What’s Going on Here?

Dear Worshippers,

That’s the question that four of our Elders addressed on Sunday. It was a wonderful opportunity to listen to each of them. To have the opportunity to consider their perspective on what they see God doing in our midst. But most of all to hear their hearts.

The collective answer I came away from the service with was, “God is at work!” From each of them we heard evidence of this. In the church life. In our services. In the staff and elders. God is at work. What an exciting time in the history of North-Mar.

I met a lady Sunday who told me she just started attending North-Mar. She shared that she was really enjoying our fellowship. I told her that she had come at just the right time. Of course I could say the same thing to myself, having arrived very recently. It has been an eventful four months, but as Jim Benich said Sunday, we are just at the beginning of it.

What is happening at North-Mar is much more about God than us. I was reminded of Jesus words in John 5:19, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” We are following Jesus’ example as we join the Father in what He is doing right here, right now.

What I want to encourage you to consider as we continue on this journey together is “What is God doing around you?” It is one thing to marvel at what God is doing at church, to come expecting to see Him at work; it is an entirely different thing to marvel at what God is doing in you, to live expecting to see Him at work. They can be the same expectancy, but can also be something different.

I am on that same path. Just this morning I dealt with one of our sons in a way that was not gentle. I immediately felt conviction from the Holy Spirit. It was as though the Holy Spirit was saying to me, “Do you really want to be gentle?” Though I was tempted to justify my anger, Sarah quickly called me on it, and even though I struggled initially in my response I knew what I had to do. I went back to my son a few minutes later and asked for his forgiveness for not dealing with him gently. He forgave me. I was humbled and broken. It was painful and wonderful. I am changing. God is at work.

The Father is always at work around you. Will you open your eyes to see, and then your heart to embrace the work He wants to do? To paraphrase Jim Benich again, please say yes more often that you say no.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy