Our’s or His (Acts 13:1-3)

June 17, 2013 in Information with 0 Comments

The Table is entering a new season. It’s a season of prayer and outreach. Our friend Alvin Vandergriend came by a few weeks ago and laid a foundation of thought for us. He spoke on the power of prayer. That may sound like an overused cliché, but it’s true. When we pray on behalf of someone else, what we are doing is laying our requests at the throne of power, the throne of the powerful one. God hears our prayer for our friends and reigns down His blessings upon these folks. When we pray for another person, we are partnering w/ God in creating connections b/t that person and God, even if they claim they are not open to JC. God then creates bridges of connection b/t us and those we pray for. This is the call God is giving our church this season, to pray intentionally for 5 of our neighbors, to join in what God is already doing in His mission of reaching the lost and lonely. How does this sound?

Trouble

It sounds good but there’s a potential problem. The potential problem lies w/ in us. When we think about blessing our neighbors, often either we believe or act like it is OUR calling to serve. We feel some sort of obligation to serve. We feel like it is on us to bring about results. We may believe that God is calling us to bless others, but we act like it is OUR’s, and therefore we rely on our means to bring about change. We rely on ourselves, OUR energy, OUR gifts, OUR ideas, and we replace the good news w/ OUR activism.

Text

We are starting a 4 weeks sermon series in Acts 13. In this series, we will be looking at Acts 13, and asking the question, “Why are we on missions?” In the weeks to come we’ll learn that we’re partnering w/ God on mission to preach words of life and confront lies, to encourage and bring wholeness, and to bring the good news of salvation. But, tonight we will be looking at Acts 13:1-3. So, as we read this short passage, look for an answer to the question, “Why are we on missions.” Acts 13:1-3:

1 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. ²While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

Looking at v. 1, made me wonder what v. 1 had to do w/ the rest of it? The names of these leaders in Antioch are interesting b/c of their diversity.[1] Barnabas was a Jew from Cyprus; Simeon was also a Jew, probably from North Africa; whereas Lucius, having a Latin name, probably came from a Greco-Roman paradigm; Manaen, being associated w/ the court of Herod Antipas, came from the upper class; and, Saul was the former dogmatic enemy of the church. I believe that Luke includes these leaders to show us 2 things. 1^st to say the church would no longer be a homogenous organization, but a fellowship that goes beyond economics, race, or status; it’s a place for everyone. 2^nd, Luke gives us these names to show us that when God called Saul and Barnabas into missions, He was leaving behind competent leaders to carry on the local mission. God and His HS were still residing in the local church.

Next Luke tells us in v. 2 that these leaders and the church were “ministering to the Lord,” or “Worshipping,” as the NIV translates it. While they were doing this, God speaks to the church, and tells them set Barnabas and Saul aside for the special work He had for them of bringing the gospel to the Gentiles. The fact that the church was fasting shows they were in a time of intense devotion, anticipation, and prayer for missions.[2] If this was true, why would they be praying this? And, getting back to our series question, why were they on a missional track? Simply put, they were praying about missions b/c they were called by God to do so. Who prompted them to set Barnabas and Saul aside? Who were they waiting on? Why were they on missions, b/c God had called them. It was not an idea that came from the church and was not driven by their energy. They were on mission b/c it was God’s idea. God’s energy would supply it, and it was His voice that set these 2 aside. So, why are we on mission, b/c this is what God would have us do. b/c we are called by God.

Good News

The church in Antioch was waiting for the Lord’s direction, and for me that’s the good news. The good news is not that I should buck up and get the job done, that I should just put in more hours or worry. The Good News is that God goes before us to bless others. Just as this church was not rushing their own agenda into God’s call, we are in no rush either. Just as this church had confidence to pray and send their folks out, we are confident that this season of prayer and evangelism is from God.

So as you consider what 5 people God would have you pray for, we all can resist the temptation to make His call OUR call, and know that God goes before us. We can rely on His leading and not our efforts. After all we are called to focus on Him not the mission. Yet as we focus on Him, we end up on mission.

