I mean seriously??? why take the time to put a puzzle together of tatooine when I had a toy land speeder I could put Chewbacca and Lando in and play away! But as I grew older, I began to appreciate the process of things more than simply the end result. I realized that Christmas is AWESOME... but the ANTICIPATION of Christmas is even better, and I have learned to savor those times with my children, friends and family.
About 2 years ago I went through the process of building a new home. It was an exciting process and the joy of seeing it go up....t aking the kids over and letting them see their unfinished rooms was very exciting. My wife and I happened to be driving by when we saw the wet cement. We decided to go like a couple of school kids and carve our initials into the cement and profess our undying love for each other. It is still part of the porch today!
Going through this building process at Church52 really brought a scripture to mind today:
Acts 2:42-47
42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
This... my friends is the model church!
- The devoted themselves to learning (the apostles teaching) and to being faithful to church (to the fellowship). WOW, The model church has people believe it or not... WHO DON'T MISS CHURCH!!!! :-)
- They were faithful to having church dinners and to praying! WOW, The model church ate together as one, and prayed together as one!!
- Wonders and miraculous signs were a fact of everyday life!
- Verse 44: They had small groups that hung out that had things in common (Well, that's the Rob version, but, c'mon - go with me here)
- They were givers who made sure every need was taken care of
- They got together outside of church and ate dinner together
- They were worshipers (V47)
- And finally - they were seeing NO LESS than 365 people added to the church each year, because people were being saved DAILY!
You may think we will be done when we build the big church on the land we have set aside for that purpose. But the church will ALWAYS be a model church, under construction, getting to the place where God wants us to be. Our church is a model church because while many of the pieces are in place, there are so many more places, so many more amazing times in the Lord, so many more people who will be saved, healed and delivered, so many more broken hearts that will be mended, so many more divorces cancelled, so many more wounded made whole, so many more battles fought, and so many more victories won, should the Lord tarry.
Yes, I look forward to the destination and the ultimate prize of heaven. But I am content to be a "model" church that God is still building through each and every one of us. Who do you know today that could very well be a missing piece? Go after them with all of your heart.... I think of the scripture...
Micah 7:11
"The day for building your walls will come, the day for extending your boundaries."
Get ready church... our boundaries are about to be extended... are you ready? Great... meanwhile... enjoy the process.
perry meade
