It is a spiritual battle.  As the title of Hal Lindsey’s book stated, “The Devil Is Alive And Well On Planet Earth,” but we are not ignorant of his devices.  The devil doesn’t care if churches meet and enjoy themselves in worship, as long as they keep inside the walls of the church building.  It would have been fine, in the first century, if the Christians had kept their church inside their meeting places, but they faced persecution, because they were not willing to do that.  Even in communist countries, today, if Christians will register their church with the government, follow some government guidelines, and keep their church inside their buildings, they are allowed to worship.  Here’s the problem: keeping the church inside the building is totally against what our Lord Jesus has commanded us to do.

The battle really begins, when we take our faith into the devil’s territory.  The battle is usually quite subtle.  The devil is the ultimate master of disguise, and he very often will stir someone inside the church to become disgruntled and begin to major on minors.  Multitudes of churches have brought to ineffectiveness by that very subtle attack of the devil.

I recently heard a preacher say that God has given us a defense for every dart the devil throws, but that the devil has no defense for our weapon, the word of God.  Realize that there is a battle and don’t back down from it.  Draw your sword and charge!

The word “lordship” refers to the one who is the absolute boss over our lives.  We like to be our own boss, but the Bible teaches that Jesus is to be Lord over His people.  If Jesus is our absolute boss, then we must be in absolute surrender to Him, and we must be perfectly willing to do whatever He says.  In Lk.6:46, Jesus said, “Why would you call me Lord and not do the things I say?”  That’s a thought provoking question.

Jesus said that the basis of our lives is to be the demonstration of love, not a love of reciprocation, but the kind that is given to those who will not love us back, and those who have hurt us, or even want to hurt us more.  We are to love our neighbor as ourselves, which requires spending ourselves, in time, energy, and money for our neighbor’s well-being.

It is extremely easy to become self-centered, but the Christian call is to be Christ-centered.  It is easy to live in affluency, while most of the world lives in poverty.  It is easy to enjoy our physical worship, while neglecting our reasonable service; and if we do, the world will see us as trying to get something from them, instead of trying to give something to them.

It all comes down to one thing: who holds the title to lordship over our lives?

I have determined that most churches think they are friendly.  Most churches are friendly, but the problem is, they are friendly to each other, but they are not necessarily friendly to people who have not been with them for a long time.

There are some very simple, common sense things that people can do to show themselves a truly friendly church.  People who visit do not know where everybody’s seat is located.  Oh, people do have a special seat in church, you know.  This is where an “on the ball” usher can make all the difference.  Even in a small church, when a new person, or family walks in, an usher should greet them and walk them down a little ways, not all the way to the front, but so they are about three-quarters of the way back, and ask that person who is sitting on the isle end of the pew if he would please move down and let these folks sit down?  If the service hasn’t already started, in a truly friendly church, somebody will introduce themselves and, not only express  joy in the person’s visit, but give them some information about the church.  It means a lot to see church members who are excited about their church.  When the service is over, instead of rushing for the door and lunch table, people ought to take some time to get acquainted with the new person, hopefully getting a phone number, so that several people can call during the next week.  Being friendly means a lot more than just allowing them to attend.

I suppose there  are as many examples as there are people, but I have recently studied the character traits of Peter and Andrew, two brothers whom Jesus chose to become apostles.

Peter was what, we today, would call an extrovert.  He was extremely responsive in both good and bad ways.  His responsiveness was perhaps his greatest asset and greatest liability, at the same time.  I think Jesus loved his responsiveness.  Jesus knew that whatever Peter believed to be the thing to do, he would do it with his whole heart.  Jesus gave him the name that meant, Rock, when he was anything but rock-like, but sure enough, that’s exactly what he became.

Andrew, on the other hand, was completely overshadowed by his brother.  He was never the public preacher that Peter was,  and it seems his biggest talent was that he was a very friendly guy, who loved the Lord, and who was easy to approach.  His name is only mentioned 14 times in the New Testament, and most of those are in the gospel of John.  He had a missionary heart, and it was very characteristic for him to be found bringing others to Jesus.  Life didn’t place him center stage, yet there was no hint of jealousy or bitterness.  He worked quietly and faithfully where he was.

The Lord can surely use each of us for just exactly who we are.  There aren’t that many mass evangelists, like Peter, but many of us, like Andrew, can be friendly and find ways to point people to Jesus.

Go to any bookstore, Christian or secular, and you will find an entire section on the subject of leadership.  I have gleaned helpful information from both, but my primary concern is church leadership.

From the time of the Patriarchs, and especially from the days of Moses, God has chosen leaders to put before His people, and through these leaders, He has directed His people.  We can see that God is big on organization, and that He does all things decently and in order, just as He commands us to do.  One of the saddest, darkest times in the history of Israel is recorded in the book of Judges, where the Bible says, “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”  For the most part, they were not trying to do what was wrong, they were trying to do right, but the problem was that they were following their own understanding, without the kind of leadership that could solidify them in such a way that they would all pull together in the right direction.

In church leadership, that many godly people have a divine calling for their particular area of ministry, yet there is somebody who is called to be the under-shepherd of the church, in other words, the pastor.  It is my understanding,  that every other area of ministry within the church comes under the umbrella of the ministry of the pastor.

We all certainly need to understand that as human leaders, none of us are infallible, and certainly we do sometimes make bad judgment calls.  I certainly am no exception to this.  I have, however, been extremely blessed over the years to have had wonderful people serving with me in the Lord’s vineyard.  So often, they have brought a dimension to the work, that I was either lacking, or that I wasn’t using to the degree I should have been.  My ministry has not been without staff problems, but those problems have been so very few, praise the Lord.

Leadership goes far beyond paid staff.  Every Sunday School teacher and every committee member are in leadership positions.  Different churches have different methods of selecting these leaders, but it is extremely important that the first criteria for the selection process is that the person demonstrates a love for God and the church.  How pleased the devil must be, when people put unspiritual people in positions to carry out God’s work.

So many times, I have seen two churches in close proximity to each other, and one will be thriving, while the other is withering away.  It’s not always the case, but most of the time, the difference is leadership.