J.D Greear shared an excerpt from his upcoming book, 'What Are You Going to Do With Your Life?'
Greear explains he has been praying for a massive revival in the city that thousands of people would get saved. "I was praying, the Spirit of God impressed something on my heart that left me speechless: What if I answer this prayer, sending a revival into Raleigh-Durham beyond all you've asked or imagined, one that will reshape the city for centuries-but I choose a different church in this city to accomplish that? What if that church grows, and that pastor gets famous, and your church stays the same, and you do not? And what if one day when they write the history of the movement, they never even mention you or your church?"
Greear asked God if the church was his or God's. God said nothing you own is yours. "I knew the right answer to that question. I was supposed to say, "Oh, yes, Lord! You must increase and I must decrease!" But while that may have been the right answer, it would not have been the real answer."
"God showed me that my ministry was something that still belonged to me, and I needed to lay it down in death. By his grace, I did. And while I can't say that I've completely gotten over all sinful desires for success and acclaim, that afternoon marked a turning point in which the eyes of my heart shifted from building my kingdom to being used by God to build his."
Greear also expressed his hardship from a few years ago and said 'leaders are usually in direct conflict with growing your budget and attendance.' By having many questions regarding his faith from the past, J.D Greear mentioned his book talks about what we are doing on this Earth. Some questions may be, 'had we thought this through? How on Earth could we survive without these people?'
Greear quietly prayed, "God, this is your church, not mine. If you want to grow us large to reach this city, so be it. But if you want to take out the best of our people and our resources to start churches elsewhere, that's OK, too. It's your church. Do with it what you will."
Greear shared questions to consider: What precious seed has God placed in your hands? Have you put it into God's? "The first and best of what you are have to be laid in surrender at Jesus' feet. Only then will it bring life to the world. If we haven't done that, can we really say we are following Jesus?"
