LET’S PRAY
Father we ask for Your anointing on us today. Place Your anointing on me as Your messenger today. God move in our lives. Rip open the heavens and visit Your people today.
Open our eyes so that we may see Your Word. Open our ears so that we may hear Your Word. Open our minds so that we may understand Your Word. Open our hearts so that we may receive Your Word today. AMEN
Once again we are looking at our updated mission statement for our church and our plan to carry it out. These things can be summed up in just a few words; Transformation, Healing, Equipping, and focusing on five which is the plan to carry it; Invest and Invite, Word of God and Prayer, Meaningful Relationships, Serving Each Other, and Praise and Worship.
Last week we looked at the Word of God and Prayer.
We learned that the Word of God is the inspired Word of God and it is the only infallible guide and rule of the faith and practice of the people of God. We learned that the Word of God has the power to Revive, Restore, and Restrain the enemy.
And we learned that persistent prayer is the foundation of all Christian growth. This is true for both the individual child of God as well as the church as a whole. Fervent and persistent prayer has always been and will always be of the utmost importance to God’s people.
Before we move on today to the third focus I would like to do a quick survey.
Ask, How many believe that it is God’s will for the church to grow numerically?
Ask, How many believe that it is God’s will for the church to grow spiritually?
Make a pie graph for each on the white board.
Ask, For those of you who said you believe it is important for the church to grow numerically, what can you do to aid in the numerical growth of the church?
Are there people in your life that you need to invite to church?
Are there people in your life that you need to tell them how much God loves them and how much God has done for them?
Ask, For those of you who said you believe it is important for the church to grow spiritually, what can you do to aid in the spiritual growth of the church and the spiritual growth in your own life?
Are we ever too old to stop growing spiritually? Never!
These five things that we are focusing on are all a part of a person’s spiritual growth and we all need to grow in these areas.
Today we are going to talk focusing on Meaningful Relationships. It is important to build meaningful relationships within the church. We should connect with like-minded people so we can build each other up, worship, learn, and minister together. We will love each other and stand together through all things.
Show the “Me Church” clip.
Church is not about me and it is not about you.
Church is about serving a Risen Savior.
Church is about getting into the Word of God.
Church is about praying.
Church is about serving.
Church is about praising and worshipping an awesome God.
Church is about investing into the lives of others and inviting them to know Christ.
And Church is about building meaningful relationships with like-minded people.
The reasons that we want to have meaningful relationships within the church are stated in our focus statement. So we can build each other up, worship, learn, and minister together.
When God created us, He did so with the thought in mind that we are to be in relationships. That is why, when God saw that Adam was alone in the garden He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
God was setting the pattern for all of mankind to move us from isolation to relation.
These principles that are found in our third focus are based upon the Word of God.
READ Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Build each other up.
“If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who has no one to help him up!” Ecclesiastes 4:10
Godly, intimate friendships bring strength to the relationship.
There are times in every one’s life in which we face tough situations. It is during those times that the people with whom we have developed Godly, Biblically based relationships with build us up.
They are the people who come to comfort us when we are down. They come along side us and strengthen us when we are weak, and they help calm us when we are scared.
When we are involved in a meaningful relationship with a fellow Christian they don’t have to be told to build us up, instead they allow the Holy Spirit to show them what needs to be done.
When we are in a meaningful relationship with like-minded people the Holy Spirit will impress on you what you need to do and what you need to say when someone needs built up.
The author of Hebrews tells us to “consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”
Hebrews 10:24
Paul tells us in Galatians to “Carry each other’s burdens and in this way obey the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2
It is in the times of deep crisis, grief, and doubt that we need each other the most. When the circumstances of life begin to crush us to the point that our faith is faltering, that is when we need a close friend to come along side and help us through it.
It is those times when we need a close friend not to put us down or make us feel worse or rub it in, but rather we need a close friend to help build us up.
We need to cultivate the habit of bearing each other’s burdens. Lend a hand by lifting a heavy load. Burdens are the over loads which we can lighten by building meaningful relationships with others in the church.
I read a story a few years ago about a family who found out that their un-born child had a rare disease that caused the baby to be born with out any eyes or a nose. There was just a large hole were those things were supposed to be.
They brought the baby to the Pastor because the doctor’s had told them that the baby would not live much longer.
The family was handling the whole situation with the strength of God. They were not angry with God; they were not ready to give up their faith. And when the Pastor asked them about their strength they replied, “If it was not for the relationships that we had formed with our friends in our home cell group we could never have made it through this.”
