This Weekend at Celebration Church
By Stovall Weems
This weekend is going to be off the chain. One of the things I am going to be talking about is how people fall away from God, and what the root of that is. Let me hear your thoughts about what things you have seen that cause people to fall away from God. Don’t generalize with “sin” and “unbelief” – I know that is the root, but what things lead to that? Think more in terms of life experiences.
This is a great weekend to bring people to church. (But of course, so is every other weekend!) See you this weekend.
Stovall
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Why some people leave the Church or turn away from God:
1. Isolation- no one visits them when they are sick, or disabled,or grieving,or in nursing home
2. unanswered prayer
3.senseless tragedies
4. unfair treatment/humiliation/judgment
5.no one helped them when they needed help
6. no one made them feel welcome or fit in
I am going to piggy back on what Gail writes. This Sunday was the first time in over 3 years that Erika, myself, Nolan and Kimmy all came to church together in the same car, and left together after service. It was awesome. I stepped away from the parking ministry 2 weeks ago, and Erika has moved to every other week with the kids due to the pregnancy.
I was so overwhelmed in worship, chills all over my body, and in communion with God like I haven’t been in a long time. What a truth about taking a break….
jason
WOW. I am impressed. It sounds like our church is aware of so many reasons because we are being real about our past. I think I have experienced just about every single one of these. I know that when I just let life happen instead of living the life God wants for me, I tend to drift. I just need to get out of the current and get back in the water where I am supposed to be and stay disciplined to what God have so me. I have been studying PHILLIPIANS during my quiet times while we have been doing this study & have grown in the understanding of what you need to do, DAILY, to be disciplined in my walk with Jesus. Thanks so much for this series & I am looking forward to the marriage series coming up. Actually, Christy & I are going away for our anniversary weekend getaway & we are calling it our “training camp” to get ready for our next “season” back home. Providence is 3-0 and rolling. Come check them out on a Friday. As you can tell, we are in full football mode. Blessings!!
Good message tonight.
It made me think of a bunch of people who have let the ladder slide out from under their feet within the last few years. more recently, just today and last week.
A guy who I have been close with, been discipling, talking too, praying with and for, has had an on going battle with drug addiction. After finding out he went back to smoking crack just a week ago, it was aweful, but somehow I felt he would be remoursful about it, and realize what he did, and that God had a bigger plan for him. But after we (some of the men in my mens group) rallied around him on Tuesday night to show him we still loved him and supported him, we realized he wasn’t done yet, and that he had lost his faith and given up hope. It was sad to see, because he could hardly even say the words God or Jesus without hesitation. Well, today, I found out he got high again, left his place with just a few items, and pretty much succomed to living in the streets. It had me in tears at church, I found out just a few minutes before I left to go to service.
Until I listened to this weeks message, I couldn’t have put into the right words what had happened to him. I knew he lost faith, but never really could have known why, the real reason. This message was right on time. I am praying now that someway, somehow, he finds his way to hear it for himself tomorrow morning…… and he doesn’t end up ….. well, dead. I know as a soldier I must press on, knowing my friend may not make it back, but it hurts to know that this could be it. Gods will be done.
Be blessed my friends,
Brian
Pastor
One of the reasons I see for falling away from God is the sense of entitlement. I remember my younger years where I grew up in a good Christian family, hardly missed church and tithed regularly. Because of my backround and religious behavior I thought I was entitled to God’s blessings and favor. Little did I realize that sin was slowly creeping into my life because of the sense of entitlement that gave way to pride.
It took a lot of repentance and a miracle from God to get out of my issues. I now realize that I just need to be obedient to Jesus’ commandments and not like I deserve some special treatment from God for being a Christian. I want to treasure Christ more than anything else and want to feel His joy every single day. It’s like Celebration church’s motto living the “God first” life.
