Power of God in the Church

Power of God in the Church

When is the last time you experienced the power of God in Church? I pray you did the last time you went but I know for many that is not the case. Many who love God and even many pastors are crying out where has the power gone in Church? Why are we not experiencing it? Many feel  that the Church is being run over daily by culture. Where can we get the power to compel people to come to church on Sunday rather than sitting at home on the couch?

Let us do an exposition on 1 Corinthians 1 starting with verse 17. Paul tells us in this verse  that he was sent for no other purpose than to preach the gospel. He was not to speak it with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross be emptied of its power. If you are a pastor/minister this is the call of God for your life and ministry. You are to speak and minister with no other agenda than making the gospel clear. How do you know if you have clearly communicated the Gospel? You know when you finish speaking. If they respond by praising you, you have failed. If they respond by praising God, you have succeeded.

Paul does warn us however in the next verse (18) that to the perishing the cross will make no sense. We find in verse 22 the world demands signs and wonders. In our attempt to reach the world we have tried to give them our talents because we cannot produce a sign. We have been so caught up in gaining the interest of the disinterested by performing talent shows every week that we have missed the hungry and broken. The key is that to those who are being saved (the ones being saved are the ones hungering and thirsting after righteousness) the cross is the power of God. Let us feed the hungry rather than the gluttons who are happy consuming the things of this world.

Where is the power that will compel people to come to church on Sunday rather than sitting on the couch? It’s in the cross.* When will you see the power of God in Church? When you start preaching and living it.

*The power of God is in the cross not because some guy named Jesus was beaten and died but because that guy named Jesus is God. The cross gives a complete picture of who God is and was. This does not nullify the importance of preaching the Old Testament, in fact it promotes it. The Old Testament taught with the New shows how merciful the God of the Old Testament was especially in strategically planning how to give redemption to us through his son.  The Gospel is not just contained in four books of the bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John but the entire bible for the entire bible expresses the nature of God.

By: Danielle O'Neil