MMP – February 22, 2021

  God asks us to do the crazy. He asks us to do the things that don’t make sense.  To…

God asks us to do the crazy. He asks us to do the things that don’t make sense.  To do things vastly different from how the world tells us to do something.  And pretty much, He calls on us to act on faith.  Faith to see it through to the end.  Faith to keep moving in times of difficulty.  Faith when we are attacked for what we believe is right.

In our church, we believe He was calling us to do the crazy.  He was calling us to have 500 baptisms in 10 years, and plant three new churches.  Both of those are super high numbers.  But I think God asks us for what the world sees as impossible for a reason:  the only way we can succeed is if we double down, trust God, lean harder into Him, and pray and trust like crazy for Him to come through.

I believe these goals are attainable.  I believe He can do this.  But it starts first with me.

Do I honestly believe God can actually do this, or am I holding onto doubt?
Do I pray for our mission trusting that He can do this?
Do I ask Him to use me, and then act when he says it’s time?

Those are all difficult questions.  They challenge me to my core because yes, at times, I can doubt.  At times, I don’t pray as much as I should.  At times, I can ask Him to use me and chicken out when He calls me on it.

I just keep thinking about the father in Luke who brings his son to Jesus’ 9 disciples while Jesus is being transfigured on the mountain with the other three.  And when Jesus comes down, the father begs him to help saying, “Please help by boy if you can…” to which Jesus responds, “If I can?”  After questioning the people for their unbelief, the father drops on his knees and says, “I do believe. Help my unbelief,” and Jesus removes the evil spirit from his son.

Too many times, I can fall into the trap of being the father in this story. “If you can Jesus, help us reach the world for you.”  But the truth is, God has given us everything we need.  God has given us the Holy Spirit, God Himself, dwelling within us to work when we’re willing to let Him.

My hope and prayer is that when it comes to our mission, we stop thinking if, and allow the doubt to make us question if we’re going to make an impact in this town.  I hope all of us, very soon, will say:

“When we reach Cottage Grove for Christ…”
“When we baptize our 500 new believer…”
“When we plant our 3rd church…”
“When this city shines for Jesus once again…”

Let’s start believing it, start acting it, and start living it out with every fiber of our being!