♪♪
>> Let's sing the doxology.
[ "Praise God, From Whom All
Blessings Flow" begins ]
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
[ Song ends ]
Blessed Father, You have, for 60
years, rained down upon this
piece of terra firma.
And we have stood before You now
and declared our gratitude and
our praise for what the
Lord of hosts, the Lord of angel
armies, has done.
And You're not through yet.
We pivot on our heels and now
look forward.
What is yet to come?
Renovate heart and house.
We've talked about the house for
the last few moments.
Now, Father, renovate heart,
renovate all our hearts.
As Your family, we pray in
Jesus' name.
Let all the people say...
>> All: Amen.
>> And amen. Be seated, please.
Want to share a story with you
that Krish Kandiah wrote in the
most recent Christianity Today
magazine.
It's a great story.
Happened over in England.
Here we go.
There in England, this "little
boy was playing in the street,
kicking the dust, jumping off
walls.
My wife happened to walk past
him with our five children,
which caught the lad's
attention.
He watched from a distance for a
while and then plucked up the
courage to jog over and ask,
'Are you going to have a party?'
My wife quickly answered, 'Yes,
we are!
We call it church.
If you go and check with your
mum, you can come with
us.'
That little boy ran home and was
back in a couple of minutes with
a huge smile on his face.
That Sunday, he stayed for a cup
of hot chocolate and left before
the services began.
But he was back the next week
and the week after that.
And, pretty soon, he had brought
his mother, his brother, and a
couple of his cousins.
Eight years later, they are an
integral part of our church.
One of the most moving moments
of those years was when the
boy's mother was baptized," as
we saw just a moment ago.
"Standing waist-high in the
water, she explained a little of
her traumatic childhood, her
years living rough, and
something of the struggles of
trying to hold her own family
together.
Her face shone, and her voice
clearly articulated her love for
the God who had found her and
welcomed her home.
The idea that had caught her
son's imagination was that the
church was like a party and that
he and his family were invited
to it.
Until then, they had sadly
mostly experienced what it was
like to be excluded, but the
discovery that church wasn't so
much an event you turn up to as
a family you belong to was
life-changing for them.
In fact, it was life-changing
for the whole church."
Isn't that good?
Did you catch that last line?
The church isn't so much an
event you turn up to as a family
you belong to, and it is a
life-changing discovery.
It'll change you forever and
ever, once you realize we are
family.
That's not some new-fangled
notion that comes with the third
millennium.
Are you kidding?
That's as old as Scripture.
You take the apostle Paul --
he's scribbling off a letter to
his young ministerial protégé,
young pastor Timothy, and Paul
gives this counsel.
Put it on the screen for you.
Look at it there --
1 Timothy 5:1-2.
"Do not rebuke an older man
harshly, but instead exhort him
as if he were your --" what?
"...as if he were your father."
Keep going.
"Treat younger men as your --"
what?
And older women as your what?
Mm-hmm.
And younger women as your
sisters, "with absolute purity."
Just in case there is a young
seminarian that has wandered
into this space for worship
today on our 60th anniversary, I
want to say to you that that
line, taught to me by my dad and
first initiated by the apostle
Paul, has been the credo that
I've sought to live by.
I'm telling you what, guys,
ladies, if you'll treat the
older women as your mother and
the younger women as your
sisters, you won't have any
problem at all.
You know why?
This isn't just about sexual
ethics, by the way, whether
you're male or female.
This is about the metaphor "we
are family."
We're family.
That's the whole idea of the
Church.
We are family.
Paul goes on -- in the letter to
the church in Rome, he scribbles
a little P.S. at the end.
"I want you to pass my hugs and
kisses on to some in the
congregation," so here we go.
I'll put it on the screen.
Romans 16:1, 13.
"I commend to you our sister --"
where'd you come up with that?
Family metaphor, of course.
"I commend to you our sister
Phoebe, a deacon of the church
in Cenchrea..."
