2003 State of the Church Address
(Topical)
I. God Is Doing a New Thing
II. Based on His Eternal Plan
III. To Move Us Toward Embracing Our True Identity
IV. So, Where Do We Go from Here?
A. A commitment to a corporate lifestyle of dependency
B. A commitment to becoming healthy
C. A commitment to true disciplemaking
D. A commitment to complete some essential matters
Introduction
I may have missed the announcement, but I would imagine that some time this week we will be informed as to when President Bush will stand before Congress and deliver his annual State of the Union Address. I don’t know how familiar you are with the history behind this yearly speech, but it has become a part of our American fabric because of a phrase contained within our U.S. Constitution which reads, “The President shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient” (Article II, Section 3). Commenting on its relative importance, ABCNews.com states, “At times filled with controversy, it is the means by which a commander-in-chief sets forth a legislative agenda, rallies his own party, and reaches out to opponents—while also reaching out beyond the Congress to influence public opinion.” I’m certain that, with all of the turmoil in the world today and given the condition of our economy, President Bush will seize this opportunity to try to clarify what he sees as the direction that our country should take in the coming days. I encourage you to be in prayer for him in this matter.
Obviously, what I have to say this morning will not be televised across the nation or even make the local “Penny Saver,” but don’t let that lull you into thinking that it isn’t very important. And while it’s true that I haven’t been given a mandate from this congregation to “from time to time give information of the State of the Church and recommend to your consideration such measures as I shall judge necessary and expedient,” I have sensed a call from God to do such. So this morning I bring to you my first State of the Church Address. In all likelihood, it will become an annual event. My purpose this morning is to take this opportunity to do some vision-casting and to give you some exposure to what I see the Lord doing and about to do in our midst.
The outline for this message is actually one big thought broken into three parts and a crucial question which I will attempt to answer. I will highlight the main points so it will be easy for you to follow along.
God Is Doing a New Thing…
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:18-19, p. 543).
Those of you who were in attendance two weeks ago will recall that I delivered a message that was very unplanned, but very much led by the Spirit. During our Saturday Night Revive prayer meeting, there was a dominant theme that kept recurring and seemed to be intertwined in everything we prayed about. God kept impressing upon us the absolute necessity of letting go of the pains of the past—ALL the disagreements, disappointments, hurts, failures, misunderstandings, etc.—because they are a hindrance to our progress in the present and our ultimate movement into the future. Holding on to the past will keep us from realizing our destiny! The time to let go (forget the former things) is now—not when we fee like it—God is doing something new NOW!
I’m sure that when Isaiah delivered this message to the people of his day, they were not too keen on the idea of forgetting the past. The international scene was one of a power struggle between Assyria and Babylon. The northern kingdom of Israel had already been conquered and taken into exile. Judah was looking for help to rescue them from the threat that was upon them, and they placed their trust in the past: “This is how it happened before when we were in trouble, surely this is how it will happen again!” Because they held onto the past, they were doomed to live in the past and miss out on all the good things that God was doing among them in the present. He said to them, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” He tried to get them to see that the new thing was not in the future, it was NOW! But their focus was on the past, so they couldn’t see what God was doing.
I believe that God is calling us to see and perceive His work in our midst right NOW. Do you see it? Do you perceive it? If not, perhaps it’s because…
• You’re still looking back—you still believe that what has happened in the past controls the present and future. (Fear)
• Or maybe it’s because you’ve resigned yourself to believing that the past is indicative of all that we can ever hope to be or experience. (Deception)
• Or it could be that you’ve convinced yourself that you cannot or you’re just not ready/unwilling to forget the former things. (Rebellion)
There is a remedy to each of these barriers to seeing and perceiving the new work of God among us. The remedy to fear is faith—step out and believe that we are free. The remedy to deception is truth—hear the word of God spoken over us and embrace it. The remedy to rebellion is repentance—leave the past, forsake it, and move ahead. God is inviting each of us to see and perceive His mighty work in us. God is doing a new thing!!
…Based on His Eternal Plan…
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11, p. 589).
One of the most comforting and releasing revelations that God has ever given me is that regardless of our mistakes, our failures and/or our blatant rebellion against Him and His plan, the plan remains the same! He has not changed His mind. He has not given up. He isn’t considering other options. He has determined a course for us and He will see to it that it is accomplished.
I’ve had some opportunities to discuss the past with our Elders and Governing board and I’ve listened to their perspectives. I’ve asked questions like, “What have we learned through all of this? What do you see as our present condition?” As a leadership team, we have come to the realization that the problems of the past have not shipwrecked us or set us on the bench forever. The difficulties with unsuccessful pastorates have left us wounded and in need of healing. At the same time, those trials have also shown us our weaknesses and our need to “tweak” our weaknesses. It feels a lot like Paul’s description of his situation in 2 Corinthians: We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed (4:8-9).
