The greatest challenge facing the church today is NOT a lack of cultural relevance. It is this: recognizing that there is a vast difference between discussion about God and genuine encounter with God. The church must re-prioritize between group therapy and personal encounter. Even in the “good” churches our services tend to focus primarily on instruction about kingdom principle and about principles for righteous living (all noble and valid) rather than becoming a laboratory—an incubator for encountering God face-to-face! The tragic result is that for any believer to truly discover the treasure of a secret place with God, they must virtually do it on their own, having heard rumors about it at church, yet never truly experiencing…

Is the purpose of the church to instruct about glorious God-encounters or to actually pursue them? …To discuss the depths from the riverbank—or to launch out into the deep? In truth, the “depth” of the discussion and revelation means nothing if it fails to inspire and compel a fervent personal pursuit.

God’s Jer.29:13 guarantee does NOT read, “You shall seek me and find me when you search for me as an appetizer to the main event, when your search is an hors d’oeuvre—a snack before the main course of learning more about the kingdom. ‘Missing the mark’ is how the Bible characterizes sin—an unfortunate description of the focus of much of the church today. Selah! (Reprinted from recent Selahgram)

I was struck a few days ago watching an old friend minister on TV, by the lyrics as he worshiped. His words captured the essence of the difference between a vertical mentality and a horizontal mentality. As Leonard Jones sang, he grabbed my heart with the declaration, “I’m not here for the kingdom, I’m here for the King!” Amen. Selah.