Oh, and by the way, "Greet
Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and
his mother, who has been a
mother to me, too.
Give her my love and hugs."
Why?
Because the Church is family.
We are family.
That wasn't original with Paul.
The Lord Jesus, when He was
here, that was His metaphor.
You remember that day that Jesus
is teaching away, and, all of a
sudden, his mother and his
half-brothers show up at the
back of the crowd, and they sent
a word by somebody, and they
say, "Your family's here, and
they want to talk to you."
Jesus then speaks.
Watch this -- put it on the
screen.
This is Matthew 12:49-50.
"Pointing to his disciples,
Jesus then said --" hey, guys,
look -- "'Here are my mother and
my brothers.
For whoever does the will of my
Father in heaven is my brother
and sister and mother.'"
Why?
Because we...are...family.
Jesus went on Luke chapter 18.
Put that up, please --
Luke 18: 29-30.
"'I tell you the truth --" he
said to another crowd -- "'no
one who has left home or wife or
brothers or parents or children
for the sake of the
Kingdom of God will fail to
receive many times as much in
this age and, in the age to
come, eternal life.'"
In the 60 years that we have
watched these baptismal
curtains open, time and time
again, there have been
occasions -- you haven't known
about it -- when men, women,
young adults, teenagers, and
sometimes kids standing in that
baptistery have done so at
great relational cost to
themselves, and they have
subsequently been ostracized by
their most tender and precious
relationships.
Jesus says, "You may lose those
biological relationships when
you follow me, but guess what.
You're gonna get 100 times more
in the community I have for you
because we are family.
We are family."
Yeah, it's a big deal [Chuckles]
for Paul, for Jesus, for
Scripture.
"Church isn't so much an event
you turn up to as a family you
belong to."
And it's just the very same way
with the last letter ever
written in the Bible, bar none.
It's the last letter to the
seven churches.
It's to the church living at the
end of time.
It's the letter to Laodicea.
That's been our little winter
theme.
Just a few more parts left, and
we're done, but let's go to
Revelation chapter 3, the last
letter.
Jesus dictated it to John there
on the isle of Patmos.
But what's the letter say?
Well, may I show you that, if we
read between the lines, we see
that it's still big on family?
Watch this.
Revelation 3:14...
You can stop it right there.
He calls himself, "I am the
ruler of God's creation."
And guess what.
The ruler of God's creation is
the inventor of the family.
He's the one who said, "You'll
be male, and you'll be female,
and, oh, by the way, will you
please go and multiply?"
The creator of the universe, who
created us, is the Lord of
families.
He says, "By the way, I'm the
one who's sending you this
letter.
I'm big on family."
But we know He's even just as
big on family by another clue
tucked away.
Let's look at that verse 14 we
just read a moment ago and just
use the opening line.
"To the angel of the church in
Laodicea..."
Because you know what?
When Laodicea existed as a
church, they didn't have
edifices.
They didn't have Gothic arches
like this.
They didn't have cathedrals.
They had nothing.
All they had was somebody's
house.
Church happened in a home, a
family circle.
That's what happened.
The families gathered together
in a house and worshipped every
seventh-day Sabbath.
Embedded between the lines --
"We are family."
That's why Jesus comes along
here in verse 20 -- This is
something else.
This is the one line that
everybody who knows Scripture
remembers.
"Oh, this is the only part of
the letter I remember."
Verse 20. "Here I am!"
Jesus speaking...
The door is a family house.
It's the door to a family home.
"Hey, yo, family, you're having
a big party in there, but do you
know that I'm not in there?
Anybody open the door for me,
I'll come in, and we'll be
family together.
We'll share that meal together."
Yeah, why?
Because we...are...family.
"Church isn't so much an event
you turn up to as a family you
belong to."
And that's why "Renovate" is not
just about house.
"Renovate" is about heart and
house, and right now you and I
are thinking "heart."
In fact, nothing has brought
this reality into sharper focus
for us here at Pioneer than what
has been happening over the last
few years.
