A Sure Sign of Going All In With Jesus

A Sure Sign of Going All In With Jesus
 “If we call upon the Lord, he has promised in his Word to answer, to bring the unsaved to himself, to pour out his Spirit among us. If we don’t call on the Lord, he has promised nothing – nothing at all. It’s as simple as that.” -Jim Cymballa

 I just finished up a two week series at Christ Presbyterian on going all in with Jesus. As I preached that series, I was also reading a book entitled, “Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire” by the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, Jim Cymballa. Some of you may know the Brooklyn Tabernacle from their world famous choir.
 
What you may not know is that the Brooklyn Tabernacle nearly closed before it ever got off the ground. When Jim Cymballa began pastoring that church, there were about 20 regular attendees. There was no money in the bank. The downtown neighborhood the Tabernacle was located in was being overrun by the heroin and crack cocaine epidemic.
 
So what changed? How did the Brooklyn Tabernacle go from nearly closing to the 10,000 in weekly attendance it has today? According to their pastor, the answer is quite simple. He said, “We had to have a visitation of the Holy Spirit, or bust.” He got desperate, and he began to pray. He even told the Lord, “I would rather die than tread water throughout my career in the ministry.”
 
The story is amazing. It’s full of twists and turns. I highly recommend reading it for yourself. But the message is clear and simple. If we long to see God move in our hearts, in our church, and in our city, we must pray. We must pray with desperation and great desire.
 
So I want to ask you to do something every day for the rest of 2024. Will you set aside 15 minutes every day to pray for the Holy Spirit to move in a mighty way at Christ Presbyterian? I believe that Jim Cymballa is right. I believe that if we devote ourselves to prayer, God has promised to answer. I believe he can transform Christ Presbyterian in the last seven weeks of this year. Will you join me, go all in, and ask the Lord to do that?
 
Your Pastor and Friend,
 
John Knox Foster