Today Is the Day

This Sunday we celebrate the work of Jesus as he has called us, as a church, to follow him in a new direction. For over a year and a half we have talked about being a church that would assemble in multiple locations throughout the rural region where we live. The reason we are headed in this new direction is because Jesus asked us to.

So often when we speak of God and his timing in our lives we think of a day in the far distant future. Like someday, in the future, is always the day that God will ask us to do something new. But there comes a time when God says, “today is the day” as he did with Joshua. As God chose Joshua to lead the children on Israel into the Promised Land he told them to make preparation because in three days he was sending them to take the land (Joshua 1:10-11).

After those three days of preparation, the day to cross over the river came. When the priests entered the water, the water parted and the children of Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground (Joshua 3:14-17). In Joshua 5 we read of how the people celebrated their first Passover in the new land and from that time forth there was no more manna as there had been in the wilderness. It was a new day.

Over seven months ago we called a campus pastor and put a launch date for our first campus on the calendar, Easter 2011. At the time we had no idea where that campus would be. The past seven months have been ones that have tried the faith of our leaders and church family. We knew there would be pressure as we sought to make an impact against the darkness that surrounds us but that still did not make the journey easy. We find ourselves at the point of “crossing the river,” to take the next step on the journey that God has called us to.

Following lunch together Sunday, we will commission a pastor and core team that are being sent to do something new. We will also pray for those who have been called to stay in Watseka and invest in the lives of people there. It will be a time for tears and cheers. A time where one chapter in the life of our church comes to a close while a new chapter begins. A time of being sad and joy filled all at the same time. Most of all a time to celebrate that Jesus has called all of us to be on mission with him.

The Blessing of Pruning

I love the way God works through themes in my life. Well, I don’t always love what the theme is but I love the way that God uses multiple forms of input to guide me along life’s journey. Lately the theme has been pruning.  John 15:1-2 says,

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ” (John 15:1–2, ESV)

When I moved to Illinois three years ago, I started a garden for the first time in my life. Growing up my father had always had a garden but I was really not very interested. Up until starting my own garden, I had read in the pages of Scripture about pruning but I had never experienced the abundance of fruit that comes from loving care through cutting a plant deeply. 

I recently watched a message from pastor James MacDonald and he shared some observations of God’s work in pruning. His point was the Christian life has seasons based upon a cycle; God sets the pattern. First comes pruning then comes fruit bearing. If we don’t give up pruning happens again. The life of a follower of Jesus is defined by, as James MacDonald says, “Seasons of fruit bearing, followed by seasons of pruning, followed by greater fruit bearing.”

As we follow Jesus in life’s journey, we must be people who willingly embrace God’s pruning in light of the promise of fruit bearing on the other side. Not people who simply endure but people who flourish in the midst of the pruning because we have our joy in Jesus not our circumstances. We must be people who find joy in the midst of the toil of it all, knowing that he who began a good work will complete it in Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6). We must be people who embrace God’s pruning as the blessing that it really is, in order that we might be people who bear much fruit for his glory. 

Joy In The Trial

I tend to be a slow learner.  Over the last seven years of my life as I have faced adversity or trials my focus has most often been on escape.  The adversity I have faced has been great at times and sometimes it’s just a little annoyance because things don’t go my way.  In the end, I find myself asking God to deliver me from my adversity.   But lately, I have learned that I have been seeking the wrong thing.  Instead of being delivered from the trial, I am to find my complete joy in Jesus while in the middle of the fire.

Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were three Hebrew men who faced the fiery furnace because of their great love for God and refusal to worship King Nebuchadnezzar.   When the king looked into the fire he was confused by what he saw...

“Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” ” (Daniel 3:24–25, ESV)

In the midst of the fire, the God of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah was with them.  As they emerged from the fire they did not even have the smell of smoke on their clothing.  Anyone who has ever been around a fire knows that you can’t keep the smell of smoke out of anything.  For those after a house fire, getting rid of the smell is the biggest obstacle of all.  As the men emerged from the fiery furnace, the King’s response was pure amazement.   He praised God because he recognized no one had the power to rescue the way their God had rescued them. 

James 1:2-4 is clear that followers of Jesus are to be joy filled even in the midst of trials.  Trials come in all different shapes and sizes.  But one thing they all have in common is their ability to shape us for God’s glory.  We often want to flee and find a way out.  When we are facing adversity, we often just want to find the path of least resistance to alleviate our discomfort.  Instead, we are to find our joy in Jesus while allowing him to work his plan through the adversity.  No matter what it is that you face look to Jesus as your joy instead of simply for a solution.