"Your sermons lately are hard for me to take..."

The Bible teaches that we should not only be “Hearers of the Word” but “Doer’s of the Word.” This is easier said then done…

One of the most solid, prophetic and submitted people at ICCJ asked me for a 10 minute meeting today. This is someone who I rely upon as an intercessor for myself personally and for the Church. Oh, and by the way… I love 10 minute meetings. They are usually more effective then 1 hour meetings.

She shared a significant dream from the Lord which confirms another dream received this week from a different congregation member which I will share in the next blog post.

And then came some surprising remarks. Surprising because she is one of the most supportive people, constantly encouraging me. She said, “Your sermons lately are hard for me to take.”

Now this is not a foreign concept to me… allot of people don’t like my sermons and allot of people do. The only concern that I have in this department is whether or not I have properly discerned and been faithful to release what God entrusts me to teach.

She then explained to me that when she first joined our Church 2 years ago, that she also attended another Church in the evenings… a Bahasa Indonesia speaking Church. And though she enjoyed that Church immensely that God told her, after 6 months attending our Church, to stop attending the other Church. He said that though the spiritual food there is good, that it is not the food that she needs… that she couldn’t digest it. And until recently she loved the spiritual food here at ICCJ… that is until I started teaching about mentoring (discipleship) in recent weeks.

She told me that all of her life, she has avoided mentoring relationships and doesn’t want to be mentored. She also finds home groups difficult because even though in theory to her, they are good, the problems that arise in relationships are bothersome. She shared that at one point her heart’s cry to God was for Him to mentor her directly with no human involvement. That would be great, wouldn’t it? But then how could we as humans learn how to disciple others unless we had first been discipled by a human…. Since we are also flawed.

And so for almost 2 months, she has not enjoyed the sermons… but she knows that she needs to not only hear the sermons but begin to apply them. Hard even for a deeply wonderful, sensitive and devoted follower of Christ.

It reminds me of the Prophetic Word about the Turtles a few days back which I shared two blog posts ago. Pastor Joy closed the door and grabbed turtles, holding them still so that I could more effectively shoot them. She told the turtles, "stay here and deal with your problems here." What this means is that ICCJ is a Church in which people with problems are supposed to come and get those problems addressed and healed… not moving from Church to Church on a never ending journey to not change.

I thank God for this ICCJ member who recognizes that though the food is tough to take at times, that it is the right food for her… and for all who God has planted in this wonderful Church in this season!

On a personal note, thank YOU ICCJ attendees! Thank you for your commitment and loyalty which sees you through even uncomfortable seasons of growth for you!