Go!
Notes
Transcript
One by one we’re walking through the stories of the men and women in the lineage of Jesus and today we’ve arrived at the story of Abram. This is a story that is set in the context of a family tree. Genesis 11 wraps up listing the line of Shem all the way to Abram. Let’s read the last little bit to get our bearing.
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This is the account of Terah’s family. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. But Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, the land of his birth, while his father, Terah, was still living. Meanwhile, Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. (Milcah and her sister Iscah were daughters of Nahor’s brother Haran.) But Sarai was unable to become pregnant and had no children.
One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there. Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran.
graphic of Abram’s family tree
At the creation of the world God told Adam’s family in the garden of Eden to fill the earth with his goodness and glory. And then He told Noah’s family to do the same thing after the flood. Our last message in this series was about the Tower of Babel and the little boy, Peleg, who’s name reminds us that Gods call to go was for the good of humanity. And when humanity refused, god divided the people up by mixing up their languages.
Several generations later, Terah followed that call to go. He began a journey to expand the territory of God and headed towards the country of Canaan. The Bible doesn’t tell us why he stopped, but whatever the reason, Terah decided to stop in Haran and there he lived out the rest of his life.
Shortly before Tarah’s death God renewed his call to “go,” but this time the call came to Abram.
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Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Terah was headed to Canaan before he got sidetracked, so when Abram heard the message, “go” he packed up his stuff and headed to the place his father had set out to reach a few years before. We often think about God’s statement “to the land that I will show you,” to mean that Abram didn’t have a clue where he was going. That may have been, but what I think is more significant is the promise imbedded in this statement. When God said, “to the land that I WILL show you,” God was making Abram a promise.
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A promise that He would take him all the way there,
and a promise that He would be with him and personally show Him the results.
Will God take us all the way when He gives us a calling?
And will He be present in our journey?
I believe He will.
There’s an interesting prophecy that I believe gives insight into Abram’s mission in Canaan. Turn to Genesis 15, starting in verse 13.
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Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
That last statement, “For the iniquity of the Amorite’s is not yet complete,” reveals a lot about God’s desire for the world and His plan for Abram.
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Abram was a missionary.
God sent him as a witness to the people of Canaan. He knew that the Amorites and other Canaanites were headed down a path of wickedness and idolatry that they were not likely to return from. And yet, He wanted one of his families to live among them and be a witness to them during their time of probation. That’s why He sent Abram.
While traveling through the land of Canaan Abram set up altars—altars of witness to the God of creation and God of the Rainbow promise that was given to Noah. Not only did he set up altars, but he was kind and generous. He helped the people protect their homes and families, and returned their stuff even when he could have kept it as spoils of war. He was unselfish—giving the best land away. Everywhere he went the people knew that he was a living testimony of the true God.
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From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
And when the people of the land saw an altar that Abram had set up, they were reminded of the noble representative that built that altar, and of his God—the God of creation and promise.
The State of the Church
The State of the Church
I believe that God has called us to do the work of Abram—to be witnesses for God and set up altars to God in Boundary County and wherever in the world He calls us to go.
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Recently, our church voted on a strategic plan based on a vision that God has given us. This process has included the entire church in prayer, has gone through our elder’s team, our church board, a vision dream team, and a lot of editing and more prayer. What we’ve written down is a bold vision for the future of our church—a vision that’s bigger than any one of us.
Alongside God’s Community Thrift Center, His Cornerstone Christian School, and His Cornerstone Family Radio, we believe God is calling us to launch some exciting new initiatives.
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He’s calling us to a be a praying, Bible reading, discipling community
He’s calling us to prepare to become a multi-teacher school
He’s calling us to take our youth on a mission trip
He’s calling us to do public evangelism and host a life-size Tabernacle experience
He’s calling us to prepare a facility that will expand our missional effectiveness
And He’s calling us to start a mission-driven family medical clinic
God is doing something in our midst and He’s asking us to take a step of faith into a land, a mission field, that He will most certainly show us.
I believe that we, the Bonners Ferry Adventist Church, are at a transition point in our existence. This vision is pushing us past a threshold that we’ve been hovering near for several years.
When this church was started in the 1930s we had a couple key families that led the church. As we have grown our capacity for doing ministry and reaching into our community has grown with us. As a church grows it has to move beyond a family to a group of leaders—matriarchs, elders, and/or the pastor become the key movers and shakers in the church. But that personality based leadership has limits.
I believe God is moving our church into a new phase of growth to becoming a mission driven church. In a mission driven church every member is drawn to and embraces the mission of God as their own mission.
I believe that with this vision God is launching a new phase of this church’s existence. He is calling us to embrace His mission with such heart and passion that it’s not the pastor or the matriarch or the elder moving God’s mission forward, but the whole church diligently pursuing the aspect of mission God has put in their hands.
