Good morning, CHURCH!

Welcome to FFM where we love God, and we love people.

Are you ready to be equipped today?

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(Safe, secure, loved, wanted, successful, good enough and have purpose)

The Message Title:

The Seeker Friendly Church

Let’s get right into it today.

2 Corinthians 1:8-9 (ESV)

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

For a (brief) moment this week, I had thoughts of how we could pull back a little bit and try to keep people feeling good about themselves and about our church.

Maybe if we keep people from growing towards leadership.

Maybe we just let some keep their own opinions of what they think a follower of Christ is.

Maybe don’t push people towards loving God with everything that is within them.

But there is a saying, “Hard times create strong men; strong men create good times; good times create weak men; and weak men create hard times.”

You might ask, “How does that saying relate to the Christian Walk?”

1.Hard times can strengthen faith.

“Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope…”

Romans 5:3-4 (ESV)

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

Just as hard times create strong men, trials refine believers, making them spiritually strong and more like Christ.

The early church, under persecution, grew strong in the Lord.

The American church under times of peace has led to complacency.

America has been a prosperous Nation.

2.Prosperity can and often leads to complacency.

Deuteronomy 6:10-12 (ESV)

“And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

It's not that good times or prosperity is bad, but they often lead mankind to spiritual forgetfulness.

Christians during times of abundance stop depending on the Lord as much as they did in times of need. (They stop praying as much, serving as much, they read and study the word less etc.)

3.Spiritual weakness leads to moral decline.

Judges 21:25 (ESV)

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Like weak men in the saying I read, spiritually lukewarm believers or churches have ushered in moral compromise and there will be consequences.

Revelation 3:15-16 (ESV)

‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

We have seen an overall decline in holiness.

We are more focused on what pleases people so that we can draw more of them.

4.Revival often begins with hardship.

In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we saw where God used hard times to call His people back to Him.

So, I could have said, “Hard times create strong followers; strong followers create good times; good times create weak followers; and weak followers create hard times.”

The true follower of Christ is called to break the cycle by remaining vigilant, faithful, and surrendered to God in both hardships and blessings.

I’m not taking the road of people pleasing for the sake of not hurting feelings.

Each one of you must decide.

You can take the easy road and go hide as a part of a larger church where you can hide in your-self pleasing ways.

Or

You can take the harder road in which there is accountability.

A road where the word of God and the leaders around you push you towards holiness.

You can also help clear a path in which real disciples of Christ are made.

There are only two choices.

We can try to acquiesce to what people want, like and enjoy in church.

Or

We can try to give people what the Bible says they need even if it doesn’t always feel good.

We shouldn’t be willing to let the truth of the gospel die in Americanized Christianity.

I won’t be a part of letting the gospel die by watering it down or dumbing it down so that people will feel good about themselves.

Listen: If the world, who practices sin, loves my teaching and is comfortable in my church, I’m part of the problem and not the solution.

2 Timothy 4:1-5 (ESV)

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

If you went on Indeed dot com and looked at my job description, you should see something like, you prepare people to die and meet God.

I’m not intentionally looking to offend people or make them not like the message.

I’m just not intentionally looking to make people feel comfortable when they are practicing sin.

There are a lot of churches out there who do a great job of allowing you to feel comfortable practicing sin.

We are still fresh off celebrating the Passover and the Resurrection.

If you were here last week I mentioned:

Romans 6:4 (ESV)

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Let’s follow that up with:

Colossians 3:1-2 (ESV)

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

We are charged to shift our mindsets. (Towards God’s values, mission and presence)

I’m not about to out here worrying about who left and why they left and how we can make ourselves more user friendly or seeker friendly.

We will have one concern from the pulpit to the small group leader and that is are we proclaiming TRUTH.

I’m telling everyone right now!!!

I’m sounding an alarm!!!

I’m giving a warning!!!

Proverbs 4:23 (ESV)

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Everything you do flows from your heart.

From the way you think.

If you were once excited about who God is to you, what He has done in your life through your ministry, how it has impacted you spiritually and you wanted everyone to have that same experience:

But now you are not as excited, you’ve taken for granted what He has done in you through your ministry, you don’t think much about the spiritual impact it has had on your life, you’re not telling others to come and experience what has blessed you:

This warning is for you.

Proverbs 4:23 (CEB)

More than anything you guard, protect your mind, for life flows from it.

Please listen to me.

The enemy will use anything to get you off track.

Satan is the accuser of the bretheren.

He will even use disgruntled church members to taint your heart.

For some of you all it takes is a few words cleverly placed on your mind for you to start questioning everything that has blessed your life.

Genesis 3:1 (ESV)

The snake was the most intelligent of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say that you shouldn’t eat from any tree in the garden?”

“Did you like the way Pastor J said that?”

” What do you think Dr A really meant by what she said?”

“I don’t feel like our small group leader was accurate with their interpretation of the scriptures.” “What do you think?”

When you hear stuff like that, you’re either going to guard your heart or acquesce to your friend and start questioning something that used to bless your life.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (ESV)

Love is patient, love is kind, it isn’t jealous, it doesn’t brag, it isn’t arrogant, 5 it isn’t rude, it doesn’t seek its own advantage, it isn’t irritable, it doesn’t keep a record of complaints, 6 it isn’t happy with injustice, but it is happy with the truth. 7 Love puts up with all things, trusts in all things, hopes for all things, endures all things.

In a fallen world, loving like Christ protects you from becoming jaded, and allows you to stay active in grace, mercy and forgiveness.

Question?

How can you have once loved someone and been grateful for what all they’ve done for you and then become disgruntled with them while they’re still doing the same things they’ve always done, that you used to be grateful for?

If they haven’t changed, something in you has.

You didn’t guard your heart.

In closing, we must stay on task.

There is only one mission.

Prepare people for the afterlife.

Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV)

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.”

Staying focused on God’s mission will keep you centered spiritually.

What is Holy Spirit saying to you?

Thank you for tuning in and we’ll see you next week.