July 28, 2013 Our Heart & Soul: The Value - Trust the Bible as God's Inspired Word

Good morning! It is such a pleasure to greet you this morning in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. I am Tim Roberts and I am the pastor here at Sunrise Church. I pray that you feel right at home and will receive a special blessing from God for being with us.

I would like to begin this morning with us looking at our focus scripture for today. It comes from Paul second letter to his young protégé, Timothy, encouraging him in his calling of serving God.

2 Timothy 3.16 (CEB)

Every scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for showing mistakes, for correcting, and for training character

[Prayer]

Over the last several weeks, we have been taking this time as an opportunity to look at our Mission, Vision and Value statements in closer detail. We are doing this because we believe these principles were implanted by God into our collective hearts, to serve as a reminder of who we are, what we hold dear and what our purpose is. This morning we continue looking at our Values, those non-negotiable ideals we have and that without, Sunrise would not be who we are.

It's funny to see how values differ from person to person and church to church. I witnessed this first-hand just the other day as I sat in one of the local auto repair shops, waiting to get my car serviced and inspected. While I was waiting on the job to be done, I was perusing some of the news stories of on the Internet and I overheard a conversation strike up between two other patrons who were waiting on their cars to be serviced. As it often happens down here in the South, one of the men asked the other, "So, where do you go to church?" The other man replied that he frequents many different churches because he hadn't found one that quite matched up with his understanding of the Bible. The first man quickly told him that he goes to one of the United Methodist Churches in the area. The man in-between churches queried, "You do?" to which the first started back with, "Yep, I've been there about all my life. It's a good church too! We got this here woman preacher and she has done a great job in the four years she's been there. Yeah, we were about dead until she got there and now we're growing pretty good!"

Of course, with my wife also being a pastor, I perked up a bit to see the reaction. The other gent did not fail me. He responded, "Well, I'm glad I don't have to be held accountable for other people."

By this time, I knew where this was going, but I was going to keep my mouth shut for a while. The second man then inquired, "So, tell me, what do the Methodists have against the blood of Jesus?" Our Methodist brother was a bit perplexed and replied, "What do you mean?" The fellow then said, "Well, you've taken the blood out of your songs." My head started craning in all sorts of directions, but I was trying my best to keep out of the argument - well because like a friend of mine once said, "Arguing with some people is like wrestling with a pig in the mud - after a while, you find out that the pig likes it." But, I couldn't help myself so I interjected, "I'm sorry gentlemen, but as I was sitting here, I overheard your conversation and I must ask you sir, 'Where are you getting your information?'" The Methodist brother looked a bit relieved and the second man looked at me and replied, "What?" So I proceeded to tell him I was a United Methodist pastor and some of the information he had was simply not true. He once again responded that we had taken the blood out of all our hymns. I quickly recalled for him "Nothing but the Blood of Jesus" "Rock of Ages" and the other scores of our hymns that speak of Jesus' cleansing blood. He did not seem to quite believe me so I opened up the Hymnal on my laptop and did a quick search for blood and showed him the results.

With that, he sat there for a minute. Then he slowly began to nod. I thought that maybe I had convinced him that Methodists weren't quite the heathens he had originally envisioned. After a few more moments, he responded, "Well, I did not know that, but tell me, Why don't you Methodist read the Bible?"

Luckily, by that time my car was ready and I was able to not get back into another mud pit. But while this gentleman does have a somewhat skewed opinion of our church, his response did bring back to my mind a statement I heard one of our bishops, Richard Wilke, make several years back. He said, "If biblical illiteracy were a disease, we would be in the midst of an epidemic."

That's why I am almost ecstatic that one of the core values of Sunrise addresses this point. So please read me our focus value for today:

We Trust the Bible as God's Inspired Word - a testament of God's love for the world.

[Restate] We trust the Bible as God's inspired word - a testament of God's love for the world.

Allow me to pause for just a moment and ask, What does that word, "inspire" mean? Although I believe I have a pretty decent understanding of the word, I decided to look it up, so we will all have the same idea. So, here is what I found:

1. To be the cause or source of

2. To guide by divine influence

So, right off the bat, we begin to get this idea that the Bible is more than just some ordinary book. It is more than one of The New York Times bestsellers (which it is - with an average sale of over 40,000 copies each day). It is more than one of Oprah's "must reads."

