Daily Dose of the Word of God - Beyond Sunday Ep. 61

Jeff Klein, Pastor of Outreach

Transcript

Jeff Klein 0:07 
Welcome to Elmhurst CRC's Daily Dose in the Word of God. It's Monday, October 21 and this is Jeff Klein with your weekly push reminder to take your faith Beyond Sunday morning.

Jeff Klein  0:23 

A recent article in The New York Times about the modern view of genius intrigued me. The author stated that some people with more romantic ideals believe genius is a divine spark given to certain people whose talents far exceed the norm. In reality, current scientific thought purports that genius is the product of an uncanny choice to focus for long periods of time in one direction with the intention of improving natural skills. Arguably, the best NBA player to play the game (Michael Jordan) was alsosaid to be the hardest practiced player on the floor. Here's the quote, "the key factor separating geniuses from the merely accomplished is not a divine spark, not IQ, it's deliberate practice."

Jeff Kleinr  1:06 

Now, when it comes to the church today, most of us don't think of ourselves as missional geniuses and we're not sure what to do. The church today often asks the question, "Why does God not seem to move today like he moved in the book of Acts?" I wonder if it has something to do with the way we practice or what we practice. Of course, in order to practice, we have to want to or have the Holy-Spirit infused desire to practice the stuff that will make us into a church that is genius at getting on the mission of God - but,also trying to get better at the basic behaviors that help us to get on this mission. So many of us are frozen in fear, feeling like we have no idea what to do or how to even begin. Instead of staying there,let's acknowledge that and step out in faith.

Jeff Klein  1:52 

This morning at my early morning Bible study,I heard a story from one of the attendees (Alan). He said his neighbor is just like him, except that he drinks like a fish and he says the F bomb everyevery other word. So Alan decided to invite him to this Chicago Hope fellowship retreat he was going on. The neighbor said, "Sure, I'll go with you. "He went and Alan said he was horrified when the second speaker gotup there and said, "We're going to sit quietly for several minutes and think about a circumstance that right now you know is going on our lives, and how God might want to be involved in that." And so Alan said he was freaking out in his chair, thinking, "oh my goodness. This guy is going to hate this. He's going to kill me for bringing him to this crazy Christian event!" Well, lo and behold, they get done with the silence time. Alan meets up with his neighbor, and he says to Alan, "Hey, that quiet time was amazing. The circumstance I was thinking about was my daughter's pregnancy. She's really been struggling. And while I was thinking about it, I got to text my daughter, saying that the doctor said everything's going to be okay." Alan explained to him that he'd had a God sighting, and he went home and told his wife he'd had a God sighting. This has now opened up all new conversations for Alan and his neighbor. Now Alan thought he failed - Alan was freaking out that he did it all wrong! But by stepping out in faith, the Holy Spirit came around alongside him and something amazing happened.

Jeff Klein  3:22 

Could you actually be a missional genius? Could you actually become amazing at helping others find their way to Jesus? Probably only if you try, only if you practice.

Jeff Klein  3:35  

Let's pray. Jesus, help us to practice the behaviors, the habits that will make us better at being on the mission you gave to us when you started the church. In your name we pray, amen.