{"id":1882,"date":"2015-06-09T06:52:57","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T12:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/?p=1882"},"modified":"2015-06-09T07:16:34","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T13:16:34","slug":"what-i-learned-from-worshiping-with-the-persecuted-church-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/?p=1882","title":{"rendered":"What I Learned From Worshiping With The Persecuted Church, Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\"What<\/a><\/h2>\n

If we have a limited view of God, we are going to be stressed out and feel like God’s\u00a0work is up to us.\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

<\/h2>\n

But what if God cared more about the world than I do?\u00a0 What if my efforts in reaching the lost or advancing his kingdom were not the main efforts for God\u2019s cause?\u00a0 The truth is our limits reveal how much God\u2019s power matters.<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Leading in Ministry is Stressful.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Most pastors I know (I include myself at the top of the list) live stressful lives.\u00a0 The work we are called to do is nothing short of trying to conjure up miracles each and every day for people we love. \u00a0We are called to lead people to a life-changing encounter with God who, like Jacob, are prone to wrestle with God every step of the way.\u00a0 We are called to give compassion to those who blow it.\u00a0 We are called to show kindness to those who are mean- spirited.\u00a0 We are called to sacrifice for people who are selfish.\u00a0 We are called to teach people who don\u2019t like to listen.\u00a0 We are called to lead people to live out God\u2019s coming kingdom now, when most people are preoccupied about advancing their own kingdom.<\/p>\n

And before I get accused of blaming the community for being a stressed out pastor, I want to be the first to confess that before I ever take on the role of a leader in\u00a0God\u2019s community, I am first a member of it.\u00a0 So as a pastor, I am just as prone to go astray as the people I am called to lead.\u00a0 Being a pastor creates an ever present dissonance in one\u2019s soul when you have to look in the mirror every day, and that just adds to the stress when you can\u2019t even lead yourself properly.<\/p>\n

And it only gets worse.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If we are honest as pastors, the tools for our trade are slim to none. \u00a0 Sure we can go to seminary and accumulate an alphabet of letters after our names, but in the end our education and professional degrees don\u2019t enable us to do the work God calls us to do.\u00a0 Let\u2019s face it even with all of our education and experience, we can\u2019t make people pray, or take a step of faith, or reconcile, or listen to God\u2019s word, or be encouraged, or walk in the Spirit, or use their gifts for God\u2019s purposes, or love their neighbor as themselves.\u00a0 When we recognize the enormity of the task to which we are called (to make disciples of the nations) and reflect for a second on our inadequacy in bringing that call\u00a0into a reality, it\u2019s not hard to understand Moses\u2019 objections to being called to lead God\u2019s people out of slavery in Egypt.\u00a0 The task was (and still is) too big for God\u2019s called pastors. \u00a0Moses wasn’t suited for the job. \u00a0I am not suited for the job. \u00a0And I hate to be the one to break it to you, but neither are you suited for the job.<\/p>\n

when we see clearly both the weight of the task and our own inadequacy for fulfilling that task we have a choice to make.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We can either give up deciding\u00a0that we don’t have what it takes, or we can decide that God\u2019s power matters in ministry more than our\u00a0power ever could.\u00a0 When I was in Egypt, I saw first hand how much God\u2019s power matters more than my own.<\/p>\n

A Lesson on\u00a0God’s Power.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In Egypt, I met a young woman there who attended the leadership conference I was helping to lead.\u00a0 For security\u2019s sake, I can\u2019t say much more about her, but she was one of the people who asked\u00a0me to pray for her and for her country (see this blog post for more info<\/a>).\u00a0 She was a muslim, and she recently became a follower of Christ.\u00a0 Intrigued, I asked if she would share her story with me.\u00a0 She told me that her encounter with Christ happened when she came across a question online during some web surfing.\u00a0 The question was this, \u201cDo you want to know more about God?\u201d\u00a0 She was curious, so she clicked on the link.\u00a0 She was directed to a website that talked about Jesus and described his life and ministry.\u00a0 There was another link that read, \u201cFor more information, click here.\u201d\u00a0 She clicked again.\u00a0 On that page, she was invited to receive a Bible and other materials to help guide her reading of it.\u00a0 She signed up.<\/p>\n

