Church Planters Stand Victorious In Christ

 

Hello my brother, hello my sister, my name is Dean Davis and this is Multiply, a

podcast that provides a word of encouragement for village church planters.

If you have listened to many Multiply podcast episodes, you will have heard me

say, “Church planting is hard work.” The reasons I say this is because I have

been a church planter and because over the past 45 years I have observed

many, many church planters all over the world. I have never, ever heard a

church planter say, “This is easy.” Never. I have seen church planters rejoice

in Gospel advances and I have seen them weep when their very best efforts

don’t seem to be quite good enough. I have heard them testify of God’s power

and provision in hard places and I have seen them quit because the harvest was

so painfully slow in coming. But I’ve never heard a church planter say, “This is

easy.”

So what do you do when the difficulty of the work before you is so real and the

progress you had hoped for in making disciples and starting new churches so

slow in coming? What does a church planter do when he or she feels

discouraged and is tempted to lose hope because the work is so hard?

I find that in moments like those, it’s a good idea to take my gaze off of the

problems and focus on Christ. Let me tell you why. Jesus our Savior is eternal,

we are young and inexperienced. Jesus our Lord suffered, and died and rose

victorious over sin and death. Our struggles are still before us. Jesus is

enthroned above in power and splendor. We live here on the earth walking

dusty roads. He is the ever-living, almighty God and we are his children.

Though we have not experienced the final victory, our Lord Jesus has won the

battle and defeated the Enemy. In Him we live and move and have our being.

The Apostle Paul put it this way in his letter to the Colossians, chapter 2,

verses 6 through 10. “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as

Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him,

strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with

thankfulness. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and

in Christ you have been brought to fullness.”

That’s right, even though you are struggling, you are in Christ and Christ is in

God. His victory is your victory. His resources are your resources. This is why

it is so very important for church planters to take their eyes off of their

struggles and hardships from time to time so that they can gaze upon Christ.

His love is boundless and his final victory is assured. Recalling, remembering

and meditating on his infinite goodness and his ultimate victory give us faith to

go on; faith to confront hardships, faith to bring his victory to bear here and

now, faith to persevere until the harvest comes in. And so my fellow church

planters, when your journey grows hard, gaze upon Jesus. When you look upon

Him you will be strengthened as you walk the church planting path God has set

out for you.

This is Multiply. Be encouraged, God is with us!

#EncouragementforVillageChurchPlanters #Colossians #GazeUponJesus

www.vcpencouragement.org