In this week's message, Pastor Jonathan says farewell to the congregation, as he takes us through the metaphorical seasons of life and how these shifts echo God's grand plan. Drawing from his cherished memories at the First Baptist Church of El Dorado, he explores the unyielding power of community and our shared purpose in Christ. It's a heartfelt reflection on the past and an inspiring look into the future.
As our church steps into the uncertain interim season, we are encouraged to see this not as an interruption, but as an invitation to experience God's presence and follow His voice. Drawing parallels from the journey of the Israelites, we will delve deeper into the spiritual essence of these transitions. Our conversation will not be complete without discussing the power of love, the sacredness of goodbyes, the strength in prayer, and the bonds forged through Life Groups and Deaconal Vows. Inspired by Philippians 1:9-11, let's learn to embrace the fruit of our salvation and be filled with righteous character. So, join me on this transformative journey, filled with trust in God's plan, love, and understanding - a journey that promises to enrich your faith and perspective.
In this week's message, Pastor Jonathan says farewell to the congregation, as he takes us through the metaphorical seasons of life and how these shifts echo God's grand plan. Drawing from his cherished memories at the First Baptist Church of El Dorado, he explores the unyielding power of community and our shared purpose in Christ. It's a heartfelt reflection on the past and an inspiring look into the future.
As our church steps into the uncertain interim season, we are encouraged to see this not as an interruption, but as an invitation to experience God's presence and follow His voice. Drawing parallels from the journey of the Israelites, we will delve deeper into the spiritual essence of these transitions. Our conversation will not be complete without discussing the power of love, the sacredness of goodbyes, the strength in prayer, and the bonds forged through Life Groups and Deaconal Vows. Inspired by Philippians 1:9-11, let's learn to embrace the fruit of our salvation and be filled with righteous character. So, join me on this transformative journey, filled with trust in God's plan, love, and understanding - a journey that promises to enrich your faith and perspective.
Hi, it's Pastor Jonathan and thanks for downloading the FBC El Dorado Sermon Podcast. We hope today's message will challenge and help you take the next step as you follow Jesus Planting, growing, harvesting, baseball, football, basketball, deer, duck. Three lists, each one describing the rhythms of a person's life. The first list the rhythm of a farmer or maybe a master gardener's life. The second, the life of a child who loves to compete. Or maybe it's the life of a sports fanatic who has finally reached the season in life where they realize they are a washed up, has been, or maybe just a never was. And then, finally, the list that describes the rhythm of a hunter's life. You can add more to that list. Deer and duck Don't even begin to describe all the things you guys hunt in South Arkansas and want to kill with a rifle. Each of those lists is unique, but they are each organized around a common theme seasons.
Speaker 1:Genesis, chapter one, verse 14, says God said let lights appear in the sky To separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days and years. Seasons are not a human invention. Seasons instead reflect the direct intention of God. God established seasons for you and I so that we could mark time spring, summer, fall and winter. God also established seasons so that we could organize our life, so that we would know when one period, one season, had come to an end and another was ready to begin. We've learned to live with seasons, and seasons are okay until there's a season that drags on longer than we would like it to drag on. Each summer in South Arkansas, I think we would all agree that the heat and the humidity lasts for three months too long, or this very 2023 Razorback football season, it's lasted six games too long. When will the season come to an end? And we've come to live with seasons and be okay with seasons also until they end sooner than we would hope, and we all agree that fall and spring are far too short. All of us would love to wake up every single morning to a morning in the mid fifties with a brisk wind and an afternoon that ends in the high seventies. That's not how seasons work. Seasons come and seasons go.
Speaker 1:King Solomon, he's the author of Ecclesiastes. He understands that well and he says for everything there is a season, a time, for every activity under heaven, in my life and in the life of this church. Today marks the end of one season and the beginning of another. At the end of today, you don't cry and I won't cry. How about that, saw some of you. At the end of today, I will conclude my tenure as your pastor and then, november 5th, I will begin a new season as the pastor at First Baptist Church in Hot Springs. I can accept that seasons are part of life, but this is one is ending sooner than I thought it would. Sooner than I had hoped, because the seven and a half years that spanned April of 2016 all the way now to October of 2023, they have flown by in the blink of an eye.
