Embracing an Unexpected Future

How do you embrace a future you were not expecting?

Samual was not expecting Saul to be replaced by God as King....

1 Samual 16:1-5

Samual Loved Saul and was having a hard time letting Go

God tells Samual where and which family the new king would come from

God then Tells Samual to get over the fact that Saul is to be replaced.

In order for Samual to be used by God he had to begin to think about things in a different way. He (Samual) had to let go of the way he thought it was supposed to be and open himself up to the way God was leading.

READ vs 6-13

1 Samual 16Saul was being replaced because he was not serving God as King anymoreSamual Loved Saul and was having a hard time letting GoGod tells Samual where and which family the new king would come fromSamuel makes the mistake of judging who the new king may be by appearanceGod tells Samuel not to make that mistake… READ vs 6-13Jesse Point of View…”What just happened”This would have been totally counter to expectation, This would have even been embarrassing in the eyes of the rest of the nation Yet…God closed the door on the expected and did a wonderful work through the unexpected The most important aspect of faith in God is to actually have Faith in God.One of the most uses Christian Cliches is our ways are not always God’s ways. We give this as advice and expect others to think that we are full of wisdom and great faith. Yet when this truth is pointed out direction we look at people with this advice like they are a goodie two shoes or we think them naive, or we just plain become frustrated with them thinking they do not care. What if we stopped for a moment when faced with a moment like this and asked God to help us to think differently about the situation. An Atheist and a Christian in a BarThere is more than one way to look at any situation…The Christian obviously saw it as an act of GodThe Atheist saw it as dumb luck.Part of the frustration in life comes not because of the circumstance itself but how we are conditioned to think about them. Sometimes things just happen so we have to choose how we think about them.God’s people have the ability to chose how to react to all the situations we find ourselves in if we are willing to live in faith that God really does care about us.God’s people have the ability to see what could be instead of mourn what could have or should have have been. Details of sale of propertyCyndie Russel and I went to the close of our property really excited to start the process of renovation. To our building. We engaged in small talk and signed contract. Awesome right. Then in a very nervous tone the representative of the school district said the following. “I know you are anxious to use the money from the sale of this property to start updating your building. I just want to encouraged you to be cautious because the school district has instructed me to start condemnation processes on several other properties and I full expect them to ask me to do the same for your.Talk about the air being let our of a wonderful day. Immediately I was frustrated and shared very forcefully my frustration with the representative.The ride back to BA was quiet and to be honest a bit depressing. I began to count all the ways this had just destroyed the plans we have been making for the last year or so. I began to contemplate how to force the school to leave us aloneThen I had a conversation with Cyndie that helped me start to think differently about our situation.What does this mean for us?We don’t knowWe are going to meet with the School District soon to talk about timing etc…We are going to keep up this current facility as if we were going to be here a 1000 yearsWe are not going to get in the mud publiclyWe are going to seek God’s direction for new locations etc…We are going to continue to treat each other with love and respect…no one….no one saw this comingWe are going to continue to be BA School district biggest supporter!We are going to live out our mission.We WILL continue to grow

READ vs 6-13

Nothing about how David was chosen made any sense to anyone. David was not heads and shoulders above everyone…David was not the oldest, in fact you can take by the way everything is described that David was the least physically impressive of all of his brothers.

Yet…God Chose Him to be King....

Jesse and the Brothers Point of View…”What just happened”???

This would have been totally counter to expectation, This would have even been embarrassing in the eyes of the rest of the nation

Yet…God closed the door on the expected and did a wonderful work through the unexpected.

