Beyond Sunday

Something Pastor B said at Coffee Shop Sunday has stayed with me all week:

“Get there. Get there in your faith. Get there in your spirit.”

Those words made me pause. As I sat with them, they began to propel me forward.

I found myself reflecting on all the Lord has done this year, where we are now as Beyond, and the expectation stirring in my heart for what lies ahead. There is so much to be grateful for, and there is a fresh invitation before us.

God is moving. There is a fresh outpouring. We are entering a new season, and what He has planned and purposed for this hour will come to pass.

The question is whether our hearts are positioned to perceive, receive and respond. Will we come into alignment with what He is doing now? Will we participate in His purposes in the earth, and in what He is doing in and through Beyond?

RECOGNISE THE SEASON

The final quarter of the year can carry so many different emotions. Depending on what these months have held, we may feel grateful, weary, expectant or weighed down by everything still demanding our attention.

We may already be counting the weeks until the holidays, hoping to make it through the remaining stretch.

Yet the calendar, our circumstances and our energy levels can become the only lens through which we understand this moment.

I remember a saying I heard along the way:

If all you see is what you see, then you don’t see all there is to be seen.

There is more to this season than the end of a busy year. God is at work among us, and we need hearts attentive enough to recognise His movement in the middle of full schedules and tired bodies.

The sons of Issachar understood the times and knew what Israel should do. Their discernment carried a practical responsibility: understanding the moment shaped their response.

That invites us to reflect together. What is the Lord asking of us in this season? What needs to shift in our priorities, expectations and commitments so that we can respond faithfully?

We can acknowledge our weariness and still come before Him with expectation. We can ask Him to renew our strength and sharpen our discernment so that the demands around us do not consume our attention.

LET EXPECTATION BECOME PARTICIPATION

This expectation also found expression in a recent message Pastor B shared with us, along with the song Outpouring.

We had just celebrated 156 people becoming partners at Beyond. Pastor B reminded us that each person is part of a testimony of God’s faithfulness. God is building His house, gathering His people and establishing something that will reach far beyond the walls of our church.

Against that backdrop, he encouraged us to come with our faith stirred and an awareness that we are stepping into something new. He shared Outpouring as a song he believes — and we agree! — carries the sound of the season we are entering.

His invitation was wonderfully practical: play it in our homes and cars, sing it over our families, and let it become a declaration of faith.

But the invitation reached further than the song itself:

“What God is doing in this house is not something we should simply observe, but something we must participate in by faith.”

Those words give context to the expectation stirring among us and the call to “get there” in our faith and spirit.

As we sing, are we allowing our faith to come into agreement with what God is doing? Are we preparing to receive what He is pouring out? Are we making ourselves available to be part of what He is building?

The song has given language to a prayer in my heart, one that carries an invitation for all of us:

Lord, position us to participate.

LET HIS FAITHFULNESS LEAD YOU FORWARD

That brings me back to Pastor B’s words at Coffee Shop Sunday.

Get there.

As I reflect on those words, I hear an invitation to come into agreement with what God is saying, to allow our faith to reach beyond what has become familiar, and to let Him prepare our spirits for the steps He is calling us to take.

In Isaiah 43:16–19, the Lord recalls His mighty deliverance of His people, making a way through the sea. Then He directs their attention towards the new thing He is doing now.

That sequence arrests me. Remembering His faithfulness gives us confidence to follow Him into something we have not experienced before.

Sometimes painful seasons hold our attention. Sometimes good seasons hold us in place too. We treasure a breakthrough, a way God spoke, or a moment when His presence touched us deeply, and we begin to expect everything ahead to take the same shape.

We can honour those testimonies while allowing God to lead us further. What He has done should strengthen our faith for what lies ahead.

We cannot drive towards our destination with our eyes fixed on the rear-view mirror.

As Beyond, we have an opportunity to bring gratitude and expectation together: to thank God wholeheartedly for what has been and offer Him our wholehearted yes to what is unfolding.

Are we allowing His faithfulness to enlarge our expectation? Are we willing to follow when His leading takes us beyond what we know?

FOLLOW HIS PRESENCE. PREPARE YOUR HEART.

Joshua 3:3–5 gives us a picture of a people preparing to move together.

As Israel approached the Jordan, they were instructed to watch for the ark of the covenant and follow it. They had never been that way before. The ark represented God’s presence among His people, and following it would show them where to go.

That picture speaks deeply to me as we enter a new season at Beyond. We have never been this way before either. Familiar patterns and past experiences cannot tell us everything about the road ahead. We need to remain sensitive to His presence, attentive to His voice and willing to follow where He leads.

