Good comments here, Helen.  We need fresh new stuff.  Not rut conservation.

Vicki

----- Original Message -----
From: "Helen" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2005 6:58 AM
Subject: [ECHURCH-USA] The Dry Rot Of Nonexpectation


> The Church: The Dry Rot of Nonexpectation
>
> "...but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the
> ministry of the word."...Then the word of God spread, and the number
> of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of
> the priests were obedient to the faith. --Acts 6:4,7
>
> The church is afflicted by dry rot. This is best explained when the
> psychology of nonexpectation takes over and spiritual rigidity sets
> in, which is an inability to visualize anything better, a lack of
> desire for improvement.
>
> There are many who respond by arguing, "I know lots of evangelical
> churches that would like to grow, and they do their best to get the
> crowds in. They want to grow and have contests to make their Sunday
> school larger." That is true, but they are trying to get people to
> come and share their rut. They want people to help them celebrate the
> rote and finally join in the rot. Because the Holy Spirit is not
> given a chance to work in our services, nobody is repenting, nobody
> is seeking God, nobody is spending a day in quiet waiting on God with
> open Bible seeking to mend his or her ways. Nobody is doing it-- we
> just want more people. But more people for what? More people to come
> and repeat our dead services without feeling, without meaning,
> without wonder, without surprise? More people to join us in the
> bondage to the rote? For the most part, spiritual rigidity that
> cannot bend is too weak to know just how weak it is.  Rut, Rot or
> Revival: The Condition of the Church, 8,9.
>
> "Lord, not more people, but more of You. Let me wait upon You, keep
> me faithful, send Your Holy Spirit. If You then send growth as well,
> I'll thank You and see it as an added blessing. Amen."
>
> ~Tozer~
>