The Corinthians — The Dream — Director’s cut

So I hope over the com­ing weeks to blog some of the stuff from our new series at Marsh Creek Church enti­tled The Corinthi­ans.  This past Sun­day we kicked it all off by look­ing back at the plant of the Corinthian Church by Paul.  What I found so unique about this par­tic­u­lar Church plant was Paul’s method­ol­ogy was a dif­fer­ent than in pre­vi­ous plants.  Paul’s nor­mal M.O. beyond going to the jews first was to argue for the gospel at the cen­ter of town with the other philoso­phers of the day in a Bat­tle Royal of Philoso­phers.  In Corinth, Paul engages in the busi­ness com­mu­nity by work­ing along side some friends and devel­ops rela­tion­ships with those he comes into con­tact with in the com­mu­nity.  And through this net­work of rela­tion­ships Acts 18 notes “many believed and were bap­tized”.  Paul’s method­ol­ogy in Corinth fit the cul­ture he found him­self in.  He adapted, with­out com­pro­mis­ing the gospel.

The take away, each of us has been placed by God exactly where He wants, for the pur­pose of His King­dom and the Glory of His name.  And it is God who is already at work around us and is just eager for us to see what He is doing in the peo­ple we are already sur­rounded by, so that they can know Him, like we know Him.

The thought I wanted to add was one that unfor­tu­nately got cut from the ser­mon I deliv­ered on Sun­day.  At least in my opin­ion some­times a ser­mon like this can be deliv­ered in a way that feels like a “bring your friends to Church to get saved and pad our num­bers in the seats” ser­mon.  What I wished I had said and had writ­ten in my orig­i­nal man­u­script is that we judge our God ordained suc­cess at Marsh Creek Church by sto­ries.  We look to the sto­ries of lives changed by the mirac­u­lous work of God using us as He sees fit in the places He has put us.  We look to the sto­ries of God’s redemp­tive work in draw­ing us close to Him and giv­ing us the courage to take the next step of faith.  We look to the sto­ries of those who have been so impacted by know­ing God that they com­mit to serve Him with their life in the places God is call­ing them to.

Sto­ries are the tan­gi­ble evi­dence and expe­ri­ence of God’s work in the peo­ple he loves so dearly.  At the end of the day that is what we pray for.  That is when we know we are lis­ten­ing and respond­ing to God’s voice, when we are work within His will, and the story He is writ­ing in Cen­tral Chester County.

Some­times some good stuff get’s cut from a ser­mon acci­den­tally.  But to me this thought was too impor­tant.  I don’t write this to sound super spir­i­tual, or to imply I some­how have arrived.  Far from it my friends.  Writ­ing this put’s it out there so you all can hold me account­able, because let’s be hon­est crappy atten­dance and a tight bud­get are not fun.  But together we can pray more care­fully, and look more intently to what God is doing, and then go obe­di­ently to join Him.

So in clos­ing to quote the most inter­est man on earth “stay thirsty my friends”.  Thirsty for the work of God in your life, and then to pour that work into the lives of oth­ers for the Glory of God.