Element Church Insider

CONFIRMATION will sometimes come after COMPLETION!

Yesterday I talked about how God will sometimes give us a sign (the burning bush) and how we need to come TOWARD it before God will call TO us!  Today though I want to take this one step further.  The burning bush was a GREAT sign that God used to draw Moses toward Himself so He could CALL Moses to lead the people of Israel out of slavery, and that was a HUGE calling.

Remember, the Israelites had been in slavery for hundreds of years.  They were ruthlessly oppressed and Moses had fled the country as a man wanted for murder.  Now God’s asking him to not only go BACK to Egypt, but to go back and DEMAND that Pharaoh let the people go.  It was SUICIDE.  I don’t blame Moses for wanting a bigger sign than a bush that doesn’t burn up.

In Exodus 3:10 God says “Now GO, for I am sending you to Pharaoh.  YOU must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”  GULP!  I think we can all see why Moses protested, which is EXACTLY what he did in v. 11.  “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh?  Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”  Essentially, “How am I going to do this?”  God replies in v. 12 “I will be with you.”  Don’t you just love that?  Oftentimes, if not ALL the time, God’s answer to “How?” is “ME!”.  CLASSIC!

Then God says something that requires FAITH! “And THIS is your sign that I am the one who has sent you.”  YES!  NOW we’re getting somewhere.  God’s gonna give me the sign to PROVE that all this is gonna work out!  “WHEN you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.”  HUH?  How is that a sign?  I want a sign NOW not WHEN!  But that’s just it.  The CONFIRMATION will sometimes come after COMPLETION! 

Oftentimes, the only PROOF we’ll get is the PROMISE of God’s presence. 

So what’s God been CALLING you to do, that you’re waiting for CONFIRMATION?  God’s CALLING and His PRESENCE might be all you’re gonna get until you COMPLETE it!

Till the end,

Jeff

When you’re all about GOD you will be all about the NUMBERS because GOD is all about the NUMBERS!

I said something this past Sunday that I’m SURE rubs/rubbed some people the wrong way, but I stand by it 100%.  That ANYONE who thinks God’s not concerned about numbers should read the book of Acts again…and I’d say, read the BIBLE again because I think it’s clear that He IS! (Luke records LOTS of numbers in Acts)

Now, a LOT of people would say that the church should NOT be concerned with numbers and that numbers SHOULDN’T matter, which might be one of the reasons that church attendance in America is DECREASING while the population continues to INCREASE.  I’m not saying that the church should ONLY be about numbers, but we should be ALL ABOUT the numbers, as long as they are the RIGHT ones.  Isn’t that the same thing?  Not necessarily.

Here’s what I think it boils down to.  The only reason we think the church shouldn’t care about numbers, is because we think it takes the focus off of ME, and we don’t like that.  When in reality, if God doesn’t care about numbers, He doesn’t care about ME, because I AM ONE.  Every number represents a person and every statistic represents a soul.  “For God so loved the WORLD (that’s a lot of numbers) that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever (That’s ONE number.  That’s ME and that’s YOU) believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

1 Timothy 2:3-4  This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants ALL (lots of numbers) men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

2 Peter 3:9  The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants EVERYONE (more numbers) to repent.

1 Corinthians 9:19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win AS MANY AS POSSIBLE. (How high can you count?)

I don’t think the church should pursue GROWTH, I think the church should pursue GOD and when we do, GROWTH will happen.   Why?  Because God’s concerned about the numbers!  The first church in the book of Acts didn’t want more PEOPLE, they wanted more of GOD, and when you seek more of GOD you’ll be drawn to all the PEOPLE because God is ALL about ALL the people.  You can’t pursue God and pursue yourself at the same time.  But you CAN…in fact you WILL pursue other people BECAUSE you pursue God.

If only for the ONE…and many more ONE’S,

Jeff