20/20 Vision 1: Gathering

Hey guys! You have no idea how excited my family and I are to finally be here at East! It seems like it’s been FOREVER since we preached in view of a call here. But it was just back on November 24. And we are now here in 2020 and we get to begin a new chapter in the history of East.

But listen don’t panic… It’s the same book. Just a new chapter! I need you to know that I have no intention of changing everything you know and love about this church! I hope to convince you of that through three of the next four weeks and Andy John’s coming back next week to preach in that same vein.

If I could sum up what I would love to see God do here in the coming days is for us to SEE CLEARLY. For us all to SEE CLEARLY the next steps God has for us. For us to SEE CLEARLY why in the world God planted this church here in Harvest. That’s why I’m focusing the next few weeks on this very thing: 20/20 SEEING CLEARLY.

I want to let you know where we are going the next few weeks in our messages. Our goal over the next four weeks is to put your hearts and minds at ease about this transition stuff! Yes, I am the new Campus Pastor here at East. But I need you to know that I have no intention of changing everything you know and love about this church! I will do that through three of the next four weeks and Andy John’s coming back next week to preach in that same vein.

We as pastors hear lots of strange requests, comments, and questions. That’s why so many pastors write books. Y’all give us great material!

I have served in two other churches through my 11 years of ministry. In both of those I was coming into a pastoral position that didn’t exist prior and my purpose was to create systems and ministries that didn’t exist prior. I was coming in with a blank slate and had to design things from the ground up. That can be greatly rewarding but at the same time, it is a lot of work!

But there is one honest question that I have gotten over and over again in my ministry...

PRAISE GOD, that is not the case here!

I recognize that this church is a healthy one. I believe there are lots of really good things going on here, and I have no intention of trying to “shake things up” just because I’m the new guy. I simply want us to take the healthy gameplan that is already in place and keep running the race!

In both churches I have served in previously, I got one recurring question from people in the church...

How can I get plugged in here?

That is a question that honestly most churches don’t have an answer to! They might lay out 75 different Bible Study options for each week and Sunday morning worship, Sunday night worship, Tuesday morning fellowship, Wednesday night prayer meeting, Thursday night visitation, and the list might go on and on. It can be a great thing to have lots of things going on, but it can also be confusing for those just coming into your church.

I simply want us to take the healthy gameplan that is already in place and keep running the race!

We want everyone to be a part of the Gathering, a Groupand the Movement of God

We have a simple process here at East that I love and you will hear me say it over and over and over in 2020.

We want everyone to be at the Gathering, be in a Group and be a part of the Movement of God

I love that simple, yet deeply profound process! Over the next three weeks, I am going to talk about each one and lay out how we should think about each one moving forward.

So, in light of that… I want to remind you of what we are about here at East through my first three messages. We are calling it “Seeing Clearly” because we want to help you see clearly what we are seeking to see happen here.

For a while now, you have heard your staff define what it looks like to be a part of East as

We want everyone to be a part of the Gathering, a Groupand the Movement of God

Gathering

Group

Those are three simple, yet deeply profound steps. Over the next three weeks, I am going to talk about each one and lay out how we should think about each one moving forward.

Over the next three weeks, I am going to remind you of what those three things are and how we should think about each one moving forward.

Be a part of a Group

This morning, we will look at the Gathering. And by “gathering” I’m talking about this Sunday morning time mainly (though it would also include any church-wide events like fellowships etc). Through this message I hope that you see the emphasis that we make to center each and every worship service around God and who he is. We aren’t throwing darts at songs on the wall and snagging sermons off the internet. Your staff has been and will continue to be GREATLY INTENTIONAL in what we do in this hour plus time together each week.

Be a part of the Movement of God

Those are three simple, yet deeply profound things that I am going to take one week at a time to walk through. This morning, we will look at the Gathering. Through this message I hope that you see the emphasis that we make to center each and every worship service around God and who he is. We aren’t throwing darts at songs on the wall and snagging sermons off the internet. Your staff has been and will continue to be GREATLY INTENTIONAL in what we do in this hour plus time together each week.

