Loving Sundays

What a great service yesterday at The Crossing! Man I loved that worship song, “Everlasting God.” The band was rocking yesterday to God’s glory. Thank you, God, for such an awesome time! Many of you said the message was helpful too which is cool because if it isn’t helpful I need to start checking out monster.com. Someone once told me, “You know pastor, I have heard a lot of comments about your message…but I liked it!” Hopefully those who commented yesterday actually liked it.

I felt a lot of energy yesterday as I spoke…it was easy and exciting to speak. Maybe it was the topic and maybe it was just people praying for me, I don’t know. I have come to know this about God however—you cannot program him in to the service; he will either bless it or he won’t. And it is not because he is inconsistent with his blessings or lack thereof but because of a combination of human factors that we don't always understand and can’t control.

I also know that believers are not always the best judges on how good a service is. Just because it helps us or makes a connection to what we like or enjoy does not mean God blessed it more so than something else. Often Christ-followers have told me a song or a message was not blessed by God because they and others were not moved by it. But how can we know how God should work in any situation? I guess Moses would reject any thing from God that did not come through a burning bush…Mary, anything that did not come through an angel…and Daniel, anything that did not come through a hand, writing on a wall. God works and speaks differently in every situation.

In the end though, it all belongs to him and is all about him. God will not dance at the end of our strings. It is his church and his people and he cares more for them and understands them more than we ever could. I do know that… (A) When we pray with passion he seems to have a powerful presence and (B) when we are focused on meeting spiritual needs, especially of disconnected people, he works. Think about this: who would you want to help more—someone who will help your child who is home safe get better grades in school or someone who will bring your child home who is missing and may be in terrible danger? That is how God sees disconnected people…like a parent whose child is missing. God help us to see things like you do!

In case The Crossing’s service does not always do it for you, here are some thoughts: pray for God to work in the service the moment you do not feel it is helping you. Say to yourself, this must not be for me today so God wants me here to help pray for whoever it is for. Somehow that service may end up being more of a blessing for you than if it actually was for you. And secondly, bring someone with you that you think will be helped at The Crossing and pray for them throughout the service. God is willing to work where people are trying to help those who need it most. What would life at The Crossing be like if we had just 10 people a week who brought someone to church and were praying for God to work in their lives in the service? Our church would double annually if we had that! And I think that we would all enjoy the services much more. In fact, we couldn't wait to get there. God, let it be!