Ten Things I Hope August 6, 2009

God ROCKED my world the other day while reading through II Corinthians 5…and I made a list of BLANK things I am hoping for…

#1 – I hope that I will NEVER allow fear to trump my faith…and that we, as a church, will always be willing to take huge leaps of faith–even when things may not make sense.  (II Corinthians 5:7)

#2 – I hope that I will NEVER live for the applause of men and thus negate the applause of heaven!  I desperately want to please Jesus with every decision that I make…and I hope that is always my goal.  Please people has never amounted to anything significant that changed the world.  (II Corinthians 5:9)

#3 – I hope that God will continue to enlarge my view of Him…and that as I continue to see how awesome, Holy and Powerful He really is that fear of Him rather than fear of man will compell me to do exactly what He has called me to do.  (II Corinthians 5:11)

#4 – I hope that the ministry of NewSpring Church will never become about me…that you won’t see a picture of me and Lucretia right when you walk in the door (and in every hallway!)  We are called to make much of Jesus…and nothing else.  It’s not what the pastor does for the people…but rather what the body does for the body!!!  (II Corinthians 5:12)

#5 – I hope that I/we will never be considered “normal!”  Hell is more crowded because of the churches desire for “normal, average and safe!”  (II Corinthians 5:13)

#6 – I hope that I/we will not try to make Christ a part of our lives…but that we will realize that HE IS OUR LIVES…and that He doesn’t desire to be ranked in our top five…but He desires to be FIRST!!!  (II Corinthians 5:15)

#7 – I hope that I/we will not look at people as mere human beings…everyone has a soul…everyone will spend eternity somewhere.  (II Corinthians 5:16)

#8 – I hope that our church will be FULL of people who have experienced II Corinthians 5:17!!!

#9 – I hope that our church WILL NOT IGNORE the CLEAR call from God to make sure EVERYONE hears the GOOD NEWS!  (II Corinthians 5:18-20.)

#10 – I hope that I never stop being in awe of what I read in II Corinthians 5:21 – HE’S THAT AWESOME!