Ministry Outside The Box! Psalm 139:7-12, Matthew 9 (selected passages) September 27, 2015 Pastor Vic Willis

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1 Ministry Outside The Box! Psalm 139:7-12, Matthew 9 (selected passages) September 27, 2015 Pastor Vic Willis 1 Psalm 139:7-12 (The Message) Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit to be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you re there! If I go underground, you re there! If I flew on morning s wings to the far western horizon, You d find me in a minute you re already there waiting! Then I said to myself, Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I m immersed in the light! It s a fact: darkness isn t dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they re all the same to you. There are times and places in life when we need to think outside the box. I know, boxes are helpful. I am not against the box. Did you see the cartoon featuring a man holding his cat over the kitty litter box saying sternly, Never, ever, think outside the box. So, boxes are good. When it comes to the routines of our days, the daily-ness of many decisions, I m all for thinking inside the box. We don t need to reinvent the wheel every time we want to go to the store. I like routines. There is a lot of comfort in the status quo. The older I get, the more I like things to be same. However, unusual situations call for creative thinking. Sometimes we are faced with things in life where the box is too small, where it won t work anymore.

2 Jesus ministry happened outside of just about every religious box that had 2 been thought up. He performed his ministry on the go, and he was always on the move. Kind of like the Pope s visit if you ve been watching the last couple of days. Jesus didn t let any grass grow under his feet so outside the box ministry just happened as he was moving along. The 9 th Chapter of the Gospel of Matthew is a good example of this. Jesus ministry was not confined to a certain place and a certain time of day. In Matthew 9 we see him ministering in a boat, as he s walking past a tax collector s booth, when he s in a house eating with tax collectors and sinners, He even gets up and follows a person whose daughter had just died, he moves from town to town, throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and healing in the highways and byways! The one thing that typifies Jesus Outside the Box Ministry was for Jesus, ministry was a way of life. Not an add-on. Ministry was life! This was not the kind of ministry the Jews were used to from their leaders. If you think of Temple and synagogue worship as Inside the Box ministry well, know that Jesus was all about that too. He followed the rituals and customs of the Jewish feasts and festivals. But most of his ministry was outside the box not just geographically what he did and how he did it was outside the box stuff too! He touched the untouchable. He forgave the unforgivable. He chose

3 the undesirable. He healed the ineligible. He loved the ones who would kill Him. 3 He did so many things that baffled religious people, and left them all scratching their heads! It seems to me that Jesus blesses creative, outside the box ministry that gets peoples attention in a way that connects them with God. Because that s what He did. His evangelism technique was to live and love and that was what drew people to want more. Late last Sunday evening my daughter and I were chatting and she asked me what I preached on that morning (she was out of town for the services). I told her When Milestones Become Millstones. I told her I shared how the church has a life-cycle much like a person does, and it will go the natural flow of decline and death after a period of plateau, like we ve been in, unless it s interrupted by an injection of new life. I said I shared how new creative and meaningful outreach ministries need to be started so our church doesn t take the long slow slide into oblivion. She asked, What are some of those things? I said, What things? Those creative and meaningful ministries that need to happen? I didn t say.

4 She said, O, so you gave them a cliff-hanger so they ll tune in next 4 Sunday? No, I guess I m just letting them think about it. She said, You think they might like some ideas? I said, They re real good at coming up with ideas. And then I went to bed. That next morning last Monday, I woke up with my mind going 90 to nothing and I knew God was up to something. So, here s a follow-up sermon to last week s When Milestones Become Millstones. I mentioned last Sunday that part of our DNA as a church is to not settle for the status quo. We ve not been a church that has stayed static very long We ve followed Jesus pattern of Outside the Box Ministry. When we adopted the Servant Church Mission Statement and got serious about sharing our facilities with the community back in the late 70s, our church exploded with dozens of connections with the community EPAS was born, our Christmas Dinner was established, Graduation and Baccalaureate services had begun being held here for Lemon Bay HS. The Rummage Sale, Project Graduation and Pancake Breakfasts were not far behind point is, we were not satisfied with the way we always did things we were always looking for new

5 ways we were doing Outside the Box Ministry. And more recently, we ve 5 added Family Promise that goes way outside the box to bring homeless families inside the box! We will host them in our facilities here to help them break the cycle of homelessness. That s starting up soon! So, when it comes to Ministry Outside the Box, I believe the most important thing for us to hear is, DON T STOP. First 1. Don t Stop Serving Others Compassionately In the words of Robert Schuller Find a need and fill it. That s what you did last November by taking on a third sister church in Cuba we re one of the few Florida UM churches that supports three! Don t stop finding a need and filling it! As we look around in our community we know other needs exist right here at home. Some are not easy to do anything about, but that should not be a reason to stop. Difficult needs like our community s rampant drug and alcohol abuse need to be addressed by our church. We need to explore how we can be Jesus hands and feet in this. What would God have us do to be a place of grace and health to those who suffer. Matthew 9:36 says, When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd To somehow open our doors to the recovery community is the Jesus

