RUNAWAY BRIDE
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. During a wedding rehearsal, the groom approached the pastor with an unusual offer. “Look, I’ll give you $100 if you’ll change the wedding vows. When you get to the part where I’m supposed to ‘be faithful as long as we both shall live’, I’d appreciate it if you’d just leave that out”. He passed the minister $100 and walked away.
2. On the day of the wedding, when it came to the groom’s vows, the pastor looked the young man in the eye and said, “Will you promise to love, honor, and obey her every wish, to serve her breakfast in bed every morning as long as you live, promise always to be faithful, never even looking at other women?”
3. The groom gulped and looked around, and said in a tiny voice, “Yes”, then leaned toward the pastor and hissed, “I thought we had a deal?”
4. The pastor put a $100 bill into the groom’s hand and whispered: “She made me a better deal!”
B. VIDEO CLIP: RUNAWAY BRIDE
1. The movie “Runaway Bride” is about a fictitious bride (Maggie Carpenter - Julia Roberts) who, after leaving three grooms at the altar, is branded "the runaway bride" by jaded city journalist Ike Graham (Richard Gere).
2. Ike goes to Maggie's hometown to report on her upcoming fourth trip down the aisle – from which he's convinced she'll run again, but he falls in love with her and they finally get married, after a little run around the church.
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzgt0lvdtdI
4. I actually have a very attractive niece who got close to the altar two or three times and broke off the engagement just a month or so ahead of the wedding. She finally got married at nearly 40, and just gave birth to a cute little girl. Good ending!
5. The Runaway Bride is symptomatic of many Christians today who don’t mind “dating” the church, but they don’t want to “marry” the church.
6. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DATING AND MARRYING
a. DATING: you’re nominally involved, partially invested, maintaining enough detachment so that if it doesn't work out the way you want, you can hit the door with no lingering obligations.
b. MARRYING: It’s a covenant relationship of devotion, sacrifice and joy. In marriage, you've burned the ships, there's no turning back, and you only have eyes for the one to whom you have pledged yourself.
7. WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Statistically, one out of four church attendees are considered "church shoppers," with no real devotion to any particular local church. An estimated 15-20 million Americans have said they are Christians, but don't want to be a part of the church. Around 80 percent of American evangelical churches are plateaued or declining.
C. WHY DO PEOPLE HAVE TROUBLE COMMITING?
1. Time Constraints/ Busy.
2. Had a Bad Experience somewhere else.
3. Think it will make them Vulnerable.
4. Don’t want to feel “Trapped;” to have to go.
D. 9 REASONS TO COMMIT TO A CHURCH FOR LIFE:
I. JESUS DIED FOR THE CHURCH
1. “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the Church of God which He purchased with His own blood” Acts 20:28.
2. Jesus died for the Church. He poured out His life’s blood for the church. If the church meant that much to Him, it should mean that much to me and you.
3. For example, if our spouse really cares about something, if we value them and their opinion, we should care about what they value. The same is true of what Jesus’ opinion of the Church.
4. Amos 3:3 says, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” Clearly, we should love our Lord enough to love what He loves (the Church), and hate what He hates (sin).
5. If He was willing to suffer and die for the Church, it should rank among the highest priorities of our lives!
II. THE CHURCH = THE BRIDE OF JESUS
1. At the Rapture, Christ is not coming for individual believers, but for His Bride, the Church.
2. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her….that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but…holy and without blemish.” Eph. 5:25, 27. “For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready” Rev. 19:7.
3. I have had the unique How can we say we love the Groom – Christ – if we don’t love His Bride?
4. Some of you are about as excited as a sister’s kiss or Spam for Sunday lunch!
III. INVOLVEMENT COMMANDED & MODELLED
1. You’re commanded to by the apostles. “Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” Heb. 10:25.
2. It's the New Testament pattern. The Lord Jesus went to church each week; it was His established pattern (Mk. 10:1; Lk. 4:16). The Early Church "devoted themselves to... Fellowship." "All the believers were together..." "Every day they continued to meet together" Acts 2:42-47.
3. They knew the church was vital to accomplishing God’s will.
4. The American Church is in danger of decline due to decreased attendance! Instead of 4x a month, they attend 2x. So attendance drops from 400 to 200, even if no one has quit! We must renew our regular attendance!
5. Let’s keep Sunday God’s holy day. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God” Ex. 20:8-10.
6. “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day” Isa. 58:13.
7. An empty tomb proves Christ, but an empty church denies Him!
IV. THE CHURCH GIVES US PROTECTION
1. Wolf packs always try to separate out one animal from the herd, because there’s strength in numbers. It’s easy to overwhelm a single person. Satan uses that same method.
2. “Two are better than one…If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the one who falls and has no one to help them up. Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves” Eccles. 4:9-10,12.
3. If we’re part of a church, the enemy can’t isolate us as easy. We get encouragement from others and they notice if
we’re down or start to drop out. They come help lift us up. We need to belong!
V. PERFECTING OF THE SAINTS
1. The Five-Fold Ministry outlined in Eph. 4:11 was given “to equip His people for works of service, so that the Body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (4:12-13).
