The theme of this week’s service is formation. That might not be a word we use every day – but it is something that God is doing in our lives every day whether we realize it or not. Formation means that God has big plans for our lives, but he needs to mold us or form us into the kind of person who can accomplish his will.
As we look into what our vision is for the church, we must ask ourselves who are we and where are we going? We get many of our answers to these questions in the book of Matthew where Jesus tells us that sight/vision is more than just physical – there is also spiritual sight. We are reminded that, while we must “go and make disciples of all nations,” church is not just about getting more people into the church but about transforming lives through love.
We are challenged to remember the ways God has shown his works in the past and to believe that the God of today is just as powerful as the God of yesterday. Then, we are told how we can ignite our faith through appreciation of God’s creation. Finally, we are shown how the humanity of Jesus can help us remember that he also suffered in this life and that we can deal with our trials as he did, through prayer.
Using our own lives as well as the lives of biblical characters such as Simon Peter as examples, we are reminded that God never fails and that he is willing and able to do all things. We are reminded that we are all following someone/something and that others are following us. Therefore, if we want to live in the kingdom ever after, we need to stand firm in Jesus and declare, “I will follow you.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 tells us that there is a time for everything, including death. Today’s sermon looks at death as our eternal retirement (from life) and asks us how we are preparing for it. We are reminded that even Jesus was conscious of time and that what we do with our time is critical. We are reminded that God has expectations of his children and their time on earth. What are you doing with your time?
Holiness is often misunderstood even by Christians. Our minds might picture Puritan preachers yelling or solemn church services in cathedrals. There’s much that we can learn from Moses’ encounter with our holy God at the burning bush on Mount Horeb. When we better understand the holiness of God, holy living as disciples of Jesus becomes more accessible.
Moses’ unlikely but divine path to becoming Israel’s deliverer challenges us to look for ways that God can use his followers to be deliverers. We often over simplify the amazing and unique things that happened in our lives to allow us to be delivered from sin. This can lead to many in our churches feeling like they can’t really contribute evangelistically. In this message you’ll see how little things in Moses’ early life set him up to be a great deliverer for God.
The story of Joseph teaches us that God is with us in our struggles. Not only that, but God is able to produce something from that struggle. Joseph had God’s perspective on struggles in his life and remained faithful to God’s promises.
Hebrews 11:1-20 reminds us of God’s faithfulness – from creating purpose out of chaos and nothingness to our lives today. We are reminded that, without faith, it is impossible to see God. Instead, we must trust God in our limitations because God is incapable of being unfaithful. If you wait until your life is in order to let God in, you will be waiting forever because (as with creation) only God can bring order to the chaos and nothingness of our lives.
Jacob’s wrestling match, in the middle of the night, comes when he is not expecting it. He realizes that he’s not just wrestling with man, but God himself, and the experience leaves him (and history) changed forever. As Christians, we can be surprised by the ways that God engages us too. Things in our lives that start out lacking clarity in darkness and even in isolation often end up being the things we wrestle and struggle with until God brings them to light.