THE GOALS OF OUR CHURCH
Acts 2:42-47
42 They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
43 Reverential awe came on everyone, and many wonders and miraculous signs came about by the apostles.
44 All who believed were together and held everything in common,
45 and they began selling their property and possessions and distributing the proceeds to everyone, as anyone had need.
46 Every day they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad and humble hearts,
47 praising God and having the good will of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved.
INTRODUCTION
• Did you ever hear of a man named Donald Wyman? You may have, but it’s been some years ago when he made the national news. Donald Wyman is from Pennsylvania and he was out in the woods, cutting trees and a tree fell on his leg, pinning him under it. Wyman laid there for an hour screaming for help. Finally, when no one showed up he pulled out his pocket knife and cut off his own leg. Wyman said, “It was a terrible ordeal.” Well, I guess so! That’s almost unimaginable! They asked Wyman how he could do such a thing and he said, “I wanted to live.” It was either cut off his leg and drag himself out of there or lay there and bleed to death. He said that his motivation was his family and God. Donald Wyman did a very drastic thing in order to save himself.
Sometimes drastic situations call for drastic measures. I wouldn’t say that our church is in a drastic situation, but it could sure be better. I’m very much concerned about our church. I want to see the church grow.
• Charles Paul Conn tells of the time when he lived in Atlanta. He noticed in the Yellow Pages, in the listing of restaurants, an entry for a place called the Church of God Grill. The peculiar name aroused his curiosity, and he dialed the number. A man answered with a cheerful, “Hello! Church of God Grill!” He asked how the restaurant had been given such an unusual name, and the man at the other end said, “Well, we had a little mission down here, and we started selling chicken dinners after church on Sunday to help pay the bills. Well, people liked the chicken, and we did such a good business, that eventually we cut back on the church service. After a while we just closed down the church altogether and kept on serving the chicken dinners. We kept the name we started with, and that’s Church of God Grill.”
What is sad about this is that probably no one noticed that they wandered away from their mission. Instead of being a great church, they chose to be a great restaurant instead.
W orship
I nstruction
F ellowship
E vangelism
L ove
I nstruction
F amily
E vangelism
W orship
E vangelism
L earning
L oving
M ission
M agnification
M embership
M aturity
M inister
E xalt
E vangelize
E ncourage
E dify
E quip
LOVE
• Matthew 22:37-39, “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
• A little girl asked her new neighbor, “Do you go to church?” “Yes, do you?” the new neighbor responded. “We’re Methodists, and I go every Sunday with my mother.” “Doesn’t your daddy go too?” “No.” “Isn’t he a Methodist?” “I’m not sure. MOTHER SAID HE IS A SEVENTH-DAY ABSENTIST.”
• The story is told about President James A. Garfield’s first Sunday in Washington after his inauguration. A member of the cabinet insisted that a cabinet meeting be called at 10 a.m. the following day, which was Sunday, to handle a matter of grave importance.
President Garfield said that he had something to do at that time. The cabinet member insisted that the President break his previous engagement. GARFIELD REFUSED. The cabinet member said, "I would be interested to know with whom you could have an engagement so important that it cannot be broken."
Garfield replied, "I will be as frank as you are. MY ENGAGEMENT IS WITH THE LORD TO MEET HIM AT HIS HOUSE AND AT HIS TABLE AT 10:30 A.M. TOMORROW AND I WILL BE THERE."
• John 13:35, “Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples—if you have love for one another.”
• Eph. 5:1-2 "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love."
• I Pet. 4:8 "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
• I Thess. 3:12 "May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you."
• A certain soap-maker having run out of superlatives to define the perfection of his product, hit upon a statement that said in a novel and compelling way the last word that could be said concerning it: "As we couldn’t improve our product, we improved the box."
• The sermon was longer than usual on this particular Sunday morning. Little Johnny was getting more restless by the minute. Finally, in what was supposed to be a whisper, Johnny blurted out, "IF WE GIVE HIM THE MONEY NOW WILL HE LET US LEAVE!"
• That’s like the church service where the preacher had delivered a long, dry sermon. The preacher announced that he wanted to meet with the board after the service. The first man to show up was not a board member. The preacher said, "I’m sorry, but you must have misunderstood. This is a meeting of the board." "I know," said the man, "but if there is anyone here more bored than I am, I’d like to meet him."
• In a door-to-door survey conducted by Willow Creek Community Church of South Barrington, IL, the question was asked:
"If you don’t go to church, why?" The five biggest reasons:
1- Boring
2- Irrelevant
3- Asking for money all the time
4- I’m too busy already
5- I feel awkward at church.
• John Bisagno former Pastor of Houston’s First Baptist Church tells the story of going there to interview for the position of pastor many years ago. He said that as he entered the auditorium it was dimly lit, with just a few people huddled together. They were singing some old funeral type song that was depressing.
Later that day he took a walk in downtown Houston and came to a jewelry store.
It was a grand opening and there were bright lights and a greeter at the door to welcome people with a smile. Inside there was a celebration going on. There were refreshments and people having a good time talking and laughing with each other. They welcomed him and offered him some punch.
And John Bisagno said that after attending both the church and the jewelry store, if the jewelry store had offered an invitation, he would have joined the jewelry store!
INSTRUCTION
• II Tim. 3:16-17 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." And we might add, so that all Christians can be thoroughly equipped for all of life.
• Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
• A lady said, "My doctor had recommended surgery and referred me to a specialist. Arriving early for my appointment, I found the door unlocked and the young surgeon, deeply engrossed in reading, behind the receptionist’s desk. When he didn’t hear me come in, I cleared my throat. Startled, he closed the book, which I recognized as a Bible. "’Does reading the Bible help you before or after an operation?’ I asked. My fears were dispelled by his soft, one-word answer: ‘During.’"
FAMILY
• In Chicago some years ago a little boy attended a Sunday school. When his parents moved to another part of the city the little boy still attended the same Sunday school, although it meant a long, tiresome walk each way. A friend asked him why he went so far, and told him that there were plenty of others just as good nearer his home. "They may be as good for others, but not for me," was his reply. "Why not?" she asked. "Because they love a kid over there," he replied.
• I Thess. 5:14 "And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone."
• Eph. 3:14-15 "For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name...."
• The Lord’s church should be a family. The Lord’s church is a family and the spirit of a loving family should prevail!
• A woman seeking counsel from Dr. George W. Crane, the psychologist, confided that she hated her husband, and intended to divorce him. "I want to hurt him all I can," she declared firmly. "Well, in that case," said Dr. Crane, "I advise you to start showering him with compliments. When you have become indispensable to him, when he thinks you love him devotedly, then start the divorce action. That is the way to hurt him." Some months later the wife returned to report that all was going well. She had followed the suggested course. "Good," said Dr. Crane. "Now’s the time to file for divorce." "Divorce!" the woman said indignantly. "Never. I love my husband dearly!"
EVANGELISM
• Acts 2:47 And the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved.
• Christianity Today surveys its readers-
89% -agreed that faith in Christ was the only way to Salvation.
87% agreed that every Christian is responsible for evangelism.
The 95% Estimate
It has been estimated that probably 95% of all church members have never led anyone to Christ.
• Dr. Kermit Long says, “With all our education, our fine buildings, our image of the church, we are doing less to win people to Christ than our unschooled forefathers did. We’re no longer fishers of men, but keepers of the aquarium, and we spend most of our time swiping fish from each other’s bowl."
• 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (NET Bible)
18 And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
19 In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us the message of reconciliation.
20 Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His plea through us. We plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!”
21 God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.
• Charles F. Kettering was an inventor who worked for GM. He is best known for his invention of the electric starter. He once said,"I often tell my people that I don’t want any fellow who has a job working for me. What I want is a fellow whom a job has. I want the job to get the fellow and not the fellow to get the job. And I want that job to get hold of this young man so hard that no matter where he is the job has got him for keeps. I want that job to have him in its clutches when he goes to bed at night, and in the morning I want that same job to be sitting on the foot of his bed telling him it’s time to get up and go to work. And when a job gets a fellow that way he’ll amount to something."
• Andrew Carnegie was a philanthropist who gave $350 million to various educational institutions. He once said, "The average person puts only 25 percent of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50 percent of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100 percent."
• Someone has said that between an airplane and every other form of locomotion and transportation there is one great contrast. The horse and wagon, the automobile, the locomotive, the speedboat, and the great battleship-all can come to a standstill without danger, and they can all reverse their engines, or their power, and go back. But there is no reverse about the engine of an airplane. It cannot back up. It dare not stand still. If it loses its momentum and forward-drive, then it crashes. The only safety for the airplane is in its forward and upward motion.
• Harold St. John said, "The chief business of every Christian in the world today is to evangelize. No consideration of age or sex, poverty or rank, allows you to escape. The one controlling thing that lies before you is that your business in the world is to preach the gospel to every creature, if you bear the name of Christian at all...."
• I Pet. 3:15 "In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."
• "Why Acme dog food won’t sell" The dept. of advertising got together and discussed just why it wasn’t selling. They discovered all was being done to get the product into the minds of consumers. The production dept. claimed all was on schedule. The shipping and handling dept. said all was OK. They got the scientist to analyze the food and declared it to be of very high nutrition, one of the top dog foods on the market. The relationships with the retailers was checked out. But still they could not figure why the food would not sell. Finally from the back of a smoke fill conference room at Acme headquarters came a quiet voice with the answer, "Why Acme dog food would not sell? "The dogs just won’t eat it." No matter how good we think our product is, the world must think so too.
CONCLUSION
• Someone well said: What power the church would be...
If all the sleeping folk would wake up.
If all the lukewarm folk would fire up.
If all the dishonest folk would confess up.
If all the disgruntled folk would sweeten up.
If all the discouraged folk would cheer up.
If all the estranged folk would make up.
If all the gossipers would shut up.
If all the true soldiers would stand up.
If all the church members would pray up.
And if all that are in debt would pay up!
• The poet said
Sez I to myself, as I grumbled and growled,
“I’m sick of my church,” and then how I scowled!
“The members unfriendly, the sermon’s too long!
In fact, it seems that everything’s wrong.
“I don’t like the singing; the church - a disgrace!
For signs of neglect are all over the place.
I’ll quit going there; I won’t give them a dime;
For I can make better use of my time.”
Then sez my conscience to me, sez he,
“The trouble with you is you’re too blind to see
That your church reflects you, whatever it be.
Now, come, pray and pay and serve cheerfully;
“Stop all your fault-finding and boost it up strong;
You’ll find you’ll be happy and proud to belong.
Be friendly and willing, and sing as you work -
For churches aren’t built by members who shirk.”
