Give thanks 2012
One Song
Scott Pray
Slide
Good morning. You can be seated. This week in this country we come to the time when we formally celebrate Thanksgiving. We will gather together as families and enjoy each other’s presence, and be grateful for the good things that the Lord has provided
There are times in our lives, however, when our circumstances are pretty tough, that it becomes difficult to see the things we should be thankful for.
We need to realize, however, that even in the midst of difficult circumstances, there is much to be thankful for and recognizing those things and giving thanks for them glorifies the Lord and is what He wants us to do.
The Lord tells us through Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians to
Slide
“16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
We need to give thanks in all circumstances. But what is it that we should we be giving thanks and praise for?
Well, we read in Psalm 105 that we are to
Slide
Psalm 105:1-2
Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
We see here that we should give thanks and praise him for his wonderful acts, for the things he has done.
Maybe you are here today are not sure that God has been at work. Well today we are going to take time to reflect on what God has been doing and give Him thanks and praise and live out the verses we read in Psalm 105.
We are going to sing to Him, sing praise to him
We are going to tell of his wonderful deeds.
We are going to remember and tell the things he has done in this church.
And there will be opportunity for you to tell of his wonderful deeds in your own life over this past year and praise him and give him glory for his mighty works.
But first, we are going to sing praises to Him as we continue to worship Him in song, so stand with us again and let’s worship the King who is worthy to be praised.
Worship in music
Slide
Praise Him for what He has done
Praise the Lord. God is good.
Even in the midst of difficult circumstances, we need to always keep our focus on the hope of eternal life that we have been given through the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins because no matter what is going on, that is always worthy of thanks and praise!
But even when we do have difficult circumstances, God has still poured out blessing in our life that we can give him praise for beyond our eternal life. Too often we just forget them or overlook them.
In the Old Testament, the Israelites faced this same issue.
They would often forget what God had done in their history and it would detrimentally affect their life going forward.
This is why it is so important that we remember and think about and give thanks and praise to the Lord and remember and tell of His wonderful acts.
I read the first 2 verses of Psalm 105 earlier, but that psalm goes on to recap the history of God’s work through Israel listing out God’s mighty works.
God’s mighty works in Israel
From the Abrahamic covenant to Joseph being sold into slavery in Egypt so Joseph could be exalted to second in command and Israel would come and live there and be protected during the famine.
Then even after they were made slaves in Egypt, God came to rescue them in a miraculous way by sending 10 plagues upon those who enslaved His people.
He led them out to the Promised Land, and even when they disobeyed, He fed them and provided for them until He eventually led the next generation into the land He had promised to give His people.
God sends people to remind them that even in tough times, God is at work and we are to sing praises, and remember and give praise for His wonderful acts.
And the reason that God does all these wonderful acts and the reason we need to remember God’s acts are because of what it says at the end of Psalm 105, “that they might keep his precepts and observe his laws.” (Psalm 105:45)
Slide
We need to remember
to help us know that God is at work and
to help us continue to follow Him in obedience.
If we don’t remember, if we are not reminded, we tend to forget and we are in danger of not walking forward in faith, but in our own wisdom and own strength.
So this morning we are going to look at some of the ways that God has been working over the past year at Hickory Creek so we can praise Him and continue to follow Him in obedience.
It is important to recognize what God has been doing to see if we have been appropriately responding to what He is doing. As we spoke about last week, we, as a church, have been given the responsibility to fulfill the Great Commission.
How do we know if we are being obedient and successful in the purpose God has given us?
We ask this question because we know if God has given us a job, He has also enabled us to fulfill it. If it is not being fulfilled, then the problem lies with us.
So, we ask the question “How do we measure how we are doing at fulfilling the Great Commission?”
We talked about the Great Commission last week and saw that requires us to help people to come into a relationship with Christ, be baptized and teach them all things.
We see that we need to help people see the “steps of faith” in front of them and encourage and challenge them to take them so the people are becoming more Christlike.
So far, we have come up with about 7 criteria to measure if we are being successful in fulfilling the Great Commission.
Slide
We believe that if we see the Lord working in these areas, then we are heading in the right direction in obedience to Him.