Invitation

I want to invite us to rest in this assurance of God’s leading. I want us to take our time and pray intentionally about who God is calling us to bless w/ our prayers. I want us to stay loose and listen to the HS. Maybe 5 is the wrong number for you; maybe it’s 3, maybe it’s 13; maybe they are folks nearby, maybe they’re far away. We are not concerned about numbers. We’re not doing this to increase attendance at The Table. We are concerned about following the call of JC, focusing on Him, not what WE think He wants.

So be assured tonight, that this is God’s work. After our 3 birthday we will begin praying specifically for the people God has laid on our hearts. But for now, our concern is simply resting and asking who. This is His mission, and we are His.

[1] David Williams. New International Biblical Commentary: Acts. p. 220-221.

[2] Ibid., p. 222.

5:30pm Table Worship, Sunday, June 16, 2013, at the Fairhaven Library Basement

June 13, 2013 in Party, Worship Gatherings with 0 Comments

The Table is gathering this Sunday for worship at the Fairhaven Library (1117 12^th St.). We’ll start at 5:30pm with a shared meal. This week is a “summer theme,” so bring something summery to share. This week we start a new summer teaching series to coincide with our summer prayer/outreach initiative. Our text for the series is Acts 13, and we’ll be asking, “Why are we on mission?” Continue to be praying about who God would have you bless with your prayers this summer, as we will begin our collective prayer initiative after our birthday celebration.

Looking ahead, The Table is celebrating its 3^rd birthday next Sunday, June 23^rd, from 4pm-6pm at Fairhaven Park (107 Chuckanut Dr.). Mark your calendars and get ready to party!

Press on Happy Valley Community Crossroads

June 10, 2013 in Blessing Weekends, Information with 0 Comments

The Table is taking the lead on a neighborhood project. The project is neighborhood driven and is entitled “Happy Valley Community Crossroads.” This project is bringing neighbors together around the street intersection art. The Northwest Citizen put out an article on the project this weekend (below). Our desire is to have this project be our September Blessing. If you want to get involved, let us know.

Intersection Art Comes to Happy Valley

Sun, Jun 09, 2013, 10:37 pm // John Servais

The leaders of the project, from left, Aaron Walters, Jody Guenser and Pam Sinnett. Standing, of course, at Harris and 22nd. Missing is Dan Tucker.

The Happy Valley Neighborhood has taken on a project to paint an entire intersection with a colorful design. It is to help create a fine community place. As a resident of Happy Valley, I have watched this idea get circulated and grow these past few weeks and the idea seems just superb. The “Happy Valley Community Crossroads” is the name for the project.

Aaron Walters, one of the leaders of the effort said, “The primary goal is to bring people together.” Jody Guenser added, “The neighborhood is what we want to bring together.”

Now a location has been selected – by the residents of the neighborhood. It is Harris Avenue at 22nd Street – in the very heart of the valley and almost central to the entire neighborhood. Over the month of June, people – young and old – can submit colored design suggestions. In July there will be a neighborhood gathering to decide on the best design. Then the proposal will be submitted to city hall for approval.

Attached is a pdf file of the coloring design sheet – which anyone can download and use to design a suggested scheme for the street corner. The designs can be submitted at the Firehouse Cafe at Harris Ave and 14th Street.

It started with Dan Tucker – as he discovered these street corner developments in Portland, Oregon. You can google “intersection art portland” and see for yourself. Aaron Walters picked up on the idea and the two of them brought it forward to others in the neighborhood association. And people liked it. The residents near the intersection have been supportive.

Let us hope the city encourages and approves this proposal. Perhaps other neighborhoods will like the result and choose corners in their neighborhoods for the same sort of project.

As Pam Sinnett said about the project, “We hope it makes people smile and maybe slow down a bit.”

A Portland, Oregon, street corner with intersection art.

The neighborhood flyer.

Table Blessing, Saturday, June 8th, 9am

June 5, 2013 in Blessing Weekends with 0 Comments

This Saturday, June 8, is our next Blessing. We will be helping Jim and Colleen at their new property. Contact us for location details. We’ll go from 9am – noon. Bring a shovel and any other landscape tools, but be ready to help with whatever they need. We will not be meeting for worship this weekend. Our next worship gathering will be June 16 at the library, starting at 5:30pm. See you soon!

