“The (NEW) Journey Begins”
Jeremiah 29:11/ Matthew 16:18-19 / Matthew 28:19-20 / John 20:21 / Acts 1:8
• Last week I announced the title of this message might be “A Call to Arms.” Some might say this title is over the top, but when I look around and see our country, culture, community, and even our churches, my conviction is that this call I pray is not too late. A “Call to Arms” is a call to take every weapon at your disposal, every resource you have, and engage in the battle. Sadly, the church has had it so easy for so long, that many inside the church do not see the battle that we are in a battle at all. There is no more danger than to find yourself in the middle of a war & not recognize or acknowledge that the battle is raging. Is it any wonder that we are losing the war for the hearts of people, both unchurched and church people? Is it any wonder that God’s people are losing their righteous influence in community after community? Many still have influence in their community, but use it for other things than to point the community back to the truth of the Bible.
• The call of every church member, Christ follower, and church, is to take up the gospel and engage in the battle between darkness and light. And this is indeed a battle! Just look around & observe.
• Human logic suggests that darkness has the upper hand. It appears to have more people, more earthly resources, & appeals to the scores and the masses. However, those who choose the side of light has a superior and supreme commander. We must open our eyes and see that this battle is raging in America & the World. Every time you read a paper or watch the news, it slaps you!
• The church, as envisioned by our Lord Jesus Christ, is both the offensive and defensive weapon which he chooses to use on earth. Jesus came to establish the church, He lived to empower the church, He died to enable the church, and one day He shall return to embrace the church as His bride. So knowing these we, the church, His church, discovers and follows His plan.
• Today, the deepest desire of my heart is for us to begin a new journey together. If we take up arms, then at some point we can & will lay them down. I submit this is a lifelong journey which has many twist and turns, but is ultimately about HIM. Let us first take stock where we are. Scriptures.
• Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” God has plans for us. He does not plan for evil which means He doesn’t want us to close our doors. Yet according to Church Leadership.org every year 1000 new churches are started while 4000 church close their doors. Of those established, traditional churches which remain open, 80% are in decline. Of the 20% who are ‘growing’, most are growing from transfer membership from others church. The number of Christ followers in this swelling population is declining as are the number of places to worship (Church). God doesn’t want this, nor does He want us losing our young people, He wants to give us both a future and hope! How exciting! However, human-kind (that’d be us) tends to want to take things in our own hands & do things our own way. What has that achieved? Disaster! What statistics would you like me to share or give that would penetrate our hearts to the point of moving us to action? Should we discuss the “Already Gone” syndrome, which is proof that our children, at a very young age, are deciding to walk away from the church because they don’t see the connection?
• Matthew 16 / Matthew 28 / John 20:21 / Acts 1:8 / Stephen Covey Statements /
• From 1983 until 1992 (the year I left the music ministry) each January I would fly to Houston Texas for a music conference. I would fly down on Saturday & visit 3 churches on Sunday to see what was being done in the larger churches. Generally, I would attend 1st Baptist, 2nd Baptist, & Champion Forrest Baptist. Hearing Ed Young, Damon Shook, and John Bisagno was always a treat. My hero, Dr. John Bisagno frequently took the 1st Sunday of the New Year to inspire, instruct, and encourage his people to unite in the ministry of the church and the expansion of the gospel. Candidly, I have always marveled at his ability to engage people in the work of God. Today my heart, my prayer, and my desire is to do the same.
• Regardless of mission statements, vision statements, personal opinions, or anything else, Jesus has laid forth our function, our goal, our reason for being, and our purpose. The purpose of every Christ centered church can be summed up in 3 truths;
1st-we are to offer the good news of Jesus to every person in our sphere of influence. Our main goal is to touch people who are far from God and bring them closer to God through his son Jesus. Whatever else we may do, this is our 1st call. Our goal is to lead them to receive God’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, his son.
2nd-we are charged to lead those who have come to know Jesus Christ as their personal savior to become disciples, followers of Jesus, or lead them toward spiritual maturity. Being a disciple is more than simply praying a prayer, getting baptized, filling out a card, and joining the church.
3rd-it is the task of the church to engage disciples in both the mission and the ministry of the gospel. This means that we help those who have come to know Christ and learn to follow Christ to step into the mission of reaching the lost and the ministry of caring for the hurting.
• Let me be as clear as I can and in my heart, I don’t desire to offend, but I intend to point us in a clearer direction than I have in year’s past. Church, at least the Church of Jesus, is not just about meeting and ‘taking care of our own’. His church is about touching, loving, & reaching the lost.
• For our New Journey, I’d like to give us a couple of handles which will let us grab hold, re-chart our course, and find success in being a church like Jesus envisioned. Candidly, this is never easy (growing-dying pains) for the established, traditional church. But it will be worth the effort.
• How do we do this? What is required? Can we do this? I believe we can. Let me offer this;
1. Prayer – This is not just the best place to start sermon, this is the only place to start a life. Prayer was the 1st thing the disciples always did when something happened. When there were arrested, when they were released, when trouble came, when good times came, and in fact when anything came, they prayed. It was their default position, it was their power, and it was their hope. For us, it is our beginning point. That means before we do anything else we should always pray. (James) (Paul) Michael Catt rightly asks this question, “Are we a church that prays or are we a praying church?” To do this means that we pray before we do anything else. I feel so strongly about this is that we want to give you something to help you remember to PRAY FIRST! Let this be a Motto!
• (Pass out the pins) We are giving you a pin of praying hands. I implore you to you wear this pin at all times & when you see someone else their pin on - offer a private prayer to the Lord. (Slogan)
• Tradition has us praying for the sick and we should pray for the sick. However, we must raise the level of our prayer to the point of seeking God for how to reach this community with the gospel. Many of you already pray for your pastor and I feel it, but we all need to pray for your pastor, the deacons, Sunday school teachers, the staff, other leadership of the church, and even that we would have the vision and the courage to get in on God’s plans for us. He’s planning us a future.
