After 34 years in ministry and
spending most of that pastoring one church, Brian Houston, founding
pastor of Hillsong Church in Sydney, says he doesn't want to become
complacent and unaware of what God wants to do through him in the
future.
Speaking at the C3 Conference in Dallas, Texas, Houston drew from
Hebrew 13:12 - the passage referring to some people entertaining angels
without knowing - and urged church leaders not to live their lives
unaware of what God is doing around them.
He pointed to examples in the Bible of people unaware before they
became aware.
Eli was unaware that God had been speaking to the boy
Samuel; Jacob had been unaware of God's presence; the disciples on the
road to Emmaeus were unaware that Jesus, the Messiah, was walking
alongside them.
"You can guarantee that there are things that we are unaware [of],"
said the Australian preacher. "We are unaware of God's purpose, unaware
of God's plan, unaware of what God wants to do in a service like this.
"I want to encourage everyone here to not settle for living your life unaware."
The state of unawareness can take many forms, according to Houston.
We could be spiritually unaware or not have the self-awareness of who we
are in Christ. Other times, we could be so aware of certain
inadequacies that we are unaware of our God-given potential and
God-given opportunities, he said.
Houston recalled that as a young boy he had the hope that one day God
would use him somehow. He said that now as he looks back to that time,
while he never walked those streets near his childhood home again, he
could realise the grace that God had shown in his life.
However, the Pentecostal pastor emphasised that he doesn't want to
grow complacent, being stuck in past endeavours so much that he is blind
to God's plan for him moving forward.
"The last thing what I want to do is to look back and see what I've
done ... or how many conferences I've been to... and be unaware of what
God's wants to do in my life [in] the years ahead," he said.
Drawing from Proverbs 1:32, Houston elaborated on the destructive
nature of complacency and called on church and ministry leaders to never
settle for the middle ground. Being complacent robs us of the
opportunities placed in front of us by God, he said.
"It sits in words like mediocre and lukewarmness and half-heartedness," Houston stated.
"If there is one thing that would bring out God's objection is that middle ground, just sitting somewhere in the middle."
Houston said Esau was indifferent to the birthright of God so he sold it for some stew.
He cautioned pastors and church leaders against looking elsewhere
other than their indifference to find the answer to their problems.
"The biggest challenge is not opportunity. It's just sitting there in the middle ground."
"I pray in Jesus name that we won't say to our soul anything that
gets us to settle for easy street that gets us to miss our God-given
opportunity," Houston told the audience. "He [God] can do more for you
than you could ever dreamed."