When Abram moved his family across the country from Haran to Canaan it was a labor intensive and time intensive task that required every person from the youngest to the oldest to do a part of the work. That’s the case with the vision we have in front of us. The mission is not for a few involved people, but for everyone to participate in.
If we wholeheartedly embrace the call of God on each of our hearts I believe HE WILL SHOW US the end result of our mission, and He will take us all the way there.
God called Abram to be a witness to the Canaanites during of a time of probation, and I believe He is calling us to do that same work for our community here in Boundary County during this time of probation before Jesus returns.
Abram set up altars to worship the Lord—altars of witness—and I believe He is calling us to do the same thing here.
We already have several altars of witness — Cornerstone Christian School and the Community Thrift Center are two. A new one that’s still in startup mode is Cornerstone Family Radio. Just like those altars that Abram set up our altars of witness allow people to hear the message of Jesus through the radio or see it in practice through our thrift store and our school.
There are other altars in our strategic plan. Youth ministries and a church building for example. But there’s one vision that God has given us that I think is critical to taking the gospel to our community—the Cornerstone Medical Clinic. In order to reach into the lives and hearts of our community and share the gospel in all its beauty, we need to be where they are, and especially in their moments of crisis and hurt. When we minister to people in their moment of need their hearts are open to us ministering to their spiritual needs as well.
A little over a month ago we had a great idea to buy the property next to the church and build a clinic there. But God said “no.” The property sold to another buyer, closing on Feb 17, nearly three weeks ago. We prayed and prayed that God’s will would be done. And it was not what we expected.
Two weeks ago a group of us met at a vacant building across from city hall in downtown Bonners Ferry and began to dream. We dreamed of a medical clinic in down-town Bonners Ferry. We dreamed of a meeting space where we could hold events, Bible studies, Community groups, and seminars. We dreamed of a space where we could launch other ministries—maybe an after-school programs for kids to learn STEAM subjects. --- We don’t know what it might hold, we don’t even know if our dreams are God’s dream. But we’re starting to see that God has a bigger vision than we had when we started this process.
Do you remember when we thought it would be great to have our church service broadcast on a local radio station? An hour a week was our goal. Our vision was limited, but God had a bigger plan and now we have our own radio station! Then God put this medical clinic on our hearts, and maybe, just maybe, He has bigger plans than we originally thought. Having a clinic right next our church might have brought a few people to the church, but what if God needs us to bring the church into the community? Instead of building a clinic right next to our church, maybe God wants us to build a new “altar of witness” to the Lord in a different place so that more and different people can see a testimony the God of creation and the God of the 2nd Coming promise.
I don’t know the future. God will have to show us the contours of that land and that mission as we walk forward in His calling. The key to Abram’s success was that He obeyed God, packed up his stuff, and started walking in the direction that God was leading. And that’s how we’ll get to know God’s will, too.
Go…
Go…
Speaking of God’s leading. We have some news.
—I’d like to ask Joelle to join me Up front because she is a key part of this story. —
For the past 6 months God has been orchestrating a transition in the life of the Worf family. He’s been calling us to Go…
Back in October, I was given an official invitation to interview at a church in a different conference. Within two weeks of that invitation I had two other invitations to two other opportunities in still another conference. On top of that, our conference, the Upper Columbia Conference, called me and said, “please don’t take one of those three calls, God has a plan for you in this conference.” Three invitations in two weeks seemed like it couldn’t be a coincidence.
But as we prayed and sought counsel, we felt unsure. God was doing amazing things here in Bonners Ferry. So many things had just started—the radio station, a new Sabbath School class, a new school year for the kids, a vision process for the church, a building plan, new bible studies, and many other things.
**Joelle**
One of the new things was that I had just started a Sabbath School class, and we were doing an inductive Bible study in Psalm 139. That’s the passage that says,
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
A few verses later it says,
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
I have to say that I never want to move. As the daughter of a pastor and the wife of a literature evangelist, I’ve had enough moving. But this Psalm assured me that God would “search out my path”—that word search means winnowing, which is the process of separating the chaff from the grain. I took it as a promise that God was going to sift through our options and point us in the right direction. And this Psalm also assured me that, even if I didn’t really care to move, God would be with me wherever we went.
So, I prayed for a willing heart, to go or stay wherever God wanted, and what I heard God saying to my heart was, “Not now—but get ready.”
**Jason**
So, with that clarity, we turned down all three invitations, and refocused on the work here.
**Joelle**
Then in January, the Upper Columbia Conference called Jason and asked him to interview with a church board elsewhere in the conference. Because of what happened back in October and our feeling that God was preparing us for a change, we agreed, wanting to be open to the Lord’s leading. But there was still so much happening locally—did God really want us to go when so much was going on here?
We did a lot of praying. And we had to remind ourselves: how will we know the will of God?
**Jason**
In the fifth volume of the Testimonies page 512 — that’s 5T 512 — Ellen White says that there are three ways God leads us:
1) through his revealed will in the Bible,
2) through the providential leading of the Holy Spirit, and
3) through the spirit’s impressions on our hearts.