The Riddle of the Bread Tree

June 4, 2013 in Information with 0 Comments

There is a riddle in the Talmud shared by Michael Frost in his great book The Shaping of Things to Come. It says, “If God intended us to live on bread why didn’t He provide a bread tree?” The answer given is that God could have, but prefers to provide grain, invite us to purchase a field and plant. He prefers we till the soil while He provides the rain. He prefers we harvest while He provides the sun. He prefers we grind, knead and bake the bread while He provides the air and strength in our muscles. Why? So we may partner with Him in creation.

How does this relate to our season of prayer and outreach? Our friend Alvin Vandergriend, of Harvest Prayer Ministries, shared with The Table a great thought on prayer and blessing others. He said, “Without God we can’t, and without us God won’t.” We could try to bless our neighbors with our own energy and initiative. But as many of us have experienced, there is never enough of our energy for all the good things we desire to pursue, and the result of relying solely on ourselves is often exhaustion and/or discouragement. It’s like trying to farm without seed or rain. On the other hand, God could simply bring about restoration and blessing (and often does); He has that ability and power. He could simply provide a bread tree, but this is not His desire. His desire is for His people to journey with Him, to grow in Him, and to glorify Him.

As we journey on mission together, we are not heading out on our own power or initiative. God goes before us. He desires to bless those He is bringing to our minds to pray for, and He desires for us to grow and be blessed as we pray, and He desires in all of this to journey with us, to partner with Him in creation and blessing. So here’s to the journey ahead, with its struggles and growth, to His provision and our empowered work in partnership with Him! May the glory be His as we go with Him!

5:30pm Table Worship, Sunday, June 2, 2013, at the Fairhaven Library Basement

May 30, 2013 in Worship Gatherings with 0 Comments

The Table is worshiping again this Sunday night at 5:30pm at the Fairhaven Library. We’ll start as usual with a shared meal. So bring a dish to share. This week we will be starting a new teaching series, “Why Are We on Mission,” looking at Acts 13. This coincides with our new prayer initiative. I believe God is asking each of us to ask Him for 5 people we can bless with our prayers and love. So as you prepare for Sunday, read the web post from May 20 “A New Season at The Table,” and ask God who are your 5.

Feel free to invite a friend, all are welcome. See you soon!

Thoughts on Prayer

May 27, 2013 in Information with 0 Comments

As we prepare for a season of prayer and outreach, we are together asking God to show each of us who around us He would have us bless with our prayers, “who are my five” (see A New Season at The Table). As were consider this question, some of us may be saying “what if I am not a ‘pray-er,’ it just doesn’t come naturally.” Below is a devotion from Oswald Chambers. It is not the answer, but a voice in that dialog. Be blessed as enter this exciting season with us.

Pray without ceasing . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:17

Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues “without ceasing”; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops. And we are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect oneness with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life of the saint. Beware of anything that stops the offering up of prayer. “Pray without ceasing . . .”— maintain the childlike habit of offering up prayer in your heart to God all the time.

Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer. He had the unlimited certainty of knowing that prayer is always answered. Do we have through the Spirit of God that inexpressible certainty that Jesus had about prayer, or do we think of the times when it seemed that God did not answer our prayer? Jesus said, “. . . everyone who asks receives . . .” (Matthew 7:8). Yet we say, “But . . . , but . . . .” God answers prayer in the best way— not just sometimes, but every time. However, the evidence of the answer in the area we want it may not always immediately follow. Do we expect God to answer prayer?

The danger we have is that we want to water down what Jesus said to make it mean something that aligns with our common sense. But if it were only common sense, what He said would not even be worthwhile. The things Jesus taught about prayer are supernatural truths He reveals to us.

Ski to Sea Blessing – Sunday, May 29, 7:45am Zuanich Park

May 22, 2013 in Blessing Weekends with 0 Comments

The Table is not meeting for worship this week, because it is our monthly Blessing weekend. Our next worship gathering will be June 2. This week we are helping with the Ski to Sea race on Sunday, May 26^th from 7:45am to noon. NOTE THE NEW START TIME! Here’s the info from the volunteer organizer:

Location:

Zuanich Park, Bellingham - Google Maps Link: http://g.co/maps/77upa
Squalicum Boathouse is the check-in location for the Volunteers.
Parking is available in several locations once you turn off of Roeder Avenue on to Coho Way. Arriving in the morning should find parking very close to the boathouse.