The Bible is foundational for people of faith. 

But why? Why is the Bible important to begin with? I mean, isn't just doing good works, especially the God things, what's really important? Surely God doesn't expect us to sit around and read when there is so much work to be done!

I cannot deny that there is plenty of good things we could be doing and there are an innumerable amount of God-things that we ought to be doing, but delving into scripture is paramount for God's people. Here's why - It reminds us of God's immeasurable love for us.

Imagine someone who begins working with wood. He or she goes out and procures all the necessary tools to perfect their newfound hobby. After years of continuous honing of skills, that person becomes known as a craftsman. Do you think this person still needs all the tools they originally acquired? Some of the tools will probably have been replaced and some may not be needed, but there is one tool that is always needed - the square. Use of the square in carpentry is imperative if the craftsman is going to ensure their piece is sound and of high quality. Those who proceed without a square may get-by in the short run, but as time (or distance) increases the misalignment is not only apparent, it may also lead to disastrous consequences.

For we who call ourselves people of faith, the Bible is our square. It keeps us aligned to the will of God. Without it, all those God-things we begin to do, become just good things before ceasing all together.

Now some people love to study the Bible. I have seen people and small groups get into some of the finite details in their study of scripture. I hear them discuss the various biblical criticisms such as historical, textual, source, form, rhetorical, canonical, redaction, psychological and narrative to name a few. I have some friends who get into the dispensational mindset as they try to find some hidden meaning within. Yet sometimes I wonder, are we missing the point?

Several years ago, my family and I vacationed in Maui, one of the main Hawaiian islands. Once we arrived at the condo at which we were staying, one of the first things I did was to call my parents to let them know we arrived without any problems. As I talked with my mother, who had never outside of the continental states, she asked, "What's the view like?" I described it best I could, which considering I was in Hawaii, was woefully inadequate. But I wonder what if I had answered her this way: "Well, mom, we have a beautiful condo that faces the western shore of the island. I am looking out of a picture window that provides a panoramic view of the ocean. The window is almost eight feet tall and is divided into three sections. We had a scraping of the glass and will be able to tell you the chemical composition of the glass as I have had experts analyze the scraping, along with the history and development of the glass. The glass is set in steel frames which are painted black and I will tell you about the composition of those steel frames the next time I call. Also at a later call, I will tell you about the putty that holds the glass into the frames and it's formation and its application in other areas. Finally, once I have the opportunity to do some other research, I will inform you of the method that the management utilizes to keeping the windows clean - what solvents they use and the methods they employ to keep the window's acuity as pristine as possible. So, as you can tell, the view is fantastic."

Do you think that response would have really answered my mom's question? Do you think that if I had given her that answer that maybe I was missing out on "the big picture" that was just beyond my focus?

Before I go any further, let me say that I highly value the exegetical study of scripture. I find it to be invaluable to my growth as a pastor and as a child of God. But at the same time, I have come to understand that it must be in balance with the understanding above and beyond anything else, the Bible is God's inspired word. If I fail to keep this at the forefront of any study then this study will cloud my understanding rather than enlighten.

Wow, there was that word again. Did you catch it? The word, "inspired."

If you will remember, just a little while ago, I gave you a couple of definitions for that word 

1. To be the cause or source of

2. To guide by divine influence

While those may well be adequate definitions, there is one more that I would like for you to consider for it though:

1. To be the cause or source of

2. To guide by divine influence

3. To breathe life into

Think about that for a moment in our context, friends! What we have here are God's words! God's living words! God's living words of love! That is exactly why we hold this to be a Value for us here at Sunrise. Look at it again with me:

We Trust the Bible as God's Inspired Word - a testament of God's love for the world.

In his notes that he made in his book, Conversations, which is sort of a commentary of The Message, Eugene Peterson put it this way - If you believe that scripture is inspired, that is - God-breathed, it will affect the way you read it. If you don't, it will not only affect the way you read it, but also whether you read it at all.