So, this morning, I want to briefly assess these measures of “Steps of Faith” so we can praise God for His mighty work and or praise God for revealing to us areas we are challenged in so we can alter course for His glory.
So, what are these 7 criteria we measure to assess if we are fulfilling the Great Commission?
Well, the first is
Attendance
Slide
This is always a default measure for churches. When you don’t stop and plan, this is sometimes all that gets measured. And while we think attendance is important, it is by no means the ultimate indicator of successfully fulfilling the Great Commission.
Why is this important to measure?
Well, Scripture tells us in Romans 10:13-14, that
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“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
If people are showing up to our church services, they will be hearing about Jesus and have an opportunity to believe in and receive Him as their Savior.
This is why we want you to invite your friends. We strive to conduct our worship services in a way that will
glorify the Lord and
teach people about Jesus so they can respond to Him in faith.
If people are coming, they get to hear this teaching. If people are not coming, it causes us to ask questions as to why. Are we doing something wrong?
So are people coming?
Last week we surpassed 400 people for only the third time ever with the other times being our combined Christmas Eve Services or Easter Services.
During the first 2 weeks of November, there have been over 500 different people who have attended one of our services.
So we praise the Lord that people are coming, but are they hearing and responding?
Are people receiving Christ as Savior and responding in obedience to Him?
This is one of the reasons that we are asking everyone to fill out their connection cards, so we can better know if people are receiving Christ and being saved, which is another measure of steps of faith.
Salvations
Slide
Well, just last week, we had one person indicate that they received Christ on Sunday and we had 4 students indicate they received Christ at our TBD youth group, praise the Lord.
Over this past year, through our VBS, AWANA, Impact, TBD, Sunday Service and through people in this church sharing the gospel, we know of at least 67 decisions for Christ that have been made. That is just the ones we know of, but think about that. Sixty seven eternities that have been changed by the Lord, and we are all blessed to be a part of those decisions.
No matter if you serve in the nursery, help teach Powerzone, greet the people coming in, give financially to this ministry, it is because we are functioning as a body, each doing what the Lord has given us to do, that we all get to be a part of God’s amazing work and the eternities that are being changed by God through this ministry.
But, as we learned last week, the Great Commission does not end at helping people just believe and receive Jesus as Savior. We are to help them continue to take steps of faith.
One of the first steps of faith that we should be taking after receiving Jesus as Savior is in believer’s baptism, which is another step of faith we measure.
Baptisms
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Last week we got to witness 6 who have trusted in Jesus as Savior take this step of faith in baptism.
Here is a highlight video of last weeks baptisms.
Baptism Video
Slide after video
This year we have had 21 people follow the Lord in obedience to baptism.
That is 21 people that have taken a next step of faith in following the Lord. Maybe you are sitting out here right now and you have trusted in Jesus as your Savior, but have not yet been baptized, but are feeling like this is something you need to do.
I will tell you it is something you need to do. Jesus commanded it.
Connection Card
I want you to pull out your connection card from your bulletin and on the back check off, “I want to be baptized!” and myself or someone else will contact you to talk with you about that and make arrangements for you to follow the Lord in obedience.
Another step of faith we seek to measure and encourage is helping people grow their knowledge of God’s word through one of our Bible study and discipleship opportunities.
Bible Study
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Paul tells the Colossians that he prays for them
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“in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10)
We live a life worthy of the Lord when we are bearing fruit and growing in our knowledge of the Lord.
This year we have just started to better assess how we as a leadership can best shepherd the people of Hickory Creek to be growing in their knowledge of the Lord.
We have about 242 adults that would call Hickory Creek their home church. Out of those we have 138 involved in at least one of our Bible study or Discipleship opportunities. That is 57% of our adult congregation.
While that is pretty good, we want to see that number increasing. This is our first year of really measuring this so we will see how we continue to do going forward, but know this. We want to see everyone here in a growing relationship with the Lord and that requires being in some kind of Bible study beyond attending on Sunday mornings. You will never be able to live a life worthy of the Lord without a growing knowledge of Him.
Three other areas we are seeking to encourage and measure going forward are steps of faith in commitment.
