For those who are continuing to livestream on our website and/or our YouTube channel, welcome! For those who are meeting in the auditorium for the first time since March 15, welcome! While we celebrate the auditorium being reopened and the joy of some of us seeing each other for the first time since March, we also lament the reality of Covid-19 still being among us to the point that the whole Mandarin Family cannot be at the same place at the same time. We hope that this is a first step toward an eventual time when all of us can be together again.
Ironically or providentially, we take this step on a weekend where there is a storm in the Gulf of Mexico, and there is a storm in our country. As followers of Jesus Christ, we cannot abide the horrors perpetuated on our fellow human beings due to racism. As followers of Jesus Christ, we must push for change, the only kind of change that can bring about lasting change, a change of heart.
Before we ask God to change systems, before we ask God to change others, I ask you to consider asking God to change you first. Would you consider asking God to open your eyes to any heart attitudes that do not honor Him? As God answers that prayer (He will, and it will make you extremely uncomfortable), would you consider repentance and asking God to forgive you? Would you consider asking God to work on you so that He can work through you? Would you consider asking God to help you be the change He wants to see?
Two thousand years ago, Jesus used twelve deeply flawed people with all kinds of heart issues to change the world. I believe that if we’re willing, God can do it again. What do you think?
-Mike Johnson