Evotional.com - Mark Batterson

Here's a crazy thought: what if we did exactly what Scripture said? A few years ago we did an Acts 4:34 offering. It says, "From time to time those who owned land or houses sold them and brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles feet." We challenged NCCers to sell something and give the money to missions. It wasn't the largest offering we've ever taken, but it was so meaningful because we patterned it after Scripture. It required more than simply writing a check. We sold a roll top desk and gave the money to missions. It was a sacrifice, but it was more meaningful than the checks we write. It involved a sacrifice.

I think our Pentecost Fast is doing exactly what the early believers did. They prayed for ten days. We're going to begin a ten days of prayer and fasting on 05.05.05 to 05.15.05. I believe God is going to do some amazing things in our lives individually and corporately. It will mark an important season in our life as a church. I've been praying for God to do something unplanned and uncontainable in us. Prayer is the key. If you want to see God do something uncontainable and unplanned, praying for ten days isn't a bad idea! I can't wait to see what happens.

Here's another idea. What if we fed 5,000 people just like Jesus? What if we had the largest Thanksgiving dinner this city has ever had? What if we followed the example of Jesus and really met people's needs the way he did. I just think it'd be an inspiration to try to do what Jesus did. That is so obvious. But it is so ignored. I'd love to do an annual event, Feed-the-Need, each year to show people how much we care about the poor of this city. We could even put together an invite like Jesus talked about in Luke 14 and deck out a banquet hall. Make it is a top-flight event where we bless the poor with a night of food and inspiration.

I've been so impressed by a little verse in Luke 5:15. It says, "The news about him spread all the more so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed." Jesus was making news. Are we making news? Are we good news? Or old news? I'm not into "photo ops" but we should be impacting the city in a way that the news can't ignore. That's what happened with the Eggstravaganza. They couldn't ignore "one of the largest egg hunts this city has ever seen."

We're doing so many things on a small care. Our In Service ministry is touching lives week-in and week-out. We're doing outreach blasts. We have a network of folks that we're impacting. But I'm dreaming about something so big it can't be ignored.

I think we're called to make news--good news!