The Awesome Potential Of Nothing

I was speaking with someone several weeks ago and I was sharing with them the burden and the direction that the Lord has led Renee’ and I in.

I told them that we were taking this leap of faith.

That we’re going to Hattiesburg and we’re gonna plant a church, under the direction of the Holy Spirit and that we’re starting with absolutely nothing, except God’s Word leading us to Go!

I looked up that word, Nothing, in the dictionary and it’s defined as “Something that does not exist” or “Someone or Something of no value”.

In other words, it’s not anything, it has no substance, it’s worthless.

It’s Nothing!

My friend, there is a church being birthed right here today from Nothing!

But God has ordained it to be so and therefore it will be so.

You see Grace, the unmerited favor of God, has covered my wife and I and Grace is what this church is about.

Our arms of love are opened up to any and everyone.

We want you to know that Jesus loves you and we do to.

This is to be a place of restoration and healing.

It’s to be a place where Grace abounds and a place of new beginnings.

We welcome you and this church is starting today from literally Nothing, but I’m here today to proclaim to you that there is Awesome Potential in Nothing!

God is going to make an impact through Abundant Grace of Hattiesburg.

We don’t have any hidden agendas or any selfish motives.

There’s no big I’s and little you’s.

We simply want to share the good news of Jesus Christ, regardless of your past, your financial status, your family, your race, your failures or anything else.

Everyone will be welcomed and loved here.

For such is the Kingdom of Heaven.

God laid this thought, The Awesome Potential Of Nothing, on my mind a while ago and I had no idea that I would use it today for this very special first service, but it has been churning in my spirit.

We look around us today, in this vast world that we live in and we see all of the results of man’s creation.

We see the things that the industrial revolution and the technological revolution, along with the explosion of man’s knowledge have birthed into our world.

And I thank God for our modern conveniences.

After Hurricane Katrina, I don’t ever want to take them for granted again.

But I’d like for us to remove all of the man-made creation and all of our material possessions from our view and look at the beauty of God’s handiwork for just a moment.

We see the beautiful blue sky, with a gorgeous sun placed in it, shining it’s light down upon us.

We see the mountains, the rivers, the streams, the trees, the valleys and meadows.

We see the oceans and deserts, the Moon, the twinkling stars, the rain, the lightning and even the rainbow.

We hear the sound of the birds singing, we see the wonder and the beauty of the wildlife and look upon ALL of this creation in amazement.

We see the humanity, whom God created to worship Him.

I want you to look next to you, at the person sitting there and really think about, God literally made this individual.

The human body is so very complex, yet God made every facet of it.

How many of you know today, that the Bible is the infallible, indestructible and inspired Word of God?

The Bible tells us in the book of Genesis {and I’m reading from the Amplified Version}

Genesis 1:1 & 2: “In the beginning, God (prepared, formed, fashioned, and) created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was without form and an empty waste, and darkness was upon the face of the very great deep. The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters.”

It says that the earth was Without Form.

Those words, Without Form, in the original text are translated from the Hebrew word, to’-hoo, which literally means NOTHING!

So there was Nothing there, except God.

So what Genesis really tells us is this, that God stepped out into Nothing, He stood upon Nothing, He looked at Nothing, and from Nothing made everything!

There is a sky above us, which He created from Nothing and He placed it on Nothing.

The sun, stars and moon, which He created from Nothing, He hung them on nothing.

He formed the earth and every thing upon the earth from Nothing.

From the dust of the earth, which He created from Nothing, He created man in His own image and breathed into humanity the breath of life and caused man to become a living eternal soul.

With ONLY the substance of His WORD, God stepped out into Nothing and made EVERYTHING!