BAC the Hospital
Luke 5:37-42
Introduction
A. Has Our Vision Changed?
B. Well Yes and No
C. No, we will continue to build up kids complete in Christ, we will continue to pursue that with all our hearts
a. Granted we might not use the phrase, “Building up Kid’s Complete in Christ”, but the idea will still be there
D. Yes, Our vision has been further revealed to us. I wish that we could be in complete sync with God the Father at all times, that we could ask Him what He wanted us to do for the next 100 years and we would be able to listen and apply without errors. However, we know that is not going to happen
E. There was a Christian Organization that had a vision statement a long-range plan, and all that good stuff. Along came an opportunity for a new program that was not ever though of in the Long Range Plan. So they went a head and started the new program
F. I thought that the program was a great idea and I saw how it all fit in.
G. But out of curiosity I asked the Organization the following questions
a. Did you seek God before you made the whole long range plan ect… Yes
b. Did you feel God leading your during the whole process… Yes
c. Do you feel that it was the correct vision and plan Yes
d. Then why did this occur
H. The answer to that question was on of the most insightful answers I have ever heard. It was “Simple because we cannot fully comprehend a perfect God with a perfect plan
I. I imagine if they would have had that revealed to them back when they would either think it is a crazy idea and dismiss the program, or not do it the way God wanted them to
J. As I was driving home form a wedding in Rochester the other month, I was flipping through the radio and ended up on WCTL out of Erie. On that Radio, a guy was talking about vision and gave an illustration that made me go ahhh I finally get it, so allow me to use that illustration
K. Let just say you were buoying a plane ticket
L. On this trip being the cheep person that you are there were 5 layovers. Here is the Itinerary. You drove to Cleveland to save money then from Cleveland you flew to Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh to charlotte, charlotte to Atlanta, Atlanta to Dallas and Dallas to Chicago. When talking about vision it is a lot like a flight with a bunch of connecting flights, it is that path that was chosen for you by God. In order to reach your destination you had to go through all of that. Sometimes the same is true with Vision. To get to were God lead you it can be a long strange path
M. Today we are going to look at what God has been leading me to say for a while now
N. We are going to look at
a. What verse best describes Bakerstown Alliance
b. What is our Vision Then
c. What will it take for all of this to happen
I. What Verse Best Describes Bakerstown Alliance
A. Explanation
1. I was at a conference once and the speaker asks everyone to answer this question: “What Verse Best Describes You Ministry?
2. Boy did I struggle with that one
3. It was not one of those things where a verse just instantly popped in my head
4. So I kept searching, praying, asking God to answer that question
5. There wasn’t any hidden agenda, I was looking for a verse or a couple of verses that tells about what Bakerstown Is all about
6. Finally after some deep soul searching, intense prayer, and a lot of waiting I was lead to Luke, Luke 5:27-32 (Read them)
B. Application
1. As a little side note, Matthew (also known as Levi) held one of the best evangelistic outreaches of all time
2. But then I got down to verse 31 and 32
3. I thought about those verses, thought and thought and thought
4. Look at them, they make sense
5. You go to the doctor when you are sick.
6. Now granted you do get check up’s when you are healthy, but let’s not get sidetracked
7. You go to the doctor when you are sick, when something wrong, when something is bothering you
8. Currently I am feeling healthy, I have not even though about going to a doctor
9. Take a look at verse 32
10. Keep in mind the previous verse, keep that verse in context
11. Jesus is saying that he did not come for the righteous, those who are perfect, those who do not have sin
12. What would be the point of coming to save those who did not need to be saved?
13. But he came to call sinner to repentance
14. He came for the sick
15. Sinners are sick
16. Sinner are in need of the Doctor
17. The only Doctor that can cure the sinner is Jesus
C. Illustration
II. What Then Is Our Vision
A. Explanation
1. God rarely calls you to be something that you have no background in
2. Normally he has been preparing you, weather you know it or not, for what he wants you to do in the future
3. If you look back at the history of BAC, I know the church has been here for 85 years, but it is really hard to go back more then 29 years, the length of our longest member
