Rescue – By Brian Wheeler

Hey guys, Pastor Shawn here…from time to time we will have some people in our church contribute to this blog.  This week it’s Brian Wheeler.  Most of you probably know Brian or have met him at church.  If not, just go around this next Sunday shouting the name Brian and see who turns around and start meeting “Brian’s” until you come to the right one!  Anyway, Brian and I were talking one day about his blog and I asked him if I could share one of his posts. Go over and check the rest of his blog out if you get a chance: http://brian-w-1.blogspot.com/

Here’s one of Brian’s posts:

Have you ever seen the television show on the Animal Planet called “I Shouldn’t Be Alive”?  If not here’s the basic premise of the show.  A person or group of people starts out on an adventure…sometimes a new one and sometimes one they’ve done before.  A typical adventure might include a kayak trip on a river or on the ocean, a hike up a mountain, a family sailing trip, a day trip into the desert, etc.  The adventures typically start out simple enough, but inevitably something goes wrong and a seemingly-innocent day of fun turns into a fight for survival.

An episode I saw recently was one in which a couple’s first date consisted of a day hike in a desert-like location in Texas.  The couple started out their day of fun embarking on a couple-hour hike that would end back at their car.  However, after a short amount of time they got turned around.  They lost their bearings.  At some point their surrounding became unfamiliar.  They no longer recognized their path.  The fight…the struggle for survival was on.

Soon the young couple was in a fight for their very lives.  The 100+ degree heat soon began to take its toll on the couple.  Dehydration began to sap their energy.  Heat and dryness began to crack their lips.  Their skin soon began to turn red as it cooked in the sun’s rays.  After a couple of days they began to hallucinate…see things that were not there…hear things that were not there.  In their desperation to escape their predicament, they began wandering…looking for a way out…trying to find their way back to safety.Part of their struggle was due to the fact that they were ill prepared.  They carried no water.  Instead of sturdy hiking shoes they were wearing running shoes.  Why not?  They weren’t going mountain climbing.  They were only out for a walk in the desert.  They had no ability to build fire as the sun began to sink into the horizon and the temperatures began to drop to the mid 30′s.  Why would they?  They weren’t planning on being out after dark.  Their adventure was only to take a couple of hours.  They had plenty of time.

As with many of the hour-long episodes, the couple’s relating the details and the staged reenactments of their struggle came down to the last 10 minutes.  They were done.  They had resigned themselves to the fact that there was no way out.  They laid down to die in the desert.  They made peace with each other and themselves.  They gave up and prepared for the worst.

But then there’s a noise…a sound in the distance.  The sound of a helicopter.  The sound of help coming to find them.  The sound of rescue.

Sounds like a good show, although my wife would disagree, but what is my point?

Here’s the point…Think of this adventure as a parable, a story designed to illustrate a spiritual truth.  People start out innocently enough, but somewhere they hit a rough patch.  They make a wrong turn down a path they did not intend to go down.  They end up in a place they did not intend to end up.  They lose their bearings.  They lose their way.  Then the struggle is on.  The fight for survival is on.  I once heard it put like this…It’s kind of like Denny’s.  No one plans on going there; they just end up there.    They fall into a cycle of self-deliverance that, even though physical habits might be broken, the inner, spiritual pain continues.  They are ill prepared for the struggle.  They have the wrong equipment.  They fight and struggle for survival.  They wander around looking for help, a way out.  They try to reason themselves into happiness.  They try to work harder, believing that if they say and do the right things everything will get better.  Work more hours.  Do more good things.  Others try more “spiritual” things…just pray harder, read their Bible more, go to church more, obey the commandments, everything will get better.  But nothing works.  There is no relief.  There is no help.  There is no freedom.  The heat of battle begins to take its toll.  They become spiritually parched, dried up.  They cannot find their way back to a life of peace.
The day must come when we give up.

Stop trying.

Stop fighting.

Stop struggling.

Listen.

Listen.

Hear that sound?

Hear that faint noise in the distance?  What is it?  Am I imagining it?  What is that noise?

