Come Back Home

Exodus 6:6–7 NIV

“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.

Introduction

Growing up in Chula Vista I was afforded the most incredible child hood.

You see, my family lived on Eagle Peak Ct. It was a culdesac that uniquely tucked away town homes into single family residences. There was a swimming pool and a jacuzzi that is much larger than the average neighborhood swimming pools and jacuzzi’s you see today. There was a basketball court that doubled as a roller hockey rink where endless games were played, and the local boys beckoned boys from other streets to come and see if they could defeat them. There was a sloped grass area that housed football games that never should have been played on a slope. There were trees that boys climbed and jumped out of causing bumps, bruises, and in some cases, broken ankles.

The culdesac was packed with energy filled boys. At any time there were 6-7 families of boys who completely drowned out the very few girls on the block. These boys, of which the Herrera boys were a part of, had the same kind of bond that make movies today. Think of the Sandlot, or the Little Rascals. We were a brotherhood.

We walked as a pack to and from school. Our youngest boy was just a first grader, but the older boys looked after and protected the younger ones. No one ever thought of messing with this tiny testosterone pack of cubs. We were committed to each other and we never left a boy behind.

We’d walk home and unlock our own doors. We were a latch key generation, guarded by maybe one or two moms that stayed at home and somehow watched the entire block of kids until their parents were home from work.

But until Moms and Dads came home, the block belonged to the boys. We ruled that block.

Nothing could break us up!

Until one by one, a boy entered into Junior High, and faced with the reality of puberty, attraction to the opposite sex, and much longer school hours, the boys started to drop off. Eventually, families moved. The last family that remained in that famed culdesac of boys was the Herrera family. Then one year, even the Herrera’s were gone.

But… whenever a chance encounter would reunite some of these boys, all of the emotions could be felt at the tips of our souls. “Do you remember Eagle Peak Ct. and the times that we had?” “Of course, how could I forget!”

This was our home.

Transition

And this was the kind of home that God wanted to provide Israel after He brought them out of Egypt. It is the kind of home that facilitates discovery.

Discovery of oneself, discovery of others, and perhaps the most important discovery, the discovery of their purpose.

The Text

We have been wrestling with this text, Exodus 6:6-7, and the Four “I Will’s” that God spoke over Israel.

The handles that we have been preaching from are here:

The Heartbeat of God

For the lost to be saved

For the saved to be pastored

For the pastored to be equipped

For the equipped to be mobilized

Today, we are going to unpack what it means for the pastored to be equipped; or what we call in our house, to Discover Your Purpose.

We are Home

Now obviously, today is a special day as we are worshipping for the first time inside of the sanctuary of our new home.

How many of you are excited that we are finally home in our home?

If you’ve ever been through a renovation, you understand the saying that “I don’t feel at home in my home,” and that is how we have felt for many, many months. And though we are not done in this sanctuary, and we have much more work to do, home is starting to feel like home today.

So with home in mind I want to remind you what the purpose of your Church home is. It parallels your family home in every single way, so please find every single application to your family and walk it out. But today, let’s focus on how God’s church is the place for your to discover your purpose.

Identity is Found in Your Home

What I love about the oral tradition of the Jews that we read about in our scriptures, is that the parents were constantly speaking over their children. They would speak to them when they told them their history. They would speak to them when they would tell them about Egypt. They would speak to them when they would tell them about the wilderness. They would speak to them when they would tell them about the Promised Land.

The telling of history was not just for reflection, but it was for identification.

Son, Daughter, this is who you are!

This is your origin story.

This is your God, and this is who you are.

You see, home is the place where we are to find our identity.

Today, Lighthouse, you are home.

And can I tell you who you are? Can I take a moment to speak your history over you?

102 people gathered in a coffee shop in the fall of 2018 to dream about what it would look like for a life-giving church to come and join other local churches to advance the gospel in North County San Diego.

On March 24, Lighthouse Church officially opened on the campus of Mission Hills High School in San Marcos.

Over the next 50 weeks, several people were introduced to Jesus and made a life-long commitment to follow Jesus.

Many more people came back home. People who had not given up on God, but had given up on church. Or said differently, stopped coming home.

Our last service was held on March 15, 2020, and we had no idea that the next 49 weeks would be the hardest weeks of the life of a church.

Not only were we without a home, but one of our own experienced COVID symptoms and entered into the a life or death match with a ruthless virus.

But this is Lighthouse, a church that was built on prayer, visions and dreams.

Every week an email went out to the church asking for two miracles; for the Lord to miraculously give us a new home and for the Lord to miraculously heal Eli, who was now in a coma.

