First Things First SErmon Jan 8 2006
Message: First Things First
Text: Acts 2:42-47
Without a dream for our lives and for our church we become frustrated, bored, and filled with regrets. What if the Lord asked you the question he asked in Matthew 20:32?
Jesus stopped and called them. "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked.
ILL: Punxsutawney, PN…New York, City…
F-(Fresh Faith)
Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
There’s different kinds of faith.
Some people have intellectual faith. Intellectually they believe in Jesus.
Some people have historical faith.
Some people have left-over faith. How many of you are still eating left-overs from Christmas? How many of you are still eating left overs from Thanksgiving?
Didn’t you like Thanksgiving? Sure. But that’s old.
Well, it’s the same with faith. You can’t live on yesterday’s faith. You need Fresh Faith.
Every church goes through the same kind of cycle over a period of time. They start off with a dream, and that dream begins to attract other people, and the church starts to grow.
And we could call that period in the church: “The Wonder Years.” They are the Wonder Years for a lot of reasons: People wonder if they are going to make it; they wonder how they are going to make it. And then they are called the Wonder Years because God does great “Wonders” among them… there’s a lot of enthusiasm, and there’s sacrifice, and there’s success.
And those successes turn the wonder years into the Stable Years…This marks the time when the church becomes stable and strong, and programs develop and traditions develop.
And over time the Stable Years become the structured Years… where everything is structured. Often it’s structured by the calendar. It’s Summer—so we have VBS. It’s the Fall, so we have the Fall Carnival. It’s Christmas so we have the Christmas Program
And many times it’s during the Structure Years that the dream…the original dream begins to fade…And the church hits a plateau…and during the Plateau everything is about the same as it always is…
And the Plateau leads to what I call the “Wander” Years…People begin to Wander off. Why? Because the Vision is lost. The dream is lost…and just like the Bible says, “Where there is no Vision, the people perish…” (The People have no restraint…Nothing keeps them tied in…)
And that, of course, leads to decline…and if decline isn’t reversed it will eventually lead to death.
And we all know about churches that due to a number or reasons used to thrive…and are now dead…and sometimes empty shells…and the ones that remain live in the past.
Churches on the incline make decisions based on the people who aren’t here yet. Churches on the decline make decisions based on the people who are already here…and sometimes on the basis of people who used to be here, but are in heaven now!!!
And every church will go through the same phases…but there is a way for a church to avoid the Wander, Decline, and Death phases…And that’s through…experiencing a Loop Back…where the church re-dreams the dream.
And the church asks again, “What is God’s will for us?” “What is it that God is doing around us?” “What do we have to do or become in order to be in a position for God to work through us?”
And as a church we are on the Loop Back.
And so many of the things that we are doing are part of the Loop Back…
(1) Life Fest—
(2) Fission at the Vine—Starting March 1 we’ll be starting 40 Days of Fission
(3) Relocation—
A few years ago our church purchased 25 acres right on Highway 121 next to the Hummer Dealership…
And we are in the process of selling this present property right now…and I believe God is going to help us this year to sell this property… and from the time that happens it will take about 3 ½ years to move…We need to be praying for God’s help and for His perfect timing.
And when we move it will give us greater visibility, greater accessibility, and greater facilities…especially for our preschool and children.
By the way, another way to tell if the church is on the incline or the decline is by the importance they give to preschool and children ministry. Churches on the incline have a vision to make their children’s ministry the best it can be with the most up-to-date equipment and facilities. They Focus on the Family. They put their money in the nursery. Churches on the Decline are just the opposite. They Focus on the Fuss. Churches on the decline say things like, “It was good enough for my kids.” “It used to be good enough.”
And those churches are a lot like the disciples when they were hindering the children from coming to Jesus. These churches don’t realize it, but their attitudes keep parents from bringing their children to their church. When the children tried to come to Jesus, it was the disciples who tried to keep them from it. “They don’t matter,” said the disciples. Yet, Jesus said, “They matter to me.” And churches that don’t focus on children discover that not even Jesus likes to go to church when children don’t matter.
But churches that Loop Back discover something, too.
They discover “Fresh Faith.” They discover a new invigorating personal faith in the presence and power of a powerful, personal God.
And if you are wondering, “Where is this church going?” We’re in the Loop Back. We’re discovering Fresh Faith. We’re dreaming again. We’re asking, “What if?” We’re answering the question from Jesus, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
And if you’re interested in discovering Fresh Faith for your life, then we’d love to have you loop back with us.
I-(Irresistible)
Acts 2:47
…and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
I’ve noticed that the kind of evangelism that most churches do is very resistible. People have no problem resisting it.
In fact, they say most churches have made the gospel sound a lot more like a legal proposition than good news.
What I notice about the early church was that what they had was irresistible to the world. The world was drawn to them, even though they didn’t even know why.
That’s why I like to describe our church as “a church of contagious joy…” We want to be so alive in the Lord that we are contagious. We want people to catch what we’ve got…and then for them to be glad that they did.
And the best way to be irresistible is to listen to others. People can’t resist the chance to tell their story to people who want to listen to it.
R-(Relational)
John 13:34-35
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
If the word Irresistible should describe our relationship to the world, then the word relational should describe our fellowship within the church.
Today, people are hungry for community. People aren’t looking for a friendly church, they are looking for a church of friends. A place to belong. A place to connect.
Our church should be a healthy web of healthy relationships. One of the hopes of my heart is that you will get connected with a Bible Study Group in our church. That’s one of the reasons we are starting at least 20 new Bible Study Groups in the next 20 months.
The reason we’re doing that is so that you can get connected with a group of people where you will have the opportunity to receive and give love on a practical level.
Relationships change us. They change us for the better or they change us for the worse. You show me your friends and I’ll show you your future. (Billboard of Grapevine Middle School)
My dream for every member of our church is that there are at least 6 people who have your phone number in their cell phone speed dial, and for you to have at least 6 people from our church in your cell phone speed dial. In fact, Bryan, I think that’d be a good question to ask every Bible Study leader. Does every person in your Bible Study Class have the numbers of 6 people in their cell phone and are they in at least 6 other people’s cell phone?
S-(Spirit-filled)
In John 6:63 Jesus said, “The Spirit Gives Life…the flesh counts for nothing.”
A church can have all kinds of programs and events, but they will all be lifeless and useless without the power of the Spirit.
Ephes. 5:18
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
I am a non-charismatic. I don’t speak in tongues. I do have 3 teenagers, and there is the chance that I have the gift of interpretation because I can sometimes understand what they say, but not always.
But, I’ll tell you something I noticed. When I was in Eastern Colorado, we had a church that was out in the country between Wray and Yuma. And what I noticed was that if you met someone who was really excited about Jesus and who was excited about their church…chances are…more often than not…you’d find out that they went to the charismatic church.
Now, I’m not saying I agreed with everything they did or believed. In fact, I didn’t. And I’ll tell you right now, they had a few odd fellows…but then again…so do we.
But I came to the conclusion that I was a lot more worried about their mistakes than Jesus was. I came to believe that Jesus was able to do more with their mistakes than he was with most people’s dead orthodoxy.
Frankly, a lot of Baptist people I meet are like the ones Paul met in Acts 19. You ask them about the Holy Spirit and their reply is: “We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit is active in our world today, but there are several ways people relate to the Spirit.
(1) You can Resist the Holy Spirit. Stephen said of his kinsman, “You always resist the Holy Spirit.” This is what unbelievers do.
Now, the Bible says that all Christian’s receive the Holy Spirit when they are saved. That’s what makes you a Christian. If you haven’t received the Holy Spirit into your life, then you are not a Christian.
BUT ONCE YOU RECEIVE THE SPIRIT THAT ISN’T THE END!
(2) You can Grieve the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit prompts us in an area, convicts us of sin in our lives, but when we ignore Him; when we willfully sin against the Lord, it grieves the Holy Spirit. I was just reading where in the days of Noah, the Lord was sad that He had made man because they were so sinful. I wonder how many Christians have made the Holy Spirit sad because they are so sinful.
(3) You can Quench the Holy Spirit. What’s the difference between grieving the Spirit and quenching the Spirit? It’s this. Grieving the Spirit has to do with the way we live. Quenching the Spirit has to do with how we respond to the Spirit when He starts working in our lives or in our worship services.
This is why we must learn to Obey the Spirit Promptly.
ILL: My wife and went shopping the other day… “You could wear this.” Finally, she says, “Your problem is you thought we came for me to buy something.”
