The past three and a half weeks have been very challenging as I contracted Shingles, the Chicken Pox Virus in adults. In this sickness, one has to endure severe pain, typically on one side of the body and prolonged extreme weakness similar to having the flu. Limited to almost no activity, this time caused me to reevaluate my convictions and how I was truly doing in life and doctrine. With that in mind here are three lessons learned:
Dependence on God is of Utmost Importance! Isaiah 40:28-31. Looking back on the last few months it is clear that we worked very hard and in fact the church did turn around in an amazing way. The Lord blessed us with one restoration, two placing membership, and 16 baptisms- giving us 19 additions in 11 weeks! Yet, in that time my personal relationship with God suffered several times a week as I shortened my prayers & Bible study time and found myself “doing more”, often stressed and sleeping less. In this I was not spiritually dependent on God as needed. I believe this led to my immune system becoming depressed and then the shingles virus was able to take me out. It has been extremely difficult to pray or read my Bible due to the pain, making it almost impossible to focus on God or to look at a few pages of my Bible. Although I did have my quiet times, I struggled to stay focused on God. I found myself longing to have just one good prayer time and get some small insight from the Scriptures. In that longing, I see how I failed the Lord the last few months and short cut myself from getting the strength needed to handle the rigors of the ministry. My rekindled commitment and conviction is that every day, no matter the cost to the “business of ministry”, that I will protect my time with God and get my spiritual needs met in Him first. I believe the call here for each disciple is the same. No matter how much time you have spent with the Lord you need to ask yourself, “Have I truly depended on God or on self”? Dependence on talent, what comes easy or skill is not dependence on God. Talk to someone this week about how you have been doing in this area. My commitment is…I will walk closely with God every day!
The Jethro Principle Rebooted! Exodus 18:13-26 & Acts 6:1-7. In the last three weeks six brothers in particular have really stepped up here in Orlando: Marcel & Adrian (full-time ministry), Devon, Ted, OJ and David (full-time jobs with wives and kids). These men met with me at the beginning of my sickness and I asked them to take on much more responsibility and to do many of the things I would not be able to do. They each have done an incredible job and totally stepped up! I am very proud of them yet the lesson learned is- I was doing “too much” when these very capable and spiritual men could have done it. Because there are six of them and one of me, most likely they can eventually do it better and more effectively once trained.
Looking back, I have worked harder since July yet I was on track to “wear myself out” and that is what happened. I even found myself taking short cuts on sermon preparation in order to “get more done” and that was wrong. Even though these men always work hard and give their hearts 100%, I had gotten in the habit of doing several things they can do very well, some things they simply need to be trained in, while some things they needed to be asked to do. Very humbly & powerfully each of them have taken on some new roles and done quite a bit more than before. This took such a burden off of me and led to the church becoming stronger. Some weaknesses occurred and yet overall the church is much stronger now because I “couldn’t do it”…they did. I am recommitting to the Jethro principle and will focus more of my time & energy on training men to do what I do. I will of course continue to work hard and learn my role and I believe I will get better at it. In addition, we will build a church where men are not limited in their growth because I was doing what they can and want to do. Our congregation has incredible leaders and now we are far stronger as there are more shepherds & workers than ever! Helen and I will be refocusing on “a few” and returning our focus to prayer and ministry of the word. A special thank you to the brothers of “The 12” and Ted, our shepherd!
King David Was Right! 1 Samuel 17:32-54 & 2 Samuel 22:26-36. I believe with all my heart that we are given incredible power to swing the sword to build the Lord’s church. We are the men who will forcefully advance the Lord’s church because of our call, obedience to the mission and the Holy Spirit we have been given…yet, it isn’t about me…or you. I believe as David did, that the Lord literally stoops down to make us great and that He does this to advance His cause and His kingdom. God has given us great gifts and literally endowed us with power we have not yet tapped into…yet, David was right…the battle against Goliath was not for David’s glory, nor was it for the armies of Israel. I don’t even think it was to win this particular battle…it was about restoring the honor, respect, fear and trust in the Lord God Almighty that had been lost! Saul had led the nation in fear, bitterness and anger so that they had a few victories but as the battle raged the men cowered in fear and God was forgotten. Faith in God became a thing of the past and reliance on man became the norm. God was allowing them to be humbled so that they would turn back to Him and in this He used David’s faith to radically turn the nation around!
David’s words are not about his power defeating Goliath nor later in his life did he turn to self-reliance or self-glory…his entire being was about bringing glory to God and making His name known to the whole world. In these past few weeks the Lord has been trying to remind me of these principles. This is the heart we came to Orlando with just three years ago. Somewhere along the way, although not in all things, I got man focused, distracted by defeats and sometimes victories and there has been a fading in my conviction that we came here to glorify God and thus inspire the movement. God has done the impossible in three short years and given us the strength and power to do it…from one church of 29 to seven churches of over 300 members with 200 of them springing from what He has done just from Orlando. Yet…we have not grown as a World Sector this year. This has caused me to rethink what I was doing and where we were going, but it wasn’t until I got sick that I realized my focus had shifted away from a focus like David.
Yes we have been given the power to do the job and in that neither self-reliance nor man-focus is what the Lord is looking for. I believe we have to get back to a heart like David: “he stoops down to make me great” and “This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head…and the whole world will know that there is a God is Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s…” God brings the victory as we swing the sword…God grows the church as we plant the seed and God forcefully advances as we hold on to Him for the exhilarating ride! David was right…when God is glorified, men turn to Him, and both the saved and the unsaved are inspired when they see the power and love of God. Christians step up faster and more powerfully and many more are saved when bringing glory to God is the cause. Let us recommit to Dependence on God, the Jethro Principle Rebooted and that King David was Right…
He stoops down to make us great,
Matt Sullivan
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