The Hope of His Calling
Earlier this week I spent time with pastors from all over California in Nevada, at our association’s pastor’s conference (Venture Church Network, check them out here, a collective of churches helping churches).
Watch Last Sundays Sermon “God is Good - From Despair to Hope” from our Abundant Life series.
A few things I noticed from my time fellow pastors:
Pastors are weary but not despairing.
Many hands clapped as stories referred to struggle to lead with God’s heart in the current political climate…
Others shared about the loneliness of leadership…
And all spoke authentically of the busy pace…
And the struggle of being at the forefront of what God is doing in the world…
Then, we were called back to our first love, our original calling.
And in that, to shed off a variety of tempting motives for growth, and to recall what a gift it is that God calls us by name into His work.
That He doesn’t need us, but wants us, and calls us by name (Exodus 3:4-12).
It is the Spirit of God that both inspires the work, the process, and the fulfillment (Haggai 2:1-9).
And that He has miraculous and powerful purposes way beyond what we could ever imagine or anticipate!
For me, being with these leaders, hearing about God’s movement all over the state and the country…
It was a call to:
Move at the Pace of His Presence…
To return to the Simplicity of Prayer…
To soak in the unifying power of communion to heal the Church in this hour…
Jesus is still on the throne (Heb 12:2).
And not one contrary note or agenda will diminish Who He is and what He is wanting to do in you and through us.
We may not all be employed as pastors, but we’re all His sons and daughters, and we are called to use our hands and heart to minister with Him.
“Come, Lord Jesus…” (Revelation 22:20).
This Sunday, we’re shifting in our Abundant Life series to three sermons that focus on Who Jesus is. We’ll focus this Sunday on “Jesus the Healer - From Hurting to Healed” and how His whole ministry was built on healing real people, starting with the body, but moving deeper into the mind and the spirit… A healing that, by the Holy Spirit, can continue in deeper levels our whole lives. A healing that would change the world.
May He do so among us!
Pastor Dave