We trust the Bible as God's inspired word - a testament of God's love for the world.

[Share information about The Story,  beginning September 15th.]

 

July 21, 2013 Our Heart & Soul: The Value - Live Authentic Lives

Good morning! Welcome to Sunrise Church! I am Tim Roberts, the pastor on staff here and I am so excited to be here and worship our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, with you this morning. I am excited because not only do I have this opportunity to worship a God I love and who loves me, I get to do so with a group of people that I dearly love too - you! So welcome and thank you for being here this morning.

You know, it's not just the fact that we are here to worship together this morning that excites me, but also that I have this opportunity to share with you the awesome mission, vision and values that God has implanted into our collective hearts here at Sunrise. Ever since we gathered last October to prayerfully listen to God's guidance for us as a church, we have seen many wonderful things transpire and are continuing to see many more unfold before our very eyes.

Last week, I first shared with you the news that beginning September 15th, we will be launching a third worship service, which will be held each Sunday afternoon and will be directed for persons with special needs and their families. Since then, I have had numerous comments about how excited and glad so many of you are as we are reaching out to a segment of the population who need a time and place to worship the Lord.

This morning, we are continuing to look at our Values, those non-negotiable principles that we hold dear and without, Sunrise would not be who we are. The Value we will be considering today is this, please read it along with me

 Live Authentic Lives - We are the same people in everything we do, all the time.

[Prayer]

Last year, as we gathered for the God Into Focus sessions, one of the words that kept coming up, time and time again, was the word "authentic." So, I begin to do what I normally do and wonder, "What does that word, authentic, mean?"

Here is one of the definitions I found:

Authentic - not false or imitation: real, actual

I find that to be pretty accurate as a description of Sunrise, don't you?

One of the things that I immediately fell in love with about Sunrise is the level of authenticity. I quickly found out, even before I actually started as your pastor, that the people here are the same people in church on Sunday morning as they are on at a restaurant on Wednesday afternoon, at the Soup Kitchen on Saturday morning, or at a bar on Friday night. That I find refreshing, because I have found there to be too many church people whose lives in the church are not reflected in their daily lives.

So, what we have here is a gathering of people who hold no pretenses or put-ons. We are just genuine people seeking to live out a real faith in a real world.

Now, I could stop here, but you know me - I like to preach and I am going to take the time that I have been given. But even more so is that I don't believe that is what God is intending when he placed this value of "just being the same" in our hearts. There must be something holy about being authentic if it is something that God is calling us to be.

Let's take a look at an example that Jesus gave about holy authenticity. It can be found in the Gospel of Luke 18.9-14.

Luke 18.9-14 (CEB)

9 Jesus told this parable to certain people who had convinced themselves that they were righteous and who looked on everyone else with disgust: 10 "Two people went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself with these words, ‘God, I thank you that I'm not like everyone else—crooks, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of everything I receive.' 13 But the tax collector stood at a distance. He wouldn't even lift his eyes to look toward heaven. Rather, he struck his chest and said, ‘God, show mercy to me, a sinner.' 14 I tell you, this person went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. All who lift themselves up will be brought low, and those who make themselves low will be lifted up."

Here is a classic example of how so many people, who claim to be followers of God, are really missing the point of following God. The Pharisee was a highly religious man - he had to be in order to be a Pharisee in the first place. But his position made him presumptuous. He presumed that his words and "better character" was enough to win him "brownie points" with God. The problem is he had just enough religion to be virtuous, but not enough to be humble.

As we read this story, it was pretty easy to grasp the point of it, wasn't it? Sometimes, it doesn't take much to spot a phony.

I just love that phrase Mr. Haney, from Green Acres, uses, "Genuine imitation." Let that phrase rattle around in you mind for a moment. [Pause] In other words, he is peddling something that is "authentically fake!"

Several years ago, I got one of the worst tongue-lashes ever as a pastor, all because of a message I put on the church road sign. It seems I had the audacity to put on the sign, right under the name of the church, these words, "An Imperfect Church for Imperfect People." Well, that did not sit very well with one of the matriarchs of that church. I can still vividly recall her wagging her finger in my face as she berated me for calling her and her church "imperfect." After a few minutes of calling me names and insinuating that my parents weren't married, she huffed off, feeling vindicated and justified. So, can you guess what I did? I left the sign as it was; because I was pretty sure by then that it was an accurate statement.

