I am sure that many of us can look back over our lives and remember times when you looked up and Jesus’ power reigned in your life. But along the way it’s so easy to get distracted. We have our ministries, our job, our church, our families, our friends: all this activity that we do for God. If we are not careful we can lose sight of the one thing that really matters: Jesus.

I have made a decision in my life that there is only one thing in my Christian walk to which I want to be radically committed, and that is Jesus. I’m not talking about commitment like one might have to your favorite team or a loyal dog, but I am talking about a radical commitment that cannot be measured in wins or years. My dream is to follow God’s purposes and abandon my dreams when they conflict with His. I am no longer satisfied with telling or yelling the good news of Christ, but my heart’s desire has become to communicate the good news of Christ in both words and deed. I will not embrace or minimize the sins of the world, but neither will I spend my time judging when I could be loving. I must accept the fact that the world has changed and know in my heart that with a sovereign God this is not by chance. So I must give myself to Him anew to use His gifts in ways that are new. I have come to grips with the fact that leadership is about serving others rather than others serving me. And worship is not about music, tradition, style, or emotion, but it is about exalting Jesus and my changing to be like Him. God has not made me to be an island unto myself; I need other people to love me and encourage me. My goal has become very simple: look up and follow God and don’t get in the way of others seeing Jesus.

An excerpt from the sermon Look Up: God Finishes What He Starts     http://www.buzzsprout.com/17504/197248-look-up-part-1

Lash Banks is Lead Pastor at Murphy Road Baptist Church (murphychurch.com). Lash’s weekly podcast/sermon can be heard at http://www.buzzsprout.com/17504