I believe that the world is desperate to see the power of God on display in our lives!
In this church God wants to harness all the potential that’s in it and unleash it everyday into kingdom work! Anything man can harness makes that item so much more powerful – horse, atom, water in a dam, etc.
But anything man can harness is nothing compared to what God can harness in the life of a human being! The apostle Paul, the hurt in the deepest heart! That’s what’s so great about healing God’s way!
As a part of this body of believers we should be experiencing God’s potential and the Spirit’s dynamics everyday! And if that’s a reality - then there’s no place to sit, soak and sour! We are saved to serve!
Every follower of Jesus is called to be the greatest at serving! On team Jesus – next to serving - we’re all great at something because of our spiritual gifting!!
A little boy was heard talking to himself as he walked across the backyard, baseball cap in place and ball and bat in hand. He said, “I’m the greatest hitter in the world.” He threw the ball up, swung and missed. He yelled out, “Strike one, but I’m still the greatest hitter ever!”
He threw up the ball a 2nd time and swung and missed again! He looked at the ball and bat and said to himself again, “Strike two, but I’m the greatest hitter ever!” Then the 3rd time he threw up the ball, swung and missed again! This time he said to himself, “Strike three, I’m the greatest pitcher in the world!”
Church - we’re on Team Jesus and this team of believers, I pray, is ready to tap into the power source of God and move out into the highways and byways of life.
How Team Jesus Brings Hope:
1. Through The Ministry of Encouragement. Vs. 1-3
William Booth was at the end of his life, after establishing The Salvation Army, was asked to speak at a conference but was way too frail. So they asked him to wire a message to all in attendance. So he did just that and there was only one word written in the wire, “OTHERS” signed William Booth!
The Devil would love to start a church fuss then to sell more drugs on the street. When Team Jesus turns inward then we forget to minister outward!
C.S. Lewis wrote the book, “The Screwtape Letters” In the book, “Screwtape” is the Devil and his demon is “Wormwood”. This is what the Devil says to the demon about Christianity, “Wormwood, the church is fertile field if you keep them bickering over details, structure, money, property, personal hurts and misunderstandings. One thing you must prevent, don’t ever let Christians look up and see the banner of victory flying, because you’ll lose them – never let them see the glory of God.”
Do you want to help someone, encourage someone? First look at the banner of grace and victory flying over this place, then look for the hurt in the hurting, the sorrow in the suffering, tears in the tribulation, and the darkness in the depression! Remember we’re a mosaic of transformation not a museum of tradition!!
Sometimes all we need is a new way of looking at the world around us!
I need a truer vision, Lord, a vision filled with You.
To see the needy world again with eyes willing to see a world where people are hurting, hungry and hopeless everyday!
I need a wider vision, Lord, a vision filled with You.
To see that elderly woman down the street from me, the teenager who’s all mixed up, the child who’s been abused, the day to day cares in my neighborhood. Lord I want to be used.
Give me a new vision, Lord, a vision filled with You.
To see the world as You eyes would see. Help me use my gifts in ways to glorify You, to act with loving kindness toward those with a different point of view. A truer, wider, new vision, Lord, that’s what I need!
2. Through The Ministry of Evangelism. Vs. 8,16a
Why did Jesus come! Luke 4:17-19 “The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." NIV
Isaiah 42:7 “To open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” NIV
Proverbs 11:30 “He who wins souls is wise.”
The proof of being Spirit filled is when we share our faith! The proof that we are Spirit gifted is when we use that His gifting to reach the lost!
LifePoint: Our lives ought to be a place where people can encounter Jesus!
When I was in Nigeria several years ago, our team passed out Bibles in a village that had rarely seen or touched a Bible. They were so excited to just feel one. One man I’ll never forget was “Tumba” – he was handed a Bible for the first time and he was so expressive with thanks to our team.
But something happened 2 days later when we were having an open air preaching in the intersection of small the village. We saw “Tumba” as he was running towards us. He hugged us and when Carey looked at his Bible she said, “Tumba, what happened to the Bible we gave you?” He said, “When I got back to my village, I carefully chose a page, tore it out and gave it to my father, then another page I tore out for my mother. Then I tore out several pages for my wife, and then my wife asked me what about the rest of our village?”
