Transcript

Here is the transcript of the video that I posted yesterday.  I hope that it may help some!



"This is to the Bride of Christ. I wanted to say thanks 'cause Lord knows my family needed you.
I remember at 11 years old being told my father diagnosed with cancer. Man, we prayed and prayed hoping there would be an answer but the answer never came. I remember standing in the rain, watching as they lowered the casket, thinking, "Only God is to blame for this pain!"
Feeling frustrated and hurt I wanted to walk away from the Church, until the Lord pointed at me and said I was the one who needed to heal. And it was the Church that brought my family pre-cooked meals. And it was the church that showed up and shingled my mother's roof. It was the Church that helped me be a man. Even in my teens, as hormones started to mess with my dreams, it was the Church that helped me find grace in Elohim.
So, it seems, to the Bride of Christ, I owe a thanks...
Even when I wanted to walk away, when your answers didn't match my questions and your truths didn't justify my living. See I was happier sinning. But like a spinning top when the spinning stopped...my world would drop.
Broken and alone, I would find myself at your doors and like the prodigal son you would embrace me in your arms. And now at a time when it's easier to put blame on your name, "Church," the problem with God, "Church," the problem with Jesus, "Church."
We even have people saying, "Yeah, I believe in Jesus but not the Church," like saying I believe in breathing but not oxygen. See, we were never created to be single celled organisms. We were designed to need one another, to encourage, to build up, to sharpen. So your problem isn't with the Church, your problem is with your concept of church, where we put traditions over theology, rules over relationship, music over worship. We're more concerned about treating church like a social club than seeking after the Father's love.
The last time I checked we were called to bear with one another in love, that in Christ we are one. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, one Father who is over all and through all and in all.
Yes, to the Bride of Christ I owe a thanks for being there. For being the hands and feet, for being the guidance in my defeat. See it's easier to judge a book by the cover, the Church from the outside, but when we open the pages and discover the Church is made up of people, flawed and broken and sometimes a little too outspoken, judgemental and hypocritical and I'm not trying to excuse these things but when the final trumpet sings the King is coming back for His Bride and I would rather stand with her than speak against her.
So, to the Bride of Christ, I owe a thanks for loving the least of these. For looking after the orphans and widows, for every cup of water offered in the name of Jesus. For loving mercy, walking humbly, acting justly. To every pastor proclaiming the gospel. To every parent training their children in the Word. To every man and woman who are laying down their lives for Christ, choosing life over death. Rebellion against what culture tells us to be. You are the Church. You are the Bride of Christ. To you, I say thanks."