Well, Im a voice of experience in this area. I was on the fence for many years with my relationship with God and this may be hard for some to hear but sometimes it is us as christians and humans that push people away from God. I was going to another church when my husband and I first moved here about 3yrs ago Im not naming what church but I was a member and served regularly when ever they needed me. And well it blew up in my face. They put me down and humiliated me in front of the whole church because they had no child care and my son would not sit still. I felt if this is how God’s people act well I don’t want to be any part of it. I left church for a year until I felt a strong feeling of going to celebration and I was like okay I will try this again. That service I remeber so well because it was the one were Pastor Stovall road up on a harley in the church I about fell out. Then he didn’t say what you want to hear he said what you NEEDED to hear I rededicated my life to God that weekend. I have since became a member and have been going to celebration ever since. So how you live ur life and how u treat people is a big thing especially to new christians. If a new christian comes to u and tells u something and u judge them for what ever it is that can turn them away as well. There are so many reasons why people turn away. Also it is harder to be a christian than to not be one.
Not being an active disciple of Jesus will leave one spiritually weak or immature, and they will often fall away from God when trials come. If someone just relies on doing the right thing “in the moment”, they often fail to put God first. Practicing spiritual disciplines (solitude, Bible reading and study, fasting, prayer, quiet times, confession, worship, Christian fellowship) prepares us for trials and allows the Spirit to produce fruit (peace, joy, love, patience, etc) in our lives.
Pastor,
With everything Becca and I have been through with Riley I would have to say that one of the main things that I would see causing people to fall away from God is their prayers not being answered. Sometimes we feel that God should act a certain way like there is a code that he must work by or certain prayers that he just must answer, but as we have found in the past 7 months sometimes our prayers don’t line up with his answers. I think for people who are not 100% rooted in God’s love it is easy to think that because he did not answer my prayer or answer it in away that I wanted he’s not there or he just does not care that much.
(probably more than you wanted to know:)
I find that some people fall away from God shortly after they get saved because they start reading the Bible and think this new life I have in Christ is way too disciplined (not getting the whole grace thing) that your still going to screw up even after you become a christian. They then fall back to their old sinful lifestyle because, and I quote “My sin is way more comfortable”!
When your saved, the Holy Spirit starts to talk and prod your heart with wisdom in telling you what your doing is wrong. It’s new to a new christian and they get freaked out about that not knowing how to respond. This is why discipleship is SO important!
Wow- these are all really good comments. I think nearly all of them will be addressed in the message this weekend.
Also-
Gail- what you said is so important. Everybody that serves has to know when they need a break and they have to know that their relationship with God(not service) is the #1 thing. I hope people in Celebration feel that there is freedom to take a break from serving when they need to. I know I have said this from the pulpit before but probably not enough. I am very sorry for that. Please communicate to anyone struggling to please take a break if they need to. This issue is very important to me.
I think that is one of the toughest questions out there…. I know my experience is that many people are disappointed that God didn’t do what the Bible says He will do. It is usually explained away that it must not have been God’s “will”.
However, the Bible doesn’t say lay hands on the sick and if “it’s God’s will” they shall recover, or give and “if it’s God’s will” it shall be given unto you. It seems like those commands are pretty cut and dry.
My experience is that I have laid hands on the sick and they still died, I tithed for years and still struggled financially. So I wondered for years if God really meant what He said or if it was conditional on something I was unaware of.
Some teach we are laying up treasures in heaven if we don’t have blessings manifest here on earth, but it sure would be nice to get an ‘advance’ while we are here.
I think that people can sometimes get burnout and overwhelmed in life and in church, especially for people who serve regularly. And instead of feeling like they have support and grace to take a break, they just quit all together. We can all get so caught up in the service and getting things done, that we don’t take enough time to meet with God and remember why we’re doing it.
We have the tendency to think that we have to be much better than we are now in order to become a part of the church. We might think that we are not “there” yet. What many fail to realize, though, is that part of getting to “there” begins with being a part of the church. Walking the Christian walk is a lifelong process…we’ll never get “there” until we are up there!
Wow, after hearing the this weekends message at the Friday noon service I better understand the question. It made me think of my brother…When we were young we went to church together (my mom made him go) and I remember him praying for my parents and their marriage…A few years later was when my parents had some very “rocky” years that later led to a five year separation. During those years was when he became angry and turned away from God. Thankfully God restored my parents marriage and from speaking to my brother, I know his heart is turning toward God again.
Green Grass and Apples
The bible says that men and women are drawn away by their own lusts and desires. I naturally(subtly) gravitate away from God when I desire something more than what He has for me. Of course, that’s really just an illusion. The challenge is to not give in to that illusion just because it pops up so many times. Sometimes when I hear or see something enough I think it’s true.
