NO ADDITIVES BUT ONE KEY INGREDIENT FOR CHURCH THEN AND NOW

Perhaps our concern arises out of a sense that so much has been added to basic church down through the centuries and recent decades that the essential, the fullness of the Spirit has been overlooked.

An upper room full of people filled with the Spirit of God, spilling into the streets in raucous display that provoked opposition but led to an empowered message that persuaded over 3000 people to join the Church, is what we read, and what we need. 

To increase production times and quantities, growth hormones, antibiotics and genetically modified feeds are given to animals that are raised entirely indoors. The result is flavourless meat and poultry. So, 80% of all processed foods contain genetically modified ingredients, artificial colours and flavours. Then these foods are stabilized with chemical preservatives and packaged in plastics. We come to love the tastes that chemicals provide and we want them more than we want real value food. These altered foods do not satisfy, so we must have more of them more often and soon another health issue is apparent, obesity.

At various times in the history of the church, people have realized that an upper room full of people talking, praying, maybe singing, can become steadily dull and tasteless. So over the centuries various church thinkers and theorists added flavour enhancers, singers and dancers, and candles in elaborate gold candelabras, ornate facilities, images and idols, priestly vestments, choirs and high ceilings, immense pipe organs. At another stage in this unvelopment, other additives like comfortable pews, then lighting, sound systems, visual presentations and programs have been added. No matter how many impressive additives are poured into the formula for making church, nothing compensates for the fullness of the Spirit.

Whether you choose to remain in your church or leave the church and search for new options, the key to fulfilling God's plan for you in relation to His Church is your true, no snow job, actual, no pretending, real and consistent daily surrender to the LORDship of Christ and the fullness of God's Spirit who alone cultivates holiness in you. 

Bill Bright in the early years of Campus Crusade for Christ, designed the 'Four Spiritual Laws' booklet and the ' Wonderful Discovery of the Spirit Filled Life' booklet. These were dumbed down formulaic theology to be sure and they were useful, inspiring and effective for thousands of people. 

One concept for consistent holy living was called Spiritual Breathing (exhaling the impure and inhaling the pure) as an exercise in faith that enables a person to continue to experience God's love and forgiveness. 

Exhale means -- confess your sin -- that is, agree with God concerning your sin and thank Him for His forgiveness of it, according to 1 John 1:9. Confession involves repentance - a change in attitude and action. 

Inhale means -- surrender the control of your life to Christ, and receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit by faith. Trust that He now directs and empowers you; according to the command of Ephesians 5:18, and the promise of 1 John 5:14, 15.