In response to Menageriekeeper:
1) Our congregation does have several chronically ill people. It's a personal decision that they make whether to go or not. I believe that if you have the faith, which is lacking nowadays, God will take care of you. People must think that their God is so small and weak that He can't keep his people warm during the cold times and can't protect them from sickness or heal them if they do get sick. That might be their God, but my God is much bigger. He can do anything for his people. If we just believe and have faith. Simple as that. The way I look at it, if I get sick and die from pneumonia because I was baptizing in cold water, then I've died serving my God and I'll be right there with him in Heaven. So, it's a win/win situation for me.
2) Don't really now how or if I'm supposed to respond to that one.
3)Well it's not going to be nowhere near warm tomorrow.Cold, cold, and more cold..lol.
4) As far as worshipping in discomfort, you totally missed the point or I didn't make my point clear. I didn't mean that you had to do without or be in discomfort to worship God, but I believe it has had a effect on how people worship. I went to Haiti 2 times this year and on my second trip, we had church outside under a tarp. We were on top of a mountain on the ruins of a collapsed orphanage and the temperature was about 110. There were no restrooms, no daycare, no coffee bar, no information booth, no running water, no comfortable chairs, no PA system, no TV screens, but you know what, the Holy Spirit was there. That's really all we needed, wasn't it? It was absolutely miserable conditions to the natural body, but you know what, nobody seemed to mind. Their focus was on God. It was the most spiritual service that I have ever been a part of. I got up there and preached to these people who had gone through so much just to get to church, many walked for miles and they going to have to walk back home. The service lasted about 3 hours. Here after an hour, people are itching to get out of there so they can beat the crowd to the restaurants. While there I couldn't help to think about all the people here in the States that have excuse after excuse for why they don't go to church. And none of them hold water. I hear people complain all the time in church and it gets so old. I know God has to be tired of it. "It's too hot, it's too cold, somebody got my seat, the preacher is too longwinded, that baby's crying, I don't like singing that song, etc. etc.". You know what, if people would just put their focus on worshipping God, then all that other stuff wouldn't bother them. People want to focus on the natural and not the spiritual. If you've ever read any of Paul's writing then you should know that he said that we will suffer here on earth. And we should count it as a blessing.
People fall asleep in church because they just don't care. They have lost their respect for God and for his House. They can sit and watch tv all day or do other things for hours on end, but can't keep their eyes open for 30 mins. of preaching. It shows were people's hearts are. If anyone falls asleep in my church, they will be woke up. I do agree that some preaching is boring. If it's that bad that it puts people to sleep, then the congregation needs to be praying for that preacher and if that doesn't work, then something needs to change. But in a lot of cases, the congregation is happy to hear ineffective preaching because it doesn't challenge them to be better Christians. They like sitting there on their tail and don't won't to hear the truth preached.
My church is very comfortable. We have padded pews and we even provide extra cushions. We have heat and air. We even have several throws laying in the pews for people who are cold natured. I'm not so much talking about people getting comfortable in the natural sense, but more towards the spiritual side. People have gotten comfortable with their spiritual growth and it's caused them to fall asleep spiritually. They're no longer growing and are of no use to the church in that condition. Just like when Jesus was praying in the garden, his disciples could not stay awake. They sat down and got too comfortable and was of no use to Jesus for the purpose that he asked of them: to watch while he prayed.
I hope this clarifies a few things. God Bless have a great week.
