It’s going to be a special day today. Today is a celebration of a new beginning for Abundant Life Baptist Fellowship. It’s going to be a fresh beginning where everybody is going to be involved.
Pastor Paul is the Senior Pastor, so he has a lot of responsibility, I have been asked to head up the mens ministry and the Families and Marriage ministry. There is nothing more important to me than to see men, to see couples come to know Christ. I want to see families repaired. Lisa heads up the women’s ministry Pastor Micheal will be taking care of the youth and My wife will soon be given an area to help with.
This all starts by the uplifting and building of ABL. It all starts with you, the body of ABL. I believe we are all here for a reason. I believe God has hand picked each and every one of us to be members, builders of ABL.
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What I would like to talk today about are the keys to building a church. I got keys in my pocket. Well keep them in your pocket. What I am talking about, is what does it take to build a church?
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PSALM 127:1
#1 First and foremost, God. The very first thing that happens when it comes time to build a church is God. Now let me clarify before we get started. I mean a church as a body of Christ. As a part of the body. I don’t a church as a building, because that’s all this is, is a building.
JEREMIAH 1:4-8
#2 So, what does it take to build a church? It takes God. It takes a calling of God. One of my favorite verses in Jeremiah, Chapter 1. “ I knew you in the womb, I called you before you were born. Do not say that you are a child that you do not know how to speak, for I will speak for you. And you will go and build up nations and crush nations, and you will speak my word. That’s paraphrasing, but that’s what it takes. It takes God to start the process.
Well, since it’s a new beginning for Abundant Life, lets keep it here. Pastor Paul has told the story before, of how he came to this area. It takes a man of God.
So, first it takes a plan. God has the plan. Second it takes a man, to act on that plan, to feel the calling of God. So now Pastor Paul has felt that call, and now he’s here.
#3 Then what? It takes a foundation. And the foundation isn’t the concrete slab we are on, the foundation isn’t the walls around us, the foundation is you. The foundation is the core group of people that have been here. That’s who needs to take on responsibility to build the church.
Pastor Paul can only do so much. We are called men of God and we can do anything through him who strengthens us. We can do anything through Christ who strengthens me.
What about you guys? The foundation of the church is the congregation. The body of the church is the congregation.
Abundant Life has reached a stagnation point. And its time for us to stir up the water.
There is a dam. There is a dam at the door. And only the salmon, like us who have been here, keep coming back. So we are like the good fish, we keep coming back to fertile ground.
But there is a dam, that other fish can’t come in. Why can’t the come in? We are not working at it. It is up to us as a body that we don’t reach a point of stagnation. We all need to grab a piece of wood. We all need to take the word of God and stir up the stagnant waters. Stir up the river. We need to let the river of live flow from Abundant life. We need to go out into the community. Not only are you the foundation, but you are also the river. And you are the boat that brings them in too.
JOHN 4:35
#4 We need active members. We need members that are going to love god. Ones that seek the word and bring other people in. Pastor Paul and I have been talking, as we grow, we are going to need people to help. And who can help? The people who have been here. The people who have been faithfully coming. Who better. Who would god bless more.
So we need active members, who care. Ask what can be done to help. Ask Lisa, Diana, Pastor Paul or myself, not in that particular order. Say, hey is there something I can do for the church.
Listen for needs of members, listen to the needs of your brothers and sisters. What better thing can we do than to help our fellow members.
It’s not about us. It’s not about Pastor Paul being called. It’s not about the Gothards and the Edwards coming together feeling the call and leading to come together to lead the church. And brothers and sisters, as hard as it may be to hear, its not about you either.
Now we love all of you all, and I hope Im not scaring anybody, and we are glad you are here. But we want more of you. Its time for all of us to go out and do some visiting, its time for all of us to go out and do some knocking on doors. Its time for all of us to go out and invite someone to church.