• Sadly, some don’t see that our community needs anything at all, they think doing pretty good-so those think. I wonder just how many people are away from God and his church this morning in this community. I further wonder how many of those people are friends of ours. If we are to see this community through the eyes of God we will meet touched the heart of God in prayer. How long has it been since you prayed for your Sunday school class to grow to the point that there was no more space in your room. My prayer today is that will catch this vision of prayer and we will desire to see our class grow to the point that we need to create 2 classes from one class. Too many arer too protective of their class, “THEIR CLASS.”
• I really don’t care to be unkind, but if it is your class or your church or your anything else, then you get to control it, however if we are His people and the sheep of His pasture then His way is more important than our way. His way is prayer and people. His way is salvation & service. His way is a future and a hope. Prayer is the starting point. Whatever is done, we must PRAY FIRST!
2. Priority- It will serve us well to take an honest look at our priority list. This could well be the most painful part of starting this new journey with God. This is because when we actually take stock of what our priority is we may well be surprised. Steven Covey says it like this, “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” What is your priority?
• What is it that can change your schedule? What is it cannot be changed, touched, or altered? What is it that you will simply not say no to? Like it or not, believe it or not, and trust me or not, the answers to those questions display true priorities of your life. So let’s apply that to church.
• Have you ever considered what might be the outcome of having someone with no emotional connection to this congregation to come and take a look at us? Were we to ask him or her to come attend, participate, and be involved with us for 60 days and then write us a report stating what our priorities were, what would we be told? In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us what our priority should be. (Matthew 6:33) Would a person who is only visiting describe us as a people who, at all cost, were seeking the kingdom of God? Our priority is shown in many ways (I.E money, schedule, use of the facilities, personal effort, etc). One truth: Young people! We have read the priority which our Lord has for His church, is that the priority of this church? Certainly, it must be. This means it must be.
3. Planning- While I don’t mean to be critical, the truth is we are not really known for planning. We are doing this a little better, but honestly must take an honest look at the future, pray it through & develop plans. The problem is a part of our culture who wants everything now. Statistics tell us that young couples who marry are impatient about getting everything that their parents have, the only thing is they want it now. We know that the best things require planning. (STEPHEN COVEY)
• There is an old saying that goes something like this, “To fail to plan is to plan to fail.” Many longtime believers have a problem with the church planning because, in their opinion, to plan is to minimize the work of a supernatural God. Yet all through the Bible we see men of God making plans, particularly plans to overcome the enemy. Let me ask a question, “If this church continues for the next 30 years like it has for the past 30 years, where will it be or what will it look like?” Personally, for me, the larger question is, “What will are influenced be? Whose life would have been changed? Will God be pleased?” I submit to you that we need to begin fresh and new plan for the future. Let’s be clear, new plans do not require the castigating of the past, just focus on the future. The leaders will begin the planning process is a fresh new way to look to tomorrow.
4. Process – When I think of the process of a church, I am thinking of the systems (programs) that are in place. If those programs do their job, what is the outcome? Hopefully and prayerful, they would result in the spiritual growth & spiritual maturity of those who are involved in them as well as numerical growth for the body. This would mean that there is a plan process of helping God’s people develop & mature by being involved in both missions and ministry. IN SUNDAY SCHOOL, I envision the thrust of our SS being built on the TOUCH concept. What ministry have you personally been involved in? Ministry is defined as giving of yourself to someone else without expecting anything in return. Missions is taking the gospel wherever in whatever manner is needed to share God’s truth. My personal goal is for us to flesh out a process which grows us.
5. Participation – This speaks of our commitment. In 1991, I was kicked out of a volunteer fire unit. Volunteer right? How do you get kicked out if you are volunteer? Here is the story: It was the #1 rated volunteer fire unit in the State of Florida & it carried a higher rating than some of the professional units. How? They had expectations of participation & if you didn’t meet those requirements, you were no longer able to be a member.
• Through the years I have thought about a fire department which expected greater participation than does the Bride of Christ, His church. We are not volunteers! The cost for our membership was paid for by the very blood of our Lord Jesus, we were redeemed, reborn, and regenerated by HIM. The sad truth today is that we have made participation optional, if it fits in to my plans, and if it is what I want or appeals to me. If you don’t believe this: show up at 6pm tonight OR let’s call a night of prayer OR be in here on Wednesday evening OR plan an event.
• The new journey of being the church that God desires for us to be in this town will require God’s people commit and participate. Do we have areas of our church which are ‘throw-back’ to days past? Possibly, but the only people who earn the right to help change things are those people who are committed to things and can be counted on.
• The question is this: Can the Lord count on you (& me)? Can our church family count on us? Some say, “We want to be the church that is exciting, happening, pulsating with new people, stirring the waters of baptism regularly, is joy-filled & is spirit-filled.” This is the flash point.
• I have prayed all this week and ask God for a word for us to help us see the need & the path for our new journey. My mind keeps coming back the statement which weighed heavily on my mind last week in the story of Kadesh-Barnea. Perhaps, “God has done all He intends to do UNTIL we decide what we are going to do.” Perhaps He’s waiting on us to commit, to devote, & even to dedicate ourselves to Him.
• I have a friend who is a professional poker player. He and I have had many conversations about the ‘gambling’ issue. He is a ‘high-roller’. I don’t want anyone to leave here thinking the pastor supports gambling because I don’t. But one part of the game of poker offers us an action which is apropos today. At some point in the game, a player is faced with two options: Fold & walk away OR GO ALL IN!!...That is the call to arms today, this is the path for a new journey to begin, all in!