2. God didn’t give pastors, evangelists, etc. in vain; they are necessary for our perfecting. Without them the Body of Christ will not attain its full stature, nor will we as individuals.
3. We need the Church, to become what God wants us to be.
VI. EACH PERSON HAS A FUNCTION
1. Paul said that the whole of the body of believers is similar to the human body. Just as every part of the human body is necessary for the operation of the whole, so it is with the Body of Christ.
2. 15 “Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body’ [or] 16…if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 20 there are many parts, but one body” 1 Cor. 12:12-17.
3. As individual believers, we have an obligation to the Body. It can't work properly without you. We are all mystically part of the great organism of the Body of Christ.
4. Until each member gets in his/her place and begins working, the Body will be at least partially disabled.
5. Also, you cannot function without the rest of the Body; you need us so that you can grow and mature and be more effective for God; growing in the fruit and gifts of the Holy Spirit.
6. You have one of the Ministry Gifts – “PROPHECY, SERVING, TEACHING, WISDOM, EXHORTING, GIVING, MERCY, TONGUES, HELPS, GOV’TS, FAITH, HEALING, MIRACLES, DISCERNING, KNOWLEDGE, ETC.”
7. Your contribution is necessary for the Church as a whole to grow to maturity.
VII. TO LEARN SUBMISSION TO AUTHORITY
1. Paul said, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities…the authorities that exist have been established by God” Rom. 13:1. The Church is one of the authority structures God set up.
2. Even Jesus had to learn submission (Heb. 5:7). Submission means to do the will of another, especially God.
3. Pride is one of Satan’s greatest tools. Rebellion is the outcome. Humbling ourselves breaks our pride and lessens the ability of the devil to get us to harden our hearts and do what WE want to do.
4. That’s why Peter said, “In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’” 1 Peter 5:5.
VIII. TO PAY TITHES/ OFFERINGS
1. “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse…because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this…and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it” Mal. 3:8-10.
2. Paying tithes (10% of income) is a N.T. function as well as O.T.; Matt. 23:23; 1 Cor. 9:13-14; 16:1-2; Gal. 6:6. Just as the Levites lived off the tithes, so do ministers of the Gospel today.
3. When we don’t pay tithes, we rob God.
IX. FULFILL THE GREAT COMMISSION
1. The reason the 300 churches of our movement (the Assemblies of God) got together 100 years ago was to combine their monies to send out missionaries.
2. We now have the largest missions force on earth, with 600,000 preachers and we’re the largest protestant group with 69 million adherents – in 100 years! It’s a testament to the Holy Spirit’s power!
3. Yes, you can witness by yourself, but NO great ingatherings of souls have been sustained without some kind of an organized church. (Ex.: Whitefield vs. Wesley)
4. Jesus said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Mt. 28:18-20.
5. Either you have to go, or you have to send someone in your place!
WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT THIS CHURCH?
1. Not every church has quarterly door-to-door outreaches and Prayer Outreaches in parking lots. We do.
2. Not every church has a successful Christian school reaching 100 kids every day (we’re the only one in town that’s exclusively with one church).
3. Not every church has a college ministry of 1,200!
4. Not every church has their own girls & boys scouting programs.
5. Not every church gives 20% of their budget (over $100,000) to missions! WE HAVE AN AWESOME CHURCH!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUS.: 344 Lifted 19,000 Pound Barn: Power of Teamwork
1. I’ve never lifted a barn, but Herman Ostry, a farmer in Bruno, Nebraska has. Shortly after buying a piece of land and a barn, a nearby creek rose, and the barn was under twenty-nine inches of water. He half-jokingly said to his family, ‘I bet if we had enough people, we could pick up that barn and carry it to higher ground.’
2. To his surprise, one of his sons, Mike, started thinking about it, and by counting the number of boards, timbers, and nails, he estimated that the barn weighed about 19,000 pounds. Mike figured that 344 people would only have to lift about 55 pounds to carry the barn to higher ground.
3. But how do that many people get a grip on the barn in order to lift it? Mike ingeniously designed a grid of steel tubing
and attached it to the inside and outside of the barn. This provided handles for the ‘barn raisers.’
4. As the town of Bruno was planning its centennial activities, Herman suggested a ‘barn raising’ as part of the celebration. As the centennial approached word of the ‘barn raising’ spread far beyond Bruno.
5. On the morning of the lift, July 30,1988, nearly four hundred thousand people from eleven states were there. When everything was ready, Herman counted, ‘one, two, three.’ The 344 people lifted the barn, and it rose like nothing at all. The crowd cheered and applauded as they carried that 9 ton barn fifty yards up a hill in just three minutes.
6. How’d they do it? They got enough people to work towards a common goal, spreading the load evenly and equally, and at the same time, with one heart, one mind, one purpose, one direction and two hands they were able to accomplish the impossible.
B. THE CALL
1. That’s what we can do if we all get together and work together for the common cause of the Church.
2. Stand, join hands across the church and let’s pray for a heaven-sent revival to sweep this church, our city, and our nation.
3. Prayer.
4. Salvation Call.
[Some of the introduction quotes from Lloyd Stilley’s “Are You Married or Just Dating the Church?”]
