I am not sure I have learnt anything new about God intellectually in the last year but I think I have had old things come to me in fresh ways. These are some of the things I have been taught:
• God is Sovereign
I have seen God bring people to know him in the last year in the most unlikely circumstances and it has confirmed to me (again!) that God is sovereign. I have seen people come to Resolved and when they tell me how they ended up at Resolved I am left speechless! I have seen how he has used 5 young men (the Resolved Elder Board) in extraordinary ways in people’s lives. I have seen pastoral issues resolved (including some which there didn’t seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel)!
God’s sovereignty has been comforting for me as I have seen my dad battling with cancer, it is awesome to know that God is in control of all bad things that happen including my dad’s cancer! I love to know that God is sovereign in everything!
• God uses people and circumstances to humble me
If we haven’t met I am a man with a lot of pride. But God has been using people to humble me. Some days after church, when I feel like I have preached an “awesome” sermon and I am waiting for Piper to call me to invite me to speak at the next Desiring God Conference, I ask someone what they thought of the sermon and they will be like, yeah it was good but..... And then they give me a bunch of stuff I need to work on. But what God was really doing was humbling me. Then there are other times when I preach a sermon that is so bad that not even the Holy Spirit can do something with (joke!) and that is usually the week where I get a bunch of people say how much God did through the sermon. That just teaches me that God doesn’t need me! I love having friends around me who will point out pride in my life and humble me by pointing me back to Jesus!
• God builds his church I merely deliver the mail
Following on from the last two points, seeing people come to know Jesus or come to Resolved in a variety of circumstances just shows me that God is building his church. I need to pray, work hard and point to Jesus in every sermon and God will bring people to himself! I am happy being a person who delivers Gods mail every week, it is such a privilege!
• God Loves people more than I do
I spent over a year preaching through Luke and I was reminded week after week how much Jesus loved people. Whether through conversations or through the healings Jesus‘ love for people came out in every page, in every paragraph. When I look at Resolved and I look at the people who are here, the people that have come, the people that I want to know Jesus and the people who are hurting, I am convinced of the fact that God loves these people more than me. Knowing that gives me confidence to tell them about him knowing that he loves them and wants them to come to him. It also should drive me to my knees in prayer and ask the God who loves them so much to open their eyes to him or help them praise him through pain or learn more of what it is to be a passionate follower of Jesus! So pray for me that it would drive me to pray!
• God has cursed the Golden State Warriors: The Golden State Warriors are my favourite basketball team in the NBA and I am sure God has cursed them! Okay, I don’t know this for sure but they suck! I mean, they need to fire their coach and get a new one and they need to get a new owner. I hope Larry Ellison buys them! It is plain embarrassing when I talk basketball with some people and they are like “Who do you go for?” and I say “The Warriors” and they are like “They suck” and I say “Yeah I know”. Sometimes they were so bad they couldn’t even throw a tennis ball in the ocean! How long oh Lord will my team suck?
Hey guys I started this blog up again because a lot of people said they got stuff out of it. If there are any questions or topics you want me to blog about email me at hans@resolved.org.au.
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