ser01notes

7/31/2019 ser01notes

1/11

Library information:Class: TCD/WHIAccession no: 0

Speaking time: 44.84 mins

setting the table for a God visitHow to Get the Most Out of 40 Days of Community

(adapted from 40 days of community resources)

Reading: Exodus 19

Text: as reading

Place ............................................... Date

Victoria Baptist Church 29/04/2012

File: C:\homes\ian\Documents\Preach\40daysofcommunity\ser01notes.odtPage 1 of 11 Author Ian White revision 21 on 15 May 2012


2/11

We are so glad you are here this morning.

Over the last several months we have been getting ready for aspecial event around here called 40 Days of Community whichlaunches next weekend.

Now if you are new to Victoria or you're a first-time guest today, yougoing to get an inside track on what we are going to be focusing onover the next couple months, and I would love to invite you to be apart of that.

I would like to engage your imagination. I want you to imaginethat, as part of her Jubilee Tour the queen is coming to Eastbourne.

And in an attempt to try to really get a feel for our town she hasdecided to have dinner with the typical family, and you get the call.

Elizabeth II is coming to your house. Now you wouldn't think of having the queen in your home

without cleaning it from top to bottom without getting thekids prepared, probably buy new clothes getting yourhusband (or wife) out of their scruffy jeans and intosomething more fitting for the occasion.

You pull out the recipes that are your family prides itself on

you spend all day preparing a meal that would be fit for aqueen.

And then you set the table. You pull out the fine china, thebest crystal, and you gather the family. Isn't that how yourtable looks every night? Certainly is how it is at my house.The family is gathered, and you wait for the guest of honour.

Well, in a way our church staff team has been preparing over the last

several months for a sort of spiritual meal. We have been setting the table, so to speak, for a special

occasion. Every one of you has been invited to participate inthis special spiritual growth project called 40 Days ofCommunity.

I am sure we are going to enjoy what's been prepared. It'sgoing to be fun doing it together.

But I also want to make sure that we are prepared for the



3/11

guest of honour. Because even more important than usmeeting together and enjoying one another and meetingpeople in the community surrounding the church, over thenext few months I want to make sure that we also have atime that we meet with God.

We have been setting the table for God to visit.

To set the framework for our discussion this morning, I want to takeyou back to a story in the Old Testament It is a spectacular God-encounter that I find really intriguing. I want us to try to understandwhat happened in that story.

As you know from the book of Exodus, it is the story of the

people of Israel leaving the tyranny and bondage of Egyptand making their way to the promise land.

And God through Moses delivers the nation of Israel fromthe Pharaoh they cross the Red Sea and they are confidentlymarching toward the promise land.

They number a little over 2 million people by now and theyhave been on the road for 60 days in Exodus 19 opens with

the nation of Israel standing at the foot of this imposingmountain called Mount Sinai.

And the Bible says that Moses climbed the mountain in orderto appear before God.

This begins one of the most significant God encountersfound anywhere in the Bible.

From this story I want to draw out some principals and applications

that you and I can use to think about how we can spiritually getready for what's going to happen during 40 Days of Community.

I want to share with you several encouragements to meet with Godthrough 40 Days of Community



4/11

1 Look back and remember God's faithfulness(v4)

As we think about where we are headed in the next 40 days I wouldencourage you just to stop for a moment and remember what Godhas already done. Look at how the Lord tells the people of Israel todo this:

Exod 19:4 'You yourselves have seen what I did toEgypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and broughtyou to myself.

When a young eagle learns to fly the mother eagle often flies justunderneath the baby eagle with her wings spread out to supportand catch if needed. What a great picture of God's faithfulness.

Always ready to be there in a time of need to support us when weare in trouble.

Soaring but without any effort!

When I think about his faithfulness to our church and how over 12years ago when Rosi and I, Chris and Esther moved to Eastbourne tobecome part of Victoria we had no idea what would happen.