Speaker 1:It was 11 years in the life of a guy named Sam Malone. That went by far too quick. Sam Malone, he's the bar owner in Cheers. The irony is not lost on me that in my final sermon at First Baptist Church of El Dorado, I'm going to quote a bar owner. But Jesus did turn water into wine, so I don't know what to tell you.
Speaker 1:So in the very final scene of Cheers you may be familiar with it Sam is standing all alone in the bar behind the bar top, and he's all alone. He just kind of like scans the entire bar In that moment. I think you're meant to imagine that Sam sees the faces of so many of his regulars, those folks who, day in and day out, walked through the bar and sat on their bar stool, men and women who had become some of his very closest friends. He thinks, as he looks out over the room, of all that's happened in that room, everyone that he's met, everyone that he's come to love, and he takes it all in. And then at the end the very last thing he says in that room is I am the luckiest man on the earth.
Speaker 1:So this morning I look out across the room and I see faces of people that I love, and I remember even some faces of people who are no longer here, some who have moved across the country, others who can no longer leave their home and still others who have gone home to be with the Lord. And I say to you I'm the luckiest pastor on earth. That's why, when Lauren and I think of our time in El Dorado, the words that I think they're going to always come to mind are in Philippians, chapter one, paul says. He says every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make requests for all of you with joy for you, but my partners and spreading the good news about Christ for you have a special place in my heart. Thanksgiving will always fill my heart. When I think of you guys, be thankful for the way you welcomed us, embraced us and loved us.
Speaker 1:I've been a part of far too many conversations with other pastors, who always share these stories of unending difficulties pastoring their church, of petty disagreements, of nonsense, arguments and fights, and in those moments I could always sympathize with the person, but I could never identify with them, because for these seven and a half years this congregation has offered unyielding support and encouragement. And I think that was my experience, because when I was called to be your pastor, you were looking for someone who would be a partner in spreading the good news about Christ. At first Baptist church of El Dorado, we've avoided silly fights and we avoid pettiness that divides so many churches, because Jesus and his gospel are central, and when Jesus and the gospel are central, differences of opinion and possible contention fade into the background because the glory of Jesus Christ far outshines them. That's why I feel like our time is ending too soon, but for everything there is a season. Like me, at the end of today, this church will begin a new season In church life. We call it an interim. It's the months that span the departure of one pastor and the arrival of the next. Tomorrow night, the deacons of this church are going to meet at six o'clock downstairs in the chapel and they'll begin to take the first step for this church in calling the next pastor. They're going to create a slate of candidates, of men and women who will be elected and voted on this congregation to serve on the pastor's search committee. Again, the meeting's tomorrow night at six. Why don't you set an alarm for tomorrow night at six o'clock or tomorrow night at 5.55 pm and pray for the deacons who are part of that meeting. Pray that the wisdom of God would fall in that room and direct their conversations and lead them to the men and women who need to serve in that very important capacity.
Speaker 1:Now, interim seasons especially as an interim season turns into weeks and then months it can breed certain feelings in the life of a church. Many of you have been a part of a season like this before. There can be feelings of worry, there can be feelings of fear and feelings of discouragement, and it's for that reason that on my last Sunday as your pastor, in the final sermon, I want to share with you I hope to share with you two specific words of encouragement as you enter into this season. We're going to share a word of encouragement this morning because I want to name what I believe are two common misconceptions and even two lies that a church often will believe as it navigates an interim season. I want to name those misconceptions and name those lies, encounter them by telling you what is true, what is the reality, and it's my hope that these two words of encouragement, that they're going to deepen your trusting God as you step into the season that begins tomorrow, and it will deepen your love for one another. So here is misconception number one that I want to talk to you all about this morning.
Speaker 1:The interim is an interruption. The interim is an interruption. During an interim season, there's this temptation in a church to believe that God has pressed pause on their life and their mission, that the moment the pastor leaves, the moment the office is vacated, god tells the congregation to sit over there. Wait for me, I'll get to you when I have a moment and I have a minute. Just don't mess anything up in the interim. Don't make a mess of anything, just kind of sit and hold tight. But that belief, the interim, is an interruption. It doesn't line up with God's word.
