As you just saw on that video – we have been under significant challenges trying to get phase I of this new facility completed for today. And our staff has been working under some very awkward/frustrating conditions.
Examples:
Phone and internet – communication systems were just hooked up Friday – 2 days ago. July – long moth to be efficient and to communicate well.
Electricity is different areas was still not working on Friday.
Floors still had construction dirt and dust all throughout Friday
Big push – say thank you to those who worked so hard to get us in.
All staff – (exceptional people)
3 names:
Dan Canfield – hours to save us 1000’s of dollars
Carmen Schock
Always more but they did extra and more to get us here todayBrad Hamm
Stand and pray
During this month of August – our weekend celebrations will focus around what we look for in life. Our programming team just made a great big list of what the things are that we search for in life and we’re gonna spend this whole month marveling at the ways in which God provides those things that we long for way down in the depths of our souls. This month we’re gonna talk about health and wholeness and happiness and we’re gonna talk about forgiveness and family and faith and we’re gonna talk about life and laughs and love and it’s gonna be a great month together talking about how God provides for our every need.
But today I wanted to start with the basics that will lead us to a lot of other stuff.
How God provides purpose and passion and how he always gives us a place to live that out!
Purpose – Passion – Place
When I saw those 3 words side by side I immediately thought about one very cool experience our family had this summer. I had the honour of officiating at a wedding in Banff on the way back from our vacation. Now, we had met some new friends over the past 3 years camping and there are 3 – 4 families that have become pretty close. Anyway, one of those couples was getting married and it made sense for them to ask me.
The day of the wedding you could tell there was just something special gonna take place.
- it was warm and sunny in the mountains
- bride and groom were both more than ready
- and they had come through significant obstacles in life getting them to this point
And this day of marriage meant more to them than most of us could
know or understand. It had deep meaning and purpose.
And then they were just in love and it showed everywhere and their passion for one another spread around to all of us who were near – awesome feeling of closeness. And then there was the place – they got married on the back veranda and gardens of the Banff Springs Hotel – remarkable setting, a ring of mountains and beautiful architecture and stunning views. An inspiring place to start life together and so before I even got to thinking about what I would speak on today – I was able to see the truth of these 3 words – purpose – passion – place put into action in real life. And I was honored to watch God bless a couple who were searching for more and better life.
And you know what folks? God knows exactly what were searching for and he always provides it.
Friday morning I found what I think to be some very fitting verses in the Bible for us to focus on as we head into this new season and into this next Chapter of our little community called Lakeview Church.
These are new days and this is a path we have not been on before and whenever you find yourself in a new day and on a new path it’s good to think for a few moments about where that path is headed.
Listen to these words in a letter written to a church in an ancient city called Ephesus.
Ephesians 1:17 & 18
I keep asking that God may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you and his incomparably great power for us who believe
There are 2 phrases in there that I would like to point out to you just to help us see them and hear them more clearly – Paul prays for 2 things for that little church in Ephesus.
He prays that they might receive a
1. Spirit wisdom and revelation – so they might know God better.
2. For the eyes of their hearts to be enlightened – so that they might know the hope to which He has called them.
Now, folks I think those 2 lines are what God has for us today as we
talk about looking for purpose and passion in this new day for our church.
Here’s what purpose is:
Purpose – The object – aim – or goal to which we strive and the reason we exist. That’s what Webster says.
Seldom do I go to Starbucks – I’m usually a little more blue-collar in my tastes and so Tim Horton’s is for me. (See it’s so hard to order @ Starbucks – for me).
I feel sort of awkward ordering a grad vanilla bean frappachino with whip cream and caramel and then the nice smiling Starbucks employee says . . .(would you like to up grade your vanilla bean frapp with whip cream to a venti for like 900 more dollars?) I don’t know – should I? At any rate, Tim’s is just simpler in the morning. Large coffee – 1 cream – thanks -($1.50)
Anyway this week for some reason I found myself at Starbucks and I found this quote on a coffee cup.
Quote: The Way I See It #63
Our lives are inspired by the dreams we have from the earliest stages of our youth. Starbucks
Something hit me as I read that and I got thinking about how long God has been trying to give us a picture of the hope to which He has called us.
