I was doing some research today and through google was led back to Perry Noble’s blog. I started there this morning and ended back there this afternoon. He was posting some notes from the C3 conference back on February 23, 2007. Check them out for yourself [
HERE] Especially the ones from Craig Groeschel…that is where I was inspired today!
I listened to Perry’s podcast message from Sunday, July 1 and was already blown away due to some things I am seeking Christ on right now. The message was very timely. [Watch Here] OR [Listen Here] **You may ask who is Perry? Oh, just a no one that God is using in Anderson SC to rock that community. He runs a small 8,000 people weekly, and has only been established for 8 years, no one that would have anything good to say I am sure!**
The cool thing from the blog post was this verse from Acts 4:13 (NIV)
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
Clearly understanding what God has called me to do. I have allowed distraction, discouragement, and deception to lead me away from the one that has it all under control, God! I’ve allowed people that I look up to and respect to steer me away from that call because of some requirements that they have either set themselves or that they feel I should follow because they did, or because they were pressured into following that requirement.
I know that I am not much, but I know who my God is. I know when he opens a door for me and I know when He is leading me. I think people believe they can treat me as if I am dumb because I do not have a seminary degree, but I know what God has taught me and what he has allowed me to experience in my lifetime. I feel so strong that he confirms in me that He can use those experiences and the “hands on” learning and training as much as he can book learning.
I am not bragging on myself but I am reporting what God has done through me, what I have seen him do because I obeyed and stepped out. Uneducated, untrained, unaccepted. I have seen God use me to see hundreds of people come to Christ both through mission activity, person evangelism, and through teaching and preaching. Unfortunately there are thousands of pastors with seminary degrees that cannot say that. I have seen God use me to build a student ministry that was larger and healthier than many of my friends ministries, all of which had either seminary degrees or more experience than me, and were getting paid more than me (just a side note). I have seen God open doors to allow me to mentor other youth pastors through the Purpose Driven Youth Ministry, wait….
Me? Uneducated, less experience, worthless individual used by God to mentor other youth pastors with seminary degrees, with more experience, with more value? Why? Because it was God working through me the whole time, not a piece of paper, not my own power and understanding, but God. I’ve allowed comments like, “You’ll never get another job in this town without a seminary degree, I’m the only one that will give you an opportunity” to hold me back when it looks like the statement is true, but where were those words when God was building a student ministry that brought in 3 students to every 1 adult during the churches mid-week Bible study?
It’s not man that gives me the opportunities that I have. It is not man that called me to ministry and it is not man that will use me. Thanks to Andy Stanley I learned that lesson in perfect timing as well. We are not preacher called, mama called, or any other called…we are put into our leadership positions by God, who is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to whoever He chooses. So it is not that a man is not giving me a position or holding me back, its that God is not granting me the opportunity because he probably has something better for me, and he may be using it to test other ministries.
So in conclusion…Thanks Perry Noble and I guess Craig Groeschel! You have confirmed in me what God has been telling me and that’s to look upward to God, trust and follow him, not man.
Nick
