Rochester Conference Part 2: Becoming One Species (1996)

Do you know who created you? A Christian created you. That’s who created you. And when He created you, He created you being a Christian to do things that Christians do. And you know what Christians do? They herd. They gaggle; they flock. They pack or whatever. And they get together like the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and twelve apostles, and then a bunch of people on Pentecost, the day of Pentecost.

It is almost a curse that…follow me here for a minute, would you? You are being driven by biological urges you don’t understand. And it’s true, and you’re trying to satisfy them in a building with stained glass windows and rituals, and you’re being driven hungry for something else because a Christian who’s in love with the church created you, and she is His eternal purpose. And you’re trying to flow against the universe itself.

Brothers and sisters, wake up. You’re doomed. It’s either…and I’ll interrupt myself with an illustration. In Guam, there’s a place where you can get your car repaired, and you can also get it coated because there’s so much salt in the air. And they have a big sign that says, “It’s Rust or us.” And we could put that over the house of God. “It’s us or rust.”

The Holy Spirit is daily driving you to her. The longings in you, as you longed for Christ because you were created by a Christian God, you were driven to Him in your longing. You are just as much driven to the Ekklesia by the God who happens to see the church as part of Himself. And you’re driven toward her, you’re driven toward that assembly, to the ekklesia, to the body, the bottom half of Christ, just as you are driven to the top half. Would it be nice if we could hold great stadium-wide rallies of 15,000 and 20,000 people and invite people to complete their salvation to fulfill the longing? Half of the longing has been satisfied; the other half is not.

(Singing) Praise the name of Jesus. Praise the name of Jesus. You’re my rock. You’re my fortress. You’re my Deliverer in you, I trust. Praise your name, Lord Jesus.