Thank you Paul. Well, what a special morning
this has been. And I want to express my sincere
thanks to Paul and his talents and music staff
and our gifted musicians for coming in a little
early in this season and blessing our hearts
and leading us in worship today. What a rich
morning it has been. It's hard to know in the
final few minutes of my speaking to you just
how to express the way I want to, my heart feelings
for you. I was thinking of Paul's words in 2
Thessalonians, which express pretty well what
I want to say. Excuse me. Let's make that first
Thessalonians. Where he says, who? Who is our
hope or joy or crown of exaltation? Is it not
even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at
His coming? For you are our glory and joy. And
this morning that is my heart for you. That you
are my glory and my joy. And I thank you for
your love which you have expressed in so many
ways. to all of us in the Call family. We all
thank you for that. And in these last weeks,
many of you have sent notes by email or on a
card or through voicemail to express your thoughts.
And I thank you for your kind thoughts. I wish
that I had time to answer each one of them personally
and be able to reflect back to you how much you
mean to me personally. But in the midst of all
that's going on right now, that's impossible
to do. So forgive me that I can't. But just know
that my heart is full. My heart is overflowing
with you this morning. And in the presence of
our Lord Jesus, for He is here, I express to
you that you are my joy. And in His coming, when
He returns, my crown of rejoicing. Today I want
to think with you regarding this matter of change
once more and to do that would you open your
Bible with me to 1st Peter chapter 5? Peter was
a man who was acquainted with change because
of his relationship with Jesus Christ. May I
say to you that if you want an adventure If you
want a life that has change in it that is good
and exciting and full of purpose, engage in a
relationship with Jesus Christ through faith
in Him. Because wherever Jesus goes, He is a
change agent. He was that way certainly in the
life of Peter and He is that in the life of every
person who trusts in Him. Peter was changed from
being a fisher of fish to being a fisher of men.
He was changed from being a man who lived in
a provincial, private situation to a man who
was involved in very public controversy and notoriety.
He was changed from being a disciple to an apostle.
He was changed from being a follower of Jesus
to being a leader among the people of Jesus.
Peter was intricately connected to what we called
a few weeks ago the big transition. That is,
when Jesus left this earth and the ones that
he had chosen to be his own. Indeed, as we look
at Peter's words in this epistle that he wrote
by the Spirit, we can see that Peter was thinking
of that change. when Jesus went back to heaven
as he writes these words, or at least it seems
so to me. Because here in the fifth chapter of
1 Peter, we see several allusions to the big
transition, to when that big change took place
in his relationship to Jesus. In verse 5, he
commands that we clothe ourselves with humility
toward one another. clothing ourselves with humility
reminds us that Jesus took upon himself that
evening the towel of a servant and he went around
washing the feet of his disciples in humility
and he told them that they were to follow the
example that he had given to them that night
in serving one another. In verse 8 he reminds
us to be sober and to be on the alert because
we have an adversary who walks about seeking
to devour us. Peter was perhaps reminded of the
time when he himself was tempted of Satan and
did, in fact, deny the Lord Jesus in the time
of Jesus' sufferings. In verse 1, he says that
he was a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings
of Christ. And so Peter has in mind here all
the events that took place during that last week
of Jesus' life and particularly the cross where
Jesus suffered for his sins and our sins. And
then later in the verse he says also that he's
a partaker of the glory that is to be revealed
reminding us of Jesus' resurrection from the
dead. And then in verse 2 he says to these leaders
of the church, shepherd the flock of God. echoing
the words that Jesus gave to him on that Galilean
morning when they had breakfast together after
Jesus' resurrection. And Jesus asked Peter, do
you love me? And to that response that Peter
gave, Jesus went on to say, then feed my sheep,
shepherd my sheep. And so it seems to me that
as Peter is writing, this book, this letter,
across the canvas of his mind is painted this
picture of the big transition when Jesus left
this earth and went back to heaven. And I believe
there's a reason that that was on Peter's mind
is because Peter knew that these saints he was
writing to were also experiencing a transition.
While their lives had been involved with some
suffering to this point, now they were beginning
to enter into heavy persecution. The full weight
of the Roman government was coming down upon
them. They were in the midst of change themselves.
And so Peter wants to write to people who are
apprehensive and insecure in the light of their
situation. And he wants to write to them so that
he can encourage them and encourage us in the
midst of change. Change requires courage. Change
is exciting, but change also poses risk and uncertainty.
