Don't Be One Of Those People

I've pastored two churches where I had people who would come to the church and try and fill a position, but would never attend regular services or support the church financially with their tithes and offerings. In both of these situations the persons involved complained about not getting a thing out of the services (which they never attended regularly) or anything from my messages (which they never heard on a regular basis because they didn't attend services regularly). They would come late on Sunday morning, go and fill their position, and then I wouldn't see them again until the next week if I was lucky. Finally, I had to deal with the situations and in both instances lost them from the church. Instead of changing their ways and doing what was right to hold a position in the church, they wanted me to bend the rules just for them or be the bad guy. Well, I ended up the bad guy.

It reminds me of a story I read not to long ago that is supposed to be a true story.

There’s a Welsh woman who lived in a remote valley in Wales. She went to a great deal of trouble and expense to have electrical power installed in her home. However, after a couple of months, the electric company noticed she didn’t seem to use very much electricity at all.
Thinking there might be a problem with the hookup, they sent a meter reader out to check on the matter. The man came to the door and said, "We’ve just checked your meter and it doesn’t seem that you’re using much electricity. Is there a problem?"
  
"Oh no" she said. "We’re quite satisfied. We turn on the electric lights every night to see how to light our lamps and then we switch them off again."

Now, why didn’t this woman make more use of her electricity?
-She believed in electricity
-She believed the promises of the electric company when they told her about it
-She went to a great deal of trouble and expense to have her house wired for it
But she didn’t understand the potential of electricity in her home and so she used it’s power sparingly.

So many people have the potential to make a difference in a church, but they allow themselves to squander the opportunites that God has given them because they don't want to live by the rules or be faithful. They never see what God could do in them or through them because the only thing they are concerned about is what they want and how they want it to be done.

Don't be one of those people!

These people treat prayer and the church very much in the same way.
-They believe in prayer and the community of the church.
-They know of the promises God has made and understand the need for the company of believers.
-They’ve even read and heard stories about answered prayers and seen the results in the church setting, but...They pray sparingly and are not faithful, then they blame God, the church, and the pastor for the ills in their lives.

Don't be one of those people!

James 5:16 "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."