what every pastor needs to remember...
Well, the First Love Conference ended Monday night, but it's impact is certainly lingering...in fact, I'm hoping we never get over it! (You really had to be here to know what I mean, but each of our guests was just 'off-the-charts'!)
The Word of the Lord that 'came' to me was Luke 18:27 where Jesus said the things that are impossible with men are possible with God. That word really did come to me in such a real way that I recognized that, as a pastor, I had accepted the first half of the verse in recent years. That is, I have come to accept that some things are just, well, impossible.
For instance, I'd think about CLC's debt, and think, "we just can't pay that off soon - we'll have to postpone any plans to build again". Or I'd look at the crowded attendances and know that we really need to move to a larger campus, but then I'd think, "that would cost us multiple millions of dollars, and we just don't have it". Now, all of that is true -- it is impossible for men -- but I was completely overlooking the rest of the verse -- it is possible with God!
I know it probably seems strange that a pastor would forget about faith, but they say 'confession is good for the soul', so here I am: I had forgotten about faith! At least, I wasn't practicing faith when it seemed like the challenge was impossible. But I heard this time, and I believe God is challenging me and our pastoral staff, and all of CLC to believe Him for those "faith-risks" that He's talking to us about, and NOT to be deterred if they look impossible to us!
I'm indebted to one of my new heroes, Craig Groeschel who wrote these words in one of his latest blogs:
Someone said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.”
God wants to do more in you and through you than you can imagine.
In Chazown, I quoted one of my favorite prayers. Sir Francis Drake is credited with this prayer from 1577.
“Disturb us, Lord, When we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore.”
Are you ready to dream bigger with me?
The Word of the Lord that 'came' to me was Luke 18:27 where Jesus said the things that are impossible with men are possible with God. That word really did come to me in such a real way that I recognized that, as a pastor, I had accepted the first half of the verse in recent years. That is, I have come to accept that some things are just, well, impossible.
For instance, I'd think about CLC's debt, and think, "we just can't pay that off soon - we'll have to postpone any plans to build again". Or I'd look at the crowded attendances and know that we really need to move to a larger campus, but then I'd think, "that would cost us multiple millions of dollars, and we just don't have it". Now, all of that is true -- it is impossible for men -- but I was completely overlooking the rest of the verse -- it is possible with God!
I know it probably seems strange that a pastor would forget about faith, but they say 'confession is good for the soul', so here I am: I had forgotten about faith! At least, I wasn't practicing faith when it seemed like the challenge was impossible. But I heard this time, and I believe God is challenging me and our pastoral staff, and all of CLC to believe Him for those "faith-risks" that He's talking to us about, and NOT to be deterred if they look impossible to us!
I'm indebted to one of my new heroes, Craig Groeschel who wrote these words in one of his latest blogs:
Someone said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.”
God wants to do more in you and through you than you can imagine.
In Chazown, I quoted one of my favorite prayers. Sir Francis Drake is credited with this prayer from 1577.
“Disturb us, Lord, When we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore.”
Are you ready to dream bigger with me?
posted by Pastor Jerry McQuay at 11:05 AM
1 Comments:
Well, I think Pastor Jerry that often times we need to be like children to keep our faith engine running all the time.
May the Lord teach us the art of remaining like little children always before in the area of faith. When we sense what He is asking us to do.
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