“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” “. . . ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” “And he has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”
These passages of Scripture spring to mind when considering the almighty power and faithfulness of God as he plants Redeemer Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Hawaii. The planting of a church is his work, and Christ will be faithful to his promises. At times we break out in audible praise and other times we simply stand back and gaze, dumbfounded, in quiet awe, thoroughly humbled before our God.
Pastor Douglas L. Watson answers, “Not much!” to the question, “What have we done to establish this church?” The main means of publicity and outreach have been no more than a website, SermonAudio.com, signs, and word of mouth by people who love the Lord who first loved them. He adds, “as we remain faithful by God’s grace to biblical preaching and worship, we mostly just pray and entrust the building of the church into his hands.”
Redeemer OPC has witnessed the professions of faith and baptisms of three people who were called by the Holy Spirit from outside the church to faith in Jesus Christ. She has also seen the profession of faith of one covenant child and the baptisms of eighteen more covenant children.
Add to these things that, in five years, God has increased the twenty-one in the Sunday evening Bible study to nearly seventy-five members and regular attendees of Redeemer Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The Lord has caused membership to grow from zero to fifty-eight. He has changed Redeemer from a mostly military church to a mostly residential church. He has also given many other people to participate for a limited time, sending them on to other places through military and job transfers.
The Bible equates success with faithfulness, not with numbers, but consider the testimony to Christ’s faithfulness to his promise to build his church, and the testimony to the power of God, that these numbers give. We simply pray, and God does the work.
Consider what God continues to do, and then join the people of Redeemer OPC in giving praise to him. Read these words, look at the pictures, and stand in dumbfounded awe before God.
