Full Of Faith And Power

Full Of Faith And Power

Acts 6:8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.

If the early church can be full of faith and power so can the church of today.

We are getting ready for growth. We are expecting to grow again.

We are endeavoring to make preparations for the growth that God is going to give us.

We are going to do our best to have our land purchased and have our plans for our new church building drawn up by the end of this year so that as soon as God gives us the finances and the ability we can start our new sanctuary.

And we are on target. Our church has grown. We’ve had good attendance this summer.

Our Wednesday night services are almost as crowded as our Sunday night services.

We are a blessed church and we want to give God all the glory.

God is putting something together. He has a purpose and a plan that is greater than what we can see.

So we have to prepare and plan. We have to move when God moves.

It’s like the Israelites in the O. T. There was a pillar of cloud that hovered over them by day and a pillar of fire by night.

It was a means of protection. The cloud protected them from the heat of the day and the fire protected them from the dangers of the night.

But there was more to it than protection; there was also guidance and light.

God told them that when that pillar of fire moves, you move with it.

So they could be camped somewhere for a week and the pillar of fire might be hovered over the place of the tabernacle; the place where the presence of God rested.

And all the camp was encamped around it on all four sides so that the tabernacle was in the center of the people of God.

There the pillar of cloud and fire rested but every now and then they would look up and see that the pillar was moving.

And when the pillar of cloud or fire started moving it meant that it is time to move. So the people started moving.

When God moves it’s time to move. We can not be satisfied with what God is doing.

When God moves you have to move.

God has been good to us. He has added to this church and he is not finished.

We can not ignore what God is trying to do.

He desires for our church to move forward.

He is getting us ready for something greater than what we have already experienced.

God is giving us more than a church on a dead end street.

He has great things in store for us.

But we can not become satisfied. We have to keep working. We have to keep being faithful. We have to keep giving. We have to keep praying.

We must rise to the occasion an except our greatest challenge yet.

We’re talking about building a new church. We’ve started a building fund program.

We’ve added to the parking lot because we had too.

We’re attempting to buy land and draw up the blue prints.

We have a worshiping church. God is adding to the church.

And I believe that it won’t be long until we will be sitting down with the banker working out all the minute details.

And God will continue to give us revival.

And we have to have a vision for that. We can not over look the physical aspect of it.

But to be honest the physical part of the whole thing is really minor.

But even more important than this there has to be a spiritual preparation in our hearts.

We have to build a spiritual foundation big enough for God to do what he wants to do.

And that’s why I’ve been preaching the word to you that if you will get a hold of it; will cause you to grow spiritually.

That’s why I preach reality. That’s why I preach practical issues about where we live and how we need to respond to people and the attitude that we need to have because that is so important.

We have talked about the fruits of the spirit. Why? Because we have to get those concepts in our minds.

We have to think in a spiritual way. We can not get a spiritual job done with carnal thinking.

We can not have a spiritual revival with carnal methods.

But in order to have revival and in order for this church to keep growing and in order for us to accomplish everything that we need to accomplish as a church we have to be spiritually minded.

Our minds have to be full of the word of God. Our hearts have to be full of the spirit of God. We need to have the fruit of the spirit growing to maturity. We need to have the gifts of the spirit operating freely.