Outreach

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I have ministered as a pastor, along with my wife, Audrey, at Mount Zion Fellowship in Poway California. When through the years I sought the Lord about increasing the attendance, His response was, "You take care of the Word and I will take care of the attendance." Just recently I have felt a real desire to begin to reach out in various types of ministry, such as for a Spanish-speaking unit of our church. God has given us so much it may be time for the congregation to minister to others.

(12/12/2004) If we are to be as fruitful as God would have us to be, each member of our church must be living a righteous, holy life. We must be praying specifically until God answers or redirect our prayer. We must be obeying the commandments of Christ written in the New Testament or given to us personally. We also must be maintaining a sense of hope and expectancy.

And we all must be in one accord.

The above is the solid foundation on which fruitfulness can be based.

I have set some goals for our church for the year 2005. One goal is an increase in attendance. Another is that each member of the assembly would seek the Lord for his or her own gift and ministry. A third is the bringing into our midst of Spanish-speaking people, of whom there are many in our area.

There are other areas of outreach, such as to the Filipino community. Perhaps we should host an Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous chapter. There are such needs all around us.

In the future I wish to get into how we actually go about finding out what God wants us to do. First of all, we must understand that the Bible is a record of God taking the initiative, not of man’s ambition or creativity, only his obedience. The interaction of God and man is critical. I like to say it is the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, with the Lord being given 51 percent.

We take a step, and then look to the Lord to see if He is pleased, if desirable fruit is being borne. Usually we get nowhere if we only wait for God to speak to us.

If God tells you ten camels are going to be watered, watch for the tenth camel. Very often nine camels will be watered instantly, but the tenth camel is left out. That tenth camel is the proof of God’s will. Understand what I say.

God’s will for us is never contrary to the Scriptures. God’s will for us brings us joy and peace. God’s will for us is reflected in our surroundings. Sometimes we are not particularly joyous or our surroundings do not agree. But if we are in God’s will they come around eventually.

It always is a dance, a romance, an adventure with the Lord Jesus. We do not burn out when we are skipping with Him on the mountains of spices, although difficult times will come. The true work of God is a burning bush.