Sunday, December 28, 2008 
Scripture reading: Acts 16: 1-10
16Paul* went on also to Derbe and to Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer; but his father was a Greek. 2He was well spoken of by the believers* in Lystra and Iconium. 3Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him; and he took him and had him circumcised because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4As they went from town to town, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. 5So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers daily.
6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; 8so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ 10When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.
Sermon Title: "QUO VADIS, DOMINE?" Sunday, December 28, 2008
PASTOR HUDSON: 'Quo Vadis, Domine' is a
Latin phrase meaning, "Where are you going, Lord?"
Persecution was breaking out around Rome and the
Christians were fleeing the city. Peter had become
the first bishop of the Roman church, and as he was
leaving with the Christians, he had a vision of Jesus
going into the city.
There in that moment when Peter recognized Jesus,
he cried out, 'Quo Vadis, Domine?'- “Where are you going,
Lord?” Jesus's response to Peter was I am going into
Rome to be crucified again. Peter, internalizing
those words, turned around and followed Jesus back
into the city.
There are times where we as Christians find
ourselves being reminded that the answer to the
question, where are you going, Lord, is always given
to us by the presence of the Holy Spirit within our
life. Sometimes to find those answers, we need to
come to the place where we are focused with a hunger
in our heart.
We're going to spend a lot of time in the weeks
ahead simply talking to one another within the life of
our church. The goal is to make sure that we are
invested in that and no one is being left out of the
process in any manner whatsoever. I really want you
to think about when Mr. Bandy is in-house with us. I
ask you earnestly to reserve those two or three
evenings to be here to be part of that conversation.
We need two key things to happen. One is the
support of God to pour out of our minds; and secondly,
for God to speak to us as a group because of our
diverse interests and goals and learn what His agenda
is for us as a church. As we plug into that, we
become empowered to make it a reality. What a shame
it would be for us to look back five years, 10 years
and say we missed that word from the Lord when we
needed it the most.
I don't know what all those ministries will be.
I know we'll discover them as we go, but I see the day
coming when all kinds of things are going to be
transpiring within our midst that will reach out and
catch somebody and bring them our direction. That
kind of diversity is good. We want to do that which
is going to be effective, transformative and change
lives. Wouldn't it be great if our outreach became
that powerful?
There is going to be times when we come together
and simply say, God, let this be something that
transforms who we are in a positive, rich and
life-changing way. Do you remember the story of the
day of Pentecost? The church gathered in the upper
room, and they were praying, fasting and having holy
conversation. The end result was they were all of one
mind and one accord when that critical moment came
when God said, I believe they're ready, and he poured
out the power of the Holy Spirit into that finely
tuned group of human beings.
My prayer is this, we will, number one, ask the
question, Quo Vadis, Domine, where are you going,
Lord, just like Peter did in that apocryphal story,
and then be willing to hear the answer, turn around
and follow him. This is what we're doing in this
consultation process.
I hope you will join me, not only in
participating in it, but also in praying for it. This
is more than just a fact-finding exercise, more than
just data collection. We need it to be anointed and
bathed with God's Holy Spirit. So please ask the
question, Lord, where are you going, hear the answer,
turn and follow him.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.