What Have We Learned
The past 40 Days has been one of the greatest periods of blessing that I have ever experienced in my own life. I also believe that the same is true for our church family. Elaine and I are finishing six years here in Fredericton. They have passed so quickly for us. In that same time we have seen things take place that I will never forget. I would like to make some of those things happen again but I know that today’s manna is for today. When we try to preserve today’s’ supply for tomorrow’s experience it turns sour.
Each new day brings new supply, fresh and blessed.
But for the past 40 days, God has visited us in our Sunday gatherings, our small groups, our homes, our hearts. I think that He has helped us to understand the path that he is ordering for our faith family. In the recent years, we have been changing, as the world has been changing. And the necessity to change and adapt will never be over if we are to effectively minister to an ever changing world. Change brings blessing but it also brings difficulty and angst to all of us.
As we have considered together the 5 purposes for which we have been created, God has been dispensing grace to accept and to better understand what He has already been doing among us and in us.
Look at the scripture with me. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 11:2,
"Remember today what you have learned about the Lord through your experiences with Him."
The Bible says we are to remember the lessons we have learned; otherwise, we have to learn them over and over and over and over.
I have stopped teaching Tae Kwon Do this past fall. One of the most difficult things as a teacher was to have to re-teach the same lessons to people who didn’t practice what they had already learned. The failure to practice what we have already learned limits our experience of God. You can’t skip past unlearned lessons with Him. You can’t go on to the next chapter until you finish the one that you are in the middle of.
I remember being at a Steven Covey seminar a few years ago in Halifax. As we learned portions of the seminar he had us stop and gather in groups and re-teach what we had just learned. It is the greatest way to retain what we have learned.
What have we learned about God?
· It's all about God, not me.
The Bible says in Hebrews 2:10,
"God is the one who made all things and all things are for His glory. He wanted to have many children share His glory.”
It is so easy to drift from this truth. When we feel unappreciated or discouraged or overcome with trouble we become the center of our own attention. Whenever we center on ourselves we lose spiritual perspective. Whether life is good or bad, we center on the Son of God. The more we do this the more clarity we gain. The more we center on ourselves the more confusing life becomes.
You were made for God. And the Bible says that God made us for His forever family. God is creating a family forever, and you were made to last forever.
The Bible says,
"Everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him.”
Have you ever wondered what the world would look like if you removed God from the equation? I can’t imagine it but there are many people who try to make sense of life apart from the essence of life. No wonder we are so restless. No wonder we are driven, stressed, dissatisfied, disillusioned. It’s like being lost in a maze and never being able to find the exit. The meaning of life begins with God and is defined by His purposes.
· God still does miracles. As long as God is, there is hope. He is not confined by human understanding or limitations. I believe that God’s limitations are the outer limits of our imaginations. The scripture says in Ephesians 3:14-21:
" For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." [1][1]
How about this?
"But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”" (1 Corinthians 2:9, NKJV) [2]
There are people who live their entire Christian experience telling other people’s stories. God is forever in the miracle working business. I believe that He is in the process of revealing His miracle working power in this place. He is writing His story, His miraculous story, in our lives.
What have we learned about life?
1. Life is preparation for eternity. Life is a very brief experience. The Bible calls it a vapor. Its brevity would leave us asking, “Is that all there is?” It’s sort of like a trip to Disney World. I remember the first time I went. They have developed the illusion of movement to its highest form. Snaking lines that make you feel like you are close to climbing aboard, never far away, but always waiting for some experience that is over in a fraction of the time that you have invested in the line. A day in the Magic Kingdom is a lot about waiting and when it’s all over you’ve had a few thrills and spent a lot of money and you’re not quite sure why, a people trap operated by a mouse. Life is not the end, it’s the journey through the vestibule. Eternity is the destination and we’ll be living out of a suitcase until we get home.
The Bible tells us that. Look at what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:11.
“God has planted eternity in the human heart.”
There's more to life than here and now. You are an eternal soul passing through a material moment.
Man's life is made up of 20 years of his mother asking him where he is going, 40 years of his wife asking him where he has been and one hour at his funeral when everyone wonders where he is going.
-- Sermon Builder
2. We were put on earth for 5 purposes.
· I was planned for God's pleasure. You're not doing well to begin with. I was planned for God's pleasure. The Bible word for that is "worship." Absolutely. Front row, you're letting me down, but there's a smart one right back there, those guys are smart, man! Secondly, I was formed for God's family. Family. I was planned for God's pleasure.
· I was formed for God's family. And the Bible word for that is "fellowship." We're on a roll now.
· I was created to become like Christ. And the Bible word for that is "discipleship," becoming like Jesus Christ.
· I was shaped to serve God. This is only a couple weeks ago, so we should get better on these last ones. I was shaped to serve God. The Bible word for that is "ministry," that’s what God made me for.
· I was made for a mission. And the Bible word for that is "evangelism.”
·
What have we learned about spiritual growth?
We grow through making commitments, and we grow through fellowship. And if anything summarizes what the last 40 days has been all about, it has been about those two things: Making commitments and fellowship. It takes more than coming to church to grow. You have to act on what you learn. The Bible says in James 2:17,
"Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead."
You can go to church the rest of your life; if you don't do anything about it, it does you no good.
Most of this church family has made commitments over the past 40 days. Weekly, 250-300 people have gathered in small groups. We have baptized people on 4 or 5 different Sundays. This has happened without any prompting other than the Holy Spirit of God speaking to people. Some have found their way through the book and it has made a tremendous impact on their lives. Others have taken specific steps to minister to people.
The point is that we do not grow sitting and listening. We grow by making commitments, and the people who have grown the most in the last 40 days are those who stepped up.
