INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• We are getting ready to begin a new year in just a few days. I do not know how your 2010 has been, but good bad or somewhere in between, 2011 is around the corner.
• I know from the perspective of FCC, 2010 was an awesome year.
• There were so many positive things that happened; I almost hate to see the year end.
• We continued to experience growth in all areas, spiritual, numeric, and financial. We paid off the building something like 11 years ahead of schedule also! It has been exciting to see what God has been doing through the ministry of FCC.
• I hope in 2011 that God brings even greater for us to experience and enjoy both as a church family and individually!
• What are you looking to happen in 2011 in your life? What do you hope to see happen with the FCC family?
• The success of FCC in connecting people with Christ can only happen if each one of us is successful in our walk with Jesus. As we thrive spiritually we will have a greater impact on those around us and the FCC family will continue to grow.
• I want to challenge each one of us today to keep ourselves focused in four areas in the coming New Year.
• As a church, we can do all the right things but if our attitudes are not right, we will not reach our full potential as a church. The same can be said about each of our personal lives also.
• The world around us gets crazy at times and as we try to function in the hustle and bustle of an at times crazy world, it can become easy to lose our focus.
• In the passage we are going to draw our encouragement from this morning in Acts 9:31, the church was in the midst of a growth spurt.
• We are going to be challenged to keep focused in four areas so that we can experience personal spiritual growth as well as continuing to see the FCC family grow.
• Before we read our passage, chapter 9 spends a lot of time talking about the conversions of Paul and his growing influence on the Kingdom of God.
• The persecution of the church had slowed since the assignation of Emperor Caligula on AD 41.
• In the middle of all that we find our passage this morning.
• SLIDE #2
• Acts 9:31(ESV) 31So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. Keep your focus on peace.
• The first area of focus is on the issue of peace.
• Peace is not just the absence of war or conflict, it is instead something deeper.
• Peace involves the presence and positive blessings and spiritual blessings from God.
• In the context of the passage, the young church for the first time was starting to experience peace. The persecutions were slowing down for the first time since the death of Stephen with the death of Caligula in 41 AD.
• The persecutions would resume somewhat later as we find in Acts 12:1.
• The world is looking for peace. The church is the place that people should be able to find it. WE should as Christians focus on peace.
• WE need to keep focused on helping people to experience God’s presence and blessings in their life.
• The world is full of strife and dissension; we want the church to be a place where people can find peace. We want people to be able to find peace and rest in Christ.
• SLIDE #4
• John 14:27(ESV) 27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
• When I worked for my company there were ALWAYS people going at one another over silly stuff, things that were not important at all. We never want that kind of atmosphere in our church or our lives.
• Our passage tells us that the churches enjoyed peace. The circumstances of the time was still not great, but the church understood that no matter what was happening outside, that God was in control and God was with them.
• Peace can exist only for people who are secure in Christ.
• SLIDE #5
• Romans 8:31(ESV) 31What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be£ against us?
• When we are not confident in our position in Christ, we will struggle with inner peace when circumstances are not very good for us.
• We can have peace when we know that Jesus will do what He promises.
• SLIDE #6
• Passages like1 Corinthians 10:13(ESV) 13No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
• The world is seeking peace, let us show it to them through our lives and the life of FCC!
• The second area of focus for us to consider is…
• SLIDE #7
II. Keep your focus on building up others.
• The passage speaks of the church being built up. People are looking for a place that they can be built up and encouraged.
• In the early 60’s, Weight Watchers founder Jean Nidetch began inviting friends into her Queens home once a week, to discuss how best to lose weight.
• Today, that group of friends has grown to millions of women and men around the world who use the products and services of Weight Watchers to lose unwanted pounds.
• After that first Queens meeting, an estimated one million people, from Brazil to New Zealand, come together each week to help each meet their weight-loss goals at Weight Watchers meetings and via the Weight Watchers Web site
• Life is tough, it is tough for teenagers, it is tough for young married couples, it is tough for middle-aged people, and it is tough for Senior citizens.
• People need a place where they can go and be encouraged. People do not need to be beat up in church.
• This does not mean that we quit preaching on tough subjects, but what it means is that we should give something for people to help them with in life.
• SLIDE #8
• Hebrews 10:24-25(ESV) 24And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
• As we build one another up, we are also building up the church.
• In Acts 9, sometime after Paul’s conversion Paul went to Jerusalem and he attempted to join the disciples, they were afraid of him and for good reason.
• Barnabas whose name means “son of encouragement” took Paul to the Apostles and vouched for Paul. Barnabas was an encouragement to Paul, he could have focused on Paul’s past and where would we be today?
• Each one of us is a building block of the church. Each block needs to be strong so that the structure will be solid. Thank God Barnabas did his part!
• SLIDE #9
• Colossians 2:6-7(ESV) 6Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
• This leads to a third area of focus…
• SLIDE #10
III. Keep your focus on living for God.
• Our passage in Acts reminds us that the folks were walking in the fear of the Lord.
• The phrase “walking in the fear of the Lord” has a sense of living. The people in the church were living for Jesus.
• Living in the fear of the Lord does not mean that people were afraid of God, but instead they respected God and respected His word.
• SLIDE #11
• Psalms 111:10(ESV) 10The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!
• The people were on the right path. They were walking in the fear of the Lord.
• They understood who God was and who they were.
• It seems as though people have lost respect for God, even in the church.
• This impacts our lives. If we no longer see God as important, we will then come to think that how we live, how we treat one another and how we love no longer matters either.
• It becomes a dog eat dog survival of the strongest type of existence for us.
• Our fear of the Lord should inspire us to want be more like Him and inspire us to share our faith with others also!
• SLIDE #12
• 2 Corinthians 5:11(ESV) 11Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.
• The final area of focus is…
• SLIDE #13
IV. Keep your focus on enjoying the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
• The church was not only walking in the fear of the Lord but also in the comfort of the Holy Spirit!
• Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit in part to be a comfort to us.
• The idea of the word that is translated “comfort” also includes the ideas of counsel and exhortation.
• God gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit to help empower us to live our lives for Jesus.
• The words of counsel and encouragement spoken through the New Testament prophets were one of the main reasons for the growth of the church.
• Today we find those words in the Bible. The Word of God must be the center of any church if it is to grow numerically and spiritually.
• As a church we need to rely on the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Today many have twisted the mission of the Holy Spirit.
• Some have turned Him into a sideshow or a butler that comes when called. There is so much more to the person of the Holy Spirit.
• Let us seek Him in our lives. Let us find comfort and encouragement in His words.
• SLIDE #14
• 1 Corinthians 6:19(ESV) 19Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
• We can draw comfort from knowing we have God’s Spirit within us! We need to live with that confidence. We belong to God, let us always live like we know that!
CONCLUSION
• The New Year is a time that we all vow to loose weight. We vow to get in shape. We vow to better than we did last year.
• I hope that one of your goals is to grow Spiritually. I hope that you will want to get into Spiritual shape. I hope that you will want to loose those unwanted pounds of things that are not important to your Spiritual development.
• As we grow and develop spiritually, the church will also. Remember that we are the CHURCH!
