RESOURCES — SHORT ARTICLES

 

SHORT ARTICLES BY TOM ELSEROAD
	2021-04-06	Went To Church And Got Nothing Out Of It
		This is a common, but misguided statement we all have probably said at one time. When we “feel” this way we do not even want to go to church. [Of course, you do not go to church, we are the church]. There are likely things hindering you from what God wanted you to receive from assembling as believers. These are things we carry into the church service. 1. Fatigue When we go to church and we are physically tired for whatever reason, it is hard to concentrate. In this condition it takes all your energy just getting to church. We all know how hard it is to focus when our minds are wanting to shut down. 2. Distractions All kinds of things can redirect our attention from the main events to other things. Maybe we are using our phones with a Bible app and an email or text comes in. Maybe you respond to it or not, but your focus is not on the service. If you do not respond maybe you are thinking about what it says. Many times, we blame the church when we “feel” we are not getting anything out of it, when it is because we are not participating with it. 3. Disconnected When we are not participating in the worship music and we are not taking notes from the message we are disconnected. We can easily joke about a device that is not working. Someone comes along and says, “it works better when it is turned on”. Okay, you feel foolish at that point. You did not have it turned on. What about when we are not “turned on” to the service? It is like we are the device that is not turned on. When you think about it, you probably do not remember even praying. When we are turned off, we are not receiving anything spiritually. We need to practice the presence of God. That is, we need to realize God's presence with us even before we get to church. We go into church which has a spiritual context, but our personal spirit is shut down. Of course, we will not “get” anything from it. We cannot expect the music leaders or the pastor to turn on your switch. You must do that! If we are not realizing the presence of God in your daily life, coming to church is not the “fix” you need. There are times when we come to church not spiritually ready, but we allow God to speak to us, and we are blessed because we have turned on our spiritual ears. 4. No Expectation We come without expecting to get anything from God. If you got nothing from the service, then you met your own expectations. Nothing! If you do not expect God to speak to us, you will not hear Him when He does. It is like clipping your wings before you try to fly. You will not fly spiritually speaking. Do you believe the Holy Spirit wants to have a divine encounter with you? He does, and it is through His Word. 5. Tardiness Whenever you are rushing to get to church, and the traffic is not moving as fast as you like, you are stressed. You should get to church early and prepare your heart spiritually. 6. Relational Conflict Maybe before church you and your spouse have some tension. It always seems that the Devil works harder on Sundays to bring tension before you get to church. When you bring tension into the service you are not in the right spiritual mind to benefit from it. 7. Wrong Perspective We have this expectation of what I am going to get out of church, rather than what I can give. We have more of a consumer mentality, rather than a contributor mentality. My expectation should be what can I give back to God. Lord this is my time to give you everything back. Maybe during the week, I did not spend time with God, like I should. Now I want to give my best to God. We can give back in prayer, in worship, in finances. It may or may not be the church’s fault if you get nothing from the service. If it is not the church's fault then there is only one other reason, ME. Pastor Tom Elseroad

 

An Evangelical Free Church of America

23304 E Wellesley Ave. Otis Orchards, WA 99027 Church Office: 509.926.9552 Church Cell: 509.342.9145 Pastor Cell: 509.828.8843 tomelseroad@gmail.com