You see, to live an authentic life as a follower of Jesus means that we must admit that we don't have it all together and we don't have all the answers. It means that we must admit that we are broken and flawed; that we've all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Yet, it also means that a loving God - one whose depth of grace far exceeds the breadth of our sins and wrongdoings, created us each. It means that there is a God who loved each one of us enough to die for us so that we would never have to endure the sting of eternal separation from God.

That's what we must admit to live authentic lives. You see friends, the world does not need "genuine imitations" of followers of Jesus; the world needs the real deal - authentic Christ followers.

Back at the beginning of this message, I gave you one definition of the word, authentic. As I was doing some research for this sermon, I came across another definition; one that I believe aptly applies here:

Authentic - worthy of acceptance or belief as conforming to or based on fact

Think of it this way:

Life conforming to the Truth, the love of Jesus Christ.

Back in January, many of the men of the church decided to have their version of the women's "Cookie Exchange." But, being real men living out real lives in a real world, cookies just didn't seem to cut it, so they had a "Beer Exchange."

There was one thing that happened that made it so memorable for me. One of the guys there came up to me and said this, "You know pastor, I like this "Come as you are" attitude the church has, but I really hope I will not to stay the same."

Yeah, that's what it means to live authentic lives. We are all on this road of faith, maybe at different points along it, but we are all on it striving to live into being who God created us to be. That's what we, as United Methodists, refer to as moving on toward perfection.

As we travel along this road, maybe it would be a good idea to take to heart some of the words that the Apostle Paul said to some Roman pilgrims along this same road. He said this:

Romans 12.2 (CEB)

Don't be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God's will is—what is good and pleasing and mature.

So you see friends, to live authentic lives means we don't have to carry the all the weight of the extra baggage from trying to pretend to be something we're not. It simply means to live fully into who we are while striving to become all our gracious God desires us to be.

Let all of God's authentic people here at Sunrise United Methodist Church say...Amen.

[Prayer]

July 14, 2013 Our Heart & Soul: The Value - Be a Missional Church

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Good morning! I am Tim Roberts the pastor here at Sunrise Church and let me take the time to welcome you and thank you for being here to worship Jesus Christ with us this morning. While I am sure that there were plenty of other things that you could have been doing this morning, you chose to be here and I pray that you receive a blessing from God.

Over the last several weeks, we have been taking this time as an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the Mission and Vision that God has implanted into our collective hearts here at Sunrise. Last week, we finished looking at the all the elements of our Vision Statement, which you can find hanging on the wall in the Commons Area. This morning, we begin looking at those things that we hold dear as the unique characteristics of Sunrise Church, our Values.

Now as is common with us, let me ask you, What is a Value? One definition that I came across stated it this way

A principle or quality intrinsically desirable as a means or as an end in itself.

Last year, as we began to prayerfully think through these, we came to understand that our Values are our non-negotiables - those principles or qualities that are unique for us here at Sunrise and without them, we would not be who we are.

It should come as no surprise that our first Value is akin to one of the main emphases of our Vision  - Be Missional. With that, I invite you to look at and read with me our first Value:

We are Committed to be a Missional Church - utilizing our time, money, and energy.

[Prayer]

As you may recall, last week, I indicated that last week's sermon and this weeks are almost like a two-part message. So, let's take a moment to bring us back up to speed as we recap what it means to be missional.

- Missionary Nature of God - God is one who sends (for us this morning, we are witnessing that as we celebrate God sending thirty-four of our youth and adults to New Jersey to help with the clean-up and recovery efforts from Hurricane Sandy).

- Incarnational Ministry Today - embodiment of Jesus for the world today

- Actively Participate in Mission of God - be the instrument that God uses to reach people with the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

While the term "missional" is one that has only been around for about thirty years and has been popularized in the last fifteen or so, the concept of being missional has been around for thousands of years. As I stated earlier, God's nature is about sending people to meet the needs of their neighbors and bringing them to a place where they can experience the transforming grace of Jesus.