As we turn to consider our present state of health, we can say that we have come to the point where our “condition is stable.” We’re out of the “ICU” and breathing on our own again. We’re starting to feel a little better about ourselves and our situation. But we know that God has not called us merely to stability—He has called us to a life of vitality and fruitfulness. This is His eternal plan for our church. And we yearn to move ahead into the greater things that God has planned for us—things that others have prayed for in the past, the things of our destiny.
God is doing a new thing based on His eternal plan…
…To Move Us Toward Embracing Our True Identity!
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3, p. 899).
As I’ve already mentioned, living in the past blurs your vision of the present and future. It skews your sense of reality and distorts your sense of identity. It’s hard to know who you are (much less live up to your God-given call) when you can’t see straight.
I have the distinct advantage of coming into this church from an entirely different vantage point than most of you—I didn’t go through the things of the past—so I’m able to see some things that some of us may have lost sight of. I’ve shared some of my thoughts in this area with our Elders and Governing Board.
I am becoming increasingly convinced that God’s vision for Port Crane C&MA is that we serve this community as “a place to find hope.” Those of you who have really good memories will recall that the passage God directed me to preach from when I came to candidate was 1 Peter 1:3-5. It was no accident or cute coincidence—I believe that it was prophetic in nature. Peter’s words in 1 Peter 1:3 resound in my ears as God’s “marching orders” for this church. He has given us new birth into a living hope—a hope that we are to demonstrate and invite others to experience. If there is one thing that our community needs, it is a message of hope. The only thing better than a message of hope is a message of living hope! I believe that God has determined to bring that life-changing message to our community through our church. “A place to find hope”—this is who we are!
So, Where Do We Go from Here?
“Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told” (Habakkuk 1:5, p. 698).
Bringing the message of living hope to a world that is steadily plummeting into hopelessness and despair is something that is much bigger than we can accomplish on our own. It is our unique, God-ordained identity, but it will only be realized by God’s Spirit empowering God’s people to do extraordinary things. It will require moving our focus from the past to what God says about us NOW and is doing in and through us NOW. And it will require some other known and unknown adjustments in order to align ourselves with His plan. Obviously, I do not know what is unknown, so I will only speak to a number of the known adjustments that we will have to target in 2003:
A Commitment to a Corporate Lifestyle of Dependency
I believe that the place that we need to begin is by making a commitment to a corporate lifestyle of dependency. What I mean by this is that we desperately need to experience a fundamental paradigm shift in the way that we go about our day to day living. We need to live in such a way that we are conscious of our dependency and serve as living illustrations to the world around us of our dependency upon God for everything. It’s something that I’ve talked about on a number of occasions: moving the truth from our heads to our hearts; from truth that is merely understood to truth that is experienced.
Admitting our dependency and living accordingly is not a sign of weakness or personal deficiency. It’s really a matter of being honest—with God, with ourselves and with others. Listen to these words from the book of Job: If God were to take back his spirit and withdraw his breath, all life would cease, and humanity would turn again to dust (34:14-15 NLT). We can’t make it on our own. We weren’t created to be self-sufficient. As Paul spoke to the Athenians in the Areopagus, he reminded them of humanity’s intimate and ultimate dependency upon God for everything: For in him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28a). God alone is complete in Himself.
What does a corporate lifestyle of dependency look like? The primary evidence of dependency is constant, fervent prayer. I’m talking about praying before acting, while acting, and after acting. A lifestyle of prayer that renders the one committed to this way of living as being completely unable to act without praying. “That sounds fanatical and entirely impractical, Pastor.” Yes, it does! And do you know why? It’s because we’ve settled for an aberrant form of Christianity that can get along just fine without God’s enabling. We only need to bother Him when we’re in a “real” jam. Well, that isn’t God’s design for our relationship with Him. I challenge you to read Jesus’ words in John 15 about the vine and the branches again and see if you still think I’m talking about some fanatical idea.
Now, before anyone gets the idea that I view myself as having arrived, let me assure you that I am as much in need of living a lifestyle of dependency as anyone else. Just this past week I blew a perfect opportunity to live dependently but I chose not to. Tuesday, I really started coming down with a bad cold—those who were at the Board meeting can attest to this. Well, I sensed the nudge of the Spirit to have the Elders anoint and pray for me before the night was through, but I just didn’t do it. Wednesday, things only got worse—Judy wouldn’t even let me go into the office or to prayer meeting. But I know that those who gathered that night did pray and I can testify to God’s miraculous healing in my body. By Thursday morning I was feeling like a new man. Now, if I just would have listened to God when He spoke to me on Tuesday I don’t believe I would have had to wait until Thursday to feel better.