Now this morning, because of the change we're
undergoing, there is sadness in our hearts. There
is sadness in my heart today. And I know there's
sadness in the hearts of many of you. And that's
normal. It's OK. But while there is sadness,
let there not be fear. Let there not be uncertainty
as we each enter into the next chapter of our
lives in our ministry. Indeed, we can take courage
as we enter into this transition. And here's
why we can, Peter tells us. He says that we can
take courage in the midst of change because in
the first place, your faithfulness to God will
be rewarded. He says in verse 1, I exhort the
elders among you as your fellow elder and witness
of the sufferings of Christ, and they partake
also of the glory that is to be revealed. Shepherd
the flock of God among you, exercising oversight,
not under compulsion but voluntarily, according
to the will of God. and not for sordid gain,
but with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over
those allotted to your charge, but proving to
be examples to the flock. And when the chief
shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading
crown of glory." It may be that these folks that
Peter is addressing in chapter 5, particularly
the elders, We're beginning to lose focus of
their ministry because of change. Suffering can
do that for you. It can cause you to become distracted.
But for that matter any kind of change can. When
things are stable it's easy for us to remain
focused on what we're about. But in the midst
of change we tend to wander a bit. We begin to
glance around and to lose that focus. And so
Peter is writing to them as he would exhort us
as well to serve the Lord in the midst of this
transition. Remember what you're about. Remember
your responsibility before the Lord. See your
circumstances not as obstacles, but as opportunities
to serve Him. Take hold of this moment. Don't
loosen the grip. Find God's place for your active
ministry and participation in His service. He
is saying to them and to us that God is sovereign,
that there is nothing that surprises Him. He
has a personal assignment for each one of us,
doesn't He, in life. And what we need to do in
the midst of change is to keep focused on what
the Lord wants us to do. And as he says here,
to do that voluntarily. He says, don't have to
be bagged or prodded or cajoled or coerced into
service. See it as a privilege to serve the Lord
in the midst of change. Do it voluntarily. And
he says, do it passionately. He says, don't expect
some reward for it. He says, be eager in your
spirit. Take a step forward. Do it without any
thought of what's coming back to you. Be passionate
about serving the Lord in this time of change.
And he says, do it humbly. Not with a pompous
attitude. Not with an attitude that's comparing
what you're doing to what others maybe aren't
doing. But do it humbly before God. Because God
has a way of rewarding faithfulness. And your
faithfulness to God in serving Him in the time
of change will be rewarded by the Chief Shepherd.
So take courage. God will reward you for your
faithfulness. This is your moment. This is the
time of your test. This is exam time. And Jesus
is going to reward you. So pass the test. Keep
focused on serving the Lord. Secondly, he says
that we can take courage in the midst of change
because our circumstances are familiar to God.
Verses five through seven. He says, you younger
men likewise be subject to your elders and all
of you clothe yourselves with humility toward
one another. For God is opposed to the proud
but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God that He
may exalt you at the proper time, casting all
your anxiety upon Him because He cares for you.
Peter says in the midst of change, humble yourselves
before God. Wait upon the Lord. Don't rush ahead
of God. Don't take steps that are unwise. Don't
make hasty decisions. He says, God knows your
circumstances. They're familiar to him. Therefore,
trust in the mighty hand of God. The hand of
God speaks of his ability to act on our behalf,
his ability to come through and to meet our needs.
He says, trust in the mighty hand of God. And
in the due time, at the proper time, he will
exalt you. He will meet your need. He will come
through for you. But humble yourself. The word
humble here doesn't mean to be resigned to your
situation, but it means rather to be positively
reliant upon God. So positively rely upon the
hand of God, the mighty hand of God. Secondly,
he says, trust in the caring heart of God. He
cares for you. Therefore you can cast all of
your care upon Him. Just throw the whole of your
anxieties upon the Lord. Your circumstances are
familiar to God and He cares about you. So take
courage in the midst of the change that is ahead
and this change is going to take a number of
months. You need to be prepared for a year or
more before you come through this interim time
and call a new pastor. I know some of you would
like to think, oh, it won't happen that way here.
We'll do it in three months. Well, if that's
what you think, you're going to be mighty shocked.
The process will hardly be started in three months.
In fact, my daughter Kelly goes to a church in
California that's been at it two years. I would
say to you, don't be that long. The process can
go on too long because of circumstances. But
understand this is going to take time. And during
that time, don't give up. Trust in the mighty
hand of God. Trust in the caring heart of God.
God knows exactly what you're going through.
And you know, during this time, however long
it be, nine months, a year, year and a half,
I don't know how long it's going to be. But during
that time, God is going to be working in you.
He's going to be doing subtle things, changing
the spirit of this congregation, tuning it in
a little bit of a different way to prepare you
for the one who's going to come to be your next
pastor. And that's exciting to think about, what
God is about, what God is going to do. But take
courage. Your circumstances are familiar to God.