4. So as you start to think about the Heart, the passion if you will of Bakerstown what do you notice
B. Illustration
1. It was last fall, that we had a shower for Carlos Girlfriends Kid
2. I watched this church shower love on Jen.
3. I watched this church throw a shower for a girl they have never meant
4. I watched this church not to pass judgment on her, but to love her
5. As Patty was reading the thanks you not that Jen wrote Patty told us why she is here at Bakerstown: “Because of the way we love”
6. When Mr. Burk passed away the other week, I went to the funeral home and I looked at the sign in sheet, I saw a lot of names from this church who went to the funeral home, gave Mrs. Burk a hug and said, this is rough I feel bad for you, let me give you a hug and pray for you”
7. Not the take two of these and call me in the morning, a sincere I’m sorry
8. I remember when we held a baby dedication for a little kid who you never meant, at Children’s Hospital down in Oakland, on a weeknight, and due to the size limitations of the facility, not everyone who wanted to go was able to go
9. Times when I have felt in the dumps and wanted to quit, Someone comes along and tells me that they pray for me and encourage me to keep going
10. That is the heart of Bakerstown
Application
1. With the passage that we just looked at and examination of our heart what then is our vision
2. BAC (Bakerstown Alliance Church) the hospital
3. Our Vision is to reach those who need a doctor
4. Our job is not to judge people
5. Our job is to offer help to those who need help
6. Our Job is to train up doctors, train up nurses, train up O.R. Tech’s, to be able to reach those who need a doctor
7. To be able to off the hope that we have in Jesus Christ
8. To be able to go into the communities of Pine-Richland, Hampton, Mars, Knoch and reach those who are in need of a doctor
9. I am sorry You can sit here all you want, try to tell me that we live in a very affluent area, that everyone is happy
10. Bolognese! Even people that seem to have it all together, Husband, Wife, 2 kids, a dog, and a big house need a doctor
11. Does it matter where these doctors end up practicing, No
a) Let’s be honest, to move back to where you grew up is less and less common, I never imagined that I would end up here. Most people do not end up back where they grew up.
b) Does that mean that we should not worry about our kids and youth, IT MOST CERTAINTLY DOES NOT
12. Our job is to train up doctors, and nurses, and so forth, were they serve, that is up to God.
13. Even doctors need doctors, doctors do get sick
14. Your pastor has been in need of a doctor before, and thanks to the wonderful heart of Bakerstown, I got the treatment that I needed
15. The healthy do not need a doctor, the sick do
16. It is our job to find the sick, and then to treat them
17. To find those who need healing from God, introduce them to God, and then start to train them up!
III. What Will it Take for all of this to happen
A. Explanation
1. I dream of being Bac the Hospital
2. I dream of being one of the most smooth, efficient, effective, reliable, skilled, hospital around
3. Understand that is what I want, what I feel God wants from this Church
4. So in preparation for all of this, I asked everyone to fast on Wednesday
5. Being the leader I fasted to
6. Wednesday was a tough day for me, I usually write most of my sermons on Wednesday then work on them the rest of the week
7. This week I though that it was going to be really easy, I have been working on this stuff for a long time, so I figured it just would all snap into place
8. It did not! My thoughts were having a hard time connecting, The ideas were not going from mind to keyboard, It was just not going the way I would like
9. So I pretty much gave up for the day, and said “I will work on it tomorrow”
10. No problem right?
11. Well I went to prayer meeting and I realized something
12. “We will never be what God wants us to be unless we do what God want us to do”
