Where is God moving? - October 29, 2017

At the end of October, I got to share with the BN Vineyard on God's heart to move through all of us to our cities. Here are the notes. Email or message us if you'd like a copy of the audio version!

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In the Fall of 2004, Corrie and I were getting ready to plant our first church in Ohio. As we met with our advisory board… raised support… talked with our church planting coach… and budgeted for the future, it became clear that the most our little group would probably bring in was around $3,000 per month (and that’s if all of our supporters made their commitments). After building rental, supplies, paying our Kids’ Pastor stipend, and meeting weekly ministry needs, we were pretty sure that my salary would be about $500 a month… and could balloon to $6-700 if we brought in a little extra J.

That meant we had a big decision to make: HOW MANY JOBS WOULD WE NEED?

·      Coaching

·      Sharonville

·      Coffee Shop

·      Landscaping

·      Corrie even sold some Avon on the side

This was a crazy time in our lives… but it didn’t get really weird until we got pregnant with Zeke a year later.

It was an amazing time of stretching for us… but we came to learn some valuable things through this process… you see Adam had been working full time in the “church world” for several years… and coming fresh out of Bible College, there was very little knowledge of how important the secular world was to the Kingdom of Jesus.

I was soon to learn some amazing truths about how to live in our “new normal.” And more importantly, I began to realize that God’s plan has always been to move MORE IN THE SECULAR WORLD THAN IN THE CHURCH.

Unique “one off” weekend… just for our campus… what will it take to move us from the “initial battle” (Carmel and planting) … and into the promise of rain?

This is about all of us growing into the fullness of what God has designed for us.

PRAYER

As we explore the truth of God’s plan to move in YOUR world, we are going to look in an unexpected place. The book of Numbers (your favorite, right?!)

1 The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, ² “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers' houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head. ³ From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war, you and Aaron shall list them, company by company. ⁴ And there shall be with you a man from each tribe, each man being the head of the house of his fathers. ⁵ And these are the names of the men who shall assist you… long list of names (lol)

¹⁷ Moses and Aaron took these men who had been named, ¹⁸ and on the first day of the second month, they assembled the whole congregation together, who registered themselves by clans, by fathers' houses, according to the number of names from twenty years old and upward, head by head, ¹⁹ as the Lord commanded Moses. So he listed them in the wilderness of Sinai.

²⁰ The people of Reuben, Israel's firstborn, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go to war: ²¹ those listed of the tribe of Reuben were 46,500.

²² Of the people of Simeon… were 59,300.

²⁴ Of the people of Gad… were 45,650.

²⁶ Of the people of Judah… were 74,600.

²⁸ Of the people of Issachar… were 54,400.

³⁰ Of the people of Zebulun… were 57,400.

³² Of the people of Joseph… were 40,500.

³⁴ Of the people of Manasseh…were 32,200.

³⁶ Of the people of Benjamin… were 35,400.

³⁸ Of the people of Dan… were 62,700.

⁴⁰ Of the people of Asher… were 41,500.

⁴² Of the people of Naphtali… were 53,400.

⁴⁶ all those listed were 603,550.

⁴⁷ But the Levites were not listed along with them by their ancestral tribe. ⁴⁸ For the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁹ “Only the tribe of Levi you shall not list, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel. 

Word

Most of the next few chapters of the book of Numbers is God describing to Moses what the roles of the Levites would be… to stay home and guard the heart of worship of the people… but they, in general, don’t get to “go to battle.”

The “battle” is fought by the larger tribes… they get to experience the “stuff” and the “supernatural” of God. Think about the miraculous of the old testament?

·      Joshua – Ephraim (Joseph)

·      Deborah the Judge – Ephraim (Joseph)

·      Samson the Judge – tribe of Dan

·      The first King Saul – Benjamin

·      David (shepherd boy and warrior) – Judah (most of the kingly miracles)

·      Elijah – Manasseh or Gad (depending on tradition)

·      Elisha - Issachar

·      Rach, Shach, Benni & Daniel – Judah

·      Esther – Benjamin

·      Isaiah – Judah

·      Jeremiah – Benjamin

**We tend to live confused… We believe tend to believe that church is God’s sacred space to move… and the world is either My space OR the Enemy’s space. This is not truth… “the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.”

Think about the stories that we celebrate…

·      Noah was Vineyard owner

·      Abraham was a businessman

·      Jacob was a shepherd

·      Joseph was a politician

·      Barnabas, Aquila & Priscilla & Lydia all worked secular jobs

·      There is a Miraculous to the Secular that we need to embrace as a people.