I have a friend who told me
years ago, "Our business,
okay --" so he's talking about
the Church.
"Our business," as a Church, "is
to find the wave the Holy Spirit
is creating and then to surf
it."
Now, you have to to be a surfer
to get this, and I have my young
friend Michael Von Dorpowski
here, and he's a top-flight
surfer.
And, so, Michael, let's put a
picture of the wave -- let's see
a picture of the wave on the
screen.
That's a big wave, isn't it?
And Michael will tell you the
first thing you got to do is you
got to have the wave.
If you don't have a wave, you're
not surfing -- you're paddling,
right?
Once you get the wave, once you
see the wave, then
[Snaps fingers] you ride it, you
surf it for all you're worth.
The Holy Spirit has been
creating a wave around here, and
we didn't even note it.
We didn't even see it till the
other day.
Oh, my, let me show you.
You're saying, "Dwight, what's
that wave?"
Let me show you a picture from
this morning about eight minutes
ago.
Let's put that picture on the
screen, please.
Recognize those faces?
That was taken just eight
minutes ago.
That's not the whole group.
That's the only part that we
could get into the lens.
You know who those are?
Yeah, those are children.
For months now, the number of
children coming forward for the
children's story each Sabbath
has been unbelievable, and it's
still growing.
Where did these children come
from?
I'll give you a little hint.
They came from their parents,
all right?
[ Laughter ]
Where do the parents come from?
The parents have come from all
over campus, they've come from
around the community, they've
come from around the county.
They're coming.
"Why are they coming here,
Dwight?"
I'll tell you why.
Because what Pioneer does for
children, that's why.
In just the one hour allotted
for the Sabbath-school time each
Saturday morning, what Pioneer
does is without parallel.
You say, "You're just biased."
Of course I am, but let me tell
you something -- the reputation
is heard on the street, around
the world.
I travel, and people come up and
say, "Yo, I know about your
church -- the children's Sabbath
schools."
We have the finest, we have the
most creative children's Sabbath
schools on Earth, bar none, and
they're known throughout the
denomination.
And as you can see, they enjoy
the same reputation here at
home.
That's why they're showing up.
You throw in a Pathfinder Club
second to none and an
Adventurer Club that is the
largest in North America, and it
all adds up -- voilà --
Pioneer's future.
The Holy Spirit has created a
wave, and we've got to surf that
wave for all we're worth as long
as the wave is here.
See, that's the deal.
And so the confluence of two
compelling realities has
convincingly shown us the wave
of the Holy Spirit here that
He's created in Pioneer.
Okay, what are the two
realities?
Well, one I've already given
you -- number one, the throngs
of children that now occupy this
space, and number-two reality is
the highly motivated, visionary
volunteer leadership that the
Spirit has anointed and
appointed.
Back in September, I sat down in
my office here at the church
with Laurence Burn, who's
children's Sabbath-school
superintendent from birth
through grade 1, and
Glynis Bradfield, who's
children's Sabbath-school
superintendent from grade 2
through early teens, and they
were brimming -- [Chuckles] I'm
listening to them -- brimming
with ideas about how to grow
children, and not just the
children, but to grow their
families, and not just the
families, but grow the Kingdom
in the process, and, this
morning, while you were wherever
you were during Sabbath school,
they were packing that youth
chapel out.
We took a picture, and I want to
put the picture on the screen
for you.
You know what they did?
They had all the Sabbath schools
downstairs come upstairs,
parents and children alike --
276, head-count right there.
And they put on a humdinger of a
program, and they sent the teams
who were having their youth
Sabbath school there down into
those rooms downstairs to teach
little classes up and down the
hallway.
That's the kind of creativity
that the Spirit is raising up.
He's created a [Chuckles] wave.
We got to surf this wave.
And so, after much prayer and
planning with our team here and
with our Conference
administration, we are pleased,
on this 60th birthday Sabbath,
to announce a major paradigm
shift in the pastoral team at
the Pioneer Memorial Church on
the campus of
Andrews University, and here it
is.
