Building Better Lives

Text: I Cor. 3:6-9

Place Preached - (Mississauga International Baptist Church)

Date Preached - (05/18/03)

Introduction:   

Explain Philosophy of Ministry – Building Better Lives

Our Text (Vs.6) Teaches us as Biblical a philosophy of ministry as you will find!!

God gives the increase!!

Matthew 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Psalms 127:1  Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

NOW, we need to have a vision for what God (ALONE) can do!! What He can do here, in this place!

Proverbs 29:18  Where there is no vision (Word of God - Revelation), the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Planting and watering are actions mentioned in our text, and they are actions carried out by those full of hope and expectancy.

People of vision!!

As God’s people our hope is in the Lord who give the increase.

He is Lord of the Harvest!

Vision / Mission / Purpose (Terms are interchangeable) Requires some important elements if it is going to go from being a dream to being a reality.

In order for Spiritual Vision to become reality there are some requirements....

1. Language – Communicated Specifics

2. Laborers – Committed Servants

3. Lord – Controlling Sovereign

I. The Vision Requires Language

It requires Communication and some things Communicated Specifically.

In other words Spell-It-Out

What EXACTLY are we looking to accomplish?

Not our DESIRES and DREAMS, but God’s PLANS and PURPOSES!!

Not what we want, but what HE wants!

Over the ages God has spelled out His plan for us...

He has been very specific about communicating those purposes through His Word!!

In Creation

For God’s Glory...

All things By Him, Through Him, For Him.

Man is the Crowning Jewel of that Creation – Created in God’s Image – To bring Glory to God – All creation subservient to God but man has dominion over God’s created works.

In Redemption

Man deliberately chose disobedience.

He fell in sin, but God had a plan for His Salvation.

Jesus Christ – The lamb slain from the foundation of the world!

Aren’t you glad He communicated that!?

His purpose is to redeem a people unto Himself to Glorify Him and enjoy fellowship with Him forever.

For Israel

Genesis 12:2  And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

They are God’s chosen people.  Chosen as a testimony and for an influence on the nations around them (OT).

In the NT we learn that though Israel we have received God’s Word and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Rom. 3:2 ....unto them were committed the oracles of God.

For the Church

Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.

He is concerned about it’s doctrine, its polity, its Spiritual temperature, its testimony, its future.... etc.

It will be presented to him as “a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;”

Paul’s Vision for the Corinthian Church was at least three-fold

....and of course he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so we know it was God’s purpose first.

1. Maturity  2. Unity  3. Purity

II. NOW God has a work for us Today!!

Hebrews 11:39-40 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

40  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

We are not just here to occupy time and space, but to write a page in the history of the church!!!

This is exciting -  God has a Vision/Revelation for us...

We need to be “Clear” about what that work is.

Ephesians 5:17  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

The desire of every believer ought to be to know what God’s work is, what His will is for their life and then get involved!!

Our Vision for MIBC – “Building Better Lives”

There are a lot of things people imagine a church to be.

We are not here to be a .....

• Social Club

• Coordinator of programs to fill some void in your life.

• Society for theological debate

• Holy Huddle where only the Super Saints are admitted

We are a CHURCH!

What will be the ministry concerns of a church that is seeking to “Build Better Lives”?   READ Acts 2:42-47 it has the pattern!!!

Evangelism

Soulwinning / Outreach / Missions

We need prayer / people / finances committed to this.

Saturday Soulwinning

Weeknight Soulwinning

Home Evangelistic Bible Studies

Bringing the Lost to Church “GO OUT and BRING THEM IN”

Evangelize or fossilize!!

A Generation of Mules

"The church today is raising a whole generation of mules. They know how to sweat and to work hard but they don't know how to reproduce themselves."

Let us say it plainly. If we are not evangelizing, we are not doing the job completely., and we are on the road to extinction.

Discipleship

This includes all the Multi-faceted ministry of the Word.

Increase in Sunday School / PM Service and Midweek

The Mainstream Means & Methods of Discipleship in the Church

BEYOND.....

Christian Mentoring

Counselling

Discipleship is a process! Progressive Sanctification!!

When God wants to make an oak, He takes a hundred years, but he takes only two months to make a squash."

There are no short courses! No short-cuts! No gimmicks! It takes time to grow! Growth is a sequence-an orderly arrangement! "For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ....... (Heb_5:12-14).

Worship

John 4:2424 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth .

Honouring God in...

Family – Finances – Time – Talent - Treasure

Fellowship

There are some Reasons we will stick to that....

Five reasons why we must pursue the vision that God has given us.

1 Because God must be Glorified Vs.7

Matthew 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven .

2 Because people need The Lord vs.11

Luke 19:10  For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Acts 4:1212Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

3 Because Believers need to be Growing vs.1-5

2 Peter 3:18 18But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

4. Because the world is destroying lives. Vs.17-19

ILLUS: Mass graves in Iraq where 1000’s of Saddam’s victims are buried reveal him to be one of the most bloodthirsty rulers in world history in the ranks of Stalin and Hitler before him.

Yet Satan makes Saddam look like a kindergarten teacher...

1 Peter 5:88Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

5. Because there is a judgement. Vs.13-15

Hebrews 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Conclusion:     (Review)

The famous poet H. W. Longfellow was once asked how he managed a long and a happy life.

Pointing to an apple tree, the writer remarked: "The secret of the apple tree is that it grows a little new wood each year. That's what I try to do."