Consider the work of God
This week our sermon was from Ecclesiastes 7 and trusting God. The Preacher-King tells the reader to "consider the work of God." It is quite the instruction. He essentially says, 'think about God's work, it can't be changed.' While my first inclination is the balk at that as sounding depressing rather than hopeful, when we really consider the work of God, especially in Christ for us, we see how this is a place of hope for us.
God, in his sovereignty, is to be trusted. And in Christ we have a keen view of God's work.
This truth should hit us in our core. It should shape how we interact with people, difficult and easy situations, work, our health. All places we can grow in trust. I know I need to grow in trusting God not only for areas in my own life but in the life of the church.
Leading a church that is battered and hurting has opened my eyes to a need to trust God. Fully aware of the situation; a church where all the elders resigned avoiding reconciliation or discipline for years of dysfunction, financial strain and hurting people; we felt the Lord saying these were the people and this was the place he desired us to minister to.
The faithful have labored so diligently and new decisions and directions are being laid, but there is still hurt and real-life struggle. And we have no magic potion to solve it all. We don't have a three-step, or twelve-step process for all that must be undone or redone. All we have is the work of God. And that is more than enough.
So we determine to constantly consider the work of God, through Christ for us. This is our hope, our security, our resolution. And we will be built by nothing else.
If you have baggage, come on, so do we. If you are hurting, we have hugs. If you are curious what a bunch of messed up people worshiping Jesus looks like, we meet Sundays at 10!
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:1-10 ESV)
God, in his sovereignty, is to be trusted. And in Christ we have a keen view of God's work.
This truth should hit us in our core. It should shape how we interact with people, difficult and easy situations, work, our health. All places we can grow in trust. I know I need to grow in trusting God not only for areas in my own life but in the life of the church.
Leading a church that is battered and hurting has opened my eyes to a need to trust God. Fully aware of the situation; a church where all the elders resigned avoiding reconciliation or discipline for years of dysfunction, financial strain and hurting people; we felt the Lord saying these were the people and this was the place he desired us to minister to.
The faithful have labored so diligently and new decisions and directions are being laid, but there is still hurt and real-life struggle. And we have no magic potion to solve it all. We don't have a three-step, or twelve-step process for all that must be undone or redone. All we have is the work of God. And that is more than enough.
So we determine to constantly consider the work of God, through Christ for us. This is our hope, our security, our resolution. And we will be built by nothing else.
If you have baggage, come on, so do we. If you are hurting, we have hugs. If you are curious what a bunch of messed up people worshiping Jesus looks like, we meet Sundays at 10!
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:1-10 ESV)
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