 Good afternoon everyone welcome to unfiltered pastor David welcome. Thank you another week has come by and and It seems like the weeks are just moving and moving and moving in You know with that your your series in Mark also a little bit in Romans You mentioned some of the things because last week we talked about the evilness that is present in the dark days and And today pastor wanted to ask you Is there anything missing from the church and I don't mean missing like tangibly like music or anything but anything spiritually because There could be this tendency for Christians to be walking more in the flesh than in the spirit I I hate to make generalizations because obviously I can't I Can't judge every person's life and say this is missing per se. I Think that's an introspection that needs to take place in the heart of the person Who is a believer already but as an observer of The church in general or church life in general and as a person who's been part of the body of Christ For a number of years and as one who has been given the privilege opportunity and responsibility of ministering to people for a number of years, I would say That through my own observation the church in general seems to have a weakness We we have as as a people perhaps Grown cold maybe even a bit indifferent maybe Naive I don't know what the proper way of saying it those words could all probably apply to certain segments of the life of the body of Christ in the United States, but I Think there is a missing ingredient that I can kind of share a little bit about and that is the The hunger for the power of the Spirit of God within us and the awareness that The power of the Holy Spirit is intended to produce transformed lives There are those who seem to and I see it on TV and perhaps it's just an unfair Characterization of the church, but it seems sometimes when I've seen and I don't watch Hardly any at all Christian TV. I can't do it anymore because it's so mind-numbing and so shallow in so many ways and so carnal I I would say that that the Holy Spirit has become more of a Novelty perhaps as a means to an end for some if you walk in the Spirit you're going to be able to by faith You know almost command I've actually heard the words command God For the things that you want the pleasures or delights or what you would perceive as blessings And and oftentimes it is hidden or cloaked in a phrase Walking in the Spirit or being under the influence of the Spirit or praying by the Spirit so I've said many times especially in More recent years in one form or another that God gets blamed for an awful lot of carnality John you know so People will be in your fellowship for example and decide to leave and they don't ever say anything to anybody who knows them perhaps they They may even leave ministries that they've been involved in and sometimes even ministries they've let in and They don't even have the courtesy brotherly love or any of that to let those who worked with them or Help them or they served under they don't even have the the courtesy of Telling them that they no longer are going to be there. They go someplace else and so When asked or when spoken to as I've done in the past haven't seen you. How are you? Oh, the Spirit led me out You know so God gets God gets blamed and the Holy Spirit gets blamed for the carnality and fleshliness of Many in the body of Christ. So what's missing? I would say this the the realization that The Spirit is referred in Scripture as the Holy Spirit and so the Holy Spirit is Intending to work within us a holy life, right? I've heard it said and I've said myself the Holy Bible and the Holy Spirit produce holy people So when you when you're walking according to the word of God and by the power of God Then your life is going to be demonstrating that you're sold out to and set apart by God, right? so what would I say by observation I'd say that that That many in the body of Christ are not hungering for the things of the Lord They're not they're not actually aware of the times that they're living in and and Their Christian faith if it's real at all has been Overshadowed by their Their desire for the pleasures of the age and John and so what's missing in the church a hunger for God a hunger for his word a hunger for fellowship a hunger for Communion with him in the sense of being led by the Spirit and What's missing is is a hunger for for his power working in us to transform us So if there's anything I see lacking in the church today It's within the church and the church itself does not realize who they are I Had a And I'll close with this simple illustration My son David had had a a Rottweiler and You know she she came from a Father and mother the father was almost 200 pounds and the mother was 180 pounds she was kind of a runt she never grew more than a little over a hundred pounds hundred and ten I think but she was a Rottweiler and My brother my son brought her to to the church one day and I was taking her for a walk walking the church grounds with her and we came up to a fence and on the other side of the fence was a goose and as we walked by the fence the Roddy's saw the the goose and put a little nose against him a little nose put her nose against the chain link and The goose and the mate the male Spread it his his wings out and started making noises and rushed towards his Rottweiler Now there's a fence separating them and That Roddy pulled me has dragged me You know away from the fence. She was so scared at What had just happened and and it hit me, you know this is a Rottweiler and there is a fence separating and and and I learned lessons of the spirit sometimes to just practical things John and and I couldn't help it Begin to meditate on that and I thought you know that could be me, you know, the enemy will Make threatening advances, but there's a link chain link fence He can't get to me and yet my response is something like that is to to flee rather than resist the devil and he will flee from you He only has to do his bluff and attempt or pretend and and in many ways he he does that through the fears that he imparts to believers by the cancellation of their faith by the by the press telling everybody how bad We are constantly that the real threat in the United States is patriotic Christians for example and all of that white males That's the real threat in the United States is as we have drag Queens and story hours as we have Men saying that they can have babies and have menstrual periods and things of that nature And we're living in a crazy time and what's the church do is the church? basically hides Because for whatever reason we're afraid to confront evil for what it is and the mask has been taken off And so what is missing in the church and awareness of the times that we're living in a walk of the power of the Holy Spirit and knowledge of Scripture and an awareness that we are more than conquerors through Christ You know, we are already victorious in Christ. We have won We need to live as if we understood that so that's missing in the church Well, thank you pastor for sharing that because again is as evil as a mastic self seems like the church is just Know that Rockweiler. It's a great illustration It just runs and and then we're walking in the flesh and not walking in the spirit. Yeah Well pastor, thank you so much for sharing that Hope you guys enjoyed this one invite you to our Wednesday evening service at 7 p.m We're in Romans chapter 6 chapter 6 a great opportunity to invite your friends to come out and join us Then we have our Sunday morning services at 8 30 and 10 45 and I'm looking forward to the direction You're going from where you're wrapping up and no secrets are no hints Just come to church and see where you're gonna go with that and then men We this is our last week to purchase our breakfast tickets for the men's conference Sundays The deadline want to encourage you again to purchase your tickets We're gonna have a great great time in the word with the great guest speakers pastor David will be sharing with us along with NFL NFL Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz and pastor Ken Grace from Bangor and Calvary Chapel Bangor, Maine So we've got a great opportunities to force to join together But we look forward to seeing you on Wednesday and on Sunday. God bless you. Amen. Thank you pastor