This is the third time this year that I have had the opportunity to write about the work God is sovereignly doing among us. Through this report I hope that your hearts might be stirred to pray for us, that we might be filled with all spiritual wisdom and understanding and that we might know how we are to conduct ourselves all the days of our pilgrimage on the earth.
These recent months have been a time for evaluation and examination to consider how we are carrying out the work that the Lord has entrusted to us. That which defines the life of one who considers his ways before God is a constant turning from the world to look more fully upon the Lord, and an increasing desire for His presence in our lives. Every day, I am more and more conscious of this need in my life, to purify myself of all remains of sin and be conformed to that which the Lord has required of me in His Word. It is impossible to sit under the counsel of His Word, seeing myself in the mirror of the Scriptures, and not see many of my own defects. A pastor once made a comment with regard to the Puritans, stating that the more they drew near to God and came to know His presence, the more they recognized their own sinfulness. I do not pretend to be a Puritan, but I do recognize my great need for the Lord, and I hunger and thirst for His presence.
It comforts me to know that God has not made a mistake in calling me to this work. When He calls a person to do something, He also equips him with all he needs to carry out the task with which he’s been entrusted. Because of the assurance of His sufficiency working in me, I strive even more to serve Him in a worthy manner, knowing that He has placed me in this position. I am privileged to know that the One I am serving is the Lord and He knows my trials, disappointments, frustrations, tears, gladness, joys, and all things that I endure in this ministry. To God be all the glory in all that we do. It is for Him that we are laboring, and for Him we will continue to labor until the end.
Many times, the Lord uses trials to lead us to evaluate our conduct and to expose that which we might not see with just a quick examination. God desires to have a holy people and it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God that He might purify the house and make it a useful and holy instrument for the praise of His Name. We are carrying out the different things planned for 2014, but I have realized that in focusing on completing the tasks we had determined to do, we were not fulfilling the most essential practices of a people united in the Spirit, such as prayer, evangelism, and seeking deeper fellowship and edification. In order to encourage the brothers and sisters to devote themselves to these things as a body united in love, I have begun teaching on our responsibility as members of one another and the commands given to every believer with regard to how we are to conduct ourselves toward our brothers and sisters.
As I came to see our need to grow in this regard, I began praying for God to help us and I preached on the seven churches of Revelation. In these letters, the command is clear and many of the believers in our congregation understood how God’s Word was calling them to repentance. As a church, we are seeing that the pursuit of God is the greatest catalyst for radical change and growth in our lives.