I came up with some figures and I would like to share them with you. It is simple math. But I want you to look at it this way. If all of you go out and invite one person to church, and they come, Hypothetically we are such nice people, that we each invite one person and they stay. I know you all are thinking, Pastor Rick has lost his mind, but hypothetically, we all go out and invite one person. 15 of us go out and invites one person, and they stay, now we are at 30. Now 30 of us go and invite one person, and they stay, then we are 60. All 60 of us go out and invite one person, and they stay, that makes 120. Now we are in a new building praise God. 120 of us go out and invite one person and they stay, then we are 240. 240 of us go out and invite one person, and they stay, that makes 480 people!!!!!! And if we do this each week, then we would be 480 strong in 5 weeks.
You know if that’s Gods will, then you know what, then that’s going to happen. But I don’t believe that’s gods will for our church. I believe god has some growth for us. I believe god is going to have us grow. I believe god is going to put us in a new building. I believe God is going to say, Abundant Life, it is time for you to move on. Because your about to bust out your seams.
I believe that with all my heart. Pastor Paul and I have been praying about it. Our families are praying about it. And you should be praying about it. Lord, let Abundant Life grow. Let ABL burst at the seams. That is what we want. We want ABL to burst at the seams, we want ABL to move into a new building, we want AB to grow. We want ABL to grow for the glory of God. We want God to be glorified. We want the lord to bring lost souls, so that we can sew a seed.
God is going to do everything else. God is going to make it happen. But do you know what God is waiting on? God is waiting on us to pray about it. God is waiting on us to ask. But the biggest thing about asking, is that we need to be obedient.
How are we supposed to be obedient, well let me tell you. Steps 4, 5 and 6 go together. It wraps up into purpose driven. A purpose driven member, a purpose driven congregation. Steps 4, 5 and 6 deal with the membership.
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#5 You got to have praying members. The smallest of prayers reach heaven. Alyssa, my 6 year old. Some times I think she can out pray me(jokingly). And that’s saying a lot.
When she prays, I know God listens. We need to pray with an open heart. Pray with reception. We need to focus, yes God knows, but be diligent in prayer. If you have to make a list before you pray. Make a list, so you can be sure to pray for all you need to pray for.
JOHN 13:12-17
#6 I believe that if we have faith in him and we do as we are told according to the Bible. He will bless us. Well done my good and faithful servant. Here is your blessing.
Well what do we do now? Be faithful when you invite people to church, when we pray, when we tithe. A tithe is one tenth of what we make. And I guarantee you that if we stick to Gods standards, he will bless us for our obedience.
We need to be faithful to our time to the church. What could I do? The week leading up to our decision to leave our old church and coming here was, Lord what could I do for ABL what strong points do I have that I can bring to help ABL. Show me what I can do for ABL.
We need to prayerfully ask, lord, what can I do for you this week, what can I do for my church, for ABL. You may not get a direct answer for god, you may be sitting here and here one of your fellow members talking, and here that they have a need. They might be saying, I have an appointment tomorrow and I am going to have to cancel it because I don’t have a babysitter. If you don’t have any plans, ask to watch their children. Be faithful to your brothers and sisters. Be faithful to the body.
Invite people to church. You don’t have to give them a long drawn out speech about Christ, but plant a seed by inviting them to church. You get them to church and the body, and the pastors, and God will build on that seed. Jesus’ last commandment before he ascended into heaven, was go ye into all the nations and preach the gospel and I am with you even to the end.
That is how we are going to build the church. Though Christ, we are going to be faithful. As you guys have heard many times by me, (REV 20:4,15) lets not get to heaven and look down and say, there is someone I miss, someone I could have helped lead to god. How could we walk around in heaven with our heads held up high, when we know there is someone suffering, because we did not invite them to church, we did not plant the seed. So that they may have come to know Jesus as their savior.
My brothers and sisters, together we can build a church for Christ. This is going to be a happening place. People are going to come because God directs them to come. I believe with all my heart that the pace is about to pick up. God is about to hit the accelerator. We are all going to catch the fire. We are all going to catch the spirit, and motivation. Yes, lets build this church and be faithful while we do it.
