Here s the point: when He moves, we move. Will you say that with me?

Transcription

1 Here s the point: when He moves, we move. Will you say that with me? Every once in a while, a message feels like it wants to be shared again. This is one of those messages. When God moves, we move. Let s start in Exodus, chapter 40, verses These are the last verses of this story of how God moved his people out of slavery and into community. Maybe you remember that when Exodus ends, the people have just pulled together all their resources to build a tabernacle for the Lord. Anyone who says church buildings don t matter has not read the book of Exodus. Clearly, God s presence doesn t begin and end in a building, but this idea of having a spiritual home a place set apart that matters to God. Through Moses, God gave them very specific instructions on how to craft this elaborate tent that would become the most holy place in the Israelite community a symbol of God s presence among them and the place from which He would lead them through the desert to the promised land. When this tabernacle the Israelites built was all finished, the very last verses of Exodus (40: NLT) tell us that a cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. 35 Moses could no longer enter the Tabernacle because the cloud had settled down over it, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. 36 Now whenever the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out on their journey, following it. 37 But if the cloud did not rise, they remained where they were until it lifted. 38 The cloud of the Lord hovered over the Tabernacle (remember this part, because we see it again in the New Testament. In Acts, chapter 2 when the disciples are in a room that becomes filled with the Holy Spirit. Something like fire comes down and hovers over them The cloud of the Lord hovered over the Tabernacle) during the day, and at night fire glowed inside the cloud so the whole family of Israel could see it. This continued throughout all their journeys. 1

2 So once the tabernacle was complete, God came into the House and filled it and a cloud rested over it with fire in the cloud so all the people could see it. And the Lord told them, When the cloud moves, you move. Now, depending on which Hebrew word for tabernacle we use, it can mean a place to meet or a place that moves. That tells me that from the very beginning there has always been a relationship between the presence of God in His temple and the journey of faith. It also tells me God never meant for his tabernacle to get stuck in one place. It was built to move. And that s a spiritual principle that is still true today. God s tabernacle is designed to move when God moves always in the direction of his promises. When He moves, we move. But you say, we don t have a tabernacle like the Israelites had so how is this relevant for us? Well fast forward to Matthew, chapter 3, where Jesus is being baptized by John in the Jordan River. As Jesus came up out of the water, the story says he saw the Spirit of the Lord descending like a dove and settling on him. So now we have this image of God settling not just over buildings but over people. This is a big shift in the New Testament: God is not just filling buildings with his presence, but also people. Jesus became God s new-covenant tabernacle! Now move from Matthew to the first chapter of Acts, where the resurrected Jesus is talking to his disciples over dinner. Acts 1:6-8 (THE MESSAGE) says When they were together for the last time they asked, "Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?" He told them, "You don't get to know the time. Timing is the Father's business. (we could spend the whole morning on that one line timing is the Father s business God s purpose is not to give us everything we want but to give us Himself Jesus says ) What you'll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, (let s read this part together) you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world." 2

3 In other words, Jesus tells his followers, you are about to become the tabernacle because what God did first with the tabernacle and then with Jesus He is about to do with all believers. When we take Christ into ourselves, we become the tabernacle and our faith journey then becomes that journey toward the promises of God. And just like the first tabernacle, when he moves, we move. (say that with me) When He moves, we move. You can not go with God and stay as you are. That s a hard one for a lot of us. But when God invades a life, he intends to make us into a tabernacle fit for His Spirit. He wants to do a new thing in you! So in a very important way, Acts is the rest of the story that began in Exodus. God took the laws and commandments of Moses and he put them into the person of Jesus Christ and called us to receive Christ into our hearts. Then just as he did with Christ, he fills us with his presence, making us into His tabernacle. So it really is true I am the church and you are the church! Now we are the tabernacle of God. That means we have the same resources available to us that the Israelites had and the Acts community had. Like them, we have the power of God. We don t do this on our own steam. Acts 1:8 says - When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will receive power The same power the Israelites had who fought with enemies twice their size and won who found food enough to feed hundreds of thousands of people who received miracle after miracle of God s provision we have those same resources. When we accept the Holy Spirit into our lives we are no longer victims but people with power to move out of our bad circumstances and into better ones. And as we are healed, we have power to move people and resources across deserts and into the promises of God. Of course that means that when God moves, we move, too. From the very beginning, part of the church s DNA is that it moves. It goes where God goes. He has no desire to make us comfortable out there in the desert. 3

4 So here s the thing: we wrestle with things. And it may be that sometimes we wrestle because we are trying to move without God. And sometimes we wrestle because God is ready to move and we re not. So I wonder if you are wrestling right now with something and if you can put your finger on why that is? I mean, you can stay out there in the desert if you want, but if God is ready to move on, maybe you ought to move on with him. Jesus said that (Acts 1:8, CEV) the Holy Spirit will come upon you and give you power. Then you will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and everywhere in the world." So we not only have power, we also have this incredible, life-giving story to tell. Jesus commanded his followers to move out on the power of the story. He said, You will tell everyone about me in your hometown, but not just there. You will also move out beyond your hometown, and you ll go to people you don t even like. You will follow my story to the ends of the earth. That was his last word to his followers. You will be my witnesses in your community, in your region, and even to the world beyond that. And this is why we are hosting a Global Impact Celebration we ve been talking about. Because we have a story to tell! Our church has a story and a heart and a way of serving that no other church has. You guys amaze me. You didn t become the friendliest church in town by accident. You love like I ve never seen people love and together we ve jumped into a lot of great projects. It has been sort of like a pile of puzzle pieces. We ve put a lot of pieces into our mission pile. What we have now is a lot of history of doing a lot of great projects. We ve learned a lot about what works for us and what doesn t. I believe we ve begun to define our heart. So now we are ready to bring that heart into focus to pull those pieces together so we can serve in just the way God is calling us to serve just like we are, with our heart and our gifts. By focusing on where God is calling us specifically, we will move from projects to partnerships 4