It just made me think about how many times in our lives God gives us glimpses of the plan and purpose He has for us and how many of those we miss How long to you think God has been trying to show us the picture of our lives?
And the answer to that is since the day we were born. Well that crazy quote at Starbucks reminded me of those verses from the Bible and it reminded me of the dream that God has for each one of our lives and it made me think just for a minute about words like wisdom and revelation and enlightenment and hope.
I keep asking God to give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you.
When you were a kid did you ever dream about what you wanted to do in life? Or what mark you would make in this world? Or wonder why you were born? Did you ever think about or get pictures of that stuff? This stuff happened to me all the time when I was a kid.
One spot homestead – open field – meadow – grass was deep – creek and a bog, and trees, and always just enough breeze to rustle the grass. Hawks would soar over that area and I only went there when it was sunny and I’d lay in the grass and feel the sun and try to shoot those great birds who were a half-mile up in the sky with my little 22.
Now those were great moments to be a kid.
But in that meadow I would dream about what life might have in store for me.
1. About being a cowboy and riding on the range with my 2 best friends- right beside me – rope cattle – chase bad guys.
2. About being a firefighter and saving someone from a burning building.
3. Or about being a great leader and walking tall on this earth as a man.
4. Or about what it might be like to one day fall in love and be married and be a dad and would I ever be as great as my dad?
But as is often the case, as the years went by I found myself dreaming less often and going to that spot in the meadow less often After all there were the things of life to learn and there were chores that needed to get done and dreaming like that was for little kids.
And then one day when I was 17 I caught a glimpse of another picture of a way to combine all those other childhood dreams together. I remember that day vividly, I was sitting in church and it was the first time I’d ever seen or heard a great leader speak. And he was calling us to a mission. He was calling young men and women to give their lives in service to God and to other people. And through his voice I caught a glimpse of what the church might become and it was an awesome picture.
The way that guy described the life of faith was full of life and light and energy – Awesome. And in his words I began to see the purpose for my life unfold. And that day I decided to give my life to follow that dream of God and people and the church.
Folks, here’s what I’m driving at. God has a very specific purpose for your life and it’s a very clear picture to Him of the dream he has created for you and that purpose and that picture is one where you make a difference in the world. And His dream for your life is one of adventure and calling. I don’t know about you, but there are times as adults we forget that life is supposed to be an adventure and there are times in life when the dream ahead of us seems pretty dull and grey. When we’re stuck in a job that looks like it’s going nowhere – or we’re stuck in a marriage that has no energy or we’ve found ourselves far too often alone and lonely and this just isn’t where we ever thought we would be. And the dream faded and the picture grew hazy somewhere along there. Does that describe where you’re at today? Or maybe this does.
Maybe you were running with God and you knew exactly what He had called you to and maybe your purpose was very clear and maybe you were making a difference for Him in this world, but then something happened and it kinda cut you off at the knees.
Maybe you made a bad choice or a series of bad choices and darkness has crept into your world or maybe you just got swayed off the path by the desire for more more money or power or sex. You were doing do well and now it all seems lost and the way seems less clear and the road seems dark and foggy. And if that’s you today, then I pray that a spirit of wisdom and revelation may enlighten your heart – to the truth about God. Hear this, He is a God of love, grace and forgiveness and mercy. And he is a God of endless second chances and He will never leave you stranded, and he never leaves you alone and he will ever abandon you, no matter what you have done.
Hebrews 13:5b – Hear this promise.
"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." . . .
Folks hear this, God will always provide a way back to the original path He planned for you to be on. No matter how far away you’ve strayed, no matter how lost you are.
You are not out of God’s reach his arm is not shortened, His hand will guide you home. That’s the truth about God and He alone is the one to reconnect you with your purpose.
Or maybe you’ve never even heard until this very moment, that God has a plan for your life, a plan that is full of purpose and adventure and calling. Maybe you never knew that there is a picture of your life that has eternity attached to it, maybe that’s all news to you today.
