Sticking to it

Men's retreat was pretty crazy, learn a whole lot about being a real man, relationships and such. But I guess the biggest thing for me was the Friday night, where we really invited the Holy spirit to really work in our midst. As I was confessing my sins the biggest one that hit me REALLY REALLY hard was my negativity and lack of faith. This really reminded me of Abraham's story in Genesis 22:1-18, so I guess that's what I'm sharing today.

To be honest, if I were in Abraham's shoes, I'd just brush off that calling of sacrifice as nothing, because in my mind, there's NO WAY AT ALL that sacrificing Issac would do ANYTHING to fulfill God's promise to Abraham, or to help the kingdom of God in any way. I always think like that, that I try to make sense of the situation in my own head, and instead of looking to God for the next step, I look to my own logic. And of course, a lot of times things don't make sense, and that's why I get so negative cause other people are pushing a certain direction, and I'm always like, well, that's probably not going to work......I actually used to think that I knew what was going to happen next, I never had the faith that God could do anything else with the situation.

But you know what, going through that night at men's retreat, re-reading this story, the one thing I know now is that it isn't my job to make sense. That you stick with what God has called you to do regardless of how outrageous or ridiculous you think it is.

That's why I'm really encouraged by the people who come from Mississauga, who continue to invest here, you guys are doing exactly that. I know that Hamilton might not be the most fruitful or rewarding campus, and I suppose it is somewhat natural that some will really rather be else where after a while here. That kind of thinking I've always been guilty of. And I guess that's the continual challenge to us, that if you are called to be here, stick with it; even though it might not be very comfortable being here, even though you might not see much fruit, even though you might be discouraged, even if you think you're not making a difference at all. Let's stick to what God has called us to do.

Let's pray for hearts that are truly passionate for Hamilton, that on any given sat we wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Let's pray for continual faith, patience, and most of all, perseverance for our ministries here. I know God's going to faithfully stick to this, are we going to do the same?