God Is Doing Something

Ever have one of those days? I started out first service Sunday, prior to my sermon, with this question. Sunday was one of those days where technical issues were throwing a monkey wrench into my prep and the worship team’s slides. Those sorts of things happen from time to time, and it’s best to simply take them in stride and keep moving ahead. But, from time to time, those moments can cause our plans to be derailed or distracted. Let’s admit it. Interruptions to our plans can be frustrating!

However, occasionally, as I mentioned Sunday, I get the sense God is up to something. in these unplanned interruptions. Something is coming and, whether it is the evil one or it is that God just allows some hurdles to cause us to pause or to stretch us, it seems as if there is a message in the mess-up’s. The message, sometimes, is that God is up to something and that we get to be part of it.

Well, between services Sunday, I spoke with a young man who has been attending BCC for only 3-4 weeks. In fact, the first Sunday he showed up was the very first time he had ever been to church! God has been working in his life in this short period of time. In fact, he shared that he got baptized last week at an event he went to with a coworker!

Then, no sooner had I spoken with this person, I had to go talk with another couple in the guest connection area. As I asked the couple what they wanted to talk to me about, the young man said, “I’d like to know what I need to do to be saved.” We spoke for the next half hour. Then, I went back into the worship area for the second service. Following the second service, I baptized this young man into Christ!

Who would have thought there would be so much celebration on a Sunday that started out with so many minor interruptions? God was up to something, and I simply got to watch him in action!

Now, here’s the truth of the matter. God is always up to something! Sometimes he pulls back the curtains and we get a front-row seat to what he is doing in people’s lives. At other times, however, God is working behind the scenes in ways unobserved by us. But, he is always working!

I believe there have been some really neat things going on in our church family recently. Though I want to be careful in connecting cause-and-effect in ways that might not be merited, I do want to point to our recent season of prayer and fasting as a church. No, I am not saying that prayer and fasting automatically brings growth in a church, as if it were a magic formula. However, I do want to say that maybe we should not be surprised that God moves and changes lives when his people humble themselves and cry out to him for strength and wisdom and then take steps of faith. Seems to me when God’s people do these simple things, we discover that God is up to something far more often than we realize!