Living Water Church

Did you enjoy last week’s service.  I did.  And you know what, I think God enjoyed it too.  There is something about walking in the light, being transparent, and admitting our need for God’s help and grace that is so pleasing to the Father.

Thankfully, God is not looking for perfect people to serve Him.  Rather, He exalts the humble.  He is near to the brokenhearted.  Jesus Himself said that it was the sick who needed the Physician.  Yet, God doesn’t want to leave us sick and broken.  But often to heal us, the first thing He must do is humble us.

In our culture, we are ingrained with the “I did it my way” or the “I can do it myself” mentality.  My 5 year old son wants to do everything for himself.  So I spend a lot of time waiting on him.  (It’s amazing how our children teach us patience.)  But that aside, there is something ingrained in us, whether by culture or original sin, that demands it’s own way.  There is an independence and self-sufficiency in us that God must break to bring true healing to our lives.  As God prunes us and breaks this independent spirit, it hurts because it’s humbling.

It’s humbling to publicly admit that we need God.  It’s humbling to be transparent about our struggles and our issues.   Can’t everyone agree that it’s easier to be plastic and fake?   But if we want God’s blessing, if we want the favor of God, we must walk in the light and acknowledge our need of Him.  This was modeled for us last week and I believe God was honored by it.

The catastrophe in Haiti is staggering.  Though I see pictures on the TV and read news articles from reporters who tell of the disaster, it’s hard for me to imagine the amount of devastation that has occurred.

I read this week that 90% of the non-government sponsored financial aid given to Haiti has been given by faith-based organizations.  90%!  We as Christians have stepped up to the plate to help others in a time of need.  Many Christians in the USA have felt the economic crunch of this decade in our own checkbooks, nevertheless we gave generously.  I think God is pleased.

As I pondered the crisis in Haiti this last week, it occurred to me that if such an earthquake happened in the USA, though the damage would be great, the amount of devastation would not nearly be as catastrophic.  Why?  Because our country has done a good job building structures that are better able to withstand  earthquakes.  As in the natural, so in the spiritual… most of us, if not all of us, will go through ‘earthquake experiences’ in our lives.  Crisis will strike, hard times will come.  My prayer is that we will build our lives such that we are able to stand during hard times.  Let the disaster in Haiti remind us to work on building a strong foundation in the Lord, so that when times of shaking come, we will find help and comfort in our Lord.  Spend time with God, develop a sure foundation.

• Everyone’s greatest need is to be loved.  Everyone’s greatest fear is to be rejected.  Religion without love is the meanest thing in the world.
• There are two enemies of the church:  self satisfaction and distractions.
• Beware of expecting God to do something He is expecting you to do. 
• It doesn’t take a lot of faith to respond to sensation.  It does take a lot of faith to respond to the still, small voice.
• The enemy wants to steal our identity and stop our influence. 
• What do you have that you’re not using?  Look for places to pour out your life.  Pour your life into the kingdom of God.  Pray for influence.
• The loaves and fishes did not multiply in the hands of  Jesus but in the hands of the disciples.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18 KJ.  “If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves.” The Message.

I don’t pretend to see all that God is doing, but I do want to hear His voice with regards to what He is doing in our midst, in our lives, in our church.  So to that end, we have asked God to give us His direction for 2010.  The following bullets are a brief review of Ken’s message last Sunday.  Will you pray over these with us?  We want to go where God is going; do what God is doing.

LWC VISION 2010

• Outreach.  We desire to promote an outreach mentality, reaching outside the walls of our church.   As such we want to encourage and help support the Mall Outreach, the Open Door Outreach, the Spring Fling, Home Groups and any other function related to reaching out beyond ourselves.
• Family Cohesiveness.  With going to 2 services, we see this value challenged.  We want LWC to continue to be a place of belonging not just a place to attend.
• God’s Word.  We intend to continue to teach the Word of God.  We need encouragement and instruction in being grounded in the Word.
• Hearing God’s Voice.  We want to encourage people to develop spiritual ears, to recognize God’s voice.  As such, believers would begin to have words of knowledge, words of wisdom, and prophecy operating in their lives, to be blessing to themselves but ultimately a blessing to others.