Prospects

Last week you met the leadership foundation of Hamilton Village. We are extremely excited about what God has in store. Next week I will do our weekly update as well as an inside peek of Genesis Art Instruction and the owners, Kelvyn and Tami Thompson.

This week I would like us to think about Hamilton Village’s prospects. Who are they? I know some, you know some, we all know some! The point is there are a lot of people out there dealing with a lot of junk in their lives. This past week I had two conversations with people who are sifting through every thing and making sense of the hand they’ve been dealt. We’ve been dealing with junk our whole lives. Here’s proof.

When we were 14 weeks old and carefree, we were swimming in amniotic fluid. By this stage of life, we have already started processing our own waste and getting rid of it. Guess where it goes? Yep, the amniotic fluid. We’ve been swimming in our own waste for a very long time!

Although the content changes after birth, the concept is the same. We continually find ways to junk up our lives, with debt, unhealthy relationships, imbalanced schedules, bad choices, family feuds, and other temporary outlets. We have this void that we are trying to fill but are unsuccessful in finding the One thing that actually fits and works. We create our own filters to get rid of the junk or ways to lessen their effects. But in the end, it doesn’t matter, the junk is still there, haunting us, mocking us, and guilting us to try one more self-help remedy. Filter after filter we attempt to clean up our lives; only adding to the convoluted mess we’ve created.

Enter Jesus. Jesus is the solution. Jesus took the weight of the world’s sin (junk) upon His shoulders. The key to filtering the junk out of our lives rests on the empty cross and in the empty grave. Self-help remedies are no longer needed. Religion is no longer needed. Condemnation is no longer the verdict. Guilt is replaced by conviction. Identity is not defined by success or failures but through grace. Death is defeated and life is now restored. All because Jesus entered the scene and changed everything. Jesus brings peace to the chaotic, purpose to the wandering, and hope to the hopeless. He instills confidence, self-worth, and meaning when nothing else worked. Jesus is the answer. Filtering the junk through Jesus helps us see the big picture of who is in control and why we go through what we go through. He defines the junk rather than the junk defining us.

My prayer is that we will begin to identify those in and around our lives that are overwhelmed by the junk in their lives and begin the process of providing the proper filter. My hope is that Hamilton Village becomes a place of refuge for weary souls longing for a place to rest. May we keep our eyes open to the probability that we are surrounded by prospects that need a relationship with Jesus.