During his
sermon, Dr. Buba said, “Churches that are filled with the Holy Spirit focus on
the WONDERS OF GOD. Those that are not
so filled focus on the problems of man.”
Calvary is truly blessed to be a church
that is filled with the Holy Spirit. Over the years, visitors have often commented to me that, when they
walked into this church, it just felt different. While they couldn’t name it, what they were
really referring to was the Holy Spirit’s presence.
Every
Sunday before anyone gets here, the Calvary Prayer Warriors are praying
throughout the building, then over the pastors. The worship space, the parking lots, Atrium, Grace Place
rooms and other spaces in the church have been prayed over. So, when you come in the door, you should feel
something holy, something different.
Yes, the Holy Spirit lives in the lives of Calvary
members and in this church! Praise be to
God!
This past
week, as I was thinking about those words that Dr. Buba so eloquently
presented, I started to rephrase it into a personal statement: Christians who are filled with the Holy
Spirit focus on the WONDERS OF GOD.
Christians who are not filled with the Holy Spirit focus on the problems
of man. Yikes!
So then I
had to ask myself, Carol, do you see and focus your attention on God’s wonders
or do you focus your attention more on the problems of man? Sometimes, even as a pastor, we get mired in
church issues and day-to-day things that have little to do with the mission and
vision that God is calling us and Calvary to be in this world. Isn’t that how it is in all our jobs and
professions? We are hired to do a specific
job, but find ourselves having to do things that have very little to do with
the job we were hired for.
Now think
about your calling as a Christian – that’s a full-time 24/7 calling on your
life. So, how many times do we find
ourselves wishing God would use us more?
How many times do we feel inadequate to share our faith or to call on
and believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is real in our lives? Sure, it was real for the disciples, but what
about me? What about the Holy Spirit’s
power for our generation?
Friends, God
is afoot! God’s Spirit lives inside us,
but far too often we don’t realize it and we don’t fully and completely rely on
God and His power in our lives. What if
we followed the example of the Jerusalem
church? This tiny group expanded into a
world-changing force. How did they do
this? Well, through the power of the
Holy Spirit working in and through their lives, God enabled a group of rag-tag
followers to literally rock this world and bring change. We can learn a lot from their priorities and
passion for Jesus Christ. That’s why we
need not only to read the Book of Acts this year, but to actually hear it and
live it.
My Calvary small group is currently doing a DVD study by Mac
Lucado called How to Outlive Your Life. It’s a study of the Book of Acts. In this study, Max challenges us to live out
our faith in our own Jerusalem,
in our own generation. Max Lucado says
in his book by the same name, “The church cannot be who she’s supposed to be
until you are willing to be who you’re supposed to be.”
This week,
why not pray for the Holy Spirit not only to fill you to overflowing, but to
use you to touch and change this world.
Ask the Holy Spirit to open doors that seemed closed and ask Him to help
you to start seeing the WONDERS OF GOD right before your eyes!
Here’s a
great song from Third Day that reminds us of the wonders of God!
To God be
the Glory!
Pastor
Carol
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