The Move (And Other Thoughts)

13"Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people." 14 And He said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." 15 The he said to Him, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth." 17 So the LORD said to Moses, "I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name."
Exodus 33:13-17

It is December 31, 2008, and we are on the brink of another new year. Jesus is coming back very, very soon. The times are pregnant with signs of His coming. And here we are, on this day, moving our local fellowship out of our building. I am so excited about that! At first, I never thought I would be, or even that I should be, considering the manner in which it transpired. But I can honestly say, what satan meant for evil, God meant for good, as Joseph did so long ago. This has been a time of tremendous growth in the lives of the believers who make up this fellowship. I see it everyday, in the way they rally together and talk about The Move, as I have termed it (I know, so original...). I hear it in how they are looking toward God, and not back over their shoulders at a building of mortar and stone and steel, and how their speech is seasoned with grace toward one another. The Move has been an instrument of growth. As the words of the pastor of the church who is renting our building said to me that first day he told me he was taking our building, "Can't you see the hand of God in this?" I can see it now. I couldn't then, but I can now. Back then, which wasn't that long ago, it was the wicked hand of the enemy wanting to destroy our Bible-teaching fellowship. Now it is the hand of God, moving us onward and upward to the higher calling which we have received from Him, allowing individuals in our body to grow in Him in a way they otherwise man not have.

I see growth in the way they pray for one another, bearing one another's burdens, and coming together to encourage one another and pray. Prayer has become an important part of our services, even before this happened, but I believe now we are seeing the fruits of our prayers and the importance of it. We, as a body, are seeking the face of God for wisdom, guidance, discernment (how he keeps answering that prayer!) and for His leading to where we will next be meeting.

A comment I received a few weeks ago about one of these blogs, said that this was my way of dying, and I guess, in a way, that is correct, but not how the writer put it. They wanted me to die. Period. But God has a way of turning evil around for good. I DO need to die. I need to die to self. We all do. We all need to die to our self. The thing about being a Christian, a true believer, is that somebody has to die. Most people don't want to do that, and I believe that is the plague in the North American church today. "Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die." I die to self, seemingly moment by moment, as it wants to crawl off the altar. That is the trouble with living sacrifices. Paul said so, in so many words, when he said, "...I die daily" (1 Corinthians 15:31).

So, The Move is nearly complete. Another chapter in ministry is about to be opened. It is very exciting. I just read a quote from Ray Comfort which said that he is seeing more people come to Christ, in his personal witnessing, in the last six months, than in the previous 35 years of ministry. That is so encouraging to me, because that is where we are headed as a fellowship: to have a passion for the presence of God, and to have a passion for the lost. Not church politics. Not buildings in which to meet. Not 'what's that church got that we ain't got.' Not making a better deal than you had. Not one-upsmanship. Simply, a passion for His presence and a passion for the lost. I am not saying our fellowship is better than any others. Certainly not. I am not saying we have arrived. Certainly not. But I am saying that our focus is and will continue to be, Jesus Christ, and out of that, a love for seeing people born into a kingdom...His kingdom. Maranatha! Shalom.