How the Church Grows

Introduction

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/susie-torres-brown-recluse-spider_n_5d6041d7e4b0dfcbd48d2c93

Brown recluse - stopped her dead in her tracks.

Early church - moving along quite nicely thousands of people coming to faith - then problems arise. Problems from the outside: persecution. Problems from the inside: Satan at work in hearts of Ananias and Sapphira. Problems because the church is growing too fast.

Problems that should have stopped the early church dead in its tracks (Both external and internal - a war gong on!) - persecution, Ananias and Sapphira, problem in - but church doesn’t stop growing!

How does the church grow? Important question - because we want the church to grow. If you are a follower of Jesus, you’ve given your life to the mission of God - to see people transformed by Jesus and grow in a relationship with Him.

It’s exciting when the church grows, and it’s discouraging when it does not.

We’re seeing growth at Northwood. How do we continue to create a church culture where we continue to see people come to faith in Christ, grow in Christlikeness, and go out on mission?

The church grows when we work hard for the sake of the Gospel.

What happened with Ananias and Sapphira did not slow the growth of the church. 5:14 - multitudes of people coming to faith. God working miracles - people hoping that Peter’s shadow would fall on them. (5:15)

Like chap. 4 - High priest filled with jealousy (5:17). A second time the apostles were arrested and told to be silent. But, they refused. (5:29)

5:39 - Gamaliel, a Pharisee, makes wise statement. They were not able to overthrow the church!

5:41-42 - Instead of simply letting them go with threats (ch. 4) now they beat the disciples (5:40) rejoiced in suffering (Jesus suffered, why shouldn’t we? Jesus’ story is our story.) and did not cease teaching and preaching. (Not did not cease to help needy, have Bible study, pray, etc.)

6:1 - continue to increase in number. By - estimated 20,000 people in Jerusalem a part of the church! God honored the labor of the disciples.

The church grows because the Gospel is preached even when it is difficult to preach the Gospel!

Sharing the Gospel actually works! (Football - One team will walk away champion - not guaranteed who… But… we know church walks away victorious - empowered by Spirit.) People actually get saved when we have the boldness to tell them about Jesus.

Expect us to talk about sharing the Gospel a lot. Why wouldn’t we? Jesus saves!

Expect us to push you to share the Gospel a lot. (50,000 people within 5 miles - we’re responsible for them. Take advantage of trainings! Don’t want to guilt you, but why wouldn’t you take advantage? I want you to be an expert in the Gospel.)

Open your mouth.

Expect us to pray for you to share the Gospel a lot. ()

NOT for the sake of numbers, but because God is worthy of the praise of every person who lives in our circle of influence.

Don’t think we’re interested in simply building a crowd - we’re interested in being on the front lines of a Gospel movement saturating our community.

The church grows when we work through our problems.

The church grows, and then there are problems.

Hellenist widows? Greek-speaking Jews - came from families that never returned to live in Jerusalem after the exiles. Adopted Greek-culture. But, late in life, moved to Jerusalem with husbands because they wanted to be in the Holy Land when they died. Husbands died, they were in Jerusalem by themselves - no family. But, converted from Judaism to Christianity.

Hebrew widows? Widows who grew up in Judea, husbands died, converted to Christianity.

Early believers took responsibility for caring for these widows, but Hellenist widows slighted. Not sure why - maybe language barrier. Clash of two different cultures - maybe some prejudices were arising.

When you reach all kinds of people, problems arise. Clashing of cultures, clashing of backgrounds we have to work through. Sometimes we simply overlook opportunities to minister. Someone accidentally gets left out. Sometimes there are bigger problems to work through - false teaching, etc.

Growth brings problems because people have problems. We’re one family, so we commit to work through the problems. When problems arise:

Don’t contribute to the problem. (A complaint arose… Why not go to apostles for help?) Some of us have a tendency to make problems worse instead of helping to work towards solutions. Gossip with others about what we’re missing. Or, negatively criticize leadership. Or, threaten to leave the church if you don’t get your way.

Be realistic about human limitations. No one in the church is perfect, and we’re never going to do ministry perfectly. Cut us some slack and show us some grace. Unrealistic expectations about what the church and its leaders can do. Some still holding grudge because church didn’t meet your needs. Time to move on. The goal isn’t to meet every single need but to share the Gospel with every single person we can.

