Classic Service | "Role-Playing" | Pastor Mark Toone

um [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] hey now foreign you [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] welcome to worship at chapel hill church in geek harbour washington my name is rachel and i'm so glad that you're joining us today whether that's online or in person we would love to know that you are here we'd love to connect you to community and to service and we'd love to be praying for you so whether this is your first time or your 100th time please pull out your phone fill out the weekly check-in form you can find that on the chapel hut app or at chapelhallpc.org forward slash check-in and if you are joining us online we'd love to say hi to you in the live chat so please do that and wherever you're at worshiping today we hope you find this worship service and encouragement we would love for you to share the video with friends and family and perhaps invite them to come and join you in person at a future date now let's worship [Music] good morning church would you please stand and join us in worship today [Music] come christian's joint praise to christ our kingdom [Music] heart amen voice be for his throne rejoice praise is his gracious choice [Applause] come lift your hearts on [Applause] [Music] man [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] praise again [Music] [Applause] on [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] please take your seats hey chapel hill i'm julie hawkins check out this video about alpha online [Music] i'm so excited save the date september 16th mark your calendars register online at chapelhillpc.org forward slash alpha we hope to see you there my name is alice white i am one of the pastors here at the church it's great to be with you this morning you know i was with my life group on friday and we were talking about what were some of the biggest lessons that god has taught us in our life and one the one that i shared was that god has taught me that he will provide for my needs and that's that's been really significant over my my journey in my life i've seen him do it time and time and time again and what that means is that i can live in an open-handed way where i can be generous to other people knowing that god is going to provide for what me and my family need this morning we're going to take some time to to pray and and reflect upon the generosity of our god and what that means for us and so if you if you're new with us this morning we're we're not expecting you to participate in giving in in any way we're just glad that that you're joining us but if you if you would like to participate in giving this morning if god's put that upon your heart that he will provide for your every need if if that's what you believe then i want to encourage you to be open-handed with the gifts that he has given you this morning we're so grateful for the way that we're able to to come together in this way and support the work that god is doing here at chapel hill and i want to encourage you as well to to consider giving online it's it's safe it's easy it's effective and and you can even check check that recurring gift button so that you don't have to think about it every month or every week depending upon how often it is that you want to give so you can find details for that on the screen right there and i want to invite you to a time of prayer right now as we prepare our hearts to give lord we're so grateful for your provision you are the god who provides and you have continued to provide for us in this season and lord i pray this morning that you would raise up a spirit of generosity in our hearts lord make us a generous people and as we give this morning i pray that you would take those gifts and you would multiply them lord we pray particularly for the upcoming alpha course lord would you bring the right people together people who are searching who are seeking who are desperate to know if there is more to life than this and i pray lord through the work of that alpha course that many many people would come to know you would come to find life in you lord take our gifts and use them for your kingdom's work we pray in jesus name amen why would you stand as we continue in worship together [Music] my hope is built on nothing less than and jesus [Music] is when darkness fails his lovely face i rest on his unchanging grace in every [Music] the solid rock [Music] is [Music] my soul gives away he that is [Music] is when he shall call with trumpets [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] please join us in the lord's prayer [Music] our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but to deliver us from evil for thine kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen you may be seated [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning chapel hill good morning chapel hill it's good to see you welcome to those of you who are worshiping here today i know i've seen some who are back for the first time welcome welcome home it's good to have you here for the first time in several months i was able to kneel down with my prayer group and pray beforehand which has been my habit for all of my 30 plus years here it felt so good to be back in prayer with my people so it's good to see you and for those of you who are not yet able to join us we are glad that we can join you virtually welcome to you wherever you might be worshiping with us you know i've been on this earth for more than 60 years and i am i am still pretty amazed at how impatient i can become uh especially in rush hour traffic on i-5 in fife anyone can relate to that it is it is like one of the circles of hell as far as i'm concerned and uh and so i'll be driving along