Campground of God

February 6, 2011

Psalm 146

E. Kant- we can never really know something in its essence.

Not knowing exactly what God is, gives us no excuse for not knowing what He does.
We should not put our "mess" on God's shoulders. Some of the things in our life which are messed up, or not right, we messed up on our own. Some peop-le bring suffering on themselves.

God puts us in Hos camp, the Church...His Body. The material expression of the doing power of God! Perhaps we are not doing enough.

This Psalm reflects that the church is a camp and not a club. Clubs practice exclisivity, whereas the church should be practicing inclusivity. The Hebrew word for stranger is gyer, meaning a stranger wandering in the world. Similar to the English word, goer.

We should be welcoming to strangers. We are all strangers wandering through this world. The Church is not tryuly God's house unless it welcomes strangers, warms the weary by the power of God's love.

"Good ground" is a place where God's purpose can meet His people.

A camp is:

1. A place we can get some rest - welcome the weary traveller from the world

2. A place to get connected to resources
- when RVs pull into campgrounds, they connect to an outside power source to get fueled up for the journey ahead
3. A place where we can reach out. The church is open to anybody.

4. Continuing the RV metaphor...The church should be able to unhitch the trailer and lighten oour load

The church is a place and has a purpose.

God not only frees us from the evil that resides in the world, but also from the evil tha resides in us!

If we don't like being shaken up by God's plan, then God's campground, the church is probably not the place we should be.