“Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” [God speaking to Moses] (Exodus 3:5 KJV).

“If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here” [Moses speaking to God] (Exodus 33:15 ESV).

“We get so used to God’s absence that we don’t ache for God’s presence” (Dr. Doug Banister).

“Earth is crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes” (Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh).

In the book of Exodus we read that while Moses was busy tending his father-in-law’s sheep, he noticed a bush burning in the desert without being consumed. Even though he was busy working, he said to himself, “I will turn aside to see this great sight.”

When God noticed that Moses had turned to see the burning bush, He began to speak to Moses.

Have you ever wondered what would have happened if Moses hadn’t turned aside to get a closer look at the bush? I mean, he was a busy guy. He had sheep to watch. What if Moses had just kept on working? Would he have heard God speak? Or would God have looked for someone else to go “barefoot” for Him?

No, I think God was determined to use Moses. My guess is that if Moses hadn’t noticed the burning bush, God might have caught something more noticable on fire, like his staff or his tent or maybe even his shoes!

Nothing like getting the hot foot to make you kick off your shoes!

You see, when God wants to get our attention, He will do whatever it takes for us to notice His presence. The funny thing is, that God is always present. The Bible teaches us that God is omnipresent, present everywhere, all the time. Yet, most of us never notice. Most of us never turn aside to see.

Do you look for God’s presence? Do you seek Him out every morning as you open your eyes? Do you slip off to sleep at night talking to Him?

When was the last time you slipped off your sandals to walk along the beach with God?

“Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again.’” (John 3:5-7 ESV).

Have you noticed how we take birth and life for granted?

We live as if we know what the future holds and we make plans for tomorrow and we act as if we have control over our lives. But recently, the Combs family at least, has been reminded of just how false that sense of control really is.

Last Friday, March 2nd, my son Stephen and his wife Caroline had an ultrasound that revealed that they were having a healthy baby boy! What joy we all felt! Stephen posted the above three-photo montage on facebook to announce their happiness to the world.

Then, only a few days later, the unthinkable happened. Caroline’s water broke. She is only in her 18th week, so the baby is not viable outside the womb. Thankfully, she didn’t go into labor, but still, what could this mean?

They rushed to the doctor and after another ultrasound, they found that the baby boy is still living. His heart is beating (160 bpm). Kidneys functioning. He’s still moving (Caroline felt him kick just yesterday morning). But there’s no amnotic fluid in the womb now. The doctor said that this fluid is a necessity for the development of his lungs. She said there is a great danger of infection and risk to the mother’s life. She didn’t offer much hope. The doctor sent them home on bed rest to wait and see.

Because this baby is a wanted baby, Stephen got on the phone and made arrangements to get a second opinion with specialists at Duke Hospital. They went there yesterday.

The doctors at Duke gave a bleak picture too, “Yes, the baby is normal for 18 weeks. Yes, there is a possibility that Caroline could stay infection free and carry the baby until 24 weeks (when viability is possible). His body will continue growing, but his lungs will not develop without amniotic fluid. Even if she can carry the baby to term, he will not be able to breathe outside the womb.

“We can induce labor now or wait and see.” They said. “What do you want to do?” The doctors asked.

“We want to give the baby a chance!” Stephen immediately responded. “Listen,” he continued. “We’re going to pray. And we’re going to ask a lot of people to pray with us. So, you’re the doctor. What specifically should we pray for?”

“Well, I guess the only hope would be for Caroline’s membranes to reseal, so that the amniotic fluid could build back up.” The doctor responded flatly.

“Have you ever seen that happen?” Stephen asked.

“No, not in a case like this. I’ve never seen it happen.” The doctor answered.

“Is it possible that it could reseal? Could it happen?” Stephen questioned.

“Hmm… I suppose. Yes, it’s possible, but highly unlikely.” The doctor replied, not wanting to offer false hope.

Talking and praying with our family over the last few days, we have been reminded that all of life is a miracle. We think we can just “plan” to have a baby and “Viola!” But every birth is a miracle. Every detail of the birth process is a work of God.

This is true for birth and it’s also true for rebirth. Without a touch of the miraculous neither can take place.

Jesus told Nicodemus that the only way to enter the Kingdom of Heaven was to be born again. His words to Nicodemus remind all of us that God is the only source of life and that this life is only found through faith in God’s Son, Jesus the Christ.

This is why prayer is not a footnote to life. It is not the thing to do when all else fails. It is the thing to do because “all else” will always fail without God’s miraculous power.

