiving and participating in the Word, Instruction, Plan, and Will of God.

It reminds me of a time when Chief Apostle Gunn preached and asked us if our coming to church and being a part of the body was just a social experiment. In other words, he was talking about how we can treat the church and "serving" God like a social hour, which is defined as a time of entertainment that is used to "relieve boredom, boost morale (enthusiasm/confidence), and take your mind off of things" by mixing and mingling with strangers and getting "boozed up" or hyped-up on music and dancing. And that ties into how Chief Apostle also taught us years ago that we can find ourselves using God and his people to get high, pump ourselves up, or feel good about ourselves and situations for the moment. But when that high comes down, we forget all about God and God's people.

Today, in service, Chief Apostle Gunn showed how we chase after a word from God so we can hear what to do or what we want, but we don't chase after God himself. He said, "You don't need a word from God. You need God." He said, "Because when you just need a word, you just want God to fix something," you don't just want God for Him. And that puts it all in perspective, because after the repairman fixes things, he doesn't stay at your home.

So often, after people get a word from God, they take it and never come back to God, they never testify, they never say thank you, they never offer a seed of gratitude, or they never follow through. Then, when things go wrong, they blame God or his messengers. I believe Apostle Angel said this before: "When you see church and God as entertainment, it's just like going to a movie." You have fun, you feel all kinds of emotions but you most likely will never return to that same movie. Or even if you don't like what the movie is about you can be upset with or talk trash about the filmmaker because it didn't give you the thrill you were seeking.

Chief Apostle Gunn has said time and time again that this age's over infatuation with being entertained is what's killing us spiritually, distracting us and drawing us further away from God. And he also addressed seeking out God and coming to church for the wrong reasons earlier this year on February 5. He said: We must recognize if we are spectators — people who sit in the stands when they come to church looking to be entertained, it is likened to people who are on a tour bus that are just sightseeing and not intending to stay.

Are we treating God’s house, his kingdom, his word, and his messengers as if they are tourist attractions with only an intention to do something that makes us feel good or amuses us, and then go back home to our old ways or old idols?

If we are serious about God we get involved, we participate, we keep coming back, we commit, we surrender, and we don’t just sit and watch to get what we think we need and then leave or shut down on God.

This reminds me of a scripture I read this morning before service from Psalm 78:

"So they did eat, and were well filled: For he gave them their own desire; They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, And smote down the chosen men of Israel. For all this they sinned still, And believed not for his wondrous works. Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, And their years in trouble. When he slew them, then they sought him: And they returned and enquired early after God. And they remembered that God was their rock, And the high God their redeemer. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, And they lied unto him with their tongues. For their heart was not right with him, Neither were they stedfast in his covenant. But he, being full of compassion, Forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: Yea, many a time turned he his anger away, And did not stir up all his wrath. For he remembered that they were but flesh; A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, And grieve him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not his hand, Nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy. "

Listen to the most recent FORREAL RADIO BROADCAST “Exhortations To Change" here: https://www.thebodyofchristinc.com/listen-in?wix-music-track-id=9582927377361800&wix-music-comp-id=comp-lcmqtfhu.

Let's pray and ask God to drive out the spectator and amusement mindset from our lives and those around the globe, so that we can take God and living for Him seriously like we should!

Love,

Apostle Kanya