Forward Together

Philippians 3:14 NKJV

I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

In scripture there seems to be a trend of God making things better for those who remain faithful through tribulation. Job was given double after He proved His faithfulness to God.

Israel united and the second temple was greater than the first.

Haggai 2:1–18 NKJV

In the seventh month, on the twenty-first of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying: “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying: ‘Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing? Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ says the Lord; ‘and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the Lord, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!’ “For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.” On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Now, ask the priests concerning the law, saying, “If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy?” ’ ” Then the priests answered and said, “No.” And Haggai said, “If one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?” So the priests answered and said, “It shall be unclean.” Then Haggai answered and said, “ ‘So is this people, and so is this nation before Me,’ says the Lord, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean. ‘And now, carefully consider from this day forward: from before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of the Lord— since those days, when one came to a heap of twenty ephahs, there were but ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty baths from the press, there were but twenty. I struck you with blight and mildew and hail in all the labors of your hands; yet you did not turn to Me,’ says the Lord. ‘Consider now from this day forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid—consider it:

The glory will be greater in this house.

John 1:14 NKJV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

We see in Haggai that God told Israel three times (1-15, 2-18) to consider the ways to make sure they were pure before the Lord.

I. Because Culture Depends upon it.

Romans 12:2 NKJV

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Our culture is under attack.

Satan is wise and is seeking to destroy culture, and with t the church. He is aiming to deceive the mind of our youth and adults alike, and he is doing that through a well planned attack.

Romans 12:21 NKJV

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

We must be careful to not be overcome with evil, but overcome it with good. That is to say that we should overcome the evil of this world by doing good and allowing good to rule our hearts and minds.

1 Peter 5:8 NKJV

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Thus, as a church we must unite together, take a stand, disciple one another, and engage the world so that we may not be overcome by but overcome the world.

1 John 4:4 NKJV

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

II. Because God’s Word Demands it.

When Dr. Zhang first approaches Jonas, the jaded hero is boligerantly reluctant. Jonas argues:

You’re going to tell me your story and I’m going to say no. You’re going to offer me money and I’m going to say no. You’re going to try to appeal to my better nature and I’m still going to say no because I don’t have one.

But then Zhang delivers a vital piece of information, one that he has reserved for just this moment. Jonas’s ex-wife, Lori is one of the trapped researchers. In the next scene we witness Jonas on his way to Mana One. That’s the power of love. Love has a way of conquering our past and calming our fears.

Romans 15:5–6 NKJV

Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The very word Church (eklesia) means an assembly. Thus, unless we are together we are not a church. Yes, we have differing opinions, and that doesn't necessarily mean one is right and one is wrong, just different. However, we are called to dwell together in unity. Furthermore, the bible says that we are to be united to bring glory to God. We will not go forward until we are together. My encouragement to you today is to unite with one another and let us press forward for the cause of Christ. However, for every member of this church we have no other choices but unite and go forward, or, divide ourselves and die. Things do not always go my way, I do not always see the outcome that I desire. Yet, I must continually remind myself that the God’s will is bigger than my will. Thus, I must yield myself to Him and do all I can to further His church and not harm it. I also want to add this, Social media is no place to attack the church or through cheap underhanded comments. God deserves more than you or me attacking His bride because we don’t get our way or like something. You may not like me, and that is okay. You may not agree with me and I can deal with it. However, that is no excuse for anyone to attack the church. We must be united and go forward together. The prize is worth the struggle, the victory is worth the battle, and the souls of humanity are worth setting aside ourselves that we may reach them.

Romans 15:5–6 NKJV

Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

III. Because Discipleship hinges upon it.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, The church is only a church when exist for others.

The truth is every church engages in discipleship. Either passively or with intention. Discipleship can be either positive or negative and this applies to both passive or intentional discipleship.

According to Bill Hull, the problem with discipleship is that often it is to focused on the individual. He says, the wrong question to ask is how are you doing, (although this does have it place, the real question should be, How are you doing loving the people God has placed in your life?

If you want to know how a church is doing with discipleship, just look and see how there membership reflect Christ. If someone does not actively reflect Jesus then either they have rejected Him, or they have not been properly discipled.

Acts 2:42 NKJV

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Acts 2:46–47 NKJV

So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

Albert Einstein said, “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” The church growing is not the only measure of success. Sometimes success can not be measured. When the search committee interviewed Jordan to be our Next Gen Pastor, we asked him a question that we had all agreed on the answer, How will you measure success? Why did we ask this, because we realized that success was not to be measured by numerical growth but by spiritual.

The same goes for the church, we can not only measure success by numerical growth (Although we desire that), but by our reflection of Jesus.

Thus, we should actively engage and encourage one another to be like Christ.

Discipleship requires that we engage others. If you are only a Sunday morning Christian, I want you know that I am glad that you are here and that you are a part of our church. However, I want you to know that God has bigger plans for you. You can only be faithful to Gods will for your life when you engage in discipleship, and this requires interacting with others.

As I mentioned earlier, you are disciplining others. Someone is watching your life. So, are you reflecting that heart and Spirit of Jesus or yourself? If every believer at North Etowah was like you what type of church would there be?

For 2024 our church must focus on reflecting the heart of Jesus and His love both within our church and our community. We have seen over the last month what we are capable of when we work together. Therefore, I encourage you to set your eyes on going forward together and do not allow anyone or anything distract us from going forward. And if we get of course, I pray that we will encourage one another (In love), to strive together.

My prayer for North Etowah in 20224 is that we will pursue greatness.

James 1:4 NKJV

But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

PURSUING GREATNESS

Persisting in the Great Commission.

Everything we do must be about the Gospel. Every event, dollar, and ministry must be gospel focused. This may require us to refocus some ministries, and may cause us to reconsider others. However, is we are to be great at sharing the gospel it must be at the center of everything.

Producing great Community.

We need to develop a culture of community within the church. A great danger to any church is when you have factions within its walls. My prayer is that we will be a church that is a home for everyone. That doesn’t mean just saying welcome when someone visits but rather inviting them into our social groups and making them a part of who we are.

Prevailing over culture.

This means that we must actively disciple each other, so that we are prepared to stand against Satans fiery darts. We must also engage our community by actively standing upon the goodness of God’s Word.