Sunday Preview ~ August 12, 2010

I had just finished preaching at the Open Door Church in Petaluma a few weeks ago when a man I had never met before came up to me and said something that penetrated my heart. “The Lord has a message for you. Do not be afraid to take risks.”

Whenever someone says they have a message from the Lord, it gets my attention. I listen intently and I judge the word carefully. I use several criteria to judge prophetic words. Is the message sent in the love of Christ? Is it in accord with the word of God? Does it strengthen, comfort and encourage like I Corinthians 14:3 says prophecy should? If the answers to these questions is “yes,” then I want to hold the word in my heart and act on it in the appropriate way.

Almost all ministry seems to entail risk. We risk people misunderstanding us or disliking us when we share God’s word with them. We can risk our health at a hospital, or on the mission field. We risk our time and our finances when we give ourselves to God’s work. We risk our comfort, safety and even friendships when we pick up our cross to follow Jesus. Ultimately, the risks the Lord leads us to take lead to great rewards in God’s kingdom. We give up what we cannot keep to attain that which we cannot lose.

This Saturday night and Sunday morning at Living Streams we are honored to have Floyd McClung preaching for us. Floyd has had an apostolic ministry strengthening churches and establishing ministries all over the world for over forty years. He is the author of many books including, “The Father Heart of God.” He has lived in Afghanistan, Holland, and South Africa and led one of the most risky and exciting lives I have ever known. It should be a special blessing for Living Streams to have Floyd with us this weekend. I hope you will be praying for the Lord to speak through him with boldness and clarity and meet with us in worship through the power of the Holy Spirit.