I would love to see the prayer ministry of our church go to a whole new level of intensity and involvement. I want to see God open up the heavens and lead us in triumphal procession—pushing back the darkness and taking back territory, possessions, and lives held captive by the enemy. This He will do through our constant, fervent prayers. As Steven Curtis Chapman has penned in on of his songs, I invite you to join me in making a Declaration of Dependence—affirming and displaying our desperate need for God. Throughout this year I’m going to be praying and looking for ways to make prayer opportunities more accessible and desirable. Please join me in praying this into reality.
A Commitment to Becoming Healthy
The second area that we need to target this year is to make a commitment to becoming healthy. Some of you are aware and have been praying about our participation in the Natural Church Development (NCD) process. The main emphasis of NCD is to assist churches in becoming healthy and reaching their potential for fruitfulness in the kingdom of God. In the natural realm, a healthy apple tree doesn’t need to work hard at growing and producing apples; it just happens naturally. Likewise, in the spiritual realm, a healthy church doesn’t have to strive to grow and be fruitful; it just happens supernaturally.
I’m not going to take the time now to explain how this process works. There will be much more detail coming forth in the near future about this exciting opportunity and how you can be involved in it. The most important thing that we can do now is to pray. Specifically pray for Rev. John Fogal who will be serving as our “coach” through this process. Also pray for our individual and corporate openness to the cultivating work of the Holy Spirit among us.
A Commitment to True Disciplemaking
The third area we need to target in 2003 is to make a commitment to true disciplemaking. I want to see us begin to flesh out the definition of disciplemaking that I gave you last week: educating and training God’s people for kingdom living through a directed course of Bible study and an incarnational demonstration of His truth in the context of an intentional relationship.
I would like to use this coming year as an opportunity to do an honest evaluation of our current disciplemaking process and plan. We need to be proactive in our efforts to assist each person God has entrusted to us to become a fully-committed follower of Christ. I would especially like to see energy poured forth in the areas of our HonorBound Men’s ministries & Alliance Women’s ministries. The reason I’d like to begin by targeting these areas is because I believe that addressing the needs of our adult disciplemaking ministries first will ultimately ensure the successfulness of our disciplemaking ministries among our youth and children.
This truth is so obvious that even the world recognizes it. I’ll show you what I mean. How many of you have ever traveled by airplane? I know that we all pay special attention to the flight attendants as they explain how to enjoy our flight by observing all the safety precautions. Do you recall the instructions concerning the proper procedure to follow in the event that the oxygen masks drop down and you’re traveling with a child? Is the adult supposed to assist the child first or put on his/her own mask first? The correct answer is the adult is to put on his/her mask first, and then assist the child.
But that goes against our natural inclinations. We want to care for our children and make sure they’re okay before addressing our own needs. So, why would the airlines ask us to do just the opposite? Because they understand an underlying truth that is more important than our inclinations: experience tells them that due to a lack of oxygen, the adult will likely make judgment errors, expend all his/her energy attempting to meet the needs of the child and wind up becoming a fatality (and possibly even fail at saving the child’s life); by attending to his/her own needs first, the adult is then able to truly assist the child.
This truth applies to our disciplemaking ministries as well. We want what’s best for our children. But if we’re not properly discipled, then it’s highly unlikely that we will be very productive in making disciples of our children. Remember the quote I gave you last week: “We teach what we know; we reproduce what we are” (Robert Schmidgall, Leadership, Vol. 6, no. 2). Pray that God will direct us and empower us to be a disciplemaking community.
A Commitment to Complete Some Essential Matters
The final area that I believe we need to target this year is to make a commitment to complete some essential matters. There are two particular areas to which we need to give our attention. The first is Safe Place. This has to do with the implementation of a standardized set of ministry policies and procedures to ensure the safety of every child under the age of 18 and the adults who work with them. The work has been started (i.e., windows have been installed on all the classrooms downstairs), but there is much that needs to be completed by September of this year as mandated by the Northeastern District. We have all the materials, now we need to do the training and implementation.
The second is the matter of bylaws revisions. We have a number of significant changes that have to be made in order to come into compliance with actions finalized by C&MA General Council 2001. The primary focus of these bylaws revisions has to do with matters related to the issues of elder authority and governance authority. Our bylaws committee has been charged with researching and addressing these matters over the course of the next year. The changes need to be completed by June 2005. I know this sounds like we’ve got plenty of time, but the process will probably take us more than a year to complete. Pray that God will energize us and enable us to complete these essential matters in a timely and wise fashion.
Conclusion
That’s just a glimpse of the big picture as I see it right now. I am confident that as we walk by faith through this process that God will continue to sharpen the focus. I hope that your response to this message is one of anticipation and expectation of the great move of God that has begun and is still coming our way. His desire is for each of us to join hands with Him to bring this into reality. I’m looking forward to what’s next. I’m looking forward to experiencing with each of you. May God be glorified and His kingdom advanced through us!!!
