Prepare for the Future

When you think of the word “future” what images come to your mind. Maybe your mind runs toward technology, self driving cars and AI. Maybe your young and you think about who you want to be when you get older. Still for others, maybe you think about the future for your children and grandchildren. For some the thought of the future may bring you anxiety because you wish you could change the past and have made different decisions with your life.

When you think about the future of Cooper River Baptist Church what comes to your mind?

For some maybe your mind immediately goes to the past when the pews were full of people, the preacher could walk on water and there was never a cloudy Sunday morning.

Of course, I am exaggerating of course to prove a point that our minds often exaggerate our memories of the past.

But I want us to think past that this morning. I want us to think beyond the immediate numbers and needs of the church. I want us think about a future that is beyond us.

Now, the younger you are the harder this exercise because you feel like you have many more years left. For our senior saints it can be challenging because averages tell you that you have lived more years than what are remaining,

I want us to fast forward to a time where all of us sitting here are in heaven. There has come a new group of people occupying this facility to worship. What do we want that to look like for them?

This morning I am going to encourage you to labor for the souls of men, women, and children that you will never meet this side of eternity. Sound like a pretty big dream? I want for us to turn this dream it into a goal.

To quote one author “ You know what the difference is between a dream and a goal?.....a plan”.

I want us to have this as our plan.

When I was first learning to drive I remember wondering how does anyone keep a car going straight. As I would drive it seemed like I was driving from one sideline to the other. I would weave to left than over correct to the right. Weave to the right and then over correct to the left. It was a constant battle always resulting in reactive driving that made everyone nervous.

One day while driving my dad noticed that I was only looking just in front of the car. Immediately he knew what my problem was. I needed to look beyond where I was now and keep my eyes further down the road. It was only once I learned to not be overly concerned with where I was that I learned how keep the car straight. I had to look further down the road.

Now some of you have already put the pieces together and you know where I am going with this.

Churches often get stuck in a patter of reactive driving by not looking far enough down the road. They look at things like the immediate attendance, church finances and when they focus on these things the church will continue to veer to the left or to the right in oder to meet its immediate goals.

My desire is to push us beyond that type of thinking. I want us to see what is much further down the road then next months attendance.

Instead we need to adopt a wartime mindset. The Apostle Paul knew this idea well.

Ephesians 6:13 CSB

For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.

For many of us we grew up in an Era where the church enjoyed great favor in society. Good people went to church. God was something to be feared. We don’t live in those times anymore.

So I want us to understand both the times we live in and the challenges coming for the church and God’s people.

We need to take both immediate and future training seriously.

I want us to become a training ground for the next generation of Christians to do battle.

I want us to become powerhouse for the gospel mission in this area both now and the future.

I think this is both God’s will for us and can be accomplished at our current size.

So then what is the plan?

Create pathways for discipleship

Create pathways for Lay elders

Create pathways for future pastors

Create pathways to send out those who have been trained.

I. Create pathways for discipleship(men and women)

What does it mean to be a disciple? The simplest way to explain it to you is this:

It is a person that has decided that Christ is his/her life and everything else is second.

When a person enters into the military, how do they define themselves. They say I am a marine. I am a sergeant in the army..etc. For the Believer our identity should be first and foremost “ I am a disciple”.

Can you say this about yourself? Is this your mission. Do you see yourself primarily as a follower of Christ. Is this your identity?

Are you a fully devoted follower of Christ?

There is no program, bible study or Sunday school class in the world that can accomplish this task by itself. It is first and foremost a decision that you have to make.

To be a disciple you must decide that you are a disciple and then pursue Christ without reservation.

Luke 9:23 CSB

Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.

With that I would add a person could be a disciple of church or a disciple of Sunday school without ever becoming a disciple of Christ. The difference lies in your primary devotion to Him and His mission.

So I say this out of love. There are some who need to reexamine their commitment.

Statistically women far outpace men in their dedication to church and the word. I applaud those faithful women who are holding the banner of Jesus high in their homes.

But men, I want to ask you this question. If your child was to describe what you love to others would Jesus make the list?

Or would it be my dad loves football, golf, or sports. My dad loves hunting and fishing. My dad loves work or money.

How would your children describe you. If they don’t automatically connect what you t love to God’s love there is a problem.

Here is the truth.

