30 Nov Power Up!

So the church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was strengthened.  Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers ( Acts 9:31).

We are nearing the end of 2017.  When you look back to the beginning of this year, what do you see?  From my perspective, I see a growing church.  Growing in part because of 75 Small-Groups with 114 faithful Small-Group Leaders  who are dedicated to making disciples.  I see you out there, talking to people, praying with people, loving on people.  I hear stories like ‘how awesome my small-group leader is’,  ‘how great my group is’ etc.  You even tell me stories that give me goose bumps, like answers to prayer and life change. God never ceases to amaze His people.

I also see your struggles.  I hear your frustration.  Group life is not often easy.  ” I have this person who…’, “This lady requested to join but…’, ‘We need more members…’, ‘So and so doesn’t…’  This is all part of leadership.  We have to take the bad with the good. However, I see mostly good.

We know what we have – Small-groups; We know how they work – sermon based, meet outside the church walls; but do we know why we do it?  Do we really know why we do it?  I do. It comes straight from 1 Corinthians 13.  We Love .  We love Jesus – we want to obey His command to make disciples (ref Matthew 28),  we love people and we love the lost.   Simple, right?  Not always and not without power from on High!

We all want good solid small-groups.  We all want thriving, life changing and multiplying groups.  But what happens when things are not happening?  We tend to say things like ‘Maybe I should not be doing this’…, ‘I am not equipped.’, I can’t’…, ‘I don’t have time to…’  What we should be saying is ‘Holy Spirit help me’, ‘Holy Spirit fill me’.

Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying.  They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them.  Then they were filled with the Holy Spirit…’ (Acts 2:2-3).

If you continue on through to chapter 3, you will see there was a call to repentance, a generous growing church, a healing of a lame man and 3000 people were saved!  Sometimes we forget that without the Holy Spirit we have no power.  Instead of relying on ourselves to be good, do good, and to have good small-groups we should be relying on the Holy Spirit and tapping into His power.  Jesus said ‘I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5).   

The same Spirit that is in Christ in also in us (ref Romans 8:11).  Our groups are not to be lead by us, they are to be led by the One who called us.  Jesus is in charge.  Each one of us has the Holy Spirit in us and we need to call on Him daily to fill us and use us according to His will.

Perhaps you are tired, perhaps your group is not going as planned.  Don’t give up, don’t give in and don’t give the enemy a foothold. The devil wants nothing more than to drag us down and keep us from God’s purposes.  Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you, to give you strength.  Ask God to bring those into your group that He wants there.  Ask him to send an apprentice!  God has called us to lead;  we need to be the leaders he has called us to be.  We have a job to do.  Stand strong and Power Up!

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P.S. If you have not seen this clip on how important Small-groups are, check this out: