Where is the Deadness?

A lot of the church strategies I have seen relate to injecting life into dead worship services. Jerry Jones teases about the three "P's" of church growth: Praise Team, Plastic Pulpit, and Power Point. Do we believe that if we energize the one-hour worship service that something grand is going to happen? And what of those who are suffering from spiritual deadness? When they come into the assembly they can detect that there are some new things. The graphic presentation of power point, new songs tossed into the mix, maybe even a newer freer spirit. But to a dead person, these are just doo-dads made for church people to pass the time. We look for life in the wrong places. Dead people will always be dead, until they are resurrected in spirit by the power of Christ. I don't think Jesus cares if we clap or not, raise hands or not, use the NIV or NKJV or MYOB ... but the thing that does matter to him is whether or not our hearts have been revived by His power and raised to life. Sometimes we might be tempted to ask those who are so blase about the whole thing... what would it take to get you to show even a little interest? Wrong question. The right question revolves around asking them to see the living Jesus. Truly, some people see Jesus and yawn and move on. They are so jaded by their own relentless pursuit of sin that there isn't anything to offer Christ. And what Christ has to offer doesn't seem very appealing. The deadness is not in a traditional service, or a contemporary service. It is in the hearts of men who do not care that Jesus is alive. The demons where planning on having a party one night. They got beer and Jack Daniels and pretzels, a little Red wine, and some white. They were celebrating how they crucified Christ, on that tree. But Satan, the snake himself, wasn't so at ease. He took his crooked finger and he dialed the phone by his bed, To call an old faithful friend, to know for sure, that he was dead. He said, "Grave, Grave tell, did my plan fail?" Old Grave just lauged and said, "Oh man, the dude is dead as nails." ---- Sunday's On The Way, Carman