If you missed church today, here is part of the sermon from todays message, Matthew 9:14-17, “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.” Jesus is not into patchwork and is not going to allow for the good stuff to go wasted. Jesus does not patch the old or pours new blessings, a new vision, into old broken and close-minded religion. God is always on the move doing new things. I sense there’s some “new wine” God wants to pour out into the “old wineskins” of this church. I believe God wants us to experience “new wine”, a lot of it! We can cower in fear, avoid risk and change, and stay safely in what we know, but that will not take us to our foreseen future; or we can be willing to make the changes and to trade-in the old to make room for the new. With all my heart I believe we are a people and a church that has truly been blessed by God. And today I feel very grateful and excited for we have receive a renewal of our strength, calling and vision. This is our new vision statement, “Oak Cliff United Methodist Church “The Cliff” is a mission-driven* community of faith where all people’s divine-worth and purpose is restored through the teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. *By mission-driven, we mean that we will commit to make new disciples of Jesus Christ through the paradigm of multiplication (disciples making disciples).” This new vision is about imagining the unimaginable and taking a chance for it. Today God is calling us to come together, to take a chance for it together. Today God is calling us to Revival! In this new vision the Holy Spirit wants to deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ, to lead us to more fruitful discipleship and enable us as congregation to grow in vitality and faithfulness. For this Revival to take place we need to come together under this new vision God has given us and bring new excitement and love for our future as a church, as people of God. One person can’t do it alone. I can’t do it alone nor can any of you. We need to decide together today if we are going to follow where God is leading us to. It is a time to stretch and make room for the new! The Bible teaches us that the people of God perish for lack of understanding and vision, for getting too rigid and stiff that they are not able anymore to follow the lead of the Spirit. We see that in both the OT and NT. But that is not us, we want the Spirit to move in us and through us. Every challenge we have overcome has prepared us mentally, spiritually and emotionally for this moment. We have seen the worst and have learn to appreciate what matters the most. And because of that, now we have a new vision, so we are not going to perish. God doesn’t want us to perish, but we need to be faithful to what God is calling is to do, and God wants us to start by fostering Christ character in us and in our church through joyful faith, committed service, responsible unity and constant testimony. As your pastor and your leader, I’m not perfect. I have made mistakes and I’m sure I will continue to make some more. But everything I do is trying to do my best for God and for you. You can be sure of this, I will seek for God’s direction and wisdom to see this vision flourish and come into completion. And that’s what I’m asking from you too, not perfection, but to give your best to God and to each other. We need to start doing our best and say no to mediocrity. God is renewing our energy and purpose; we need to follow his lead now with all our guts! It is not going to happen if only a few work on it, we all need to come together as one, and even when gets challenging to work together, we humble ourselves and keep on going. This is not about religion, this is about our relationship with God and how this relationship shapes and directs us, transforms and impacts all of us for the sake of our own salvation and the salvation of our neighbor. I’m asking you now to do your part. Let’s do this, let’s follow God’s plan for us, for the sake of our children. I am going to tell you this now so you are prepare for when it comes. The devil is going to try to stop us, to stop you. He will try to stop you and make you think otherwise, but you stick to it. He will try to put you against your brothers and sisters, against your leaders and your pastor, but you stick to the plan. You don’t give up or give in. You stay the course steadily. The Devil will bring doubt and discourage, will tell you to go back to the old, to the broken, to the things you already know robbing you from the new that God wants to bring to you. But you don’t listen to him, you listen to the one that left his own throne to take your place and bear the punishment for your sins and give you new life. You listen to the one that is here right now with us because we have gathered in his name. You listen to Jesus. God is not dead, nor are we, nor is the church. Now, open your hand and let go of the old. Make room for the new. From the lyrics to the song of Let it go, kind of, “We are never going back, the past is in the past. It is time to see what we can do, to test the limits and break through. Let us rise like the break of dawn!” And this is how it starts; this is my first word of encouragement as your pastor to you. Listen carefully, Love your neighbor as yourself and share the Good News of Jesus Christ with new people. Give your testimony and invite others to walk alongside Jesus Christ. Don’t try to convert them into you, but guide them to find the grace and redeeming love of Jesus as contained in the Gospel, and he will do the rest as he has done it in you. Read to them the Gospel, the stories of reconciliation and forgiveness. Read them the parables, the Sermon of the mount, and the Spirit will give testimony to their hearts. Read them to children, youth, everyone. In your house, at the park and the bus station. Anywhere, anytime. Can we start anew? Yes, we can! Yours in Christ, Pr. Edgar.
Posted on: Sun, 04 May 2014 21:06:39 +0000
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