05 Feb What’s your “tell”?
What a wonderful sound to hear throughout today! The sound of rain!
I’m loving the freedom from watering my grass or the veggie garden…and I’m reveling in the on-going fulfillment of God nurturing the earth & making things flourish.
The weeks ahead are quite full & flourishing for us as well…Let’s see…
- Sunday 11th February – April Miller from Compassion International is with us in worship. She’ll be reporting on the great work our mission partners in Compassion do with our gifts in support of young people all over the globe. This is a good time to make sure you’re up-to-date with your sponsorship for the child your family supports.
- Wednesday 14th February is not just St. Valentine’s Day it is also Ash Wednesday. Lent begins that evening with worship with the Imposition of Ashes and Holy Communion at 7:00 p.m. in the Guide Hall
- As always… Zoom Bible Study Catch-up
Friday – 9th February 2024 @ 1:00 PM
Join Zoom Meeting — https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83006349720 — Meeting ID: 830 0634 9720
- Road Closures around Jubilee Park – as happens at least once a year, the City is hosting a massive Touch Footy Tournament @ Jubilee Park over the weekend 16th, 17th, and 18th February. Red Hill Road as well as the other access roads around Jubilee will be closed to through traffic. So…if you need to use those roads to come to worship, like I do, on Sunday the 18th you’ll need to use an alternate route. So while all these guests are in our town, pray for their safety in travel, the welfare of the players on the field & spectators along the sidelines, and that somewhere along the way someone will give them a chance to meet Jesus in word & witness. There’ll be at least 10,000 competitors & spectators on the fields that weekend. Statistics indicate that maybe 700 or so are Christians…I’d venture it’s more like 500. What a difference would be made in Australia in even half of the rest were drawn into a saving relationship with Christ! Pray for that and be aware as you move about town over those few days that you’re being given a real opportunity to love a stranger into the Kingdom.
Now let’s go back to the original question: “What’s your ‘tell’?”
In poker, especially the highly competitive professional poker circuit, a “tell” is the little “thing” a player does that unintentionally gives away what kind of hand they have. It’s that unconscious twitch, blink, scratch, tap…whatever they do when they have a hand that’s either awesome or bluff-worthy bad. I’m convinced that followers of Jesus should also have a “tell.” Some visible unconscious “thing” that says, “I’ve got Jesus running my life.” Something that sets us apart from the crowd & it should be so instinctive that it shows even without our trying to make it show.
As I read through the Bible again this year, I’m in Exodus…Exodus 33 is where the Israelites are moving through the wilderness toward the Promised Land. They’re free from slavery in Egypt. They have received the covenant. They’re about to construct the Tabernacle, the mobile worship space that once they arrive in Jerusalem, will serve as the model for the Temple. But Moses wants to be sure God will be there every step of the way. Moses’ “tell” is anxiety…lack of assurance. From the first moment Yahweh speaks to him until the very late in the journey, he’s always asking God for some signal that God will keep his promises. Exodus 33 is one example:
33:12ff – One day Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Take these people up to the Promised Land.’ But you haven’t told me whom you will send with me. You have told me, ‘I know you by name, and I look favourably on you.’ If it is true that you look favourably on me, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favour. And remember that this nation is your very own people.” The Lord replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.” Then Moses said, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. How will anyone know that you look favourably on me—on me and on your people—if you don’t go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.”
Moses knows he’s leading perhaps 2 million Israelites into an adventure none of them understand fully & many will resist until they die. It’s a BIG ASK. So Moses wants assurance that God has got this. Of course God gives Moses a sign…Moses gets to glimpse God’s glory and Moses is reassured. But then we see a sign, a “tell” that God is present in the hearts & lives of his people…a clear indication that they’re being drawn into the relationship with God that God has wanted all along. As they gather materials for building the Tabernacle, the people are called to make offerings of the needed items…and in Ex 36:5 Moses receives the report, “The people have given more than enough materials to complete the job the Lord has commanded us to do!” For at least a moment in their journey, the people surrender themselves wholeheartedly to what God has called them to do. Their generosity…their abundant more-than-enough generosity become the “tell.”
There are only 3 questions of significance for the child of God, redeemed into the freedom of a relationship with the Father.
- What is our commanded job?
- What is required of me? (Not what do I want to do? or What can I afford?)
- How much farther, than where I am now, can my obedience to Yahweh lead me…or lead us as a community of faith?
As we move through our 11th year as a community of God’s people, our “commanded job” is the same as it has always been: be disciples who make disciples…invite all people to become disciples of Jesus. What is required might be that kind of more-than-enough generosity…but it also might be something more risky or radical. I’d love to have that conversation with you. But the real question is the last one…Wholehearted obedience is going to necessarily cause transformation in your life. The same old same old is not wholehearted….it’s too safe. I’ve been praying for that unrestrained obedience to really capture my life. I’m excited to watch God answer that prayer for me…could get scary now and again…but what a joy as it unfolds!
I’m sure I’ll see some of you throughout the week…and I hope to see all of you Sunday!
Peace
John
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