Journeys Part 1

Recently, I had the opportunity to again watch Brian Houston’s message, ‘The Power of a God Encounter’, which he brought to last year’s Hillsong Conference.

Part of the message reminded me that Jesus was always on the move, always coming from or going somewhere. And it is on a journey that we are most likely to truly encounter God in an awesome and life changing way.

Luke records that it was on the road to Emmaus that Jesus opened the eyes of two of his followers to the power of scripture; it was on a journey near Caesarea Philippi where God revealed to Peter that Jesus was the Christ; it was on the Desert Road that Philip had a meaningful conversation about the words of Isaiah that led to the Ethiopian eunuch becoming a baptised believer; and it was on a journey to Damascus that a God encounter not only changed the life of Saul but potentially for all humanity.

The current phase of our own journey started when Julie and I first came to SBC in September 2008. After just a couple of weeks Rich Webb was bringing a message when suddenly he seemed to be speaking directly to me and said, ‘You have become content with things that you were never meant to becontent with!’. I can’t remember much else from that message as I was stunned – those words became written on my very soul. How can I or any of us ever be content when we are surrounded by ‘the least, the lost, the broken’? How can we be content when our community is riddled with poverty, hunger, loneliness, pain, injustice and apathy towards our Creator God? How can we just close ourselves away inside a comfortable, secure building each Sunday and be almost oblivious to the needs of others?

Jesus said that we are the ‘Salt of the earth’. Whether we interpret that salt is for preservation and to prevent corruption, whether we consider that salt is there to bring savour or have some other interpretation it doesn't really matter. The salt has to be applied or has to be totally absorbed to have any impact – if it remains in the salt cellar it has no relevance at all. An Outward Focused Congregation would offer an ideal opportunity to pour out the salt! That has to be my next destination on this remarkable journey with Jesus.