Pastor’s Perspective: "Seeing as God Sees"
By Brian L. Powell
What is missional? It is seeing as God sees, period. Being missional is having a heart for people wherever they are in life. We cannot be a missional movement if we cannot grasp God’s perspective of people. That means much more than having a “missions department” in the local church. Being missional is when we see and identify that God is doing something and then we go and join him in whatever he is doing. Jesus started something. He started a missional movement. He started when he met people where they were in life and embraced them at that point. If we are an extension of Jesus then we have to help people cultivate their faith and find God at their point of need. However, in out systematic and structured way of doing things we often expect people to come and find Jesus among us. Jesus never taught this principle anywhere. He instructed us to go and find people and allow them to see God in us through the way we live our lives and love other people. He didn’t instruct us to build nice buildings and then hold a service and hope people come in and discover God’s plan for their life. Sadly, in many cases that is all we do.
Jesus modeled relationships with sinners and the community at large, but we discourage relationship outside the church community. Why? because we are afraid of the repercussions, rumors and accusations from our fellow “brothers” and “sisters” in the church. Thanks but no thanks. Jesus was accused of being a sinner himself; the religious crowd said that he was the friend of sinners – and he was. He hung out at parties, with prostitutes, adulterers, the low class, the crooked and perverse, the revolutionaries that wanted to overthrow the government, the rejects, and many other questionable people of his day. Why did he do this? It wasn’t to join them in their sin; it was to point them to God and show them the way out of their sin. He wanted to model a new way of thinking about and practicing life. His fiert message: Rethink your life! That is a missional message. That is seeing as God sees.
Insight From The Pastor’s Wife
Facing the Giants, wow, what a movie! If you have not seen it, go to Blockbuster and rent it. My family and I watched it together and it was so inspiring that I felt I needed to share some of my inspiration with you.
The movie was written and directed by a church. They budgeted $100,000.00 in their yearly budget and made a motion picture that has impacted thousands of lives. So that I do not give the movie away, I will only provide a small amount of detail. It is inspired by a true story related to a Christian high school. The football program had been doing poorly for many years and the coach was facing many struggles of his own. The theme of the movie is "where fear and faith collide."
The story is so real and God was proven so great that Amaya, my 6 year old daughter, cried twice while engaged in the story. I praise the Lord for such a tender heart at such a young age. I am thankful that Amaya was so moved, even to tears, by the display of God's goodness depicted in Facing the Giants. God is good all the time!
The truth of the matter is that we all face many GIANTS in our everyday lives. It may not be involvement is a failing sports program, but we all have our fair share of obstacles that stand in our way and try to prevent us from being all God wants us to be. Before Christ I was fearful of many personal giants: failure, other people, disappointment, death, and even life. I was plagued with giants.
Think of the spiritual giants that biblical characters such as Abraham, Joshua, David, and Paul all had to face. What is ironic is that the Scripture declares in 2 Timothy 1:7, "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." Why do we so often miss the power of God working in us when we are facing life's giants? Many of us allow fear to creep in and we hesitate in calling on Jesus, the name above every name. God wants us to live by faith in Him and Him alone. Is this so hard? God has already overcome life's giants through Christ and His death on the cross. Because of this, we don't have to allow the giants of life to come in and steal our joy and peace.
I have studied the Old Testament God has revealed to me how he will destroy any "GIANT" if I will trust Him in every way. We have the power of the Holy Spirit, and therefore, nothing has the right to stand in our way as long as we are following the Lord with all of our heart and seeking His perfect will in our lives. We do not have to fear, because we are more than conquerors! "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear." 1 John 4:18
In His Service,
Heather B. Powell
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“God Does Nothing Except Through Prayer.”
Vol. 3, Issue 3 – October 22, 2006
There is so much to say about Prayer. When the word "Prayer" is mentioned, the first thought I have is how grateful I am that we have a God who wants us to talk to Him. We must always remember that prayer is a high and holy privilege. Webster's dictionary defines prayer as, "Begging for something, or asking earnestly." Many references in the Word of God instruct us to pray. One of the most frequently used references is from 2 Chronicles 7:14 - "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." Notice the first part of the verse: ".humble themselves." I recently asked my son, Jake, what comes to mind first when he thought of Prayer. He said, "Knees." Then we discussed that a bended knee is a sign of humility and that is why it is associated with prayer. The verse also instructs us to "seek God's face." Psalm 55:17 says, "Evening and morning and at noon I will pray and cry aloud and He shall hear my voice." One of my favorites is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 when Paul writes these three simple words, "Pray without ceasing." This indicates that we have constant access to God. I talk to God in the morning as I'm getting ready for work, at my desk, in my car, and throughout the day. We all must constantly be seeking Him in our hearts and minds so that we remain in the continual flow of fellowship. Praying is our responsibility as Christians: without it nothing changes. As John Wesley said, "God does nothing except through prayer." Jesus was always able to say the right words at the right time and He was so effective because He communicated with God continually and in turn heard from heaven. He knew and taught that prayer is the place where the human experience intersects with the heavenly Father. Aren't you glad that we don't have to meet God at a Tabernacle? We have instant access to The Lord of the universe at all times. As we mature in our Christian walk we must learn to always be prayerful in times of trouble, in times of sadness, and in times of joy. If you want the reality of God to touch your reality, PRAY!
In His Service,
Heather Powell
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