Filling in the Cracks

Intro

Good Morning Everyone! I pray that you are well! My name is Matt Coby, and I am the Pastor of Students and Outreach here at EBC.

Last week, Pastor Jeremy talked to us about “turning the World Upside down” for the Gospel. He referenced Acts 17:6 and introduced our new model (EBC Time) and gave y’all the overview of the different levels. This morning, It’s my goal to do a few things.

Goals:

My first goal for our time together this morning is to Glorify God through the reading and preaching of His word.

My second Goal is to address and break down the first 4 levels of EBC time, so that you will be just as excited for future as we are!

My final Goal is for each person present (either in person or online) to walk away from this time wanting more. Not more stuff, Not more things, but more of Jesus. That we will be willing to reevaluate our current priorities and commitments in light of the Gospel message and what Jesus has done for us.

Go ahead and grab your Bibles and turn with me to Matthew 28

“EBC Time” Model Review

In case you weren’t able to be here with us last week. Here’s a quick review.

EBC Time the Biblically based,Multi-Level, Vision moving forward for EBC.

Our goal is to meet people where they are in there faith, and walk alongside of them as they grow in Christ.

Body

For years, I have heard the same statement packaged in hundreds of different phrasings. We have conversations that begin with, I haven’t seen so and so in a while, or “Man, I miss so and so I wonder where they are?”

Ultimately, this can all be summed up in a single statement, “They just fell through the Cracks”, And that Brings us to the Title for today, “Filling in the Cracks”

What does this mean? It can mean a ton of things, but most commonly it means that we as the “Church” have failed.

More Often than not, It means that at some level, there was a need that we failed to address or meet, and that person or family became disconnected from the Church.

Of Course, there are acceptions, and sometimes we weren’t in the wrong, but most often when people fall through the cracks, they are hanging by a string of hope that someone is going to reach out and pull them back up. That someone will show that they care.

Statistics

Based on the Barna Group study about how Americans relate to Christianity, found weekly church attendance had declined from 45% in 1993 to 29% in 2020

And While the Barna Group hasn’t included Gen Z yet, the study did show that while church attendance for the four older generations (Elders, Boomers, Gen X and Millennials) rose between 2009 and 2012, it’s declined going into 2018 and beyond.

Elders, the oldest tracked generation by Barna, is still the most active in their church attendance… 37% of them attending weekly. I’m sure this will be stunning, but Millennials bring up the rear with just 25% attending weekly.

Since 2012

Elders church attendance has dropped from 53%-37% that’s 16%

Boomers from 44%-32% that’s 12%

Gen x from 41% - 29% that’s 12%

and Millennials 36% - 25% that’s 11%

So while it’s true, that the milennial generation has the lowest church attendance %. It’s actually the other three generations whom have declined the most over the last decade.

No wonder we are seeing the turmoil and division in our world today.

We, as the Church, have an open wound and we’re bleeding.

and you may ask, “What can we do?”

Well, That brings us to “EBC Time”

Come

Learn

Grow

Mature

Let’s start by asking this question.

What does the Bible Call us to be? Christians or Disciples?

In a recent message, Robby Gallaty, Pastor of Long Hollow Baptist Church in the Nashville Metro area, answers this question by pointing out that the Bible uses the word “Disciple” or some form of it around 290-300 times. The Word “Christian” is used less than 10 times. Gallaty suggests that it’s only 3 times. and that two of the uses of this word were insults.

Hear me when I say that I am a Christian, and I have no problem with that terminology. However, i do believe that many people believe that the word “Christian = Convert” instead of “Christian = Disciple”

In Matthew 28 we see Jesus’ final formal address to the 11 before He ascended into Heaven.

Matthew 28:16–20 ESV

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

What is a Disciple?

Rev. Stan G. Smith from First Baptist Church of Hendersonville Tn. Said it this way, Webster's definition of a disciple is "a pupil or follower of any teacher or school."[i]  A true disciple is not just a student or a learner, but a follower: one who applies what he has learned.  Thus, a true disciple will ask, "What would Jesus do?"

So, Let’s work from that definition this morning, “A Believer who APPLIES what He/She Knows.”

A Disciple is CALLED to be a part of a Biblical Community (Come)

The Need to be actively involved in the Church

Are we more in the world than we are in the word? Not saying that we cannot be in the world, but are we buoyant with the Word of God to keep us afloat, or are we sinking?

Genesis 1:25–26 ESV

25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

A Disciple is CALLED to Spiritual Growth (Learn/Grow)

Biblical Illiteracy and the Innerancy of Scripture are two big issues that we need to resolve

“Get em Saved, Get em Dunked, and send em out!” WRONG!!

A Disciple is CALLED to Accountability (Mature)

Who’s Your Paul, Barnabas, and Timothy?

Do you have a group of Strong Believers around you that Hold you accountable? Have you given them permission to do so? or do you get defensive?

Dgroups - Holding people accountable and Giving people permission to hold you accountable