Schedule:

SUN, May 26: 8 AM to about noon
Check-in at the boathouse about 7:45-8 AM for morning setup assignment
Volunteer Briefing of Pre-race Setup at 8 AM
Mandatory Volunteer Race meeting at 11:30 AM (with lunch) – you are all welcome to sit in and listen to this meeting even though you won’t be part of the afternoon race volunteers

Things WE provide on Sunday:

Official Race t-shirts (yea!) and name tags
Coffee/tea and some baked breakfast breads in the morning
Lunch at 11:30 Volunteer meeting – sandwich, chips, cookies, apple, drink
Brownies and a limited number of protein bars in the afternoon for snacks
Water to refill personal water bottles available for the race
Orange safety vests for volunteers

Suggestions for YOU to bring on Sunday:

Personal water bottle (we won’t have bottled water available)
Clothing layers, rain gear – prepare for any weather
For Sunday set-up, work gloves may come in handy if you have them
Hats, sun screen Warm Gloves
Your sunny personality and enthusiasm!

A New Season at The Table

May 20, 2013 in Information with 0 Comments

We’re half way through our study of the book of Acts. In our study of these first twelve chapters, we’ve observed many things about the early church. One obvious observation was that prayer was central to the early church. When Jesus empowered His people, lives and communities were transformed, and prayer was a way Jesus empowered His people for ministry.

As we begin to study the second half of Acts, we will also be entering a new season of emphasis at The Table. Just as Paul entered new mission fields, I believe God wants us to go on mission too, to be a blessing to those around us in the name of Jesus. I believe the Holy Spirit wants us to do this via prayer and action. As we grow in Him, we are being called to look outward to our literal and metaphorical neighbors. I believe that God is asking us to begin this process by simply praying for Him to show us who He would have us pray for. God is challenging each of us to seek out five people or households He would have us pray for over the next season. We will together consider how we can pray and bless these folks, but for now all we are being asked is to seek who God would have each of us pray for.

So the question of meditation and prayer is who are your five? Who are the five people or households around you that God would have you bless with your prayers? Are the neighbors? Coworkers, clients, or classmates? Friends, or family? Who are they? In the weeks and months to come we are going to praying earnestly for these people in some specific ways, but first we need to know who God would have us bless.

The good news we gather from our study of Acts, and as we enter a missional season, is that when Jesus empowers His people, lives and communities are transformed, and prayer is a powerful way Jesus empowers His people for ministry. So be encouraged that you are not doing this alone. God is our leader and we are in this together.

So, over the next couple weeks, ask Him to reveal the five people or households He would have you bless with your prayers. And, may He bless you in depth as you look out. I am excited to see what God will do through us and around us!

5:30pm Table Worship, Sunday, May 19, 2013, at the Fairhaven Library Basement

May 16, 2013 in Worship Gatherings with 0 Comments

This week The Table is gathering again for worship at the Fairhaven Library (1117 12^th St.). We’ll begin, as usual at 5:30pm with a shared meal. This week is a “South of the Border” food theme, so bring something to share. This week we’ll be reviewing what we’ve looked at so far in Acts and discuss how God moved in that church. As you prepare for Sunday, be praying about how you see God moving at The Table, and who around you God is asking you to pray for and bless. Here’s a passage to get you thinking again:

“One cannot study the book of Acts “without being profoundly stirred and, to be honest, disturbed. The reader is stirred because they are seeing Christianity, the real thing, in action for the first time in human history… Here we are seeing the church in its youth, valiant and unspoiled… a body of ordinary men and women in an unconquerable fellowship never before seen on this earth… [This] is the Church as it was meant to be. It is vigorous and flexible, for these are the days before it ever became fat and short of breath through prosperity, or muscle bound by over-organization. These men [and women] did not make ‘acts of faith,’ they believed; they did not ‘say their prayers,’ they prayed. They did not hold conferences on psychosomatic medicine, they simply healed the sick.” – JB Phillips, The Young Church in Action

Next week we are not meeting for worship because it is our blessing weekend. We’ll be joining Mosaic to help set up for the Ski to Sea race at Zuanich Park. We’ll be going from about 8:30pm to noon. So mark your calendars for May 26^th.

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