When the Bible arrived, she started reading it with great curiosity.\u00a0 As she did, she began to appreciate Jesus.\u00a0 She thought about him throughout the day so much that she began to have vivid dreams about him at night.\u00a0 I can\u2019t share the details, but she had three separate dreams over a period of a few weeks where she encountered Jesus.\u00a0 As a result of her reading and her dreams, she came to faith in\u00a0Jesus.\u00a0 She is now living for Christ in a predominately muslim environment that is not what you and I would call \u201csafe\u201d to express one’s faith in Jesus.<\/p>\n

What stood out to me about her story was that her conversion to Christ happened without one pastor being involved in the process.\u00a0 The Spirit of God led the entire way revealing God\u2019s word, calling her to himself, opening her heart to God, providing the avenue for salvation, and showing her how to walk in faith. \u00a0God’s power was evident in her life, and I saw first hand how God’s power matters more than my own in ministry.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s power matters.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

My effort, my skills, my desires, my work means very little to God.\u00a0 God showed me again through my friend\u2019s story of faith that God is in charge of his work.\u00a0 He leads.\u00a0 I follow.\u00a0 When I confess my inadequacy and<\/i> believe that his power can work through a broken vessel like me (or without me), my stress levels decrease significantly.\u00a0 I learn to trust that God\u2019s power matters more than my own in ministry.<\/p>\n

God's power matters more than my own in ministry. – Scott Vermillion <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

When I go back and reread the beginning of Exodus and observe God\u2019s encounter with Moses calling him to lead God\u2019s people, it is not lost on me that the call occurred when Moses was 80 years old.\u00a0 His physical strength had left him. \u00a0His moral strength was gone after having murdered an Egyptian.\u00a0 His positional authority in Pharaoh’s household was gone having fled as a fugitive to Midian\u00a0to take on the low position of shepherd.\u00a0 His influence in the Hebrew community was gone after living as a foreigner in Midian for over\u00a060 years. \u00a0To add to his lack of power, he was a stutterer.\u00a0 Every time he spoke, he revealed his inadequacy to those around him.\u00a0 But all of his powerlessness\u00a0was for a purpose.\u00a0 Moses\u2019 lack of power reveals the importance of\u00a0God\u2019s power is what matters in ministry.\u00a0 It was not in his own strength that Moses was to save God\u2019s people.\u00a0 It was God\u2019s power that would do the saving.<\/p>\n

Embedded in Moses\u2019 call to pastor God\u2019s people is a revelation that\u00a0God\u2019s power Matters.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We are so accustomed to ministering out of our own power that we can miss it.\u00a0 Hear again what God says to Moses in Exodus 3:7, \u201cThe LORD said, \u2018I have indeed seen<\/i><\/b> the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them<\/i> <\/b>crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned<\/strong><\/em> about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them<\/i><\/b> <\/i>from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey\u202610 So now, go. <\/i>I am sending you<\/i><\/b> to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt\u2019\u201d (NIV11, emphasis mine). \u00a0Moses was in no way asked to bring anything to the table. \u00a0His role was to follow\u00a0God’s power which was at work in the lives of the people God loved so much.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not our power that matters in ministry.\u00a0 God\u2019s power is what really matters.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

