a dangerous church:PUMPIN UP THE VOLUME

i well remember the day when i first decided to start working out at the gym. i had just gotten my rowdy english bull terrier whom those who have been so kind as to tolerate me blathering about like any lovesick parent will. i couldn even handle the little bugger for a simple walk around the block. when people as i was attempting to manage him around the block were standing there laughing at me saying things like"the dog taking YOU for a walk"i was like thinking to myself"this is pretty sad when you cant manage your dog for a simple walk around the block without getting out of breath" thats when the lights came on to start taking advantage of my free membership with pro-health fitness.

so i started, and for a while i was rocking along, lost over 20 pounds, then lo and behold, one day i was told "your stomach is getting bloated again" and i realized sure enough it was. at first i didnt understand why it was happening. then i remember what one of the trainers at the gym told another client, about after a time ones body starts to adjust to the workout regime to the point that it actually begins to lose some of its effectiveness. also, i had began to neglect other parts of my regime, in the way of diet. id almost completely stopped drinking water. also in an attempt to save a few bucks had opted for buying a cheap generic fiber supplement as opposed to the herbal coloncleanz that i had been taking. i realized i had to start doing two things....i had to start making water part of my regime again and i had to pump up the volume in my workout. go back to daily maintenence in diet plus in my workout up the ante.

that was kinda how it was when i rededicated my life to god id reached a watershed point where i realized it wasnt in me to find my own way. for awhile i was rocking along going great guns doing great. then i hit a snag. all of a sudden i was angry all the time at people close to me in my life. i was angry all the time PERIOD felt like i was stuck not going anywhere. THEN TWO THINGS HAPPENED. first God revealed to me on an individual level that i was falling back into an old trap. i was making other people my god..which was IDOLATRY. i already knew that was a road doomed to failure. i was going back to making THINGS and PEOPLE more important than GOD. time to going back to some basic principles in spiritual maintenance.
then pastor gary started teaching the congregation on a new series.....A DANGEROUS CHURCH. God deals with believers both on an individual level and on a collective level. which means when He starts addressing the congregation on something speaking to each of its members individually that many of its members are going thru the same thing as you.

often at the same time when God is telling you to go back to some basic maintenence on some basics with your walk with Him, hes also upping the ante to bring you to a new level. some of the rpoblems i was having was indeed due to starting to become complacent and lazy..self absorbed. it was also due to the fact id reached a plateau and was starting to stagnate. i remember reading a book by a poet sylvia plath called the bell jar which described a state of sour depression where one stews in their own sour air. that was where i was at. GOD LOVES ME THE WAY I AM TRUE. BUTTTTTTTTTTT HE LASO LOVES ME FAR TOO MUCH TO LET ME STAY THAT WAY. theres no middle ground here..its forward or its going back GOD WILL NOT EVER LET ME BECOME COMPLACENT. not on HIS watch.

A DANGEROUS CHURCH is speaking to His church...INDIVIDUALLY AND COLLECTIVELY.going back to daily maintenence and upping the ante as He moves us to a new level