Ready For The Real Thing - Audio

Greater Life Church

Many of us buy store-branded items to save money. These off-brand items are usually good, but sometimes, they do not measure up to the real product. Spiritually, there is no substitute for a genuine move of God. We can have moving experiences, but unless God is there, it is like those off-brand items: good, but they do not measure up. The enemy would like nothing more than for us to have these off-brand experiences and never achieve a genuine relationship with God. Children have vivid imaginations. Pastor Long shared a story about a toy tea set his sister had when she was a little girl. It was a cute table with a plastic teapot and tea cups. She could pretend to have tea parties, but there was never any tea because the settings were just toys. They looked cute; she could pretend to have tea but never have the real experience. Paul said, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things." The toy tea set may have given Pastor's sister practice at having tea parties, but to have the whole experience, she would have to put away the toys and get an actual tea set. God is calling us to real experiences and relationships. Our world does not need childhood tea-party faith. When we tell someone we will pray for them, They need genuine prayer and faith from a real relationship with God. We must be a real church. We cannot go through the motions of worship; it has to be real. When we come to church, we must come with expectancy and anticipation.