I believe a prime example of this is found in Mark's gospel. Let's take a look at it in the first four verses of the second chapter.

Mark 2.1-3 (CEB)

1 After a few days, Jesus went back to Capernaum, and people heard that he was at home. 2 So many gathered that there was no longer space, not even near the door. Jesus was speaking the word to them. 3 Some people arrived, and four of them were bringing to him a man who was paralyzed.

Jesus was well known at the time. Though this event occurred relatively early on during Jesus public ministry, we know just from the first chapter of Mark, he was known to be a great prophet (one who spoke for God), an exorcist (as he cast out demons, and a healer (as he healed many persons). Even if people did not really believe that he was a holy man with supernatural powers, they came from around to see the speckle of his actions. This we can see from our reading today. But evidently, there were some who believed in the power that Jesus possessed too, because we read that four of them came carrying a man who was paralyzed to see him. But the crowd was too great and they could not get to Jesus, at least in any conventional manner.

Mark 2.4 (CEB)

4 They couldn't carry him through the crowd, so they tore off part of the roof above where Jesus was. When they had made an opening, they lowered the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying.

You know, I am still struck with the audacity of these four men every time I read this story. They did not let others get in their way of bringing their friend to Jesus. They did not let proper social protocol or even respect for other people's property stand in their way.

I know that some scholars tend to downplay the story a bit by saying that roofs of the time were constructed in such a way that it is not the same as tearing a hole in a modern roof today. But to me, that does not alter the fact that they were willing to destroy sombody else's property to get access to Jesus for their friend in need.

It makes me take pause and wonder, "To what lengths are we willing to go to bring someone we know to a place where they can experience Jesus?"

I cannot imagine that we will ever need to tear through a roof and lower someone to be in Jesus' presence, but there are still barriers that we sometimes to encounter, that seek to prevent us from doing so.

Let's take just a few moments and talk with those people right around you about:

What are some of the real and implied barriers we face today in bringing others to Jesus?

There are some real barriers to our efforts and there are some perceived barriers. Either way, they stand to try to prevent us from doing what we know in our heart we should do.

Several years ago, Robin Williams starred in a movie where he was a medical student. He let his heart lead him too many times and found himself expressly forbidden from interacting with patients. For our context this morning, we can understand it as he had a formidable barrier placed before him.

(Video Clip from Patch Adams)

Going against conventional wisdom, Patch saw a need and responded - which is exactly what a missional church is called to do.

Almost a year ago, Sunrise embarked on a spiritual reorientation which we called God Into Focus, where we prayed and discerned how we are called to do more than just good things - we are called to do God Things.

During our time together in God Into Focus - we prayerfully identified several things.

First, we began to identify - The Needs of the Community. We talked with our neighbors, civic leaders, schools, local agencies and did a thorough demographic study. We did all of this so that we could sense the pulse of the community in which God has placed us.

Next, we identified - Our Mission, of which we reconfirmed it to be Sharing to Love of Jesus so All Become His Followers.

Next, we were led to discover - Our Vision, that is how we see ourselves living out our faith. That is what we covered over the last five weeks.

Next, we spent time grasping - Our Values. Of course you know that is what we are beginning to look at more closely today - our non-negotiables, those principles that make Sunrise who we are.

But we did not stop there. We took the final step in this equation here and began to see where all of these things intersected. This is where we discovered -

The Synergy. This is where we are able to find our knack or niche for making a difference in the world for Jesus Christ. This is sort of a take on a verse found later in Marks gospel (Mark 10.9) "What God joins together..."

We have already begun living into this synergy over the last few months and have seen God at work in us. But a couple of months ago, God opened up my eyes and then the eyes of our Church Leadership Council to a new and exciting venture for Sunrise.

How many of you were here ten years ago? Those who were remember that Sunrise started a ministry for special needs persons called No Limits II.