B. Application
1. I fully believe that God wants us to be BAC the hospital
2. However, I feel that there is something that will prevent us from being what God wants us to be
3. Understand I am dealing with this with myself, so don’t think that I am just yelling at you, I am yelling at myself
C. Illustration
1. I obviously have experienced some wonderful amazing acts of God at Edinboro Camp
2. That is why they make so many illustrations.
3. But the question then becomes why do these wonderful amazing acts of God seem to occur more at Edinboro then other places
4. I think I know the answer, desperate dependence on God
5. I realize that I can not do it, managing 100 kids, 20 counselors, 10 workers, cooks, speakers, and everything else by myself
6. So our of desperation, I call on God
7. I begin the day with the best way to begin a day, with prayer, I have recently open the prayer time to include the campers, that is really fun
8. Then we have our staff meeting in the morning, were I will ask them if they have any issues, they will tell the group of counselors about the issues that they have, and immediately someone will pray for them
9. The whole day is spent constantly calling for help
10. Many people will have a “spiritual high” on missions trip
11. That is great, that is a good thing, please understand I am not saying anything against that
12. But why does that happen? When you are in a different place, when you have all your comforts removed, when you are a stranger, you start to have a Desperate Dependence on God
D. Application again
1. Here is the question?
2. Do we have a desperate dependence on God
3. The answer to that is no!
4. I am sorry You can sit here and tell me that you depend on God for all that you do, but I ask you how so
5. There are times in our lives usually they are tragic events in our lives were we do have that desperate dependence on God
6. But most of the time we do not
7. Right now at this church, we have a building, well it is not perfect it still is a building, and more importantly it is paid for
8. WE have a savings account, with the amount in our saving we can afford to fix something incase of emergency, such a new roof, or a new boiler
9. Now there is nothing wrong with having those things, but does that make us loose our dependence on God
10. Those who are fully dependent on God, spend time with God
11. How do you spend time with God, Prayer!
12. Do we have the passion, the burden, the desire to pray?
13. Obviously if I were to ask how many of you believe in prayer, you would all raise your hands
14. But do you practice your belief?
15. Prayer is a natural extension of our relationship with Christ
16. But yet we do not do it
17. WE do not do it because we are not desperately depending on God
18. If we view prayer as the source of all healing, it would be like a doctor who could treat a decease by writing a prescription for a certain drug, but not doing it because he was too lazy
19. That is what we do to prayer
20. WE have this great powerful healing ability, but we do not use it because we are too comfortable, too relax, not desperately depended on God
Conclusion
A. You want to move forward?
B. You want to be all that God wants you to be?
C. You want to experience God more and more?
D. You want to become BAC the Hospital?
E. It will cost you
F. It will cost you your independence
G. It will cost you your self reliance
H. It will cost you your comfort
I. It will cost you your “free time”
J. It is going to take desperate dependence on God
K. What does God want me to do to help our Church become BAC The hospital?
L. What are some areas that we are strong in that we can continue to build upon?
M. What are some areas that we need to work on in order to make them stronger?
N. Please think about those questions, if you have any thoughts give me a call or stop by and see me, I would love to hear them
O. However, were we need to start is with ourselves. It all comes down to desperate dependence on God
P. Those who are desperately dependent on God spend a lot of time to prayer
Q. Right now I want to encourage you to seek to improve in the following areas:
a. Individual Prayer
b. Prayer Partners
c. Corporate Prayer
R. That is what it is going to take
S. That is the price.
T. We are going to sing a song, some of you might know it, and some of you might not.
U. Hear is the challenge, Listen to the words, think about the words, dwell upon the words
V. If you truly desire, if that is what you want, if you really do want to be desperately dependent on God, When we singing, I want you to stand
W. Do not stand to make me happy; do not stand just to make yourself look good.
X. It would be fine if no one stands, at least we would be honest,
Y. Please I beg you not to stand if you are not 100% serious about being desperately depended on God
Z. (This is the air I breathe)
AA. For those of you who are standing I want you to know that I am here for you
BB. There will be areas in your life that you are going to have to give up and change; most of you know what you will need to change in your lives.
CC. If you know what to do, do it! I would be glad to here about it.
DD. If you do not know what you need to do, that is why I am here, I would love nothing more then to talk to you about it
EE. Maybe some of you are not standing, but just know there is something more that you need, something is missing, something just isn’t right, Guess what I am here for you too, I would love to talk about it
FF. My desire is that we all become desperately dependent on God
