I wish I could pride myself as a deep thinker but most people who know me, know that I am not consistent. I will have deep thoughts from time to time then move along to the task at hand and the many opportunities I take in being a wise guy.
This weekend I had a deep thought! (Audience breaks into applause) Our pastor, David R. Stokes, www.davidrstokes.com, is speaking through a series entitled "Joe to the World." It is a 3 part series on the life of Joseph. This past Sunday was a great message and he pointed out the fact that Joesph did what God had asked him to do regardless of human reason and emotion. My deep thought was that he could have missed being a part of the entire plan. As pointed out in the message, he had to work through his human experience and emotions that could have crippled him. However, he followed through and was a part of the plan. The interesting thing is that God's plan would have continued regardless of Joseph's actions. Joseph could have missed it if he did the "human thing." It reminded me that God has plans and I need to jump on board.
It is interesting to think that Joseph followed God's plan in all of this but was not a witness of Jesus' earthly ministry. He did not have the satisfaction of seeing Jesus perform miracles or preach to thousands. It is believed that Joseph died sometime between Jesus' visit to the Temple at the age of 12 and the beginning of His earthly ministry around the age of 30. He continued to follow the Lord in commitment and obedience probably hoping, like many of his time, that the Messiah would be revealed...and it was his SON! He probably spent a lot of time thinking about when this would happen and how happy he would be to have his obedience satisfied in a great triumphant moment that he never would experience. (He would not experience it in his lifetime I should say because Joseph has been in heaven for years now...) It made me ask myself if I have that kind commitment in obedience? Will I be obedient even if I do not see "satisfaction" for in it? I hope I can be that guy.
Let me tie my thoughts about obedience to our plans in Toronto. I would love nothing more than to see a great church built in Toronto with many coming to Christ. My hope rests in that and I am following by faith. As a matter of fact, I heard another interesting statistic about Canadian churches. There are only 20 churches in all of Canada that have 2,500 members or more. Why? They are "the neighbor to the north" of the USA that have many churches 4 to 10 times more in membership and attendance. I shared this with a couple who is coming to help us get started. I said there is no mega church in Canada. Their reply was, "There is no mega church yet!" Man that made me laugh and made me think, "I am bringing a load of crazies with me to Canada if they think I am a mega church pastor!" BUT, maybe we are the catapult of that mega church. What if obedience is "satisfied" one day after I am off the scene and God takes Burlington Community Church to heights Canada has not yet experienced. All I can say is, cool! Use me Lord.
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