Speaker 1:In John, chapter five, verse 17,. Jesus says this he says my father is always working and so am I. Jesus doesn't say sometimes my father works or other times my father only works when a pastor, there's a senior pastor at a church. Jesus says this my father is always working, he's always up to something. This means that as this church moves into an interim season, the life and mission of the church will continue. God hasn't told you to just come and sit on your hands and to wait. See, the interim isn't an interruption. The interim is an invitation. From this point, it's an invitation to do two things to experience God's presence and to follow God's voice. In the Old Testament, god's people, the nation of Israel, learned this truth firsthand. One of Israel's interim seasons was the 40 year journey that encompassed their wanderings through the wilderness, their hopeful arrival in the promised land after the exodus from Egypt, and that time in the wilderness, that interim period in the wilderness, was not an interruption in their life. Instead, it was always this invitation to what? Experience God's presence and to follow God's voice.
Speaker 1:Numbers nine, beginning with verse 15, says on the day the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant law, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning, the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire. That is how it continued to be. The cloud covered it and at night it looked like fire. Whenever the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelites set out. Wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped. At the Lord's command, the Israelites set out and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle they remained in camp. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord's order and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days, at the Lord's command they would encamp and then, at his command, they would set out. Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning and when it lifted in the morning they set out, whether by day or by night. Whenever the cloud lifted, they set out. Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out, but when it lifted they would set out. At the Lord's command, they encamped. At the Lord's command they set out. They obeyed the Lord's order in accordance with his command through Moses.
Speaker 1:The word cloud appears 11 times in those nine verses. The word fire appears twice. The cloud and the fire carry symbolic power, each one communicating the exact same message. You see, during Israel's wilderness journeys, god's presence rested upon a large, ornate tent that was called a tabernacle. God had given meticulous instructions to the people of Israel on how to construct and how to decorate the tabernacle, and God actually even gave them specific instructions or directions on where the tabernacle should be located in the nation of Israel.
Speaker 1:As they traveled and journeyed through the interim season of the wilderness, god told the people this place, where what the fire in the cloud was, where his presence dwelt, that it was to be at the very center of the people. That's God's instruction. Think about it. During a 40 year period that felt like an unnecessary, pro-longated interruption, god said my presence is to be at the very center of your life together, and the. That truth stands for this church.
Speaker 1:During the interim, god's presence will be at the center of and continue to move through this congregation. God's presence will be heavy during times of worship, will be at song, be at prayer, be at preaching. God's presence will continue to move through our children's ministry and our youth ministry. God's presence will minister powerfully in our life groups on Wednesday nights and outreach opportunities. The interim is an invitation to experience the presence of God that's at the very center of the life of this church. God isn't saying sit on your hands and wait. He's saying know that I am with you, draw closer to me. Now also in Numbers 9, seven times you see the phrase the Lord's command and two other times the Lord's order, the cloud on the fire. And experience of God's presence, command and order and invitation to listen to God's voice.
Speaker 1:Here's what I believe for this interim season that God's voice will speak and it will lead your deacons and the congregation to select a pastor search committee. That God's voice will lead a search committee to discern and eventually invite a pastor to come and view a call. But during this interim, just as God's voice spoke to Israel, spoke to that entire nation, god's voice will speak to this entire congregation. So I believe that God, in this interim season, he will speak and new outreach ideas will emerge and they'll be implemented. God will speak and folks will go on mission trips for the very first time. God will speak and people will come to faith and be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. God will speak and the mission of the church will continue. But it will not only continue, it will grow and it will expand and it will gain new territory for the sake of the kingdom of God and Union County, arkansas, this God's presence is among you, at the center of this church's life, because God's voice is still speaking to you. You should be encouraged.
Speaker 1:This is just another season, it's an interim season, but it's not an interruption, it's an invitation. Cleared up misconception Number one. Here's misconception Number two the interim is an intermission. An intermission you know what that is the 15 or 20 minute break between acts of a play, between the first half and the second half of the dance recital. You know it's the time when people get up from their seats. They go to the restroom, they grab a snack and they mill about in the lobby. People only start heading back to their seats when the house manager does what Dimms the lights up and down, like, oh, it's time to go, the show's about to resume.
Speaker 1:And there can be another temptation within a congregation during an interim season and that's to take an intermission from church, from God's people, a temptation to sleep in on Sundays, skip Wednesdays, check in at Christmas and Easter and if my kids get the invitation to stand on the stage and to sing, I'll be here those days. But other weeks, you know, I'll just take a break. But I promise I'll be back when the lights flicker, when someone sends out the announcement hey, we've got a guy, we've got an announcement to make. I promise I'll be back every single week. After that I'm back in. But the interim isn't an intermission, it's just not biblical.
