An old fisherman used to amaze all the locals with how many fish he was able to catch. It didn’t matter what the weather was like, or how much other fishermen were able to catch, he always caught more than anyone else.
The stories became legend, and soon reached the local game warden. He showed up one morning just as the old fisherman was getting ready to put his boat in the water and told the fisherman he was going with him. The fisherman looked up, and told the warden to get in the boat.
Once they were in the middle of the lake, the old fisherman took a stick of dynamite, lit it, and threw it overboard. A few seconds later there was a huge blast that blew a 20’ high fountain in the water near them, and then hundreds of stunned fish floated to the top. The fisherman leisurely grabbed his net and began scooping them up.
The old game warden was in near hysteria. He yelled out to the fisherman that he couldn’t do that because it was illegal. The fisherman looked over at the game warden, and then without a word took another stick of dynamite, lit it, threw it in the warden’s lap and said, “You gonna just sit there or are you gonna fish?”
There are many times in our lives when we have to make a choice to either keep sitting there or start fishing. Not long ago, God set in motion a sequence of events that led a group of people to decide it was time to get up and go fishing. They did so, and the result was a church plant called CrossRoads Church.
Today is just the sixth service in our new church and much has already happened. Each of the first three services saw people coming forward to join this church; during our time of invitation we have seen nearly a dozen make the decision to rededicate their lives to the Lord; we have already made this church a meeting place for a local girl scout troop; and there is something else that has happened that I have never seen in a new church before.
Every single person who has chosen to become a part of CrossRoads Church has taken a Godly ownership in this church and they have become more excited and on-fire for God than they have ever been before. This is being shown in people who have been faithful in attending other churches for many years.
What is the difference? Shouldn’t this be just another small new church? Well, on one hand it would have been, but there are always other reasons, aren’t there?
We planted this church because we have …
1. A DESIRE TO SERVE
I mentioned that some of us have sat in church for many years and that was the end-result; we just sat there. When a Christian who loves the Lord is inactive and cannot serve, there is discontent and emptiness that grows in his heart. There is a verse I quote frequently.
JAMES 1:22
‘Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what is says.’
Christians need to be working for God in some capacity. In the Old Testament, we find the story of how Elisha became an apprentice to the prophet Elijah. Elisha had a desire in his heart to serve God. One day he was out plowing the fields with his team of oxen and the prophet Elijah came and threw his cloak around young Elisha. Here is how Elisha reacted.
1 KINGS 19:20-21
‘Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother good-by,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”
“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”
‘So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.’
Elisha had a heart to serve the Lord and be active within the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who started this church had the same heart. They craved to serve God, and God wanted them to serve. So as Elisha left his past to begin anew, these fine folks left their past to begin anew, too.
All of us know we are supposed to serve God, but how many of us get tripped up because there are things in the world around us that keep grabbing our attention? How many times has our focus on Jesus been distracted because we were so focused on something of this world? All of us have had that happen to us. But what does God say about our desire for other things?
MATTHEW 6:33 says,
‘But seek first, His kingdom – and his righteousness – and all these things will be given to you as well.’
In 1 JOHN 2:15, it says
‘Do not love the world or anything in the world.’
Whenever we put anything above Jesus Christ, we have made that thing into an idol and that idol will become our god. (Notice the little “g”)
EXODUS 20:3-4 tells us,
‘You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.’
In short, we must put the Lord as our number one priority – all the time, over everything else. And these people who helped start CrossRoads Church have done just that. They are full of excitement because they know the adventure that awaits us as we take one step of faith and then another. They know how God rewards a heart that desires to serve. They have seen it in the last few weeks and they will continue to be a witness to it as time goes on.
But we must remember something very important as we strive to build this church. There are many reasons to build a church, but only one right reason. And that right reason is for the Lord’s glory, not our satisfaction.
In JOHN 21, we read where Peter had been out in the boat all night fishing and had caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on shore and yelled to them, asking how many they had caught. When they said none, Jesus told them to put out again into the lake, and drop their net on the right side of the boat.
When they did this, they caught so many they could not haul them into the boat and had to tow the net to shore. That should show us that when we listen to Jesus and do as He says, the rewards will be so great we will not be able to handle them all.
Going down to verse 11, we find that even with so many fish in it, the net did not tear. That shows that when you obey the Lord, He will do whatever it takes to make sure you are successful, and nothing messes you up.
Up in verse 9, it says Jesus was already cooking breaking and there was fish already on the fire. That tells us that Jesus knows our needs and has the answers even before we need them. The answer is trusting Him. If we don’t trust Him, we cannot receive His blessings.
How are some of the ways we show Him that we don’t really trust Him? One of the most common is not living for Him. Too often, we live for the world and pay only a lip tribute to Him on Sunday mornings.
This passage in JOHN 21 shows us that when we try to build something for our own purposes, or by ourselves, or for any wrong purpose it will not work. We will end up with an empty net, or in our case an empty church. But if we allow Jesus to call the shots and allow Him to direct us, our harvest in the Kingdom shall be greater than we could ever imagine.
We planted this church because we also have …
2. A NEED TO PAY OUR DEBT
Years ago, I had a boss everyone disliked. He was arrogant and obnoxious. I was always a fairly productive worker, but one day I made a mistake that could have cost my wife and me our jobs. We worked at the Post Office. I was a clerk and she was a carrier. It was my job to give the carriers all mail that had to be paid for or signed for.