This morning, we are going to look at two desires that are at the heart of your staff as we prepare each week for our worship services. By knowing these two things, I believe you can SEE CLEARLY what we want this time together each week to be about.

These two desires are actually from the heart of Moses in the book of want to read verses 12-17 of chapter 33 aloud, then I’ll pray, and we will come back and start studying this guy together. Sound good?

Exodus 33:12–17 CSB

Moses said to the Lord, “Look, you have told me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor with me.’ Now if I have indeed found favor with you, please teach me your ways, and I will know you, so that I may find favor with you. Now consider that this nation is your people.” And he replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” “If your presence does not go,” Moses responded to him, “don’t make us go up from here. How will it be known that I and your people have found favor with you unless you go with us? I and your people will be distinguished by this from all the other people on the face of the earth.” The Lord answered Moses, “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor with me, and I know you by name.”

Look with me at

PRAY

The interaction Moses has here comes at an important time in the history of God’s people. If you are unfamiliar with the Old Testament, a majority of it tells the story of God leading a group of people who become known as Israelites. Though God continued to help them and protect them, they found themselves enslaved in the largest empire of that time which was Egypt. Moses was an Israelite that God used to lead these people out of Egypt and slavery.

God leads them out of Egypt in some crazy miraculous ways that you can read about in the previous chapters in Exodus. And now, God has called Moses to climb this mountain called Sinai. There, on that mountain, God speaks with Moses. God begins to reveal things about Himself to Moses and explain to him how this newly freed group of people are to worship him. He explains things like the sacrifices they will make, what the temple will look like, what sin is, and things like that. There is one very important thing God gives Moses here…

The Ten Commandments. God gives Moses the Ten Commandments to pass along to the Israelites right here on Sinai.

The verses I read earlier are towards the back end of that conversation. So, Moses has just had detailed plans spoken to Him about how to inlay walls with gold and where jewels need to be in the temple. He’s heard how to cut the throat of certain animals as sacrifices for their sin, how to divide each one up, and which parts are to be burned, eaten by the priests, and destroyed.

If I’m Moses and I’m getting all that, I’m gonna be like Trixie the dinosaur from Toy Story 4...

God, “I have a question. Um, well actually not just one, I have all of them. I have all the questions.”

But instead of asking about all those things, Moses inquires of two things… Moses asked them for him personally. I’m going to make them for all of us and not individual.

1. Help Us Know You

Moses had just had a wild and overwhelming interaction with this God, but what was he really like? Who was God on a deep level? What is his character like? What makes him tick? What does he do and what does he desire his people to do? WHO IS GOD?!

Moses asks God in verse 13 “please, teach me your ways!” In that question are all the questions I just asked. And what is the outcome of learning God’s ways? “AND I WILL KNOW YOU.” When we learn the ways of God, we come to understand him deeper!

Why does Patrick pick the songs that he does each week to lead us in worship? To entertain us? To stir our emotions? NO! He picks songs that Teach us the ways of God. WHY? SO THAT we might KNOW GOD more fully!

Why is that so important? Look back at verse 13...

Moses says, “Please teach me your ways, and...” What? I WILL KNOW YOU. Why does Patrick pick the songs that he does each week to lead us in worship? To entertain us? To stir our emotions? NO! He picks songs that Teach us the ways of God. WHY? SO THAT we might KNOW GOD!

Why am I going to stand here and yell at you for half an hour each week? So that you can be “a better person”? So that you’ll stop cussing, lying, and drinking? NO! Each and every sermon has at its core the cry GOD, HELP US KNOW YOU!

WHY? Look there...

Why? SO THAT we might KNOW HIM!

But how in the world can we know such an infinite God? We can’t… Unless he makes himself known to us! Well, that stinks, right? We can’t simply think real hard about God and grow in knowledge. We can only understand who God is if he wants to be known and actually reveals himself to us.

AND I WILL KNOW YOU.

But how in the world can we know such an infinite God? We can’t… Unless he makes himself known to us! Well, that stinks, right? We can’t simply think real hard about God and grow in knowledge. We can only understand who God is if he wants to be known and actually reveals himself to us.

Moses knew that this God He was speaking with truly was the God of all power who had created the universe and sustained its existence by his hand, but he wanted more! He wanted to know God intimately!

