So the sermon yesterday was the last in a series, “When God shows up…” that studied the interactions and reactions of several Old Testament epiphanies (physical manifestations of God, for Vicki and Tiffany).  This has led us up to Advent when we will study the ultimate revelation of God in His ultimate physical manifestation:  the incarnation of the Son, Jesus.

The text was Exodus 33 and the outline went like this:

1.  The people were “stiffnecked” or rebellious and needed to be obedient. (vv 1-6)

2.  Moses valued God’s presence more than being in the land of milk and honey. (vv 12-17, esp 15-16) For us as Christians, God’s presence does not leave us, but we have a way of segmenting our lives so that we only pay attention to God’s presence at certain times of our choosing.

3.  Obedience and the pursuit of God’s presence will open you to experience God in ways you never before would have considered. (vv. 18-23)

At the end of the sermon, I stated that we had been through a desert kind of year this year.  We seemed to be doing so well and the church was growing, but we had staff turnover and that was confusing and frustrating and nothing seemed to be happening about that.  The church hadn’t really had the sense of excitement that we had the last couple of years before.

Now, however, God is beginning to move among us and open us up to things that we never before have seen.  The Search Committee is finishing up their service in pursuit of a Worship and Young Adult Pastor.  He should be coming in view of a call very soon.  They are traveling to meet with him after Thanksgiving.

But even that is not the biggest news…

A year and a half ago, I asked for us to pray that we would be a place that God would do things that only God could get the glory for doing.

Seven months ago I challenged our church to work and pray toward paying off our debt, about $90,000 at the time, by the end of this year.  We worked faithfully and reduced the debt by about a 1/3 in that time to get our church to a place just under $62,000 by Sunday.  Though we worked hard and were faithful, we just couldn’t reach that goal.  Or really get close to it.  Enough to show faithfulness, not enough to claim that we could do it in our power.

When I challenged the church to pay off the debt, a man in our congregation began to ask God for the ability to pay off the mortgage, unbeknownst to me.

On Friday morning I received a phone call asking me for a meeting with this man and his wife.

On Sunday morning I held up a check for $62,000 given with the only stipulation being that he and his family not be made known – that God would get the glory.

I know it has been a desert kind of year for us, but, as with Moses, it is better to be in the desert with God’s presence than in the land of milk and honey without Him.

I know that God has bigger things in store for us than we have ever imagined.  We must simply be obedient and continue to focus on dwelling in His presence.

Posts with related content

• March 3, 2010 -- Transitions: Culture (0)
• February 23, 2010 -- Transitions: Deconstruction… Yes (3)
• February 18, 2010 -- Transitions: Deconstructing… everything? (2)
• February 16, 2010 -- A parable of the church: The Big Red Tractor (0)
• February 9, 2010 -- The Missional Church: A short, simple video (0)