Jim Collins, in his mega
best-seller, "Good to Great,"
uses the leadership metaphor of
the bus.
He says, "Listen, the deal is,
you got to get the right people
on the bus first, and after you
have them on the bus, you've got
to get them in the right seats."
Well, that's exactly what we've
realized, and that's what we're
about to announce.
In keeping with that, we're
moving two pastors to new seats
on the Pioneer bus.
To respond to this wave that the
Holy Spirit has already created
with our children, we are asking
Ben Martin -- you met him just a
moment ago, that precious little
Emmett, his boy, and Arlo --
we're asking Pastor Ben, our
present youth pastor, to become
our new pastor for children and
family discipling, giving
special leadership and oversight
to children from birth through
early teens.
Ben has long had a passion for
reaching the youngest of the
members of God's family, and
he's shown a proclivity to that
skill, and we're very grateful
that he has accepted this
invitation.
It's a perfect shift to surf the
Spirit's wave.
Now, his departure from youth
ministry means that our team
will only be complete when we
bring in a new youth pastor
on board to join the Pioneer
team, and our new youth pastor
will be a woman.
>> Amen!
>> Amen!
>> Well, two of you are happy.
[ Laughter, applause ]
I knew you would. Yeah, amen.
Our new youth pastor will be a
woman.
We don't know who it is yet, but
we know it'll be a woman.
You say, "How do you know that,
Dwight?"
Because those are the only names
we've turned in.
And I just was on the phone with
the Conference president,
Jim Micheff -- who's a great
supporter of Pioneer --
yesterday, and we got the date
for the interviews.
They're gonna happen all on the
same day, in just a few days.
So we know that God will be
sending a woman to Pioneer to
begin to lead, spiritually lead
our teens.
Hmm.
But with the recent retirement
of Pastor Sharon Terrell, we've
had to bring two people in.
Pastor Sharon has been our
finance and stewardship pastor.
We're making two shifts.
We've asked Joann Siagian, our
accountant, to become our new
church treasurer, and she's
accepted a new responsibility
and is doing great.
And we're asking José Bourget,
our campus chaplain, to become
our new executive pastor.
For the first time in the
history of the
Pioneer Memorial Church, we have
now a leadership position called
"XP," executive pastor.
"Why are you doing that,
Dwight?"
Because I need, because we need
someone with a passion for
administration to oversee the
vision mission of Pioneer as we
now move into the seventh decade
as a campus congregation.
José's task will be to lead the
annual strategic-planning
process, reviewing the mission
vision and core values,
developing key objectives and
tactics, and establishing three-
to five-year goals for the
Pioneer Memorial Church.
We need it.
Which means now we've got to
find a gifted campus chaplain to
fill Jose's position.
And we're now beginning that
search process, as well.
Well, the Spirit will lead us.
I'm not worried about it.
The Holy Spirit will lead us to
the right person.
By the way, there's one other
major change that I need to
announce to you, and that is our
GROW Group pastor, that is
vacant when Sabine Vatel left to
become a hospital chaplain, but
we're very grateful already that
Pastor Rodlie has agreed to step
into that leadership position,
GROW Group discipleship
ministry, along with the
community-outreach ministry that
he already is carrying in his
portfolio.
And Brianna Martin -- we just
met her a few moments ago --
will continue to assist
Pastor Rodlie in this critical
ministry of GROW Groups,
providing discipleship for this
congregation.
So we have the right people on
the bus, and, by the grace of
God, they're occupying the right
seats on the bus.
And with the arrival of our new
youth pastor and our campus
chaplain, this team, at last,
will be complete again, to which
I'm gonna say, "Hallelujah.
Thank you, Lord."
Yeah.
♪ We are family ♪
They ought to write a song like
that sometime, you know?
[ Laughter ]
I mean, seriously.
It just has something to it.
♪ We are fa-mily ♪
Little bit of Pauline
syncopation perhaps.
