Connect Conference 24- Hope in the face of the impossible

During the first 20 years after World War 2 Christianity and the church experienced a serious decline in most of the western world. And by decline I mean a drop in involvement, but more than that I mean a loss of centrality to the culture at large. In the decades following World War 2 European countries moved rapidly away from Christianity and toward an increasingly individual and man-centered way of life.

While that decline happened in most of the western world, there was a huge boom in church attendance in the United States. For the next few decades the church in America grew at an incredible pace and forged a central place in the culture of our country. For most adults between 60-90 years old this time period represents the early years of your life, and for the oldest it’s the first 30 years of your life.

This season in America was a time when belonging to and attending a church was a major part of life for a large number of people across the country. In fact, where you went to church, or if you went to church was a part of job interviews, loan application conversations, and running for political office. From the 1950’s unit as late as the 1990’s church was something people were a part of, and as a result churches were able to focus their attention on doing ministry and programs for the large number of people that were thinking about attending a church.

This meant that many people in our country had a worldview that was open to a belief in God, considered the afterlife a likelihood, and believed that sin was real and that there really was a right and wrong. During this time you could engage people with some common ground religious beliefs and work your way to the gospel. You could invite them to bring their families to church where they could learn more about to live a good moral life in hopes they would hear and accept the gospel… This world was similar to the situation we find in Acts 2…

Read Acts 2

In this situation Peter was able to appeal to the common understanding of God’s promises and point them to the truth that Jesus was the Messiah they were looking for.

But, things in our country are not like they were right after world war 2. We have experienced something similar to Western Europe post world war 2… except the decline of morality in our country has happened even faster than it did in Europe. It may have taken longer for the things to follow the pattern of Europe, but when it began it has happened at an alarmingly rapid rate.

The result of this decline and cultural shift has been dramatic. I don’t think anyone at this point would argue that things are the way that they are… but one of the impacts of this is that where we had become used to church being a part of our culture, this is less and the case for our country, even here in MS. Because this has happened so rapidly many are caught off guard, we haven’t gradually arrived at this point in our story… we didn’t have time to be ready… we have been thrown into the deep end of the pool without even knowing that we needed to learn how to swim.

But, we are here… and just like there is a correlation to the post world war 2 America in Acts 2, we can find a similar situation in Acts 17.

Read Acts 17

In Acts 17 Paul wasn’t able to start sharing the gospel where Peter did in Jerusalem. Instead Paul backed all the way up to the beginning… and he found a crack in the culture of his audience. They had an altar set up to so many gods that they built one for the god they didn’t even know. And, with surgical precision Paul made the most of the crack in their culture and worked to show them the crack in their belief system while sharing the gospel of the one true God. There is a whole that we can learn from this moment… in fact most of the NT is addressed to churches in similar situations as the one Paul is preaching too in Acts 17.

For some people this conversation might be discouraging… and I get that. It means recognizing the loss of what you have always known and what was really good for you. And, like the day Peter preached at Pentecost the Lord has used the church in our culture to see us into His kingdom and grow us in our faith!

But, when you consider the outcome of Acts 2 and Acts 17 you will see what I hope and pray the Lord presses into our hearts…

There is no such thing as an impossible culture, because with God all things are possible!

Matthew 19:23–26 (ESV), 23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

In Acts 2 the same people who crucified Jesus were saved and transformed!

In Acts 17 those who had no concept of the gospel or even the name of Jesus were saved and transformed!

Salvation is possible because of Jesus, not because the circumstances are right.

There is no such thing as being good enough, ready enough, or moral enough for salvation.

Sinners are sinful… and sinners are saved by Jesus, not by their culture… and not by the church. The church shares the gospel, but is God that does the saving… and it is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus that makes salvation possible to those who believe.

You might have been waiting to get your life right, or to get a few more things in order, before you decide to trust Jesus with your life. Friend- that kind of thinking means you actually don’t trust the Lord, instead you trust yourself. If you really trust the Lord you will bring the entirety of your mess and sin to the Lord by faith in Jesus and find rest and redemption for your soul.

You may be trying to decide when you will obey God and trust him by saying yes to his call to missions or to ministry in the church… but, you can’t make that decision based on what you think, you have to trust the Lord- Morgan Dennis story

You may be trying to decide when you will be good enough to share the gospel with your friend, step up and serve, or even when you have done enough of what you want to start giving… again, you don’t have to see the end, you simply have to trust the Lord with the promise he has made and step out in faith and follow Him.

God has given us an incredible opportunity for the next two days. We have mission partners from here in Tupelo, the delta, Jackson, New Orleans, Manhattan, California, Uganda, Malawi, Liverpool, Merida, and more… and one thing that they have in common, is a belief that with God all things are possible.

We live in a culture where salvation is possible, and we have the opportunity to join God as he does what many think is impossible.

I shared with them last night that I am praying for God to use them in the life of our church. Things in our country, county, and city have changed and continue to change rapidly. But, we have seen throughout history the truth of Matthew 16:18, that not even the gates of hell will prevail against the church!

I have asked our mission partners to use their time with us to encourage us in the mission to share Christ in a world much more like Acts 17 than Acts 2.

Take advantage of the next two days… come back tonight, come back tomorrow night…

Be an encourager to our partners, be encouraged by our partners… and join God in what seems like the impossible… but that with Him is possible!