Not Where but How



In my mind I can see a young boy running to look out the window
every few minutes.  Then he would open the door and look around.
 Then he shuts the door again and runs back to where his parents
are eating supper.  It is a plain meal: Roasted lamb, some
herbs, and unleavened bread.  He passes the table again, grabs
another hand full of supper and starts his trek all over again.  

"Son, " his father calls for the umpteenth time, "It is still
there.  Quit worrying."

But the young man cannot help himself and looks again.

Yes, the blood is still there.  

And his life depends on it.

So began the birth of the freed Nation of Israel.  Protected and
led by the fire and the cloud.

Passover.  Deliverance.  The beginning of Israel's new year.  A
moving out of the slavery of Egypt and a trek into the kingdom
of God.  

Move down with me a millennium and a half.  Once again God's
people are being called out.  The sacrifice has been made.  The
blood applied.  The firstborn is now in heaven representing his
purchased people.  

The nucleus of Spiritual Israel is together in one place.  In
harmony.  Praying, singing, encouraging each other.  Taking care
of the affairs of the fledgling church.  

Then came the fire, and the church was baptized in a special way
with the approval of their Father in Heaven.  

It is common, and appropriate as we begin a new year to do some
reflecting and planning. It is useful to took to the future and
plan what we are going to do.  

This is the time of New Year's resolutions.  If you made any,
they have probably already been broken.  Our feet of clay stand
exposed.

What can we say happened in our church over the last year?  
Each of us here had a birthday, though some will deny it.  We
took care of some of the problems that have plagued the building
for some time. And the Lord kept our furnaces from either
blowing us up or killing us.

Did we as a church grow closer to our maker? Did you as an
individual find a closer walk with your maker?

Just some things to consider as we face the New Year.

If we were to make New Years resolutions for our church where
would we start.  What do we need?

More money?

More enthusiasm?

More dedication?

Better leadership?

How many here would approve that list?

Now I am going to take a chance here.  I am going to ask 5
people to volunteer to answer the following question.  And I
want it phrased in a positive way.

Where would like to see the church at this time next year?  What
is your dream?  What is your vision?

Look for agreements.

Have felt that way before.  Perhaps some had the same thoughts
last January.

But I would like for you to think of something for a moment.

I think that most of us would agree that it is not the what or
where that is the most important thing, but the HOW.

Remember, Passover was celebrated with the people prepared to go
to a promised land.  They were packed.  They were dressed to
travel.  I can imagine their donkeys in the courtyard, packs
beside them, ready to go.  The chickens were in reed baskets. 
The blankets were rolled up.  Who was going to sleep tonight
anyway?

Yet here was the most important question.  How is this going to
happen?

Let's look back at the history of God's People.  New Year for
Israel had to do with the Exodus.  In the first month of their
year was the celebration of deliverance from Egypt and slavery. 
The oppression of their masters was removed in a mighty way by
Jehovah, the God of judgment, who judged His people to be free,
and their captors as dead.  

It was the mighty working of God that birthed the Exodus.

And the New Church?

In Acts 1 Jesus tells them to wait.  So they did. They continued
in church business.  They waited.

The disciples prayed with intense earnestness for a fitness to
meet men and in their daily intercourse to speak words that
would lead sinners to Christ. Putting away all  differences, all
desire for the supremacy, they came close together in Christian
fellowship. They drew nearer and nearer to God, and as they did
this they realized what a privilege had been theirs in being
permitted to associate so closely with Christ. Sadness filled
their hearts as they thought of how many times they had grieved
Him by their slowness of comprehension, their failure to
understand the lessons that, for their good, He was trying to
teach them.  {AA 37.1}

     These days of preparation were days of deep heart
searching. The disciples felt their spiritual need and cried to
the Lord for the holy unction that was to fit them for the work
of soul saving. They did not ask for a blessing for themselves
merely. They were weighted with the burden of the salvation of
souls. They realized that the gospel was to be carried to the
world, and they claimed the power that Christ had promised.  {AA
37.2}

     During the patriarchal age the influence of the Holy Spirit
had often been revealed in a marked manner, but never in its
fullness. Now, in obedience to the word of the Savior, the
disciples offered their supplications for this gift, and in
heaven Christ added His intercession. He claimed the gift of the
Spirit, that He might pour it upon His people.  {AA 37.3}

The disciples prayed.  They were together.  They were in unity
with each other.  They were at unity with God.  Note what we
just read: "....the disciples offered their supplications for
this gift, and in heaven Christ added His intercession. He
claimed the gift of the Spirit, that He might pour it upon His
people.  {AA 37.3}

Who claimed the gift?  The Apostles, and Jesus.  

So how do we become the church that God would have us to be?

We have to ask Him.  

Will we do it with meetings and planning, and discussing?

I think not.  

Oh we will need to plan.  We will need to discuss.  We will need
meetings.  But all of those are useless without the power of
God.  This church can never be what God would wish it to be
unless we let Him do the work. But we have to ask Him.   

 He is waiting to pour out on us gifts and blessings that are
unimaginable, if we just let Him.  But we have to ask Him.   

What God would like to see accomplished here in your life and
mine, in this church as a body, is totally incomprehensible and
unbelievable to us.  We cannot begin to get the faintest
glimpses of what He wants for us, until we begin to get a
clearer vision of Him and who He is.  But we have to ask Him.

This year, I pray that our church takes a journey.  I would pray
that this year is the year we can look back on and say a
thousand times more than the past year, "What wonders God has
wrought."

Our first step is prayer.  Prayer as we never have experienced
it.  Prayer as if our lives depended on it, because it does. 
Because we have to ask Him.   

And what do we pray for?

With Moses we need to pray that God will give us a glimpse of
His Glory.

Like Joshua we need to pray for victory in the battle over evil.

Like Solomon we need to pray for great wisdom and discernment.

Like Jesus we need to pray for the Holy Spirit to saturate His
church.

Like the early Christians we need to pray for boldness to preach
God's word.

Like Paul we need to pray that our eyes might be opened to the
understanding of God's will.  

Because prayer is the breath of the Christian.  

Just as surely as you will die physically without air, you will
die spiritually without prayer.

This is the beginning of the journey.  This year will bring joys
and sorrows.  It will bring delight and dismay.  It may fly like
an arrow or drag like an eternity.  But our God is with us.   

And whatever we need for our salvation is ours.  But we have to
ask Him.   

Will you make a commitment with me, here and now before God,
that with His help you will keep in touch with Him this year?  I
don't want a mass exodus to the front to impress me.  Or your
neighbor.  If you come up I want you to do it as a commitment to
your God.