But as I look back over the 12 years I can see the faithfulness of God.

And the hundreds of people's lives who have been changed as theyhave met Christ here, as they learn about their purpose in life andnow to see a church that's not only as filled on the weekend but achurch whose influence reaches to the corners of the earth. Youand I are a part of something very special and God has been faithfulto this church down through the years.

I want to ask you to do something now. Take your outline, and I

want you to write in the margin one area where you have seen Godbe faithful.

Maybe take just a moment now to celebrate God's faithfulness inyour own life. Listen to these words from Deuteronomy 7 verse 9,

Deut 7:9 [God says: I want you to] know ... that theLORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping hiscovenant of love to a thousand generations of those who

love him and keep his commands.



5/11

I hope when you look back over your life journey that you see God'sfaithfulness and that your heart fills with gratitude. As we thinkabout what God has in store for us in the next 40 days, I want us toremember how faithful he has been in the past and the same Godwho is faithful in the past will be faithful in the future.

Here is the second thing I want to encourage you to do:

2 Look ahead and anticipate your FUTURE (v5)

Again the Lord says in Exodus 19,

Exod 19:5 Now if you obey me fully and keep mycovenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured

possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be forme a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'

Now again remember who God says this to. This was a vagabondgroup of nomads.

Sixty days ago they were slaves. They were nobodies. Theywere poor, they had no influence and no political clout andnow two million strong God looks at them and says, You are

my special treasure.

Here's a truth I want you to learn about them and about usthat is because you follow Christ you are God's cherishedpossession. The truth about that is that some of us who arein the room today really just have a hard time believing thatGod could ever think about us in that way.

You might look around and say to some people I can understand

why God would feel that way ofthem. I mean they are gifted, theyare talented, they've got it all! But God certainly couldn't feel that way about me. If he really knew what's in my past and what's in my world

there's no way he could feel that way about me.

My friend, the truth is he does. You are valuable to him. Youmatter to him just as much as anybody else in the room.



6/11

But he doesn't stop there. He also goes on to say about them thatthey are CHOSEN PRIESTS. He says in verse 6 of Exodus 19,

Exod 19:6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holynation.'

He says that not just to the clergy, not just someone who has beento seminary he says it literally to the entire nation.

Some of you are thinking right now there is no way that I am apriest.

The priesthood is reserved for people who are a lot moreholy than me.

But in the NT Peter wrote these words to average Christian

people

But you are a chosen people a, royal priesthood, a holynation of people belonging to God that you may declare thepraises of him who called you out of darkness into hiswonderful life.

Three things priests do:

Number one is priests have DIRECT ACCESS to God. It's what we call the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Youdon't have to go through any intermediary in order to get in touchwith God. You have a connection opened for us on the cross.

Ephesians 3 verse 12, Because of Christ and our faith in himwe can now come fearlessly into God's presence assured ofhis glad welcome. You have direct access to God.

Number two, priests REPRESENTS God to people. A priest speaks onbehalf of God, he represents God. They don't just live to do whatthey want to live on their own agenda they have an assignmentfrom God, a sacred responsibility.

Do you realize this morning if you are a Christ follower youcarry the reputation of God around with you. And whatsome people think about God is directly shaped by how youlive as someone who represents him.



7/11

So if you are angry and mean spirited, harsh and legalisticand it's known in your office that you're a Christian thensome people are going to conclude well that must be whatGod is like.

But if you are kind, compassionate and patient hard working

and doing stuff with excellence, then people are going toknow that that's what God -- that's what God is like.

So as a priest you have direct access as a priest you represent God,

but thirdly as a priest you have dedicated yourself to a life ofSERVING GOD.

In this particular story as he talks about the priesthood it's notjust about a vocational choice it's a calling. You see your

strongest devotion in life is not to be to your career butrather to your calling.

Your highest calling in life is not to your profession it's to yourpriesthood.

And your real job is to stay faithful and serve God as a priestall the days of your life.

