For Such a Time as This...
Phil 1:20
August 21, 2011
Installation service for Michael and Amy Bochman, Wayne and Christa Mushett
INTRODUCTION
Ninie Hammon is the executive editor for The Southeast Outlook in Louisville, Kentucky, but in 1988 she worked as a reporter for a small newspaper in Lebanon, Kentucky. On May 14th of that year, newspapers throughout the country carried the story of the bus crash where 24 children and 3 adults died in what was called "the worst drunken driver accident in Kentucky" history.
The bus carried the youth group of the First Assembly of God church in Radcliff, Kentucky. Though Ninie did not cover the story, many of her friends were reporters in the county where the children were from.
Witnesses who survived the crash told of one particular passenger, Chuck Kytta, the youth minister of the church. Chuck was seated in the front of the bus behind the driver, and when the gas tank exploded a heartbeat after the collision, he was instantly encircled in flames.
When Chuck saw the flames around him, witnesses said, he looked up, lifted his hands and cried out, "Jesus, I'm coming home!" Some of the kids said he was smiling.
Ninie wrote, "I was not a Christian in 1988, so I couldn't make any sense of what Chuck did. Here's this guy so cool a bunch of kids call him "Banana," standing in flames moments from a horrible death and he's smiling?"
No matter how hard she tried, Ninie could not erase from her mind the image of Chuck. Ninie wrote, "The only way to explain how a man could calmly accept, almost welcome, a painful death was to acknowledge that he understood some great truth I didn't, that he had something—faith? hope? God, maybe? something!—I didn't have. And try as I might, I couldn't help yearning for whatever he had that made death a thing to embrace rather than to fear."
Two years later, Ninie would come to Christ. She says, "Chuck Kytta planted a seed in me that took root in my heart. One day, I will see Chuck in heaven. I'll tell him how the manner of his death pointed me toward eternal life."
T.S. Chuck Kytta understood the true call of ministry Just as the apostle Paul understood the true call of ministry. Let me read you his words which will serve as my challenge to you as you assume your roles as Pastor of Family Ministry, Worship director, Lead Pastor of the Sandusky Initiative. As the Norwalk Alliance Church we acknowledge that we live this call with you and today are again reminded of what the call requires of us.
IT IS FOR SUCH A TIME AND PLACE AS THIS THAT WE HAVE BEEN CALLED.
Philippians 1:20
20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
I. Live your lives in such a way as to not be ashamed.
aischunomai; from aischos (disfigurement, i.e. disgrace); to feel shame (for oneself):
1. the confusion of one who is ashamed of anything, sense of shame
2. ignominy, disgrace, dishonour
3. a thing to be ashamed of
Aischuno from Homer onwards thus meant originally "to disfigure, to make ugly."
The shame exposes one to the ridicule of society.
Ill: Megachurch Pastor Found Dead in Hotel
The body of Rev. Zachery Tims, Jr., who led an 8,000-member church in Florida, is discovered in a Times Square suite. White substance on him. Divorced, because he had a one year affair with a stripper.
Live in such a way that you do not disfigure the what God would have for you and to do with you, live in such a way that you never have to face the ridicule of society.
Do that by always passionate caring for two things.
Care for your souls.
Above all else, grow deep in him. Do not trade busyness in ministry for intimacy with the forgiver. Live in such a way that you will not be ashamed.
Appl: I do not care how deep you are in your walk with God right now, I charge go deeper, become more in him. Do not settle for what has been long for more of the image of the forgiver in your life.
Care for your families.
The most public testimony of your values will be displayed in the lives of your children. Love them, challenge them, mold them. Live in such a way as families that you will not be ashamed.
Ill: Monthly the news media is filled with stories of pastoral families which fail in this aspect of their calling.
* Megachurch pastor's son arrested for indecent exposure
* 16-year-old pastor's son arrested for shooting
* Covering Covington County: Opp Pastor's Son Arrested for Attempted Murder
* Pastor's son arrested for allegedly having sex with a 12-year-old girl
Appl: Disciple them, mold them mentor them, guard against ever making excuses for them, exceptions for them, when they stray, fall on you face and intercede for them.
& IT IS FOR SUCH A TIME AND PLACE AS THIS THAT WE HAVE BEEN CALLED.
II. Fulfill your calling with courage for the current days.
Philippians 1:20
20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
parrhesia -- all out-spokenness, i.e. frankness, bluntness, publicity;
by implication, assurance:
T.S. The further with travel form the Cross on the Timeline of earth's history the more challenging becomes the task fo those who dare to take up the call. Listen to How Paul describes the nature of the world to whom we are called with this message.
