I have evidence.

Here’s his response to the woman taken in adultery: “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”

Pretty lenient, nonjudgmental stuff, right?

Here’s his good word for the Pharisees: “You’re of your father the devil, and the lust of your father you will do.”

Pretty tough stuff, right?

I honestly don’t believe it matters whether you jump pews or sleep in them. The Pharisees did everything “right” except what mattered. They talked of God but didn’t recognize him when they saw him.

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not against church. I love it. I just don’t believe we can confine God to any denomination or limit him by boundaries we try to impose. He’s the God of us all, and he can be found wherever there is a need.

So, you can’t judge a church by how loud they shout, how big their building is, or how many people attend. They may be serving waste instead of Water.

We should observe, instead, how many orphans they clothe and how many widows they feed.

We should be able to hear the truth about the church in the pastor’s sermon. Is the message full of what the pastor has done for God than what God’s done for the pastor? Does it lift up the church’s accomplishments more than Jesus?

If it does, watch out.

Let’s face it, some churches are deader than the desert. Once they were full of Living Water, wells overflowing with truth and life. But the well ran dry. It could be because the

guy dipping into the well became more enamored with the well than the Water.

Maybe he started telling the thirsty they couldn’t have Water unless they wore the right kind of clothes, made the right kind of donation, carried the right kind of Bible, or performed the right kind of job.

So, the Water, being a Living Entity, flowed on to another well, and those around the old well didn’t even notice when the dipper became empty.

Oh, it’s still a beautiful well, with its bricks and stained glass, but take heed.

You’ll dehydrate and die if you fall in love with the well and not the Water.

Now, think on these things.

So, as you see, this “sermon” is a more serious topic than most Mark Lowry discusses. He gets dead serious sometimes because, even though he can be so funny, he knows his mission is to get to the heart of the reason we’re here: to make the most of the time here to help the hurting, confused, and the dying. His desire is to encourage us to be more like our example: Jesus.