Sometimes it will be the most rewarding and fulfilling thingyou will ever do and sometimes it's hard and sometimes it'slonely and sometimes you are misunderstood.

But there's no retirement. You have been called to give alifetime of serving God as one who represents him.

So we look back at God's faithfulness and remember all that he'sdone in the past. We look ahead and realize we are his cherishedpossession that we are called upon to be priests on his behalf.

But there's a third encouragement I want to give you and that is tolook around. Listen to this:

3 Look around and be part of the Community.

Let me explain what I mean by that. After God challenges the nationto obey him completely and follow him wholeheartedly the peoplerespond back to God. And in fact, their words are recorded in



8/11


9/11

The purpose of the nation of Israel under God was to be a beacon oflight to the nations around them - to declare by example as well asby precept what the love-filled, justice-motivated, merciful God of theuniverse was like. - It's the same with us

In Peter's letter to persecuted Christians he says that, even if there is

opposition, we are not to shrink away from declaring just the same

1 Pet 2:9 you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood,a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you maydeclare the praises of him who called you out of darknessinto his wonderful light.

5 Look inward and prepare yourself spiritually

As we think about starting this campaign next week what does itlook like to get ready spiritually? Listen to the words of God again inExodus 1910 it says,

Exod 19:10-11 And the LORD said to Moses, "Go to thepeople and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Makethem wash their clothes and be ready by the third day,because on that day the LORD will come down on MountSinai in the sight of all the people.

Tucked in these verses are three very practical steps you and I cantake, I believe, to get ready spiritually for what God wants to do inthese next few weeks.

6 Look up and prepare for God's arrival

I want to skip over to a later point in the story. It was vital that Mosesspent time with God

Exod 24:18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on upthe mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty daysand forty nights.

We will get the most our of 40 Days if we set aside TIME.

You won't be able to take 40 days out like Moses did!

But remember, these people are just like us.



10/11

They have jobs and they responsibilities and they havefamilies to take care of, they are tasks that are on their list.And yet God says, this is important enough. I want you tocarve out time to be involved with meeting me.

So again just to be very up front if you are going to get the

most out of 40 Days of Community it's going to happenpartly because you set aside time.

I want to ask you to take out this brochure you should haveon the inside of your news sheet you are going to find 4 veryspecific commitments we are asking every single one of us tomake through out this campaign.

Some of them are very simple. Some of them are a little moretime consuming.

Be part of a small group

Attend Sunday worship for 7 consecutive weeks Culminatingin our church weekend on 16th-17th June

I know your lives are busy. I know you have a lot of thingsgoing on. But each weekend will build on the last. We areasking you to commit to being here for 7 consecutive

weekends in a row.

Read the 40 Days devotional book (available after the service).Each daily devotion is going to be about 3-4 pages long. You canread it in about 7 or 8 minutes. What a great way for you to start offyour day in God's word and also understanding what his plan is forwhat it means for you to live in relationship of other people.

Help meet the needs of the community by participating in at

least one service opportunity (a well thought-out sheet of ideas isalso available)

And then read a daily devotion each day for 40 days. Andthen memorize a verse each week. You are going to get aset of memory verse tags that you can put on your key chainand on the back of each tag is a different verse. We aregoing to ask you to memorize a verse a week because weknow the power of putting God's word in your life. Finally

we are going to ask you with your group to participate in



11/11

this project of feeding the homeless in Orange County overthe next 40 days.

Pray ...

Let's pray together. Lord, we want you to be the guest of honour.We don't want this to be all about our plans. We don't want this tojust be a program. We want it to be a time when your spirit changesus, changes our lives and changes our community. We can'tmanufacture that. We wouldn't want to even if we could. But weask you to do it by your power. Thank you that you have invited usto the table and that some powerful things are going to happen inthe next few weeks and we pray that it would all be about you. Wepoint people in our families and in our church and in ourcommunities to you and that you would be honoured in Jesus'name, Amen.
