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Move Forward or Die

October 16, 2011


by John Partridge Scripture: Exodus 33:12-23 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

There has been a lot in the news lately about the end of the Space Shuttle program and rightly so. Obviously, since this connects to a hobby of mine and it connects so strongly with engineers, I have taken special interest in this. After thirty years of flying back and forth to low earth orbit, the Space Shuttles have now been retired and are scheduled to take us residence as educational displays in five selected museums in the coasts of the United States (leaving the citizens in the middle of the country sort of left out but thats a subject for another day). As folks on the online communities discussed the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet a comment was made that, for me, pierced to the heart of the discussion. Each Space Shuttle, at the moment that it landed for the last time, was said to have become a billion dollar paperweight. What the commentator meant was that each spacecraft, at the moment that it landed for the last time, ceased to be a spaceship, ceased to be a vehicle that traveled into space, and became something very, very different. The same thing happened to the might Saturn-V rockets that went to the moon. Many more launches were planned and, on the day that the Apollo program was cancelled, several more were under construction. At that moment, at the stroke of a pen, these mighty ships ceased to be rockets and became something different because, although they looked the same, they were no longer what they were intended to be. Some years ago, my best friend from elementary school, Steve Goudy and his dad, took me to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course to watch the Vintage Grand Prix. For this one day, owners of what many people would call antique race cars, bring them out to race them. Some of these cars are literally worth millions of dollars and yet, the owners race them so that people can see them as they were intended. It was explained to me that these cars were designed and built to race, and for them to gather dust on display in a museum somewhere would turn them into something other than what they were intended to be. Do you see what I am getting at yet? I want you hold on to this one idea when something stops doing the thing that it was designed to do, it stops being one thing, and becomes something else. Hold onto that idea, even if you dont quite see what Im getting at, hold onto what youve got as we read Exodus 33:12-23 Moses said to the LORD, You have been telling me, Lead these people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, I know you by name and you have found favor with me. 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.
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The LORD replied, My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.

Then Moses said to him, If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth? And the LORD said to Moses, I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.
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Then Moses said, Now show me your glory. 1

And the LORD said, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But, he said, you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live. Then the LORD said, There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen. Moses tells God that if Gods presence does not go with the people of Israel, that He should not send them out from the place where they were. Gods presence was amazing and it was powerful. Gods presence was so great that no one could look upon Gods face and live. With Gods presence, with Gods Spirit, the people of God were equipped to go out into the world but without it, their desire was to stay put and do nothing. We hear the same sort of message from the apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
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Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.

We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lords message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaiayour faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the deadJesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. Paul reminds us that God has chosen you. Your presence here is not an accident. You and I have been chosen by God to be his disciples and to do his work. More than that, Paul says, the Gospel of Jesus Christ has come to us not simply as a collection of words that we hear spoken or that we can read in scripture, but that the gospel has come to us with power. Paul says that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has come to each of us with deep conviction and with the power of the Holy Spirit. For the Thessalonians, the power of the gospel and the power of the Spirit rang out, not only in their homes and in their hometowns, but throughout the entire region and beyond. The power of God that was within them compelled them to act. The power of God caused them to do things that went beyond themselves, outside of their own church and outside of their own communities. From these scriptures we see that the presence of God is for his people so that they will go out and be the revelation of God to the world around them. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is for his people so that they will go and do the things that God has commended them to do. If we are filled with Gods power, if our hearts are right, we will do these things. When Gods people stop doing the things that they were intended to do, something changes and they cease to be the thing that they were created to be.
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Do any of you have a garden during the summer? Have you ever grown tomatoes and had some kind of grub attack the roots or a virus or scab or something attack the plant underground or in places that you cant really see? Your garden seems to be going along well and then all of a sudden, one or two plants just stop growing and you know that this is not good. We have all seen trees that look healthy but have rot in the middle and although they were fine the previous fall, all of a sudden, as they begin to grow leaves in the spring, they stop growing and we know that this is not good. We all know that a plant or a tree that suddenly stops growing... is dying. Any living thing that stops growing has already begun to die. (pause) Thats how it is with us. (pause) Thats how it is with Gods church. We have been designed and built for a purpose. We have been filled with the Spirit of God so that we would go out and do the things that God has commanded us to do. The power of God calls us to go outside of ourselves, outside of our church and outside of our community. We cannot stop. We cannot claim that we are comfortable where we are. We cannot say that we have had enough of Gods message or enough of Gods blessing. When a ship at sea furls its sails or shuts down its engines something happens. It may be a beautiful day. The sun may be shining and the sea may be calm. It may be a very pleasant place to stay for a while but once the sails are folded or once the engines stop and the ship is no longer moving forward, it begins to drift with the wind, the waves and the tides. We must not be adrift. We cannot afford to be a people or a church that is adrift. We must keep on moving forward. We must keep on learning, keep on growing, and keep on doing the things that God has called us to do because once we stop, we cease to be the things that God created us to be. Once we stop, we cease to be the church and we have become something altogether different. In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul says this But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. We too, must press on. Youve all been to the doctors office before. When we are there the doctor checks our pulse, our temperature and our blood pressure. Our doctors give us these tests to help them to understand how healthy we might be. This morning our scripture asks us to look at a different sort of health.

Give yourselves this test: As yourself, is my heart full of Gods Spirit? What is my desire? Is my desire to go out or to stay put, to stand still or to move forward? We cannot stop. We cannot claim that we are comfortable where we are. We cannot say that we have had enough of Gods message or enough of Gods blessing. We must keep on moving forward. We must keep on learning, keep on growing, and keep on doing the things that God has called us to do because if we stop, we will be adrift, if we stop, we cease to be the people that God created us to be. When we stop moving forward, we cease to be the church and we become something altogether different. Every one of us, as individuals, as a people and as a church we must move forward or die.

You have been reading a message presented at Barnesville First United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor of Barnesville First. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Barnesville First UMC at 123 W. Church St., Barnesville, OH 43713. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@barnesvillefirst.com. If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Facebook (search for Pastor John Online). These messages can also be found online at http://www.scribd.com/Pastor John Partridge. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

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