Faith at Work

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I heard a wise saying one time, “I may have an investment into the solution but I’m not the solution. Our biggest frustrations can come from trying to fix something that only God can do.” Not believing that God will fix it, is where a person starts to get off track. Look at the story of the twelve spies in Numbers 13:26-33, where the spies were giving Moses an account of the promise land. They were so afraid that they could never overcome the enemy holding the land.

When unbelief creeps into our lives, just as with the spies, we can see three things occur. 

1.We get depressed. In verse 33, see them down and out when they say, “we are just grasshoppers” when comparing to the size of the enemy.

2.We begin to judge and complain. In verse 31 they began complaining and spreading a negative report.

3.We begin to blame other people and eventually even God for the situation.

So how does unbelief develop? It starts when a person chooses to believe the circumstances that are before them rather than the promises of God or God’s Word. When we look at the mountains of our circumstances, many times it can start to overwhelm us which then leads us to developing an inner image of defeat. This gets re-enforced when our mind forgets what we have already seen God do in our past. An unbelieving heart ignores the evidence of God’s voice and track record of our past just as the Israelites did after all that God had just done to get them out of Egypt. The result? They doubted that they could ever enter the promise land.

What really happens is FEAR. Fear of the mountains of circumstances causes us to become self-centered/self-reliant and disobedient. Our faith is put back into our own strengths and abilities. Our old sinful nature (vs our spirit led nature) resurrects to believing that I must take control back from God and DO SOMETHING! That I must fully understand what I am seeing and how it can be fixed. Unfortunately, that never works. For help with this topic or many more, call Transformation Ministries at 205-991-4988 and come seek counseling. We offer Christian counseling as a resource to all churches and we minister at no cost to the receiver.

-Warren “Rock” Hobbs

Founder, Transformation Ministries 

100 Missionary Ridge Drive, 35124

205-991-4988

www.trministries.org

Church Leaders

It happens to the best of us. We decide we are going to be in church each Sunday, but sometimes life gets in the way. Things like vacations, sick kids or car trouble keep us from worshipping with your church family. Luckily, we can pull out our phones, open our laptops or activate the streaming box on our TV to livestream the services.  

In today’s age of “convenience attendance,” online worshippers have become one of the fastest growing segments of a church’s membership. Clearbranch United Methodist Church (UMC) in Trussville began live streaming on Christmas Eve 2018 and weekly views of their Sunday morning worship services average around 350 a week.

These are good numbers to add to Sunday morning weekly attendance, but the REAL ministry of online church streaming emerges DURING the service itself.  Browsing through the comments section of any Clearbranch service stream shows members that are home dealing with frustration or hardship. They interact with points that the pastor is making in his sermon. They ask for prayers over things they are enduring. These people would love to be there in person, but they simply cannot make it physically to the church building. The church has to take Jesus to where they are instead.

The church’s spread through the world in a digital way can take many forms. Clearbranch uses livestreaming through services like Facebook or on their website. Anyone can download their ROKU app and watch services live on their TV. They also offer the complete services as “audio only” options through Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Clearbranch also creates original content each week on its YouTube channel that acts as a follow up to each week’s sermon from the previous Sunday.  

Basically, the church has to accept that there are people hungry for Jesus, and, due to one thing or another, may not darken the door to the sanctuary. They may have been hurt by the church at some point and have issues being there in person.  Being able to watch from where they are, on their terms, allows the church to do its job and continue to minister to the world. Options like livestreams or podcasts allow the curious or broken to be a part of the church and hopefully grow in their walk with Christ.

• Mark Harvard, Director of Communications

Clearbranch UMC, www.clearbranch.org