Greater Things Are on the Horizon
There's a moment in the message this week that sums up where we're at as a church right now: we spend so much time staring at the words on the page of Scripture that we forget those words carry life-changing power meant to be unwrapped, not just read. As one of our elders put it Sunday, "I just don't want to look at the box under the tree. I want to unwrap it and see what's inside."
A story of restoration, not just repair
We heard about a missionary who, while critically ill in a hospital overseas, had an encounter with Jesus that changed the way she prayed for the rest of her life. As she walked through churches watching people get healed, she asked Jesus how He felt about it. His answer surprised her: "I'm not [happy], because they're asking for old things to be repaired, and I want to make all things new." He wasn't declining to heal — He was after something bigger than repair. A repaired heart is still an old heart. He wants to give a new one.
That's the difference between asking God to patch up what's broken and asking Him to make something new. Revelation 21:5 says it plainly: "Behold, I make all things new." We don't have to just believe for our past to be fixed. We can believe for restoration.
Where the "greater things" promise actually comes from
The heart of the message this week came from John 14:12-14, where Jesus tells His followers they will do "greater works" than He did — not because of effort, but because of relationship. As it was said Sunday: "It doesn't happen because we don't have the relationship. We're not walking in the relationship. We're not listening to Him." Asking in Jesus' name isn't a magic phrase — it's the authority that comes from actually knowing Him and being sent by Him, the same way a message carries more weight when you're speaking for someone in authority than when you're just speaking for yourself.
We were reminded of Ephesians 3:20 — that God "is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think" — and challenged with a simple question: are we spending more time complaining to God about our circumstances than we are believing Him for what's next?
St. Francis, and being used right where you are
One of the stories that landed hardest Sunday was about Francis of Assisi. When a friend of his asked why crowds were always drawn to him, Francis didn't take it as a compliment — he fell to his knees and thanked God, because he understood exactly why: "God chose what is foolish in this world to shame the wise... because there is no other one that is more sinful or unworthy." Francis believed God was showing the world the path to simplicity and truth precisely by working through someone unremarkable.
That's a picture for all of us. God doesn't wait for us to become qualified. He uses us right where we are — brokenness and all — and lets that brokenness become the very thing that shines.
Trusting God's timing without getting ahead of it
The message closed with a caution worth sitting with: we can't get ahead of God, and we can't lag behind Him either. When God calls you to do something, He doesn't fill out the paperwork for you — but when you put the plan in motion in obedience, He shows up. Jeremiah 29:11 was the anchor verse: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Greater things are promised. They're just unwrapped one step of obedience at a time.
Something to sit with this week
If there's a situation in your life you've been asking God to simply repair, what would it look like to ask Him instead for something new? And where in your life might He be asking you to take one small step of obedience rather than wait for the whole plan to make sense first?
Catch The Fire Boulder meets Sundays at 10:00 AM at 700 W South Boulder Rd, Lafayette, CO. We'd love to have you join us. Watch the full message or plan your visit.
