INTRODUCTION
• It is time for a new year! Here we are, standing at the door of 2003. How did your 2002 go? Was it a good year? Do you wish you could live it over again? Are you just glad it is over?
• I do not know about you, but I am looking forward to the New Year. It is not that 2002 was bad. It was a great year for me because in part my grandson was born. I got another year with Robyn. (Also Rachel got to play basketball and softball)
• I am looking forward to the New Year because it is an opportunity for us as a church to build on the past year. It is a chance to maybe do some of the things that we let slip by in the past year. Somehow the words, “New Year” have a fresh ring to them.
• How did we do as a church last year? We had six people give their lives to Jesus and we have five other people transfer their membership to our church. We averaged a new convert about every two months. I do not know about you, but I think that is really good. Can we do better? Sure we can. Should we be content with that? No. Not until all are saved! What will it take for us to build on that?
• Did the people who already belong to Christ grow over the past year? I believe many did. Can we help them grow even more? Yes we can.
• I am excited to be a part of the Auburn Christian Church. We have a lot of great people in this church. I love each one of you. Each one of you are gifted in a unique way to help this church grow and to help each person grow closer to Jesus. This church is a winner!
• I believe our church is on the verge of doing even greater things for the kingdom of God. What is it going to take for us to be able to do that?
• Why is it important for the church to be successful? Because every day people in our fine community, our family and our friends are dying without Jesus. We must be successful; the dying world is depending on us to do so.
• What I want us to look at some keys for us to have a successful 2003. They are keys that will help each of us individually to have a successful year and they will help the church also be successful. These things go hand in hand since the church is made up of people. How we do individually will have an affect on how we do as a church.
• If none of us who make up the church are successful in our walk with Jesus, the church will not win new souls to Jesus. If our personal lives are all a mess, the life of the church will be a mess also.
• Today we are going to look at some keys to help us. Most of these keys for success come to us from Acts 2:42. Why go there? The early church in the book of Acts was very successful. It grew in number and in Spirit. We can grow a church numbers wise be slick marketing campaigns. I am not against marketing as long as it does not run against the scriptures. God has given us a blueprint for success in His word.
• This is one of the reasons the Restoration Movement started in the mid 1800’s. The church had gotten off course. It got hung up on man-made stuff. The clergy in many cases became nothing more than another political system. Many of the churches were getting stale.
• Many preachers decided to go back to the Word of God as their guide. That is why are church is here. We believe that answers to life’s questions are found in God, not man.
• When I look at our church, I see a great potential for having a deep impact on our community. As I look into the eyes of many of you I see the same thing potential in your life also.
• Let us consider some keys to having a successful 2003!
SERMON
I. MAKE PRAYER A PRIORITY
• Let us read Acts 2:42.
• The context of this verse is that the Peter had preached his great sermon on the day of Pentecost. 3,000 people gave their lives to Jesus and they were immersed into the kingdom of God. This was the beginning of the church.
• READ Acts 2:42
• One of the things that the early church did was devote itself to prayer.
• Notice we are told “they”, that is the people who were a part of the church were devoting themselves to prayer.
• This was something they did all the time!
• Prayer was such a vital part of the success of the church that in Acts 6 when the church leaders were being over burdened with taking care of the physical needs of the church, look at what they did.
• ACTS 6:4 "But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."
• We will look at the word in a moment, but the leadership wanted to devote time to prayer.
• If we are going to succeed, prayer is one of the keys. Without prayer, we are without power. Jesus spent a lot of His time in prayer to the Father during His ministry. Was Jesus busy? Yes. Too busy for prayer? NO. Are you busy? Yes. Too busy for prayer? NO!
• Why did Jesus spend so much time in prayer? Because it was important. If Jesus made time for prayer, I think I better do so also.
• Prayer needs to be a central part of your life and the life of the church. It has been great to see the ladies get together each month for their prayer breakfasts. On the other side, it has been disappointing to see the lack of turn out from the men.
• I hope that you are praying for those on the prayer list during the week and that you are spending time in prayer each day throughout the day.
• 1 THESSALONIANS 5:17 says, “pray without ceasing;”
• Many times we make a mess of things then we ask God to bless it. We need to go to Him first; it would save a lot of heart ache. I believe we act before prayer because we know many times that what we want is not really good for us, but we want it anyway.
• I hope that we all will commit to making prayer a priority in our lives. I appreciate it when our leadership takes time to pray about important decisions before they make them.
• Prayer is so simple, but so neglected. I used to wonder why God would not open doors for me in the factory to share my faith. One day I for whatever reason, I started praying about it. What do you know, the opportunities came. They were always there; I just did not see them.
• How many people are you trying to win to Jesus? How many of them are on your prayer list? What about your children, lost family members. We need to pray about more than Aunt Jane’s health, we need to pray for her salvation!
II. BUILD ON THE FOUNDATION OF GOD’S WORD
• Look at Acts 2:42 again. In says the church was also devoting themselves to the Apostles teaching. This was the word of God.
