Bridgewater Montrose’s Podcast

Extraordinary Success

Ordinary religion operates like a club: Following the rules is what gets you in and keeps you in. Jesus’ relationship with the rules kills the ordinary religious scorecard. Instead of a club, God created a family. Keeping the rules didn’t get you into your family, nor does it kick you out. Instead, God’s commands point us toward something even more important than conforming to the rules – loving God and others. 

Children dream of slaying dragons or befriending them. But somewhere in the journey to adulthood, we scale back our visions for greatness and settle for an ordinary life... and then, boring mediocrity. But the Creator of this Universe didn’t make you to be ordinary. Jesus didn’t die on the cross in the hope that you would someday reach the heights of ordinary-ness. Let’s let our 2-dimentional dream of normal die and follow Jesus to the extraordinary life He calls us to. An ordinary church and life is about me, “my people” and my successful commandment-keeping. It is a museum for like-minded saints. Jesus condemns this ordinary church and life in the strongest of language. Instead, he challenges us to be an extraordinary that pursues the despised and loves Jesus more than our way or our rules. Jesus wants a messy-hospital-church for the hurting and hungry and not a beautiful-casket-church concealing the spiritually self-centered and dead.

Before He left, Jesus gave His church a single, unmistakable command: make disciples. It's easy to let good things — programs, groups, routines — quietly become the point, when they were only ever meant to fuel the real mission. This year, we're refusing to be busy without being on assignment, and chasing after the one job that actually matters: helping more people find and follow Jesus.

At the end of Esther 7 everything seems fixed, but there are three chapters left! A new law had to be written, preparations made and then the Jews had to unite and fight for their survival. God’s deliverance still required obedience. But even after that, it wasn’t over. The last phase of God’s victory is setting up a system to remember it. When will you habitually celebrate God’s victories in your life? Joy truly is the serious business of heaven.

It is the plot of endless stories, because we never tire of it. The situation is dark. All hope is lost... but then out of some impossible scenario, the hero shows up and wins the day. The tables are turned. That is the story of Esther 6-7. But how did it happen? Eventually, God always wins. But Esther shows us several tips of how to make sure we are on the Lord’s side. 

In our modern age of fear and anxiety we desperately need to have the courage of Esther. How was she able to confront the two most powerful men in the largest empire on earth – alone!? Esther 4-5 reveals four secrets to great courage that will embolden you to overcome the fears in your life today.

What do you do when it seems like God doesn’t show up and evil is winning? Don’t mistake God’s silence for His absence. Like Esther we must trust and obey God even when everything seems hopeless. Evil often takes the lead, but God’s side succeeds.

God’s name is never mentioned in Esther, but His fingerprints are all over every unexpected twist and turn. Join us as we discover how God works to bring about an amazing story of courage, justice, purpose and hope through quiet coincidences, not obvious miracles. Esther’s story reflects our own: we may not always see God’s hand, but we can trust His heart. Often, God’s plan to transform the world is not through spectacular displays of power, but by invisibly working behind the scenes and using ordinary people like Esther and Mordecai. Like them, we need to personally love those God has put in front of us. Like an artist who can make beauty from discarded things, God’s plan is to use us. That doesn’t seem like a great plan, but it is! Let Him use you in His story of salvation and hope.

They say the hardest part of a journey is the first step, and that may be true. But the next hardest part is the next step. The first step onto the water for Peter must have been terrifying, but it’s when he notices the wind that he begins to sink. Peter’s first step of faith was strong, but we need to trust Jesus through every step of our journey. After catching Peter’s fall, Jesus says to him, “You have so little faith. Why did you doubt me?”. It’s not a question of the amount of our faith - it’s the object of our faith that matters. What has your focus - the storms or the God of the storms?

Passage: Matthew 14:30-33

Speaker: Josh Edwards