No Limits II, started as a dance for these folk right here in this Worship Center. You may recall this is why we have this superstructure in here and you may remember there used to be a mirrored disco ball suspended from it with lasers bouncing off of it. The ministry quickly outgrew our space here and it moved to Pinedale Christian Church (which it has outgrown as well). That is phenomenal! We have in our DNA something unique that has now affected thousands of lives in our community and throughout the greater Winston-Salem region.

Okay, now fast forward several years with me. Before I became your pastor here in 2010, I began working on my doctorate. As a result, I have here this book entitled, Creating New Life: Forming New Faith Communities Within Existing Congregational Settings Utilizing Personal Traits and Experiences, and it was written by...well, by me. Anyway, I have often wondered, how in the heck will I ever use this new knowledge?

Then just a couple of months ago, I talked with Jayne Koeslin about ministry and her passion for working with people with special needs. When we finished our conversation, she left feeling like she had a goal and I was happy for having to be of help. Then, later that night, I began to have a nagging sensation that I was missing something. I could not sleep for a couple of nights. I had no idea what the problem was. Then early one morning, as seems to be customary for me, I bolted wide awake - it was like God finally slapped me with the obvious - this was our Synergy - Sunrise's history, Jayne's passion, my education, and the community's need! God is joining all of these together to reach a certain population in the greater Winston-Salem area of which for far too long has been woefully overlooked.

So, brothers and sisters, in nine weeks, on Sunday, September 15th, we will be launching

another worship service that will be designed reach people with special needs and their families. It will be either late Sunday afternoons or Sunday evenings.

You see that the service will be known as Genesis Kardia (Gensis = Hebrew for Beginning and Kardia = Greek for Heart).

Now, some may be saying, why are we starting a third service when we still have plenty of room in our present two? Simply put, as we began to inquire how to create a service where persons with special needs will feel the most at home the response we overwhelmingly received back was the need for a new worship service. There are more details than I have time to spell out this morning, but I will be sending out a letter to you in the near future explaining the details of this new service.

In the meantime, I ask you to join with me and the Church Leadership Council in prayer as we seek to serve God and God's people in this new and exciting way. As with any new venture, there will be some changes - some you may readily accept and with some you may struggle. But as is most of the time as we seek to serve God, we encounter barriers. The question we need to ponder is, will these barriers stop us or will they cause us to be even more tenacious in helping others experience the transforming grace of Jesus Christ.

I am excited about what God is joining together - you, me, the  Mission, the Vision, our Values, the Needs of the Community. God is with us!

Pray with me.

July 7, 2013 Our Heart & Soul: The Vision - Be Missional

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Good morning! I am Tim Roberts the pastor here at Sunrise Church and I want to thank you for being here to worship our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ with us this morning.

You know, as a pastor, I hear all kinds of excuses why people don't come to church, but it wasn't too long ago, I was taken aback when someone came up to me and exclaimed, "Pastor Tim! Pastor Tim! I just love coming here each Sunday." Wanting to know more I asked why. She responded, "Let me tell you, I have a tedious job that gets me all worked up and when I get home, my kids drive me crazy. So, I love coming each Sunday." Feeling a bit smug, I pressed for more details as I inquired, "So is it my message each week, the music, or the Sunday School?" My friend then kind of looked puzzle and replied, "Well, I guess those could be good reasons, but..." Now being completely perplexed, I pushed again, "So what is it then? The friendliness?" "No," she quickly retorted, "Free coffee and childcare!"

As Tim stated earlier, whatever the reason that brought you here, we are glad that you are here and pray you receive a blessing from God this morning.

Today, we are continuing a series of messages that are based on our Mission, Vision, and Values. If you are new to Sunrise or a longtime member, this series may help you to understand who we are and our God-directed goals for being a church in the Greater Winston-Salem area.

This morning, we look at the last component of our Vision Statement. Next Sunday, we begin looking at our Values and this last Vision component is akin to the first of our Values, so this message will kind of be a two-parter. 

Please join me in reading this section aloud:

We are blessed to be a blessing. Faith must be demonstrated through action. Sunrise will share the Love of Jesus throughout our community, region and world.

[PRAYER]

 I have a good friend who is the chief of the Lexington Fire Department. He, knowing that I had been a firefighter in Charlotte, often traded "war stories." But I remember one story that was very poignant.

