Serving Our Generation

Acts 13:36 KJV 1900

36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:

Serving Our Generation.

Two things at work here:

After David had served his generation (TIMELY)

According to the will of God (TIMELESS)

Time and eternity working together.

This generation has to have a life-altering experience with God!

Religion has failed!

Church as usual in inadequate at best!

Tradition are disdained!

What may have satisfied people even a few years ago, Is not working today!

Church realities of 2023

Since COVID, we are no longer a Christian nation

Church attendance (1-2 times/month) = 28% in 2021

57% of Americans seldom or never attend church

25% of church goers have quite since COVID

10% of weekly bible readers stopped coming since COVID

In 2019, 36% of 18-34 year olds attend church 1-2 times/month - that has now fallen to 26%

Black Americans church attendance (most likely demographic to attend church in US) has sunk from 45% from 1-2 Sundays a month to 30%

27% of White Americas attend church 1-2 times a month

31% of Hispanic Americans

8% of churches in America report growth

So, if there ever was a time for us to “get out of our comfort zone” it is NOW!

If only 28% of America attends church 1-2 times a month then that means 72% of Americans are wide open and in need of God!

WE JUST HAVE TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO REACH THEM!

The edge is where the difference is made…

The greatest danger is always at the edge

(where the church meets the culture).

But so is the greatest opportunity for rescue and redemption.

The New Testament church always lived “on the edge” – never safe, just one step from disaster if God didn’t intervene!

Jude felt the tension:

Jude 22–24 KJV 1900

22 And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23 and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. 24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

The problem with living on the edge is that some people try to push you over

...and other people try to pull you back.

It’s dangerous on the edge – people actually fall off the edge from time to time!

But there is absolutely no chance for the church to impact our culture unless we get on the edge!

Almost all of the growth in any church comes from the edge

The trend is for Christians to disconnect from unsaved people the longer they are around church.

That’s not the way Jesus – the friend of sinners – did it.

That’s not the way Paul – all things to all men – did it.

They were not isolationists!

They engaged their culture!

Missionary C.T. Studd said, “Some want to live within the sound of Church bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.

That’s the spirit of Jude, of Paul, of Jesus, of the New Testament church!

Many Apostolic people have gotten too comfortable with the status quo...

Church has become a comfortable place, a place that is always the same.

The same friends,

The same events

The same songs

The same sermons

The same faces

The same size

The same methods

And the same results!

That mentality is an affront to God, who called us to impact our culture with the life-changing gospel.

The fortress mindset, the bunker mentality will not work today! To grow, have revival, and do the will of God, our local churches may occasionally have to change their METHODS.

However, you can be assured that we will never change our MESSAGE.

To change a method doesn't mean eliminating the old, but incorporating the old within the new.

Notice that Israel did two contrasting things when they left Egypt:

Moses took with him the bones of Joseph (Exodus 13:19).

Those bones were the symbol of the Hebrews' history...

But Israel also plundered the Egyptians (Exodus 3:21) when they left – they used the inventions of the Egyptians to do the will of God in their own nation.

We need to do what Ezekiel did (Ezekiel 37) – we need to make those old bones live!

Use every bit of modern technology and method, but keep ourselves tied to our heritage, making it come alive!

I may use the technology of a new generation, but I have the “bones” of the pioneers in me!

I want to make those bones live in my generation!