The building project will succeed

This week we had a gathering time together that we call “Rest Stop.”  It’s an evening each month designed for the workers in ministry.  We stop, rest, worship, and are encouraged before going back into our day to day work of ministry.  I find myself looking forward to these meetings every month.  They help rejuvenate me as well.

Jesus called His twelve disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness. The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places He planned to visit. (Matthew 10:1; Luke 10:1 NLT)

This month we were encourage by passages from Matthew 10 and Luke 10, where Jesus sends out the twelve and the seventy two to practice the kind of ministry they would be doing full time after the day of Pentecost. 

"But don't be afraid of those who threaten you. For the time is coming when everything that is covered will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. What I tell you now in the darkness, shout abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper in your ear, shout from the housetops for all to hear! "Don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. What is the price of two sparrows--one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. "Everyone who acknowledges Me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before My Father in heaven. But everyone who denies Me here on earth, I will also deny before My Father in heaven. (Matthew 10:26-33 NLT)

He empowered them with the Holy Spirit, gave them instructions (Read both chapters for a more complete picture), then sent them out two by two to do their part of God’s Plan.  That was what they did.  When they did their part of God’s Plan, they experienced success.

When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to Him, "Lord, even the demons obey us when we use Your name!" "Yes," He told them, "I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you." (Luke 10:17-19 NLT)

When we go out to rebuild our cities into people who walk together with God, we are participating in God’s Plan.  When we do our part of God’s Plan, together with others in God’s Church, then we are being God’s Team (Christ’s Body).  We will succeed.  That’s because God will always empower us through God’s Spirit to do our part of God’s Plan.

So on October 2 the wall was finished--just fifty-two days after we had begun. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God. (Nehemiah 6:15-16 NLT)

When we see success, the temptation is to let excitement turn into pride.  We can find ourselves wanting to recreate the “high” that comes from being a winning team.  We can get distracted by the details, even positive details, and forget the reason we were empowered in the first place.

But don't rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven. (Luke 10:20 NLT)

We are empowered by God to help one another walk together with God.

How about you?  Have you been a part of a God-led building project that succeeded?  What was it like?  What was your part?  Did you celebrate what God had done and thank God for letting you be a part of God’s Plan?