You can trust in Him. 3 Peter says that we can
take courage because our faith will resist the
enemy. Verses 8 and 9, be of sober spirit. Beyond
the alert, your adversary, the devil, prowls
about like a roaring lion seeking someone to
devour. But resist him firm in faith, knowing
that the same experience of suffering experiences
of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren
who are in the world. He says here, your faith
will resist the enemy. The intimidation of the
devil, the roaring of this lion, will not succeed
if only you stand guard against him. He can only
do what you let him do. Now let's face it, as
we said a couple of weeks ago, This kind of a
period in a church is a vulnerable time in certain
respects. And you can be sure that Satan, our
spiritual enemy, is going to be prowling around
seeking to get a foothold somewhere, seeking
to devour someone, seeking to disrupt this wonderful
church body, this family. But you don't have
to be afraid of him because your faith will resist
the enemy. Stand firm in your faith. Be on the
alert. Be thinking. Be of sober spirit. Just
be watching for him and resist him at every turn
and the result will be that he will be defeated.
So count on the devil to be around. But secondly,
count on your faith in Jesus Christ to protect
you. Take courage. Because you are not a victim.
You are not a defenseless prey. You are a victor
in Jesus Christ and able to defeat any schemes
that the devil may throw at you in the coming
months. So you don't have to be afraid. You don't
have to be uncertain. Be courageous. Take courage
in this time of change. There's a fourth reason
that Peter shares with us as to why we can all
take courage. And that is that our situation
is not unique. He says, what you're experiencing
is accomplished by your brethren who are in the
world. There were others who were suffering besides
the ones that Peter is writing to. He tells them
earlier in the book, don't think it's strange
that this happened to you. He says, this is not
foreign. This is what you're to expect in the
world. So here he reminds them that others also
are suffering. And if I may say to you, there
are other churches that have and are going through
the very same transition that you're going through.
To paraphrase a certain bumper sticker, pastoral
changes happen. Pastoral changes happen. I mean,
that's part of what life is about. That's part
of what being in the Lord's family is about.
Your situation is not unique take courage in
that and learn from others experiences now some
of you have been through this before in other
churches and you've seen the good and the bad
and the ugly and I would encourage you to learn
from that experience and bring the important
lessons of that to bear in this interim time
But also know this you can lean upon the prayers
of others even as you pray for others There are
people right here in our community who've already
said to me They're going to be praying for you
and for me during this time of change. People
care about you. You're not alone. You're not
an island cast out into the sea by yourself.
There are other churches around you that are
praying for you and other churches that are going
through the same kind of process as you are.
So take courage in that. You're not alone in
change and there are others who are standing
with you in it. Finally, Peter says that we can
all take courage in this fact that our future
is secure in the Lord. He says, and after you
have suffered for a little while, the God of
all grace who called you to his eternal glory
in Christ will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen,
and establish you. To him be dominion forever
and ever. Amen. Folks, we're a part of something
that's going on forever. The Lord's dominion,
the Lord's kingdom is eternal. It doesn't end
with a pastoral change. It doesn't even end with
your death or mine. The Lord's kingdom is an
everlasting dominion. It is forever. In the midst
of that, we can be secure in the Lord. He has
a future for us. You need to know that He is
at work in this. He knows the outcome of this
change, and He purposes your good in it. I am
reminded of the words that God spoke through
Jeremiah the prophet in the 29th chapter of his
book, the 11th verse. And I remind you that these
words were spoken to people who were going through
change. They had been taken captive by their
enemy. They were going to be in Babylon for 70
years, God says. What tremendous change and what
trauma they were going through as a people. And
yet God speaks comfortably to them, and he says
in verse 11, I know the plans that I have for
you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare and
not for calamity. to give you a future and a
hope. Listen to those words. That is the promise
of God. He knows the plans that He has for you.
He has a future for you and a hope. We can be
secure in the Lord in the midst of change because
of what we find promised here in verse 10. In
the first place, we see the promise that God
limits our trials. This transition, this time
of testing you're entering, is not forever. It's
a little while. Now it may be, as I say, a year
or more. But in the broader scheme of things,
that's a little while. God has a limit to it.
You can be secure in that. Just as you're entering
into it, one day you're going to come out of
it. And then as you reflect back upon what's
yet before you, you will be able to say, to God
be the glory, great things He has done. You'll
be able to sing, great is thy faithfulness, O
God, our Father. Because God is going to do something
in this little while of interim, something special.
