Let me share with you a few of my favorite places to eat here in South Florida. (Trust me; I have a point.) When I want a great burger and fries, there’s no place I love more than Flanigan’s Seafood Bar & Grill. Pizza, now that’s a toss-up because, with so many New England transplants in SoFlo, there’s a plethora of great pizza stops. I’ll give my shout out to Big Louie’s and Mizner Pizzeria. Last, but certainly not least, a true staple of the southeastern states, the “Pub Sub” from the Publix Deli. Can you find a better sandwich?
It’s easy to want to share with you my favorite food stops, but there is one thing I cannot do and that’s tell you how great the food is at the Olympia Flame Diner. Why? Because I’ve never stopped in to have a bite. I’ve heard excellent reviews. I’ve seen pictures of the place when I Googled it for this article, but, the fact remains: I have no first-hand experience.
I imagine the above logic makes sense. Few people — if any — review movies they haven’t seen. So allow me to insert what author and speaker Jon Acuff calls a “Jesus Juke” — radically altering the course of conversation toward Jesus.
Are you consuming your Word daily? Do you spend intentional time in the presence of our Lord hearing from Him through meditation on His Word? Are you experiencing Him personally—without ceasing?
Matthew 28:19 commands us to “… go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
I have to ask, how can we fulfill this great commission with any authenticity and authority if we have yet to truly experience the life-changing message of the Gospel first-hand?
Joshua 1:8 says, “Study [the Word] continually. Meditate on it day and night so that you will be sure to obey everything written in it.” When we do so, He promises to “draw near to you,” James 4:8.
Think about that; the Creator of all the galaxies and beyond wants to draw close to you.
To put that in perspective, I’d like to draw from the science presented by Reverend Francis Chan. The speed of light travels at 186,000 miles per second … yes second! A light year then is a measure of the distance that light travels at that 186,000 mile per second for a whole year. That’s far! So how many light years would it take to travel from one end of our galaxy – the Milky Way Galaxy, the one in which our solar system resides – to the other? 100,000 light years. Let that sink in. Still not impressed? Scientist estimate there are 350 billion galaxies like our Milky Way in space. And somewhere, tucked deep within our universe, is Earth, where the Creator of those galaxies and beyond desires to draw close to you in a personal — first-hand — relationship.
It is then, and only then, when we will be able to understand our identity in Him, able to venture into a lost world in desperate need of a Savior. With authority, fervency and joy, we will share what we know about our faith, not from having only read a Yelp review, but from our personal experience: a changed life. In this depth of knowing Him, others will come to know Him, too. He is a relational God who has given us the ultimate text message: His Word. Read and respond; for you have been set apart for His purposes. And because of your obedience, His will will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
C.J. Wetzler is the NextGen pastor at First Baptist Church of Deerfield Beach. Before transitioning into full-time ministry, CJ was a commercial airline captain and high school leadership and science teacher. For questions or comments, he can be reached at cj@deerfieldfirst.com.