You see, they had built meaningful relationships with some people at the their church and they were there for each other.
United we stand and divided we fall.
Worship together and Learn together.
The author of Hebrews went on to say in Hebrews 10:25, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another.”
We are called by God to worship Him when we are alone and when we are together.
Something supernatural happens whenever we worship God both in our alone times and when we are together as the church. We overcome Satan when we worship God.
When people of faith gather together in the name of Jesus to praise and worship God the Scriptures promises us that the presence of Christ is there with them.
“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.” Matthew 18:19-20
And when Christ is on the scene, the enemy has to flee!
We understand what it means to come together and to worship together but what does it mean to worship?
Rick Warren in the book “The Purpose Driven Life” offers an awesome definition of worship. He writes, “The heart of worship is surrender.”
When the church gets together and begins to worship God in “Spirit and Truth” God gets a great big smile on His face. He loves it when we worship Him. It brings God great pleasure.
Why? Because He created us to worship Him.
If the heart of worship is surrender then when we surrender to God our whole self we are bringing pleasure to Him. True worship brings pleasure to God.
When we take down all the barriers that block our total surrender to God, fear, pride, confusion, problems, trials, and give God total control of our lives then we are worshipping Him.
David said that He was glad when they said to him, “Let us go to the house of the Lord… That is where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, to praise the name of the Lord according to the statutes given to Israel.” Psalm 122:1&4
The Apostle Paul defines the philosophy of worshipping together and learning together in Colossians 3:15-17.
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”
Colossians 3:15-17
Ross Parsley of New Life Church in Colorado Springs writes, “Life-giving worship is not just singing, nor is it a three-song warm-up for the sermon. Life-giving worship doesn’t only happen when we gather for Sunday services, nor is it an event; it’s our lifestyle.”
Is worship your lifestyle? Are you worshipping God at home? At work? At play? If you are not worshipping God then, you won’t be worshipping God when you get together with the church.
We need to worship God in Spirit and in Truth. Worshipping God in Spirit is communicating to God our love for Him and worshipping God in truth is reflecting who He is in us.
We are called to worship God when we are alone and when we are together.
Minister together.
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work.” Ecclesiastes 4:9
Meaningful relationships produce fruitfulness. When we partner with our friends the work gets a whole lot easier.
Most of the time in church work it seems like 80% of the people do 20% of the work and 20% of the people do 80% of the work. That might be why Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”
When people who love Christ set their minds to work together in unity for the sake of the kingdom of God, it is a powerful thing indeed.
Remember the sayings, “Divided we fall, united we stand.”
Or how about the Biblical principle that is found in Leviticus 26:8? “Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.”
There is power in numbers. There is strength in numbers.
If one of us can rout a thousand then two of us can send the legions fleeing!
Church ministry takes teamwork!
To help you remember this truth use the acrostic TEAM which means, Together Everyone Achieves More.
We need each other. Otherwise we end up like a church I read about in this certain town. It was a church that was located in the body neighborhood.
Fred Somebody, Thomas Everybody, Susan Anybody, and Joe Nobody were neighbors and they all went to the same church.
They were odd people and most difficult to understand. The way they lived was a shame.
Even though all four belonged to the same church, you probably would not enjoy worshiping with them.
EVERYBODY went fishing on Sunday or stayed home to visit with friends. ANYBODY wanted to worship but was afraid SOMEBODY wouldn’t speak to him. So guess who went to church - NOBODY. Really, NOBODY was the only decent one of the four.
NOBODY did the visitation. NOBODY worked on the church building. Once they needed a Sunday school teacher. EVERYBODY thought ANYBODY would do it, and ANYBODY thought SOMEBODY would do it. And you know who did it? That’s exactly right . . . NOBODY!
It happened that a new person moved into the neighborhood, they were not a believer.
EVERYBODY thought SOMEBODY should try to win him for Christ. ANYBODY could have made an effort. You probably know who won him: NOBODY!
This little parable brings to focus again the fact that each of us is personally responsible for God’s work and we need to work together. If we leave it for somebody or everybody or anybody, nobody will do it.
Let’s work together until Jesus comes!
Take some time and evaluate your friendships in the church. Are you developing meaningful relationships? Someone with whom you can build up and someone who will build you up, friends you can worship with and learn with, and friends you can minister with.
Let’s build meaningful relationships in the church.