The rest of Davids Story also relied on the importance of faith and patience....

he most important aspect of faith in God is to actually have Faith in God.One of the most uses Christian Cliches is our ways are not always God’s ways. We give this as advice and expect others to think that we are full of wisdom and great faith. Yet when this truth is pointed out direction we look at people with this advice like they are a goodie two shoes or we think them naive, or we just plain become frustrated with them thinking they do not care. What if we stopped for a moment when faced with a moment like this and asked God to help us to think differently about the situation. An Atheist and a Christian in a BarThere is more than one way to look at any situation…The Christian obviously saw it as an act of GodThe Atheist saw it as dumb luck.Part of the frustration in life comes not because of the circumstance itself but how we are conditioned to think about them. Sometimes things just happen so we have to choose how we think about them.God’s people have the ability to chose how to react to all the situations we find ourselves in if we are willing to live in faith that God really does care about us.God’s people have the ability to see what could be instead of mourn what could have or should have have been. Details of sale of propertyCyndie Russel and I went to the close of our property really excited to start the process of renovation. To our building. We engaged in small talk and signed contract. Awesome right. Then in a very nervous tone the representative of the school district said the following. “I know you are anxious to use the money from the sale of this property to start updating your building. I just want to encouraged you to be cautious because the school district has instructed me to start condemnation processes on several other properties and I full expect them to ask me to do the same for your.Talk about the air being let our of a wonderful day. Immediately I was frustrated and shared very forcefully my frustration with the representative.The ride back to BA was quiet and to be honest a bit depressing. I began to count all the ways this had just destroyed the plans we have been making for the last year or so. I began to contemplate how to force the school to leave us aloneThen I had a conversation with Cyndie that helped me start to think differently about our situation.What does this mean for us?We don’t knowWe are going to meet with the School District soon to talk about timing etc…We are going to keep up this current facility as if we were going to be here a 1000 yearsWe are not going to get in the mud publiclyWe are going to seek God’s direction for new locations etc…We are going to continue to treat each other with love and respect…no one….no one saw this comingWe are going to continue to be BA School district biggest supporter!We are going to live out our mission.We WILL continue to grow

The most important aspect of faith in God is to actually have Faith in God.

One of the most used Christian Cliches is our ways are not always God’s ways.

We give this as advice and expect others to think that we are full of wisdom and great faith.

Yet when this truth is pointed our direction we look at people that give us this advice like they are a goodie two shoes or we think them naive, or we just plain become frustrated with them thinking they do not care.

What if we stopped for a moment when faced with a moment like this and asked God to help us to think differently about the situation.

An Atheist and a Christian in a Bar

There is more than one way to look at any situation…

The Christian obviously saw it as an act of God

The Atheist saw it as dumb luck.

Part of the frustration in life comes not because of the circumstance itself but how we are conditioned to think about them.

Sometimes things just happen so we have to choose how we think about them.

God’s people have the ability to chose how to react to all the situations we find ourselves in if we are willing to live in faith that God really does care about us.

God’s people have the ability to see what could be instead of mourn what could have or should have have been.

This is an important thing to remember as I

Details of sale of property Cyndie, Russel and I went to the close of our property really excited to start the process of renovation. To our building. We engaged in small talk and signed contract. Awesome right.

Then in a very nervous tone the representative of the school district said the following. “I know you are anxious to use the money from the sale of this property to start updating your building.

I just want to encouraged you to be cautious because the school district has instructed me to start condemnation processes on several other properties and I fully expect them to ask me to do the same for your property.

Talk about the air being let our of a wonderful day. Immediately I was frustrated and shared very forcefully my frustration with the representative.

The ride back to BA was quiet and to be honest a bit depressing. I began to count all the ways this had just destroyed the plans we have been making for the last year or so.

I began to contemplate how to force the school to leave us alone.

Then I had a conversation with Cyndie that helped me start to think differently about our situation.

What if this is God’s way of forcing us to embrace His future for us…What if all the things we have fought to keep…God really wants us to let go of?

What if the building the land, the ideas we thought would bring us back to the good old days really was or is what has not only kept us from moving forward but caused the decline we have all seen?

Wait…don’t get mad, don’t move to a fighting stance…stop…pray…allow God to speak.

This could if we will embrace God’s future be the best thing for BA Nazarene Church....I have been here before....

it was sad it was difficult and there were some that had a lot of trouble moving through the death of a great pastor to connecting and trusting a new pastor…

But here we are…together trusting God

Most Church merges fail…they go back to the largest of the two this was what everyone was telling me this is what all the research showed....but I kept on telling a different story....

