Danny Eason

“Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common” Acts 4:32

The realities accomplished by the early church were nothing short of miraculous and wonderful. Innumerable people found the life-changing hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Bible says that there was not one who was needy among them. This church, was being the church.

When we read the first few chapters of Acts it is so easy for us to get wrapped up in all of the oneness and family. We can get lost in the stories of community and the radical conversions of thousands of people. In fact, I love to read those early chapters and dream of what that would look like for Crossroads Church, for every church.

I think though, that there is sometimes a danger in the looking back. It is easy to over glorify what was happening. Easy to get lost in their past and forget about our present. Acts chapter 5 begins with a solemn word. “But…” In light of all that was happening for that church, this is going to be a turning point. Things were going to change. Now, they were going to have deacons and business meetings! (oh, you know it’s funny)

In looking at and studying this early family- this family of strength and support. This family of love and encouragement. This family of hope and joy. We easily forget that family is often times a messy thing. That family is dysfunctional. That family has times of disagreement.

We forget that the beauty of family is not what they look like when times are good, but how they live together in the times of bad.

Many of you who will read this belong to a church. Many of you may even be struggling with belonging in that church. If I could say one thing to you, I would say this, find the beauty in the dysfunction. Find God in the mess. Don’t give up. Don’t run away. Find the beauty. It’s there. Under all the meetings and drama. Beneath the financial struggles and differences of opinion, the beauty is there. The family is there.

What do you think? What does the family look like?

There is a silent enemy that threatens every leader, every church, and indeed everybody. And enemy that I’m sure everyone reading this is familiar with. I have fallen victim to this enemy many times and found pain at the end of its sword.

Pride.

Pride causes us to look at every quiet conversation as if it is a conspiracy. Pride would have us to believe that every change and decision is about us. Pride would love nothing more than to lead us to believe that we somehow deserve anything that we have.

But humility teaches that if our security is in God, then the conversations of others should never threaten us. Humility declares that change, even IF it seems like it is about us, ultimately isn’t about us.

Humility reminds us that it isn’t about us and we don’t deserve anything that we have.

Our spouse
Our house
Our job
Our position
All of it is God’s

It’s my prayer that God keeps me humble. No matter what that means. That pride would be ripped from my life, even if painfully.

What about you? How do you fight the secret enemy of pride?

For several weeks I have wrestled with a truth that God has placed in the very pit of my soul.

It would be so easy to find an excuse for me not being the person Christ wants me to be.
I could rally off the names of men and women who I would swear are stumbling blocks in my walk and in my leadership.
I could argue that I’m trying to be in tune with culture so I can remain relevant to a generation.
I could point to a list of laws and bills that completely subvert the word of God.
I could actually fool myself and others into thinking that I have this thing figured out.

Or…

I could humble myself before an Almighty God and ask Him to change me. To awake my soul. And when I ask, He will do it. And it won’t be easy. It would prove to be the hardest journey of my life. God would challenge me in ways that I never knew. He would force me to come face to face with me. And I know what that means.

But that scares me. I’ve prayed for God to move powerfully in my life before, and when He did, I thought my very life was falling apart.

Ironically enough, it was at those times that I felt most secure in my God.

I say all that to say this. I wonder what would happen if we started a movement. A movement of the children of God to come together and bow before Him and beg Him to change us.

What would happen if even just a few of us prayed for God to challenge? For God to create. For God to violently remove sin from us. For God to show us what it really means to be made in His image.

What would happen if we prayed for an awakening?

I don’t think we were meant to pursue Him alone. So I’m asking, are there any out there who are willing to take this journey with me?

With all the pain.
With all the peace.
With all the tears.
With all the joys.

If you’re in leave a comment below and I’ll let you know in the coming days how we’re going to make it happen.