A New Level

We are encouraged in Hebrews 12 to keep our eyes on Jesus; we have to be so careful that our hearts and minds are devoted to Him and that we are not deceived by the false promises of satisfaction that
the world gives. In Matthew 6, Jesus teaches:
22 "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.
23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

We can consider what we are allowing into our physical eyes and make sure that we are devoted to purity.  We can also fine-tune our spiritual eyes, to make sure that our desires and our priorities line up with God's intentions for us.  The world can lure us away from our passion for Christ, and we can be challenged to be watchful regarding how we are allowing God's Word and His Spirit to govern our decisions.

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The Bible gives us the strong exhortation in 1st John 2 regarding our priorities and our practice.  We
can read:
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world.
17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Today, I want to spotlight an amazing turnaround in the life of a business titan. He was successful in the business world, starting an insurance agency that "generated over $3 billion in sales," according to the website for an event that he has launched; it states, "In 2003 he assisted in the IPO of American Equity, a $13 billion life insurance company."

And, Michael McIntyre was not interested in Christianity; nevertheless, according to Faithwire, "he’d had an army of people praying for his salvation for quite some time."

But, things began to change when he daughter became sick.  The website says:

“One day my daughter got really really sick. We took her to the hospital and spent 8 hours in the ER and it was really difficult. At the end of the day, we were exhausted — but she was ok.”

The harrowing ordeal reminded Michael of something his mother always said to him when he was younger. “She said whenever something good happens, thanks God.”

And so he did - repeatedly.  That night he had a dream that left him confused, so he reached out to his brother, who had organized that prayer army of some 1,000 people.  The story related the Daniel-esque outcome; Michael relates:

My brother understood the dream immediately and started crying. “What does it mean?” I asked. “You’re welcome,” he answered.

That was it. From that moment on, God opened Michael’s eyes. While the process since that time hasn’t always been easy – God promises it never will be – he’s still grateful.

Faithwire reports:

Given his background in insurance and leading lots of seminars, his pastor asked him to lead a retreat for the church. He did so, and says the Holy Spirit downloaded a very clear vision for something he just had to do.

That’s when Next Level Experience was born.

Now, Michael is helping Christians re-ignite their faith and discover who God really designed them to be in life. “I never thought I’d work in a church or be an executive pastor or anything like that,” Michael admits.

NLE is a three-day conference, during which, according to McIntyre:

“What happens in these three days? You get to look in the mirror and really see who you are. Most people forget who we are because we live in a fallen world. We put these personas on — but what happens is, God wants you to learn how He made you. He’s the manufacturer. So we reveal that to people, exactly who God meant you to be. It’s transformative.”

Now, prior to this week, I was not familiar with Michael McIntyre or Next Level Experience.  But, I am familiar with story after story of God's transforming love.  And, his story can inspire us as we reflect on how God has changed us and will continue to conform us more to His image.  And, as Tammy Hotsenpiller reminded us yesterday on The Meeting House, we all have a story, and God can help us identify His story so that we might be strengthened and others might be encouraged.

And, remember, the Lord is not limited in the ways that He will bring people to Himself.  In this case, He used a crisis in Michael's life - and through that trial, Michael, who had been hostile toward God, began to turn toward Him.  And, then it was step 2 - a dream, which is a not-so-rare way that God communicates with people it seems; we see the methodology in the Bible, and we hear stories especially from the Muslim world in which God works through dreams.  Perhaps God is even speaking to us in the night!

Finally, we reflect on the inability of worldly fame and wealth to satisfy.  Michael McIntyre had it all, it seemed - except the most important thing!  And, the embrace of Christ's love has completely altered his perspective and the way he lives his life.