Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Not Just "Thou Shalt Not"

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. — Hebrews 3:16, ESV


Don't. Do not. Stop it.  Stay away from.  Knock it off.

These are the words and phrases that seem to haunt the minds of a lot of Christians who are in bondage to the idea that Christianity is about focusing on the things that we are not supposed to do.  Here's the problem with that idea: if all that we do is focus on what we are not supposed to do, we will ignore the commands that are given that state what we are supposed to.

Of course, some of you will see the first two words of this verse as, "Do not..." and will want to point it out.  However, notice that the writer of Hebrews points us to not neglecting TO DO GOOD.  We are to be proactive in doing good to those who are around us, sharing with them whatever we have.  And the reason for this: for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.  The motivation of heart behind doing good and sharing with everyone whatever we have is to please God.  But there is a necessary ingredient that we must have before we can please God.  That ingredient is a love relationship with God.  Why? If I don't like God, why would I want to please him.  It starts with a true love relationship with God where all that we can think about is doing the things that make him happy.

So, today, stop.  Stop thinking about what not to do, and start enjoying the mission that God has for you TO DO.  Now get to work.

FLOOD CHALLENGE:
I know that God is doing amazing things on Wednesday nights.  I'm seeing so many of you coming every week to worship and study together from God's word.  However, I want to challenge to even more.  I want you, if you accept the challenge, to pray this prayer to the Holy Spirit: "More of you and less of me."  But be warned: if you pray that prayer, he will take you seriously.  Realize: we are not called to a once or twice a week worship gathering so that we can feel good about ourselves, or feel convicted about how we are not measuring up.  Rather, we are called to a daily mission that does not end this side of heaven.  We are called to go out after those who do not know Jesus and to introduce them to him.

I challenge you to keep inviting people to FLOOD, so that they can be part of what it is that we have grown to love about it.  However, I challenge you even more, as the key priority, to invite people to Jesus.  Some of you are involved in ministry and are being blown away by what God is doing.  Some of you are being faithful to what God has called for you today, and you wonder if it's even making a difference.  Let me remind you and encourage: it is.  Anything done in the name Jesus has divinity and eternity stamped on it.  But, there are those of you who are not involved in the mission but have limited the call of Christ on your life to a worship gathering rather than a mission field.  If that rings a bell with you, pray and ask God how to get involved.  Shoot us an email at FLOOD (info@floodnow.com) and we will help you find a place where God may want you to serve at FLOOD and in the community around FLOOD.  Think about what Jesus said to his disciples:

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.  Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves." — Luke 10:2-3, ESV 


The harvest is ready.  The problem: the workers are few in number.  What this tells me is that there is so much more that we could see happening if we all got to work.  Because when Jesus states the problem, he then gives two steps to help with the solution.  First, pray.  Go to God and pray for laborers to go out into the harvest field.  But second, GO.  Why? Because Jesus is sending you out.

So there's the challenge.  It's not a personal challenge from me brought on by a desire to see more people come to FLOOD on Wednesday nights.  Rather, it's a biblical challenge extended by God and his word to see more people surrender to Jesus.  Do you accept the challenge? If so, write, "Holy Spirit, more of you and less of me" on the comments of this blog or the comments on Facebook.  The best is yet to come, but only if you obey and do what God has called you to do.

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