Mark Batterson kicked off Thursday morning at Orange Conference 2014 with a message to say yes to reimagining what you do. This is so important, as we often get stuck inside our boxes.
He started by sharing several stories from history when people reimagined the process. The stories ranged from war to surgery to the Olympics. Mark then said, “If you want to repeat history, do it the way it’s always been done. If you want to make history, do it the way it’s never been done before.” Before he went on, he said that it must start internally. If you want to pray for something or someone, pray for yourself. Pray for God to change you, and give you what you need to approach things in a new way to reach new people.
Then, Mark went into the story from Acts 10. After he prays and gets a vision from God, Cornelius takes a huge step of faith in this story. God called him to take a step out of his circle to do something new. Peter stops to pray on the rooftop. Maybe there is something about going to a “rooftop” to where you can meet God. Peter responds to God’s command by saying, “Surely not!” Perhaps you have had some “surely not” moments in your relationship with God. However, hasn’t it been worth it to eventually say, “yes!”? Mark then shared some great insight by saying, “When you get into an argument with God and win, you lose. If you lose, you really win!”
God often does amazing things through people who are willing to look foolish. He shared several stories from the Bible, including Noah, Sarah, Peter, and Jesus. All probably looked foolish, but God did amazing things when they were willing to look foolish. If we are not wiling to step out and do something new, with the risk of looking foolish, and reimagine how we do it, God may never do what He wants to do through us.
Mark Batterson is the lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington D.C. You can follow him on Twitter at @MarkBatterson.
Steve Cullum 