Either way, I'll talk about how it transformed my heart. The church has made a huge mistake. We think that we fulfill God's will our way, mobilizing our human resources to carry out the advancement of gospel. We plan our own strategies for our lives and our churches of how we will carry out the great commission. Planning the strategy to reach the ends of the earth was not a responsibility God gave us. When we try, he quietly waits until we come exhausted and broken, saying "we'll never be able to accomplish this." He reminds us that his program is for the Holy Spirit to accomplish this task, that the spirit is completely capable of doing it, and Acts is testament to the Spirit's ability to carry out God's program.
Its a divine strategy. And he reveals it to every single one of us step by step. Our willingness to follow is up to us, but creating a plan or taking control is simply not an option. I can't tell you how freeing this has been for me. The anxiety and frustration I have experienced this semester when "ministry" has not gone my way has been huge. Now there is so much less to stress about. If something gets cancelled, or my ride forgets me, or people don't show up: it doesn't matter. Its not my plan and I have no way to measure its success anyways. So many things throughout the bible that look like utter failures are not failures at all but part of a divine plan far more beautiful than we can imagine. Moses killed a guy and ran away from Egypt. What a failure. But GOd brought him back. And Moses's failure left no doubt in anyones mind that it was God and not Moses at all. Saul approved Stephens death. Talk about failure. Stephen had a huge gift and boldness to preach the gospel and Saul basically killed him. On his first public gospel proclamation. And then Anaias is told to go Saul. That never ever would have been a part of Anaias's strategy to proclaim the kingdom. Seeking Saul as a Christian would probably have been equated with committing suicide.
The Holy Spirit is always the one that makes people ask "what must I do to be saved?" It is not the invitation that makes people come to christ. It is truth as it is proclaimed by the Holy Spirit. The task belongs to the holy spirit. So whether you are a young life leader or tim keller, beth moore etc. or just a neighbor who faithfully pursues someone on your street for 10 years there is no distinction and there is no hierarchy. Because none of us bring anyone to Christ. Only the Spirit does.
(Now, this is not to say we just sit around and do nothing. Quite the opposite. We are the hands and feet of Jesus. The Spirit is in us. We are the vessels by which the Spirit moves and the kingdom advances. But we cannot take responsibility for anything the Spirit does. The interesting thing is that those who the Spirit is moving in huge ways are most aware that it is not them. And when someone falls in love with Jesus, whoever was a part of that has no desire for credit. They don't need anyone to tell them it was the Spirit, not them. Its evident.)
The holy spirit does it all. Our only job is to be available. The spirit has never failed to fulfill his ministry.
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