Back in 1912, the City of Lexington purchased two hose wagons and Percheron Draft horses. The Percheron horses were selected because of their notoriety for speed. But because of their speed, they had to be exercised daily.

Each day, at 5:00, the department would hold a drill, in which they quickly harnessed the horses and ran them down Main Street, from Center Street to 8th Street. The routine became a good source of entertainment for the citizens of Lexington as they lined the streets each afternoon to watch the show of the mighty steeds exercise their position of reaching any place in their area within just a few minutes. All long the way, people lined up and applauded as the hose wagon thundered past them down to 8th Street, where they would turn around and proceed at a normal speed back to the station, still reveling in the accolades of a job well-done.

Then, by chance, one afternoon, there was a real fire down Main Street. As the alarm sounded, the horse were raring to go as the harness was quickly lowered and fastened around their necks. Right out of the station, the sped down Main Street to where the firemen saw the smoke billowing from the burning structure just at the corner of Main Street and 9th. The horses never ran faster. This is what they trained so long for. It looked as if the firemen would be able to arrive just in time to save the building from complete destruction, that is until...the horses reached 8th street and began their routine of turning around and walking back to the station!

I sometimes wonder, is the Church like those horses? Have we grown so accustom to our routines that we have lost sight of the mission?

I believe this is why God has given us this vision to be missional - not that we have lost sight of the mission, but to remind us and quicken us to how we are to be missional. To do this requires no less than a thorough reorientation as to what the Church is called to be and how we are to do it.

Before we continue, you may be asking, "What does it mean to be missional?" I believe in order to begin to answer that question, we first need to know what it's not.

Being missional is not:

- Not a cool new catchphrase for doing what we're already doing

- Not Church growth program, although God is concerned with numbers

- Not a newfound emphasis on outreach and social justice. This may be part of it, but is not the whole.

So, if it's not any of these, what does it mean to be "missional"?

1. To be Missional is to be about the missionary nature of God.

Have you ever thought of God as being a missionary? If you go back and read through the Bible, you will come to understand God as a missionary who's goal is to redeem the world through grace and mercy. To accomplish this feat, God "sends out" missionaries.

The word "sending" is the key principle in being missional. Think of how many times the word "sent" is used in scripture. In the New International Version, it is uttered 642 times. God is a missional God.

The gospels record of how God sent Jesus. The Book of Acts recounts Jesus sending the Holy Spirit. All of the New Testament testifies how the Triune God now sends the Church. As the Gospel of John summarizes,

John 20.21 (CEB)

 “...As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

2. To be Missional is being in incarnational ministry in the present age.

If we now understand being missional means being sent, then being incarnational means how we go and what we do as we go.

 Two weeks ago, our Bishop, Larry Goodpaster, charged the annual conference to remember:

"A missional faith stays focused on the heart of God in order to serve Christ in this present age."

As Eugene Peterson translates John 1:14 in The Message,

John 1.14 (The Message)

“The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.”

So to be missional means that our primary function is one of actively being in our community to embody the life, word, and deed, of Jesus into every nook and cranny.

This means we are missional all the time, not just when we go out to aid those we see as less fortunate than ourselves, but also to those we see as our equals and those we see as socially and/or economically superior.

3. To be Missional is to actively participate in the mission of God.

Let me ask you a question. What is the mission of God?

[Allow responses]

How do we actively participate in God's mission? As you ponder that question, take a look at this passage of scripture from Genesis 12:

Genesis 12.1-3 (CEB)

1 The LORD said to Abram, "Leave your land, your family, and your father's household for the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation and will bless you. I will make your name respected, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, those who curse you I will curse; all the families of earth will be blessed because of you."

We are blessed to be a blessing. Faith must be demonstrated through action. Sunrise will share the Love of Jesus throughout our community, region and world.

You see friends, we are the instrument that God uses to be active in the world. We are blessed to be a blessing.

[Invite up to speak those who have served and those who are serving as missionaries]

David Bosch, a missiologist from South Africa summarizes it this way: “It is not so much that God has a mission for his church in the world, but that God has a church for his mission in the world”