Don’t expect a few to carry the load. (80/20 rule) It was not the the apostles responsibility alone to care for the church. Some of us continue to sit on the sidelines expecting everyone else to carry the load of ministry while we sit back and soak it all in. That’s just not the picture of a healthy church. () We share the load!

Staci locking herself out of her car. What do you do? Take the keys and keep your mouth shut.

A healthy church knows the goal and doesn’t let problems sidetrack us from the work God has called us to.

The church grows when we maintain our priorities.

The need was so overwhelming that it took the apostles away from their primary responsibility - prayer and teaching the Word of God.

Meeting the needs of widows was good and necessary, but they could not meet needs sufficiently and also focus on their priorities sufficiently.

Is helping hurting people with physical needs important? Absolutely! (, )

But, the church is more than a needs-relief organization. We’re on a mission to make disciples. () We make disciples by gathering people around the Word because the Word changes people. Giving someone a meal is a good thing, but a meal doesn’t change the heart.

Should we be involved in meeting needs of people? Should we care for homeless? Help widows? Minister to those in tough seasons? Absolutely. () But, not primary mission.

We meet needs to put the Word in action and to open opportunities to help people discover a relationship with Jesus. (If someone is physically starving, they’re going to have a hard time listening to the Gospel when all they are thinking about is food.)

Jesus wants us to meet needs of people. ()

The apostles want to meet the needs of widows, but they also want to maintain the priorities of this movement.

They know they cannot do it all, so they share the ministry. Seven men selected to minister to widows. (They are going to do much more than minister to widows, but that’s the responsibility given to them.) They don’t select random volunteers, but men filled with the Holy Spirit. Also, Greek names - men who could be sensitive to the Greek widows.

The church is Word Driven. If the church does not teach and preach the Gospel, it’s not a church. Lots of important things we can do, but we can’t let anything usurp that priority.

- Role of leaders not to DO ministry but equip YOU to do ministry. How do you help us maintain the priorities of the church?

Don’t expect a few to carry the load. (80/20 rule) It was not the the apostles responsibility alone to care for the church. Some of us continue to sit on the sidelines expecting everyone else to carry the load of ministry while we sit back and soak it all in. That’s just not the picture of a healthy church. () We share the load!

Be trained not just fed. You gather to get your “spiritual batteries recharged.” You’re hoping that something we say will help you make it through the next week - give you a little hope and then your off to not think about your church again until next Sunday. You want to be fed. Not a bad expectation - but fed for what? You get fed on a cruise ship. But, you get fed on a battle ship for a mission. You come to be trained. We don’t provide opportunities for spiritual growth because we have nothing better to do! We really believe God has something better for you!

Dive in head first. You say, “I don’t know what to do!” Well, do something! 1. What’s the ministry you can do that you don’t have to be told to do? Gospel ministry all around you. 2. How can you use your gifts and abilities in one of our church’s ministries? Just start somewhere. You’ll eventually discover where you fit. Don’t get frustrated and give up when you try something and it doesn’t fit.

The church grows when we anticipate life transformation.

Vs. 7 - And the Word continued to increase, disciples multiplied. Want that to be said about Northwood! Word increased because they worked through problems that allowed there to be more focus on proclaiming the Word.

We work hard to work through growing pains and engage people in ministry because we really believe the Gospel works. We believe lives can be transformed!

Vs. 7 - priests became obedient to the faith! Seed of the Gospel growing in unexpected soil! This is what we long to see!

Because God is faithful and loving, we believe He will change lives. So, we labor. We volunteer our time and gifts to the local church because we believe God will change people who are far from Him. We labor in prayer, we labor in service, we labor in sharing. We don’t give up because we believe harvest is plentiful.

William Carey - ministered in a culture that did not believe in Life Transformation. sermon - Expect Great Things from God, Attempt Great Things for God. https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/missionaries/william-carey.html

Live like we expect God to work

When you expect, you’ll attempt. Maybe you do not attempt because you do not expect.

When you expect, you’ll attempt. Maybe you do not attempt because you do not expect.

Believer: For faithful servants, thank you. It’s time. It’s time to get in the game. It’s time for you engage in ministry. It’s time for you to share the load with us. Time to repent of using the church instead of being used by God for the Gospel through the church.

Unbeliever: I preach every week anticipating a work of transformation in your life. I want you to believe the truth about yourself - you’re as inner. And, the truth about God. He loves you and gave His Son who died in your place and rose again. The church exists because of you - because we want you to know Jesus and grow in Jesus in such a way that you find purpose. This morning, give your life to Him.