In this passage we have recorded one of the most exciting events in all of scripture. After Christ ascended into heaven, the people who were believers met, and in Acts 1 it says, "These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer." Then on the day of Pentecost, Peter stood and preached and our text says that 3,000 souls were brought into the kingdom of God. Can you imagine, if on a Sunday, you showed up and the parking lot and all the grounds of the church were filled with people standing around and all of a sudden the message was delivered and 3,000 people gave their hearts to Christ. Of course, this is the New Testament church we are talking about. And yet, isn’t that what we claim to be? A New Testament church.
How on earth can that happen to us?
This evening, I want to share with you 7 keys to victory for every New Testament church.
1. Our Savior must be sovereign.
Colossians 1:18 says, "And [Jesus] is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in ALL things [Jesus] might have preeminence."
Jesus Christ is the head of the church. Too often, people have the misconception that the church is the pastor’s. Listen, this is not the pastor’s church. It is not the deacon’s church. It is not church council’s church, or the Sunday School teacher’s church or the tither’s church. This church is the church of Jesus Christ. Everything you do in this church should be bathed in prayer in order to insure that what you do will bring honor to Jesus Christ.
Too many churches today want the pastor to simply be a chaplain. To simply come week after week and comfort the afflicted. And I do believe that part of my job is to comfort the afflicted. But, according to God’s word, my job is also to afflict the comfortable.
Too many people in the church want to come on Sunday morning so they can be labeled Christian or faithful or even Baptist, but you need to know that Jesus did not come to give us labels but to give us life. Can you honestly say, that in the last year you have experienced an abundance of life because of your relationship with Christ. If the answer is no, whose fault is it? It is certainly not Christ’s because He said that He would give us an abundant life;
a life characterized by joy. He did not say that He would give us a life free from adverse circumstances. But He did say, that in spite of those circumstances and in the midst of those circumstances, whatever they may be, that He would give us an abundant life. The only way that will be possible is if He is Sovereign in your life. And the only way we will experience the kind of church described in the first century in the New Testament is if the Savior is sovereign.
2. Friendship in the fellowship.
John 13:35 says, "By this will men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." You know I have been in churches where it seemed as if the church needed a referee instead of a pastor. I have attended business meetings where it looked more like an Arnold Swartzaneggar movie than a church meeting.
Part of the problem is too many people are saying I have a right to say anything I want to say, I can speak any way I want to speak. But the Bible says, when you gave your heart to Jesus Christ, you gave up your rights. You no longer have any rights. Galatians 2:20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." Your rights have been suspended. Your life should be controlled by Christ. If that were true, business meetings and committee meetings, and all of our gatherings would be characterized by the Sweet Sweet Spirit that we like to sing about.
There is a little limerick that says,
"To live above
with saints we love
that will be glory.
To live below
with saints we know
well that’s another story."
I believe that one of the biggest deterrents to the spirit of this church is that we conduct all of our business on Sundays. And we have stopped providing for the spiritual growth on Sunday afternoons. We don’t develop leaders any more. We develop committee members.
One pastor I know said the problem in the church is sissy men, silly women, and spoiled children. There are too many men today who have stopped being the spiritual leader of their home. Men if you abdicate that role to your wife, you are in direct disobedience to God’s Word and God is not going to bless your home. Ladies, if you take on the role of spiritual leader and shove your husband to one side, the same problem is going to happen. And folks, if you don’t take your God given responsibility as parents according to God’s Word, your going to reap the consequences of your disobedience in children who
will be disrepectful to you and to all sources of authority including God. According to God’s Word, your children will not live long in the land.
If I were to ask how many of you have had your life enriched by your involvement in committee meetings .... I’m talking about your life has taken on new meaning, your relationship to Christ has been enriched because of your involvement in committee work in this church .... I dare say not one hand would go up.
But if I were to ask those of you who participated in meaningful Bible study, like Experiencing God, or the Mind of Christ, or any of a number of life changing Bible studies ..... and if I were to ask you the same question, most of you would not only raise your hand you would probably appreciate an opportunity to testify to what God had done for you.
My Bible says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
If we are going to have victory in our church, we are going to have to learn how to have friendship in the fellowship. Do not be misled or as Paul would say, "we would not have you ignorant," there will be conflict in the church. Don’t be naive. Why do you think Paul wrote all those letters to all those churches? It was because there was conflict in the church. Conflict is not new.
The first conflict was between God and Lucifer, the most beautiful angel ever created. He wanted to be in charge and because of his rebellion, he was cast out of heaven. Adam and Eve were the first human beings to experience conflict.
And because of their sin, we have inherited a world filled with sickness and sin and every kind of problem there is. Too often we believe that when we are involved in a conflict our only option is "fight or flight." Either I will fight for my opinion to dominate or I will leave the church.
We are going to have to learn how to disagree without being disagreeable.
If we are going to have victory in 1997:
• Our Savior must be sovereign,
• There must be friendship in the fellowship.
And …
3. Love for the lost.
Did you read the last part of verse 47? It said, "And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved." If we are going to have victory in the church, we are going to have to have a love for the lost. The future belongs to the church concerned for souls. Psalm 126:6 says, "He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him." That passage says that we need to have a day by day concern .... a concern that literally brings us to tears when we think about those around us who don’t know Christ. We ought to be daily calling their name in prayer to the Lord, asking for an opportunity to share the plan of salvation with them. We ought to be daily asking God to draw them, to make them receptive to the message.
However, let me caution you about one thing. One of the worst things you can do is to try to browbeat someone into accepting Christ. I wish I had a dollar for every person who has come to me and said, "Preacher, I’ve been talking to these people for 25 years about Christ. Now you go and talk to them." You know what my usual response to that is? "Now that you’ve spent 25 years ruining them, Billy Graham himself couldn’t do anything with them."
Too many parents have tried to browbeat their wayward children, continually pester them, continually lecture them, to come to church. Instead of all that, why don’t you pray that God will bring someone across their path that they will respond to. If you were going to have any influence over them you would have by now.
Pray and ask God to send someone else to bring them into the harvest. But, you also ought to be praying that God will show you the ones that He intends for you to harvest. Too often, we say, "I don’t have the gift of evangelism. But that does not excuse us from witnessing. If you don’t have the gift of evangelism, it just means that you have to work harder than those who are gifted. No one is excused from being a witness for Christ. We have to be willing to make ourselves uncomfortable for the cause of Christ.
A sign in a business establishment read, "Ain’t hardly no business been got here that ain’t been went after."
That is butchering the king’s English, but it is right on target with God’s Word. We must go and look for the lost. We must be a witness. And the truth is you will be a witness, either by your activity or your inactivity.
If we are going to have victory in the church
• Our Savior must be Sovereign
• There must be friendship in the fellowship.
• There must be a love for the lost.
And ...
4. There must be Gladness in our giving.
Luke 6:38 says, "Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return." Now do not hear this verse or me saying that if you give $5,000 that God is going to give you back $50,000. That is a lie from the pits of hell and our prosperity preachers on TV. If you believe that you are in keeping with the proverb that says a fool and his money are soon parted. But that is not biblical stewardship as taught by God’s Word. What God is saying, you have to give obediently and inn the right attitude.
Let me give you four kinds of givers:
a. Calculating givers.
These are the people who sit down with a calculator and figure out to the penny exactly what the law requires. They don’t give a penny more or a penny less. They are the ones who squeeze every nickel till the buffalo sits down.
b. Comparison givers.
These are the people who look at what others have done and say, well I don’t give what I should, but at least I give more than those folks do.
c. Convenient givers.
These are the folks who pay all their bills and if they have any money left over, and if they happen to show up, they might put a little something in the plate. Kind of a tip. Actually they tip in restaurants better than they do at church. God is not interested in your leftovers. He commands that we give him the firstfruits of our labors. Not after tax, not after your kids carpayment and insurance, not after you have paid your dues down at the local club, not after you’ve paid your utilities. First! Which leads us to the last group.
d. Committed givers.
These are the folks who take at least ten percent off the top. Often times they will give above and beyond ten percent. They give when they feel like it. They give when they don’t feel like it. Their circumstances do not determine their giving. Their circumstances may determine their living, but it does not determine their giving.
If we are going to be victorious in the church,
• Our Savior must be sovereign,
• There must be friendship in the fellowship,
• There must a love for the lost.
• There must be gladness in our giving.
And there must also be:
5. Belief in the Bible.
2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." We claim to be people of the book. We Baptists are notorious for stating that we recognize no other authority except Scripture. There is no mere man, like a pope who has authority. There is no institution, like the church, even as highly as we regard the church, that has authority. The only authority we recognize is the authority of the Bible.
The problem is, most people rarely pick the thing up and read it. They don’t know what God’s Word says. And let me tell you that the only part of the Bible you believe is the part you do.
The Bible says, "Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted and forgiving."
The Bible says, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer."
The Bible says, "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse."
The Bible says, "And do not get drunk with wine for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit."
The Bible says, "Study to show thyself approved unto a God a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
The Bible says, "Pray without ceasing."
The Bible says, "but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."
And the Bible even says that if we know the right thing to do and don’t do it, that is sin.
Folks we are without excuse. The only part of the Bible you actually believe is the part you do.
If we are going to be victorious in the church:
• Our Savior must be sovereign,
• There must be friendship in the fellowship,
• A love for the lost,
• Gladness in our giving,
• Belief in the Bible,
And …
6. The Comforter must be in control.
Zechariah 4:6 says, "... ’Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts." We must be daily praying that the Holy Spirit will control our lives. If we believe the Bible, we understand that the Spirit is not something that you conjure up, it is someone who lives in our hearts from the time we are saved until we depart this life. He is resident, but often He is not president of our lives.
We must daily take ourselves off the throne of our lives and allow the Spirit to control our every thought, our every action. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit, His coming to live inside of you is a once for all event. But His daily control of your life will only happen as you ask for it.
And that brings us to number 7.
7. Prayer must have priority.
Luke 18:1 says, "Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart." The only way you can have the Holy Spirit in control of your life is to pray daily for His empowering and directing you.
I learned something recently that shocked me. Are you aware that the average American pastor spends only 22 minutes in prayer. I tell you when I heard that I was cut to the quick. We sing about sweet hour of prayer, but we only spend 22 minutes in prayer.
The average Korean pastor spends an hour and a half in prayer. I guess it is no wonder that the largest church in the world is in Seoul Korea, with a membership of 500,000. Dr. Paul Cho is the pastor. I believe that church is probably more in keeping with the one we read about in the book of Acts.
If the average American pastor spends only 22 minutes a day in prayer, what about the average church member. How much time do you spend in prayer and Bible study. If all you do is talk to God, when do you allow God to talk to you.
Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). God’s Word is clear, activity for the sake of activity is no indication of being in God’s will. Look at the rest of the passage of Scripture in the Gospel of John.
"If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love. These things have I spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full." (John 15:6-11)
Victory in the church?
1. Our Savior must be sovereign.
2. There must be friendship in the fellowship,
3. Love for the lost,
4. Gladness in our giving,
5. Belief in the Bible
6. The comforter must be in control,
7. And prayer must be a priority.
