Today’s sermon was from Pastor Rick over at Calvary, you can hear the sermon over there. These are my crappy notes.

The Look of a GOBIG Community

Joshua 20 [show] Then the LORD said to Joshua, [2]"Say to the people of Israel, 'Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, [3]that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood. [4]He shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city. Then they shall take him into the city and give him a place, and he shall remain with them. [5]And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unknowingly, and did not hate him in the past. [6]And he shall remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is high priest at the time. Then the manslayer may return to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled.'" [7]So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. [8]And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appointed Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland, from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. [9]These were the cities designated for all the people of Israel and for the stranger sojourning among them, that anyone who killed a person without intent could flee there, so that he might not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, till he stood before the congregation. (ESV)
; Psalm 31 [show] In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me! [2]Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me! [3]For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me; [4]you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge. [5]Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God. [6]I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD. [7]I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul, [8]and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place. [9]Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also. [10]For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away. [11]Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me. [12]I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel. [13]For I hear the whispering of many-- terror on every side!-- as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life. [14]But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God." [15]My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! [16]Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love! [17]O LORD, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon you; let the wicked be put to shame; let them go silently to Sheol. [18]Let the lying lips be mute, which speak insolently against the righteous in pride and contempt. [19]Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind! [20]In the cover of your presence you hide them from the plots of men; you store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues. [21]Blessed be the LORD, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was in a besieged city. [22]I had said in my alarm, "I am cut off from your sight." But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help. [23]Love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. [24]Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!

• “Edge of Adventure” by Bruce Larson
  • neighborhood bar has more closeness/fellowship than Church at times? people really trustworthy…
  • God has instilled within us the desire to know and be known, to love and be loved
  • bar mentality replaces grace with alcohol; cheap and wrong replacement in the end
  • are our churches somewhere we can turn to when are distressed? when we have burdens? when we have troubles? secrets?
  • Are there people, or is there a person, in the church we can actually bear our secrets to?
• How it works on God’s holy ground: cities of refuge

GOBIG community as a sanctuary for the casualties of a broken world:

1. Place for people to flee from war of the world (v1-3)
   • every effort to assist harassed fugitive (as seen in #’s; set up towns of city of refuge)
   • system created so there can be true justice (accidentally killing someone, or indirectly killing someone shouldn’t mean your blood must be shed for revenge/justice; blood avenger was supposed to mess them up royally); Heb 8:16 [show]ERROR: No passage found for your query.
     
2. place where people get a hearing (v4)
   • the hardened don’t seek asylum, but those who desperately drop by need to be drawn close to warming fire
   • the desperate need someone to listen to hear their Q’s before they are fed the A’s
   • can people be part of church if they haven’t yet believed? City of refuge for all
3. Place where people find protection (v5)
   • protection from instant revenge and from predator intent on preying on the weakened, wounded soul
   • if God had not been patient and kind to us, we would already be gone; God wishes for all of us to come to Him
   • don’t be someone to further kick someone down; we will be held accountable for everything we say and do @ Judgement
4. Place where people find grace (v6; #’s 35:24-25)
   • supposed to be demonstration of God’s grace; we’re ALL in need of city of refuge; ALL FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD
   • the Gospel message;
5. place where law of God is understood (v7-9; Ps31)
   • Lord takes people from besieged city to city of refuge
   • be sure you have the right scripture and pray before opening your mouth…
   • 1 Cor 6 [show] When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? [2]Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? [3]Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! [4]So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? [5]I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, [6]but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? [7]To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? [8]But you yourselves wrong and defraud--even your own brothers! [9]Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, [10]nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. [11]And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. [12]"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything. [13]"Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"--and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. [14]And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. [15]Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! [16]Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh." [17]But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. [18]Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. [19]Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, [20]for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (ESV)
     : not just an OT concept…its an NT reality
   • Ps: people dogged by guilt; The Church doesn’t need to make things worse