I had an interesting visit with someone this week.

The person I visited had been a member of this church for years, but through a series of circumstances and choices they made, they stopped coming to church.  In their own words, they had backslidden, but now facing a terminal illness, they wanted to get the record straight and be assured that when they died, they would be in heaven.

It was an encouraging visit as tears of joy fell when hope was shared that Christ forgives, forgets, and can work in us and through us.  At the end of the visit, the individual shared their gratefulness to me that I would come, and expressed joy that a burden had been lifted, and however much time was left to them on this earth, there was relief knowing they would be in the presence of God when they died.

That visit got me to thinking about ministry, about why we do what we do at Calvary, and the hope that we have in Christ.

Do we really know that?

I look around and I see many people that are hope-less.  The pressures of everyday life, the demands that are placed on them, the questions that arise as endless situations happen, and not to mention the struggles we have with a less than superlative economy.  Combine that with the overall presence of evil in this world, and it’s no wonder people feel that hopelessness.

Oh, but what opportunities that provides us!

All along, we’ve been looking through the book of Nehemiah, and the great vision that God gave him.  That vision of being able to see what could be and should be in spite of what was.  The impossible task of rebuilding the wall.

We’ve tracked along with Nehemiah and seen him handle all sorts of questions, issues, twists and bends.  But through it all, he’s remained focused on the vision God gave him.  Sure, there were adjustments to the plan that he had to make, but he’s been depending upon God to lead him so that the vision that has been given him could become reality.

We say our vision is to Connect people to Jesus, to Build disciples who follow Jesus, and to Cultivate leaders who walk as Jesus… to make disciples who make disciples.  But really, what does that mean and how do we do that?  (We’ll continue talking about this in the weeks ahead)

A big part of that is understanding that you have fallen in love with and surrendered to the love of your heavenly Father, that you are personally in the process of prioritizing your life around the values and principles of His Word, and that you know how you are involved personally in leading other people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

It is the body acting as it should.  And if we all have the above mentioned characteristics at work in our life, we will be making disciples who make disciples, and we won’t have to get into those touchy conversations with someone who slipped through the cracks, back into sin, because we’ll be so closely connected out of love for Christ that it produces a deep unity that isn’t easily destroyed.

Will we hurt other’s feelings?  Probably yes.  Will I do things wrong?  No doubt about it.  But we can overcome all of that if we are agreed upon and committed to as individuals to the big picture.

Are you ready?

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Russ