Addicted

When I left the ministry in 1998, I swore that I would never pastor again.  I’m embarrassed to admit that but it’s true.  After being away from it for a few years, however, my heart had softened enough so that I could once again hear God and when I started listening I discovered that He was calling me back into the ministry.

I remember one encounter with Him very clearly.  I was reading my Bible and praying and pondering the fact that He might be calling me to pastor again.  I know that you can’t really bargain with God but I got a little bold and I blurted out something from my heart.  It sounded like a demand but it wasn’t.  It was a cry of my heart.  I said, “Father, I can’t do this again, I won’t do this again, unless I see lives changed.  I can’t just go through the motions.  I’ve got to see lives changed!”

Thankfully, I felt like the Lord promised me that I would see that.  I felt like that day He promised me that if I stepped out in faith and became a pastor again and obeyed Him by starting Fusion that He would do His part to make sure we saw the fruit of changed lives.

The very first Sunday, I saw more people make first-time commitments to Jesus than I had seen during the many years I was a pastor in Athens.  I was floored and, honestly, I still am.  Week after week after week, I’m floored.  I’m truly blown away by what God does at our church week in and week out.

Last Sunday, when I gave the invitation for people to give their lives to Christ, I felt like God wanted me to ask those folks to raise their hands.  I don’t normally do that but I felt like I was suppose to do that this time.  I didn’t really want to do it because I was teaching a Mother’s Day message and didn’t think that there would be much of a response to that.  I did as I was told, however,  and I was amazed as  people starting raising their hands.  I know that at least five people raised their hands.  Truthfully, there were probably more folks that did but I know that I saw at least five people raise their hands to declare that they had just prayed a prayer to make Jesus the Lord of their lives.  Think about that for a minute.  We saw five people snatched off the pathway to hell and put on the path to heaven!  We saw five people have their lives FOREVER changed and it happened right in our midst, in a high school theater!

I’ll be completely honest here and say that I’m totally addicted to this sort of thing.  It just pumps me up like you wouldn’t believe.  I LOVE IT when people give their lives to Christ or rededicate their lives or commit to start reading the Bible or decide to let Jesus be the Lord of their marriages.  I’m just addicted.  I’m tell you that I’ve got it bad.  I love every sort of life change that the Lord can bring to a person.  It’s the best thing ever to watch Him do His thing and I NEVER take it for granted.  It’s an honor and privileged for all of us at Fusion to be a small part of His great work and we should never forget it!

Folks, the reason we’re taking up our Advance Offering this weekend isn’t to build a monument to some leader or a memorial to some past victory.  Heck, it’s not even to build our church.  There’s only one reason we’re doing this.  There’s only one reason we’re stretching out in faith to do the impossible and it’s because we want to see MORE lives changed.  We want to see LESS people in hell.  We want to see MORE marriages saved and MORE relationships restored.  We’re doing it because we’re addicted and we must see MORE people experience the life-changing power of a relationship with Jesus Christ!

Please be praying that God will never stop changing lives at our church AND that many, many people will forever be changed as we partner with His efforts though this advance!