Don’t ignore that sound.  It’s the sound of rescue.  It’s the sound of deliverance.  If you listen closely you’ll hear it.  The sound gets closer and closer.  Soon, up over the horizon pops the source of rescue.  In the case of the couple in the desert of Texas, it came in the form of a helicopter.  For us it comes in the shape of the cross.  What Jesus did on the cross is the answer.  It is the deliverance.  It is our rescue.  Hebrews 9:12Hebrews 9:12
English: World English Bible - WEB
12 nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption.

WP-Bible plugin (NLT) tells us that, “Once for all time (Jesus) took blood into that Most Holy Place, but not the blood of goats and calves.  He took his own blood, and with it he secured our salvation (or rescue…my emphasis) forever.”

The final scene in the Animal Planet show is usually that of the characters climbing aboard the rescue plane, helicopter, boat, etc. and being taken to safety.  The cross is our rescue vehicle.  Without going into too much detail in this blog entry (look for more of that in future posts!), our complete rescue was provided for on that “vehicle”.  Jesus bore our sins and freed us from its penalties.  We no longer have to wander in the wilderness looking for a way to safety.  Before time began, God knew we needed to be rescued.  He knew you and I would be in dire straits, in need of rescue and provided it in the form of a cross.  All we have to do to find peace and safety is climb aboard.  Allow Him to rescue us.

Hope Faith 8/13

Saturday, August 13
Preparing and Serving lunch 11:00h 11:00
English: World English Bible - WEB
Štetje svetopisemskih vrstic se za?ne z ¹! Vrstica ⁰ ne obstaja!

WP-Bible pluginam – 3:00pm
Hope Faith Ministries
705 Virginia Ave
Kansas City, MO

***We’re in need of bakers. If you’d like to bake 3 dozen cookies to contribute to the meal, let us know at jason@journeykc.com. We’ll even take them down there on Saturday if you can’t make it. It’s a great way for you to get involved even if you can’t be there.***

Come work together as Journey Church reaches out to the homeless through Hope Faith Ministries. Hope Faith serves the homeless from 7:00rom 7:00
English: World English Bible - WEB
Štetje svetopisemskih vrstic se za?ne z ¹! Vrstica ⁰ ne obstaja!

WP-Bible plugin am until approximately 3:00 pm. They generally feed 450-500+ each day from their current facility. The needs of homeless have doubled in the last 18 months and we need your service. Don your Journey Church shirt and grab a hat (or a hairnet will be provided for you) and come prepare and serve lunch at Hope Faith.
Donations will be accepted to buy the supplies needed, just write “Hope Faith Meal” on your giving envelope to designate beyond your usual tithe. Contact jason@journeykc.com for more info or to volunteer to gather supplies.

Volunteers enter at the north end of the building through the door under the “705″ awning. http://www.hopefaithministries.org/. Parking in the small southern lot or the lot to the west.

Kendallwood

From time to time we’re going to feature someone who is living out their faith through action. It’s our hope this will inform you about what others are doing, and inspire you to follow after God’s calling.

Do you deliver? Bob Sapp does every Sunday morning as he brings a church service to the residents of Kendallwood Assisting Living in Gladstone, Missouri from 8:30-9:30rom 8:30-9:30
English: World English Bible - WEB
30 Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified. ³¹ What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things? ³³ Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” ³⁷ No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ^{9 1} I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit, ² that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. ³ For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh, ⁴ who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises; ⁵ of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen. ⁶ But it is not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel. ⁷ Neither, because they are Abraham’s seed, are they all children. But, “In Isaac will your seed be called.” ⁸ That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as a seed. ⁹ For this is a word of promise, “At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁰ Not only so, but Rebecca also conceived by one, by our father Isaac. ¹¹ For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls, ¹² it was said to her, “The elder will serve the younger.” ¹³ Even as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” ¹⁴ What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be! ¹⁵ For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ¹⁶ So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. ¹⁷ For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth.” ¹⁸ So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. ¹⁹ You will say then to me, “Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?” ²⁰ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” ²¹ Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor? ²² What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath made for destruction, ²³ and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, ²⁴ us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵ As he says also in Hosea, “I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people; And her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.” ²⁶ “It will be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ There they will be called ‘children of the living God.’” ²⁷ Isaiah cries concerning Israel, “If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, It is the remnant who will be saved; ²⁸ For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.” ²⁹ As Isaiah has said before, “Unless the Lord of Armies Greek: Sabaoth had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom, And would have been made like Gomorrah.” ³⁰ What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn’t follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith;

