One of my favorite visits was when we visited Santa Cruz for the weekend. On our drive home Sunday morning, we intentionally stopped at Chip Ingram's Church called Venture Christian Church in Los Gatos, California. I had been tuning in to "Living on the Edge" on my podcast during my drive to work. I've grown a lot spiritually-speaking as an individual, a mother and a wife through listening to Chip's teachings along with some words of encouragement and application for work-life and life in this world in general. That Sunday morning, we walked into Venture without knowing what was on the agenda or who will be sharing the message--will it be Chip himself or one of his associate pastors. We were blessed! We got to see and hear Chip Ingram in the flesh. Wow! Just like how he sounds in his podcasts, same demeanor, and everything else. I was just glad to be there. It was nice to finally see in person someone who has shared and spoken God's Word into my life and has given me the spiritual filling I needed.
Aside from being in awe of seeing someone I have long-respected and appreciated, the question is: what was the message that I was able to take home from Chip's sermon that morning?
One word: partnership. It was partnership that I needed to hear. After all, we are in this world as Christians of the same kind of Spirit. Just as Paul spoke to the people of Corinth concerning spiritual gifts: "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work," 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, NIV. What this means to me is we need not to be a church divided. Instead, we must reach out to other Bible-teaching churches, plug ourselves in to what other churches provide in which our own does not, and welcome others into our fellowship as well. There are certainly different gifts, places of service or worship, and activities which vary from congregation to congregation. Therefore, we must NOT limit ourselves to only what our church is offering for the spiritual growth of ourselves and our families--because all of these differences in gifts combined provide the best effects when they build up the body of Christ--the church.
This was what Chip encouraged in his sermon and message to the people that morning. He emphasized that churches must come together and partner with one another to continue on this mission to grow in spiritual thinking and living. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but once you come to the idea or belief that your church is the only true church of God and Christians should only come to your church, you are doing a disservice to Christ himself. Praise God and rejoice in the fact that He uses different Christian churches all over the world to minister to souls like yours and mine.
My encouragement to you brothers and sisters is: do not be afraid to venture out. I am not asking you to be a butterfly—fly to where the “Lord leads you that Sunday.” No! Not at all. It is spiritually healthy and important to be a member of a church that is able to offer you that spiritual filling when you are thirsty—in worship and in your service to the congregation. But, when you find yourselves still parched for the Word, for deeper and more profound messages—you must go and have a conversation with God, one-on-one and you ask him for guidance and where He truly needs to lead you. You’ll be surprised by what He’ll show you. And, when you go to Him in truth and in righteousness, whatever you ask will be given, when you seek,you will find, and when you knock, the door will be open.