The Bible also indicates that godly counselors are important for us to interpret these circumstantial leadings of God, and that God often gives us indicators that we are walking in the right direction—signs that help our hearts understand His will.
These revelations of God build on each other—The Bible is the foundation, and everything we do must align with the will of God that’s revealed in the Bible. If an opportunity lines up with the Bible, then we must pray that God will lead us through His divine hand working in the circumstances of our lives to open or close the opportunities in front of us. Lastly, if the opportunity is in line with God’s Word, and the way seems clear, the Spirit must call to our hearts and indicate that this is His will.
**Joelle**
We don’t have to time to tell you the whole story, but the evidences of God’s leading have been consistent and clear. As we prayed we noticed several things: 1) The same week as the interview, God brought me back to my Psalm 139 study notes, reminding me what He’d shown me before. 2) We found out that Jason’s name had been on both the conference’s list and the church’s list—separately. 3) Then, though they interviewed two candidates, they voted unanimously to invite us to a second interview. 4) When we were given the date of the second, in-person interview, Jason noticed that his sermon calendar, which he created back in December, happened to have the topic of Abram’s call to GO scheduled for the following Sabbath! 5) Our counselors were even giving different advice than they had given just 3 months prior, encouraging us to consider this new call.
**Jason**
So, last Sabbath we traveled to Pasco, WA to meet with the entire church for the second interview. There was a whole slew of answered prayers during that trip, too. It was clear to our whole family that God was asking us to move to the Pasco Riverview Adventist church.
While following God’s calling comes with blessings, it also brings challenges. One of our challenges will be saying goodbye to the precious friends we have made here. Addy says that we’re going to have to come back and do some camping up here in Bonners Ferry every year so we can see all our friends, so plan on seeing us around.
We have two more months here with you, and then we’ll be packing up and moving down to Pasco around the time school is out. My focus in the next two months will be wrapping up several Bible studies, and to do what I can to help the leaders of the church to keep the momentum going for the various initiatives we’ve begun.
The Upper Columbia Conference is already at work thinking about another pastor. Sometime soon they will come up and meet with the board to discuss what needs this church has and begin searching for a compatible pastor.
Conclusion
Conclusion
I don’t think its a coincidence that God has called this church to a God-sized vision and at the same time He’s removing a leader. This juxtaposition is not a coincidence.
Several years ago I worked for two conferences at once—the Southern California Conference and the Southeastern California Conference. My job was to coordinate the work of literature ministries and Bible workers throughout their territories. Those two conferences had over 24 million people in their territory and hundreds of churches. They didn’t need one literature ministries department shared between them, they each needed their own department. Early on I set up a plan to build a department with a compelling mission that would make each conference want to fully invest in the mission of Literature Ministries. My plan was a five year plan. And then, two years into my plan, God asked me to leave. It was a little baffling. Everything was going well, I had already set it up for each conference to have a board of directors for the ministry, and each conference had a bunch of things happening. I was well on my way to reaching my five year goal. Would it all fall flat, I wondered?
Within 6 months of me leaving the conferences had decided to fully invest in their own literature ministries departments. The following year they had doubled their impact, and by the five-year mark they had more than quadrupled their ministry reach. I never could have accomplished that if I had stayed, but God was more than able to take care of his mission.
I think God is doing something so big here in Bonners Ferry that I need to get out of the way in order for Him to be glorified in it—like Gideon’s 300 men, God is wanting to win a victory here that no individual person will be able to take credit for. All the glory will go to God.
I believe God is calling each individual in this church to be make a commitment to God’s mission in our community, a commitment to cary His vision forward by the power and grace of God. And, if you choose to follow God, I believe He’s going to move this church to the next level of effectiveness for His kingdom—a church that is propelled not by the vision or leadership of a pastor, but by the vision and leadership of Christ and His mission.
How can you participate in God’s vision for the Bonners Ferry Church?
There are a bunch of these strategic plan documents at the front of the church. Please take one and begin asking God how he wants you to be involved with this mission. I have heard of several people who are waiting to be called by the church before they will step up to do something. Please don’t wait for an invitation. Just ask an elder, “how can I help?” Every week in my email I’m including a volunteer section. If God impresses you that He needs you in one of those areas, call that leader who is listed by the opportunity and let them know you’re available.
While the journey to reach the goals God has for this church won’t be easy—it will take determination and grit and effort—God promises that He will be with you in the journey, and He will show us the land.
The author of Hebrews had this to say about Abraham and the land of God’s promise:
By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
This vision and calling that God has given us is only a foretaste of the plans He has for us. He’s preparing a place for me and you, and LOTS of other people, and while we have time here God wants us to do everything possible through His direction and power to bring other people with us to that city who’s designer and builder is God.
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please stand with me and sing our closing hymn: Anywhere with Jesus (508)