A new year gives us the opportunity look back and reflect upon what has happened. We also can look forward to the New Year with anticipation of what lies before us; goals and resolutions are made. I’ve heard it said that most of our New Years resolutions are broken before January 14th; two weeks and we fall back into our old habits.
Someone has said, “You will become what you are now.” Someone else said, “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.”
What are some things that we can do in order to see our dreams for the future become a reality? Here are two things to remember: [1.] continue to do the things now that will take you there and [2.] surround yourself with people who want to go there with you. When you begin to put those two things into practice, then anything is possible!
God has not put our church here to fail. The best days for our church are still ahead of us. God has a wonderful plan for our church, but it won’t become a reality by just an act of God–it is even less likely that anything within the church will happen just by chance.
+ Matthew 16:18 . . . on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (NIV)
+ This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out. (The Message)
What can we learn about the church through what Jesus said?
1. The Church is established by Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, “I will build my church.” Don’t miss Jesus’ first word; He said “I.” Jesus is the founder the Church!
None of us can build the church apart from Him! If anyone other than Jesus is the builder, then the Church is not what’s being built. Jesus is the builder of His church.
Look again at what Jesus said: “I WILL BUILD OR PUT TOGETHER my church.” The verb translated will build is literally “house builder.” Jesus will construct or put together the church; the emphasis is upon what Jesus will do. The Roman Catholic church uses this scripture to say Jesus established Peter as the first in a line of “builders of the church”. Jesus emphasis is upon Himself as the builder and cornerstone of the church. JESUS IS THE ROCK UPON WHICH THE CHURCH IS BUILT.
Jesus began the building of the church in the book of Acts. However, its construction did not conclude there. Jesus continues the building of His Church today and will not cease its construction until its completion at His second coming. Jesus will build His Church!
2. Jesus has a plan for His Church.
Jesus will build His Church. To build well you must have a blueprint–A PLAN. Jesus has given a threefold mission for His church.
1. Worship God and glorify His Son Jesus.
2. Reproduce; reach out to those who do not know Christ. Grow!
3. Disciple and train believers; maturity. The church learns to function as a unit - a body.
3. The Church belongs to Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, “I will build MY CHURCH.” No church, not Praise A/G nor any other church, belongs to the pastor, the deacons or anyone else in the congregation. The church belongs to Jesus.
✎ Be careful the next time you want to control things at the church or achieve some position of status. Remember the story of Ananias and Sapphira (see Acts 5)? They died in the church because they wanted to gain the recognition of others as generous–you might even say spiritual.
None of us have died for the Church; only Jesus shed his blood to establish the Church. Jesus is the owner of His Church.
4. Jesus will protect the Church.
Notice how Jesus concluded what He said about His Church: “I will build my church, AND THE GATES OF HADES WILL NOT OVERCOME IT.” None of us need to fear doing the work of God. Satan may bring the attack, but Christ empowers us to stand in victory! Regardless of where the attack may come from, the Church of Jesus Christ will not suffer harm from what people can do to it. Jesus will protect His Church!
Jesus will build His church of which Praise A/G is a part; His blueprint or plan for the church is great. What is a great church? It is not measured by the standards of success in the eyes of the world, although some of those things like increased attendance or finances or other such things may happen as a result of being a great church.
In God’s eyes a great church is one in which you and I become more and more like Jesus thus making Him known. Great churches impact their families, friends, communities and their world with the reality of the risen Christ.
God’s plan to make Praise A/G a great church is dependent upon you and me.
5. You and I are the building materials of the church!
When Jesus said, “I will build my church,” He was not talking about a building. The church is built as God transforms ordinary men and women into the image of Jesus Christ. WE ARE THE CHURCH!
How does Jesus build His Church? No where in the Bible does Jesus say, “Let there be church,” and ‘poof’ the church appears. Jesus builds His Church through you and me.
Study any of the miracles in the Bible, beyond creation and the resurrection of Jesus, and you will find that every time God did a miracle He used a person. God did the impossible as individuals did the possible.
▸ In the Old Testament God didn’t just show up in Egypt and miraculously take the nation of Israel to the promised land; God used Moses (see Exodus 2-11).
▸ In the New Testament God sends His Son who performs some incredible miracles, but Jesus didn’t just show off His divine power. Jesus involved other people in all of His miracles. For instance Jesus didn’t just feed the 5,000 out of thin air. Instead Jesus had the disciples have the people sit down, then taking a boys lunch He blessed it and had the disciples serve the fish and loaves to the people (see Luke 9).
If you only hear one thing this morning then hear this: God will do great things in and through our church, BUT HE WILL ONLY DO IT AS YOU AND I COOPERATE WITH HIM. Miracles will happen in our church as together we work with God! In August of 2003 we prayed for a season of miracles to begin within our church. I believe we can still expect God to bring miracles within our church family.
Now apply the truth I shared earlier about what we can do to see miracles happen and our dreams come true. We must cooperate with God by doing two simple things: [1.] do things now that will take us where God wants us to go, and [2.] surround ourselves with people who want the same thing.