2 Timothy 3:2-5
2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
Appl: For Such a Time as this God has called you her to his place to these ministries. Cast aside any preconceived idea that this will be easy quick, comfortable, without opposition or challenge.
Hold fast to the Assurance of your Calling
Know that the God who calls you this day will be the same God in your worst day of discouragement and struggle.
Be emboldened by the Assurance or your Calling
Ill: Pastor bob chaffee | grace cma church, Middle burgh heights signs his emails with this quote.
"lord grant that the fire of my heart may melt the lead in my feet" - unknown
Appl: Do not settle for mediocrity in you calling. Have the all out-spokenness, i.e. frankness, bluntness, publicity; the outward audacity to advance his kingdom in day when people will struggle to listen, be distracted by other desires, be blinded by other things, shine brightly, speak boldly, dream big dreams chase them hard, do let up, do not give, do not waver, press on.
IT IS FOR SUCH A TIME AND PLACE AS THIS THAT WE HAVE BEEN CALLED.
There is one last admonition that Paul makes in this passage in Philippians.
Philippians 1:20
20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
III. Fulfill your Calling by exalting Christ.
megaluno (meg-al-oo'-no); from to make great,
i.e. (or declare)increase or (figuratively) extol:
Might Christ be shown large, magnified, great
Two word pictures packed in the use of this word.
Declare the greatness of His glory.
Ill: In the opening scene, the long-awaited announcement of Simba's birth is carried throughout the valleys and plateaus of Africa. Tribal drums and African chants herald the cub's arrival. Elephants, gazelles, antelopes, vultures, zebras, giraffes, gulls, even tiny ants journey to receive the new royalty. They climb hills, descend sloping canyons, forge streams, and hike jungle paths.
Once all the animals arrive in adoring reverence and praise, the infant cub is presented to the gathered subjects. Rafiki, the monkey elder, lifts the newborn high above his head to symbolize Simba's exalted calling.
Symbolically, this is a grand picture of the Son of God,
Appl: May everything about yours every moment right up to the circumstances of your death declare the greatness of the forgiver, his character, his beauty.
Magnifiy the greatness of his glory.
A magnifying glass is a convex lens which is used to produce a magnified image of an object.
May your lives produce a magnified image of Christ, his work and his greatness.
Reveal it larger, greater, more glorious that people have ever seen. Do not settle for a good life, for happiness, for reward. Settle for nothing short of an ever increasing display of his glory.
IT IS FOR SUCH A TIME AND PLACE AS THIS THAT MICHAEL AND AMY, WAYNE AND CHRISTA, AND ALL OF US HAVE BEEN CALLED.
Philippians 1:20
20 We eagerly expect and hope that you will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in your lives.
INSTALLATION CEREMONY
Bochmans and Mushetts come forward
The ministry of the church is shared by pastor and people, so that all together may fulfill the mission to which we are called in Jesus Christ.
The particular responsibility of a pastor lies in the ministry of Word building up, equipping and edifying the church, so that the message of Jesus Christ might be shared, others might discover grace and forgiveness, new life and purpose.
As a part of the great body of believers known as the Christian and Missionary Alliance, we the Norwalk Alliance Church affirm our calling.
People: We desire to know Jesus Christ as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King and to complete His Great Commission. Together we will seek to live out the call to know Him and to make Him known.
The Alliance will fulfill His Commission through
* Evangelizing and discipling persons throughout the United States,
* Incorporating them into Christ-centered, community-focused congregations, and
* Mobilizing them for active involvement in a global effort designed to plant Great Commission churches among unengaged, unreached and responsive peoples worldwide.
Michael and Amy, Wayne and Christa, do you accept your responsibility in this fellowship to fulfill your calling as corporately we seek to live out The Call to know him and make him known?
(we do)
Kneel and Elders and Board Members will surround them for prayer laying hands.
PRAYER OF INSTALLATION (SUGGESTION)
Heavenly Father, we thank you today for your work in creation and the abundant blessings that we have as your children.
We thank you for the glorious gospel; the gift of your Son Jesus Christ as the one mediator between God and man.
Thank you for the church, the company of the redeemed, and for our local church where we work together to fulfill your purpose for our lives.
Thank you for the gift of pastor, which your Word says you gave to your church "to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12, 13).
Thank you for Pastor Michael and Amy, for Pastor Wayne and Christa their faithfulness to you and your calling upon their lives.
May you confer your richest blessing upon their ministries, may your spirit empower them, may your presence ever be abundantly evident in them as these couples seek to fulfill your calling here in our Jerusalem, Norwalk, Ohio, our Samaria, Sandusky and into the entire world.
In the powerful name of Jesus Christ we pray, AMEN.
