Since the great Reformation the enemy has sought ways to stagnate the Church's growth and has apparently found the most effective way. People in the conservative mainline churches are tired of the same old routine and "Traditions" and have looked elsewhere. The churches are not growing by means of lost off of the streets, but rather from those that are going from church to church looking for something to fill the void. Christians are missing something and are realizing it. This is why the great increase in the Pentecostal realms, not from the streets, but from those leaving other churches looking for more. They go to these Pentecostal churches and are fulfilled in the area of getting their emotions worked up and being able to do more than maybe occasional clapping of their hands. They soon realize though that these churches are not filling that need either and do not know where to turn for the answer.

   The answer is not in building emotions, building bigger buildings, or staying in the same old "Traditional" rut. The answer is when the church of today wakes up and realizes that it is not performing according to the central foundation and vital core of our belief. The answer comes when we wake up and realize that these cults are showing us the way and we are not willing to acknowledge it. The answer comes when we realize that we must move beyond the four walls of our fancy buildings and take the Gospel where it belongs, back out to the people. In the book of Acts the ministry was out in the public arena not in the Temple. In fact if you look at the accounts in the Temple with Jesus and the Apostles, it was there that they were trying to convey that the Old Traditions were null and void. Isn't it ironic that 2,000 years later we have reverted back to the Temple times? The time in the Temple was supposed to be to equip the saints not win the lost, they were not at the Temple, they were outside.

   The church must realize the importance of the small gatherings that fostered the atmosphere of intimate time in prayer and fellowship. The church must realize that going through the motions will not get us closer to God nor increase our knowledge in the Word. Christians must determine within themselves that they are tired of being spectators and are ready to become viable parts of the Body. The church has to get back to the Biblical foundation of the three things needed to be successful in God's eyes. They are real Prayer, time in the Word, and soul winning.

   How many times have you come out of church and felt like something was missing? You don't know how to explain it but there is just this empty feeling that you know shouldn't be there. I experienced it many times and I would always wonder what was causing it. I remember thinking to myself; "I just spent time in church and done what was expected of me so why do I feel this way?" I can remember thinking that there just had to be more than I was experiencing. Spending time in the Gospels and especially in the book of Acts I soon realized the answer to my nagging question. The church was not the same one I was reading about in the accounts in the Bible. I looked at the story in Acts 5 about Ananias and Sapphira and how that they were struck down for lying to the Holy Spirit about their possessions. It says in verse 5 that "great fear came on all them that heard these things." I truly believe that there is little if any "fear" of the Lord in our churches today. I often wonder if the same standards were applied in our churches as that of Ananias and Sapphira if there wouldn't be a drastic change in attitude. Where there is no "fear" there is no reverence.