Things I Should’ve Learned a Long Time Ago…

So Francis Chan has been totally kicking me in the spiritual adnoids recently. I’ve been listening to the final session of the Exponential Conference again and again… I’ve even started downloading the Cornerstone Church (in California, where Chan pastors) and listening to him speaking there.

And I keep hearing these common themes over and over again that I just so needed to hear. The biggest for me is the wild faith that Scriptures tell us to have.

Not just this weak, middle school faith that believes God for the curing of the class pet… but this deep abiding faith that rests in who I am in Christ. The book of James in the New Testament talks about the “hearers” and the “doers”. I always thought that this passage had to do with those who “work” hard at their Christian life. Now I see this passage in terms of “faith”.

That hearers are people who just hear “Oh yea… God loves you. The Holy Spirit Lives in you. If you pray to God in the will of Jesus, he’ll give it to you.” and then they go out and live like as if God wasn’t there.

And I don’t mean falling into sin! I used to hear that passage and think “okay, don’t be just a hearer, don’t sin”… but the problem with “hearers” isn’t that they fall into sin, but that they fall into mediocrity. They take God’s power given freely to us for granted and don’t fully rely on God- who lives inside them! James compares them to people who look in a mirror, walk away and forget who they are.

But “doers”… I used to think these were people who did ministry. Who preached, counseled, gave money, gave time. But James doesn’t talk about them as people who do religious stuff, put people who have Faith that God really does desire good for us, really does live inside us and empower us and really will answer our prayers that align with the work of Jesus with an overwhelming “YES!”.

James compares “doers” to peopel who look in a mirror and walk away. But this time, because they’ve studied the “law or freedom” (that God is for us and not against us)… they live victoriously, not forgetting who they are.

And the question that I guess I have is “have I been living like I actually believe that God’s Holy Spirit will live inside me and do as Jesus promised when he said that the Holy Spirit would enable me to do greater things than even Jesus did?”

If I believe that… how would I approach the church we’re planting?

Different… with faith… and boldness… that’s how.