Well, if that’s you and this is the first time you’ve heard that then soak that up for a minute because it’s absolutely true. God loves you much more than you could ever know, and since before you were even born, He’s been dreaming about the adventure you and He would go on together. An adventure that will change the world for good.
Purpose in life folks only comes from one source and that is God and so I pray the same things for you that the Apostle Paul prayed for the people in Ephesus that you would have a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know God better. And so you can know His eternal purpose and dream for your life a dream that was probably shown to you in glimpses when you were young. A dream where you and God team up to change the world.
Let me tell you about another word connected to these versus.
Passion
When Paul prayed that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened so we might know the hope to which God has called us.
To me that word hope isn’t so much about purpose and practical as it is about emotion and calling and its about the passion it takes to pursue God in our lives.
Passion – definition – Webster
An intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction.
We did something as a family this week we’ve never done before, we watched the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Three 3 movies – 8 hours over 4 nights and it was awesome. Kinda crazy, but there was so much adventure and fun and truth in that story. But the thing that stuck me as I watched those movies was how much passion there was in the characters pursuit of their mission and how that passion to follow their quest gave courage and persistence and joy and life to their journey. Classic quest of good vs Evil.
Listen to this short clip as the final battle of good and evil is about to take place.
Now listen to these words,
Philippians 3:12b, 13b, 14
I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Folks, as we embark on this next chapter as a faith community lets not do it without great passion. I don’t ever want to do it if we’re not gonna have great passion. I don’t even want to do it if we’re not gonna have great passion.
I believe God has made our purpose clear. We are called to be a light to those living in darkness and hope to those living in distress and I believe we show this best by our love for one another. And we are called to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to everyone God brings across our path and we’re called to do that with relevance and intentionality and humility and transparency. That’s our purpose, but folks hear this today what God calls us to He wants us to be passionate about. And let there be no question about it, it’s a battle we’re in a war of darkness against light and of good versus evil. And we cannot be complacent or comfortable or self-serving if we’re gonna shine God’s light and break into the darkness. Passion for God actually has very little to do with complacency or self gratification or comfort.
Folks, as you pursue God’s purpose ahead of you chase His call on your life with passion and diligence and energy. Lets not be lulled to sleep during these days by the comfort of our nice new surroundings and by all the nice clean neat happy people and by an organization that works well for our family. No, this is an all out battle we’re called to and today I’m asking you again to pursue this life of faith individually and to pursue your place in this church with passion.
Be bold about inviting people to come and hear about Jesus in this place over the next month, but also be bold about taking this light of Jesus to the streets of this city look for people who are needing love and care and peace and grace and give it to them. Let your mind wonder every day about how blessed we are to be lead by such a gracious God, and how extraordinary it is to be part of this church during these days ahead.
Yesterday I had a phone call from Lee Barbour who is vacationing in B.C. Anyway, Lee is a long-term leader in our church and he’s a godly man and a good friend and nearly every year before we start into this new season Lee calls with a couple thoughts. Well this year was no different. And he did have a couple thoughts about this day and this new season and this new place that we get to call home. He use 2 words to describe all this normal and extraordinary and of course I had to get him to explain.
Lee said, “this building and this new season kinda represent our spiritual lives – normal and extraordinary.”
See, it’s really quite an extraordinary thing to be part of a church where God does something like this and it’s extraordinary to be here the very 1st time we gather together in this new building and it will be over the top extraordinary to see all the lives God will change during this next chapter in the life of our church. All that really is extraordinary. And yet it’s normal, it’s still us, look around you; we are very normal very regular people. And here we are today just trying to figure out how we can better worship God and how we can better serve Him and how we can get better at being this community of love and grace and faith that He’s called us to be.
Normal people pursuing an extraordinary God. Normal people with warts and blemishes and challenges and sins to numerous to count and yet the God of the universe has chosen to walk with us in an extraordinary way.
People, we are so blessed to walk with God and we are so blessed to be part of this church.
Remember that today and in the days ahead. Remember that as you pursue the purposes God has for your life as you pursue that purpose with passion.
Remember your life is not just normal or average or less, it’s extraordinary! Because God is walking with you. |