So, we’re praying that our unborn grandson will be born by “water” (We realize just how important this is now!) and by the Spirit. We’re praying that Caroline’s womb would heal, the amniotic “waters” would build back up, and that this baby boy would be born not only healthy, but anointed by the Spirit to bring glory to God for all of his life.

And we’re asking you to pray with us. Pray for our unborn grandson. Also pray for every person who hasn’t experienced the new birth that Christ gives.

Prayer is not a footnote to our lives. It’s our top note!

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8 ESV).

“I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ” (Philemon 1:6).

When Jesus was giving final instructions to his disciples, he didn’t say that they should be his witnesses. He said to them, “You will be my witnesses.” Jesus expected his disciples to bear witness. You might say that he saw it as a mark of authenticity for true discipleship.

Witnessing is more than just a mark of a true disciple. It is a discipline that produces spiritual growth in the one who is obedient to this calling.

Perhaps this is why there are so many immature and weak Christians in our churches today. They don’t practice their faith. They think of it as something to be kept to themselves. Faith for them belongs at church. It doesn’t permeate their lives. It doesn’t fill their minds and hearts. It doesn’t overflow into their conversations.

The apostle Paul told his friend Philemon that he should be “active in sharing” his faith, so that he could get a “full understanding” of what it means to be a Christian. In other words, Paul says if we want to grow up, we need to get active in witnessing. That’s where our faith is truly sharpened.

So let’s break out of our holy huddles and start talking to the people outside of our churches about how our story and God’s story has intersected.

Perhaps the clearest mark of a mature Christian is not the soundness of their doctrine, nor the fervency of their worship, but the sacrificial love they express by telling others about their Savior.

“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Jesus, Luke 12:13-21 ESV).

“Compared with their grandparents, today’s young adults have grown up with much more affluence, less happiness and much greater risk of depression and assorted social pathology… Our becoming much better off over the last four decades has not been accompanied by one iota of increase in subjective well-being… The accumulation of material goods is at an all-time high, but so is the number of people who feel an emptiness in their lives” (David G. Myers, The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty).

Some twenty years ago I stepped off the corporate ladder and answered the call to ministry. I quit my middle management job, attended seminary and planted a church. These decisions did not make financial sense, nor were they driven by a desire for worldly success. I had a sense of God’s call accompanied by a kind of holy discontent with my life’s purpose. I decided to focus on eternal rather than temporal goals. And that has made all the difference.

But not at first. When I was making the decision to follow God’s call, I told Him, “Lord, I don’t care if I lose everything, I just want to follow You.” However, I didn’t think He would take me up on it. I was hoping that He would see my willingness without my actually having to give up everything.

When the phone starting ringing with credit card collectors wanting their money, when we emptied our savings, went 14 months with no income, struggled putting groceries on the table and we got the letter that the bank was foreclosing on our house… I started doubting. I questioned God’s call on my life. I had led not only myself, but my wife and our three young children on this journey. And now we were all suffering the consequences of my poor leadership.

At least, that’s the way it felt at the time. But things began to change. The church that started in our living room with seven people had grown to seventy. We started receiving a salary. I phoned all our creditors and the bank and they miraculously worked with us to catch up. We not only didn’t lose our house, but it served as our church meeting place for the first two years on Wednesdays. We converted our upstairs guestroom into the church office. I answered the home phone with “Hello, this is Wilson Community Church, Pastor Gary speaking” for the first four years until we could afford to rent an office. The youth met in our garage for the first eight years of the church.

In the past week I’ve been reflecting on all that God has done in my life, in the life of my family, and in the life of our church, since we decided to pursue God’s call. Instead of being a liability to us, following God has been an amazing asset!

Just in the last week, I’ve seen my son, Stephen leading our church as its worship pastor. Calling people to stand and lift their hands to their Heavenly Father. What a bold and passionate heart of worship God has put in my eldest son!

This past Sunday evening, we laid hands on my son, Jonathan and ordained him into the Gospel ministry. He wore his “dress blues” and stood at attention and said, “I do,” when we charged him to fulfill the call to preach the Gospel “in season and out.” How committed to study and preach this middle boy of mine has become.

Tomorrow, my daughter Erin, having led a team in the past few days to prepare flyers and bags, will lead our church in collecting food for the hungry. Where did she get this servant’s heart and desire for helping the helpless and encouraging the elderly?

