Letter From Pastor
16 September
- August 2009
- “Amazing Grace” is the story of this church family—The Church that Love is Building.
Sunday, September 13, we will celebrate as we share our Annual Report and receive new members. “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,” for 394 souls that made decisions for Christ through the ministry of church services, camps, funerals, personal soul winning, and children’s church. Around the world, we saw a harvest of 2, 470,000 souls for Christ in more that 140 nations.
Pastor Jack Hayford challenged us to continue to grow as Jesus kind of people. Jesus kind of people are to be sold out and then poured out to make His love visible to a lost world. We are called the light of the world. A search light shinning bright. We cannot be dim when we walk with Him.
Jesus kind of people seek learning, not leisure, and all the pain of being a Christian will be growing pain. Failure is not when we encounter difficulties, failure is when we choose not to learn from them. God is more interested in our development than our difficulties.
God puts us in a family to learn to love like He does. There is a book out with the title, Everybody’s Normal Until You Get to Know Them. We can all agree that we are different. Please note, we are different by design. God made all of us unique, one of a kind. I often tell people that when God made you He looked at you and said, “I’ll never do that again,” but He says that with joy because everyone of us is the Father’s favorite son or daughter. The fact that our Father makes us different is to develop us, not divide us.
In many stores there is a section of merchandise available at a reduced price. The tip-off is the tag on every item that says, “As is.” These are slightly irregular with perhaps a hidden stain, a zipper that won’t zip, a button that won’t button, and the fundamental rule is, “No refunds, no exchanges.” If we are looking for perfection, we have walked down the wrong aisle.
When we deal with human beings, we come to the “as is” corner of the universe. Think about people you know, people you love that are slightly irregular. It may be a sharp tongue, bad habits, a passive spirit, anger issues, or hidden hurts that cause them to hurt others. God puts “irregular—as is” people together; blesses and blends their lives to form His family—His church. “Irregular and as is” is replaced by what we shall become. The Church that Love is Building is not a place to tell it as it is, it’s a place for what shall be by the embrace of His grace.
Pastor Jack shared how in the early years of his ministry he was praying fervently and pounding the overstuffed chair in his living room. He prayed, “God, send your power. We need your power to touch people, change lives and set people free.” After some time, he was stilled and the Lord spoke and said, “My love is my power.”
The power of His love challenges you and I. It is the only thing that can change the human heart. We become the sum total of what or who we love. That’s what Jesus did when he became Immanuel, God with us.
We don’t change when we see the light, we change when we feel the heat of His heart in love.
Pastor Jim
posted at 12:55:09 on 09/16/09
Comments
No comments yet