3. Through The Ministry of Giving. Vs. 25, 26
The love offerings from the Gentiles to the Jews really impacted Paul! We cannot forget to teach even our children to give!
You know on Sunday we don’t take an offering but rather we receive an offering! Remember it’s not a debt we owe but a seed we sow! We are sowing as a team into the Kingdom of God! What a ministry!
2 Corinthians 9:2, 12 “For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.” NIV
2 Corinthians 9:6 “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”
2 Corinthians 9:7 “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
It was 1938 when a little girl went to church for the first time. She was found sobbing loudly by the pastor and he asked her what the problem was. She said, “I can’t go in the class because there’s no more room.”
Pastor Larry picked the little shabby dressed, unkepted girl into his arms and took her back to the class and found a spot for her in the corner of the classroom. Later that day she told her parents how wonderful it was that the Pastor found a place for her in the little corner of the room. She was saying to her mom how terrible it must be for kids to not be able to go Bible study with so small classrooms.
Two years later, this child was found dead in one of poor sections of Philadelphia. Her parents called the Pastor of the church she went to for 2 years as he had become her friend, they asked him to do the funeral for their daughter. The parents told Pastor Larry about the day her body as found in the streets across from the playground, they told him about a small worn out purple purse that was found next to her body and in it was 57 cents and a note. (The police figured that she was going to church that day with the note)They gave the note to Pastor Larry and he read it with tears going down his face. The little girl had wrote, “This 57 cents is all I have right now Pastor Larry, but use it to build a bigger church.”
So the next Sunday Pastor told the church about the 57 cents. Then the newspaper Philadelphia Gazette got wind of the story and the 57 cents in the girl’s purple purse. And a wealthy realtor in Philadelphia read it and offered a huge lot in the heart of the city to the church for 57 cents!
So the church got on fire and within 5 years raised 1000s of dollars to build a new sanctuary and one building with 57 classrooms in it. By the way if you are ever in Philadelphia stop by Temple Baptist Church that has a seating capacity of 3,300 and is home of Temple University where hundreds of students are trained for the ministry!
As a team of givers, with every flyer handed out, every soul saved, every time someone is delivered from bondage – you have had a hand in it!
4. Through The Ministry of Prayer. Vs. 30- 32
Vs. 31 “Be my allies in the fight, pray to God for me.” NEB
When we pray as a team, we are touching the hand of God and tugging on the heart of God. I believe there is so much more God wants to do for FBC if we will just cry out to Him more!
A little boy went into the general store with his mom one day. The shop owner passed the boy a large glass jar filled with candy and invited him to grab a handful. The boy said, “That’s O.K. sir!” So then the shop owner took his hand in the jar and grabbed some candy for him.
As they were leaving the store, Mom asked, “Jake, why didn’t you take a handful of candy on your own?” And Jake said, “But Mom, didn’t you see the size of his hand!”
So many times it’s through prayer that we see how powerful God really is! How tender God really is, how big his heart and hands really are! We are doing an injustice to those around us that are hurting and hopeless!
5. Through The Ministry of Fellowship. 16:1
Notice how we minister fellowship:
a. By receiving others. Vs. 2a
b. By assisting others. Vs. 2b
c. By greeting others. Vs. 3
d. By loving others. Vs. 5
e. By protecting others. 17,18
I was recently watching the History Channel and heard a great story of two friends in WW2 who were inseparable. They had enlisted together, trained together and were shipped over seas together and finally fought side to side in the trenches of Europe. During one attack, Leo was critically wounded in a field full of barb wire. He was unable to crawl back to his foxhole where Bob was waiting for him.
The entire area was under fire, and it was suicidal to try to reach his friend at this point. Still Bob decided to try and reach Leo. The Sergeant yelled, “Get back here! It’s too late! Let him go!”
He returned about 30 minutes later with his friend dead hanging over his shoulder. The Sergeant barked, “What a waste of time, he’s dead, it wasn’t worth it!” Then Bob stood before the sergeant with his friend Leo hanging over his shoulder and said, “Sarg, it was worth it because when I got to Leo the last words he spoke were, “Bob, I knew you’d come!”