What if people could be drawn to a church that instead of splitting over something dumb…(Which it had)…What if two churches gave up their identity and self interest to join together to model what real unity looks like.

Our Church had grown to around 220 at this time and the other church had dwindled to the twenties So at our best we were reaching about 250 as separate Churches.

Our first combined service we met at a fine arts center of the community college that seated 600 and we had well over 500 show up for service…When we went to regular schedule we jumped from 250 to 300 and never dropped below that number in fact we continued to grow right up until I accepted my call to come here.

God did something that everyone said could not be done…because we dared to defy human expectation by thinking differently…

You have been here before…When I came here 3 years ago it was because of an event that no one saw coming. 5 years ago none of you would have imagined another pastoral transition so soon…yet through no ones fault it happened.

it was sad it was difficult and there were some that had a lot of trouble moving through the death of a great pastor to connecting and trusting a new pastor…

But here we are…together trusting God...

The most important aspect of faith in God is to actually have Faith in God.

When Jesus gave Communion to the Disciples and us it was in essence to help them remember the bigger picture.

I say all this to say that I have begun to think differently about all of this...

Jesus knew that the Disciples were going to need something tangible to keep them focused on His mission for the world.

So should we.....

What does this mean for us?

We don’t know. We are going to meet with the School District soon to talk about timing etc…

Here is what we do know and what we are going to do....

We are going to keep up this current facility as if we were going to be here a 1000 years

We are not going to get in the mud publicly

We are going to seek God’s direction for new locations etc…

We don’t know. We are going to meet with the School District soon to talk about timing etc…

We are going to continue to treat each other with love and respect…no one….no one saw this coming

We are going to continue to be BA School district biggest supporter!

We are going to keep up this current facility as if we were going to be here a 1000 years

We are going to live out our mission.

We are not going to get in the mud publicly

We WILL continue to grow in Faith and in Numbers....

We are going to seek God’s direction for new locations etc…

We are going to continue to treat each other with love and respect…no one….no one saw this coming

We are going to continue to be BA School district biggest supporter!

We are going to live out our mission.

We WILL continue to grow in Faith and in Numbers....

I am going to ask that everyone fast and pray at least one day a week until as we get the answers we need.

When Jesus gave Communion to the Disciples and us it was in essence to help them remember the bigger picture.

What if people could be drawn to a church that instead of splitting over something dumb…(Which it had)…What if two churches gave up their identity and self interest to join together to model what real unity looks like.

Jesus knew that the Disciples were going to need something tangible to keep them focused on His mission for the world.

Our Church had grown to around 220 at this time and the other church had dwindled to the twenties So at our best we were reaching about 250 as separate Churches.

Our first combined service we met at a fine arts center of the community college that seated 600 and we had well over 500 show up for service…When we went to regular schedule we jumped from 250 to 300 and never dropped below that number in fact we continued to grow right up until I accepted my call to come here.

God did something that everyone said could not be done…because we dared to defy human expectation by thinking differently…I say all this to say that I have begun to think differently about all of this...

What if this is God’s way of forcing us to embrace His future for us…What if all the things we have fought to keep…God really wants us to let go of?

What if the building the land, the ideas we thought would bring us back to the good old days really was or is what has not only kept us from moving forward but caused the decline we have all seen?

Wait…don’t get mad, don’t move to a fighting stance…stop…pray…allow God to speak.

This could if we will embrace God’s future be the best thing for BA Nazarene Church.

I am going to ask that everyone fast and pray at least one day a week until as we get the answers we need.

When Jesus gave Communion to the Disciples and us it was in essence to help them remember the bigger picture.

Jesus knew that the Disciples were going to need something tangible to keep them focused on His mission for the world.

He knew there would be unexpected surprises and he also knew that this sacrament could also be used to help us become refocused on God’s mission instead of our own.

As we come to the table today do not come worrying about what I have shared but trusting in God’s future for you and for us.

Communion

I do not have many answers but I am willing to stand here and answer any question I can today after service…

However I

Communion

Prayer Verse 10 is the benediction