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The Legacy Of Presence
Jon BurgessIt's tempting to skip over the lists of names when reading about those who served the Lord in various capacities with their families. Believe me, I have done it too. This morning is a reminder that there's not a single wasted scripture in the Bible. If the name Obed-Edom sounds familiar to you its because the first time he and his household are mentioned is on the eve of the judgment of God. Uzzah had reached out to steady the Ark because King David had ignored the law about how God wanted His Ark- His very presence to be transported. The hearts of David and all of Israel were crushed in what was meant to be a joyous return of the Ark to Jerusalem. The redemption began the moment the Ark was entrusted to the safekeeping of Obed-Edom and his family. The presence of God in Obed's house. released blessing upon him, his sons, his crops, his finances, his relationships. When King David returned to take the Ark back to Jerusalem Obed packed his family up and went with them. He didn't want to be anywhere the presence of God was not. He could have lived off the blessing of the past but wanted to raise his 8 sons in the present tense presence of God. This legacy of presence was a legacy of pursuit. He taught his boys that even it meant leaving every comfort behind, the best place to be was in the presence of God. He became a gatekeeper, a musician and doorkeeper for the Ark. God kept promoting Obed and his sons to higher places of influence and position simply because the only position that mattered to Obed was the position of humility in the presence of God. The legacy of presence is the legacy of the servant position. Thus, when we catch up with Obed-Edom and his family all these years later in Chronicles we see his sons and grandsons all serving the Lord together. This gives even more poigant punch to the parenthesis included just for them- (For God had blessed Obed-Edom)!
Yesterday we celebrated Mother's Day. Though Cyndi has five sons instead of the of Obed's wife she has set herself to raise our sons to pursue the presence of the Lord from the servant position. In fact our whole family was serving New Hope Oahu this past weekend! Today we celebrate Aden's 14th Birthday and I can't help but think of how God has called him to an Obed-Edom blessing. You see he was born here on Oahu while Cyndi and I were interns at New Hope. One month after Aden was born we moved to be interim pastors at New Hope Kapaa in Kauai. We just wanted to be where God wanted us and when His presence led us from Oahu to Kauai to Seattle we packed everything up and moved one year later. We sensed God leading us to put down roots in Seattle and as a result we saw the blessing Obed saw in his household when the Ark was there. Then after 10 years the Lord stirred us to go back to Kona where I had lived as a keiki. The very night we asked God for a confirmation on the move was the night that God gave Aden a dream that we were going to move. The amazing thing is that we hadn't even told him what we were praying about. The Legacy of Presence is the legacy of pursuit. One year in Kona and we saw so much growth and blessing in the church known as New Hope Legacy. More then success, status and comfort we wanted to be in the presence of God so we packed it all up and again and went where He was calling us which was back to where it all started for us and for Aden- New Hope Oahu! Here we are almost 2 years later and we feel the Lord saying put down roots but dont stop the servant position! Aden and our entire family are thriving in this environment here as we serve at the gates and in worship and most importantly as close to the Ark- the presence of God as we can get!
This morning you have written over our lives in "For God has blessed the Burgess Ohana". I saw it so clearly yesterday as my family was privileged to serve the New Hope Ohana for Mother's Day weekend. The stage was filled with parents and grandparents who were dedicating their children to the Lord. They were choosing to leave their children a legacy of presence with is a legacy of pursuit and a servant position before the Lord. Thank You Lord for blessing our lives. There's no other place I'd rather be then in the middle of Your presence! May you continue to stir in Aden and our other sons this same hunger and desire to be as close to you as possible no matter what it takes!