6 thing to do! It won t be easy, but it s too in our face for us to ignore. Here s real 6 potential to see new life take place! Easy things rarely produce new life. A young lady goes to her doctor. The doctor verifies that she is expecting. This will be her first child. The doctor asks her if she has any questions. She replies, Well, I m a little worried about the pain. How much will childbirth hurt? The doctor thinks for a moment then says, Well, that varies from person to person and besides, it s difficult to describe pain. I know, but can t you give me some idea? she asks. Well, he said, Grab your upper lip and pull it out a little... Like this? the woman asked. A little more... he said. Like this? she asked. No, a little more... Like this? she asked again. Yes, the doctor said. Does that hurt? A little bit, she replied. Now, he said, stretch your lip over your head! Some of you have a look that says to me that doctor knew what he was talking about. Pain is part and parcel to the birthing of new life. I ve started two Celebrate Recovery Ministries in previous churches. I received a real nice note yesterday thanking me for encouraging the Celebrate Recovery ministry to get started in West Palm Beach. The CR director there said they are seeing people conquer their

7 demons through the power of Christ on a regular basis now. We must not be 7 afraid of difficulty because Outside the Box Ministry will bring new life. So, first, Don t stop serving others compassionately. Then 2. Don t Stop Making Disciples Intentionally We have Disciple 1-4 available most years a solid discipleship process of falling in love with God s Word. A myriad of other Bible Studies and service opportunities are here, too. Today s new members are joining by profession of faith, most of them. I thank God for the decisions for Christ that God blesses us with here every year. Of course, there are all kinds of ways to make disciples. Sunday School Children s Ministries, Youth Group, Congregational Care Groups are essential to every church. These groups need to remember why they exist to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Discipleship is a lifelong walk with the Lord. Every group among us, from our dinner groups that meets in people s homes tohave you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Are you going on to perfection? Are you earnestly striving for it? Those are questions Wesley used to ask his members? Discipleship is not just simply taking as many Bible Studies as you can and getting as much information stored up in your brain as possible. Discipleship is

8 living like Jesus lived taking a new step today to be more like him today than 8 you were yesterday. So let s not stop making Disciples intentionally. Finally, 3. Don t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow (that should be a song!) We can get into a mode of simply taking care of today, but Outside the Box Ministry calls for us to project ourselves into the future. To see what s not here yet and to get ready for it. It s exactly what folks did here 40, 50, 60 years ago they thought about tomorrow when they moved from that little brick building on Green Street to way out here in the hinter-land. In a sense, they were thinking about you and me, to give us a place to expand ministry beyond any of their dreams! And we re so glad they did! So, don t stop thinking about tomorrow. What s in the future that we need to get ready for is this. This is a map of where one of the epicenters of growth in this part of the world is projected to occur and it s right on our back doorstep! This is River Road and last May, 141 acres of land in this area was annexed by North Port from Taylor Ranch (Thomas Ranch) and will be developed over the next years 20,000 mid to high range homes are slated to emerge. North Port is a younger place than Englewood. The demographic studies say North Port s Median age is 40, Englewood s is 63. New ways to reach those

9 moving into our back yard need to be thought of now, not later. It will take 9 something new and exciting. We need to borrow a page from Jesus playbook and go and meet them where they are. It s a great opportunity for that infusion of new life to take us places we haven t yet dreamed. There are can do churches and there are don t you dare do churches. This is a can do kind of church. You build castles in the air and put foundations under them. Don t stop thinking about tomorrow. Had those folks 50 years ago stopped thinking about tomorrow, we wouldn t be here right now. We d still be sitting on the corner of Magnolia and Green Streets. There we would be sitting having missed the hundreds and thousands of opportunities to share the good news of Jesus Christ with all those many people that we've been able to come in contact with here. We would've missed the thousands of lives that have been transformed through the power of Jesus Christ over these last 45 years who came here because we had a place for them to be and to serve and to grow in their faith. We would have missed the friendships and relationships and the building of Christian community that happened in this place, that would have been severely reduced in that place. So, Don t Stop, EUMC! There s too much on the line, folks. Don t Stop. Don t Stop the Outside the Box Ministry that we re known for

10 To Serve Others Compassionately 10 To Make Disciples Intentionally, and To Think about and plan for Tomorrow!

When Milestones become Millstones September 20, 2015 Luke 10:1-4, 17-20; Proverbs 16:18 Pastor Vic Willis

When Milestones become Millstones September 20, 2015 Luke 10:1-4, 17-20; Proverbs 16:18 Pastor Vic Willis 1 Luke 10:1-4, 17-20 1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two