Reaching More-We Have A Dream

Reaching More- We Have A Dream

Glenville/Calvary Joshua 3:1-7 Luke 4:14-21

How many of you have had the experience of wanting something really badly but you couldn’t get it right then because there were a few things you had to have in place that were not yet quite in place.

You would have liked to have gotten that car, but you didn’t have the right job yet. You would have liked to have dated that girl, but she still liked Thomas. You would have loved to have had that promotion on the job, but you hadn’t finished your degree yet. You would have liked to have been the star on the team, but you had not developed your skills yet. The dream was there but the timing wasn’t right. You still had to get some things in place.

In our Old Testament reading, God’s people had a dream to enter a place called the promised land. They had been slaves for 430 years. God had sent Moses to lead them to their freedom. Just when they got to the promised land, that God wanted to give to them, they got scared and the fear of what might happen caused them to let go of their dream for something better.

God had told them the land was theirs, but they said “ the people in the land are bigger and stronger than we are, we will not go”. God said fine, “because you will not believe me, you will wander in the desert for 40 years until this whole generation dies out.”

They spent 40 years thinking about what could have been. As Pastor Kellie in her sermon last week, they were the “Would Be Victors” who never were because of unbelief. God had seen them in the promise land, but they couldn’t see themselves there, so it never happened.

Well it’s been forty years, and now the pieces have come together again, and once again the people are on the verge of seeing a dream become a reality. They are at the Jordan River on the other side is the promised land. Now imagine this, the Jordan River is at the flood stage.

It is a mighty raging river at this time of the year. You have a million people needing to get across, with their animals, and baggage with no boats and no bridges. Joshua tells the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow, the Lord will do amazing things among you.” After 40 years, God has put everything in place once again. God tells Joshua to tell the priest to go stand in the middle of the river and for the people to follow them.

How many of you know some of them yelled out “we can’t swim.” “We’re not getting in that dirty water.” “What kind of plan is that for crossing a river.” “If we don’t see a boat, we are not going anywhere.” “Why can’t we just stay here, and wait for the river to go back down.” “Who came up with this plan anyways.” “Living in the desert wasn’t that bad. It’s better than risking our lives to try to get to the other side.”

One of the strengths of both Calvary and of Glenville, is that neither church is content with just wanting to exist. Both of them have a dream inside of them to make a difference by reaching more people for Christ. If you come to one of our joint meals of sharing in feeding the community, the people we feed are glad to be here.

They don’t ask if Glenville or Calvary cooked the chicken. They’re happy for the chicken. They don’t care who served them at the table, set the table, or brought over the juice to the table. They just like the service being given to them.

They don’t ask if you’re from Calvary or from Glenville. They just know you made them feel a little bit more honored through what you did. They don’t try to figure out who smiled more at them while they were here, they just know somebody brightened their day. They tell us Rev. we like it when your church serves. They don’t say which one.

They know there is something different about the meal time they share with us, compared to the other meals they get from other groups. They now come to us with prayer requests during and after the meals. They see us as one group serving the community. It’s all because we have a dream to not only feed your body, but to minister to your soul. Some of the people from the meals program are now here as your brothers and sisters in Christ who have joined Calvary church because of a joint dream we shared.

There is something in the DNA of both of our churches in which we love Jesus Christ. You may say, how come we have not worked together sooner. It’s because there were some pieces that had not been put into place to allow to this happen. Let’s look at our history.