On Closet Poles and Gold Spray Paint

So we took a break from 1 Peter last night. It took 4 weeks to get through the first chapter and the first 3 verses of chapter 2. It's amazing how much is in three verses. The first three verses in chapter two have so much meat it's incredible...

Anyway -
So I made a trip to Home Depot yesterday and bought two 12 foot closet poles. Just getting them off the shelf was an interesting feat. For a second I thought I was going to have to leave the first one blocking the aisle. You see, they have this cable across the shelf to keep them from falling off. You sort of have to work it out of the cable, and I had to work around some boxes on the other side of the aisle to get it off the shelf. After the "learning curve" of the first pole, the second one came much easier. Then came transporting them back to the church. Fortunately, I had borrowed Mark's truck. They stuck out the back of the bed about 6 feet. I ended up putting them through the sliding window and they just barely fit from the windshield to the corner of the bed.

So here we are, back at the church. Me and Jason spray painting these two poles gold. I think I oversprayed a little bit of gold onto the bleachers, (shh! don't tell the maintenance guys I did it) but we finally got them ready.

Then to the sermon - In 1 & 2 Samuel, the Phillistines captured the ark. In transporting it around after that, there was alot of putting the ark on a cart. Now remember that the ark is the symbol of the presence and glory of God. For the 'bad guys' to have it in their posession is not a good thing. Even after they got a clue and returned it, the people of Israel still didn't get it for a while. They used a cart. When they finally said "oh yeah" - poles, things started to work.

We need to remember to get poles in our lives. God has told us how to live. We don't need anything more than what He's already given us. 2 Peter 1:3 says "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to live and godliness." In 1 Peter 2:2 we're told "long for (crave) the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation." God has given us the instructions. His Word. If we truly want to experience the presence and glory of God in our lives, we need to remember that He has told us how to do it in His Word. We have to get poles and do it His way.

It was very encouraging to see so many students come up after the sermon and sign the poles indicating that they want to be obedient to God and get poles in their lives and passionately seek to know God and make Him known. If you have a minute, stop by the High School building and check out the poles and signatures.

As I was perusing the interWeb this morning, I came across this on John Piper's website (www.desiringgod.org)
Quote of the Day: "Revival is the sovereign work of God to awaken his people with fresh intensity to the truth and glory of God, the ugliness of sin, the horror of hell, the preciousness of Christ's atoning work, the wonder of salvation by grace through faith, the urgency of holiness and witness, and the sweetness of worship with God's people."
—John Piper, A Godward Life, p. 111.

I can't put it any better. This is my desire for our student ministry and our church.

Rob
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