Going All In

We're in the middle of this series called "All In". Today was terrific.

We had a family come back from our Halloween event which was awesome, we had yet another stellar worship set from our new Worship Guy, Adam. I felt like today's message was one of the best ever.

I walked through the story of Joseph's life. At the beginning I had a few guys "deal" a card to everyone in the building. The premise of the message was "You play the hand that you're dealt." I talked about how we're all dealt different cards in life. At one time or another you're going to feel like you've been dealt a bad hand. Joseph certainly felt that from time to time. But in a game of Poker you can stand and watch the table, fold or play the hand you're dealt. Many people play it safe by not even sitting at the table... Others play it safe by folding (quitting, giving up) and yet others like Joseph will play the hand they are dealt.

I challenged our people to seek God's plan for their life. Both his universal plan for his children and his plan for their individual lives. The thing is that God doesn't unfold " a perfect plan" to anyone in scripture. There is no book that says "at 10 this will happen, when you turn 16 this will happen and at 25 I will do this" God simply gives his people a vision of what could be. To often times we sit and whine about the cards we're dealt. We need to just play the hand and go all-in. Joseph did and it was through his ups and downs in life that God ultimately saved lives.

Churches should be in the soul-saving business. After all we're supposed to be Christ's hands and feet. He gave his entire life to save souls.

I asked our people today "How much is the value of one soul?" We concluded by having different groupings of cards raise their cards up when I called them. The key is that I reminded them that in the game of Hold-'em one card is useless without other cards around them. But when you pull your cards together you can take the hand. I challenged our people to find God's calling in their life and pull it with the rest of the church so that together we can go "All-In".