5 so we are not just sending a team somewhere but building a partnership with the people on the other side. We re not just sending a check we re sending prayer and we re hearing their stories throughout the year and really getting God s heart for the world. We re learning how to go beyond great projects to the place where we are making an impact on a life our community the world. That s what February is all about. We are going to worship and celebrate the move of the Holy Spirit in our community, in our region and around the world. We will host missionaries serving in Augusta, Atlanta, Haiti and India. We ll hear from people whose lives are dedicated to this cause of telling the story of Jesus in our Jerusalem and in our Judea and to the ends of the earth. We are going to celebrate how God has already moved among us, and we re going to get a vision for how to take what we re already doing and focus it to make a greater impact. This is the heart of Spirit-filled outreach. It is about joining God in his work. It is about partnership. It is about moving out with this amazing story Jesus in our hearts. Paul says in Romans 1:16-17 (NLT) - I am not ashamed of this good news about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes This good news tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. The good news about Christ is the power of God power to find lost people and feed hungry people and give hope to hopeless people. How will we invest in the things that matter to Jesus? Are we willing to go where Jesus sends? The answer to those questions depends on our openness to the Holy Spirit. As William Temple says, no one who is filled with the Spirit of God can keep that Spirit to himself. Where the Spirit is, he flows forth. And where there is no flowing forth, he is not there. In other words, 5

6 the Holy Spirit is meant to move. God is calling us to flow forth to make an impact on the lives around us our community the world. One last thought: In Exodus, it was not a person but a community that moved out of bondage and toward the promises of God. And it was that same community that built the tabernacle. In Nehemiah it was a community that built the temple and restored the wall. In Acts, it was a community that received the Holy Spirit and then flowed out into the streets building that community from a couple-dozen to a few thousand in one day. So that the filling of the Holy Spirit is not just an individual experience but also something given to the community to strengthen and empower it for the work of the kingdom. That s how we ve been designed by God. We are designed to follow him in community. Paul says (1 Corinthians 3: NLT) Don t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? 17 God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God s temple is holy, and you are that temple. And again in Ephesians, chapter 2 (Eph. 2:20-21 NLT), Paul says - Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. So the Christian life is not a me and Jesus thing, but an us and Jesus thing. We are in this together. And when He moves, we move. I love what we re doing here at Mosaic. We ve spent the last three years making sure we have a spiritual home for the guy who walked in last week looking for an A.A. meeting for the kids who come every Tuesday for Awana. We ve claimed this piece of ground for the Kingdom. But this is not a staying place. This is a launching-from place. So now I believe this is a divine time for us time to get a missions strategy that emphasizes partnership and accountability. And that allows us to move when God moves. When God moves, we move. 6

7 Exodus teaches us that the tabernacle is important to God. It is both where we meet and how we know when to move. Acts teaches us that we are now the tabernacle of God. And as his temple, we are called to a journey. When God moves, we move. I want to close this time in prayer. And I want to ask you to feel your spirit as the tabernacle of God. He is with us. Are you willing to go where he is calling you? I want to invite those who are professing their faith, joining the church or being baptized to come forward. My friend who founded a home for street kids in India has been sharing lately about an attack on the church she attends. She parents something like 45 kids and they all go to this church. About three weeks ago, on a Sunday morning, their pastor had just started baptizing some believers. Four of Tammy s teen girls were among them. There were about 300 people in the church when they began hearing chants and a mob approaching. The mob was comprised of over 350 militant Hindus, dressed in black and saffron...chanting angry slogans against Christians. Their whole purpose was to stop the baptisms. They had police support, and they physically assaulted/manhandled several believers and literally drug the pastor from the baptism pool when he refused to stop baptizing people. He and other leaders were arrested and jailed on false charges. One of the girls from the family home was there waiting in line to be baptized. A lot of the kids were there in the room and were barricaded into the church by the mob. The pastor was released, but he will have to face charges just for converting and baptizing people. This is exactly why mission partnerships are so important. People facing that kind of pressure just for following Jesus need our prayers and support. And their stories teach us how to trust Jesus in ways we would never learn without them. Because... you know we get so used to baptisms and church life and we forget that these things have incredible power on the spiritual 7

8 level. We forget there are people out there putting their lives on the line for what we are doing here today. That s why God sends us to the ends of the earth. Because unless the gospel we preach works for the whole world, it doesn t work at all. What our kids are about to experience right now this is not just a ritual or a symbol. This is powerful stuff. Every time someone takes a stand for Jesus every time someone takes a stand for the Body of Christ and for His Church every time someone steps into waters the Kingdom on earth grows stronger. Every time! What you are doing here strengthens our friends in India just as surely as their stories strengthen us. 8