Is Pepsi Alright?

Is Pepsi Alright?

How many times have you started to place a drink order at a restaurant only to have a server offer you a substitute from another brand; Pepsi instead of Coke or even worse a Mr. Pibb in lieu of Dr. Pepper? This conundrum has become so iconic several popular memes have been created with a humorous response “Is monopoly money, okay?” We can all relate to the frustration from someone offering us a substitute that clearly does not measure our original request. Couple a poor substitute of your ‘authentic’ drink with the false advertisement of the burger pictures on a menu and a good attorney might win a case cruel and unusual punishment.

I read through Acts again recently and I was overwhelmed by what their church communities looked and lived like, and I decided that’s what I want. I want the real Christianity. Not the product being sold as Christianity in buildings across the country. I don’t want the rock concert, laser light show, self-help showdown, neither do I want the scheduled, sullen-faced, regimented study session where the only topics are the things other people get wrong and discuss how the world would be fixed if we only studied our Bibles more. I want the real thing.

· I want to see the church that the apostles saw explode through supernatural unification.

· I want excitement about the gospel, the opportunity to worship, and to do it with all different kinds of people who love the same Jesus.

· I want God to convict me of my sin that I might throw it aside.

· I want someone there to carry me from it and to something better.

· I want relationships that extend beyond the building.

· I want prayer that is weighed by tears but overcome with the lifting of holy hands.

· I want to light the world with caring service like Christ did.

· I want to love my church family more than I love my Earthly routine.

· I want to burst out in song while in chains.

· I want to pick up those who lost everything.

· I want to march into the unknown to tell somebody about my Jesus.

I’ve tasted it before, I know it’s real and I don’t want a substitute.

I love You,

Jonathan Long