If you did not get a chance to watch this story on WTAE news on Matt Cooke, I encourage you to watch this before reading this post:
Watch Matt Cooke be interviewed by Pastor Doug Melder at a service at North Way Community Church.
I loved listening to this interview. Some of my key takeaways were:
Believing God for Your Lost Loved Ones Matters – Matt Cooke said that his wife was praying for him and dragging him to church for 12 years and it never sank in. Finally, one day it did. What if she gave up during those 12 years? What if she stopped praying? What if she stopped bringing him to church? Believing God for loved ones can be frustrating, especially when days, months, and years go by and you see no changes. Be encouraged by Matt’s story. The Bible says that nothing you do for the Lord is every wasted. Your prayers matter. You inviting loved ones to church matters. You being an example to them matters. Stay the course!
Some People Need to Hit Rock Bottom before They Open Their Hearts to God – Matt had to hit rock bottom for him to hear the message. Nobody wants to see anyone hit rock bottom, so instead, we do everything we can to control their lives so they don’t. Sometimes the best thing we can do for someone is let them hit rock bottom. Let them face the consequences of their choices. God often meets people at the lowest points of their lives.
God is a God of New Beginnings and Second Chances – When someone really gets a hold of God, everything changes. The Bible says that we literally become a brand new person. The old things have passed away and ALL things become new. The change in Matt’s life is very evident. His life is totally different now than it was a few years ago. It reminds me of my favorite quote, “Although you cannot go back and have a brand new start my friend, anyone can start from now and have a brand new end.”
Your Platform is from God and comes with Responsibility – I love when Matt said, “It’s your job to manage the platform God’s given you.” He references Romans 12:4-8. You may not have the platform that Matt does, but you do have a platform. Do what you can with what you have.
When You See an Opportunity to Lead, Step-Up – Matt said, “Unfortunately, we lost the spiritual leader of our team in Jordan Staal, in the road that I’m on now, I’d like to step into that leadership role.” I don’t know about you, but that fired me up. It made me ask myself, where can I step-up and lead? Look for opportunities to lead! Be willing to lead and God will use you in incredible ways! Just do it!
What did you take away from Matt’s interview?
Thoughts?
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