whatever it takes

Through the years we have been the target of much discussion for other churches. I have always, yes always, just shook my head and said "they don't have the full picture." I have always been careful not bash the bride of Christ with my words. And to be quite frank, I believe God has honored that.


You see, I firmly believe with all of my heart that the Local church can be the hope of the world. So we have always tried to please God and not man. But that is not always the popular route to take, but we were not after popularity our desire has been to please God. 


With that being said, who I am to tell another church or pastor that I have never met how to follow hard after God? Plus I don't have the time to keep my eye on someone else's ministry and tell them how they are doing it wrongly. Seriously, my hands are so full here trying to keep a grip on the shirt-tail of Jesus as he leads that I don't have that kind of extra time. My call has been to this church not the one down the street. But I have chosen to pray for God's riches blessing on the local churches in Goshen. In fact, as I drove to Grace Community on Sunday morning I prayed for the church that I passed and asked God to bless it in a tremendous way.


So Sunday, as I was getting ready to preach a message on Marriage our worship teams in both venues were playing a Johnny Cash song, called Walk the Line. I listened to the words and watched as people connected instantly to the song and what it meant concerning marriage and once again thanked God for being part of ministry that is willing to do whatever it takes to reach people. Besides that song is full of rich truth, but "One Piece at a Time" would have been much better.