When we began this journey we made a promise to God. We promised that every step of the way He would receive the glory and the honor for what was happening in our church.
We recognize more each and every day that the building of Northpoint has absolutely nothing to do with our efforts and everything to do with the power of God at work around us. God has invited us to take an unbelievable journey with Him, not because we have abilities that He needs, but because through this journey He can continue to bring us to a deeper understanding of our complete dependence on Him.
There is not a week that goes by that we don’t sit back in utter amazement at how God is opening every door at just the right moment. We stand in awe at the way He is moving and stirring the hearts of those around us. Our vision is clear to us and He is enabling us to share this vision with passion and clarity. Miracles are happening all around us. These miracles are a direct result of our prayer force and their faithful prayers on our behalf. This experience has taught us that we will never walk through one day of ministry without a prayer force behind us.
Romans 4 has been speaking to us lately. Through this chapter we have been reminded of what it means to follow after God’s heartbeat. In Romans 4:2-3, we read “If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we’re given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own.” (The Message) At the end of the day, Northpoint is not a Chris & Lynnlee story, it is a God-story. We pray that we never forget this important truth. What a privilege it is for each of us to enter into what God is doing for us.
Romans 4:4 encourages us with this truth - “But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it’s something only God can do, and you trust Him to do it – you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked – well, that trusting-Him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God.” (The Message)
Can you just feel the power behind these verses? As a church planter this has got to be one of the greatest verses for Church Planting 101. It’s not about us!! We’re not building this church. We aren’t the ones moving in the hearts of the people in our community. God is at work, and all He has asked of us is that we would jump on board with Him and trust Him to finish what He has started.
Romans 4:18 holds another nugget of encouragement for us. “When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do.” Has God given you a vision, a promise for your church? Pastors, it’s time for us to fall to our knees in surrender and allow God to be Lord of our lives, our ministries, our future and our reputations.
This last one is an especially difficult one to surrender. For us, we have to keep in check the lies of the enemy that creep upon us in regards to our reputation. The “what-ifs” try to invade our thoughts at the most inopportune times. “What if you fail and everyone who believed in you is disappointed?” “What if someone misunderstands your intentions?” What if people don’t show up like you hope they will?” The list is continuous and is damaging to the spirit of Christ within us.
We must press on with the promise that God will do what He says He will do. He has given us a promise for Northpoint and He does not intend to fail. We must stay out of the way and allow God to work in His timing and wisdom. The best part of embracing Romans 4 and the truths it has to offer is this, the more God moves, the less desire we have to be in control.
We pray you are encouraged today as you discover God’s story at work around you.
Be encouraged today!
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