With God’s help we saw some great things happen together in 2003. Everything that has happened is a result of God’s work in and through our lives. We have done the possible; GOD HAS DONE THE IMPOSSIBLE! Over 25 people accepted Christ as their personal savior; just as many made a recommitment to the Lord. About 7 folks were baptized in water. As a church we have grown financially and in attendance. Many of you could share about miracles which took place in your life, or in your family over the last year.
It’s not time to think we have arrived. The best days for our church are still ahead of us. But how do we get there? God won’t become a genie in a bottle and just “blink” us there!
Someone has defined insanity like this, “Insanity is to continue doing the things you have always done expecting different results.” Last time I checked God is still not mocked, a man will reap what he sows (see Galatians 6:7).
Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Remember: [1.] the Church is established by Jesus; [2.] God has a plan for His Church; [3.] the Church belongs to Jesus; [4.] the Church is protected by Christ, and [5.] you and I are the building materials of the church. If Praise A/G is going to become the church God wants it to be it is up to you and me to cooperate with God.
I’m excited about what I see beginning to happen in our church, but I’m not satisfied with where we are. As I said, “the best days for the church lie ahead of us.” I believe God has more and better things planned for us. But how do we get there? The simple answer: DO THE RIGHT THINGS. Last year I emphasized four areas in which we as a church needed to work on. With God’s help we have made some progress, but there is still more to do. Let me quickly remind you of these four areas.
1. Praise A/G must be committed to prayer.
We need to take some practical steps to become more effective as a PRAYING CHURCH. The church must come together for prayer; Jesus said, “My house will be called a house of prayer” (Matthew 21:13). It’s not good enough for us to just pray as individuals; we must pray corporately.
Prayer must be our #1 priority. We cannot forget that the Lord says it is “not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6).
2. Praise A/G must trust the heart and when necessary forgive the hands.
The Bible tells us that our hearts are the “wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23) meaning that our hearts will direct what we do and say. Who you and I really are within our hearts will overflow into how we live our lives. Put another way, when you examine the activities of an individual’s life and listen to what he or she says, then you will discover what is in their heart.
As believers our hearts have been cleansed by the blood of Christ. You could say that God has given us His heart because He lives within us by His Spirit. Therefore, our hearts are directed not by self but by God. That means then that we should trust one another’s hearts because it is God who should direct everything that we do and say.
Unfortunately although our hearts or motives may be pure, our hands will sometimes fail us because we are human. Each of us will have times when the things we do or say doesn’t turn out the way we had hoped. These are the times when we need to be willing to forgive one another’s hands.
3. Praise A/G must have a loving and generous heart.
Love and generosity go hand in hand; you can’t have one without the other. Everything that we do should be out of the overflow of love for Christ and one another. Love will produce a giving heart that is willing to share whatever we have in order to meet a need.
Remember, if we are going to be a great church, then we will become more and more like Jesus thus making Him known. Jesus is the full expression of God’s love for us; “for God so loved the world that he gave.”
WE ARE MOST LIKE JESUS WHEN WE SHARE OUR LIVES WITH OTHERS; LOVE IS GENEROUS! Loving generosity is really about putting the needs of others ahead of our own needs and desires. Like Jesus we willing lay down our lives for others.
Loving generosity is not just about opening our wallet or checkbooks; our financial resources are only one way that love can be expressed. In addition to giving of our treasure, we can also give our time and our talents.
4. Praise A/G must be committed to excellence in everything that we do.
Remember I’ve said that I want to see us build it “THICK.” The church should be like a thick peanut butter sandwich; one bite should leave a taste that sticks to the roof of your mouth. We want people to be attracted to the ministries of the church and then get connected as a part of the church. We don’t want our ministries to be spread out so thin that everyone just gets tired and people go away looking for more.
None of us can do everything, but we all can do something. I think that’s worth repeating because we have been given the opportunity to work together to build the kingdom of God here at Praise A/G–none of us can do everything, but we all can do something.
The Bible says the church “grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:16). If we are going to become a great church making Christ known to our community, then we all have to do our part.
If we are going to be a great church, then we cannot just keep doing what we have always done; some things have to change. We can’t just begin to move forward aimlessly; we don’t want to be like Charlie Brown who shot his arrows and then went and drew circles around them. We must take steady aim with purpose and vision to move in the direction God wants us to go.
God is building a great church at Praise A/G. Are you willing to cooperate with God in the building of His Church at Praise A/G?
How do we get to where God wants us to go? The answer is “The State of the Church”; answering the question, “how can we get there” will show us the things we need to start, stop, and continue doing as a church in order to be the church God wants us to be.
You and I are the church; together we make Praise A/G what it is and what it will be. If I or the board say, “this is what we should do, or not do” then it is up to me or the board to make it happen. But if we as the church cooperate with God and are lead by the Holy Spirit, then He is building the church through us.
I asked you to be in prayer about the state of the church, to hear from God about where we as a church are at and where we need to go. What direction do we need to move from where we are now?
Use the back of the welcome card to complete a simple table:
➩ START:
➩ STOP:
➩ CONTINUE:
Fill in the ministries or things that make up Praise A/G that you believe we should START, STOP and CONTINUE. Let’s believe that through this simple little exercise we can together hear from the Lord as He builds the church.
