The
decision between giving God a “I can” verses giving God a “I can’t”.
Do
we give God our “Yes” or our “No’s?”
Have
you ever really thought about that before?
Do you give God “Yes” or “I Can’s” more than you give God a “No” or “I
can’t?”
Do
you live in a world of scarcity where time is limited and you have to make
choices? I know I do. Time is so short. Do you know what? We all have the same 24 hours in the day and
the same 7 days a week, and the same 365 days in a year. But what we do with that time is the
difference. Do we spend it glorifying
God or glorifying ourselves? Do we spend
it serving God or serving ourselves? Do
we spend it working towards God’s glory or our own glory? Do we spend it to the good of Glades or the
good of ourselves?
I
think part of the problem we run into is that we think being “Busy” for God is
good. We feel if we are “always” doing
something for the church or God that we are on the right path. Unfortunately, I don’t think that is the
case. Being busy for God isn’t the
goal. The goal is to see where God is
working and where God is doing great things, to be able to discern what God is
calling us here as a church to do, and working towards that goal TOGETHER. It is all about a TOGETHER thing. As we are reading through the Bible in 90
days, I hope you are noticing how God was all about the COMMUNITY. We aren’t supposed to go off on our own or do
our own thing, but the key is bringing everything back into the COMMUNITY of
faith.
The
problem is that we can get so busy doing so many things that we think God wants
us to do, but in reality we are missing the mark because we don’t take the time
to ask “Where is God leading Glades” and “how can I focus my energy and
resources to have the most impact towards the goals of God and the Goals of
Glades?” Many times busier isn’t
better. God wants us to serve him
efficiently. God is calling Glades to do
lots of great powerful things, but that doesn’t work if we aren’t working
together toward common goals.
What
do I mean by that? I mean that it isn’t
about Tuesday Morning Group, or the Men’s Group, or the Young Woman’s group, or
Youth Group, or Walk in the Word, or Choir, or Circle of Hope, or any group
that we have formed. It isn’t about
making each of these separate groups stronger or more powerful or more popular,
but it is about connecting these groups to the church and getting these groups
working towards the common goal that God has set before us as a church. Some of those goals include increasing
worship attendance, reading through the Bible in 90 Days, increasing our
commitment and small group participation, our Easter Outreach Event Egg Hunt
are a few that we are working towards currently.
What
is an example of this? Last year, the
Tuesday Morning women’s group made Christmons during one of their meetings to
help fill the Christmon tree in the sanctuary.
They knew that was something that the church was working towards as a
whole and they stepped in to help and work towards that goal of the church.
You
see if we all get caught up in our different groups, we can get so busy doing
things that suddenly we don’t have “time” to give God any more “Yes” or “I Can”
because we are so caught up in doing ‘things.’
We are all so busy doing things that we get lost and miss the BIG YES’s
and the BIG I CAN’S that He really wants us to do as a church and as a person.
Glades
is a small church. We need to stop
competing with each other for our time.
When there are members of the church that have to make a decision
between small group, Bible in 90 days, choir, serving on a committee, or
another group, then maybe we are competing with ourselves.
As we continue in 2017, let us take some deep hard looks at what we are doing as a
church and what we are personally doing.
Are we giving God our BEST YES, where we are seeing Him efficiently and
where HE wants us to serve. Or are we so
busy that we can only give to auxiliary things in the church causing us to not
have time to focus on the main thing that God is calling us to as a church?
What
is God calling us to do as a Church?
What is the MAIN GOAL of EVERYTHING we DO at Glades? Here they are 3 simple steps. 3 simple things that we need to focus on and
pour everything we have into.
1.
Worship Together — Sunday Mornings
at 10:30
2. Study and Read God’s word together in
community — Bible in 90 Days Mondays at 7pm
3. Go out into the world and Make Disciples —
Easter Egg Hunt and Personal Outreach to bring
others to #1 Worship Together
That
is what God is calling us to do. That is
what God is calling Glades to focus on.
There is so much that goes into each of those events isn’t there? Choir has to practice and prepare for worship
each week (Thank you, Choir!). Everyone
has to read 12 pages a day in the Bible to keep up with Bible in 90 Days, AND
make a commitment to be there Monday Nights to be in an accountable community. Then the final aspect is that as a church
there is a focus on bringing in others to the 3 step cycle. Outreach is meant to bring people to worship
with us on Sunday mornings and then to be a part of the #2 of joining a group
that studies and reads God’s word together in community. THEN those who came in are now working step 3
of Going out. That is how the church is
going to grow when we can focus on this process of discipleship.
But
the key is that we as a church are going to have to focus. We are going to have to work all that we have
into the steps. If we don’t, then we are
just going to keep on giving God “No’s” because we don’t have time. We are going to keep on telling God “I Can’t”
because I can only do so much. When each
of us are focusing on our own projects and our own groups, then as a church, we
will never accomplish what we are called by God to accomplish because our focus
as a church isn’t together.
Questions
to think about…
Am
I focusing on the main thing, the main goal of the church or am I focusing on
my group or my personal goals?
Where
do I need to start saying “No” to lesser goals so that I can start saying “YES”
to the big goal of God for me and for Glades?
Remember
what Paul said in Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Him (Jesus
Christ) who strengthens me.”
Notice he didn’t say, I can do some
things, or I can do the things that I want, or I can do most things. He said, “I can do ALL things through Christ
who strengthens me.” God wants the
YES. God wants the “I Can.” Through Christ and focusing on what the main
thing is, we’re focusing on what is MOST important to God where He can receive
our BEST YES.