But that's family.
By the way, I'm putting it on
the screen for you.
That's "Family" with a capital
F.
I want to end with a quotation.
One more time -- the words of
Krish Kandiah, from his
Christianity Today piece.
This is profound.
On the screen...
"It can be an antidote to more
individualistic --" which is
society today -- "sadly even
consumptive --" Everybody's a
consumer, consumer.
We're always trying to attract
consumers, something new to get
consumers to come to us.
No.
"...sadly even consumptive
models of church participation
that are common today."
We don't want that, he's
writing.
Now read...
To which I say amen.
So let there be no question that
the God who for six decades has
led this mighty congregation,
beginning 60 years ago right
now, is the God who will guide
us.
"Oh, Thou great Jehovah,
pilgrims through this barren
land, we are weak, but Thou art
mighty.
Hold us with Thy powerful hand."
And He will, for He is the God
of Abraham and Sarah, He is the
God of Isaac and Rebecca, He is
the God of Jacob and Leah and
Rachel.
He's the God of the pioneers,
for whom this church is a
memorial, and you know what?
I have good news for you today.
He is still the Lord of Pioneer.
What do you say?
>> All: Amen.
>> Amen.
Amen, because we are family --
all are family.
Amen.
Invite you to turn your worship
bulletin over, and on the back
cover is the
Litany of Dedication that we are
going to read right now.
Find your bulletin.
Turn it over, back cover.
And Karen is gonna join me as we
invite you to stand.
She'll lead the congregation in
this Litany of Dedication, after
which we'll sing the mighty
"Lord's Prayer" together, all
right?
"Almighty God, we give You
thanks for the work You have
done through Christ in this
place."
>> All: "We thank You for
adopting us into Your family as
Your sons and daughters."
>> "You have sent Your
Holy Spirit to heal and comfort
our hurts, our sorrows, our
infirmities, and our losses."
>> All: "You have listened to
our confessions and forgiven our
sins."
>> "Lord, thank You for drawing
us a congregation to become part
of Your global Church."
>> All: "Thank You for our
pioneers and founders who
obediently listened to Your
voice to raise up both our
church and our congregation for
Your sacred purposes."
>> "Help us to teach our young
Your Word and Your ways so they
will know who they are and whom
You call them to be."
>> All: "Inspire us with a
vision for Your glory, to be a
house of prayer for all people,
and use that vision to direct
the path of this congregation."
>> "Continue to empower us with
Your Spirit, that we might
connect, grow, serve, and go
with the Gospel of Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior to all
people."
>> All: "In our families, in our
community, and to the ends of
the Earth."
>> "Help us to witness to the
good news of Jesus Christ until
people of every nation, tribe,
tongue, and people worship Your
holy name."
>> All: "May all glory and honor
be Yours, in and through Your
Church, and in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
Amen."
>> Let us sing together the
"Lord's Prayer."
[ The "Lord's Prayer" begins ]
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Amen.
♪♪
[ Song ends ]
>> Before you go, let me take an
extra moment to share with you
an opportunity to get into the
Bible in a fresh, new way.
All across the world, more and
more people are hearing the call
to examine Scriptures
for themselves.
If you felt drawn to learn more
about God's Word, but you don't
know where to start or you're
just looking for a more in-depth
examination of Bible truths,
then I have something right here
that I believe you're going to
enjoy.
I want to send a series of
guides to get you started.
This one's entitled,
"Why Does God Allow Suffering?"
Each guide begins with a story,
an introduction of the subject.
Then, through a series
of focus questions,
you'll be learning portions
of the Bible you may never
have known before, and when
you're through, you'll be able
to share with others some of
these inspiring Bible truths.
So just call our toll-free
number.
It's on the screen --
877 -- the two words --
HIS-WILL.
Our friendly operators
are standing by to send these
study guides to you.
Once again,
that's 877-HIS-WILL.
Call that number, and then,
again, join me next week
right here at the same time.
"New Perceptions."
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét