It's Time To Renovate The Church - Part 1

Then there are also some good churches with godly people but certain things have crept in that MUST BE REMOVED!

o Personal agendas

o False teaching

o Traditions

o Legalism

o Liberalism

o Fanaticism

o Discord

o Worldliness

If we identify any of these issues in this assembly THEY MUST BE REMOVED!

Our mission statement here at Stockdale Baptist has a threefold purpose:

1) To Exalt The Savior

2) To Equip The Saved

3) To Evangelize The Sinners

Our mission is summed up in 3 words… Worship, Discipleship & evangelism.

Anything we do as a church should either - Exalt the Savior, Equip the saved or evangelize the sinners. If it doesn’t do any of that, THERE IS NO PLACE FOR IT HERE! The inception of the church was 2,000 years ago and things are much different now than they were in the beginning. I think one of the biggest issues is that we have picked up a lot of clutter along the way. The church is cluttered with things that make people happy, and though they are not necessarily bad if they don’t glorify our Father …WHY ARE THEY IN HIS CHURCH? One of the biggest struggles that will come in removing those things that don’t belong in the church is that they were put in place by our parents and grandparents. We can not justify doing things simply because Mama and Daddy did them that way. We cannot base our future on what we have always done but rather what our HEAVENLY FATHER would have us to do today!

Look at what Hezekiah said when he called the priests and Levites together - “sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.”

The process of removing what doesn’t belong, starts with us as individuals. We must look within ourselves and if there are things that don’t belong WE MUST REMOVE THEM! If there are sinful actions in our lives… WE MUST REMOVE THEM! Hezekiah was not only taking a stand against the traditions of his father, he was also going against the will of the people.

The people of Judah were very much involved in the practices of idol worship – II Kings 18:4 He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

The brazen serpent that Moses had made was broken into pieces. The people had ignored that God had created it and began to worship it in a pagan manner by burning incense to it. There were some obstacles that Hezekiah encountered that had to be confronted. If the traditions of your fathers come before your devotion to God…. like the people of Judah you are practicing idolatry. Hezekiah ignored the devotion to his father and destroyed the idols that he had set in place.

Will you remove the things that don’t belong from your life today?

What if Hezekiah had compromised and allowed the idol worship to remain? He would have failed miserably! - Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.