Community Update from Dr. Bob: 6/26/2024
We are grateful for the time ASPIRE took to engage with us this past weekend about the future direction of our church. Please continue to be in prayer for God’s guidance—both in your own life and in the life of the church. Here are some things in particular you can be praying for:
- Pray for your own heart, that God would soften it and bring you to a place of openness and receptivity.
- Pray for those in your life who don’t know Jesus, that God would be at work within them.
- Pray for your own courage to step into opportunities to serve and bless those people, to listen to them and to get to know them better.
- Pray that God will speak clearly to our congregation and that we will have the openness to hear him.
- Pray God will provide a clear direction and we will have the courage to take the next steps in that direction, even if they are difficult.
- Please continue to pray also for the various ministries of Community Church Rancho, including Friday Night Church, and all of the opportunities for kids and students over the summer.
On Sunday, David Harris shared this quote from Oswald Chambers: “Beware of spending too much time looking back at what you once were, when God wants you to become something you have never been.”
If God isn’t calling us back to the 1990s, what would it look like to be faithful to His call and mission for us in 2024? What must change? What expectations or preferences do you need to let go of? What new thing do you need to embrace as you follow Jesus? How committed are you following through on those things?
God has good things in store for Community. As I’ve said for the past 18 months, God’s got this. Jesus will build His church. Our call is to remain open-hearted and open-handed so that we’re ready to cooperate with what Jesus wants to do.
Pray with me to that end:
“Jesus, make me ready.
Make me ready – open my heart to your agenda.
Make me ready – open my hands to your priorities.
Make me ready – prepare my heart to hear your voice.
Make me ready – prepare my life to respond to your voice.
Jesus, if I have lacked expectancy, I repent. Where I have lacked faith, I repent. Where my hands or heart have been closed, I repent. Where I have succumbed to self-defeating thoughts, I repent. We turn to you Lord. Have your way in our hearts, in our lives, and in our church. Amen.”
