Out of My Mind

It has been a pretty exciting time around SSCC.  I personally sense God is really on the move.  There seems to be a spiritual hunger and expectation among our people.  God’s presence seems to be strong among us.  It leaves me longing for more.  I must have more of Jesus.  I long to see a mighty working of the Holy Spirit in our midst.

The preparation for the new building is also adding to the excitement.  God has truly provided us with an amazing facility.  Everyday I pull up to our new building, and I can hardly  believe it.  It is an amazing place.  It is fun to watch people walk in and literally been speechless.  They are in awe of what God has done.

This week, we have a company called Iron Spirits who has come in to put in some of the finishing touches on our youth and children’s environments.  Every few hours, I walk down to see what they have added on next.  It has been pretty exciting as well. I can’t wait to see youth and children, boys and girls, moms and dads walk through these environments.  It will be pretty special.  I am truly thankful for this time God has given us.  What a blessing.

Come Holy Spirit.

Yesterday, I preached from one of my favorite chapters - John 3.  Jesus said, “You must be born again.”  He was talking about the need for a new birth, a spiritual.  Unless we have had that spiritual birth, we can’t see the kingdom of heaven.  I shared the gospel as we closed the service.  I felt a strong sense of God’s presence moving over his people.

The night before someone had called my cell phone and sung “Happy birthday.”  The only problem is that it wasn’t my birthday and they were singing to a guy named John.  Later that evening I felt the Lord tell me that the call was no accident.  I would be preaching the next morning from John about spiritual birth - about being born again.  I felt the Lord tell me it would be someone’s birthday that next morning.

Well it was.  I could tell many people were touched by the Lord.  One woman who has been coming to church for a while just fell into my arms and said, “Thanks.”  Jesus has changed her.  She is now born again.  Another woman was greatly touched by God’s Spirit coming into her life.

Last night at my home group, two of our newer members indicated they had prayed to receive Christ and invite Him into their hearts and lives.  Jesus was really moving. But the one comment that really got me came from a man who stopped me after church.  He came up to me and said, “Today is my birthday.”  I said,  “that is so cool.”  I was thinking this man had become a Christian several years before on this same date.  But as he kept talking, I realized he was saying something else.  I finally said, “Wait a minute.  Are you telling me that today is the day.  Your spiritual birthday was actually today!”  He nodded and said yes.  With tears in eyes, he told me that he didn’t have the courage to raise his hand, but he prayed to receive Christ.  And he had the courage to come and find me and tell me.  Praise God for new birth.  It is springing forth in our midst.  Our God is saving and changing lives.

We have just moved our offices over the last week, so I got a little bogged down and blogged down.  For those of you who have had a hard time existing since my last post, I truly am sorry.

I write this as I sit in my new office at our new church building.  I am truly amazed and humbled to see what God has done and is doing.  Perhaps the best thing of all though has been to see all of the men and women turn out to help over the last few weeks.

We have had people come out to paint, and do carpentry work in the children’s areas.  We have had people help unpack with us, and unload containers of furniture.  We have had people help us lay sod out on the new property.  I have never seen so much sod get laid so quickly.  We have had people come and scrub toilets, and mop floors.  It has just been awesome.

I am truly grateful for all the help we have received.  It has felt like a true partnership within the body of Christ.  Thank God for all of his wonderful people.  Way to go SSCC.  Thanks for knowing that we can count on you.  Many blessings to you.

David

My last post shared about the tough nature of a tragedy that occurred in one of our SSCC families over Christmas.  It was very hard, but one of the beautiful things to watch is to see the body of Christ in action at such moments.  That was a sweet thing even in the midst of such a bitter set of circumstances.

I saw friends surround this family and love on them.  I saw a family who had lost their young son two years ago come to the side of this present family and serve them with compassion I could not match.  I saw friends pray with them and comfort them with God’s word - holding His Word out like a healing ointment in these moments instead of like a hard, cold hammer.  I saw tears and hugs throughout because there is just nothing good to say sometimes.  You just minister by your presence.

I also saw this family reach for Jesus in their brokenness and pain.   I saw a Mom and a Dad who knew that Jesus was the answer.  Several years earlier, this mom did not know Jesus but a friend led her to Christ.  The dad did not know Jesus but he began to come to SSCC with the mom.  They both began to grow in their spiritual journey.  He was saved and through the years has conquered some big issues in his life.  Their marriage has come through a lot.  I saw a couple who I think will make it through this tragedy with their faith in tact, and with their marriage in tact.  Their young daughter knew Jesus. Her parents told her about Him.  She saw the change that took place in the lives of her parents.  A friend of the mom had a dream about this young girl the other night.  She was in dazzling white with her new Christmas boots on.  She finally said, “Tell my mom something for me.  Tell her I was not afraid.  When it happened (the wreck), I was not scared at all because I remembered everything my mom taught me.”

This girl knew what her mom had taught her about Jesus.  Her mom knew because someone else had told her.  The day of the funeral, the father told me, “Thank you David for leading me to Jesus.  Thank you to this church for showing Jesus to me.”  In those moments of saying goodbye to their daughter, nothing else really mattered.  Jesus was all that mattered, because He was the only one that could really make a difference, offer any hope, provide any peace.  I realized that our church had made a difference for Jesus.  What if we hadn’t been here?  What if we were not his voice?  What if we were not his hands and feet?  Where would these parents be at this very moment - alone in their pain with out any of God’s comfort?  Where would their daughter be - cut off from God for all of eternity?  We are here church!  That is why we are here!  We count.  We make a difference for Jesus, for eternity in a way that no one else can, in a way that no other organization on the planet can.  It is why Jesus left his church on earth!  It is why we are here.  It is why SSCC (and every other Christ centered church) is here!  Praise be to our God.

One phone call can change a lot.  After celebrating a great Christmas with my family, I was awakened at 2 am by wife telling me that a friend was on the phone.  His daughter had been killed in an accident.  As a pastor, you get more of these phone calls than you would ever care to.  There is something surreal about a call like that in the middle of the night.  I found myself in unbelief as I crawled out of bed looking for some clothes to put on.  I had to go to my friend’s side and take his family to the hospital to identify their daughter.  It was a hard night, and it has led to a tough week.

I know God is there.  He has shown himself throughout this situation.  The Holy Spirit has been sweet to minister to all those involved.  I know there will be other unfortunate deaths that I have to deal with in the future.  But I will never get use to the tragic loss of a young person.  Death always seem to be an intruder.  The Bible describes it as our enemy - and it will be the last enemy to be defeated.  There is just something haunting about the tragic death of a young person.  It is so emotional and hard.

More than ever, I look forward to a day in heaven when there will be no more sorrow, suffering, and pain for the old order of things will have passed away.  Jesus said, “I make all things new!”  It is a new year.  I have a lot to look forward to.  Our church has a lot to look forward to.  But I can’t help but start off the new year a little sad.  Its been a hard week.  And for some friends, there family will never quite be the same.