We also grow through fellowship because God's plan always involves other people. You cannot grow on your own. That is a myth. In other religions, the holy man is the person who hides himself away from humanity and lives up in the mountain by himself. Not in God's Book. God says if you're going to be holy, you have to be around other people, because holiness is love and you can't love people unless you're around them.
I’d like to have you stand today if you have attended a small group during the 40 day campaign. The youth have been studying the material in the midweek meeting. The children in Jr. Church have heard sermons on the same topic. Together we have embraced this emphasis and the result has been undeniable – together we have grown.
Proverbs 27. Let's read it aloud.
“As iron sharpens iron, so people can improve each other."
How about a wave offering today if you believe that you have come closer to God in these last 40 days of your life? How about a 4 syllable praise word?
Look at this next verse, Philippians 4:9, let's read it aloud together.
“Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Going ahead with God is not about trying to preserve a particular emotional place in your life. It’s not camping out on the mountaintop when there is work to do in the valley. But it is about practicing the things that we have learned together.
Look at Hebrews 10:25.
"We should not stop gathering together with other believers. Instead, we must continue to encourage each other even more."
Your experience with God is meant to be intensely personal but your growth experience is never private. There is a very real element or accountability. When you begin to call yourself a Christian you are accountable to others who call themselves Christians as well. It’s like wearing a military uniform. When you have that on, you represent the armed forces and there are certain expectations that you have to live up to as long as you are wearing that uniform and making that identification. The way you live before others determines the level of receptivity that there will be to the next person who calls themselves a Christian. When people write your profession of faith off, they are writing others off as well. We grow as a part of a community of faith.
So we've learned a lot. We have learned a lot about God. We learned a lot about life. We have learned a lot about growth.
What did we learn about our community?
· People are hungry for spiritual truth. I was talking to Lee, the lady at Tim Hortons. I found out that she was from Grand Manan. She has taught in the Territories and may have to return there to teach. Some years ago, her husband drowned in a fishing accident on Grand Manan and she was left children to raise. She returned to school and earned her degree. This past summer she lost her younger brother – 42 years old, to cancer. I told her the other day that I was moving her to the top of my prayer list. Do you know what her first question was? “Where is your church? I’d like to come there.” That wasn’t the point. She was open to spiritual truth and something stirred inside her when I mentioned prayer. Don’t believe the lie that people are disinterested in spiritual things. The Bible tells us in John 4:
"Look around you! Vast fields of human souls are ripening all around us and they are ready now for reaping."
So what would God have us do from here? We have some exciting days ahead. The Lapointes next Sunday morning. What a great opportunity to invite people to church. Congrats to the Lapointes on their ECMA award. If there is something that would be easy to invite people to, this would be it.
On the 13th of March in the PM service we are having our 40 Day celebration. Please plan to attend whether or not you attended a group, but if you did, don’t miss this service. A pot luck in the gymnasium.
On the 20th of March we are having a kids baptism service and a service geared toward our children.
The Easter celebration on the 27th. That weekend will be a busy one for us as the choir presents “Road of Sorrow – Road of Joy”. Please pray for this production!
And don’t forget about the Power Team as they visit with us during the first week of June.
And now what?
· Start living what you have learned.
Put it into practice. All the knowledge in the world is worthless unless we practice it.
Let’s look at a few scripture verses together:
First from John 13:
"Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."
The blessing doesn't come in knowing the purposes of life. The blessing comes in doing the purposes of life.
Let's read the next one, Ephesians 5,
"Live life with a due sense of responsibility, not as those who do not know the meaning of life but as those who do."
Everyone of us are a bit more responsible than we were at the outset of the campaign. As we understand more, we are responsible to live in that knowledge – to flesh it out in our everyday living.
· I was planned for God's pleasure, so I better worship God today.
· I was formed for God's family, so I better fellowship with some other believers.
· I was created to be like Christ.
· I was shaped to serve God.
· I was made for mission;
therefore, I should build my life on these things. I can't go back. As Philippians 3:16 says, look at the next verse,
"Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it!"
Some people are already going through the book again to anchor some truths in their lives. Valerie Dale is leading a group at St. Annes and I understand that she has had a request to do another group for some residents who were not a part of it on the original pass. At least one of the original group members accepted Christ as a result of this group and Val’s ministry. Praise The Lord!
I have a sheet taped on my office door. Some time ago the pastors began to meet on Thursday mornings apart from our regular staff time for personal spiritual growth and accountability. I have asked each of the pastors to schedule and hour daily to spend with God. During this time they are to read scripture and structure the balance of that hour in some manner that would help them to become more like Christ. They record their daily commitment on this sheet on my door.
One of the things that I have decided is that I will read God’s Word at the outset of the3 day before I allow myself to read anything else and I will take it in at the end of the day. It will be the first and last thing that I set my mind on. What a blessing this has been to me.
· Pass it on. Pass it on. One of the most fundamental truths I learned right after I gave my life to Christ was this, and it changed my life: you only keep what you give away. And you will not retain the things you have learned unless you pass them on. God doesn't want you to be a reservoir. He wants you to be a funnel. God wants to make us into conduits of spiritual truth.
I believe with all my heart that God is doing a brand new work at First Wesleyan Church. He is recreating a faith culture to sustain a new work among us and through us.
Romans 1:8 is a verse I think of when I think about you:
“I thank my God through Jesus Christ for every one of you because the news of your faith is spreading throughout the whole world.”
Our job is to be the church, God’s job is to build it. If we do our part, then the growth is assured. Anything that is living and vital is growing. And God is breathing life into this fellowship that is impacting the community around us. “Your faith is spreading” – that is certainly true of this people and this church
The Bible says in Psalm 126,
“The Lord has done spectacular things for us.”
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[1][1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Zondervan: Grand Rapids
[2] The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Thomas Nelson: Nashville