1 Cor. 2 "Finally"

1 Corinthians 2 – Brandon Hatmaker “Finally”
Friday, June 13th, 2008

“When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.” 1 Cortinthians 2

There it is. Finally. This scripture captures what I hope for as a pastor (and also shows a little perspective on the fact that none of us have it ALL together). The hope: that what we see and experience does not come from personal ability or skill, but that what we experience is so obviously from the movement of the Holy Spirit that no one can deny where it came from. I know my nature and my bent towards wanting to take credit. I don’t want to look at life and ministry and say, “see there, two years ago when I made that decision because I was so smart and I knew what I was doing… that was the point when this thing started really clicking… man, what a strategic hire, risk taking sacrifice, creative idea, display of service, etc… You may be thinking, truly it will require these things as well, I agree. We must steward our gifts. But the key is that our faith and leadership does not rest on our own wisdom, but instead, on God’s power.

Father, I crave to see a powerful movement of your Spirit. I confess my fleshly desire to divorce my mind from Spirit in areas of leadership. I confess my desire to please man and impress you for the wrong reasons. When I let those parts of me take over, I tend to try and take over. I tend to make it about my abilities, my work ethic, my ability to solve problems… Father, teach me to wait on you, to trust in you, to crave being a part of where you are moving instead of asking you to be a part of where I’m moving. Make my agenda Your agenda, that my faith might rest on your power alone. Amen.