Thoughts I think I think...

Yeah I got the title out of a Sports Illustrated but I like it so I am borrowing it.
Thought I think I think series will be on a number of subjects for the next few weeks. Today is
Church.
1) I think most people find church boring. I know I do and I am a Pastor. The Church was not about sitting on our posteriors and "soaking up" good teaching. The Church is supposed to "go" and the "gates of Hell will not prevail against it". So are we doing more going than staying. Going is not boring, staying is.
2) I think most people find church irrelevant. I hate this but it is true. I would rather go and listen to a grease covered guy tell me some finer points about what I can do to improve my auto than to listen to a guy tell me what I can read for myself in the word. Show me how to use it and it becomes relevant to me. Too many times we are not showing people how to do things, but telling them how to do things. Most people like to be hands on, and they learn when they are involved, not watching from the sidelines.
3) I think sometimes we make church a show. I live a couple of hours from Branson Missouri where there are all sorts of shows I can go see and be entertained. And many times some of the church services are set up more as a show than an experience. When we gather to experience GOD, HE becomes the center of attention. When we put on a "production" for service we remove HIM from the center and we become the show. Too much glitz, not enough GOD.
4) I think most church people don't really know what they believe. I find this sad, it is like running around telling people how good something is, when you really have never tried it. I do not endorse or criticize something I have not tried. And when I get involved, I get involved.
5) I think many Christians play the part. I love motorcycles but I am not a "biker" I am a rider. Now I have leather chaps, leather vest, leather jackets and all the stuff including a bike but I am not a biker. I never pretend to be a biker, never have said I was a biker but many people who see me assume I am a biker because I ride a bike and wear black leather. Put me in with a bunch of people in suits and I look like a big bad biker. Put me in with a bunch of big bad bikers and I am just a guy wearing similiar clothing.
6) I think people know if we are posers or not. People hate posers, a poser is a person who says they are something when they really are not. I will use my biker analogy. I ride a really big Honda motorcyle. It has a 1800CC displacement (my car motor is SMALLER than my bike motor), fuel injection, and all sorts of great technology. It puts somewhere around 90 horsepower to the rear wheel and has somewhere around 120 foot pounds of torque. And I get told all the time, well it is not better than a Harley. I always ask that person what they ride, and they tell me that they don't have a bike, but if they did it would be a Harley and I always walk away and thing, "poser". Christians are a lot like that.
7) I think many Christians are wimps. Yeah I said it, many Christians are wimps. When the going gets tough many will change churches. If they are asked to go beyond their comfort zone they check out. If they are challenged, they quit. But the Bible tells us to meek and mild, turn the other cheek. Once I had a kid get right up in my face and threaten me. My christian thought process was to back down be a peacemaker. But that kid kept getting up in my grill and then he threatened to hit me. The word says the Holy Spirit will speak for us when we don't know what to say. Well I said, "you had better knock me out with your first shot, I will give you that and turn the other cheek, but if you try to hit me again, all bets are off and I will bust you up". He turned two shades of red but never lifted a hand. True Christians are the toughest people you will ever meet.
8) I think Church needs to get over itself. I hate it when people start to talk about other people and their problems while we cast a blind eye at our own. I remember when a lady told another lady about this woman in the church that was sleeping around. She called her a "whore" (can I type that on here?) and said she was bound for Hell, well the lady she was talking to said, "well she might be a whore, but you are a gossip and bound for the same place". I love that, the truth shall set you free.
9) I think religion is rebellion. Religion allows you to do what you want, when you want and how you want. That is rebellion. We are to be in a relationship, in where there is a two party interaction in everything. Rebels want to be alone, Jesus says he will stick closer than a brother.
10) I think the Church needs a wake up call. The Church is a sleeping giant who sees the world around them through rose colored glasses. The church needs to wake up and realize that the world around them is not the same world it was ten, twenty or fifty years ago. Ring Ring, this is the front desk, it is a new day and this is your wake up call.