Winning Ways: What We Hope People Will Become

"I wish before God that everyone would become as I am."

It's horribly wrong to wish that, or it's beautifully right. It depends on what you're hoping for.

Paul expressed this wish in Acts 26:24-29. As he expressed his confidence in the resurrection of Jesus, he turned to King Agrippa and said, "You believe the prophets' promise. I know you do."

Put on the spot, Agrippa scoffed, "Oh, in so short a time you're persuading me to be a Christian I see!"

"I wish to God," Paul replied, "that you and everyone listening to me would become as I am."

Some of us want others to become as we are, but not in the way that Paul was wishing. What we mean is, "I wish to God that everyone would adopt my political convictions." Or, "I wish to God that everyone had my taste in films and music." Or, "I wish to God that everyone was as culturally refined as I am."

While it is certainly right to have our own preferences and passions, the agenda of our church fellowship is not to ensure everyone aligns with us in these areas.

But there is a way that it is entirely right to say, "I wish everyone would become like me."   If we have met Jesus, we want everyone to know him as we do. It becomes the subject of our prayers to God and the subject of our conversation to others.

Join us this Sunday @ 10 as we renew our hope that Austin will become like us. We need to repent of the wrong way to hope that, and we need to renew our commitment to the right way to hope that.

Thankful for Our Deacons. While the deacons at Hillcrest are not a governing board, they are a wonderful sounding board. We've enjoyed prayerful and productive conversations on a number of topics. In our multigenerational church, it's great to have a multigenerational deacon team. Here are their ages: 82, 81, 76, 67, 66, 65, 63 (3), 59, 57, 55, 54, 48, 47 (3), 42, 39, 37, and 35. As you can see, we'll soon need to identify a few church members from the 25-35 age range to join us, but otherwise we're well represented across the wide age range of our church. You can find their names at www.hillcrestaustin.info/deacons. Pray for these guys!
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