The global need for missions is more urgent than ever. Every day there are 154,937 dying without the gospel. Today, there are over 7000 unreached people groups consisting of over 4.5 billion people around the world. Every December, we partner with more than 47,000 Southern Baptist churches with a common vision for every language, people, tribe and nation knowing and worshiping our Lord Jesus!

Awakening church has a role to play in reaching every nation. Our generosity through praying and giving will help create momentum as we realize the great commission is not optional for believers.

Throughout the month of December, we will be collecting our annual World Mission offering. With a goal of $12,000, we will be able to support our local, national and international partners that are working around the world for the advancement of the Kingdom of God! 100% of these gifts will go directly to the mission field.

Last week Kathy and I celebrated our 17 year wedding anniversary. We made plans to be kid-free for a few hours so we could have lunch together without asking for kid menus or arguing about why, “you can’t just eat ice cream.” After we dropped off the kids, we sat in the car for about 15 minutes trying to find a restaurant that was open with dine-in seating. How obnoxious! We finally found one, but it got me thinking about the church. We haven’t met in person since March. Some have disengaged and others have just felt distant and disconnected. But for many, it just seems like the church is closed.

If this pandemic has done anything, it’s reminded me of what….or who, the church is. When the word “church” comes up in conversation, the first thing we think of is a building. We have this mindset that church is a place we go to on Sundays. The spiritual gas station where we get to see other familiar faces. It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that we don’t “go” to church; we are the church.

In 1 Timothy 5, Paul describes the church as people dedicated to doing whatever it takes to reach out and help others. We have a responsibility to serve and help others in need as the church. Caring for each other (inside & outside the church) is the quickest way to see Jesus change lives. Too often, we see a need and wait for the pastor to take responsibility. But that’s not the way church works. But I believe that’s why many in the church have had such a hard time. Those “things” that they’ve been accustomed to others doing for them (i.e. creating relational and serve opportunities), have suddenly shifted to their personal responsibility.

Caring for each other (inside & outside the church) is the quickest way to see Jesus change lives.

Tweet

Each of us has been given skills, abilities and opportunities to serve, both inside and outside the church (not the building!). In Timothy’s church, for example, the women ran a widows ministry (1 Timothy 5:16), and elders directed church affairs while others were devoted just to teaching and preaching (1 Timothy 5:17).

In the Bible, church is always a reference to people, not a place. The church is a body of believers that live out the Gospel in their displaying and declaring. The church is at its best when people inside the building take Jesus’ message outside the building and serve those they meet. Be encouraged as you live out this perspective of YOU being the church. Yes, we’re open! We’re always open because YOU are the church.

It’s natural that in times of crisis, we turn to God. PLEASE HELP! (Me at the end of a homeschooling day). During this current pandemic of COVID-19, I find myself quarantined and growing more restless by the day. I understand the importance of the quarantine, but that doesn’t always make it easy. Patience has never been something that I feel “good at.” It’s just hard to sit still during trials and wait patiently for God to move. 

“THE FULLNESS OF TIME”

I tend to worry when God doesn’t come through when I want Him to, or the way I want Him to. In moments like this, I have to remind myself God is never late or never early. He is always on time! Galatians 4:4, tends to enter my mind when I begin to question His timing. It says, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

This phrase about the “fullness of time” is important because it signifies that God was at work behind the scenes as He prepared the exact timing of Jesus’ birth. His timing was perfect…and always is. God’s watch hasn’t gotten slower over the years. Our sovereign God is still calling His people to a deeper trust in Him as His timeline unfolds.

Be still, and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!

Psalm 46:10 (ESV)

As we experience storms and seasons of uncertainty in this world, God’s fruit is produced through those storming moments. The way we go through the storms gives us a platform from which to speak from to tell of the “immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7 ESV).

Through the ups and downs

The promise of Hebrews 13:5 gives us hope no matter what the circumstances. “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (ESV). He is always with you and always provides what you need to do exactly what He has called you to do. God is faithful. Don’t worry! Don’t panic! Trust Him!

The command to “be still” before God comes from the Hebrew word (raphah) meaning, get your hands off it! Let it go and surrender it to Him! Let God have the problem! He is the one in control of your safety. Problems always show up when we fail to give God total and complete control. When I impatiently throw my hat in the ring, things always get worse. As a control freak, it’s hard to take my hands completely off. When I do, worry comes too easy.

The Lord is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 27:1 (ESV)

Whom should we fear?

You can run, but you can’t hide! BE STILL! Go to the “stronghold of your life” and release the reigns completely to Him. Don’t panic! 

• We trust in the God of limitless power! (Zechariah 8:1)
• The battle is not yours but God’s. (2 Chronicles 20:15)
• Wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27:14)

It’s difficult to watch the current pandemic unfold. It seems to worsen by the day and it’s hitting too close to home. In this unprecedented season, we see God calling out the church in “old” ways. We have been forced outside the walls! I pray that through it all, we rediscover first-century tactics that result in reaching our own generation just as they did. Peyton Jones says in Reaching the Unreached, “Before faith comes to others’ ears, movement must first come to our feet.” This is NOT a time for us to pause, hoard, or panic… it’s a time to be on mission. This is our moment to display Jesus and declare the good news to our neighbors and the world.

