The excitement is building . . .

The excitement is building as I look forward to this weekend. I am sitting here after lunch just thinking through this weekend’s message. In all honesty, I haven’t been this excited about anything in a long time. Maybe it is a carry over from this past weekend and how God worked in our church. This vision that God has placed in my heart is like having a secret about something really good but not being able to tell anyone until a certain time. Well, that certain time in this Sunday night and we will get to start down the path together.

There are a couple of things that keep running in my head that I think we all need to keep in mind as we seek to join God in His vision. One, there is nothing impossible for God. There will be those which say, I can’t, I will not, we can’t do that, etc. Here’s what I believe, if we sell out completely to God; I can, I will, we can do that, etc. Two, none of this is about us – it is all about God. If any of this is about us and our selfish desires, we are doomed to failure before we begin. What we need to understand is that God does not really need us to do His will. He gives us the opportunity to join Him in His work and be a part of something bigger than we are. Three, we must be inclusive, not exclusive. We are doing a good job at this but we can always do better. When we meet someone new to our fellowship, we need to make them feel welcome as we can. I see people acting as greeters for our early worship service, why are we not doing the same for our youth service.

Just to give you a clue about what God has given me: it is a process and it all begins with evangelism. I can hear the “I can’t” already. Funny thing is, you have been doing this already. In the six or seven months I have been at New Hope there have been 8+ students that have accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. Most ministries would be excited about that number and I am, but I wish it was higher. My burden has become all the students in our community. What is your burden? What are you accomplishing for God?

I really believe that this group is on the edge of something really great. I also believe that God will never call us to do anything that we can do on our own. I want to see God sized things happen, things that everyone around us will be talking about. I want to be a part of something that is so big that all fingers point to our God and His glory. This vision that God has given me will stretch all of us and take all of us outside our comfort zones. As for Sunday night the 15th; don’t miss it, invite your friends, and come ready to get busy.

Until next time, keep your eyes on Jesus and prepare for a new battle. The lines have been drawn, the enemy is waiting, but our General has already won the war.