Two Relationships
Notes
Transcript
Deacon Nomination below
As the 1960s turned into the 1970s, many public schools met children with names they had not heard before. Little MoonBeam and Frisbee and Precious Promise were making their way into the world. That’s when the kindergarten teachers first met Fruit Stand. Every fall, according to tradition, parents bravely apply name tags to their children, kiss them good-bye and send them off to school on the bus. So it was for Fruit Stand. The teachers thought the boy’s name was odd, but they tried to make the best of it.
"Would you like to play with the blocks, Fruit Stand?" they offered. And later, "Fruit Stand, how about a snack?" He accepted hesitantly. By the end of the day, his name didn’t seem much odder than Heather’s or Sun Ray’s. At dismissal time, the teachers led the children out to the buses. "Fruit Stand, do you know which one is your bus?" He didn’t answer. That wasn’t strange. He hadn’t answered them all day. Lots of children are shy on the first day of school. The teachers had instructed the parents to write the names of their children’s bus stops on the reverse side of their name tags. The teacher simply turned over the tag. There, neatly printed, was the word "Anthony."
You may have spent time in your life when the people around you didnt know you or anything about you. I’m here to tell you they missed out. But also to tell you God didnt miss you. He knows you and everything about you. Everyone else too! From the most rebellious atheist to your saint of a grandmother, our loving and just God knows you all.
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
Some folks like to think their refusal to acknowledge God means they fly under His radar. As though if they refuse to see Him, He cant see them. A toddler may play hide and seek or peekaboo like this, but we know its not how it works. v.11 If I say surely darkness will hide me… Acknowledging God and His will for your life is crucial to your FIRST RELATIONSHIP.
Did you know the purest, most basic translation of the biblical YHWH is <inhale> <exhale>? The first thing you ever did at birth was call His name.
Too often we like to think that we inhabit our own universe as people here on earth. Some of us even like to think that we are the center of our universe and the world revolves around us. But in reality we are just participants in the universe that was created for us by the Almighty God and Maker of everything in it.
We often get busy doing our own thing and living our own life and we lose sight of the reason that we were created in the first place. It may come as a shock to some this morning… But we were created for one express purpose "to worship God"
11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”
You may be more familiar with this verse set to music: Thou art worthy… 100
There you have it: We were created for Gods pleasure! To give Him glory and honor. We were created to have an intimate and loving relationship with our creator. Know Him. Make Him known.
David realized this, even at a young age. When he was called and anointed as a young boy to be the king of Israel - his relationship didn't begin at that point - he already had a close and intimate relationship with God. He was chosen because he loved the Lord.
This is why in the story of Goliath he is able to take responsibility for Israel’s army. He took personally the insults Goliath was throwing toward the God of Israel’s army.
But this is also why, early in Moses journey, he was not able to take responsibility for Israel.
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
There was NOT YET a relationship between Moses and God, so there was no willingness to accept responsibility. I am reading a book called Replenish by Lance Witt. It is a book for pastors, church leaders, about making sure we serve from a place of health. A statement I ran across in this book a couple weeks ago was ‘Relationship comes before responsibility. I can’t ask you to take responsibility until I have a relationship with you.’ It was a noteworthy idea, but didnt really sit on me until I saw it in these two relationships with the Father. David was. Moses, at this time in his life, was not. Granted, as Moses’ relationship with God grew, he took full responsibility for Israel. “If you blot their name out, mine too...”
And then there was Jesus: The Father and I are one. If you have seen me you have seen the Father. Because the relationship was complete, pure and perfect, Jesus was willing to take ultimate responsibility. The more we know each other, the more we can bear one another’s burdens.
Let’s close out this first relationship with a closer look at Jesus. I will over-simplify this. Until we enter a relationship with Jesus, He does not take responsibility for our sin. We keep it. He has offered. Paid for. But until we
Devotional booklets on the greeter kiosk and here at the communion table.
Business meeting
Danny and Brandi Willis
Deacon nomination
3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.
8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9 They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. 11 Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. 13 For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
Nominate as many as you are led. When the names have come back the current deacons will put together a list of men to begin to visit with. In October we will bring back to you a list of those who are willing to serve.
Men, if you do not wish to be considered as a deacon candidate please go ahead let me know.