Moses knew that this God He was speaking with truly was the God of all power who had created the universe and sustained its existence by his hand, but he wanted more! He wanted to know God intimately!

Well, guess what? HE HAS. We have God’s Word right before us! One of the foundational purposes of God’s Word is to reveal the author, GOD!

That’s the cry of the human heart! We all see

IF your church staff has as a priority that our worship services be driven by the prayer “Help us know you,” then what might we hold high in those services? The Word of God, right? It is my promise to you as your pastor that God’s Word will be preached from this pulpit whether it is me or someone else who’s doing it. And it is the promise of your worship pastor that the songs he picks will be Scripture rich and not just froo froo feel-good garbage. If the God of all Creation wants us to know Him and has given us a way to know him, we must prioritize that!

In our gatherings, God’s Word will outline what we do and say each week. It is the curriculum by which we will grow together as a people! We cannot allow things to be done or said here that go against the Bible. It is the way in which God has ordained that we know him deeper!

But there is another cry that will be coming from your staff each week that Moses had as well...

2. Be With Us

God had as a task before Moses to lead this large group of people across dangerous terrain, through warring nations, to a land that he had promised to their ancestors. God reiterates that in verse 1 of chapter 33...

Exodus 33:1 CSB

The Lord spoke to Moses: “Go up from here, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: I will give it to your offspring.

This was a TALL order for God to give to Moses and this halfwit group of people. Moses clearly had his doubts about it! Because he says in verse 12 to God, “You have given me the gameplan, but I need to know HOW you plan to get this done. Who’s coming with me?” God answers in verse 14, “My presence will go with you.”

Moses says

What a thought! The God of all creation will be with you as you go! What task is too tall for that kind of help? What can’t God accomplish? The angel said to Mary after telling her she was miraculously pregnant with God’s Son that “nothing will be impossible for God.” And Jesus said in his own ministry that “with God all things are possible.” No dangerous terrain can bring death in light of God’s provision. No warring nation can overtake them when God is fighting for them. This incredibly difficult task of reaching the promised land is looking much more simple.

But look at what Moses says in response to God saying he would go with them...

Exodus 33:15 CSB

“If your presence does not go,” Moses responded to him, “don’t make us go up from here.

:

Moses says, “God, if you’re not with us, then leave us right here. Don’t send us anywhere without your presence.” Moses understood that God had laid before them a seemingly insurmountable task. And he was reminding God of that and requesting his presence to help them see it through. In that request is the inherent idea that they would stick to God’s plan. (That is not the case, however. Time and again, God’s presence was with them in the task, but they seek their own way and do their own thing. In doing so, they experience the full weight of responsibility when God isn’t in their presence.)

Moses knew there was no need in them attempting anything risky, out of the norm, or truly anything great if God wasn’t with them in it. They would fail, and fail badly!

Moses knew that the moment they got away from the presence of God they were done for. (This gets proven true time and time again in the Old Testament as the people choose to be disobedient to God and go their own way.)

Your staff’s cry on behalf of this church each week will be the same as that of Moses… “BE WITH US GOD!” And we want that to be at the core of these gatherings!

Not that we are asking God to go with us where we want to go.

REAL LIFE EXAMPLE? Not wanting to your presence but your approval.

I can remember going as a youth ministry chaperone when I was in college. When you are in college, you are beginning to understand adulthood and responsibility, but you still have way too high of a desire to be liked by other people at all costs. I can remember some of the guys in the youth group asking me to hang out with them one night. I said, “Sure!” In my mind I’m thinking, “Yeah, I’m cool. They like me!” Then one of them says, “Hey Heath, let’s walk to that gas station down the street and get some snack stuff.” In this moment, I realize, they didn’t really want me, they just needed an adult to sign off on their hairbrained scheme. They didn’t want my PRESENCE, they wanted my APPROVAL.

That is not what we want this service to be about: telling God what we plan to do as a church and asking him to join us. We don’t need God to sign off on our worship service each week. WE NEED HIM to BE here. We don’t need his APPROVAL, we need his PRESENCE.

There was no need in them attempting anything risky, out of the norm, or truly anything great if God wasn’t with them in it.