Or think about the Holy Spirit’s work in the OT…

·      Empowering farmer Gideon (unqualified)

·      Inspiring the craftsmen of the temple

·      Prophesying through King Saul (unqualified)

·      Granting visions to Daniel, Isaiah and more

·      Performing miracles through Elisha the ox herder

·      And then coming in power on fishermen & tax collectors at Pentecost

In our daily lives, we need to turn our attention to what God is doing.

We need to be ready for the movement of God’s Spirit whether we are at our desk… in our school… or having dinner with our friends & neighbors.

STORY FROM a woman in our church…

“A woman, named Deborah Johnson, who is a regular customer at our local retail store was telling me that God was angry at them and that anger was causing circumstances in their life to be completely out of control.  They began directing their anger towards me under the belief that I had some connection to God that could change or explain their problems. 

“I reminded them that first they were not acting the way that God created them to be.  "It's not who you are" I reminded her.  She was very taken back, but my boldness got her attention. I walked up to her and started praying for her.  Forgot to ask permission, but sometimes, you just go for it. 

“My prayer focused on her being free from past choices and to help her start making new choices as a daughter of God, not an orphan, a misfit or a step child.

“Several weeks later she bounced back into the store and testified that after praying with her, she just started responding to her new-found freedom.  She is now totally happy and continues telling people how much Jesus just loves them no matter what.  It's so nice to see a previously hateful, grumpy, mean person smiling and laughing because they are totally changed by the power of God.”

Think about how amazing that story is! A person responds to the ministry of the Holy Spirit right in their job & a life is changed. The person wasn’t at their church, at a church outreach, or even in their small group. It was one individual, inspired by God’s Spirit extending the Kingdom in their secular context.

You’ve probably heard many times that the role of the church offices (APEST) is to equip the church people. We hear that and it makes sense. But, do we believe it in our bones? Look at how Isaiah says it:

Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;^[a] he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound:

Jesus’ call and the ministry he invited his followers & us into…

² to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; ³ to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

The call to release hope and blessing into the darkness of people’s lives.

that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.^[c]

The work of the church is to bring the good news to the broken and hearting. Through the healing power of Christ’s body to show them who they really are. That the poor and outcasts can become “oaks of righteousness” in the Kingdom…

·      Identity

·      Destiny

·      Purpose

But then what are YOU supposed do with this good news?

⁴ They (the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, the bound and the mourners) shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

Those restored by the truth of the gospel, in turn, transform the CITY around them.

Close

You become the 11 other tribes going to war. You become the hand, the feet and the voice of God in our city

It took me years to understand this truth… and some of that lie has been preached by the church itself (including me J). That we must come to the church building because that’s where God is moving… that’s where the anointing is.

The truth is that the church is:

·      the training ground…

·      the filling station…

·      the army headquarters…

·      the hospital…

·      It is NOT ALWAYS the battlefield

The movement of Holy Spirit happens much easier outside the walls of the church.

·      Coffee Shop HEALING

·      I didn’t always do the best in representing the kingdom…

·      But one time I did: Healing Story

·      Worst prayer ever

·      Very little faith

·      But one of the most powerful miracles I’ve been a part of

Action

On a regular basis, we as a church are asking “where is God moving?” or “where is the favor?” …in other words, what do we see Holy Spirit doing in an amongst our leaders, volunteers and our gatherings (Highlight WORSHIP Team).

But a more common question for people to ask me is:

·      “Where is God moving in our city?”

·      Where IS He moving in Bloomington?

·      In Normal? In McLean county? In Downs, El Paso, etc?

the TRUTH? I personally don't know everywhere He is moving? 

BUT, I know that God WANTS TO move in your every-day-lives more than you can possibly imagine… I know that God WANTS TO move through you… I know that God WANTS TO move at your job… in your school… in your neighborhood… with your fam.

Where are you saying YES to things in your natural lives?

If you can’t see God moving, it’s not because he doesn’t want to.

In fact, the problem might be that you need to move… The Father has placed you at your desk job, in your store, at your school, OR in your coffee shop so that HE CAN MOVE through you and bless our cities.

YOU get the exciting job…

Maybe you are GIDEON – hiding in your winepress…

Maybe you are ELISHA – plowing a field …Elisha throws on his mantel

You are right where God wants you to be… sitting at your desk – going to your school – living in your neighborhood – working at your job

Be ready… to move when God shows up

Be willing… to act when He calls you

Be expectant… for Holy Spirit to use you more powerfully than you’ve ever seen at church