The last church that I pastored met in school auditoriums for the first three to four years of our existence. It was a new church, a church plant. And setting up and tearing down every single week was beginning to be a real challenge for our people. We began to pray, “God, where would you have us go? What do you want?” And God led us to a church facility that was being sold, and we felt that God was leading us to buy that church building. We were a small congregation. We didn’t have a lot of finances, but we felt led by God. So we put earnest money down, and we began to work and pray and see what God would do to bring the finances. I remember it was on a Sunday morning, we were supposed to close escrow on the following Tuesday. God had wonderfully blessed us, and we were able to have most of the funds. But we were still $25,000 short. And my board was saying “Pastor, what are we going to do?” I’ve had a life experience of seeing how God has met needs. I have confidence in God that if God calls you, God will provide. It’s not because of what we do. It’s not because of who we are. It’s because of God’s faithfulness. And God, if He calls us, is the One who has the responsibility of fulfilling that calling. We have a responsibility of being obedient to God. So in that Sunday morning service, I made a little statement to those who were visiting us for the first time. I told them to tune out for about 30 seconds while I addressed the congregation members. I shared briefly about how God had led us to this point where we were planning on closing on Tuesday, but we still have a shortage of finances. At the end of the service, the treasurer for the church ran up to me and handed me a check. I asked him what he wanted me to do with it, and he replied excitedly, “Look at it!” That check was for a sum exactly to the penny that we needed for the closing. A visitor had contributed to it and earmarked it for the completion of our building. I’m confident that when God calls us, God makes the way. It’s not to say that I don’t get anxious and nervous. It’s not to say that I don't struggle sometimes thinking about what we can do next to make something happen. But there’s great freedom in knowing that we can be obedient to God and His calling in our lives, knowing that the responsibility to fulfill that calling is God’s. I want to live my life that way. I want to be able to live in that environment. It’s not my vision, it’s not my mission; it’s God’s vision, it’s God’s mission. And all He asks us to do is to be faithful and trust, knowing that God knows exactly what we need, He knows exactly when it’s needed by, and God is faithful. I pray you will have a blessed day.
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