Thought of another one – how about being burned out? Over commitment can really take a toll on your relationship with God.
Amen!!!Amanda, I too feel feel your pain. Like you said ‘ keep your eyes focused on him!’ He is the only answer.
I have seen many that fall away from the Lord due to the spirit of offense. Something that happened at church, something at work, something in their family caused them to become offended.
This offense leads to unforgiveness and even though it doesn’t reveal its ugly head outwardly at times, inwardly it is eating them up.
As a police officer, when I was on the streets, you add drugs/alcohol and/or financial problems to the mix and it is an explosive mixture. (these things make up 75% of the calls that I went on)
So, I would have to say, from my experience, offense and unforgiveness lead to people sublety falling away.
Like a boat that is anchored and then the chain breaks. Those in the boat might not notice, but they are now drifting away from their destination. Before they know it, they are so far downstream that they often feel as if there is no real way back to where they were.
When I went away to college, I knew Jesus as Savior and worshipped Him as Lord, but I didn’t really have a PERSONAL relationship with Him. Though I knew in theory that He lived inside of me, I’d never really connected with Him. So when the world came blasting into my previously sheltered existence, the “religion” couldn’t sustain me. Emotional damage from my early childhood and inexperience were the chinks in my armor…in other words, the flesh took over. That’s why we as parents and teachers need to help our kids build the relationship, not the religion. Teach them not only the rules, but how to hear God’s voice, how to interact with Him, what makes Him happy, or sad, how He helps to change you from the inside so you love the rules. Turning our unsuspecting kids loose in the world without their armor is the most dangerous thing we could ever do to them. We also need to be straight up honest with them about what they are going to face out there. They probably have a better idea today then when I left home in the mid-70’s, but it’s still been filtered. At some point we have to take off the gloves. They not only need to understand the Truth of who and what Jesus is, but also to be able to recognize the counterfit version the world offers up.
In a word, Compromise.
Little by little we make a series of small compromises and soon those all add up to drowning in sin. We read the Bible less; we stop going to church as much; we stop hanging around our Christian friends (they keep us accountable, dontcha’ know); we rationalize why “just a little but of [insert sin] won’t hurt. The compromises are subtle.
Look at Lot…he made a lot of bad choices, little compromises, that led to his problems. Like many of us, he didn’t see where he’d end up via the road of a compromise here, a compromise there, yadda, yadda.
Loneliness. As a single when I take my eyes off of the Lord, forgetting that He is the only one who can meet my needs and the desires of my heart. When I forget He is the all sufficient one it is easy to turn to other things that aren’t of Him. The next thing you know, you are somewhere you never intended to be.
Personally, I’ve seen people fall away from God because of others good intentions. People who are in the church and think they are helping someone by pointing out their sin, but not with an attitude of love and restoration.
For me personally, It was a lack of understanding of my position in Christ. I somehow missed the fact that my sins were paid for and I was truly free.. Free to choose and have the power to not sin. When I was first married and under a ton of stress I would always turn back to my old habbits. It was everything from the music I’d isten to the TV I’d watch. I never realized how much of an influence some of those things can have in your life… When the stress would pour on… God’s word was not the first thing to come to mind. It was more like “This is just like the time when Rachel and Ross did such and such..”
I used to spend every Sunday at the altar crying out to God for a touch. I wanted to know he was working in my life and that he cared. I spent months seeking after an expereience in the front of the church and failed to seek after him in his word. Then, one Sunday afternoon – I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me and tell me “if you want to know more of Me read My word.” That sparked in me a wounderful journey of discovering God through the scriptures and I wouldn’t trade that for anything!
That’s a good question Pastor. Can’t wait to hear the message…One thing I’ve noticed why people fall away from Him is that they don’t understand it’s about relationship and not perfection. I recently heard someone (who has a child) say they will start coming to church when thier baby gets older. It’s like they want thier child to be “raised right” but are not ready to give up thier life style yet.
People who are working hard at their jobs and serving regularly and faithfully at church for a long time and see no improvement in their finances and/or their health or experience decline in those areas