Speaker 1:One of the churches that was planted by the apostle Paul is the church in Corinth, and in 2 Corinthians 13, paul says this. He says, dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words be joyful, grow to maturity, encourage each other, live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet each other with a sacred kiss. Those are Paul's words of farewell, his words of goodbye, as he closes one of his letters. And notice what he does. He knows the temptation. He knows the temptation is to walk away from one another, to abandon each other. But Paul says it's not an intermission, it's not a break time. Instead, it's an invitation to love one another. Think about his message Be joyful.
Speaker 1:Joy is this enduring emotion that comes from a choice to trust God and that God will always fulfill his promise. As often said, the joy is contagious. I think that's right. You know, sharing our joy with one another, not holding and keeping our joy to ourself, is one way we love one another, or experiencing the joy of someone else is one way that we feel loved in this world. You know, during the next season that you enter, life will still happen. There will still be times to cry, in moments of laughter. There'll be moments of grieving and moments of dancing. There will be moments in life when joy seems natural, another moments when joy seems distant. In the moment when joy is natural, you should share it with each other. Share it with someone in the church who needs it. Remind them of the promises of God when they are struggling with faith, when they are struggling with their confidence. Let your faith be their faith in that moment. Do you see what I'm saying? Stand in for them, intercede for them. In the moment in your own life when the joy seems oh so distant, let the other joy, the joy of another person, be a comforting blanket that falls upon you as you experience the love of Christ in your own soul.
Speaker 1:Next phrase grow to maturity. Maturity simply means growing up. In this context, growing up and becoming more like Jesus Christ. We spend time in his word, we spend time in prayer, we volunteer, we serve. That's how you become more like Jesus. And when you become more like Jesus, do you know what you do? You inevitably love like Jesus, loved people and sharing the love of Christ begins with your church home, your church family. Next word encourage. Another way that we love people is through the words that we speak. That we speak words that lift up, that build up and that point one another to the truth, founding God's word. Next phrase we live in harmony and we live at peace.
Speaker 1:This command, at least in part, reminds us that, while each of us has an opinion about everything in this world, don't act like you don't. We all have opinions about everything. That each of us has a way. We want things done, that we give up our right To express that opinion and to fight for our preferred way, all for the sake of the church and its health Giving up what you perceive to be your right and realizing it's just an opinion that can be kept to yourself, that it's just one right way among many ways Of how to do things. That's a sign of maturity, A sign of love.
Speaker 1:And then sacred kiss. I thought about leaving that for the guy who preaches next weekend, but let's talk about it in any way. A sacred kiss, that's a kiss of embrace, a mark of Christian brotherhood. It's not a kiss that's an expression of romantic love, but it's a kiss that expresses the perfect sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. Practically during this interim season, if you want it to be an invitation to love one another, here's some practical ways that could work out in your life. If you've never joined a life group, if you've never joined a life group, find a life group. If you attend the life group, take a step into deeper relationships with those people who are members of that life group. Spend time with one another, pray with one another outside of Sunday morning. Another practical way is you got to look for ways to step up and to volunteer family Especially true if you're a deacon in the church To take your ordination vows seriously.
Speaker 1:During this interim season. It's my prayer that you not take an intermission from one another, but that you become more committed to one another, that you love each other For the weeks and the months of this season you're about to enter. See you later, alligator, after a while. Crocodile, the governor, who would say Asta la vista, baby, yeah, taughts off for now. That's all folks Expressions that all have the same message Goodbye.
Speaker 1:Did you know that the word goodbye is actually a contraction? It means God be with you. So to you, my friends, who become my family, I don't want to say goodbye, but I can say goodbye Because I know God will be with you and I know it'll be with me. God will be with each of us as we start a new season of life, as you enter into this new season. Here again, it's not an interruption. You can still experience the presence of God and follow God's voice.
Speaker 1:Know this. It's not an intermission, it's an invitation to love one another. Would you stay with me? And I want to pray over you from Philippians, chapter 1, verses 9 through 11. Let's bow our heads and close our eyes. I pray that your love will overflow more and more. I pray that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding, for I want you to understand what really matters so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation, the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ, for this will bring much glory and praise to God. We pray these things in Christ's name, amen.