We have seen a 25% growth this past year in people making a
Commitment to Membership
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We added 37 new adult members this year and now currently have 177 adult members.
We believe that the Lord desires each of us to bind ourselves together in community united around common beliefs and purposing together to fulfill the great commission. Becoming a member is a step of faith of accountability to one another, declaring that we are not in this alone, but are submitted to one another for the glory of God.
Praise God that so many have united with us for the purpose of bringing glory to the Lord. If you call Hickory Creek your home, but are not yet a member, why not?
Check off on your connection card, that I want to become a member of Hickory Creek and someone will contact you and get you moving in that direction.
Another step of faith is made when someone makes a
Commitment to Serve
Slide
You may have heard of the 20/80 rule in many churches. That is where 20% of the people are doing 80% of the work.
Well, of the 242 adults that call Hickory Creek their home, we have 145 serving in some capacity at least one time per month. That is 60% of our congregation.
So, at Hickory Creek we have about 60% of the people doing probably 95% of the work.
That is actually a really good statistic and something to praise the Lord for.
The people who are coming in are not just taking up a seat on Sundays, but they are being challenged to and are taking steps of faith to serve the Kingdom of God through the ministry of Hickory Creek.
Praise the Lord.
Finally, one other step of faith that we seek to encourage for those who are growing and maturing in the faith is a
Commitment to Sacrifice
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This commitment to Sacrifice can look different to different people.
To some it is sacrificing time in greater service. To others it may be sacrificing comfort for others benefit. To others, it will be sacrificing financially for the expansion of the Kingdom.
Earlier this year we started a “Paving the Way Campaign” to be able to accomplish some of the work that was needed to help us accommodate the growth we have been experiencing.
We had to make provisions to pay for a left turn lane with the expansion of Rt. 30 and bring sewer and water to our site so we could expand our parking lot.
Our church made commitments to sacrifice over 2 years and to give an extra $280,000 over and above their regular giving for this work to be completed.
Because of those sacrifices, the work which you have seen go on here and that still needs to go on, should be paid for completely in the next 2 years.
Please keep those Commitments coming in as we continue to reach out with the gospel to this community! And if you haven’t had an opportunity to give toward this campaign or you would like to be part of this work of God, feel free to make a sacrifice even today as we worship the Lord through our offering.
Psalm 107:21-22
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says ”Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. 22Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy
Even as we have worshipped in giving thanks for the Lord’s wonderful deeds, we are going to worship by sacrificing and giving a thank offering to the Lord.
I am going to have the ushers come up and as they come and take up our sacrifices and offerings, I want to show you a video of some of the work that has gone on here in the past several months to prepare us to continue to reach out to this community with the gospel.
Video of enhancements
Offering
Transition Slide after video
There is much to be thankful for this year like every year and I think it is to God’s glory to reflect on that.
Now while God has been at work through the church, God has been at work in the lives of each of us as individuals as well. I am going to open up a few minutes for you to glorify the Lord by giving thanks for something that the Lord has been doing in your life.
To help prepare you for that, I have a short video of a couple TBD students who have given thanks on video.
Thanks video
What are you thankful for?
Open Testimony time (4 -5 minutes)
Transition from testimony time
We do have much to be thankful for, praise the Lord.
And the whole point of us remembering and praising Him is so we will continue to follow Him and know that He can work things out greatly when we obey.
Even though God has done great things He is not done, and He is not done using this church or each one of us here.
But for us to continue to be used, we need to recognize that all we do is for the Honor of the Lord.
We invite people to come to hear the gospel to honor the Lord
We follow in obedience to baptism for the honor of the Lord
We make commitments in the power of the Lord for the honor of the Lord.
We sacrifice for the honor of the Lord.
It is for his honor and glory that we should be doing everything.
Worship team come up
I am going to invite our worship team back up. We are going to close with a new song to Hickory Creek called “For the Honor.”
Are you living for His Honor?
As we have looked back on this year and we praise and worship the Lord for His wonderful deeds for men, we also look forward and declare and commit in His power that we will live for the honor of the Lord.
Worship him this morning as we once again worship through song.