We believe that in the fullness of time (when He receives the most glory), God will remove this pandemic. The promise of God’s endless power and presence gives us the rock-solid foundation that so many are searching for right now. Let us “be still,” “wait for the Lord,” and share the hope of Jesus with our world.

A testimony of changed lives

When we planted Awakening Church, we had great plans to reach our city, but didn’t know fully what that meant. Joining God where He was working meant hitting the streets and following Jesus’ example to mingle with the people in front of us. We are a missions focused church and that mission begins the moment we step out of our homes. The Kingdom of God can’t advance if we are stuck in a holy huddle. So we deploy each week across our city to display Jesus and declare the hope of the gospel.

When we prayed for ministry opportunities to engage our city, God brought us people that had personally experienced the brokenness of being homeless and a passion to reach them for Christ. In the Seattle King County area, there are currently about 12,500 homeless people living on the streets or in shelters. This is an overwhelming number, but we’ve learned that  being overwhelmed is the first step in getting back to where we belong…dependent on Jesus. The door opened wide to bring Jesus where He wanted to be. We knew that if we wanted to reach the ones that nobody is reaching, we needed to go where nobody else is going. So we began to pray and God began to bring homeless people into our lives. Each week (before COVID-19) we pick them up and welcome them into our Awakening Church family with open arms. 

Over the past month, we have seen several people radically changed by the gospel. Not only that, but this past week one of our new sisters led two others to Jesus! Our social distancing has kept us from our “normal routine,” but it hasn’t stopped God from working in the hearts of people. This past Friday we held a baptism service at one of the local shelters and baptized five people! God delights in transforming people. And when we are willing to embark with Him on the journey He set out for us, we help facilitate that transformation.

J. Hudson Taylor said, “Unless there is the element of extreme risk in our exploits for God, there is no need for faith.”

May our faith grow as we risk more for the sake of Jesus.

“…my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” Isaiah 56:7

God is at work in the hearts of His people! Over the past couple of months, our men’s groups have been reading through a powerful book on prayer called Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala. Through this book, God has been igniting our souls with a passion for prayer and a deeper dependence on Him. In our own way, we are beginning to understand what Pastor Cymbala did…that “no matter what I preach or what we claim to believe in our heads, the future will depend upon our times of prayer. This is the engine that will drive the church.”

This month we are increasing the ownership of what God is doing in our hearts. Each weekend, we will be prayer walking a 1 mile radius of where God has planted us. We believe that God has placed us in our community with the purpose of bringing hope through the good news of Jesus. On the fourth week of our prayer walking, we will be knocking on doors to introduce ourselves, church, and the gospel. We pray that over the course of this month, our intercessory cries to God will break up the hard soil of our city and prepare the way for the seeds of the gospel to be received. 

Please join us in praying for the increased impact of Awakening Church in the Lake Hills area of Bellevue. We are reminded in Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” The enemy has a stronghold that will be broken as the people of God cry out for souls to be awakened.

If we don’t do anything else, we have to pray. During the early days of planting Awakening Church, we knew that according to Matthew 16:18, that it was Jesus that was going to build His church, not us. Last year, as we began laying the groundwork for who we desired to be, we went through the book of Acts to discover the core values and principles of the early church. We found that the makeup of the early church was made up of Jesus followers that were dedicated to the gospel, community, mission and prayer.

For me personally, prayer has often taken a backseat to the “active” pursuit of people, systems, and the logistical organization of the church. I know first hand how easy it is to neglect praying for the city to which we were called. Here are a few reasons…

We like to “do” stuff

We may say that Jesus is building the church, but our actions can oftentimes appear the opposite. Our execution of “doing church” can look like we are trying to program our way into a healthy body of believers. We tend to focus on services, groups, classes, and events…and of course these things are important.

However, when it comes to prayer, as my friend Jeff Vanderstelt says, we look like “functional atheists.” We say we believe in the power of God that comes through prayer, but our actions prove we don’t.

We forget the importance

There are many reasons we have for praying, but the primary reason we pray is because prayer is important to God. In the book of Jeremiah, God instructs the prophet to…“Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf…” (Jeremiah 29:7)

The command to cry out to God in intercessory prayer for our city is commanded in scripture and not something to be forsaken. As a child of God, wherever you live, work, and play, God has placed you there as His image bearer and ambassador.

Pride

1 Corinthians 3:5-9 is a constant reminder that the work, glory, or city does not belong to me. This is His work! By the grace of God, making prayer a priority for our city reminds us that God alone saves and God alone deserves the glory.

As disciples of Christ, our primary calling is to be with Him and on mission for Him. In humility, we must admit that we don’t have what it takes to fulfill His mission for us. We need His power! Only He can break up the hard soil of our cities. Building the church isn’t the work, prayer is the work. We were called and sent to plant Awakening Church in Bellevue, Washington. We are crying out to the God that can change hearts. Our city and neighborhoods desperately need the life-giving renewal and restoration that flow from Christ’s life, death and resurrection.

May our lives be marked not only by living on mission in everyday life, but as people who intercede daily on behalf of our cities. We are in the city, for the city.

Check out awakeningseattle.com for weekly updates.