Expansion (2)

Phil LaRue

Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

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1. Expand our Space 2. Expand our Reach 3. Expand the Voices

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Expansion

John 4:35 NKJV

Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

1. It’s Harvest Time

2. Look at the fields

This is about vision! (“Lift up your eyes” and “look at the fields”)

The harvest is ready! (Not just a single grain, or ear or plant)

It’s time!

Adam given dominion

When Israel came out of Egypt the Lord told them

Exodus 34:24 (NKJV)

...I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders...

Moses reminded them of this promise twice before they entered the promised land.

In the Salvation oracle of Isaiah 54 the prophet addressed those in exile who are faithful to God and represent the spiritual Church in all ages. (The preacher’s commentary)

He draws upon the metaphor of a barren woman who has lost hope for having children.

Like Sarah in her bareness, it was hard for them to believe the Lord would fulfill his promise to bring them back and restore the population of Jerusalem.

Isaiah 54:2 NKJV

“Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes.

The tents of their ancestors could be expanded as the family grew.

Israel will have so many more children that her “tent” will need enlarging.

Get ready for growth and increase in numbers as the Lord blesses His people.

Isaiah continues....:

Isaiah 54:3 NKJV

For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the nations, And make the desolate cities inhabited.

All of this is reminiscent of a man by the name of Jabez:

1 Chronicles 4:10 NKJV

And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.

Luke 5:36–39 NKJV

Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”

But when the new wine ferments, it expands the container and the skin bursts, being unable to expand because it is brittle. The new wine pours out, and the old skin is destroyed.

Darrell L. Bock

What is significant is that Jesus expands the ministry beyond the Twelve. Ministry is not confined to a select few.

Darrell L. Bock

The expanding 1st century church in Acts:

Acts 1–7 deals with the preaching of the gospel in Jerusalem. In Acts 8–12 the gospel expands beyond Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria.

Acts 13–28 records the expansion of the gospel throughout the Roman world.

James Montgomery Boice

The Ethiopian eunuch probably is black - so the gospel spreads to a new ethnic group....

In each case Luke is introducing a new group, until as the gospel expands throughout the empire there are no new groups left. And in each case the manifestation of the Spirit’s presence in tongues is part of a corporate experience.

D. A. Carson

The apostle Paul’s hope and prayer for the Corinthian church was that, “as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere”

2 Corinthians 10:15 NKJV

not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, in other men’s labors, but having hope, that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere,

Or in other words “that the boundaries of our work among you will be extended”.

2 Corinthians 10:15 NLT

Nor do we boast and claim credit for the work someone else has done. Instead, we hope that your faith will grow so that the boundaries of our work among you will be extended.

The new life that Christ brings is expanding.

R. Kent Hughes

28 When we actively seek to expand His life in ours, His character gradually becomes ours.

Bruce Wilkinson

Experiencing Spiritual Breakthroughs (1999)

Bruce Wilkinson

5 Enlarge my territory. I encourage you to pray this for all of your God-honoring pursuits. Much of what God wants us to do involves the expansion of not only literal territory, but influence as well.

Bruce Wilkinson

Beyond Jabez (2005)

Bruce Wilkinson

Our Mission:

Sharing - New life in Christ

Growing - As disciples of Christ

Equipping - For the work of Christ

2024 Vision: EXPANSION!

Vision is Essential for survival.

It is spawned by faith,

Sustained by hope

sparked by imagination

strengthened by enthusiasm

It is:

Greater than sight

Deeper than a dream

Broader than an idea

Vision:

Encompasses vistas outside the realm of the predictable, the safe, the expected.

No wonder we perish without it!

2024 Vision: EXPANSION!

1. Expand our Space (Physical Capacity)

Parking > Steps > Classrooms

Will create room for more people to:

Share - New life in Christ

Grow - As disciples of Christ

Equip - For the work of Christ

2. Expand our Reach

Celebrate Recovery

Will create opportunities to:

Share - New life in Christ with individuals and their families

Grow - By ministering to hurts, hangups and habits that inhibit healthy discipleship.

