Monday, October 18, 2010

Questioning Your Faith

What would you let God do with you if you knew no force of Hell could stop God from accomplishing His will for the Church?  

We are far too timid for followers of the God who spoke the universe into existence and created the fire of suns with mere words.  I grow weary of cowardice and comfort when God said no force of Hell would stop Him from building His Church.  Today I was shaken by my own forgetfulness of God's promises, and I was inspired by Jesus words to Peter in Matthew 16.  

Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. --Matthew 16:16-18

I noticed three profound facts about Matthew 16:16-18:

  1. This conversation started because Peter realized that Jesus is God. (Matthew 16:17) Our capacity to understand what God will do is directly associated with our faith in Him.  
  2. God promised that He would build His church, not us. (Matthew 16:18a)  Our role is to obey Him and watch Him make it happen regardless of our weaknesses.  
  3. God promised that all Hell wouldn't stop Him. (Matthew 16:18b)  The Enemy might try to foil our human plans, but He can do nothing to hinder the work of Christ.  

 I believe that if we believed Jesus we would...

  1. Pray with confidence
  2. Worship faithfully (individually on a daily basis and corporately on a weekly basis)
  3. Fight to preserve every relationship we have.
  4. Tell our pre-Christian friends how much they need God.
  5. Serve regularly in the church and the community.
  6. Give sacrificially to God's work in the church and the community.  

Our obedience in these areas is indicative of our faith in who He is.  What would happen if we really believed nothing could stop Him from building His church?  I'd love to see that kind of faith in action.  I'm pretty sure it looks like an overflow rooms for prayer meetings, an overflow of people sitting on floors to worship God on Sunday, an overflow of volunteers in every ministry, an overflow of giving that forces the church to find new ways to use God's money, an overflow of volunteers in every community organization in the region, and an overflow of people surrendering to Christ that forces us to send mature believers away to make room for the new Christians.  Until I see that happen, I will continue to question our faith.

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