Jesus says in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”. This means two things: 1) Jesus is speaking to us, and 2) We are able to hear him. But does God have a sense of humor? Does God like to a make a point with a zinger? Yes, he does. In fact, God loves to communicate with us in ways that will be most effective for our unique personalities. Many people have said that they experience the presence of God while being in nature. Others might say they feel closest to God while worshiping him at home alone or in a church full of fellow believers. Sometimes the words of fellow believers or events that transpire can in fact be God confirming things within us that he has been trying to share through other means such as his Word or prayer. Sometimes God uses perfect timing plus a divine sense of humor to make a point.
Rebecca and I have been thinking for a long time that eventually we would like our church to open a business, as a means to increase funds for the church, provide employment opportunities for those in transition, and provide a ministry to the community by providing a needed good or service. We thought this would likely be after our church was “established” with brick and mortar, tithing, and members to volunteer.
A few weeks ago, while in a time of praying for ALC, I heard the Lord say very clearly a single word: “Flip”. I didn’t know exactly what that meant, I felt that it was probably business related, but I didn’t want to get into the house flipping business.
Given that we’ve not been successful in finding a free or cheap meeting space in McGregor, we were thinking that perhaps “flip” means we need to reverse the order and focus on starting a business front for ALC before worrying about a worship space.
So we visited a spot for lease on Main St. It’s not our ideal building, but the location is great and the price isn’t bad. At least we’d have unlimited access to it, which makes it a much better value than the other places we were looking at renting by the hour. Still, I was feeling like it would be nice to hear clearly from Jesus that this is the path we should take at this time.
Anyone who asks shall be answered. (Matt 7:8) We returned to the building a second time to meet with the city inspector and we discovered that the address of the building is 318 Main St. Our theme verse for ALC is 1 John 3:18! Not only is that cool, but it seems as if God hid the address from us in our first visit and discussions with the real estate agent so that we could discover this fact at a time when I had asked for some reassurance.
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, to search out a matter is the glory of kings.
– Proverbs 25:2
God is so good to us. He takes an ounce of faith and honors it, answers our prayers, puts up with our quibbling, and leads us to where he wants us to be in faith and ministry if we’ll let him.
Praise Jesus that he speaks to us. I pray that you will open your spiritual ears and be ready to listen and obey (shema, Deut 6:3) how God is calling you,
Pastor Nate Moehring
