Church Renewal Pt. 3 Series

Series Church Renewal

Thesis: For revival and renewal to happen in us, or in the church and in this world will require us to tap into the teachings of the Word which ignite revival.

Scripture: Romans 12:1-2: Living Sacrifices

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Our theme for 2021 is Re-new - we accomplish this by:

1. Renewing the mind

2. Refreshing the soul

3. Reigniting a passion for Jesus

Summary: Sermon 1: The Church Renewed

First step: to a renewed church is learning to tune God in and not tuning God out! We need to imitate Samuel and not Eli and his sons. We need to hear the voice of God today!

Summary: Sermon 2: The Church Renewal pt. 2

Thesis: The second step to embrace for church renewal: is understanding that each of us are a piece of the puzzle to the Great Commission and to fulfilling Jesus’ mission. We must believe that we are to complete this mission for Jesus because it will require us to understand the gifts of the Spirit and be willing to use the gifts of The Holy Spirit to build up the church.

Illustration: Puzzle pieces handed out – highlight Puzzle in front with missing pieces – then highlight why we have the church logo we do.

Sermon - Church Renewal pt 3

Thesis: The church needs to understand that we are in a spiritual war. We are all born into a battlefield between Good and Evil. This war is for our souls, and other souls who are all around us. We all need to be rescued from the enemy through Jesus. The enemy is made up of spiritual forces of evil. It’s our job as Christian warriors to fight for their release and to fight for the truth to prevail to see people set free.

Introduction:

Our country is at war even though most would deny it today! This war is spoken of in the Bible and it’s between Good and Evil. This world has seen and been ravaged by many wars and especially through the 2 World Wars. War is nothing new for this world in which we live. Just read last week’s news and we had the war going on between Hamas and Israel. Wars have been happening since mankind fell in the Garden of Eden and will continue until Jesus comes back.

No nation is exempt from War! Wars with outsiders and even war from within called “Civil Wars.” Our nation has experienced both!

War brings out the worst and the best in people – historians say! There have been books written about war – books like, “There are no atheist in fox holes”, “Band of Brothers”, “The Pacific” and 10,000 of thousands of other books covering the history of wars.

Christian History magazine did an issue on War. Issue 121 called “Faith in fox holes seeking hope in the midst of wars despair!”

Here are some of the quotes from this edition:

“Some soldiers found God on the battlefield and some lost faith in Him there.” Woodruff Tait

J. R. R. Tolkien author of “The Lord and of the Rings,” “The Hobbit” and C.S. Lewis author Chronicles of Narnia – like: “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, also his classic “Mere Christianity”, and “Screw Tape Letters” plus many more books - both of these authors experienced war first hand, they knew the despair, horror, destruction of War as they fought for Great Britain in World War I. Both lost many of their friends from the War and Lewis was severely wounded. Their writings reflected battles, wars being fought, but it was always between Good and Evil – Right and Wrong. Their novels or stories give insight into spiritual dimensions and the spiritual battle we all find ourselves in everyday.

These two men were deeply influenced personally, philosophically, and literarily by their experiences in the “animal horror” of the trenches of World War 1.

Both men were changed by war – for the good believe it not - One was a Christian going into war which was Tolkien and Lewis was an atheist who found God through his war experience. They both noted that man is inherently evil and needs to experience the grace and mercy of God. Both also noted in their writings that there is another war which rage’s around the physical realm of wars and around life itself – it’s called the spiritual war and it is between “Good – God” and “Evil – Satan.” This war is costly and has been deadly and we need to be aware of it as Christians.