On the Brink of Opportunity

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Intro: Open with me in your bibles to 1 John 2 this morning.
It’s not my intention to preach a sermon to you this morning.
What I would like to do is to take just a few moments to about the passion our Lord has for the lost and how we can appropriate that passion in our own lives.
1 John 2:6 declares
1 John 2:6 AV 1873
6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
This is a call for believers to be like Christ in EVERYTHING we do in this life.
And because everything that is great in life, everything worthwhile, everything significant and fulfilling is the result of one's unquenchable passion to pursue it,
it is also true that as we pursue success in the spiritual realm, we must possess a passion that is not our own.
But because we live in a culture that literally overwhelms us, overpowers us, and has a serious impact on how we think – our mental sharpness is dulled, and our mental capacities are dumbed-down.
So much so, that the reality of what is a legitimate goal, and what is an illegitimate goal can be deeply obscured and hard for us to distinguish.
As a result, it seems that many believers are content to just sort of sit and stew in the pew.
So when someone comes along who actually has a passion for the lost, the mindset of the stew-in-the-pew Christian refuses to get on-board with what he wants to do.
As I thought about that, I was reminded of a kind of modern parable of today’s church.
And because I think it is so powerful and relevant to what we’re talking about this morning, I want to share it with you.
On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little life-saving station.
The building was just a hut and there was only one boat - but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea and with no thought for themselves they went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost.
So many lives were saved by this wonderful little life-saving station that it soon became famous.
Some of those who were saved and many others in the surrounding area wanted to become associated with the station by giving their time and money and effort in the support of its work.
Suddenly new boats were being bought and new crews were being trained and the little life-saving station grew by leaps and bounds.
Now some of the members of the life-saving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and so poorly equipped.
In fact, they felt that a little more comfortable place should be provided, especially since it was the first refuge of those who were saved from the sea.
So they replaced the emergency cots with hospital beds, replaced the old furniture with better furniture, and enlarged building.
Eventually, the life-saving station became a very popular gathering place for its members, and when they discovered that fewer and fewer of its membership were interested in going to sea on life saving missions - they hired life boat crews to do the work for them.
About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast - and the hired crews brought in boat loads of cold, wet, and half-drowned people who were dirty and sick.
It wasn’t long before the beautiful new club became considerably messed up.
So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where the victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before they came inside.
At the very next meeting there was a split in the club membership.
Most of the members wanted to stop the club's life-saving activities altogether because it was unpleasant and a real hindrance to the normal activities of club life.
But there was a minority of the membership who were determined that the life-saving station would continue with its primary purpose of saving lives.
After several hours of discussion, a vote was called for and the minority was voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of the shipwrecked, they could start up a new life saving station of their own down the coast, and this is exactly what they did.
As the years went by, the new station experienced some of the same changes that had occurred in the old one.
Eventually it too evolved into a club - and yet another life-saving station was again founded further down the coast.
As it always does, history continued to repeat itself. And if you visit that coast today, you will find a number of luxurious and exclusive clubs along the shore.
And although Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters - most of the people drown today.
Because this parable of evangelism in the modern-day church touches our own church on so many levels, it brings up some very real questions.
Are we as individuals, so passionate about evangelism that it holds a high priority in our personal lives?
Or are we so caught up in other things, that when an opportunity to share the gospel comes along, it never occurs to us?
Are we as a church, passionate about evangelism because it is the central purpose of our existence?
Or are we so consumed with ourselves, that we can’t see anything else?
If our church is going to make the kind of impact our Lord commands His church to make in this world,
we’re going to have to do something dramatically different from what we’re doing right now.
Conclusion

It’s been well said that those who refuse to learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them.

But it can also be said that those who will learn from the successes of the past are sure to benefit from them.

When we look at church history, the historical record declares that the church made its greatest impact on the world when the people possessed a passion to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now we already knew that Jesus is our model for evangelism – right?
So the question we need to be asking here is how can we appropriate the passion of Christ into our own lives?
