I can’t believe the end of the year is just around the corner. I literally sent my first email to someone today where I had to say, “Let’s schedule a time to meet after the first of the year.” I was looking at my calendar and couldn’t legitimately find time to squeeze it in with all the other meetings, end of year gatherings, vacation days, holidays, etc. It’s crazy. It’s also very difficult to believe that we are coming to the culmination of our season here at White Oak which we’ve called Shaken.
Two years ago, our church set out on a journey asking God to shake us up and move us out boldly in trust. We specifically asked him to move us boldly in faith as it relates to our generosity. And, White Oak, God is doing that! The stories you tell about stepping out in bold trust are amazing. The ways that God is providing generously to and through us is so awesome! This has been two of the most generous years we have on record! God is shaking us with his power, and he’s certainly not done yet.
A few months ago, I was considering how I felt White Oak should culminate this amazing and formational season in our history? I wondered what we should teach and preach about as we entered the final stretch of the initiative. I then, looked back at the passage that originally inspired our theme. Acts 4:23-31.
23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them…
27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
As I re-read Acts 4, I was intrigued by what came next. What did the believers do once they were shaken by God’s Spirit? Peter, John, and the other believers were obviously caught by the power of Jesus’s resurrection and in awe at his release of the disciples from captivity. They had seen God’s power at work around them and they invited him to move in and through them with that same resurrection power! They were overcome by such gratitude for God’s grace and power that they were compelled to move out in boldness.
What happens in the next several verses and couple chapters are their story. Gratitude for the Lord took ahold of them and it changed the believers. They didn’t just believe things they were moved to do things! That is where I see God inviting White Oak next. We have been asking him to shake us and we’ve experienced steps of trust. We are being formed and changed by him. So, what’s next? What is next for you as we look forward to the next seven weeks as our Shaken initiative culminates? What comes after that for you? What new thing is God inviting you to step into?
I encourage you to pray on that question earnestly. On December 8 we will celebrate our Shaken Culmination Sunday. We will look at what God has done in and through us and worship him for his provision, grace, and power. We will look toward the end of the year as we meet or exceed our generosity commitments toward our secondary goal. We will anticipate where God is going to lead us next. You won’t want to miss one Sunday morning the rest of the year!
Expecting God to keep shaking,
Nathan
Nathan Hinkle
Lead Pastor