“Wild Goose Chase: Old-Fashioned Guts” Rev. 3: 7-8 1 Sam 14: 1-10

While sharing part of my testimony at camp I noticed that some of the campers were starring at something in the sky. After I finished, but while were still gathered together for worship, some of the counselors said they thought it was a beautiful crane. I immediately got back up in the circle and started talking about the Wild Goose. All week we had been talking about the Holy Spirit, and I felt led to get up and share with the campers exactly what we have been talking about the last four weeks together, that the Holy Spirit is like a wild bird, untamable and free to lead us. 

We are now in the final week of our sermon series focusing on the Holy Spirit. We have seen how the Holy Spirit leads us, redeems us, and frees us from past bondage. This week we be discussing how the Holy Spirit empowers us to do seemingly-impossible things.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you find yourself in a conversation that you never expected to be in? Or where you find yourself miles from where you expected to be? I’m a big believer in God-Ordained moments - those moments that are much more than coincidence. I shared recently with one of our Bible study groups that I have been walking in 5ks in the area - walking, not running. This is something I would never have done in the past, but a great way to be involved in the community. At the Healthy Heroes 5k during Heritage Days, I started out walking by myself, until cresting the top of one of the hills in the Chester Hill area. On the decline, I found myself talking to a woman who was near me. We did the thing you normally do when you are meeting someone new and she asked what I did. As soon as I shared that I was a pastor we started to have an amazing conversation - about some of the struggles in her life, the struggles in the world, and what it means to be the Church. Friends, that was a God ordained moment and conversation.

John writes the church of Philadelphia in the book of Revelation that doors have been open to the church that cannot be shut. But the truth is friends, sometimes we don’t follow the Holy Spirit through the doors being opened. We get so caught up in our own baggage and schedules and heads that we sometimes don’t even recognize that a door is present, let alone that Jesus opened it! As I was walking back home after that 5k and in the days to follow, I kept thinking about how the hand of God was present that day - what would have happened if I hadn’t signed up to walk? What if I would have ran instead of walked? What if, what if, what if. But God took all of the what ifs and arranged them so that God could be glorified! But I had to be the one to follow the Holy Spirit’s prompting and go through that door to that divine appointment. 

When we take time to stop and listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit we can find that there are absolute spirit-filled moments in our lives that we have the opportunity to respond to. Some are little and some are big, but all have the opportunity to lift up God’s name. In the words of Pastor Mark Batterson, “Chasing the Wild Goose is recognizing which way the wind of the Spirit is blowing and responding to it. It requires a moment-by-moment sensitive to the Wild Goose.” 

Jonathan, friend of David and son of Saul, understood about following the Spirit’s prompting through open doors. Jonathan found a stirring in his heart to go into battle, even though his father and commander of the army, King Saul, had left him at home. So he turned to the man carrying his armor and prompted him to go to battle with him over the Philistine garrison. However, there was a catch, in order to get there they had to climb over rocky crag.

I have never had a desire in my life to go rock climbing, but that is exactly what Jonathan did. Even though mountains that seemed impassable stood before him, on either side, he was so sure that he was to be in battle, that he started climbing them. 

Sometimes our lives feel like we are caught in between rock walls, and we have to decide what we are going to do. Are we going to stay, trapped, or are we going to start climbing? What if the thing that the Spirit is prompting you to do is to go up and over those mountains? 

Sometimes we buy into the false belief that once we accept Christ, once we become Christian, that our lives get easier. That we will never be caught between rocks and hard places again. That mountains that need to be climbed won’t be in front of us. That it will be easy to follow wherever God leads us. But the longer that we walk with Christ, I think the more we realize that this is not the case. The truth is spiritual growth doesn’t make things easier, it simply prepares us to take even more daring and risky steps for the Kingdom of God! 

In contrast to Jonathan, taking a risk and climbing that mountain to follow where the Spirit was leading him, we find his father, Saul. Saul was commanding over 600 soldiers we are told, yet where do we find him? Not on the battle field with them. But instead sitting under a pomegranate tree. Saul seemed to think that he didn’t have to do anything and that God would simply show up and lead them to victory.

Friends, the Kingdom of God is not passive. Just as much as we need to not get in God’s way by insisting on our plans and our timing, we also need to be active participants in God’s Kingdom. We can’t just sit around waiting for God to act, especially when the Holy Spirit is prompting us to join God in doing amazing things! Pastor Mark Batterson states, “The will of God is not an insurance plan. The will of God is a daring plan!” It disheartens me when I hear Christians talking about just sitting back and waiting to get to Heaven. That’s not what our faith is about, brother and sisters. It’s about running hard after wherever the Spirit may lead. 

But what I love about this scripture in particular is the reminder that we often do not need to run after the leading of God’s Spirit alone. Jonathan had his armor bearer with him. As they were facing that rocky crag, that armor bearer declares that wherever Jonathan goes he is going with him. We all need people like this in our lives - people who stare at that rock wall and then climb it with you - encouraging you to follow the Spirit’s leading in your life. 

While at camp the dean and I planned a lot of the worship services together. We have been working together so many years now that we have a rhythm down. But we also trust each other when the Spirit starts speaking and encourage each other to follow that prompting. We were at the closing communion service, and I went over to him and said that something was pulling on my heart to scrap it all and then have communion and pray for our graduating seniors. That wasn’t the plan. At all. It wasn’t what was written down on the worship sheet or what we had discussed. But the dean looked at me and said go for it, follow the Spirit. And as we prayed over the four girls graduating from high school, for whom it was the last year of camp, we started to weep. It was a holy moment with words of life and encouragement being spoken over young women who so desperately needed to hear them. The camp dean, Dave, is just one of the folks in my life who will encourage me to follow the Spirit, wherever it may lead. 

Brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit is an untamable, indescribable force that can bring us to our knees in awe, but we have to choose to follow. We have to choose to go through open doors. We have to choose to follow, even when times are hard. And we need people around us who encourage us to choose the life in the Spirit. What will you choose this day? Who will you follow? Amen.