Equip - By training to serve and minister real help to the hurting

Matthew 5:3 NKJV

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:3 NLT

“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

Matthew 6:10 KJV

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

3. Expand the Voices

Revival Weekends: (w/Five Fold Ministry - Eph 4:11)

Evangelists... to Share - New life in Christ

Apostles and Prophets... to help us Grow - As disciples of Christ

Pastors and Teachers... to Equip - For the work of Christ

In all of this we will not retreat in other areas, especially prayer!

Prayer:

When the heart is enlarged in communion with God it will be emboldened in doing and suffering for him.

Matthew Henry

Considered thus, spiritual growth may be said to be the development of our graces: the strengthening of faith, the enlarging of hope, the increasing of love, the abounding of peace and joy: see 2 Peter 1:3 and carefully note verses 5–8.

Arthur Walkington Pink

Worship:

God cannot be made any bigger, but he can be enlarged in one’s life (in one’s “soul” or “spirit,” as Mary put it). We magnify or enlarge God when we take into our thinking some new aspect of his greatness.

R. Kent Hughes

Worship is the act of magnifying God. Enlarging our vision of him.

Max Lucado

Love:

Love always enlarges and enriches, while selfishness does just the opposite.

Warren W. Wiersbe

The psalmist realizes that if ever he is to have an enlarged horizon, he must first have an enlarged heart.

John Phillips

Love is not only full of benevolence but beneficence. Love which enlarges the heart never straitens the hand.

Thomas Watson

Bible Study:

You will find the Scriptures enlarge as you enter them; the more you study them the less you will appear to know of them, for they widen out as we approach them.

Charles Spurgeon

The fuller our knowledge of his greatness, the greater our ability to enlarge him.

R. Kent Hughes

Nothing is so calculated to enlarge the mind and strengthen the intellect as the study of the Bible.

Ellen Gould White

Separation:

It is wonderful to be separated unto Christ because He brings you to the place where your horizons are enlarged.

J. Vernon McGee

Sufferering/Hardship/Chaos:

It’s through difficulties that God enlarges us for the larger places He prepares for us.

Warren W. Wiersbe

Suffering enlarges the heart by creating the power to sympathize. If we pray eagerly for ourselves, we shall not long be able to forget our fellow-sufferers.

Charles Spurgeon

The last thing that happened to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is that their influence was enlarged. The king promoted them. When God tests us and we prove faithful, it is always for the purpose of enlarging our influence for Him.

David Jeremiah; Carole C. Carlson

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised Enlarge

ENLARGE [Heb. hiphil of rāḥaḇ (Ex. 34:24; Dt. 12:20; 19:8; 33:20; Isa. 5:14; 54:2; Am. 1:13), hiphil of pāṯâ (Gen. 9:27), šāṭaḥ—‘spread out’ (Job 12:23), piel of rāḥaq (Isa. 26:15), hiphil of rạ̄ḇâ (1 Ch. 4:10), qāraʿ (Jer. 4:30); Gk. megalýnō (2 Cor. 10:15)]; AV also “remove” (Isa. 26:15), “rent” (Jer. 4:30); NEB also EXTEND, WIDE, GREED FOR (Am. 1:13), etc.

As used by the RSV, “enlarge” usually refers to territorial expansion by a family (e.g., Dt. 33:20; 1 Ch. 4:10; Gen. 9:27, where yap̱t is a play on the name Japheth, Heb. yep̱eṯ) or a nation. God’s covenant with Israel included the promise of extended borders (Ex. 34:24; Dt. 12:20; 19:8; cf. Ex. 23:27–31), and the prophet Isaiah looked forward to a time after the Exile when Israel’s borders would once again be extended (Isa. 26:15; 54:2f.). But to describe the severity of God’s judgment against Judah’s wickedness, Isaiah pictured Sheol as a ravenous beast with gaping mouth (5:14). Amos warned that judgment would fall upon the Ammonites for the atrocities they committed while expanding their territory at Israel’s expense (1:13). Job testified that God is omnipotent; it is He who enlarges some nations and leads others into captivity (12:23). In the NT “enlarge” appears only once, of the expansion of Paul’s field of missionary activity (2 Cor. 10:15).