creeping along in one lane i'll notice that the lane to the right of me is moving well far faster than the one that i'm in and so i will dash over at the first opportunity and of course you know what happens the minute i get into the lane the one i was just in starts flying by all those cars i work so hard to pass are now passing me and so i grumble and grouse head move back over into the other lane and it all starts over again if i could just stay where i was i would be ahead of the game and a lot less frazzled but i don't like to wait nobody likes to wait we don't like waiting on the highway we don't like waiting in the dentist's office we don't like waiting in the airport we don't like waiting for test results to come back to us but it turns out that waiting is a part of life it's even a part of life that god intends and we have certainly been learning about waiting in this season of kovid haven't we we've waited now for five months and uh and there is no end in sight we're not sure whether it's going to be another five months whether it's going to be another year well let me tell you this it could be worse it could be 40 years 40 years because that's what the israelites had to wait that's how long they waited and wandered in the wilderness as the lord shaped them into the people he wanted them to be so we're in the middle of a sermon series called weight training and in which the israelites are teaching us sometimes by their bad examples how it is that god uses a season of waiting to prepare us to train us to grow us up into the people that he wants us to be the first week we heard about whining and how god really doesn't like it very much and it's not very productive last week gunner preached wonderfully on the simple life how a time of waiting can help us to become more simple in the way we live this morning i want to talk about what it is to find the role that god intends for you to play even in a season of waiting perhaps especially in a season of waiting and crisis what is the role god is calling you to play and to uh to dig into that we're going to turn to exodus chapter 17 exodus chapter 17 so listen now to the word of god as it comes to us from this great book then amalek came and fought with israel at rephidim so moses said to joshua choose for us men and go out and fight with amalek tomorrow i will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of god in my hand so joshua did as moses told him and he fought with amalek and while moses and aaron and her went up on the top of the hill whenever moses held up his hand israel prevailed whenever he lowered his hand amalek prevailed but moses's hands grew weary so they took a stone and they put it under him and he sat on it while aaron and her held up his hands one on one side and one on the other so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun and joshua overwhelmed amulek and his people with the sword this is the word of the lord let's pray so father speak to us through this great story speak to us of the roles that you are calling us to play in your kingdom in this community in this season of waiting for we ask you through christ our lord amen as we've seen over the last few weeks the israelites did plenty of whining didn't they often whining about things like eating and drinking even though the lord was doing a good job of meeting all of their needs but now well now they really have something to whine about it's the amalekites you all have heard the term blindside it means to attack someone when they're not looking i was in my life group this week and i asked them have you guys ever been blindsided and one of the guys who played college football told of a time that he was he was on the kickoff return team and he was running down the field watching the ball and he got cold cocked by some guy that he didn't even see coming he said my bell was wrong i just kind of wandered off into the into the stands another guy who's a a navy pilot talked about how when he was on a mission he suddenly realized he was being attacked from behind he took a hard left hold a hard left on his plane he looked back and he saw explosions making their way towards him and then he pulled up sharply and just as he did a final shell exploded right below him right where his plane had been he was blindsided well the amalekites were the ultimate in blind ciders that was their stock and trade they were a nomadic tribe and they made their living sneaking up on caravans and then attacking them from behind and stealing all of their goods they were not very nice people and that's what they did to the israelites on their journey through the wilderness in fact we're told in a little more detail how this happened in the book of deuteronomy chapter 25 here's here's a recounting of the story that we just read the writer says remember what amalek did to you on the way as you came out of egypt how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary and cut off your tail those who were lagging behind you and he did not fear god the amalekites didn't attack from the front they snuck in from the back they picked off the stragglers the weak the weary the children the elderly they cut off their tail as deuteronomy describes it it was a despicable and cowardly attack and the lord says to moses don't stand for it go get them may i say i think this is the way that satan attacks isn't it this is the way that satan attacks us not from the front he sneaks up when we are weary and discouraged and alone he sneaks up from behind and picks us off one at a time it is a reminder of why community is so important especially in this time it's why i'm entreating people to come back to be a part of the gathering of god's people again because there is