Our intense training continues. God continues to turn upside down everything we believed about how to live our lives. And it is great!
The weather has been outstanding over the last week here in Washington, and many people have come outside to enjoy it while it lasts. Our prayer has been that the Lord would lead us to people that need Him, and in turn that people would, for whatever reason, come to us as well. That has been happening in a really big way in our neighborhood and through Everett Family Church.
Yesterday alone we got to meet 2 of our neighbors, one who is completely unchurched and another who is looking for a place of discipleship due to being in the spotlight of community leadership. We also have managed to deepen relationships with two other families who are unchurched and are not committed to Jesus, and are getting to spend regular time with families from our church who are either on the fence or are mixed, meaning some are believers in Jesus and some are not. This takes me back to what I started the post with. Training. Our training.
Years ago when I looked into joining the ministry, I would have told you that the most important thing is powerful preaching and teaching within the church. Pastors and leaders needed to be available and positively magnetic, and these individuals needed to be able to attract many nonbelievers by sheer force of will, personal magnetism, and excellent and foolproof teaching. While I still believe it is important that church planters and pastors love people, that love has to come from the Lord. If church leaders don't feel that way about people, they simply must submit that area of their life to the Lord and let him work through it.
2 Corinthians 12:
8 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. 9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
And no matter what, every single thing we do must be committed first to the Lord. This is a very serious thing that we can't just pay lip-service to. We have to believe it and do it in every aspect of our lives.
Psalm 127:1-2
Unless the Lord builds a house,
the work of the builders is wasted.
Unless the Lord protects a city,
guarding it with sentries will do no good.
2 It is useless for you to work so hard
from early morning until late at night,
anxiously working for food to eat;
for God gives rest to his loved ones.
When you come down to it, our job here in Everett is fantastically simple. To have an impact on this society, to draw people in, to bring them to the feet of Jesus, we must stop doing. Yes, you read that right. We have to stop and we have to get on our knees to the Lord and ask Him to do these things. Only then do things happen that we didn't expect. Only then do we see the Holy Spirit move in and around us.
To lead His way, we have to follow. To take action His way, we have to get on our knees. To produce fruit, we must take in from The Vine. To do is to pray first.
2 Samuel 5
23 And again David asked the Lord what to do. “Do not attack them straight on,” the Lord replied. “Instead, circle around behind and attack them near the poplar[a] trees. 24 When you hear a sound like marching feet in the tops of the poplar trees, be on the alert! That will be the signal that the Lord is moving ahead of you to strike down the Philistine army.” 25 So David did what the Lord commanded, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon[b] to Gezer.
Prayer
You might have noticed the prayer tab to the right of the blog. If you haven't done so already, please consider signing up for our prayer texts. I send these periodically when there is a very specific prayer request that needs immediate prayer. Our Lord exists here in Everett and simultaneously in every place of the world. Please consider joining us in prayer for the many needs that are present here. God is moving and we see the results of YOUR prayers each and every day.
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