April 17, 2012
Leadership Notes
In 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3, Paul writes:
We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the past 18+ months, our church has been through a time of intense spiritual focus as we have prayerfully considered the significance of our commitment to Jesus Christ and to his Church. As always, our focus has been “Who do we say Jesus is?” That question is the reason why we have had such a sharp focus on our denominational discernment process. While this has been a challenging time, what shouldn’t surprise us is the avalanche of God’s blessings upon our church.
Make no mistake. God has renewed and revitalized our church as we have sought to honor and glorify His Son Jesus Christ through our work and worship. Over and over, He has made known His presence among us. We have witnessed the manifestation of His glory in so many ways:
Þ Physical healings.
Þ Comfort for those who mourn.
Þ Help for hurting people.
Þ People making a commitment to Jesus Christ for the first time.
Þ People renewing their commitment to Christ.
Þ Reviving and inspiring worship.
As we continue in the process of discernment, I pray that we will be all the more emboldened and encouraged about His work among us. That’s why I opened with Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. He encouraged them because of their faithful labor and their endurance. No doubt about it…we have labored faithfully and with great vigor in these past months. Now is the time to guard against spiritual apathy or let down. We cannot let up in our calling to honor Jesus Christ above all others. As we pursue our desire to know him more and more, God will continue to pour down upon us a new season of ministry.
We need the endurance “inspired by hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Through this time, our church has been brought to a point of faithful declaration of Christ as Lord, and now, we take that message with an endurance that comes from our hope that Jesus is our Savior…and he alone is the hope of the world.
With the full confidence that only the gospel can produce, we stand at the threshold of a new chapter in the life of our church. I pray that we will sense a renewed call to engage in this new future to which God has called us. It will require our time, our energy, our prayer, and a sold-out reliance on the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, to impact hurting people’s lives for Christ. As Paul said, endurance is not an option…it is a necessity.
I love how Paul expresses his affection for the Thessalonica church. As your pastor, I am deeply thankful for you and for your testimony of faith for these past 18+ months. I continually remember you before the Lord, humbled by your faithfulness, and your desire to treasure Christ above all others. God is making a new future for us, all to His glory and honor.
Be of Good Cheer,
Richard