I don’t get it. I just don’t get it. I overheard a coworker asking and griping about why people don’t go to church, but have no problem going to the movies. He asked why people can read gossip mags and Entertainment Weekly, but a Christian magazine no one reads. Of course, me being the humble man that I am I gave him an answer. “Because most churches are boring.” Oh he didn’t like that. He answered with “it’s not about being bored. The Word of God isn’t boring.” He made a common mistake. The Word of God is not boring, that is a given. However he is making the assumption that these dead, boring churches are preaching the Bible, and most of the time they aren’t. I then asked him “why do you think some churches have 25k people going every weekend? Because they’re hip, they’re preaching victory instead of defeat, and they’re fun.” His response was that they only preach prosperity. And that church wasn’t about being fun. But he’s once again misguided. Go read your Bible. The Bible only teaches prosperity. It only teaches prosperity in your soul, your spirit, your bank account, your job, your relationships, your family, and your entire life. The Bible doesn’t teach broke. It doesn’t teach defeat. It doesn’t teach broken relationships. It doesn’t teach sickness. It doesn’t teach sadness. It doesn’t teach despair. It doesn’t teach hopelessness. It doesn’t teach anything like that. The gospel means “good news.” Well what’s good news to someone divorced? God can restore your heart and your life and bring you another mate. Life’s not over. What’s good news to someone who has cancer? God can and will heal you if you’ll believe. God is your healer. God wants you well. What’s good news to someone who needs guidance and doesn’t know where to go or where to start? God will give you wisdom to make the right decision. What’s good news to someone who is going to hell? God will save you, just call on Jesus and you will have eternal life. You see, the reason why some churches are dead and have 15 people in the pews is because they are preaching defeat. They’re preaching watered down Christianity with no life, no victory, and no substance. No one is going to sit in a congregation for 20 years and hear every Sunday “I know it’s hard brother, but it will all be fine when we get to heaven.” No one wants to hear that. No wants to hear day after day after day “just hang in there.” I don’t want to hang in there for 20 years. I don’t want to be broke for 20 years. I don’t want to be heartbroken and in despair over a divorce for 20 years. I don’t want to wake up every morning depressed and thinking my life is over for 20 years. I don’t want to be miserable for 20 years and have someone telling me it’s all going to be alright when I die. Jesus said that satan is only here to steal, kill, and destroy. He said He (Jesus) came so that we could have LIFE and have it more abundantly. The greek word for “life” in that verse (John 10:10) is “zoe” which means “The God kind of life.” Now wait a minute. I thought we’re just supposed to hang in there and suck it up until we get to heaven? I thought God was putting cancer on us to teach us some lessons about how much He loves us? I thought He was breaking our engine in our car so He could teach us a life lesson? I thought He was breaking up your marriage because you married the wrong mate and He wants to get some glory out of you learning to deal with emotional pain? No. Not right, not the Bible, and NOT OK. I don’t imagine God being 120 days late on his mortgage. I don’t imagine God not having money to go to dinner with his family. I don’t imagine God walking around Heaven with a tumor in his spleen. I don’t see God and Jesus walking around arguing with each other and not going to Thanksgiving dinner because they’re fighting with themselves and the angels are in the back gossiping about the both of them. No. You think about the God kind of life and you think victory. You think wealthy. You think happy. You think healthy. You think abundance. You think peace. You think kings and queens. You think royalty. You can make this pretty easy. Anything that has to do with stealing, killing, or destroying is satan. Anything having to do with life and abundant life is God. James said that “every good and perfect gift comes from above from the Father of lights, in whom there is no variableness.” When I was 16 my parents surprised me with a brand new Pontiac Firebird. I didn’t look at that and think to myself: “Awesome! I knew the mean neighbors down the road who everyone hates would get me a car!” No. I knew my parents, who loved me and sacrificed a lot for me and my sister got it for me. So why do people have such a hard time thinking and realizing that God is not the one giving them cancer, breaking up their marriage, and causing all their problems and then give satan credit as the one who is the one giving all these rich Christians money? There’s a liar in the wood pile and his name is satan. He’s doing the same deceiving he did in the garden of Eden and we can either wake up and start living a better life, or we can stay the same broke, busted, and disgusted church that no one wants to be a part of. Things are changing in this world. Time is running out. The churches preaching the Bible are going to continue to thrive and get results and the ones that aren’t are going to get weaker, and weaker, and less people will attend them. There are firemen who are called to preach, and there are preachers who are called to be firemen. There’s a lot of people in the ministry that God didn’t mean for them to preach, but they are. There’s a lot of people putting out fires who are supposed to be in the pulpit. There’s a lot of people teaching Sunday School that aren’t meant to, and a lot of people sitting in the congregation that are supposed to be teaching Sunday School but aren’t. Hence why you see churches that are dead, boring, and no life in them. And why you see churches and ministries that seem like they are just destined for success. The truth is every Christian in this world is destined for success. You can be called to be a janitor and still be a millionaire. Wrap your religious head around that for a second. It doesn’t matter if you are the King of Saudi Arabia or a teacher at a pre-school. If you are in the spot that God called you to be in, and you are obeying Him and His Word, you will thrive and you will be successful financially, spiritually, and mentally. God doesn’t give some Christians wealth and some Christians poverty. If He did He wouldn’t be righteous and His Word would be a lie. God can’t lie. Our problem is that we just pick a job or a calling out of a hat and give no time whatsoever to get with God and see what they are supposed to do with their lives. And then they spend the next 50 years griping about why something isn’t happening. I’m not going to run out and start to train as an ice skater because I know I am not called to be an ice skater. We need to stop picking our jobs and callings out of a phonebook by running our finger through the B’s with our eyes closed and then apply for jobs that start with “B.” We have to realize God is infinite in His wisdom, wants our success and happiness even more than we do for ourselves, and He IS love. It doesn’t say He has love, the Bible said He IS love. Love doesn’t want you broke. Love isn’t going to want you dreading your job every day. Love isn’t going to want you on your death bed at 31 years old with cancer. Love isn’t going to want you alone for the rest of your life wishing you hadn’t made the decisions you made and always thinking “what if.” Love doesn’t want you fighting with your family or your siblings and having strife at every turn. Love doesn’t want you spending your days worrying about how you’re going to pay the light bill, the car payment, and your kid’s college education. Love doesn’t want you staying up late nights worrying about some decision you made in 1975. That isn’t love. I can sum up God in one word: Love. You think of the best gift you ever got, the nicest person you ever met, the coolest thing you ever heard of, the best boss you ever worked for, the neatest thing you ever saw, the friendliest person you ever knew, the richest man you ever heard of, the sweetest relative you ever had and you multiply all that by infinity and that’s God. That’s Jesus. And that’s the Holy Spirit. Don’t make it complicated. Make it the Bible. He’ll do the rest.