“I
give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given
you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech
and all knowledge - even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you
- so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day
of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the
fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Cor 1:4-9
Nearing the end of 2012, as I did some
reflection, I couldn’t help but give praise to our Great and Awesome God and
Saviour for how He continues to bless our little church. And it is to Him we
give all the glory because without Him we are lost.
Personally, I know that it was He who
carried me through some pretty rough times health-wise in 2012. And I also have
to praise Him for how he prepares me to minister to this church. I’ve gone
through many things, I truly believe, to receive the messages to pass on to His
Church week after week.
There is much work to be done on a
weekly basis in preparation of lessons and devotionals and sermons, besides the
scheduled and unscheduled counselling appointments and meetings. And along with
all of that comes the demands of a husband, father, and grandfather. I can
honestly say that if I were to take my eyes off of Him, and start to rely on my
own strength to make it through the week, I would sink as fast as the Apostle
Peter when he took his eyes off Jesus walking across the lake. Day after day, He
graciously lets me know that I can do all things in Him, and only in Him, because
He is the One who gives me strength.
It truly was a tough year health wise,
but I am thankful that we have many hands to pitch in and make the work
lighter. I have seen a good number of churches that rely on the Pastor to do
everything, and though I often comment on how busy I am, I am staying busy more
and more in the things a Pastor should be busy in and with.
I appreciate the number of people who
are concerned that I am too busy, but I don’t think any church would want a
Pastor to not be busy.
So, all of that to say; thank you, each
and every one of my fellow workers in Christ, thank you all so very much! Thank
you for your concern, and thanks be to God that we have a church that is
concerned with people and their hearts.
I know that this time of year, everyone
looks to the Pastor to give his vision or goals for the church. I’ll be honest
and say that the more I rack my brain, and search my heart, the more and more
confused I am by that request. It’s not that I don’t have vision or think that
we shouldn’t, but, I don’t think our vision has changed; it remains the same;
to glorify God through our worship, and the discipling of people young and old,
and building relationships with one another, all with our eyes on the Great Commission;
reaching the world with the love of Christ through the proclamation of His
Gospel.
But how do we do that? Well, I want to
encourage every ministry and committee, and each individual in our church, to
think about how they are going to accomplish that in 2013 in each of their own
contexts. I have some goals for myself personally, and I have some goals for our
Deacon’s Board. And one of those goals is to meet with our ministry leaders and
challenge them to look at their areas of ministry and let us know what they’re
dreaming, and what they’d like to see happen this year. Then, let’s all work
together to accomplish those goals.
We measure a lot of our success after a
year has gone by, and quite often we see that the year slips by so quickly as
one day runs into the next and one week rolls over to another, and when we get
to the end of a year, we haven’t gotten nearly as much as we set out to do,
done. But my challenge is; let’s do something.
Every one of us can think of, and commit
to doing something that would glorify God in any or all of those areas in our
vision.
And so, as we look with excitement at a
whole new year ahead of us we can be excited. Whether it’s looking forward to
the arrival of a little one into the world, or two people beginning a life
together, becoming one, and looking excitedly at what that means in the context
of a God ordained marriage. Some may be looking ahead to starting school or
college, some to finishing and starting a career, some to finishing one; some
wondering if they’ll have a career after the dust settles with the way the
economy is bouncing around. Some people will be looking ahead, hoping the New
Year will bring better things than the old, as sickness, tragedy, and sorrow
prevailed.
Thing is, everyone; everyone, is
affected by all of the above. This past year I talked with moms and dads about
their children leaving for school for the first time, I performed weddings,
visited the sick (and was “the sick”), officiated funeral, no one is immune.
The old year is over, it has left some
with many dear and cherished memories, some with bitter heartache, and as
promising as this New Year looks, it too will be old oh so quickly. But again,
this division gives us an opportunity to take a breath and look at every New
Year with hope, hope that comes because we have a Good God.
We will have times of sorrow; we will be
hurt, we will be sick. But, we will be over-comers only as we look, and continue
to look, to Him, the Author and Finisher of our Faith. We have a God who is
faithful, He was faithful in the past, He is faithful now, and He will continue
to be faithful in the future. Always faithful to His promises and that’s what
I’ve seen very clearly in 2012, and that’s what I expect to see in 2013; God’s
faithfulness to us as we simply continue to do what He has called us to do.
And we know that He has called us to be
a Christ-like, Christ-exalting, Spirit-filled, people who love God, and one
another, who know they have been forgiven and are going out into this lost and
hurting world that is ravaged by sin, with the message of the Gospel that
brings forgiveness, healing, peace, joy, love, and hope.
To do that with a renewed passion we
need, more than ever, a fresh outpouring of His Spirit upon us, let’s pray hard
to that end and watch in amazement at what the Lord will do with His wonderful
little Church in Murillo!