The first thing we need to do is to make a study of Christ...study His great love, study His deep compassion, study His tender mercy.
Secondly, we need to study Sin…its guilt, its power, its penalty.
Thirdly, we need to study the Sin condition – that is we need to make study of Sinners so we can better understand how to reach them where they are.
Now there’s only one textbook we’ll need for doing these studies: The Bible.
See for yourself what the Bible says about death and hell.
See what it says about judgment.
See what it says about salvation.
See what it says about the command we’re given to evangelize the lost.
And then Pray that God will give you a Christ-like heart for the lost – and a Christ-like passion to evangelize them.
Lord, fill our hearts with that passion.
Tear us loose from the trivia of life.
Give us thirsty souls that cannot be quenched except in the conversion of others.
And give us the passion of Christ to preach and to personally evangelize.
Help us to study Christ and to understand Him.
Help us to understand sin and the sinner.
Help us to understand what the Word of God says about all these things.
Teach us how to pray for the souls that we would see come to Christ before its everlasting too late for them.
And be with us now as we discuss the business of your church.
Let us be of one mind so there is no division or confusion.
And give us the mind of Christ so that every decision made here today will glorify you.
ORDER OF BUSINESS MEETING
The success of a business meeting is determined how prepared one is for the meeting. Most pastors and organizations desire to have smooth transition between items discussed or voted on. Having a Robert’s Rules of Order is nice to have on hand, but it is not necessary to conduct a successful business meeting.
I. OPEN IN PRAYER
II. CALL MEETING TO ORDER.
· The chair will call the meeting to order, which means that the meeting is officially starting.
The secretary calls roll to establish a quorum (50% + 1) to establish that one has a majority of its members attending this meeting to conduct business, changes, or elections on behalf of the church or organization. Once the roll has been called the secretary will record this number in the business minutes and give this number to the chair.
III. READ MINUTES OF LAST MEETING.
· The Chair asks the clerk: “Would you read the minutes of our previous business meeting the body?”
· The Chair asks the body: “I will entertain a motion to accept the minuets as read?
· Is there a second?
· The chair will ask: “Is there any discussion or correction concerning the minutes of our last meeting?”
· If there is none, the Chair will ask: “All in favor of accepting the minutes as read, vote by raised hand……Any opposed vote by like sign.”
· Chair reports whether motion carried.
*The secretary usually provides a copy of the minutes to every voting member to read over.
IV. CORRESPONDENCE.
· The Chair will ask “Is there any Correspondence that needs to be brought before the body at this time?”
· If there is, the clerk will read the first piece of correspondence.
· The Chair will ask: “Having heard the request of this correspondent, I will entertain a motion to accept it into the minutes of this meeting.
· Is there a second?”
· The Chair will ask: “Is there any discussion concerning the petition of this correspondent?”
· If there is none, the chair will ask: “All in favor of granting this request, vote by raised hand…All opposed by like sign.”
· Chair reports whether motion carried.
*The process will repeat until all correspondence has been dealt with
V. TREASURERS REPORT.
· The Chair will say: “I now direct your attention to the Treasurers report, and will allow everyone a few moments to look it over.”
· The Chair will ask: “I will entertain a motion to accept the financial report as read
· Is there a second?”
· The Chair will ask: “Is there any discussion concerning the Treasurers report?
The chair may ask that question 2-3 times or until they are sure there are no further questions or discussions needed.
· If there is none, the chair will ask: “All in favor of granting this request, vote by raised hand….All opposed by like sign.”
· The Chair reports whether motion carried.
*The treasurer will make a financial report of the church or organization. It is recommended that every voting member has a copy of the financials in hand while the treasurer reads the report.
*The financial report for a monthly meeting may not be as detailed as a year-end business meeting but it should include as many items necessary to conduct business. Most churches have computer software that makes their reports simple and concise.
Note: It is our recommendation that the financials include all the items that are usually listed in the year-end report. This allows a church board to budget and make adjustments if needed.
