Who Can Tell What God Can Do?

Dear Crosswalkers,

This is a very exciting time at Crosswalk Community Church!  Beginning this Sunday we will launch a brand new spiritual growth journey called 40 DAYS IN THE WORD! We will be honored to have Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church delivering the message to get it all started. The following Sunday will be our first challenge of the 40 Day journey, and our small groups will begin meeting the week of April 22. It’s amazing how many significant events in the Bible center on the time period of 40 days! Here are some examples:

Exodus 34:28 (NLT) - Moses remained there on the mountain with the LORD forty days and forty nights. In all that time he ate no bread and drank no water. And the LORD wrote the terms of the covenant—the Ten Commandments—on the stone tablets.

Numbers 13:25 (ESV) - At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land.

Deuteronomy 10:10 (ESV) - “I myself stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights, and the LORD listened to me that time also…”

1 Samuel 17:16 (NLT) - For forty days, every morning and evening, the Philistine champion strutted in front of the Israelite army.

Jonah 3:4 (ESV) - Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

Mark 1:13 (ESV) - And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

Acts 1:3 (NLT) - During the forty days after his crucifixion, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.

When we survey these verses, it is clear that the time frame of 40 days is often used in the Bible as a time to undergo spiritual transformation and to get closer to God.  Let me isolate just one of the instances above. In response to Jonah’s eight word sermon to the people of Nineveh, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” the king of Nineveh told his people to turn from their evil ways and give themselves to God. Then in Jonah 3:9 we read his rationale.  The king says, “Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.” This is a great attitude to have during our 40 DAYS IN THE WORD journey: Who can tell what God can do in your life and mine? 

According to my calculations, in an average lifespan 40 days represents .001% of our life! Here’s what God wants us to do:  Give him these 40 days, totally and unreservedly.  Let’s devote ourselves wholeheartedly to the time the Bible says it takes for us to be spiritually transformed, and see what God will do. 

Here’s what I’m praying for:

1. God will knit together the people of the Crosswalk Community into one heart and mind about being “a people of the Book (the Bible).”  

2. God will show us how to understand the Bible for ourselves.

3. God will utterly convince us of the truth of his Word.

4. God will help us develop new habits for reading and memorizing the Scriptures.

5. God will draw people to faith in Jesus Christ, and some will experience the loving forgiveness of God for the first time. 

6. God will lead more Crosswalkers into small groups than ever before, and as a result, many will be led out of sinful and/or destructive habits, and many more will make a new commitment to holiness in heart and life. 

7. God will teach us to Love the Word, Learn the Word, and Live the Word.

I strongly encourage you to join the adventure with us! You can start by signing up to be in a small group THIS SUNDAY! 

Who can tell what God may do in your life during our 40 Days in the Word?

Faithfully yours,

Pastor John Christie