God’s Unexpected Storyline for the Early Church

What does it mean to surrender our rights for the sake of the gospel and unity? Jeff Norris, Jimmy Kim, and Caleb Click reflect on the surprising ways God advanced His kingdom through the early Church.

Quotes:

• “God—in the way that He’s writing the story of the Church and the story of our lives—He’s going to often lead us down paths that we wouldn’t have anticipated. He’s going to lead us into suffering that we would not have chosen, or that we would have said, ‘Yeah, that’s how I would want this to go or see it going,’ and He’s going to call us to things that are hard.” — Jeff Norris
• “Every now and then I’ll be thinking first about my neighbor or thinking first about what really pleases the Lord in (a) situation. But what does it look like if that becomes the norm? That’s not the uncommon reality—it’s the common reality for me and for every believer. When Jesus said, if you want to be first, you must first be last. He meant that. That was directive. That is how the kingdom of God operates.” — Jeff Norris
• “Living a Spirit-led, Spirit-filled life is no doubt going to take you down paths that you wouldn’t have chosen. But in doing so, a Spirit-led, Spirit-filled life is going to lead you into God’s saturated realities that you would have otherwise missed. ” — Jeff Norris

Listen to this and more episodes on our Digging Deeper podcast, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other streaming platforms.