Video Description
Craig talks to church leaders, focusing on the impact and significance of the Great Commission as outlined in Matthew 28. He emphasizes the importance of personal and communal engagement with this command from Jesus. He explores how church leaders can personally rejuvenate their spiritual walk to effectively lead and invigorate their congregations and communities. Throughout the session, Craig encourages introspection on the part of church leaders regarding their own faith and leadership practices, emphasizing the necessity of prioritizing spiritual health over administrative duties to truly fulfill their callings. The session is designed to refresh and inspire leaders, reminding them of the eternal value of their work and the continuous support available through their faith in God.
Transcript
All of Scripture is God-breathed, but the Great Commission was Jesus’ final words to his disciples before he left earth. I really believe there’s a significance to that. I think, for each of us, if we had one sentence left to share on Earth, we would think about that.
I think we would spend some time assessing, what exactly do I want to share with the people I care about most in my final words? So, there’s a significance to it, there’s a weight to it, and so I’d like us to read that together. For many of you as church leaders, maybe you have heard this thousands of times before. Maybe you know all by heart, but I want us to read it together and really ask God, ask the Holy Spirit to share with us, to speak to us more clearly than he ever has before.
Let’s read this together, Matthew 28. This is what it says, from verse 16. The 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them, and when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Jesus came, and he said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I’ve commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.
And so what I would love us to do in these moments together is to look at how the Great Commission affects us personally as an individual, and then as our church, and then finally moving into our community. So, I want to start with us personally as church leaders, with you and with me and our walk with the Lord, because if that isn’t where it should be, we’ll never be able to outwork what he is calling us to.
And so, just simply, how are you doing right now, in this moment when it comes to your personal walk with the Lord? How are you doing with your talking with him, your time with him? You’re hearing his voice, you tuning out the noise so that you can hear him speak.
You see, as church leaders, we can’t give out of what we don’t have, and so we can’t share things and share things with our church, in our communities if it hasn’t meant something to us, internally, ourselves, and maybe, if we’re honest, some of us are feeling pretty tired and worn out at the moment. Maybe leading busy lives, busy church schedules, and feeling worn out.
Maybe we’re spending all of our time preparing series, planning our church events, dealing with crises, dealing with counseling that actually, that busyness has stopped us from getting from the source, from spending time in God’s presence. Maybe we’re running so hard making new church programs happen, expanding what we’re doing, thinking about new services, thinking about extra plants.
But in the midst of that busyness, maybe, just maybe, we’re losing some effectiveness because we aren’t spending time listening to God, listening for his voice, and then acting on the back of that. I want us to make sure that we don’t let busyness get in the way of effectiveness when it comes to God’s kingdom. So maybe some of us, if we’re honest, have lost just a little bit of the passion that we used to have for God.
Maybe a little bit of the sense of closeness to him that they used to be. It’s my heart’s desire that even now, in this moment, in this webinar, that God would bring a refreshing that maybe you haven’t had for a long time. There might also be some things that you have been prioritizing as a leader, as of more importance than the main thing of people coming to faith and being made disciples.
Maybe some of you now, actually, even as you watch this, you’re wondering whether at the end of this month there’s going to be the resources to pay for your salary and the rest of the staff. So maybe there’s a real financial thing that you’re dealing with, when it comes to you and yourself and that’s weighing on you, maybe some of you.
I’ve been guilty of this in the past – There’s a sense of comparing your ministry and your church to others around you. Maybe there’s some that are flourishing and there are some leaders that you know who are flourishing. But you’re sitting there going, “but it doesn’t feel to me like my church is growing.” It doesn’t feel that personally, I necessarily living out what God’s called me to, and so there’s a struggle there and there’s a battle of comparison. Maybe you’re feeling that as well.
It could be that there are so many meetings and so many systems to run during the week, that you never really get down to what you’re passionate about, and you feel that you’re ticking the boxes and you’re racing from meeting to meeting and these things that God’s put on your heart, these things that you felt him say to you, maybe for some of you weeks ago, months ago, years ago, you just never get the time to to do that.
And that might be a struggle for you today. So I’m not sure where you find yourself in. Maybe you do feel like life is thriving and you’re close to God. Maybe you feel in a place like some of what I have mentioned there, but I want you to know that there’s always hope. I want you to know that as a pastor and as a church leader, God invites us again and again to come to him.
He’s got great pictures in Scripture of coming to the waters to drink, to be refreshed, to walk in these meadows and walk in these pastures with him. He says that in his presence is fullness of joy. So if you’re struggling with joy today, then you’ll find that in his presence. We need to remind ourselves of these things over and over again.
So, again, get alone with him. Set aside distractions. Make him your priority. Listen to that still, small voice. Put the phone away. Get to a place where there’s nothing distracting you, and actually spend some time in his presence. So often we know that that’s what we should be doing as church leaders, but often it’s a thing that gets pushed to the side when busyness comes.
Maybe even right now, in this moment, just take a short few seconds, few minutes to fix your eyes on Jesus afresh, to fix your eyes on him and what he did on the cross, and the fact that he died for you. And as you revel in that, you’ll start to feel a sense of joy, rise again in your heart and maybe for some of us, we’ve even lost a bit of passion for the church, passion for this group of people, this messed up, imperfect people that gather together at times that sometimes hurt people that sometimes hurt you, but Jesus died for, and he loves, and he cares about.
I love the sense that the church is the only institution that’s ever going to last into eternity, no matter what other job that we have. Those things, in all likelihood, many of those will cease, but actually the church, because it’s made up of people that Jesus died for, will just continue on. That’s a beautiful thing. It’s something that’s worthy of giving our lives to as church leaders. It’s such a privilege.
In fact, let’s actually pray for that right now. Let’s ask God to help us in that. So, Lord Jesus, whoever is watching this right now, wherever that leader might be at, maybe feeling disillusioned, maybe feeling a little bit alone, maybe comparing themselves to others and going, I just feel a bit like I’m I’m failing.
Maybe that sense of being burnt out and a sense of being worn out and that sense of feeling a bit dry. I pray that right now, this moment, you would bring refreshing, you bring joy. You’d bring that sense of batteries being recharged and, excitement and expectancy returning. You do that right now, this moment through the screen that you would do that Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord Jesus.
It’s so amazing how we can actually just stop in the middle of, of these sorts of webinars and in the middle of these moments and, and God’s presence, and he’s there. That’s such a special thing to do.
We want our hearts in a priority to be for Jesus and his kingdom. I have no doubt that even as you’re listening to this, you’re going to you’re going to sense that joy and that passion.
