WHERE IS THE CHURCH TODAY GOING?

From discussions with friends and some other pastors, it is becoming increasingly evident today that much of what the church is doing could be done without God's help.  A. W. Tozer once remarked that the Holy Spirit could withdraw from many congregations and business would go on much the same as it always has been done.  He was right.
      What has happened to our dependence on God?  There is no end to books, conferences, and a host of other media materials on how to "succeed in business" without absolute dependence on God.  In Zechariah 4, we are reminded of God's Word: "It is not by might nor by power but by My Spirit says the Lord."  We must be so abandoned to the will of the Lord that the ONLY explanation for what occurs is Him and NOTHING of us.  When we get to the place in our Christian life and in the life of the body of Christ that the ONLY thing that matters is God's glory and honoring Christ Jesus, we have finally been captured by the Spirit of God. 
     Too often today I get the impression that all we have to do is put another nickel in the machine and we'll get the same song, second verse.  The great hymn of the past says it well: "Let me lose my life and find it Lord in Thee; May all self be slain, my friends see only Thee.  Though it cost me grief and pain, I will find my life again; when I lose my life, I find it Lord in Thee."   THAT SHOULD BE OUR DESIRE AND PLEA.