After countless weeks of prayer the Lord answered both of our prayers. And today, it is only fitting that our miracle brother, Eli, is leading worship in our miracle building.

But it doesn’t stop there, Lighthouse. We have partnered with Kingdom organizations, we have funded church plants, we have served our City, we have baptized dozens of people, and most importantly, we are pushing back the darkness in our city as we gather under the banner of King Jesus.

Lighthouse, this is who you are!

We aren’t people having a service on a Sunday, we are sinners who have been saved by aJesus who is now the King of the universe and we are his people.

This is your identity. And every week that we gather, we are reminded of who we are.

Identity is Shaped in our Home

The reason we gather weekly and the reason you must make gathering with your church family a priority is because our identity is shaped in our home.

Mark Twin said this:

“The world is beautiful and dangerous, and joyful and sad, and ungrateful and giving, and full of so, so many things. The world is new and it is old. It is big and it is small. The world is fierce and it is kind, and we, every one of us, are in it.”

Every week as you are sent out to see the beauty and the danger of this world, we come back to our home to continue to be shaped by our worship unto God, and by the hearing of the word of God. We are shaped by each other. We rejoice together, but we weep together. We celebrate together, but we mourn together.

We carry one another’s burdens.

Each month we gather in our Growth Track to help you understand how you have been uniquely created by God, and then, here in our home, we give you a place to begin to use your gifts to serve others.

This is not a finish line, but it is training for what is out there in this fierce and kind world.

The Dream Team is not the destination. It is home. It is us keeping up with our home. It is us helping to take out the trash, or to do our dishes or to help with the vacuuming.

And if you call Lighthouse your home, and if you are not serving on a team, them you are the sibling who doesn’t do anything around the house.

I say this not to call you out, but I say this to call you up.

Come and be shaped by your brother and sisters in this beautiful house that God has given us.

Affirmed in our Home

Finally, Lighthouse, we are affirmed in our home.

When we leave these doors today our enemy will do everything in his power to deform you into the image of this world. Culture will collide with your convictions. Political parties will rip apart all that you have in common with your neighbor. This world will tell you that our differences are too great for us to ever experience unity.

And this is why our message in this house remains the same:

Galatians 3:28–29 (NIV)

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Lighthouse, home is where we are affirmed in our unity.

You aren’t brave to pick a side and viciously fight with your neighbor.

You are brave to love your neighbor, and to serve your neighbor, and to lay down your own interests, and to carry the burdens of your neighbor.

Week after week you are sent out to be missionaries to your world.

Did you know that?

You aren’t a missionary just because you leave your country. You are missionary when you live your life on mission.

I pray that you take on the identity of a missionary every time you leave this place.

You are on a mission. You are a laborer. You are needed in this world to bring the Kingdom of Heaven into every place and space that you walk into this week.

Where Do We Go From Here - Conclusion

So, let me bring us towards our close.

Where do we go from here Lighthouse?

There are three things that I feel in my heart for this church. There are three “mays” that were impressed on me in prayer last week as I asked the Lord for a word for this house.

May we never stop singing.

We have a song! And I’m not talking about a song that we have borrowed from another worship artist… I’m talking about a song that we sing from the journey of our life.

We have songs of praise for the miracles that God has done for us.

We have songs of worship as we stand in the awe of who he is.

We have songs that are cries of our hearts as we walk through deep water.

And I hear God saying to Lighthouse, may you never stop singing.

The Lord sings over us. That’s what the Prophet Zephaniah said. And that’s what we will do. We are worshippers who worship.

May we never stop praying.

The enemy does not fear a busy church.

The enemy does not fear a friendly church.

The enemy does not fear a popular church.

The enemy does not fear a trendy church.

The enemy does not fear a religious church.

The enemy does not fear a justice oriented church.

No Lighthouse… there is only one kind of church that the enemy fears. That is a praying church.

We can become many things as a church, and they are good and we should. But we can never stop being a praying church.

We have already seen what can happen when the church prays.

Prayer gives us territory.

Prayer calls a man as good as dead back to life again.

May we never stop saying.

“Let the redeemed of the Lord _____ so.”

God is giving this church a voice. He is not giving me a voice. He is giving this church a voice.

All of us, united, must say how good our God is.

We must say to our coworkers that Jesus loves them.

We must say to our classmates that their life has a purpose.

We must say to the far from God that Jesus is better.

We must SAY SO.

Call

And so if you are here today and you feel as thought your identity is still foggy, can I invite you to come back home?

If you feel like your best attempts at success have left you empty, you can come back home.

If you feel battered down and in need of rest. Come home. Come home.