NW midweek 8-27-20

Hello and welcome to midweek! Let’s start with a poll question.

How many weeks did you think the lockdown would last?

I thought we would be shut down for a few weeks and back to normal.

As we have been locked down longer than I think any of us thought.

I think we may have fallen into some habits that we didn’t intend on.

I know for me, I have looked at this a bit like traveling and living out of a suitcase rather than settling in to a new normal.

Ann Share about goals in her calendar.

We want to talk about a few ways we can settle in and be refreshed.

Refreshed in our times with God.

Ann- read scripture

Psalm 23 NIV

A psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

David was refreshed in his relationship with God. Not stuck in his own thinking or relying on himself.

He was growing in his relationship with God.

It wasn’t all easy, it was legitimately hard things, walking in the “valley of death.” It may be hard right now, but don’t give up, don’t stop walking don’t quit. Keep moving forward.

When we are refreshed in our relationship with God we are able to refresh others.

2. Refreshed in one another relationships.

Some groups are meeting face to face, some are meeting in driveways, or at parks or at Bahama Bucks.

Seeing people online can be refreshing as well… We had a very rough day yesterday. Found out the son of some close friends that our kids grew up with, their son overdosed and is brain dead. They are taking him off life support tonight. We were exhausted and cried a bunch yesterday. We really wanted to not get online for our group, we were just wiped out. But we got on for a bit, got to say high, and connect. It was good and asked for prayers, it helped a ton.

We all need people. We need help in our lives, we need others to love and be there for us.

But we need to figure out how to do this and settle in to new ways of doing it. We need to be thinking about who could I encourage? Who might have a need I could help meet? Through a card, or call...

How can you get refreshment in a community group? Are you in a group? Are you participating in that group? Don’t be the zoomer who doesn’t turn on the camera or just watches. Participate.

How can you get refreshment in a discipling relationship?

Who is discipling you? Who are you discipling? We were created for community, were are called to be in each others lives and that doesn’t just happen. It takes work and it takes personal responsibility.

We want to help, but we aren’t going to do it for you.

Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

What efforts have you made in this time to be sharpened or to sharpen someone else.

Jesus said to the paralytic do you want to get well? Then pick up your mat and walk. We need to make the time to make efforts to set consistent times with people.

Ask yourself, do you want to be refreshed by connecting with others? Then you are going to need to do something. what do you need to pick up? Pick up the phone, pick up the computer and get on zoom. Pick up some coffee and talk to someone. Jesus expects us to take action, we can’t wait for it to just happen to us. Especially now, we don’t see each others faces, we don’t get to know if someone isn’t there. So take some action, follow up, make a friend, make some effort and do something to help. We need to hold each other accountable.

The Rackov’s have done a great job with this. They have 2 teens in the family ministry, Angela called every freshmen parent to welcome them in, to connect with them.

A new group can be kinda scary. What can you do to reach out to new people coming into your group. Be friendly, go out of your way to welcome them and love up on them.

So, we want to be refreshed in our times with God, refreshed with one another relationships.

3. Refreshed Sunday Mornings

We need to settle in to a new routine. We don’t know how long this will go on, but we do know it’s longer than we wanted and longer than anyone thought.

We’ve loved our Sunday mornings. Before the kids went to school we’d all watch kids church together (most of the time in our jammies) and Naomi always got communion together and Kaeden got service on the tv since Hans and I are normally watching from the computer if we need to respond to anyone. We’ve connected together for worship. We’ve had breakfast together afterwards and talked about what we learned.

Come up with a healthy routine for Sunday mornings. What works for you? What is going to help you be refreshed? Settle into that.

I think if you don’t have a plan or a goal its too easy to fall into some unhealthy routines.

What does a healthy refreshing Sunday morning look like for you?

Is it snuggled up with coffee?

Is it, with some others at their house?

Is it on a zoom meeting watching together with your community group.

Figure out what you need and what would be helpful.

What is going to help others be refreshed Sunday mornings?

Is it on a zoom meeting watching together with your community group.and around the world. Engage people in the chat, start conversations.

Post relevant things, a meaningful quote, an impactful thought. An Amen, Whatever it is, engage, participate, not just be on the sidelines.

4th and finally.

4. Refreshed in Prayer for your church

Your prayers mean the world to us, you will never know how much we appreciate a card that says we were praying for you. Or a text that says you were on our hearts.

As a church we need your prayers. One of my biggest concerns right now is we miss the things that God is trying to do or teach us as a church.

There are people that are open to God like never before. There are people that are hurting and need God’s comfort. Are we reaching them, or are we missing them. We need to pray to see the way God is moving, we need to see what God is trying to do and how he is trying to mature us.

How can you pray for the church? How can you pray for people in your group? We need to pray like we have never prayed. This is a time like we have never experienced and I want to be able to look back on it and see how God worked and God used us to do his will.

Let’s close by reading from Isaiah 40, 28-31

Isaiah 40:28–31 NIV

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Only God can renew our strength, so even if you have been tired, weary or stumbled, God can and will renew our strength, refresh our souls and help us to leave an everlasting legacy on this world for God.

Type in some unexpected ways you have seen God move during this time.

Responses?

John Chisholm announcement.

Our thoughts on sabbatical.

Once I told people we were taking a Sabbatical, I started hearing about other ministers who had taken a Sabbatical. Unfortunately, I found out “Sabbatical” is often a “CODE WORD.” Too often what Sabbatical REALLY means is:

They are in BIG trouble (There’s some sort of scandal going on …)

They are on their way OUT (We’re firing them … the slow way …)

They already had a nervous break down (Which means it’s way too late for a Sabbatical to do any good.)

They are moving somewhere else. (We have no intention of moving, unless God calls us somewhere else.)

We are truly trying to get some rest to stay serving God and his church for many years to come.

We are shutting off our phones, not checking emails, not getting social media and will be totally disconnected.

Please pray for us. Our goals are to connect with God and really hear from him, to connect to each other, and to grow in our parenting in this new stage. We also want to ask you to pray for protection from Satan’s schemes in this time. We met with a counselor that specializes in helping ministers do sabbaticals and he encouraged us to ask people to pray for those things. He said Satan likes nothing better than to attack in times like this.

We love you and are looking forward to sharing with you what we learn. `