We also see that in the midst of our transition,
God gives us grace, for He is the God of all
grace. He will give you what you need. You will
be sufficient for tomorrow's challenges. You
need not fear. You're secure. Thirdly, we see
that God calls us to glory. He has called you
to glory in Christ, His eternal glory. God has
a plan for you that goes out of this world. He
suggests here the final transition that we're
all going to make in which the choir sang about
this morning in the Midnight Cry. And that is
that time when we shall be changed and caught
up together to meet the Lord in the air. You
and I can be secure in the midst of whatever
this world offers us because we know that he's
called us to glory. And fourthly, we have this
promise that God uses our circumstances. That
promise of Romans 8 28 that good that God says
that he will work together in everything Is described
here in the words that he himself will perfect
you That is he will adjust you he will thoroughly
repair you This is a word like a chiropractor
would describe what a chiropractor does in adjusting
your body to bring it into alignment Feel so
good doesn't it? You find you have spots that
you didn't even know were sore until he touches
there or she touches there, and then they work
you over a little bit and your body feels so
much better being in alignment. Well, this is
the word. It was also used in that day for the
mending of the fishing nets that would get torn
on the rocks as they were dragged over the rocks.
What the Lord is going to be about in the coming
weeks and months is to adjust you. He's going
to... sew some things together that may be a
little ragged today. He is going to perfect you.
He also says that he's going to confirm you.
The word confirm means to make strong, to fix
firmly. He says he will strengthen you, which
means he will confirm you in spiritual knowledge
and power. I'm going to tell you, I believe with
all of my heart, that a year from now this is
going to be a more spiritually powerful church
than it is today. And the reason for that is
going to be that you're going to enter into an
intensive time of prayer in the coming months.
And God is going to use that to bring to you
a confirmation and a strengthening of spiritual
power. And then we have this word that He is
also going to establish you. He's going to lay
the basis for a new chapter. When we started
out 18 years ago, I would never have imagined
this chapter was going to be 18 years long for
me. And of course, there have been a lot of paragraphs
in this chapter. And maybe even some subheadings
in this chapter as we have entered into this.
program or that phase or we've gone through this
experience or that. But now this chapter is written.
This chapter has come to a close. The book is
not finished. The page turns and God continues
to write. And it is exciting to see what God
is going to write. And as he begins to write,
he's going to prepare you for the man that he's
preparing. And when he comes, I want you to love
him just like you've loved us. I want you to
embrace him just as you have embraced us. I want
you to receive him as you have received us. There
is nothing that would thrill my heart more than
to see you grow stronger in the coming months.
and then when the new man comes in God's time
that you just explode into some exciting new
chapter of ministry that today we could not even
dream about. God's able to do that. I think of
the words of the Apostle John when he was an
old man. I've been looking at some of the pictures
of early days and I see that I have grown a little
older in 18 years. I'm not quite as tall as I
was. And I think as I'm getting shorter, I'm
going this way. And the hair is changing color,
a little thinner, the hair that is. And as John
wrote to some of his spiritual children, he said
to them, I have no greater joy than this, to
hear that my children are walking in the truth.
I want you to know that that's my heart as we
leave you today. That in the coming months and
years, there will be no greater joy to my heart
than to hear that you who have received spiritual
ministry from me are continuing to walk in the
truth, continuing to experience God, continuing
to grow in your faith, continuing to reach out
in compassion to those who don't know the Savior.
That would be the great joy of my heart. It is
never easy to say goodbye. I have shed tears.
And I will shed tears. And some of you have as
well. But through our tears, let there be deep
confidence in our hearts, a courage in our hearts
as we approach this change. A courage that is
there because of what Peter says in this fifth
chapter of 1 Peter. A courage because our faith
is in a God who will not fail us. To God be the
glory. To Him be glory in glory, for His is an
everlasting dominion. Keep on being the sweet
and wonderful people that you've proven to be
these 18 years. And may the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ fill your hearts toward one another
and toward the lost. And may His grace lead you
on to greater things in the days ahead. Let's
pray together. I'm going to ask you to stand
together with me in closing prayer. And I wonder
if we couldn't just once more hold hands across
the auditorium. Paul, I'm going to ask you to
use your hands, if you would, at the piano. I
didn't think I wanted to do this, and I'm not
sure I do now. But let's sing, God be with you
till we meet again. Could we do that? Do you
know the words, God be with you till we meet
again? It's in your hymnal. Why don't you get
your hymnal off? Forget the holding hands. We're
going to change gears here. 602. We'll join hands
in just a moment to pray. But 602, I'd like to
sing this. If you know the words, that's fine.
God be with you till we meet again. And now let's
join our hands. Father, as we bow in prayer,
we thank you for your faithfulness as the God
of all grace. As we have sung this parting hymn,
God be with you, that is my prayer for this congregation.
by your counsels guide, by your counsels hold
them. Keep them secure, I pray, in the promises.
And Father, I commend them to you and to the
word of your grace, which is able to keep them
and to guard them, and to give them an inheritance
among all of those who are sanctified. We give
thanks to you for what we've experienced together
in this pilgrimage, how good and how sweet it's
been. But we also give thanks to you that though
we part for a while, the best is still coming.
That great things are ahead. And so God, we commit
ourselves to your care through Jesus Christ,
our Lord, whose kingdom is forever. Amen. Amen.
You're dismissed.