Leaning Into God’s Kindness
Dear High Street Family,
Some of the best moments as a pastor are when I hear someone share what God has spoken to them from a Sunday sermon or scripture.
Usually, these are spoken out of the overflow of what God is sharpening and shaping in them. I love this! And I’ve heard a fair amount of these organic reflections during our Renewal series.
Things like:
“I never thought of my mind being stuck on a conveyor belt!”
Or, “I so loved that prayer, ‘Lord, bend me!’”
Or, “I’d never realized that confidence meant, with-faith.”
Or, “I really do sense God’s presence now in a special way.”
Click here to listen to Sunday’s sermon “A Renewed Confidence”
Whatever it is, I love hearing how God the Holy Spirit has been operating in us. He’s been opening so many of us to His love, power, and peace in 2024.
What is even more exciting as a pastor is when I see people chasing after this reality themselves. From their own initiative. Their own heart. Their own hunger for Jesus.
During our staff meeting this week, we shared for almost a whole hour about all the areas in our ministry at High Street where we’re experiencing God bringing renewal right now. This covered everything from worship music, to youth ministry, to kids ministry, to property, to staffing, to healings and breakthroughs in our congregational life.
It’s amazing when we take account and see all that God is really doing among us. He is actually performing the things we're praying and teaching and asking Him to do—what kindness!
A similar thing happened in our PLT/elders meeting this week. God’s presence set the agenda. We began with prayer and listening to Him. He led our time in profound ways, bringing His counsel, agenda, and presence to our leadership.
And Acts 3 speaks of this:
“Repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins] and return [to God—seek His purpose for your life], so that your sins may be wiped away [blotted out, completely erased], so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”
This is all so wonderful to witness. It’s nothing we can perform our way into… Renewal only comes from leaning into God’s kindness to us through the Holy Spirit.
This Sunday, we’ll be considering “Living in Renewal,” as we prayerfully anticipate ways to engage and live-in Renewal going forward.
May you know more and more of His presence this year!
Pastor Dave
PS. I’m encouraging everyone to read Romans 8 once more before Sunday! Click one of these translations to begin reading: English Standard Version (most accurate to original languages),
The Message Version, (modernized English language), or The Passion Translation (another version).
Resources
UPPERROOM Worship – Music/Video – Sunday I shared about UPPERROOM prayer and worship movement in Dallas. Here’s a bit more on this amazing hub of Renewal for Millennials and Gen Z. Linked above is UPPERROOM’s YouTube channel with hours of free, wonderful worship. Also here is the UPPERROOM article I quoted during the sermon. And here is the pastor, Michael Miller’s, book, His House, His Presence on the foundational theology and stories that have shaped their movement.
The Re-Study of Revival & Revivalism – J. Edwin Orr – Article - This is a powerful and relevant article for our Renewal series. J. Edwin Orr is an ordained Baptist pastor who travelled and studying with the likes of Billy Graham and others, pioneering in faith the transformative work of the Holy Spirit all over the world. In the latter half of his life, he became a historian of revival. Check out this article that digs deeper into God’s word and work in our world.
Browsable History of Revival – Online Historical Resource – A wonderful, reliable website that records the history of revivals from the Bible through Christian history until today. It takes a minute or less to read through one of these. But this historian records 366! Check them out and remind your heart how involved God really is in history!