Sent Forward

Focus Statement

A God beginning is not where we arrive;

it is where Christ meets us, transforms us, and sends us forward.

Point of Relation

Point of Relation

Back in 1998…

when Bernadette and I had only been dating for a year,

Semisonic released a song that became almost impossible to escape:

“Closing Time.”

On the surface, it is exactly what it sounds like.

The night is over. The bar is closing.

It is time to leave and go somewhere else.

But tucked into that song is a line that has probably outlived the song itself:

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

And you know what?

There is something wonderfully appropriate about ending a sermon series called God Beginnings there.

Because beginnings do not leave us where they found us. They move us somewhere.

So, yes, friends, we have reached closing time for this God Beginning series.

But our as series is ending, our new God Beginning has already begun.

But here this:

A God beginning is not where we arrive;

it is where Christ meets us, transforms us, and sends us forward.

Things to Consider

We often think of beginnings in terms of destinations—

something we finally reach.

But God’s beginnings are not places to settle.

They change us and call us onward.

The question is not simply, “What has God begun?”

It is, “Where is this beginning sending us?”

What Scripture Says

When Jesus meets Simon Peter in Luke 5,

Peter is not waiting around for his life to begin.

He already has one—

a family, including a wife,

a mother-in-law Jesus had just healed,

a livelihood, partners, boats, nets, responsibilities.

And that morning, he also has failure.

Peter and his companions have worked all night and caught nothing.

Yet when Jesus tells Peter to go back out and lower the nets again,

Peter hesitantly does.

This time, the catch is so enormous that the nets begin to tear and the boats nearly sink.

It would be easy to think that is the climax of the story.

It isn't.

The miracle is not the destination.

It is the threshold.

Miracles in Scripture do not happen merely for their own sake.

They reveal something.

They are witnessed and experienced—and they transform.

This is a pattern we see through out Jesus' ministry and throughout Scripture.

In this miracle,

Peter sees something of who Jesus is,

falls before him, and Jesus responds,

“Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!”

And then comes the remarkable part: Peter leaves the fish.

The greatest catch of his life does not become something to possess.

It becomes part of what sends him forward.

Not back to the same old thing...

but the old thing transformed: Fishing...but for people, not fish.

Paul expresses something similar in Philippians.

He refuses to pretend that he has already arrived.

Instead, he presses forward toward what lies ahead.

That does not mean his past disappears.

As we have already seen in this series, our histories matter.

We carry them with us.

But we do not make them our destination.

Peter could not remain forever beside the miraculous catch.

Paul could not remain where Christ had already brought him.

And neither can we.

God’s beginnings are not given to us simply to possess.

They transform us—

and then they send us forward.

What This Means for You

You do not have to have arrived for Christ to call you forward.

Whatever God has already done in your life matters—

but it was never meant to become the place you stop.

Carry what God has given you.

Let it transform you.

Then follow Christ into what comes next.

What This Means for Us

And neither have we arrived.

God has invited us, called us, accompanied us,

formed us together, and opened doors before us—

not so that we can settle in, but so that we can be sent.

This series may be ending.

But, friends, our God beginning has already begun.

Now let us follow Christ forward.

Amen? Amen.

Written by Rev. Todd R. Lattig with the assistance of ChatGPT (OpenAI).