a drop of water

Sermon @ Coast Vineyard by Michelle Wilson on September 21st, 2008

Let Me In! Learning to Cry Out to God When We Need Help — A message from Revelation 3:14-22

Laodicea was famous for its wealth (banks with great capital and the ability to lend and be generously charitable with neighboring cities.)  When the city was completely leveled by an earthquake, they refused the Roman government’s aid because they didn’t need outside help to rebuild.  They were famous for fashion, specifically a finely woven black wool that was desired across the ancient world.  They were also famous for medicine, specifically their eye doctors and their medical school.  It seems apparent, that most Laodiceans had very few felt needs, were completely self sufficient and relatively lukewarm as far as Christianity goes.  They had so much that they were out of touch with what they truly needed.

These three aspects of the city of Laodicea plays into human condition where we are poor (ultimately material wealth is worthless), we are blind (we can have the best optometrists in the world but still not see God), and we can be in fashion but still covered in sin).  The three aspects were further lined up with what God offers us through Jesus death on the cross, namely spiritual wealth as heirs to God, cleansing from sin and new sinless coverings, and restored relationship with the triune God.

Michelle ended the sermon with the phrase “I stand at the door and knock…”, positioning Jesus outside our heart’s door willing to step into our messyness and transform our lives, redeeming and healing along the way.  She suggested that we’ve found a place to hide from God despite his knocking and that God’s provision and presence comes with us opening the door in admission that we need help.

Sermon @ Coast Vineyard by Jamie Wilson on September 28th, 2008

Building a Community of Love (a message from Acts 2:42-47)

A Dream for Our Church…We aim to build a community of love…

• A community that loves God. (Passionately)
• A community that loves each other. (Most effective method of communication and apologetics)
• A community that loves the world. (With the same sacrificial love that God loved us first with)

The Building Blocks for a Community of Love…We are suppose to be a sign to the present and coming Kingdom of God

• A commitment to the Bible. (God’s word.  Often times we don’t know when to say what, or what even to say.)
• A commitment to sharing life together. (Christ’s disciples were known by their love for each other, committed to the relationships and the pain and joys of lif are the things that matter.)
• A commitment to worship. (“We become what we worship.” -NT Wright.  The body of Jesus, broken for us is our unity.)
• A commitment to prayer. (Intentionality, sticking with it, and pressing into situations with prayer is where we catch glimpses God’s heart.)
• The power of the Holy Spirit. (Tension and messiness are a given when the Holy Spirit starts acting).
• The practice of generosity. (open and generous, our God is fundamentally giving).
• A community that is really love will grow as the result of new faith.  (If the first six are present, it will be hard for keep this seventh aspect from being evident.  Likewise, if any of the first six are absent, the seventh will likely be impossible.

This was a good reminder to me about the importance of love in our everyday lives.  Each of the commitments that are building blocks for a community of love are an expression of love.  A commitment to the Bible is a love for God’s word to influence and transform our minds and hearts.  A commitment to sharing life together is a love for the social structure that God has designed for us.  A commitment to worship is a love for God in who he is to us, the world, and what he has done for us and the world.  A commitment to prayer is a love for our relationship of dependence on God and his provision for us.  A commitment to the power of the Holy Spirit is a love to see God supernaturally guide and counsel us.  A commitment to generosity is a love for the people around us who God has created and their physical, emotional and spiritual well being.  And lastly, a commitment to a growing community of faith is a love for God’s creation in light of his plan to save it from sin.

I’m still fighting the battle between career and calling.  I do not want to have my job define who I am, i.e. I do not want to have my identity so closely integrated with what I do for money.  This is tough when you are expected to give 110% at work which you sometimes only feel partially invested in.  The majority of your waking hours are at work, solving problems at work, etc. and when you get home you have a few hours to do some stuff here and there, work out, eat with family, write and read a little bit, watch a little TV, etc.  But most of my creating is done between the hours of 8-5, at work.  I measure the value of my work by how many and how deeply people will be effected by my contribution.  On that scale, I often feel like my work is next to inconsequential.

During worship at church yesterday I had a clear conviction. I remember in college the availability and convenience of a prayer meetings going on at all hours of the day on campus at UCSD.  I remember them being a regularity and habit of my schedule.  My planner would be blocked out with lecturers, labs, discipleship meetings, prayer meetings and work to fill in the gaps.  I remember prayer meetings being a starting point of connection with really starting to know people, their hopes, desires and need.  I remember prayer meetings as a starting point of seeing God’s provision in my own life and the lives of people around me.  But now my schedule is work and that is pretty much about it.  I’m sort of interested in starting some type of prayer meeting during the week.  Could be themed, could be open.  Could meet at someone’s house or maybe somewhere else.  Not sure what it would look like post-college just that I realize I hunger for it.

Dear Daniel,

The financial markets look ambivalent in their downward course, towards the individual investor.  The once booming housing market is caught in a catch-22 where its no longer creating jobs that create down payment income for those purchasing houses.  Age old financial institutions are failing because of too much focus on the short term and not enough focus on the long term and incomprehensible amounts of money are being thrown around as solutions to save the current way of life that might not have been so great in the first place.

So what is your responsibility while you have a decent income?  Is it your responsibility to max out the 401k? Is it your responsibility to max out your investments to take advantage of the value-sales in the falling market?  Is it your responsibility to give up the position you’ve been given to go do something that might align more with your latest interest?  Or is your responsibility to continue on the course and do your best in your current situation, job, career.

Times are getting harder… for all of us.  And friends will probably have more of a difficult time raising funds so they can continue to do their work.  Church giving will probably decrease as more and more people have less to give.  Maybe you can think positively and hope that as the times get harder, the value of life and things eternal will raise in importance and the that the urgency of funding necessary projects will be a positive motivator.  But probably not, at least initially.  By the way, you should pray more for those things of God’s heart to raise in importance in your life.

So what do you do?  Do you give up the funds to follow a dream that might just be an veiled alternative to your current predicament.  Doing that really seems to effect those around you.  Or do you push forward and keep the focus off yourself.  Are funds really that important?  Guilt from an imposed responsibility certainly seems to say so.  God provides, God sustains, God will take care of your friends and he will take care of you.  Is this what freedom is Christ means?  To be free from the heavy yoke of feeling the need to provide the money for your friends who are ministering, to provide for your church in its ministry, and to provide for your family?

A few weeks ago Jenn asked two ideas of you both.  “Life is too short to spend doing something we do not believe in or enjoy” and “We should never become too comfortable so that we choose comfort over risk in the face of necessary change.”  You both really want to live like that.  So start.