Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. ” – John 14:12-13
In January of this year during our ‘One Word’ sermon series I challenged every one of us to lean into God and His Word in search of one word to guide our spiritual journey this year. Personally, my word for 2020 is ‘Dwell’. But then I shared a word, one word that I truly believe God has given me – rather, given our entire church family at Central Christian for this year – ‘Greater’. I truly believe with all my heart that God is calling all of us to something greater…much greater than ourselves especially right here and now!
In spite of the fact that we will encounter great foes and great difficulties which seem insurmountable at the moment – with God, we are given a great opportunity (especially right now with COVID-19) with His great power to exhibit greater generosity leading to greater faith while embracing God’s greater calling, commandment and commission for us to accomplish greater things for God’s Kingdom. Wow! We are each called to greater! But this our being greater for and with God begins with this spiritual life principle found in John 3:30, “Jesus must become greater, I must become less.” Being great for God always begins with our complete surrender to God.
I appreciate how Steven Furtick states it in his 40 Day Greater Devotional, “God invites us to do something greater…He is often behind the scenes of our life..orchestrating great things for us…God isn’t calling us to be greater than Him. He is calling us to be greater through Him by using His power living inside of us so we can do greater things for His glory.” Amen! I’m ready and willing; are you? We are called to greater not mediocre!
Beginning Sunday, April 19 through Sunday, May 31 we will embark on a 6 week sermon series study entitled ‘Greater’. To assist us on this our journey; along with God’s Word – exploring numerous ‘greater’ scripture passages – I would like to ask everyone to go on Amazon and purchase a copy of Steven Furtick’s 40 Day Greater Devotional. We will read this together as a church family. Then beginning on Sunday, April 26: read days 1-7; Sunday, May 3: read days 8-14; Sunday, May 10: read days 15-21; Sunday, May 17: read days 22-28; Sunday, May 24: read 29-35 and Sunday, May 31: read days 36-40. Then each week beginning on Thursday, April 23 at 10 a.m. I will lead a weekly Zoom Conference Call with our church family to discuss what key concepts, verses or phrases challenged or captured our attention. If you would like to join in the weekly Zoom Call please email us at info@c3ocala.com. We will email you the Zoom link.
Friends, we are called to greater not mediocre! So, right here and now let’s embrace this. Let’s go and be Jesus now more than ever. God is calling us to be greater through, by and for Him! I’m ready and willing; are you?
Love and miss you. Can’t wait to see you. But I’ll look for you online this Resurrection Sunday, April 12 at 9AM. Jesus is Risen! He is risen indeed! The same great power that God used to raise Jesus from this dead IS available to us. I believe; do you?
Doug Reed // Lead Pastor
