“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple: And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27).
Danny BurnleyThe word “disciple” means “a pupil or follower of any teacher or school of religion, learning, art, etc.; an early follower of Jesus.”
On the other hand, the definition of the word “dabbler” is “one who dabbles.” The word “dabble” means to “dip in and out very lightly.” As we consider these two words, we should ask ourselves, “Who are we sending forth from our churches today – disciples or dabblers?”
Acts 2:42 tells us that the early church “continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” and in verse 46, they were “continuing daily in one accord in the temple.” These were truly disciples and not dabblers.
Now consider these statistics:
? 5 out of 100 church members cannot be found.
? 20 out of 100 church members do not pray.
? 25 out of 100 never read the Bible.
? 30 out of 100 never attend church.
? 40 out of 100 never give financially to support the church.
? 50 out of 100 never attend Sunday school.
? 60 out of 100 never come back on Sunday night.
? 70 out of 100 never support missions.
? 75 out of 100 never do any church work whatsoever.
? 80 out of 100 never attend prayer meeting.
? 90 out of 100 never have a family altar.
? 95 out of 100 never attempt to lead one person to faith in Jesus Christ.
No wonder there are so many churches in a stagnant or declining situation. We no longer have to ask the question, “What’s wrong with America?” We no longer have to wonder why our baptistries are so dry. We can easily understand why we are losing ground and why the devil is gaining so much ground in America today.
By understanding these statistics, we can see that our church rolls are filled with many dabblers and not disciples. Perhaps the names of some churches should be changed to the “Whoopee Baptist Church” or a “Fair Weather Baptist Church.”
God wants us to become disciples, not dabblers. What we need today is an old-fashioned, heaven-sent, devil-defying, sin-killing, God-honoring, soul-saving revival to take over our churches in America today. We need revival!
I am confident that revival is at the door. This is God’s promise to us in 2 Chronicles 7:14. The question is, “Do we want revival?”