Today we conclude our series “Three Things the Church Must Do in 2008.” In that, we also conclude the season that follows Epiphany. This season traditionally looks at the mission of the church and this year we have done that with this series. As a review, let’s take a look at the three things that we must do in 2008.

· Tell the story
· Invite others
· Bless the world

That last point is what we want to take a look at today. What does it mean to bless the world? How do we bless the world from a little place like Horsepasture? In each one of the points, we have looked at what Jesus did and how it played out in building the Kingdom. What does it mean to build the Kingdom from our vantage point?
In today’s scripture, we heard the account of Jesus taking his inner circle (Peter, James, and John) up on the mountain to pray. It’s really interesting to see how this inner circle works. This will not be the last time that this crew gets to go with Jesus to pray. Matthew and Mark don’t mention it, but Luke does – but this crew falls asleep while Jesus is praying. This would not be the last time they would fall asleep while Jesus was praying. Jesus prayer for the church is that we would tell the story, invite others, and bless the world. In a lot of ways the church is not much different from this inner circle. We have all the benefits of being with Jesus and yet while Jesus prays for his church – the very church he is praying for is fast asleep, not doing anything that He has called us to do. The church needs to wake up and realize that the world needs us to get busy building the Kingdom. Too many times we are only interesting in building our kingdom and not the Kingdom of Christ. That’s what happened on the mountain with Peter and his friends James and John. Peter is so excited about this mountain top experience. It is a dazzling show. I know that I would be excited about such an experience. While the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as light, and then Moses and Elijah show up and talk with Jesus. That would be quite a sight.
That’s when Peter opens his mouth and sticks his foot right into it. Now, I have to be careful, because all of us can do that so easily. I know, I’ve done it myself. Peter, caught up in the excitement of the moment, says to Jesus, “It’s is so cool to be with you here Jesus – let’s stay up here forever – that way we can worship right here on the mountain – we’ll even build three temples for you, Moses, and Elijah.” Peter is quickly rebuked by God – a bright cloud overtook the whole mountain and God spoke very clearly, “This is my dearly beloved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.” Immediately, Peter, James, and John fell to the ground. That would probably be my first instinct as well. Not too many people get a direct response from God like that. Jesus responds, by telling the disciples to get up. The disciples look around and the whole spectacle is gone. I love the next line – the looked around and saw only Jesus. After that, they went back down the mountain.
So, what can we learn from the disciples today? I want to go back to a point that I was making earlier – sometimes we get so busy and worrying about building our little kingdom, whether that is our own personal little kingdom or our own personal little church kingdom, that we forget everything else. We like to come and “get blessed” by the worship each week. We come and we like to get fed each week. We come each week for the show and we like to come and like Peter want to build a memorial here. But God warns us against that. This place – this church building – is just that – it’s just a building – you – you and I – we are the real church – you – you and I – other brothers and sisters in Christ – we are the real church – a building is just a building. There is nothing wrong with a nice looking building, matter of fact I would prefer a nice looking building over a shabby looking building any day. But there is more to building the Kingdom of Heaven than just building our little kingdom here. There is a wide world out there that needs us – it needs us to bless it. You’ve heard me say it before – the Christian life is exactly that – a lifestyle – a lifestyle of worship – that not only blesses us – but blesses other people and in turn blesses our Creator.
This is exactly why we have created some new initiatives around here. What do you mean preacher?
· This is one reason we have started collecting food items for Grace Network. Rarely a week goes by that someone doesn’t call and request us to help them. While our resource alone wouldn’t go very far, by partnering with Grace Network – we can multiply our ministry. Since we are now partnering with this fine Christian organization, I can refer calls to them – they have the resources that we don’t have
· We continue to collect Campbell’s Soup labels for Hephzibah Children’s Home. Hephzibah is a children’s home run by The Wesleyan Church. They need approximately 1.5 million labels for each van purchase. Again by partnering with Wesleyan churches around the country, we make a difference in the Kingdom.
· This spring, we plan to collect gift cards for Elizabeth Home which is a ministry of Hephzibah for teen moms.
· Last fall we collected 22 gift packs for World Hope International. I hope that you are already starting to collect items for this year (I know we are.)
· We have sent encouraging cards to members of our military (Marines/Army).
· That is why we have decided to make the Chili Cook-off a community event – I talked to the chief of the fire dept. just this week and they are excited to be part of this.

Yes, these are small things, but each one of these helps build the Kingdom – in each one of these we are the hands and feet of Jesus reaching out to our community.
One other thing that I see from this passage is that the disciples had to leave the mountain. Jesus tells them that soon they would be telling this story to the world. Peter writes that because of that experience on the mountain – that he had an even greater confidence in the message of Christ. Again, he says, “For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes when he received honor and glory from God the Father.”
Yes, we can bless the world with what we give, but we can also bless the world by going – Jesus implied that they couldn’t stay on the mountain – they had to go back and do the work that he called them to do. I’ve heard it said several times that “the measure of a great church is not in its seating capacity, it’s in its sending capacity.” Churches that are involved in building the Kingdom bless the world through their giving. That can be defined several ways. Sometimes we give things (like food or gifts to those who need it.) Sometimes we give money to organizations. Sometimes we need to give of our time (like ringing bells for Salvation Army or perhaps a short-term missions trip.) But then there is the going aspect – Is God calling you to give your life for the Kingdom – much like he asked the disciples. Are we willing to send our people out into the world so they can bless it?
As we prepare for communion this morning, Anna is coming to join me and we would like to share a song about what it means to be the body of Christ and to bless the world.