elimChristianFellowship

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
- 2 Corinthians 5:17

Change is inevitable. Day changes to night, children change to adults, winter changes to mud season (and quickly back to winter). And the elimChristianFellowship.net website has changed it’s look… again! But, just as the website has grown and needed a new layout to accommodate it, Elim is also changing, growing, and transforming. A year or so ago, the average Sunday worship service saw 40 or so of the faithful seeking God, the last two weeks has has had over a hundred packed into the Upper Room.

For I am the LORD, I change not;

- Malachi 3:6

Wait a minute! I thought change was inevitable?! God does not change, so I have to clarify that adage - “Change is inevitable… for us.” The best way I can think of it is to imagine us on a really big football field. In our endzone is God - the opposite end is “without God”. As we move though life we can:

1. Move closer toward God.
2. Move away from God.
3. Move back and forth between the sidelines, not gaining or losing ground.

While I’m sure everyone will agree that #2 is not the best idea, the thing to consider is how much we do #3 thinking it is #1. How much do we participate in change for change’s sake, not really moving toward the goal.

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.
Acts 20:24

Sticking with the sport analogies, Paul seems to have the answer here. We are meant to move forward, to race the race, to strive for the endzone, to be transformed, but, not for the sake of racing a race, but to complete the task the Lord has set before us. We change, or are being transformed, according to the God’s desire that we more effectively participate in His game plan.

When we decide not to participate in His plan we are really choosing option #2, moving away from God.

When we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit, knowledgeable in His Word and willing be transformed, he faithful to change us, to prepare us, thus we are choosing option #1 and moving toward the goal.

Option #3 happens when we know we are in the game, we have believed Him for our salvation and future, but have for some reason decided that God has left it up to us to come up with the plan, to write the playbook and run the game.

Ok, it’s a big field, one that stretches from the beginning to the end, the Alpha to the Omega, how can I tell if I’m heading for the endzone or the sidelines?

1. Know - know His Word - it is THE playbook.
2. Listen - it’s God’s team and His plan - He is not going let us run around in circles - He’s calling in the plays, if you’ll just listen and know His Voice.
3. Follow - not everyone on the team is the quarterback and even the quarterback has to follow game plan of the coach. We are each called to our part, to use the gifts He has given us to act in unison to advance toward the goal.
4. Lead - just as we are called to follow, we are each called to lead - one of Jesus’s final commandments to us was to make disciples - lead others in their spitual growth, to participate in the Holy Spirit-powered transformation of other believers so they might do the same.
5. Just Do It - OK, this is Nike’s line, but, at some point, we have to step up, step out, and do what God would clearly have us do. Get out of the huddle, get lined up and hike the ball!