Contributor:
Chad Roberts
To say this year has been difficult would be an understatement. The sickness, the snow and the setbacks have taken a toll. However, this past week I have seen God change the season of my church and I want to take a moment to share with you the events that have led to this change.
I share these details for two reasons. First, that God would be glorified. As you see the Holy Spirit’s work among His people and within His Church, I hope it causes you to see and magnify God. Only God could cause these things to happen. It is His plans and His purposes that will prevail. An area I can often struggle in is that I take great pride in constructing plans and strategies. I attend conferences on strategies just to improve my skill. I love probrlem solving and so I try to be clever, smart and creative. Well, the problem in this is that the Bible says,“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand” Proverbs 19:21. This has been a humbling season where the Lord has stripped pride out of my heart and has forced me to recognize that I cannot do anything a part from Him.
Secondly, I share these details so that you may be encouraged. Perhaps you are in a difficult season in life? You, like me, may know well the frustrations of things falling a part. You may have went into 2015 with a firm grasp on things only to watch as everything seemed to fall a part? I can relate. So maybe this story will encourage you and cause you to look again to God and His grace.
A Painful Season
What is painful in our life can be profitable. I have said that for years…literally years. God has allowed me to experience it lately. 2015 did not start the way I expected. Momentum, Events and Growth were my priorities. I had a great game plan prepared. Like leading a football team onto the field, I knew exactly what plays to call. I had done my homework and I felt confident we could execute. Well, what happened is we stepped onto the field of 2015 and got punched in the mouth by Satan.
Instead of momentum, events and growth, all I seemed to experience were snow, sickness and setbacks. I was reeling. It seemed Satan was winning. I had to begin to depend and rely on the Lord and not on my “game plans” or my “strategies.” Do you know why the doctrine of God’s Sovereignty means so much to me? Because it anchors my faith in times of fierce storms. You know the storms I mean…the ones where Satan is destructive. In this season, I needed to look beyond Satan and look to God’s Sovereignty.
A Single Mom’s Electricity
On March 30th, a need came to our attention that a single mom in our church had her electricity cut off. To restore her power, we needed $400 immediately. That night, I simply made a Facebook post and asked if families would like to help her. I didn’t give her name only that the need was $400. Within an hour the entire $400 came in through 10 different families offering generosity! Several other families offered to give, but I was able to tell them that the entire need was 100% taken care of.
Do you know the ripple effects of this one event? Well, first of all, it brought enormous glory to God as people saw the generosity of God’s people. Second, it brought hope to this single mom. I’ve had several conversations with her since then. She was at a point of giving up, but those generous gifts restored her faith. It showed her that God had not abandoned her and that He is faithful. Third, it has released a season of generosity in our church.
See, I thought momentum would come this year through events and campaigns like Sundays are the Worst. It’s how it happened last year in 2014. I expected the same trajectory in 2015. But it is not what God wanted to do in the first 3 months of 2015. It is an entirely different season. He has told me clearly that He wants our momentum to come through spiritual growth and development. He wants our momentum to come through our faith and through prayer and ministering to people.
God literally told me that He Himself has hindered Sundays are the Worst because He does not want us to rely on momentum from things we are creating. The Lord said, “Chad, you’ve worked so hard to get unchurched people in your Church. You have them now. What are you going to do with them?”
Wednesday Night Bible Study
So in response to the Lord’s question, “What are you going to do with them?” I felt led to begin a new Wednesday night Bible Study. In that act of obedience, listen to what God did next…
Not many attend. That’s okay, because it’s not designed for a lot of people. There is no music, just teaching for approximately 1 hour going word for word, phrase by phrase through Colossians.
On Wednesday, April 8th, I was teaching and somehow the Holy Spirit led me to share about our desire to bring an Egyptian Pastor to the United States for a missions conference and forum on the Middle East this year. I shared how we can get him here one way for $700 and then get his airfare back home to Cairo once he is here with us. We’ve done this many other times before with guests from overseas.