We want to do just as Moses did. We want to bring before God the risky, out of the norm, and truly great task he has laid before us and then ask him to be with us as we seek to accomplish it.

We must be willing to stand here and say like Moses, “If you’re not in it God, we won’t do it.”

What is the task laid before us?

Your staff’s cry on behalf of this church each week will be the same as that of Moses… “BE WITH US GOD!”

Your staff’s cry on behalf of this church each week will be the same as that of Moses… “BE WITH US GOD!” Not that we are asking God to go with us where we want to go, but that we want to acknowledge

Matthew 28:18–20 CSB

Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Notice how similar this is to . The task is laid out, but how does Jesus end this? I AM WITH YOU! The presence of Jesus is promised in this task. As we seek to make disciples in this area and around the world, God will be with us! We will talk more about the Great Commission when we talk about the movement of God, but this truth greatly impacts the time we spend at our Gathering!

It should be a time in which we come to celebrate what God has done, is doing, and will do through this body of believers as we move WITH God in this task of international disciple-making. When we get together on Sundays, we want to acknowledge God’s presence and find peace and confidence in that to continue on!

The first step in being a part of Lindsay Lane East is to be at the Gathering. Congrats! You did it! You’re here!

But let me ask you… Are you really here? Like mentally, emotionally, spiritually? Or do you just come in and suck oxygen? You see, to truly be a part of East, you need to make these two desires of Moses your desires! We need to all come in each week praying...

GOD HELP US KNOW YOU.

GOD BE WITH US.

This will cause us to be more attentive to the Word of God as it is declared and the Presence of God as he stirs, convicts, and leads.

So, what is your next step today?

Let’s talk really practically. These are the two prayers we want to come in with each week, but how do these two prayers shape what we

We must be willing to stand here and say like Moses, “If you’re not in it God, we won’t do it.”

God

“We won’t move without you!”

Are these two desires in your heart? Are these prayers on your lips? If not, that was OK before you came in. But now, you have no excuse. If you call East your home, we must call out to God along with your staff with these two requests: Help us KNOW YOU and Be With Us.

What about today? Are these two cries on your heart? Are these prayers on your lips? If not, that was OK before you came in. But now, you have no excuse. If you call East your home, we must call out to God with these two requests: Please Teach Us Your Ways and Be With Us.

What about today? Are these two cries on your heart? Are these prayers on your lips? If not, that was OK before you came in. But now, you have no excuse. If you call East your home, we must call out to God with these two requests: Please Teach Us Your Ways and Be With Us.

But what does that look like today?

I believe anytime God’s Word has been explained and taught, we can find some “next step” for us. What is your next step?

If you haven’t been praying these two prayers with your leadership, begin doing that now!

And listen...

We want to acknowledge each week that the God of the universe dwells among us and

Great Commission - Marching orders, presence is promised.

God’s Presence helps us see the HOW behind our gathering.

Moses portrayed reliance on God’s Presence to move from their place. We must acknowledge that for our church in this next season.

The Word of God and the Presence of God came together over 2000 years ago when God Himself took on flesh and lived among us as a man named Jesus. This Jesus lived the perfect life you and I couldn’t live, and died the death that we were condemned to die. In that he paid the debt for our sin so that we might be made right with God. This debt is realized when we trust fully in this finished work of God through Jesus and ask him to be Lord of our lives.

For many in this room, we have given our lives over to Jesus and he has changed us greatly! If your story doesn’t look like that, but you would like for it to, I would love to talk with you about how Jesus can change your life too. Or if you would say that you are a believer in Jesus but you’ve never been baptized, we would love to talk with you about that as well.

God’s Word gives us our WHAT we do in the gathering.

Patrick is going to lead us in one more song after I pray. During that song, if you would like to begin a conversation about any of the decisions I just talked about, me or one of our counselors would love to help you think through that. Also, during this song, search your heart for these two desires. If they aren’t there, cry out to God with them today.

What would it look like at East one Sunday if all 240+ people came in with these desires hot on their heart? I don’t know, but I’d like to see it, amen?

Let’s pray, and then stand and sing and respond as you need to...

PRAY