John and I have been gone more than we've been home in the past week. :-) Last weekend, we traveled to Kentucky for a wedding, and Monday through Wednesday we were at the Outer Banks with our church's youth retreat. I'd heard many reports of the beauty of the Outer Banks, so when the opportunity arose, John volunteered us as chaperons. But, really, there wasn't much work to be done and we had a wonderful, edifying time ourselves.
The retreat speaker was Pastor Steve Gambill from the Reformed Baptist Church of Nashville, TN and whoever got him to come, whoa, made a good choice. He shared with us his testimony--how God graciously took away his wife and his rock band in order to draw him toward Himself--and he preached to us the gospel.
1 Corinthians 15 - Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures . . .
The things that are of first importance. These are what he called us back to. Christ, and His saving work. Holding fast Christ, in His death and resurrection, unites all true believers and I was ashamed to think of how much of my time I spend focused on far lesser things.
Then there was excellently crafted teaching on Christian liberty--which we have, but we have in trust. He challenged us, straight from the Scripture, to ask ourselves "Is this helpful? Excellent? Will it edify? Does it enslave me?" Our involvement with the world, he said, should be marked by discerning engagement.
We talked about how, really, to grow in fruit without trying to do it all ourselves. After all, it is God who sanctifies as well as justifies. And it is the Holy Spirit's work. We left the beach with my earnest secret prayers and desires that I wouldn't come off this spiritual high unchanged.
It helped that when we got back, we went straight to prayer meeting. Pastor Steve had been asked to give us a report on the church in Nashville, which he did, candidly recounting the church's history and their current efforts. When he started telling of their recent, on-going efforts to reach out to a low-income apartment building full of needy, needy souls, my heart was full. Christ is so real to him and He is becoming real to them. John and I were sitting near him, and while the men closed by praying for these real people who are prostitutes and drug-addicts, that man was weeping.
The question for us is how can we "go and do likewise"? We live in a neighborhood, and can we not reach out to them? John and I are trying to start by having our nearest neighbors over for dinner next week. My fear is that we'll establish a friendly relationship and nothing more . . . Oh, for such a passion for Christ and His kingdom!
Ugh Gretchen I soo hear you .. everything in this post resonates to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks much for sharing! I have been doing alot alot of scripture searching lately and just getting back to some of Jesus teachings that I know so well and yet wonder if I practice them in my everyday as I should. I suppose some might say I am a good person. But what good is a good person when out righteousness is like filthy rags. I need to be on my knees more and make sure my heart is where it ought to be and my day doesnt get wrapped up in the mundane of housework and kiddos etc..
Also I hear you on your neighbors. And I will so pray for you. I have become too too friendly with my neighbors. And they have 2 little girls my girls age and have tried to be neighborly towards them by baking them cookies and being cheerfull and visiting etc... but they are soo very lost and in such darkness. I have even had oppurtunities to share about spiritual things .. she even made an outright remark about my Saviour not being God! And I politely told her that we were Christians and brushed it off! She spit in our Saviours face in my yard and I didnt make my place clear.. I am soo ashamed of it now as I type it is making me cry. I didnt know what line to cross... she has been a bit negative about my homeschooling and I didnt want to blow on any tiny flame. But I was wrong and I should of. She is bound for Hell and her girls as well. And she needs to know we dont want to see her there. Pray for me to have boldness. Pray for Lauryn to have boldness in her time speant with their girls ( I moniter that time trust me ) :)
Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in their life if they are called... pray that we can be a testimony to them and I will pray for you and your neighbors. Neighbors are soo tough.
You are a blessing to me Gretchen. I love you.