strength in numbers and in a season like this we need to pull together we need to provide encouragement and the reinforcement against a spiritual enemy who would like nothing better than to use this pandemic to discourage and to dispirit and to divide his people and we must not let it happen we must not buckle we must not surrender we must stick together we must stick together and as this story reveals there are several roles that we might be called to play in the season of waiting when we have spiritual battle before us here they are we lead we lift we fight or we follow if you're together with me if you're at home would you say it out loud with me here we go we lead we lift we fight or we follow some of us in this season are called to lead moses was a leader he was especially a leader in this moment he he went up onto that hill where all of the people all of his people but especially his troops would see him and he lifted his hands up to the lord maybe he was lifting them in prayer maybe he was lifting them in benediction in in blessing but the upraised hands of moses of their leader inspired them in battle so much so that when his arms kind of grew weary and sagged the troops began discouraged and and they began to fade they looked to their leader one of our maxims around here is everything rises and falls on leadership everything rises and falls on leadership and as we wait through this critical moment beloved we need more leaders we need people who will step forward who will step up who will stick their necks out who will say what is unpopular even what's a little risky who will cast vision and encourage and rally the troops these are people we need right now we need leaders in this moment you might say well i'm i'm no moses that was moses he was the greatest of leaders i'm no moses well let me i remind you at first moses was no moses either you remember that right he was timid he was uncertain he was reluctant an 80 year old man out in the middle of nowhere he would have been content to tend sheep for the rest of his life but god had other plans for him didn't he and he called him and he equipped this unlikely man to become the great emancipator it wasn't all smooth sailing either was it moses made plenty of mistakes and maybe worst of all the criticism the whining never stopped and i'll just tell you frankly it is one of the inevitable responses to strong leadership you are certain to make some people mad and it's the price that you pay to respond to god's calling it just is i wonder if god is using this season of covid to raise up a new crop of leaders at chapel hill you don't like what's going on in the schools this fall well you can whine about it or you can step forward and do something about it you can protest you can launch a co-op you can rally parents you don't like the governmental mandates you don't think that they're fair you can whine about it or you can do something about it you can send letters you can start a petition you can campaign for your favorite candidate you can run for office if you think you could do a better job you're feeling isolated well you can whine about that or you can step up and lead a life group we have a burgeoning number of life groups and we need more leaders one woman came to my office this week she feels a prompting from the lord to do more in this season to train and to empower under-resourced people in this community to really offer life-changing transformational ministry and she's willing to lead the charge how about you is god stirring anything in you is god stirring up leadership in you this season if so he will fill you with his spirit he will empower you he will equip you he will guide you and direct you no matter how inadequate you might feel in this moment how is it that moses was leading in this moment well in this moment he lifted his hands it was as simple as that just like we do at the end of our service by the way most churches don't do that but this is something that is unique to us we lift our hands and he lifted them and blessed his people and interceded with god on their behalf and when the men saw this they were inspired isn't this a very vivid image of the power of prayer god could have done whatever god wanted to do god didn't need their help to win victories he proved that in egypt god fought all of their battles for them while they were still in egypt but god in this moment chose to link his power to the prayers and the worship of his people actually that is astounding somehow for some reason our sovereign god works with our prayers he honors our prayer our prayers imagine this our prayers move the hand of god in other words when you pray stuff happens that might not otherwise happen we had a powerful prayer time last tuesday night our kingdom come prayer time and i know it was kind of short notice but but we still had a a powerful experience a move of the spirit am i right for those who were who were there the spirit just moved over this place there were people there were people who were weeping under the influence i think of the holy spirit and it was a good turnout but i couldn't help but wonder predictably why weren't we all there why weren't we all there do we as a people believe that our nation is in trouble do we as a people believe that the church of jesus christ is under attack do we as a people believe that god that intercession matters that prayer changes things do we believe it or not we're going to do this again in september september 15th write it down right now september 15th i hope we have to figure out ways to pack us in here that are socially distant and safe september 15th maybe you're called to lead in this moment maybe you're called to lift moses stood on that hill arms up