Wednesday
Jul232008
Immediate Agenda: Obedience
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Summer certainly can become a
busy time of the year, even though one would think of it as a relaxing
season. Due to busy schedules we wondered about participation in the
Wannigan Days parade last Saturday. Well, not to wonder.....God not
only provided about 25 of us, four wagons and four coolers, and one
Volkswagen beetle, but He allowed a terrific storm to pass through just
prior to the parade, and then gave us beautiful blue skies just in time
to begin the parade. We couldn't have asked for more. It seems we
passed out approximately 1600 icy pops and about 1600 informational
cards (with suckers and tootsie rolls attached). The amazing thing was
that just as many people were requesting the informational cards as
there were children asking for the icy pops. I know that each one who
participated came away encouraged beyond our expectations. So, thank
you to each and every one of you who braved the long trek of the parade
and did it with bright and smiley faces. Next Sunday, at Sand Lake,
CenterPoint will have a baptism service followed by a potluck, of
course. Everyone is encouraged to attend. I vividly remember my own
lake baptism service. It certainly was a huge spiritual marker in my
life, and an experience I shared with close friends, children and
grandchildren. So, by all means if you are thinking of sharing your
baptism experience next Sunday, I highly encourage you to contact
Pastor Dick and get your name on the list of those who will be
professing their faith through baptism. Watch for more details this
week. 
Each week I wonder what God will bring to mind to share with you. This
week I was reminded of an article by Henry Blackaby. Many of the women
will recognize his name, as we shared the Experiencing God Bible Study
authored by him. We have looked at God's Agenda and how it impacts our
lives. Henry Blackaby refers to those time you hear directly from God,
you have an immediate agenda for your life: obedience! He actually begins his article by talking about how the world operates on vision. However, God's people live by revelation.
The world seeks grand and noble purposes and goals to achieve. People
will dream up the greatest and most satisfying things in which they can
invest their lives. Institutions establish goals and objectives and
then they will organize in such a way as to achieve them. God's people
are called to function in a way that is very different. Christians are
to arrange their lives based on God's revelations.....regardless of
whether it makes sense to them. We have to remember that God does not
ask for our opinions regarding what is best for our future, for our
family, our church or our country. That's because He already knows!
What God really wants is to get the attention of His people and then
reveal to us what is on HIS heart and what is HIS will. Amazing, isn't
it......that God's ways are not our ways. I don't know about you, but
for me, God has put me through some difficult "training", often
painful, along the way to realize/remember that.
Whenever we do not base our lives on God's revelation, we are again,
doing what we see is right in our own eyes. We tend to set our goals,
arrange our agendas, and then pray for God's blessing. I would say that
when we live in this manner, outside the will of God, we have a lot of
nerve/audacity in asking God to bless our efforts.
The only way for us to know God's will is for Him to reveal it to us.
We will never discover it on our own. When we hear from the Lord, that
is when we have "an immediate agenda for our lives: obedience".
My prayer for the family and ministry of CenterPoint is that we will
each wait for God to reveal HIS agenda as we move forward in
establishing HIS church. We have determined God has placed each one of
us in this place at this time for HIS purpose....to win lost souls for
eternity. It can't get more exciting and fulfilling than that!
WE ARE BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING
In Him, Sandy
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