I received a registered letter for one of her customers and gave it to her. That is the most secure type of mail the post office has. You can get fired instantly over the loss of a registered letter. That day, I gave it to Diana, but failed to help her keep it secured. That night when she came back in there was no signed receipt for it and no letter. She couldn’t remember receiving it because, again, I failed to keep it secure.
Anyway, the boss found it the next day and brought it to my attention. He could have fired us both that morning, but he chose to ignore it. I told him I owed him one and he said, “I know.” The next day, we found the letter and had it delivered properly. But, because of what he did for me, I was indebted to him.
We have all gone through situations where we felt indebted to another.
A very pretty girl went up to the counter of the fabric shop and told the male clerk she wanted to buy a particular fabric to make a dress. She inquired as to how much the fabric cost. The young man smirked and said, “It cost ten kisses.”
Without being taken aback by this harassment, she quickly smiled and told him she wanted to buy ten yards. He hurriedly measured out the material and wrapped it up. She looked at him, smiled, and said, “Thank you! My grandmother is right over there and she will pay the bill for me.”
Sometimes it doesn’t hurt to do things for people without expecting something back, isn’t it?
There is a saying that Jesus took the punishment He did not deserve so that He could pay a debt He did not owe. We all know the Bible says Jesus died for our sins, but many people only see a story that is printed on a page. The story is quite real and another man actually did get tortured and die for us. And we are indebted to Him for that.
In ROMANS 13:8, the Apostle Paul says –
‘Let no debt remain outstanding ….’
In ROMANS 13:11-12, Paul goes on to say …
‘The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.’
CrossRoads Church is made up of Christians who know the only way to repay Jesus for what He did for us is to get serious about being a Christian for Him. We chose to quit sitting and slumbering and to start walking the walk.
I could give you a list of what each person has added to this church, sometimes at a personal sacrifice.
Each one of us literally came to a spiritual crossroads in our lives – all at the same time, and we realized we had a debt to pay and we chose to do what we could to repay it. Let me give you just one example of how that pays off.
I have never been in a church where fellowship was so real and loving. There is not one service that has gone by that we have not stayed after church for over an hour – just enjoying the company of others within the church.
A preacher friend of mine told me that one of the first things Jesus did when He got the disciples together was teach them how to get along and be united in Him. Then He led them out to do wondrous works for the glory of God. I think He is doing the same thing now in this church.
So, we started this church because we needed to serve the Lord, and we also needed to start repaying the debt we owe to Him. But we also started this church because we have …
3. A NEED TO GO FISHING
Mark Twain used to love to go fishing. He enjoyed the time of fishing because he could just relax. But he never liked to catch fish because then he would have to handle them. He would have to take them off the hook, clean them, and then put another worm on the hook and do it all over again.
So, he would take his line and drop it in the water. There would be a bobber and about a foot below it, there would be some weights. But he never put a hook on the line because he never intended on catching anything. He just wanted to look like he was fishing.
Mark Twain is like a lot of Christians I know. They have their pole in the water, but there is no hook on the end. They are not fishing; they are relaxing. Do you think this is what Jesus had in mind in
MATTHEW 4:19
“Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”?
Jesus spoke a lot about gathering others for Christ.
MARK 16:15-16, He said –
‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
ACTS 1:8,
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
What do you think Jesus wants us to do? He doesn’t want, or expect, most of us to go home today and sell everything we have so we can move to Norway and be missionaries. Oh, He might call some to do that, but for the rest of us, He wants us to go into OUR world, wish is the supermarket, our friend’s homes, the grocery store, etc.
He wants us to simply take the Gospel and give it to those we meet in our daily travels through our own little world. The world we travel on a daily basis.
Here is a list of “should nots” that you should follow as you evangelize.
· You should not try to impress others with your knowledge of Bible verses. Until they become Christians, they won’t care how much you know.
· You should not hound people at ever opportunity. You will make them start avoiding you so they won’t have to hear you continually preach to them.
· You should not get into long and involved conversations regarding the theory of the Bible. Remember the old saying that the more you talk, the less you will generally know.
So, if you shouldn’t do these things as you tell others about Christ, what should you do? The only thing you need to do is just tell them what Jesus did for you. And then tell them that He will do the same for them, too, if they give Him the chance. We should obey, not debate, the command to ‘GO.’
So, why did we start this church?
We started this church because God put a need in our heart to reach other people for Jesus. And, we realized the debt we owed for the price He paid. But then came the decision on HOW to start it.
We came to a decision that Christ did not want us to start another church that is exactly like all those up and down the street from us. He wanted us to do something a little different. He wanted us to be relevant to today’s people.
I once pastored a church that had two lights that shined from the ceiling down on the Communion table, which was in front of the podium. The problem was the table had a glass top and the lights reflection was really bothering me.
I mentioned to an elder that I was going to redirect them just a little to get rid of the glare. You would have thought I hit him by how upset he got that a change was going to take place.
Every church has stories such as these. That is why we adopted the motto, “Not how but why.” We do not concentrate on "how" we should do church but on “why” we should do church. We are not focused on the traditions of our past, but on the successes of our future.
Will the Praise Team please come back up front?
CrossRoads Church was born because we came to a spiritual crossroads in our lives. And we chose to become doers of His word; and to reach people. The rewards are great and the heart becomes fulfilled.
If you are a visitor this morning, I appreciate your being here. I ask that you go home and ask God if He wants you to come back and be a part of this wonderful family. That would be nice, but what is imperative is that you let Him lead you where He wants you to go.
Listen to what God is telling you this morning. Is He telling you to come to Him, or maybe come back to Him?
INVITATION