in the air interceding for his troops but when when they were up and when they were up the troops prevailed but moses was an old man he was probably 90 by this point and his staff was heavy just imagine any of us holding up our arms for hours at a time and every time his arms started to sag the troops faltered it turns out that moses could not do it alone he was too tired he was too weak he needed to be lifted up and he had just the men to do it aaron and her were right there with him they rolled a rock underneath him so he could sit down and then one god on one side of him one god on the other don't you love this image and they lifted his arms up in the air until that victory was won how desperately we need lifters in this moment and i will tell you i feel this passage very personally i think of people in this church especially elders who have stepped up to me over the years when i was down or discouraged or felt beaten and they have taken hold of my arms and lifted them up when i could not lift them myself and you know who you are you have been such a gift to me and you have been a gift to this ministry and it is a reminder that no one can possibly bear the burden of leadership alone maybe god is calling you to be a lifter an encourager to step alongside to speak a word of affirmation to help bear a load that would be otherwise crushing one elder pointed out to me that every one of us ought to be lifting up our church in prayer and that is of course absolutely true but there are some of you who have been called to a particular call of encouragement and empowerment and if that is you you need to lift we need you to be lifting in this season some of you are called to lead some of us are called to lift some of us are called to fight this is the first time that we meet joshua did you know that first time we ever meet the guy we know that eventually he is going to become moses's faithful assistant eventually it's going to be joshua who leads the people of israel into the promised land but right now joshua is just a young tough buck and moses says to joshua joshua we need to deal with those amalekites can you take care of this for me and it was like saying sick them to a dog he was ready to fight i hosted a baby shower for a men's baby shower for our son cooper they're going to have a baby in october and some of his buddies came along including a young man named elias elias is a brand new police officer in the city of seattle precisely my response when i heard that i was frankly a little shocked the last place i want to be a police officer right now is in the city of seattle although portland's giving it a run for its money but elias is so excited he is ready to hit the streets he's ready to step up and protect citizens he's ready to fight injustice it was so wonderful so idealistic so inspiring to listen to him and i'm so glad that we have people like that who are ready to step up and fight for us if necessary aren't you we need the same thing in kingdoms work perhaps you'll do battle as a spiritual intercessor agonizing on your knees before the lord perhaps you are called to be the point of the spear in a difficult church situation or in a reconciliation or in an intervention perhaps you feel called to tackle some thorny social issue that that a vision of which is being cast by one of your respected leaders at times we need hard-nosed courageous warriors who are ready to do battle against evil and injustice for the sake of the kingdom and god knows there is plenty of evil and injustice in our world right now i also see something generational here moses and aaron and her they were old men their fighting days were behind them but they could still lead they could still inspire they could still cast vision they could still guide and joshua was young and strong and fearless and a little crazy and ready to be turned loose those generations needed each other and they depended on each other i don't know how well we're doing in that today generations always squabble there's always a generation gap but it seems this day that is more caustic more divided than normal boomers are quick to criticize millennials as entitled or lazy millennials are quick to criticize boomers as selfish or materialistic but we need each other as a boomer i can say i love my millennial teammates if you cast a compelling vision for them they will work their hearts out for it we all of us every generation here we are in this together and we will be most effective in this battle when we welcome and honor and seek to understand each other so we lead we lift we fight or maybe you're called to follow joshua only choose chose a few men for that battle the rest of them stood back and watched and i suspect they watched with great anxiety because they had not seen the kind of brutality that the malachites were dishing out this was their first armed conflict since they had left egypt and it might have been very tempting for them as they watch this happening below them to turn tail and run to return to the safety of egypt of sure it meant slavery but at least they were safe right i think we are being reminded today of how much people are willing to forfeit for safety god help us so the israelites could flee or they could freeze sometimes people in crisis just freeze up they're faced with a crisis they don't do anything they stick their head in the sand they hope that things are going to get better they try to ignore the conflict it never works you can flee you can freeze or you can do what the israelites did they waited they watched they prayed and ultimately they followed their god-appointed leader moses there is nothing passive about being a great follower most people are followers most people are and all of