Quote:
Originally Posted by countmeworthy
When I got tired of the Lee adulation, I had to leave because how in the world was I going to stand up and express my observation ? But I found a small bunch from my locality who felt like I did but were quiet about it. They moved to a new locality and I tagged along.
Once there, everyone exploded with all kinds of stories about Lee and the church. We still loved the Lord and fellowship but all the venting also wiped us out so that before too long, everyone just went their separate ways. Including me. I felt lost at first but I did not want to go back to the LC as it was. I also had my own set of personal issues that I could not go to with anyone about.
Eventually.....it was just me and the LORD....in the wilderness.
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Ending up in the wilderness is a good place. When you are in Babylon you get too cozy, you get anesthetized, mesmerized, hypnotized, and march blindly into the ditch.
At least in the wilderness you know where you are.
But if you've passed thru the cauldron of the LC, you may have a crumb or two to sustain you; moments when the Spirit seemed so real that nothing else was real; moments when the Bible seemed to contain words of life rather than dead letters; moments when the Father was speaking to you thru the person next to you.
So you stagger on, and if a faint flicker remains in your heart you eventually realize that your crumbs are more generous than some nearby, who don't have a clue about this Jesus guy or the Father's love or the Spirit's provision.
So you feed them. You assemble with them and you realize that you have some counsel for them from your crucible of experiences.
Then, and here's an interesting point, you realize how much the Shepherd loved His sheep. The hireling flees from the wolf, but the Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep. Jesus knew that one of them would betray Him, but He stuck with His own, nevertheless, literally to the death.
Contrast that to our experience in the LC where we received a "vision" of the optimal organizational structure, and were willing to follow that to the end, but the saints themselves were quite expendable.
In reality, I am beginning to suspect that the "ekklesia" is that poor, pathetic guy next to me, who is seeking Christ, but hardly knows where to turn, and which way is up or down. The "ekklesia-building" occurs when I receive my neighbor in Christ Jesus and it is reciprocated, and we begin to sense the depth of the Shepherd's care for His sheep.
The "cost" was paid in full, by Christ. My "cost" is to say, "Amen. Hallelujah", irrespective of whom, or what, is my immediate environment; and irrespective of how rubble-strewn my past appears, or the meager future that presents itself for consideration. Here, as John put it so well, is the endurance of the saints (Rev. 14:12).