*Financials will report the beginning balance, incomes and expenses of the church or organization, and an ending balance. The income should be detailed as to list tithes, offerings, special offerings, projects, designated funds or departmental funds, and donations. (Some churches prefer to have a separate breakdown of each department or fund to show their income and expenses.)
*The expenses should include salaries, utilities, mortgage payments, loan payments, insurance, benevolence, office supplies, etc.
*If providing a monthly report, it is wise to have a column for current monthly income and have year-to-date totals to the right hand side to help with budgeting decisions.
VI. OTHER REPORTS
· The Chair will ask: “Are there any other reports that need to be brought before the body at this time?”
· If there is, the Clerk will read them one at a time
· The Chair will ask: “I will entertain a motion to accept the report as read….Is there a second?”
· The Chair will ask: “Is there any discussion concerning the report?
· If there is none, the chair will ask: “All in favor of granting this request, vote by raised hand…All opposed by like sign.”
· Chair reports whether motion carried.
VII. OLD BUSINESS.
· The Chair will ask the clerk: “Is there any Old Business for the body to consider?”
· If there is, the clerk will present the first piece of Old Business.
· The Chair will ask: “I will entertain a motion and second to (state the intention of the business at hand).
· The Chair asks: “Is there any discussion?”
· If there is none the Chair will ask: “All in favor of granting this request, vote by raised hand…All opposed by like sign.”
· Chair reports whether motion carried.
*The process will repeat until all Old Business has been presented and dealt with or re-tabled before moving on to New Business.
*The chair continues to entertain motions on each item along with votes with the secretary recording minutes of the meeting. This is a list of items that are needed to be addressed before the new business has been established. If this is a yearly election, there will probably be no old business. If this is a monthly business/board meeting, there will be some unfinished business that will either be decided upon or tabled.
VIII. NEW BUSINESS.
· The Chair will ask: “Is there any New Business to be brought before the body for its consideration?”
· If there is, the first petitioner will present the first piece of New Business.
· The Chair will ask: “I will entertain a motion and second to (state the intention of the business at hand).”
Ø If motion passes, the Chair reports it to the body and asks: “Is there any discussion?”
Ø If motion fails, the Chair reports it to the body and asks “Is there any other New Business?”
· If there is none, the chair will ask: “All in favor of granting this request, vote by raised hand…All opposed by like sign.”
· Chair reports whether motion carried.
*The process will repeat until all New Business has been presented and dealt with or tabled before
IX. MOTION TO ADJOURN.
Once all new business has been completed,
· The Chair asks, “With no other business, is there a motion to adjourn? Is there a second?”
· If passed, the chair will say: “All in favor of adjournment please vote by standing.”
· Close Business Meeting in Prayer.
Ø If elections are the order of new business:
An outline of the qualifications are read or given to each member for consideration. A list of candidates for each position can be nominated from the floor for consideration. Some churches prefer to bring a list of qualified people for positions being voted on to eliminate confusion, save time due to some who might not be willing to serve that position, and acts like a screening process to talk to prospective candidates prior to business meeting.
Nominations are presented, the type of position is read, and the chair states, “We are voting on the position of__________.” A ballot is given to each voting member. The chair states, “Please mark which candidate you wish to vote on.” Most churches pray before the vote is being marked. The ushers or board members pick up the ballots. If a candidate receives a 2/3 vote on the nominating ballot, it is deemed that candidate has won that position. If not, there will be another vote and will continue for 3 times and then the chair will state that the two receiving the largest amount of the votes will be considered and voted on for that position. The one that has the majority on the last vote wins. (The secretary and chair will confer on the number needed to win by dividing the number of voters by either two thirds or one half plus one)
To conserve time, some churches will allow the first vote to take place and will continue voting until the chair asks, “Does someone want to make a motion to accept the two with the largest amount of votes to be voted on?” A second is needed. The chair will ask, “All in favor say, Yea, all apposed, Nay.” A simple majority of that vote is the winner.
The chair will recognize the winner. Sometimes the winners are allowed to share a statement or thoughts about being newly elected.
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