us are at some time in our lives we need good godly faithful followers but the question is who do we follow jesus said follow me follow me and i will make you a fisher of fishers of men and there's the secret isn't it to make sure that we are following jesus and that though and those who are called by him and who are speaking his word faithfully thoughtful prayerful discerning followers are a great gift they're not lemmings they're not sheep they weigh carefully what they're being told and only when they're certain that it is of the lord then they put their shoulders to the wheel they join in followers cannot move forward without leaders lifters and fighters but without the support of godly discerning courageous followers we in the front can never accomplish what god intends for us to do so leader lifter fighter or follower to which role is god calling you in this season of waiting and you might remember go roles change in an instant in a season god might say i've got a new role for you a new job for you he might put us in situations where we are ill-equipped and then amaze us as he through the power of his spirit in gifts us calls us empowers us and enables us to do this incredible thing he is asking us to do and so i want to call i want to close this message by asking the holy spirit to do just that if you are here if you are at home i would ask you to take your hands and put them before you as we often do when we're asking for more of the spirit just open your hands in front of you both here and at home and join me as i pray for you holy god we thank you that you call us to be your people and amazingly you invite us to be a part of your work you don't need us you could do everything you want to do without any of our help and yet you dignify us you invite us into your mission and especially in this season lord i want us to be reminded by your spirit that we are still on mission we're still at work we're still seeking to listen to you and to obey you and so i pray god for every person here as they are trying to discern their role in this moment of waiting god for those who are leaders i pray that you would stir them empower them give them visions dreams and the willingness to carry them out raise up a new batch of leaders and empower those who already know that that is their calling god i pray for lifters would you raise up those who have the gift of encouragement and prayer and intercession may they speak those words of encouragement more than ever before for we are our people that is discouraged right now i pray lord that you would raise up fighters in those moments when we need to just be tough when we stand toe-to-toe with the enemy i pray that you would raise up the people who are willing to be on point with that we thank you for those courageous people and then lord i pray that you raise up good followers not sheep not lemmings nor not nor whiners or complainers but people who say i'm ready if this is the way god is going i want to be a part of that you make them discerning and prayerful and sacrificial as well holy spirit would you do this right now phil every one of us call us to that which we are intended and encourage us that we might fulfill that call for we ask all of this in the name of jesus amen [Applause] please stand and sing with us we are one in the spirit we are one in the lord we are one in the spirit we [Music] all are may one day be restored and they'll know we are christians we will walk with each other we will walk hand in hand we will walk with each other we will walk and in hand and together we'll spread the news that god is [Music] by [Music] other we will work side by side and will guard each one and save each one's pride and they'll know we are christians all praise to the father from whom all things jesus please [Music] who makes all us one and they'll know we are christians [Music] i am it is always the case that anything that we offer up here it's not about working harder gritting your teeth being better at what you're doing in every case it is the assertion that when the spirit of god fully captures his people he does things that we could not otherwise do i'm not asking you to gin up leadership gifts or gin up a gift of encouragement i'm not asking you to go pick a fight or to follow meekly i'm asking you to say lord what is it you are calling me to do and then obey and when you do that you will be empowered to do what you cannot possibly do so in a moment we're going to receive the benediction here and ask the spirit to do exactly what he does every week at this time which is to fill us to overflowing i'll remind you we have prayer folks that would love to come with you and carry on this conversation of prayer with the lord up here and so after the service feel free to come up and be a part of that would you raise your hands up and receive this blessing from the lord the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you the lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you his perfect peace both now and forevermore in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit and all of god's people said amen thank you for worshiping with us we would love to invite you to worship with us in person at 9 00 a.m or 11 a.m any sunday we would also love to invite you to check in with us so you can go to chapelhillpc.org check in where you can download our app to check in at chapelhillpc.org app and also follow us on facebook instagram subscribe to our youtube channel and our podcast and we have loved worshiping together so we hope you have a great week you

Channel: Chapel Hill Church

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Length: 52min 28sec (3148 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 23 2020