The Rock

Written August 5th, 2007

God put something on my heart about a year ago and I was reminded of it this past week. The thing that God laid on my heart dealt with the new facility that First Baptist Church is building. A year ago we were still in the planning stages and we were voting as a church on the different decisions that concerned the new facility. When we voted to go ahead with construction I was really excited, but then David Mitchell started talking about getting ready for the new building. That is when God spoke to me. I was studying in the first chapters of Mark at the time and reading about how John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus to come and begin his ministry. This really hit me in a big way. I saw two things when I read this that I think can apply to the new building and how we HAVE to be ready.The first thing I got out of this is that John was called to teach and preach BEFORE Jesus came. He didn’t wait to start his preaching until Jesus got there. He started BEFORE the savior got there. What I realized is that John was essentially “getting ready” for something that was to come. That something to come was Jesus. John was called to preach and baptize before Jesus came. This was talked about by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 40:3. “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.” John was called to come ahead of Jesus and get the people ready for his coming. Mark 1:4 “And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the repentance of sins for the forgiveness of sins.” John’s calling was a very daunting task that had a lot to it, but I think something to keep in mind in that he didn’t wait until Jesus to get there. He started BEFORE Jesus began his ministry. The second thing I realized is that John acknowledged that the one coming after him was greater than him. Mark 1:7 “And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and unite. I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” John saw that he was just the messenger boy. His job was to come baptize and preach, but that he was not the one. Although some thought that he was the Christ (Luke 3:15) he told them that one will come who is greater than me. His simple message was that there was something greater to come.Today we are faced with this new building. I know that the entire student ministry at First Baptist is very excited about what this building can do for our ministry. The possibilities are endless. This past Tuesday I realized that at the leadership meeting. There are so many things that we are going to be able to do. The ministry can grow. We can have great worship services, great fellowship, and a great place to hold events for youth to come to. But after reading this passage of scripture I realized that at its very core this building is not about how the ministry can grow and how many events we can have and how much fun we will have. At its very core this building is not about us, its not about any of these things. This building is about Him. Its about what can this building do for the Creator of the Universe. That is why I believe that we as a student ministry have to be ready for it. I believe that God is providing the funds and the willingness of people so that he can do a big work, but if we are not ready and if our hearts are not prepared for it then it will fly right by us and we will miss the whole point. The whole point is not “what we can do with this building” , its about what can GOD do with this building IF our hearts are prepared. This is the key. If we realize that this building is not about us and it is about Him then we have to start preparing. We can’t wait for the building to get here to start praying asking him to use it. We have to start NOW. John didn’t wait for Jesus to get there in order to start his ministry. He started BEFORE Jesus got there. Also, John saw that there was something greater to come. Verse 7. He went out and preached repentance and salvation even though he knew there was something better than him to come. If we think that this building will solve all of our problems in our ministry then we are wrong. This building is something that is great to come, but it doesn’t mean we wait till it gets here to bring people to church and reach others for Christ. We have to be ready for this building and see that it is a tool that we have to be ready for. If we aren’t ready then the tool will be useless. I’ve walked through the building many times, but yesterday I walked though and it really hit me. We have to be ready and if we aren’t then we are going to miss what God has in store for us. Yesterday I thought “Man, we can do sooo much but if we aren’t ready and if we think that everything will start happening when we move in then we going to miss out. And what a shame that would be.” The opportunities are endless, but we HAVE to be ready, just like John paved the way for Jesus to come and begin his ministry, we have to pave the way for this new building so that we can experience all the things that God has in store for us. So my challenge is that anyone who has anything to do with First Baptist Church or the youth ministry please pray. Pray that God would show us that this building isn’t about us. Its about Him. That right now we would not use this building as an excuse for our youth group not growing and us not going and sharing the gospel now. And that ultimately lives would be changed because of what we did to prepare and what God did through us. Sorry this is so long but I really am very passionate about this. We have to be ready and we can’t wait until The Rock gets here. WE have to start NOW.