stepping out and following where He leads
“…. this is the way; walk in it…” Isaiah 30:21
Leaving a denomination to become an independent church is never an easy or a painless process. Seven years down the line from that day the dust of that departure has, in God’s good grace, largely settled: the danger, though, is that we, too, now settle down – and from there it’s very easy simply to start to drift.
Over the past few months, therefore, the Leadership Team and the body of elders have been seeking the Lord’s clear direction.
The previous series of studies on the church at Antioch was full of both challenge and encouragement. Not the least of the lessons we learned was the importance of taking the ‘next step’ (as Barnabas did when he went and brought Saul to Antioch); and discovering what happened in the aftermath of that small step has surely instilled a confidence in our hearts that, however small the Lord’s ‘next step’ for us might seem, taking the step issues in significant growth, way beyond what we could ever really countenance.
This new series of studies will help us explore together ‘the next step’ which we believe the Lord has set before us. Stepping out into the Lord’s future for us is both daunting and dangerous – but it’s with an excitement born of expectancy that hopefully we will take that step.
On the surface the Lord’s ‘next step’ for us is simple and obvious, for He’s not suggesting anything new. Every so often, however, we need to be reminded (as Moses long since recognized – see Deut.31.10-13) just who we are, and what we’re about, and how we are to live.
As we work through the biblical basis of this ‘next step’ and think through its implications, it’ll become clear that however ‘simple it may seem to be, it’s also hugely stretching; and that however stretching it will be, it will also be highly significant.
May we together be very conscious of the Lord Himself saying again to us in these days and through these studies – ‘This is the way; walk in it’: and may we be given grace to take this step of faith, like Abraham of old, who boldly “obeyed and “went, even though he did not know where he was going” (Heb.11.8).