NINE 8/27/08: “Jerusalem & Judea”

A little about our Wednesday night events:

NINE is a place for celebrating what God is doing, learning from the scriptures in community, and being renewed in our calling as a fellowship.

Vintage Communities (referring to the life of the early church and the importance of being rooted in Christ, the true vine, who makes us bear fruit in our lives) are about loving our neighbors and walking side by side with people at all points on their spiritual journeys because we all have a relationship with God. It’s just a question of what kind of relationship we have with him.

Vintage Community Values

Hopes for your year:

  1. Know you are valued by God
  2. Value others the way God does
  3. Make your time count

Acts 1: 1-12
1In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

6So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

9After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas 12Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city.

(emphasis mine)

What they didn’t do is crucial:
1. They didn’t go home to Galilee.
Underclassmen: Will the familiarity of home keep you from forming deep connections?
Upperclassmen: Will the hopes of the future keep you from making the most of your time left?

2. They didn’t stay on the mountaintop. (see Zechariah 14:4)
Will the high of a great experience keep you from inviting others to into that same experience?

What they do:
They come down from the mountain.

Think of Jerusalem & Judea as your floor/neighbors/dorm/neighborhood. Will we just hang with those we feel comfortable with? Will we just have our own mountaintop experiences and stay there waiting for the next one while others miss chances to experience God too?

Invitation: Will you be the ones who do things differently? Will you not just go to the comfort of your friends and familiarity of those just like you? Will you come off the mountaintop experiences and live in messy situations so that your time with God can rub off on others?

I love that Jesus’ last words to his disciples isn’t “don’t forget what I told you about cheating, stealing and sexual immorality.” His words are a call to testify, by his power, about what they have seen and heard…a witness from their neighborhood to the ends of the earth.