And my wife Robin, who has been not only my wife and the mother of our children, but in the past 20 years: the church’s nursery director, children’s teacher, set-up team member, meal ministry leader, women’s ministry speaker, church janitor, secretary, worship team leader, keyboard player, vocalist, etc. She has gracefully and joyfully been my helpmate and a servant of God. Who am I to have such a wife as this?

Then there’s our WCC family… what servants they are, what lovers of God and of His Word. They are so authentic and true. I wouldn’t want to be anyone else’s pastor. Why would God give me such blessing?

I guess it all boils down to one little decision I made twenty some years ago to go counter to the world’s culture of pursuing success and materialism. One little decision to follow God instead.

I’m so glad I did.

“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised” (Proverbs 31:30 NIV84).

“Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. …A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man” (1 Corinthians 11:3,7-8 NIV84).

I’ve been thinking a lot about beauty this week as I prepare to preach this coming Sunday about biblical femininity. It seems to me that beauty is a kind of proof for God. There’s something about true beauty that cannot be explained with evolutionary theory. There’s something of intrinsic value that beauty portrays to us that speaks of a deeper truth. I think beauty and God’s glory are somehow connected.

Pastor John Piper, who never tires of speaking of God’s glory, seems to agree. He defines God’s glory like this:

“I believe the glory of God is the going public of his infinite worth…The public display of the infinite beauty and worth of God is what I mean by glory.”

Beauty, like glory, is the manifestation of an inner character. True beauty is more than “skin deep.” It is the showing forth of that which is beautiful within.

When we are born again through the receiving of God’s Son, we are transformed and given His beautiful character. As this redeemed character shines out in our behavior, we again become like the image of God, bringing glory to Him in this world.

The unique and beautiful design of a daughter of God is that she is the “glory of man” and together they are made in the image of God.

When we submit to God’s design for our lives, we experience the beauty of God.

“Now, brothers and sisters, we ask you to appreciate those who work hard among you, who lead you in the Lord and teach you” (1 Thessalonians 5:12 NCV).

Twenty years ago we held our first public worship service at Wilson Community Church on Sunday, January 26, 1992 at Forest Hills Middle School. I was thirty-three (you do the math). We had 66 people show up that day. I preached a message entitled, “How to Be Strong and Courageous” from Joshua chapter one.

This week we are thankful and joyful to see God’s faithfulness through the years. There have been many professions of faith and baptisms. Troubled marriages have been reconciled, parents have learned to raise up their children in the Word, and families have grown closer to God and to one another. Addicts have been set free, the discouraged have found joy, and many sick have found healing.

Along the way we have joined loving couples together in holy matrimony. We’ve shared the joy of new parents as they lift up their newborn child to the Lord in dedication to Him. And we’ve stood by the graveside with many a grieving family member as we laid their loved one to rest. We’ve worshiped together. Shared testimonies and praise. We’ve gathered at the Lord’s table and remembered His body and blood given for us. For these twenty years, we have lived in fellowship as the family of God.

This past Wednesday evening, Robin and I were invited to the “TNT” (Twenties and Thirties) Community Group. They surprised us with a special dinner and gifts, thanking us for our twenty years of faithful service and for planting WCC. After feeding us dinner (with a menu that honored our “lo-carb” diet), they went around the room and each of them told us what we meant to them.

Tears streamed down Robin’s smiling face. I felt as if my face might break from grinning and my heart explode with joy. It felt great to be so appreciated. These kids really blew us away.

“Kids?” You ask.

Yes, because several of them referred to us as being like a father and a mother to them. And also, because when I asked them where they were on January 26, 1992, many of them shouted, “I wasn’t even born yet!” While others said they were probably still in kindergarten or the nursery.

One of them commented that they had been attending the group for some time and they were finally glad to meet us, but they had not yet attended our church. They said that they were still getting used to all this God-talk and felt welcomed by the group and hoped to someday be ready to check-out our church services.

I was especially glad to hear her thoughts. I told her, “Guess what? You’ve already attended our church. We’re having church right now. The church is not the steeple, it’s the people, it’s the family of God.”

I think she is close to believing. I could see the Kingdom in her eyes.

Being with this group of twenty somethings was the perfect way to celebrate. Our church started out in my living room with seven people. It seemed appropriate that we celebrated our anniversary in a similar manner.

It occured to Robin and I as we drove home that we would never have met these wonderful young folks if we hadn’t obeyed God’s call twenty years ago to “be strong and courageous.”

It also occurred to us that God is still building His family and that with young people like these, the next twenty years will give us even more to celebrate!