WP-Bible plugin. He said it all started when hear heard the call of God to preach His word. ” You have to have an outlet for that. It’s either stand on a street corner and shout it or this. People are much more receptive in this type of setting. ” Bob explains.

He started the church service at Kendallwood over 3 years ago, just a few weeks after moving his family to the KC area from Houston. Providing a church service in this way just felt natural to Bob. He did it for many years with first, leading worship, then preaching on occasion. “Then, the guy who was preaching couldn’t do it anymore, so I just sort of took over preaching”.
That preaching has helped hold him accountable to consistently reading his Bible to prepare for messages. “It’s really kept me meditating on the Word, trying to hear from God ” acknowledges Bob. “An added benefit is that I’ve stayed consistent with my guitar playing, and been able to develop my worship talents.” With his current setup, he leads worship for thirty minutes and preaches for the other thirty.

It’s evident Bob’s heart has really been touched by what God has been using him for in this setting. “I mean, these are people who have gone to church their whole lives- a lot of them- and they were missing it” said Bob. Thankfully, Bob answered God’s call and brings church to those who can’t venture out. “I always get more out of it, I’m sure, than they do.” he explains. “You get to meet an entirely different population than you normally would.”
Now would be a great time for you to get involved. Bob explains “It’ s about as safe of an environment for someone to develop what they believe God is calling them to that I can imagine.” You could come help with worship time, teach a message, or share a story/testimony. Another way to participate would be just to come out and meet the residents during and after the service, help people to their seats, sit by them and help them find hymns in the book. Bob says that families are more than welcome.
Service Time is Every Sunday from 8:30rom 8:30
English: World English Bible - WEB
30 Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.

WP-Bible plugin till 9:30l 9:30
English: World English Bible - WEB
30 Behold, two men were talking with him, who were Moses and Elijah,

WP-Bible plugin and it located off Antioch Road at:
Kendallwood Assisting Living
2801 NE 60th St
Gladstone, MO 64119-2040

Contact Bob at 913-909-2815 if anyone is interested.

Serve at Hope Faith Ministries

Come work together as Journey Church prepares and serves breakfast to the homeless through Hope Faith Ministries. Hope Faith generally feeds 450-500+ each day from their current facility.
Saturday, July 9 • 7:00am – 11:00am
Hope Faith Ministries
705 Virginia Ave
Kansas City, MO 64106

Don your Journey Church shirt and grab a hat (or a hairnet will be provided for you). Arrive at 7 to start cooking breakfast. Journey Church is buying the ingredients for the menu. Donations will be accepted to buy the supplies needed, just write “Hope Faith Meal” on your giving envelope to designate beyond your usual tithe or given to Cheryl at the event.
Volunteers enter through the North doors, which is the office entrance (under the awning that says 705).

Contact jason@journeykc.com for more info

Or call Journey Church at 368-1540.

Joplin Tornado Disaster Relief

Items will be collected at Area 2 on Wednesday, May 25 between 6pm and 8pm to send to the Joplin area. See Pastor Shawn’s note on this effort here.

Suggested Donation List: 

• Flashlights
• Batteries
• Bottled water
• Towels
• Blankets
• Toiletries
• Large storage containers
• Breakfast bars
• Canned fruit/veggies
• Can openers
• Work gloves
• New underwear
• Gently used T-shirts, shorts, etc.
• Baby kits – formula, wipes, diapers, baby food
• Kids Fun Kits – 1 gallon bags with small toys, coloring books, games, play dough, etc.
• Chainsaws
• Gas cans
• Dust masks
• Safety Glasses

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