Eastgate Church Sermons - Wilson

We talk about worship often in the church, but there is often confusion about what it actually means. Many of us reduce worship to singing. But singing is only one expression of something far deeper. Worship is not primarily a moment in a service, it is the orientation of a life. In fact, every human being is already a worshiper. The question is not whether we worship, but what we worship. Something will sit at the center of our lives and shape everything. And what we worship always takes control. It determines how we spend our time, where we invest our energy, what we sacrifice for, and where we place our hope. Whatever sits at the center becomes the engine that drives us or the weight that slowly crushes us. And in Psalm 63, we see what it looks like when a life is anchored in worship of the only One worthy to carry the weight of our souls. In Psalm 63, while David was in the barren wilderness, he expressed his desire to live a worship-filled life whose greatest desire was not comfort or safety, but the presence of God.

So far in The Story, we’ve traced it from creation and the garden, through the fall and the flood, to God’s covenant with Abraham; from the exodus and the law, to the conquest and the kingdom under David; through the heartbreak of exile—and then last week, to the arrival of Christ, the long-promised Savior who stepped into history to redeem what was lost. But today, in this message, we reach the climax. If the Bible is the Story of everything, then the Resurrection of Jesus is the hinge upon which everything turns. We aren't just celebrating a religious holiday; we are celebrating the day the ending of your story might be rewritten… from "Death" to "Life." To understand how we fit into this victorious story, we must look at how we respond to the "first importance" of the Gospel, which is the Good News that Jesus saves! In the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he reminded them of the first importance of the gospel he had preached to them in order to strengthen their faith in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection and warn them from believing in vain.

Have you ever looked at the world and wondered, “How bad does it have to get before God does something?” Violence, corruption, moral confusion… it can feel like evil is winning and God is silent. Genesis 6–9 shows us that God is never indifferent to sin, but He is also never absent in mercy. Moses recorded how God judged the sin and rebellion of humanity by sending a worldwide flood to destroy all the living, yet preserved a remnant by providing an ark of salvation for Noah and his family. We can see how God reveals both His justice and His mercy in the account of the Flood.

Today we’re talking about the HARVEST—how God wants us to have His vision for the world. And what is God’s vision for the world? Jesus tells us in Mark 16:15: "And he said to them, 'Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.'" This is God’s vision for the church. It’s God’s vision for me and for you! The challenge for many of us is not that we disagree with God’s vision, but that we feel overwhelmed by it. We hear the vision, but the world? That’s just too big for our minds to grasp! For others it’s more a matter of feeling disconnected from it. How do ordinary believers like us move from feeling overwhelmed or disconnected from the mission to experiencing the joy of meaningful partnership in God’s vision for the world? That’s exactly what the apostle Paul helps us see in Philippians 4. In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he expressed his joy for their partnership with him for the gospel, viewing their generous support as a spiritual investment that fueled the gospel’s advance and brought glory to Jesus.

Without a vision for your life from God, life slowly loses direction and purpose. Most homes, and churches, don’t fall apart all at once. They drift. Conversations get shorter. Patience gets thinner. And many of us are exhausted, not because we don’t care, but because we’re trying to hold relationships together with our own strength. When God’s vision is missing, both our house and God’s house slowly lose their warmth and direction. So, how do we stop the drift? How do we move from a home that is "perishing" for lack of vision to a home that is thriving in the Spirit? How do we get God’s vision for our house and God’s house? In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he reminded believers that since they had already been given the mind of Christ, they were called to live out of that new mindset in all their relationships. We are called to live out of the new mindset we have in Christ in all our relationships.