God\u00a0is the one that sees our misery, hears our cries, expresses his concern, and responds with power to rescue us.\u00a0 Our role as pastors is to follow and let God\u2019s power flow through us, just like Moses. \u00a0So as I worshiped with my sister who showed me again that God\u2019s power matters more than my own in ministry, I have begun to relax about my powerlessness.\u00a0 I have begun to realize that it is not my passion, or strength, or ingenuity, or skill, or abilities, or work ethic that will save others.\u00a0 God sees our plight, hears our cries, expresses his concern, and comes to our rescue.\u00a0 That\u2019s the gospel story. \u00a0Jesus saw our slavery to sin, heard our cries for help, expressed his concern for us, and came to our rescue.\u00a0 It was his power on the cross that frees us\u00a0from a life enslaved to sin, and it is his power of resurrection that makes us\u00a0alive again to God.<\/p>\n

Our call as pastors is just like Moses\u2019 call.\u00a0 God does all the hard work through his own power.\u00a0 We are called to show up as witnesses to that incredible power at work for our benefit. \u00a0As pastors, we are to be his inadequate vessels that display his power to all of those in charge.\u00a0 It is through our weakness that God reveals his glorious, mighty power.<\/p>\n

When We trust that God\u2019s power is the thing that really matters in our\u00a0ministry, something strange happens. \u00a0WE can begin to relax.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h2>\n

So in worshiping with the persecuted church, I have learned to lead with a little less stress, and a little more trust.\u00a0 In seeing God\u2019s power first hand in the conversion of a muslim woman without any help from us pastor types, I see what really matters in ministry. \u00a0 It is not my power that matters. \u00a0It is God\u2019s power that really matters in ministry.<\/p>\n

When we lead with an expectation of God working powerfully in the people around us, our\u00a0stress levels plummet and our\u00a0expectations soar for what God might be up to in our lives. \u00a0We can anticipate reconciliation in the moment when we\u00a0don’t see eye to eye with our\u00a0spouses. \u00a0We can become expectant when we hear of the pain of a couple we dearly love describe their journey of parenting a wayward son or daughter. \u00a0We can begin\u00a0to daydream of what God might be doing when we hear about good friends who stop talking. \u00a0We can let hope stir in us\u00a0when those who mourn share their story of loss.<\/p>\n

Why?\u00a0 Not because we can do anything about their circumstances.\u00a0 It\u2019s all because we know that God’s power is at work in all of the above situations.\u00a0 He sees, he hears, he is concerned, and he is coming to their rescue.\u00a0 Maybe not in the way you and I would expect, but his power is at work nonetheless in their lives. \u00a0And it is also at work in our own lives.<\/p>\n

The sooner we start trusting in God’s\u00a0power for our ministry, the sooner we can begin to relax and stand in awe of what he can do with an inadequate leader who has yielded his or her power to God.\u00a0 All we have to do is show up and be present to the people to whom God sends us.<\/p>\n

How would you lead differently if God\u2019s power mattered more than your own?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ordinarily, I would offer a few ways in which we can trust in God\u2019s power, but this time I want to leave you with a question.\u00a0 Like the online question that stirred my friend to faith in Christ, I want to leave you with a question rather than an answer in hopes to stir your own faith in what God can do with his power.\u00a0 Here it is: How would you lead differently if God\u2019s power mattered more than your own in ministry?<\/p>\n

For me when I embrace that God’s power matters more than my own, the stress of the task of ministry and the\u00a0subsequent revelation of my inadequacy for accomplishing God’s\u00a0task becomes\u00a0greatly reduced.\u00a0 What would happen to you if God\u2019s power mattered more than your own for your ministry?\u00a0 I would love to hear your story.\u00a0 Feel free to share how God\u2019s power matters and has\u00a0changed your life and ministry.\u00a0 Feel free to email me here<\/a>, or share your story below in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 If we have a limited view of God, we are going to be stressed out and feel like God’s\u00a0work is up to us.\u00a0 But what if God cared more about the world than I do?\u00a0 What if my efforts in reaching the lost or advancing his kingdom were not the main efforts for God\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theawakenministry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/What-I-Learned-From-Worshiping-With-The-Persecuted-Church-3.001.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1882"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1895,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1882\/revisions\/1895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}