Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24
As we continue to mature as a church family, I felt the Lord highlight that we need to be focused on who we are – who God has called us to be:
Kingdom Family: Genuine Love for God & Genuine Care for Others
Many of you have heard from others – it feels like family here. Let’s face it – you are not part of the LifeSpring family because we have the greatest preachers, teachers, or technology (we are using a camcorder for live stream). I believe you give of your time, talent, and treasures because you recognize the presence of God in this house and you genuinely care for the people around you.
I see genuine care everywhere – the Lee family had to raise $12,000 for Thailand, but they raised $15,000 because we told them to stop! I saw MLCF suffer great pain this year – the loss of Wilson and Keith and health situations – yet I saw people cry and care for one another. I see people genuinely care for one another.
We have something amazing here, we have a miracle and a purpose – we are a Kingdom Family. But the Lord was quick to highlight to me: the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy.
The enemy wants to destroy the miracle here at LifeSpring – he wants to destroy Kingdom Family: Genuine Love for God & Genuine Care for Others. We must be very careful to protect this Kingdom Family.
With enough offense, with enough jealousy, with enough bitterness, you stop genuinely caring about the people you genuinely cared about. You start tolerating them, then avoiding them, then disliking them, then hating them, and then you want vengeance (wishing harm) on them. We may not all get to vengeance, but it is a slippery slope, and genuine care for others is quickly lost.
There is a lot that the enemy can use to steal, kill, and destroy this Kingdom Family. Let’s face it – everyone will hurt someone. I know for a fact I have offended at least 5 people in the church family. Family relationships can be tough, but it takes everyone moving forward to maintain and keep this gift of Kingdom Family.
We mature and grow in love with the Lord TOGETHER. It has nothing to do with how many memory verses the pastoral team does. It has nothing to do with how the elders or board manage the church. It has everything to do with a family whose eyes are all pointed towards the Lord – hearing God, listening well, and obeying – corporately, but more importantly, individually.
Passover was a corporate assignment, but it was an individual choice.
Kingdom Family: Genuine Love for God & Genuine Care for Others is a corporate assignment to LifeSpring – but it is an individual choice to apply and be a part of it