There is something deeply reassuring in that. We do not need every detail of the route before we can follow the One leading us. Our confidence rests in His faithfulness, even when the way is unfamiliar.

Then Joshua called the people to consecrate themselves in preparation for what God would do among them the following day. They were to set themselves apart for Him, preparing their hearts for the wonders ahead.

Their preparation had a timing: today.

That challenges me. We can keep waiting for a quieter week, greater clarity or a more convenient moment to respond. Yet there are moments when God calls us to prepare now for what He is bringing us into. A kairos moment — an appointed opportunity — calls for an attentive, timely response.

As we sense His invitation in this season, consecration becomes personal. What has been occupying our hearts? Are there distractions we need to quiet, disappointments we need to surrender or attachments we need to release? Is there something He has already made clear that we have delayed obeying?

“Get there” begins to take shape in these ordinary choices.

We make space for daily prayer during a full week. We allow the Word to shape our expectations. We arrive at our gatherings ready to worship, listen and receive. We offer our gifts, our time and our willingness wherever the Lord is asking us to serve.

We cannot manufacture a move of God, but we can prepare our hearts and make ourselves available to Him. Our response matters to the life of the whole ministry. As each of us responds in faith, we take our place in what He is doing among us and through us.

A stirring becomes a response when we give it expression in obedience.

GET INTO POSITION

I am reminded of a time in my life when I decided to take surfing lessons.

One thing became clear very quickly: riding a wave required me to get into position before it reached me.

I had to paddle, watch the swell and be ready to stand at the right moment. If I hesitated or mistimed my response, I could lose my balance or find the wave passing over my head.

I could never create the wave. But I could recognise its approach, get into position and respond to its movement.

That memory gives me a picture of this season of outpouring. A move of God is like a wave: its power and momentum come from Him. He invites us to participate, and our part is to respond with faith, preparation and a willingness to move.

In the water, recognising a wave was only the beginning. I still had to paddle and commit. In the same way, recognising that God is moving calls for a response. The expectation stirring in our hearts needs to find expression in the choices we make.

We can speak about a new season while continuing with familiar habits and expectations. We can sense His invitation and still hesitate when taking part asks something of us. Yet getting into position may begin with a simple act of obedience: making time to pray, offering to serve, encouraging someone or taking a step He has already placed before us.

Where is He asking us to become more available? What step of faith is before us? How can we support, serve and participate in what He is doing in and through Beyond?

As a surfer responds to the wave and is carried forward, so we can respond to God’s movement and allow Him to lead us beyond the familiar.

His invitation extends into our homes, workplaces and communities — into the people we serve and the places where He sends us.

May we be attentive enough to recognise His movement, ready enough to respond and willing enough to go where He leads.

GO DEEPER TOGETHER

Ezekiel’s vision offers another picture that has been stirring in my heart.

He is led through water that reaches his ankles, then his knees, then his waist, until it becomes a river deep enough to swim in. Wherever the river flows, it brings life and fruitfulness.

As I reflect on that picture, I find an invitation for us to go deeper together.

Have we settled at a depth that feels manageable? Where are we still insisting on keeping control? Where is the Lord calling us to trust Him more fully?

Receiving a fresh outpouring means allowing His presence to shape our priorities, relationships and service. It means becoming willing to be changed by what we receive.

And the life He pours into us is meant to reach others.

This gives weight to Pastor B’s reminder that God is establishing something that will reach beyond our walls. Those 156 people becoming partners are lives being gathered into a shared purpose. Each has gifts to offer, people to reach and a part to play.

Our participation in this season will find expression in how we love, how we serve, how we share the Gospel and how readily we respond to His leading.

As we go deeper together, may what He pours into us bring life to the people around us.

OUR YES TO THIS SEASON

I do not want to reach the end of this year having counted down the weeks but overlooked the invitation within them.

My prayer is that we would recognise this season and respond with faith, with hearts that remain tender, spirits that remain attentive and lives that remain available.

God is moving. There is a fresh outpouring. What He has planned and purposed for this hour will come to pass.

Will we be positioned to perceive, receive and respond? Will we offer Him our yes and participate in what He is doing in and through Beyond?

May our gratitude give rise to fresh expectation. May our expectation lead us into preparation. And may our preparation find expression in willing, obedient action.

As Outpouring plays in our homes and cars, and as we sing it over our families, may its declaration find expression in the way we live. May we come expecting, come believing and come ready to take our place in what God is building.

Pastor B’s words have become a personal invitation to me and a prayer for all of us.

Get there in your faith.

Get there in your spirit.

Lord, prepare our hearts. Bring us into alignment with Your purposes. Make us attentive to Your voice and willing to follow.

We want to be part of what You are doing.