• Jesus tells us in MATTHEW 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
• In Matthew 7:26 "Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
• We MUST be people of the Word! The Word must guide our lives and decisions!
• The church must be built on the foundation of the Word. The Word of God is our authority. When we step outside of it, we have no authority.
• Too many Christians live their lives without incorporating God’s Word into it. We do things because they “feel” right or because we “want” to do it. We do things because “our friends” tells us to do it. We do what “everyone” else is doing. We wonder why God does not bless us when we do not do what He asks us to do.
• One of the keys to success in your life is know the Word of God and putting it into practice in your life.
• God gives us the Word for our benefit. God gives us the standards of conduct for our own good, not to be a killjoy.
• We need to know God’s word. What we think does not matter unless it lines up with the Bible.
• God will not bless us if we do not hunger for the Word. It pains me when I see folks who do not take the time to do their Bible studies for a class. Or when we offer a wonderful Sunday School program that only about half of the church takes advantage of. This is about the national average for churches according to studies done by Barna Research in 2001.
• Is that roast in the oven more important that learning more from God’s Word?
• I hope that when we have Bible Studies in our church that they will be well attended. I pray that our Sunday School classes get so large that we need to build some more. I hope that all of us on an individual basis will devote ourselves to study of the Word!
III. BUILD A STRONG SENSE OF COMMUNITY (FELLOWSHIP)
• Our Acts passage says they devoted themselves to fellowship. What is that? The word means to “have something in common” or “to strive for a common goal.” To be one in action.
• Do you know how many people out there are lonely?
• Do you also realize that many people who start coming to church do so to connect with other people?
• Do you know what pushed me over the edge to the point that I seriously considered Jesus? Getting around other Christians. (EXPLAIN)
• We need to build a strong sense of community with people when they come to our church. We want them to belong. When they feel a sense of community, they will see us live our lives and they will want to believe what we do, then they will behave life God wants them to.
• We must be careful not to put behave first. 1st Christian Church in Vandalia, MO let me feel apart of things. They treated me with love and concern. They did not try to clean me up; they loved me and let God clean me up. People shared things with me, but when I said and did dumb things, they did nit make me feel dumb.
• If we make sure our church is a place where everyone feels welcome, they will eventually believe and behave.
• I believe our church does a great job of that. Our people are wonderful and loving. Let us commit to spending more time together this year.
• We had 24 or so people at the house a week ago, it was great. Was there preaching? No. Did we have a study? No. We just enjoyed each others company in the Lord. There is nothing wrong with doing that. That is a vital part of the church.
• That is also something that gets people to want to study together and come listen to the preaching. When people see we really care for them, they will want to be a part of the kingdom of God.
• I do not want to belabor the point too much, but anytime we have had a need, the church has always been there, way before I was a preacher.
• I want to ask each of you to commit to getting more involved in each others lives this year. Not only will the church benefit, but you will benefit greatly.
• I know that some folks are afraid to get close to people because they might move or something. That is a sad way to live. I miss Tom and Lou Morenz very much. Would have I gotten involved in their lives if I knew they would move within a year or so of coming. YOU BET I WOULD. They added something to my life and I hope I did the same for them.
• We need each other for encouragement and accountability. This is why groups such as TOPPS works for people losing weight. This is why AA uses a group setting.
• HEBREWS 3:13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
• HEBREWS 10:25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
IV. HAVE A VISION FOR WHAT GOD CAN DO
• This last key is not in the text, but I think it is very important. I want to ask you, when you look around what do you see?
• SO would see a church of around 90 people that has been running about 90 or so for the last ten years. Some would say they see some people and a nice building.
• As you look at your life right now, what do you see?
• I tell you what I see. I see a church that is positioned to take this community by storm. I look out here and I see a lot of loving people, I see a lot of gifted people. I see a lot of people who care for each other.
• I see a church that could reach 2 to 3 times its’ current size because of the untapped potential of the each of you.
• When I look out I see what God can do with each of you.
• When I used to look in the mirror, I saw a waste. A waste of potential. I think God that Maurice McNeely looked at me and saw a PREACHER. I saw a sort of loser, he saw a preacher with potential.
• What am I talking about?
• I am speaking of seeing things for what they can be, not the way they are!
• I am talking about VISION.
• When this church was built, it took vision. When we decide to build upon it, it will take vision. We cannot look at what we are now, but what we can be as we partner along side God!
• What can God do with this church? ANYTHING! What can He do with you? ANYTHING! We sell ourselves and the Auburn Christian Church short if we do not look at ourselves and the church with VISION!
• I am thankful I bought into the vision Maurice saw for me. Will you buy into the vision I see for this church and for you? Maybe you have a better one.
• Don’t be tied to they way things are now, see them for what they could be with God!
• VISION!
CONCLUSION
• A new year is right around the corner. What are you going to do with this New Year? Let us make 2003 a year we will never forget!
• Let us live life with no regrets!
• Let’s make prayer a priority, let us build our foundation on the Word. Let us build a strong sense of community and let us have a vision for what God can do with us!
• How are you going to start out 2003? How about starting it with Jesus. (INVITATION TIME)
