"How to Get the Most Out of 40 Days of Community"

Exodus 19:1-11

40 Days of Community Pre-Campaign Message

I am so glad you are here this morning. Over the last several weeks we have been getting ready for a special event around here called 40 Days of Community which launches tonight. To help get ready for what is to come, this morning I want to take you back to a story in the Old Testament that happened over 3,000years ago. It is found in Exodus 19, and is one of the most spectacular God-encounters that has ever occurred.

The book of Exodus begins with the dramatic story of God’s deliverance of the Israelites from over 400 years of Egyptian slavery. God through Moses delivered the nation of Israel from the Pharaoh. They crossed the Red Sea and began confidently marching toward the promise land. Two months later the people found themselves standing at the foot of Mount Sinai. This begins one of the most intriguing God encounters found anywhere in the Bible. I want to use this story to see what we can do to get ready for what's going to happen during 40 Days of Community.

First, look back and remember God's faithfulness. In Exodus 19:3-4, God called Moses to climb up the mountain so that they could speak together. God met Moses and said to him, "This is what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians you know how I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself." As Moses thought about all that had recently taken place, I’m sure this image spoke to him. What a beautiful picture of God's faithfulness and constant presence, always there in times of need to support us when we are in trouble.

As we think about where we are headed in the next 40 days I would encourage you just to stop for a moment and remember what God has already done for you and for us.

Think about the thousands of people's lives who have been changed as they have met Christ here, the children and youth who have been touched by Christ, the joys that have been shared, the sorrows that have been borne. Remember how God has always in the past helped our church in times of need and indeed made us stronger when we relied on him. God has indeed been faithful to this church down through the years.

As we look back and remember God’s faithfulness, it should give us great confidence that God will continue to be faithful to us in the present. As we think about what God has in store for us in the next 40 days, let us begin by remembering how faithful he has been in the past, and draw hope from the certainly that the same God who was faithful in the past will be faithful in the future.

As we prepare for 40 Days of Community, the second thing I want to encourage you to do is to ook ahead and celebrate your future. After God reminded Moses on Mt. Sinai of God’s faithfulness in the past, he said, "Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure among all the nations of the earth, for all the earth belongs to me. You will be to me a kingdom of priests, my holy nation" (Ex.19:5-6). Remember who God was saying this to. This was a vagabond group of nomads; sixty days ago they had been slaves. They were poor, with little influence and no political clout. Even so, God looked at them and said, "You are my special treasure."

As you look to the future, can you believe that you are God’s cherished treasure? There may be some in the room today who have a hard time believing that God thinks about us in that way. Maybe as you look at the people around you, you think, "I can understand why God would feel that way if them. It’s easy to see their gifts and talents. They even look like a special treasure. Surely God doesn’t feel that way about me."

Friends, the truth is that God does feel that way about you. You are valuable to him. You are God’s special treasure; we are God’s special treasure! I believe that over the next 40 days God wants to do great things with you and with us.

There is a third encouragement I want to give you and that is to look around and commit to the community. After God challenged the nation to obey him completely and follow him wholeheartedly the people responded back to God. Their words are recorded in Exodus 19:8, which reads, "Then all the people answered together, ‘We will do everything that the Lord has said and Moses reported this to the Lord.’" Circle the word "together." As a community of God followers they responded together to God and said, "We will obey and follow."

I want you to understand this morning that we are more than just a collection of individual Christians who happen to get together for worship at the same time on the same day. We are connected, and because of that, during this 40 Days of Community I’m asking for the same kind of corporate commitment that Moses received.

For 40 days we are all going to be in this together, looking at the same themes, learning how we can do everything better together. We are going to learn how we are compelled to love God’s family, commissioned to reach out together, chosen to fellowship together, connected to grow together, called to serve together, and created to worship together. While I’m on this, let me share with you even before the campaign begins what I hope will happen. I’m praying and believing that as a result of our focus this fall, when January 2008 rolls around we will find that we have more people coming to worship, more people involved in community groups, more people involved in Sunday School and Bible studies, more people engaged in church ministries, more people active in community and world missions, and more people sharing the Good News with others.

If that sounds like a pretty ambitious undertaking, it is! That is why I am hopeful that every one of you who considers this your church family will say, "We will do everything together." Friends, if the family is doing it, then you should want to be a part of it, because we belong here together. So commit to the community.

Fourth, as we prepare for this campaign, look within and prepare yourself spiritually. Listen to Exodus 19:10-11, "The Lord told Moses, ‘Go down and prepare the people for my visit, purify them today and tomorrow and have them wash their clothing. Be sure they are ready on the third day for I will come down upon Mount Sinai as all the people watch.’" Tucked in these verses are two very practical steps you and I can take to get ready spiritually for what God wants to do in these next few weeks.

First, be sure to set aside enough time. God told Moses’ people to spend three days getting ready to meet with him. God was coming, and it was important enough that they needed to spend time getting ready. Friends, if you are going to get the most out of 40 Days of Community it's going to happen partly because you set aside enough time. I am asking you to make some very specific commitments during this campaign. They are all simple, but some may be a little time consuming. The first thing is to get in a Community Group. Just try it for 6 weeks. You can sign up this morning or at the kickoff tonight. The second thing I’m asking is that you be here every Sunday for the next 7 weekends. Listen: I know you have a lot of things going on. But each weekend will build on the last, and each theme will be important. Third, read a daily devotion each day for 40 days from the book Better Together. You can read each one in about 7 or 8 minutes, and they will all tie in with our themes. What a great way for you to start off your day! Finally, I’m going to ask you to participate with your Community Group in a community outreach project of some kind. We want to be sure that during this campaign you have a chance to go into the community and do something good.

Second, to prepare yourself spiritually for the next few weeks, pray diligently.

Nothing will draw our heart to God's heart like prayer. Nothing will remove the spiritual obstacles and roadblocks like prayer. Nothing will reignite our love relationship with God like time alone just talking with him. Nothing will invite the presence of God into what a church is doing like a group of people who are willing to pray. So I want to ask you to do that right now. Lets just pause for a couple of moments and pray that God will bless these next few weeks in a very special way....