This Sunday I’m preaching on “Jesus” and we are going to give our first public invitation to respond to the Gospel message. Our launch team has been praying and fasting for the past two weeks that people would experience life change. The anticipation and excitement of the group is contagious. The REVO team is using language like “when people respond to the Gospel message” and not “if.” It’s not a question of “is anyone going to experience life change,” it’s “how many people are going to get their life changed by Jesus on Sunday.” Honestly, the pressure and expectations are stifling.
I’ve got the message planned out and have a good grasp on the text. In fact, I’m in a place right now where I can sit back and say, “I’ve done everything I can possibly do to get myself prepared to preach on Sunday.” The only bad part about that is… life change doesn’t hinge on MY best. In fact, it doesn’t hinge on my ANYTHING.
I hate to break it to you, but Nathan Cline isn’t going to save anyone. My words or stories or exposition of the text will never get you to heaven. I can’t change anyone’s life.
I’m a firm believer that preaching is the most powerful form of communication in the world, because the preacher has the power of the Holy Spirit. Apart from that, I’ve got nothing.
Its just words on a page.
I’m starting to feel like Elijah did in 1 Kings 18. He had a group of people looking at him as he sat before an altar and prayed to God.
God without You, this is just a pile of wood. Wood on a wet, soggy altar.
Yet Elijah never seems to think about the obvious question: What happens if it doesn’t ignite? What happens if the altar just sits there? No smoke, no heat, no flame, just wet wood.
That’s a tough scenario. Scary, in fact. Yet, strangely enough it’s right where I want our ministry to be. I want REVO Church to be dangerously, maybe even recklessly, dependant on God. I want to build up what God is going to do even before He does it. I want to tell people that lives will be changed by Jesus even before the worship experience starts. I want to build up the level of anticipation so much that people are on the edge of their seats as they listen to the story of Jesus and think to themselves, “I wonder how many people are going to step from death into life today?”
And once we’ve created that culture within REVO Church, there’s only one thing left to do:
Pray.
Pray that God shows up and draws people to Himself. Pray that His spirit would soften hardened hearts and that lives would be changed. Pray that God would wreck people’s lives and help them understand their need for a savior.
Because if He doesn’t show up…
Its just words on a page. Words on a wet, soggy, page.
So here’s my prayer, sort of my own version of 1 Kings 18: 36-39:
“God, Let it be known this day that you are God, and I’m just merely your servant. God change lives, draw people to yourself, show up in a BIG way this Sunday, so that REVO Church will know that you are God! And when we see people go from death to life, when we see people that are searching and hopeless find grace and mercy in your Son, may everyone fall down in worship saying ‘The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God.’”
Spark a Revolution of Life Change through Jesus. In case you forgot, it’s why we do what we do.
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