Perception

                When the church called to ask the young pastor if he was interested in preaching on the upcoming Sunday, the young man got excited about the possibilities of what to preach on.  He spent the week preparing for his first sermon in a new church.  He worked hard on getting the scriptures to fit into the topic he was led to speak about.  He knew God had inspired the sermon that he had prepared for the week.  The young pastor was ready to walk into the church and give his sermon.

                As Sunday arrived, the young pastor walked into the church as Sunday school was going on.  He was greeted by the gentleman that invited him to speak.  The pastor was excited to be given the opportunity he had been given.  He couldn’t wait until Sunday school ended and the service began.  Everyone started filling the sanctuary and they were preparing for service to begin.  One of the board members got up and made the morning announcements.  He turned the service over to the worship leader and the congregation sang the songs.  The spirit was already present that morning in that little church. 

                The time came for the pastor to give the sermon, but he didn’t walk to the front of the sanctuary.  He quietly slip to the back corner of the room and began to speak from there.  The congregation was completely shocked that the pastor was talking from the back of the room rather than pulpit where he was supposed to be.  The young pastor spent half of his sermon in the back of the room talking about the perception that people have about the church.  He explained that the normal perception is for a pastor to be in the pulpit, but that perception needs to change.  It doesn’t matter where the message is delivered from.  As long as God gives you a message to bring, then you need to bring it from wherever you stand. 

                Now as we work to do the work that God has given us to do, have we allowed the congregation to dictate how and where we do that work.  Jesus didn’t spend His life preaching in the synagogues.  He took His message to the people that needed to hear it most.  The churches today have to get out of the walls of their safety and take the message to the world.  We have to change the perception that the world sees in the church.  We have to allow the world to see that the church is not a building but it is the people in the building.  The church needs to leave the building behind and find people where they are.  Statistics prove that the majority of people are not in the churches on any given Sunday.  They are out in the community filling their time with other things besides God.  That is where the “church” has to go. 

                The church needs to remember what Jesus taught us in Mathew.  Mathew 18:19-20 says, “19 Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.  20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  Those verses tell us that Jesus is with us when we have church outside the walls of the building.  We can have church gatherings in the park and God will be there with us.  That perception shift will help us reach the people that refuse to walk in a church.  It will also help to change their perception that the church will fall down if they go.  God doesn’t need the building to be contained in, He needs the people to carry the message wherever they go. 

                The young pastor taught the congregation to expand their perceptions about where the message is to be brought from.  There is not a single place that the message has to presented.  When we start putting God in a box, then that is where He will stay with us.  Now is the time for the congregations to start having church in the restaurants, at the park, or wherever else two or more gather together.  I ask you today, are you ready to change the perception and preach from the back corner of the room?  Are you ready to take God out of the box and present Him to the world where the world lives?

                Lord I pray today that the “church” leaves the safe confides of the building and starts changing the perceptions of the world.  I ask that you bless the people that are not afraid to openly take you to the world.  Lord please open the doors of the building and get the church out in the community to take the message outside the walls.  I pray this in you glorious name, Amen.