Sunday Reflections

I know this is extremely late for my Sunday reflections, but here goes. If you read my previous post (camping) you know that the whole weekend was jampacked. I'll be honest with you - I was tired and sore on Sunday. I hope it didn't show. It felt like the Holy Spirit infused me with His power. I know sometimes this must sound like a broken record, but Sunday was great! We had several first time guests and return guests. Mike is a very gifted worship leader and the entire Worship Team did an awesome job! It was also great to look out in the first service and see our musicians Jeff, Prisca, and David all worshipping in the audience.

I kicked off the One Prayer series on Sunday with my prayer, "Lord, make us obedient." I talked about how I was having a difficulty narrowing my focus to one thing. In fact, I could make a strong case for many things. Lord, make us evangelistic. Lord, make us servants. Lord, make us worshippers. Lord, make us faithful. Lord, make us courageous. And then it hit me. You see, my daily prayer for Coastal goes something like this, "God, let us be the church You've called us to be." In other words, "Lord, make us obedient." Obedience is simply a willingness to say, "Yes, Lord." I will do whatever you call me to do. I will simply listen to your voice and follow. John 10:27, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me."

Does God want the church to be evangelistic? You bet. Does God want the church be filled with servants? Absolutely. Does God want the church to worship Him in Spirit and Truth? No doubt. Does God want the church to be countless other things that we see all through out scripture and that I could make a strong case for? Yes, but we will never be those things until we have the attitude of obedience and simply say, "Yes, Lord. Whatever You say, I will do."

Following Jesus and saying, "Yes, Lord," is not always the easy road. But the great news is that whatever God asks us to do, He gives us the power to accomplish. And that's why we also looked at the Jesus' prayer in John 17. It's encouraging to know that Jesus is praying for you and me. We can be obedient, we can say, "Yes, Lord," because Jesus is praying for us. He is praying for our protection (vs. 15). He praying for our unity (vs. 21). He is praying for our joy (vs. 13). He is praying for our purity (vs. 17). He is praying for our mission (vs. 18).

Over and over again Jesus uses two simple words to call His disciples - "Follow me." That's the heart of the Christian life. Our life in Christ begins by saying, "Yes, Lord. Yes, I believe Jesus is who He says He is. Yes, I am a sinner. Yes, I need Your forgiveness." And then the rest of our journey is simply a matter of listening to His voice and saying, "Yes, Lord."

A few other highlights from Sunday: My good friend C.W. is now engaged to Mindy! He asked her to marry him on Saturday night and she said, "Yes." We had a great Newcomers Lunch after church. Kathy Beam made homemade lasagna! We didn't get home until after 3PM, rested for a short time, and then turned around and went back to the church for Youth Group. Even though we had a few kids out of town and at Camp, we had a good crowd and a great time. We broke them up into 3 groups and let them come up with their one prayer and then make their case to the large group. Here were their one prayers. Lord, make us grow (spiritually, numerically). Lord, make us determined. Lord, make us into whatever You want us to be. Like I said, it was a great day!