Acts of Obedience
The Lord prompted this husband and wife that they were to give $700 for the Egyptian Pastor’s airfare. That next Sunday, they gave a check and asked that I not share with anyone who gave the money. They just wanted to obey the Lord and to do it privately.
I emailed the pastor in Egypt an exciting email to tell him we can bring him one way. He then explained to me that Egypt is different. He cannot come just one way. Without a returning ticket, he would not be able to leave the airport. So it was back to the drawing board and back to asking the Lord for help and guidance.
The next Wednesday, April 15, Jessica Roman, our director of development for Friends of the Gospel, and I met in the conference room to try to figure out how to get the pastor here by raising another $700-$900 for a round trip ticket because round trip tickets were ranging $1,400-$1,800. After working for over an hour, I felt a prompting to check airfare again. To my amazement, every single flight we checked was $700-$750 both ways! We were able to book the Egyptian Pastor a full round trip ticket for $735!
What I had worried about, was anxious over and tried so hard to make happen, God caused to happen in 7 days. God showed me that He has His people! He has His resources! He has His timing!
A Wall to God’s Glory
The last situation I’ll share happened this past Sunday evening, April 19th. Since the beginning of the year, we have wanted to build a large wall (13ft. x 75ft.) It is going to cost $4,000 just in material and labor costs. That doesn’t include paint, baseboard, door jams, exit signs, etc.
We put together a campaign to raise the money in February, then the snow and cold hit and it absolutely killed our momentum. It just seemed like this project was dead in the water.
I understood what God was doing in this season. I knew God’s focus was to grow my faith and stretch my faith as never before. I let everything go. The wall project, the stage design, Sundays are the worst…everything. I was 100% focused on growing my faith because I knew this is what God wanted.
Did Satan attack? Oh yes! A friend shared with me a church that is currently building a multi-million dollar facility. The whole time Satan was whispering in my ear, “You can’t even build a wall. What a failure. One wall…you can’t even do that.”
Well, this past Sunday, the president of the company we are hiring to do the wall came by the church. He asked me what I was thinking and we began to walk around the sanctuary. He said, “Chad, I think I can help you do this wall. I’m going to help you with studs and sheet rock.” I was amazed. I said, “So you’re going to sell the materials to us at your costs?” He said, “No, I’m going to donate all the materials to your church and give it to you for free.” I had to pick my jaw up off the floor!
We went on talking and I asked, “How much do I need to budget for labor costs?” He smiled real big and said, “You don’t understand. You get the paint, baseboard and door jams and I’m going to build this wall for free. It’s not going to cost the church anything.”
Are you kidding me? Again, I have fretted and worried about this wall for so long. All these months I have felt like a failure because I couldn’t execute these plans. God didn’t want to build a wall in PCC in March. God wanted to build my faith. God wanted me to become a wall of faith and so He worked…he allowed Satan to work…but ultimately it was God working. This is why I’m glorifying God!
Going Forward
You don’t know how thankful I am. I am thankful for all of these people (God’s people) who have released generosity. But I am even more thankful for the painful situations God has put me in this year. He has grown me, deepening my faith and opening my eyes to His timing and to His Sovereignty.
So what is going on in your life right now? What kind of season are you in? You know the difference between Moses and Israel? In Psalms 103:7 it says that God made known His acts to the Children of Israel, but He made known His ways to Moses. Israel saw what God was doing, but Moses understood why.
Paul encourages us in Ephesians 1:17, “Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Can you say you understand what the will of the Lord is for your life? Don’t make foolish decisions. Ask God to not only show you what He is doing in your life, but why. Then you will begin to understand His will.
I don’t know what the rest of 2015 holds. But I know I am going into the rest of this year with a renewed faith, a deeper confidence and a greater appreciation for the powerful, steady and trustworthy Sovereignty of God. I pray you will too.
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