A Rare Privilege

This past Sunday we had the rare privilege of having Pastor Jeff Leake as a guest speaker. Jeff is the Lead Pastor of Allison Park Church, which started Bridgeway in 1998. In the late 90′s God gave pastor Jeff a vision to plant 5 churches in 5 years. Not only did they plant 5 churches, they are currently planning the 8th for early next year!

Pastor Jeff was my pastor growing up. He is a spiritual father to me and our entire church. It is an honor to be a part of such a great movement of churches reaching the city of Pittsburgh for Christ!

On Sunday he shared a powerful message with us about the journey from promise to provision. In the message, he showed us how the experience of Abraham in Genesis 15 illustrates the principle of Hebrews 10:36 “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.“

From the life of Abraham he showed us that after we receive a promise from God we often face a major problem. In the problem phase things don’t make sense and the promise seems more and more unlikely.

This leads us to the next phase in which we must persevere. Perseverance is all about staying true no matter what. In the perseverance phase we develop faith and character.

Then, in God’s timing, after we have done the will of God we will receive his provision. It is important through the whole journey to keep our eyes, heart, and devotion upon God and not the provision. This will keep us from making an idol out of the provision. This process applies to individuals, churches, and families. Such a great word!