Boom! It hit me that this was just the way we quench the Holy Spirit. It’s as if we turn to the Spirit and say, “Your problem, Holy Spirit, was that you thought I was going to obey You, but I was just wanting to see what were my options.” Gatorade Spirit Quencher right there.
Obey the Spirit Promptly.
And that relates to our attitude when we come to worship, too. We need to get into a mood where we are open to the Holy Spirit. On about Thursday I start thinking about Sunday and I tell myself, “I’m going to be in a preaching mood.” I get up on Sunday, and I think, “I’m in a preaching kind of mood…” I’m not saying, “Boy, I’m going to give it to them.” No, I am saying to myself, “I am going to be open to letting the Spirit flow through me.” That is, “I am going to allow myself to be filled with the Spirit.”
And that’s what we’re commanded to do in Ephesians 5.
What I want to see happen at FBC is that we become a church that is willing and hungry…to be filled with the Spirit.
Why aren’t Christians always filled with the Spirit?
ILL: Let’s say you get out of church and you say, “I am hungry for ribs…” and you go to your favorite restaurant and you look at the menu and you say, “I am hungry, but these ribs are too expensive…” And the waitress, she just looks at you. She says, “You don’t have to order ribs, but if you want them, this is how much they cost.” And because you are hungry for ribs, you say, “I’ll pay the price.”
The problem with us is we’re not willing to pay the price to be filled with the Spirit, and the Lord says “Well, that’s the price.” You ask, “Pastor, what is the price?” Are you ready? Obey the Spirit, promptly.
T-(Truth)
ILL: Telephone answering machine “Hi, this is John. If you are the phone company, I already sent the money. If you are my parents, please send money. If you are my banker, you didn’t lend me enough money. If you are my friends, you owe me money. If you are a woman, don’t worry, I have plenty of money.”
We want to be a church that’s built on the truth of God’s Word. Jesus said we are to worship the Father in spirit (that means with enthusiasm) and in truth. That means what we believe and what we do must come from God’s Word, because Jesus, Himself, said, “Your Word, O God, is truth.”
Judges 21:25
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
And, wouldn’t you agree with me that this pretty much describes our land today?
Yet, the Bible says:
Proverbs 14:12
There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
That’s why the vision for our church must be that we be a Bible-based church.
2 Tim. 3:16-17
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Notice the 4-fold power of the Scripture:
(1) It teaches us what is right, according to God
(2) It rebukes us. (It shows us right where we are.)
(3) It corrects us. (This means it shows how to get from where we are to where God wants us to be.)
(4) It trains us. (As we follow the Word, we become stronger and stronger in actually doing God’s will.)
ILL: What about Vince Young and the Texas Longhorns? I have to admit, it was the best performance I’ve ever seen.
But, it made me think about another recent superstar whose life has soured.
Maurice Clarett.
A timeline of events surrounding former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett:
December 2001 - Rushes for 10 yards a carry and scores 22 touchdowns during the regular season at Warren's Harding High School. Named Ohio Associated Press Mr. Football and USA Today's high school offensive player of the year.
Aug. 20, 2002 - Listed as starting running back, the first time a freshman has opened as the starter at the position since 1943.
Jan. 3, 2003 - Dives into the end zone on a 5-yard run, providing the winning score in a 31-24 double-overtime victory over Miami to give Ohio State its first national title in 34 years.
July 29, 2003 - Ohio State confirms the NCAA is investigating Clarett's claim that more than $10,000 in clothing, CDs, cash and stereo equipment was stolen in April from a 2001 Chevrolet Monte Carlo that Clarett had borrowed from a local dealership.
Sept. 10, 2003 - Athletic director Andy Geiger announces Clarett is suspended for the season. Geiger says Clarett received special benefits worth thousands of dollars from a family friend and repeatedly misled investigators.
Jan. 1, 2006 - Clarett is accused of robbing two people at gunpoint in an alley behind a Columbus bar and is wanted by police on two counts of aggravated robbery.
What’s the deal? He didn’t have his life based on truth.
And here’s the bottom line. If your life isn’t built on the truth, it’s just a house of cards. It’s going to fall…sooner or later.
I wonder today, “Is your life built on the truth?” It all starts with taking Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of your life. Have you done that? If not, then today is the day to make that change.