“I am convinced that God longs to put His fingerprint in our lives, to act on our behalf and surprise us with His magnificence. I am equally convinced that most of the time we do not give God a context in which to do this. The mundane is not really the best context for a miracle. When we play it safe, we squeeze God out of the formula. If we go only where we know and do what we’re certain will succeed, we remove our need for God. Whenever we respond to God’s invitation, our need for God becomes heightened. Whenever we take on a God-sized challenge, self-sufficiency is no longer an option.”
Erwin Mcmanus – Chasing Daylight (formerly Seizing Your Divine Moment)
Our Sr. Andy Stanley will be speaking at the Inaugural Prayer Service today at 10:00am EST. You can watch the live feed here.
Yesterday I was reading John 11. This is a story I had read hundreds of times, but today I saw something new. Quickly, this is the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus gets sick and Jesus does nothing except let him die.
Bummer!
Lazarus’s 2 sisters were trusting Jesus to come heal their brother, He had told them He would.
Jesus doesn’t show up.
Certainly Jesus understood the pain Mary and Martha were experiencing. He knew His poor time management would lead to their pain. He just let him die! The pretty ending is that Jesus raises this man from the dead, which is miraculous and amazing, but John 11:4 really made me stop.
4When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”
My question to myself and now to you is this:
Where in your life does something need to die so that Jesus gets the glory when He brings you back to life?
What relationship needs to die? What habit? What attitude? What behaviour? What buisness practice? Where in your life are you sick, but in denial? Maybe the thing you need to let die isn’t even a sin. Maybe it is simply holding you back from the fullness God has for you. The pain is real, the mourning will hurt, but it will not end in death. God’s plan is to bring life, John 10:10 and to bring glory to God through your life.
Where in your life does something need to die so that Jesus gets the glory when He brings you back to life?
Put that bad habit to death. Let that bad relationship die. With all the pain it might bring put that thing to death.
Let it die and trust God to bring you back to life!
I was reading this morning and read through one of Seth Godin’s recent posts and it challenged the heck out of me. Read it below and I will make a few comments to contextualize the ideas at the end.
“Is everything okay?
Unless you work in a nuclear power plant, the answer is certainly no (and if you work there, I hope the answer is yes.)
No, everything is not okay. Not in a growing organization. Not if your company is making change happen, or dealing with customers. How could it be?
And yet, that’s what so many managers focus on. How to make everything okay.
We spend so much time smoothing things out, we lose the opportunity for change, or for texture or creativity.
Instead of working so hard to make everything okay, perhaps it is more helpful to work hard at living with a world that rarely is.”
That should push every student, housewife, engineer, leader, pastor, and everyone else! In church world this is so easy to fall prey to. Having to produce over and over again each week, it is easy to set the standard at “okay” and not push to change the world. There is enormous pressure in leadership to sell vision to the popular majority and never see the awesome world changing consequences of following Jesus completely.
I am printing this statement out and plastering it on my office wall, while I have an office wall, and on a notebook. “We spend so much time smoothing things out, we lose the opportunity for change, or for texture or creativity.”
I will lead a church that brings change, texture and creativity to Columbia, SC. This will happen not because I am any more skilled than anyone else, or because we have more resources, but because when it comes to reaching the unchurched in Columbia we can not be okay with “okay”. Jesus didn’t come just for church people. He came for everybody!
Reading John 7 today it became apparent to me that I often critize other ministries that God is using to do great things. That is a pharisee!
Many times Jesus taught and did miracles and the Pharisees rejected Him. Here is John 7 they reject Him for several reasons, but one was because He is from Galilee. Galilee was not the place the Messiah was supposed to come from.
What do you do when the movement of God in your city comes from another place? Another ministry? Do you reject, criticize, and blog crap about them, because it is not your ministry or do you believe and give glory to God?
I pray that as we launch Columbia Church we will embrase the activity of God that is happening in other places in our city. Places like Dutch Fork Christian Church, Awaken Columbia , and East Lake Community Church , Newspring, and many others!
God move and may I not be a pharisee…
