Fearlessly CourageousDesk of Dennis Piller5 15 2023
Click for Audio VersionSundays Prophesy: I never called you to walk alone!
"There will always be trips, stumbles, and momentary setbacks and regrets. As you stay connected with my body, and my church, you’ll find the support you need to regain your feet. I never called you to walk alone – so don’t! If you press into me, you’ll find yourself in the middle of my people… the church will embrace you in my name, embrace them with all their imperfections, and they, to you, in all of yours. There is Grace there … there’s love there…there is understanding, correction, patience, and grace in abundance.Let the embarrassment of the moment pass, and embrace my example of humility because I will accept you just as you are. Just as my church will. Listen to my word. Everything you need is there. I love you, my child. I am for you forever, even to the end of the age”.
I fell going into church this week leaving a little blood and skin to mark the occasion. Surrounded in seconds by a host of angels complete with band-aids. caring hearts and several hands helping me up. The word God gave me today was uplifting for several reasons, beyond me falling as a grand entrance to service today. I went to early service to be part of the "Following Jesus" class that I had taught the 2 weeks prior. Young couples and families looking to find out more about God’s word, and the many unanswered questions of living life for Christ as we all have. It was really a great example of a community coming together to share their gifts and insights with each other. The first-century church was all about family. It was all about community. It was all about sharing. it was all about breaking bread together and I saw that happening today. Several families shared what turned out to be misconceptions they had about their faith, and their God as they just got transparent with the rest of us. Light bulbs went off…you could see the freedom that meant as they grappled with old errant theologies that had been ingrained in them their whole lives. Because they had the courage to come and learn, they did. Their eyes were open in community. And in their vulnerability, they found that others too, related to them and received the same freeing truth that they did through God's word. That can never happen when people walk alone… when families walk alone.
It is so hard, if not impossible to follow Jesus by yourself. We walk with too many attitudes from our upbringing that are not biblical. Too many false perceptions and beliefs in our thinking that really cloud the true light of God and his truth for our lives and those around us. Misunderstandings and false assumptions are passed to our kids and our sphere of influence because we walk alone
Jesus called us to walk in community… to be the church, and to be the family he called us to be. Without them, we are a lone lamb preyed on as a weak straggler with no one to have our backs or to pick us up when we fall. To love us when we’re wrong and guide us into Jesus’s light of forgiveness and truth.
Steven Furtick said, “You must follow Jesus for yourself, but you can’t follow Him by yourself.” He also said, "you can’t fulfill your calling in your comfort zone.”
Let me be honest. Without accountability and humility, we will never achieve our true calling to God. We will never attain the heights that we dream of even for ourselves. Look at the model of family…Church, and discipleship in Act 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved”.
Can you feel the dynamic of family and friends, support, discipleship, and true growth, acceptance, and vulnerability here? Acts was the beginning of God’s church. After they were baptized, they were accepted into God’s family, into his church family, into a practical walk with the Holy Spirit. People were assimilated into a community of character and Godly purpose. Being taught to "Follow Jesus"… Fellowship implies community and oneness of heart. Breaking of bread, which is remembering Jesus in the Last Supper. And prayers which were the life and breath of an early church. They still are today. We can't do any of this alone! Give yourself away. Put yourself out there. Use anything you have to share with others. Become part of God's community by coming together to Follow Jesus. Ask God the Holy Spirit to give you the courage to give yourself away…for Him.