A church cannot make disciples without men and women who are willing to pay the price to be a disciple - fully devoted followers of Christ.

If we are going to be prepared and be a part of preparing the church for a hostile world. We have to begin to take training seriously. We have to take discipleship seriously.

Do I believe we have some men and woman that are disciples of Christ? Yes, I do, but I think the lever of intensity in training needs to rise to meet the challenges that are come, The battle that is waging.

Now some of these disciples God will put in their heart a desire to shepherd others. These men will have the heart of a pastor and therefore desire advanced training for this work.

II. To Create Pathways for Lay Elders (men)

Some of these men may go on to vocational ministry while others will be faithful to serve the church God has placed them in.

2 Timothy 2:2 CSB

What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

These men will need to go through advanced training and examination.

III. Create a Pathway for Future Pastors.

Why does the church need to do this?

Cost.

The average cost of seminary for a full time student ranges from 20 to $30,000 a year. If the degree takes two to three years to achieve a pastor could be saddled with nearly $100,000 in debt just from his masters degree. This doesn’t even account for his undergrad debt.

Let’s face it most churches cannot pay what it takes for a pastor to raise a family and get out of debt. Unlike other professions, There is no career advancement opportunities for a pastor that wants to dedicate his life to a specific church or place.

So whats the result....normative size or small churches often to not have financial means to have a theologically trained pastor.

2. Seminaries are great in training theologians but they are not equipped to train pastors.

After I graduated from Bible college. I left believing now that I know the bible I just need to tell people about it. They will listen and everything will be great! The reality is that in ministry it seldom happens that way. The truth is Ministry is complex and the only way to be trained to navigate it, is to walk alongside others and glean from their experience.

We need men to pastor who have been mentored and trained by the local church. There is no substitution for mentorship and hands on- experience.

I believe the local ordinary church is the best place to train the next generation of pastors. I believe we can do that here.

What better way to impact this area than to send out well trained men to pastor churches who understand the work of revitalization and are not saddled with preventative debt.

IV. Create pathways to send out those who have been trained.

As I talk to my colleagues in ministry there are several of us who have decided we do not want to loose any local gospel footprints. In other words, we want to help struggling churches revitalize by sending out well trained teams of people to help with that work.

Should God’s church sit idly by as church after church closes its doors and neighborhoods are losing their gospel presence. My answer is absolutely not.

V. Strategic partnerships with local like-minded churches.

The really awesome part about all of this. Is that we are not alone in this fight. There are other local churches, some we are already partnering with that are creating similar plans.

So we want to parnter with these other like minided churches whereever it is practical to do so.

Now this seems like a huge undertaking doesn’t it? So some of you are already asking how can this be done? How can we do this when there seems to be so few of us. Aren’t you glad Jesus didn’t take that attitude with the 12?

Here is how we are going to accomplish these tasks

I. Prayer - regular prayer

II. Devotion to The Word and The Kingdom of Christ.

III. An unwavering commitment to the future.

1 Corinthians 3:6–9 CSB

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So, then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

Scripture makes it clear that we will often labor for those who will come next to ensure the harvest will be great.

When we think about Americas great patriots we often think this way. So and so died in order to secure a safe and bright future. This seems normal for us to think about it when it comes to our nation that will not be eternal

But somehow this idea has gotten lost on those who in God’s kingdom.

Are we willing to labor for those things in which we might never see.

Look at Hebrews

Hebrews 11:8–16 CSB

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the one who had promised was faithful. Therefore, from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore. These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

IV. Faith

faith believes that through the power of God we are more than what we are.

It was the faith of Moses in God that allowed him to persevere in a crazy plan to free a enslaved people and lead them into the wilderness.

It was Abrahams faith that let him see that God was working something bigger than himself.

It was the disciples faith and commitment to Christ that allowed them to be part of founding the first church.

All of these things were crazy events accomplished by God through a few devoted and faithful people.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if one day when we get to Heaven God will celebrate with us the story of Cooper River Baptist Church and his work through us. A few faithful devoted people.

Look here is the reality, We are at war. Every soldier knows the war is bigger than the battle. Every soldier knows that he battles not just for himself but for the future of the country and the kingdom. In our case, it is an eternal Kingdom.

So church are you ready to join this fight? Are you ready to battle for those coming behind us. So that they may have everything they need to stand?