Pastor Craig Carter in his sermon on Sunday used a word I have also come to use in referring to our church campus and all church campuses….”outpost.”
As a new year has begun, it and the circumstances of recent weeks have aided in a review of our Titus 2 ministry, goals, and activities. Our current transitions with the ministry of Living Waters Bridge Ranch began almost a year ago as Laura Bosco and I undertook specific plans for partnership and began a new path for us and others. But actually, for both of us it was just a bend in the road we were both walking that opened new vistas on the horizon. That’s how it is on The Way, following Jesus daily into new territory. Surprises, awe-inspiring views, rest stops, and more. One learns to adapt to the Lord’s pace and follow His lead, learning important principles and watching closely for direction and timing cues as well as listening for His voice. To do that one must be moving along with Him, step by step and not merely sitting at a stop along the way or checking a message app waiting for someone to relay His instructions to us.
The “church” facility is a place where provisions are stored and respite is offered, an outpost in a wilderness land that, over our lifetime, we are to enter, take, and in which we are to abide with God who desires that we would dwell with Him here, making this earth into the Promised Land and the restored Eden garden that He intended it to be for each generation. We are to “GO FORTH” from the outpost, renew and maintain its storehouse supplies, and gather into it from time to time for training and planning with those who are joining us and who will come after us on The Way. The “church” facility is not our destination. It is our storehouse outpost. The Kingdom of God over which Christ reigns is being built is in the homes, workplaces, social, cultural, educational, and other institutions, and in the fields fields, where God’s people live, work, play, mingle, teach, grow, and invite others onto the path of The Way, not just directing others back to the outposts to have access to provisions. But to be with us all on The Way.
Like the rich landowner’s error, we have presumed that building more and larger storehouses was the way to build the Kingdom of God and secure its future. If one reads how that worked out, one can quickly gather that is not the Master’s plan for His Kingdom. It’s time to examine the fullness of God’s plan for His Kingdom and how it is already coming on earth and has been since the moment their home, the original outpost, Eden, was snatched out of the hands of Adam and Eve by their and our Enemy who presumes to control all on this earth when it is, in fact, his own temporary prison for his own rebellion. He could not contain, control, or defeat Jesus. Nor can he do so today smong those who walk The Way with Christ.
Our lenten season focus will be Seedbed’s Lent 2023 resource “Jesus in the Wild” and is available to order now. In this daily reader, Dan Wilt will take us on a 40-day journey beyond the outposts.