Vision Sunday: Equipped to Endure

Intro:

Last year God told me that the theme for the church would be to Walk by Faith

He showed us so much more than we through it originally meant

I thought we would be have a new building

That didn’t happen but there was something I saw on Social Media over Xmas break that ministered to me

It simply said God’s Timing is perfect

God has something for us but it will be in HIs timing

I have pastor friends who were meeting in schools when Covid hit and they are still struggling for a regular meeting place

We are in end times

The times will get worse before they get better, but God has given us what we need to endure to the end

Today is what we call vision Sunday

I want to give you the vision God has for our church in 2022

The theme is Equipped to Endure

Read Matt 24:9-13

Transition:

This section of Scripture is part of what is called the Olivet Discourse

This is an end times talk given by Jesus to his disciples on the Mount of Olives

Jesus mentions 7 birth pangs

Vs. 8 says all of these are the birth pangs

The figure of birth pains was commonly used by ancient Jewish writers, especially in regard to the end times.

Labor pains do not occur at conception or throughout pregnancy but just before birth.

This tells us that the return of Christ, or what we call the second coming, is at the end of the church age

When Jesus tells his disciples this they are at the beginning

Labor pains do not begin until shortly before delivery time, and they occur with increasing frequency until the baby is born.

In the same way, the events connected with the Lord’s return will not begin until just before His return, and they will occur with increasing rapidity, building up to an explosion of catastrophic events.

I believe this is where we find ourselves today

Jesus says that those who endure to the end will be saved

Many Christians are ill-equipped to endure which is why we see so many falling away

I want to show you four ways we are going to equip this church to be ready for the Lord’s return

I. Cost Will Be High vs. 9-10

To be equipped to Endure the Cost will be high

During the end times persecution will come against the church

Persecution against the church is at an all time high

Christians are hated worldwide, countries are making laws to restrict religious freedom, Pastors are being arrested for holding church services, workplaces are discriminating, and if you speak out they try to cancel you

Some Christians are being put to death

Because the heat is turning up many Christians are falling away

1 Timothy 4:1 ESV

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,

vs. 10 Fall Away = Offended in NKJV

Many will be offended

If that doesn’t describe today’s landscape I don’t know what does

The Cost to follow Jesus is getting high

Persecution and perception is making many Christians reconsider their faith

The rise of the Nones

It will also cause betrayal and hate within the church

“Persecution would reveal the traitors within the Church as well as the enemies without.” (Spurgeon)

I think you see three phases of the church being sifted

First, is the falling away (Cultural Christian)

Second, is those led astray (Consumer Christian)

Third, is those who love has grown cold

II. Love will Grow Cold vs. 11-12

To be equipped to endure you have to protect against your love growing cold

The amount of hate I see among Christians is astounding

The divide happening in the church is growing larger by the year

The number of areas that divide are also increasing

The sad things is that most of the areas that are causing this divide have nothing to do with issues inside the church, but outside

Sure there are areas like progressive Christianity, but areas like politics and health care are more divisive

Because of that there are many leaders within then church which are leading people astray

vs. 11 People will be Lead Astray

Jesus calls these people false prophets

A decade ago we thought these would be charismatic people who presume to speak for God

Today, these can be politicians, pastors, and people who become passionate about a cause that isn’t gospel focused but they attach Christianity to it

Thousands upon thousands of Christians have been led away from Jesus and care more about this idol than they do God’s Word

When that happens the Agape love of Jesus that the Spirit pours into our heart gets suppressed and we begin to hate those who aren’t as passionate they are

vs. 12 Sin will increase

In the last times world leaders and business tycoons will have a blatant disregard for sin

They will flaunt laws and they will call evil good and good evil

This will cause some Christian’s love to grow cold

When love grows cold there less openness to reaching the lost and ministering to the needy

This is the phase we find ourselves in now

Christians have lost the life that was in them

They just don’t care anymore

Self-preservation is the goal and anyone who threatens that is an enemy

A church where the love has grown cold will soon die

We run that risk as a church

Caring about issues more than Christ, attacking those who don’t see things your way, and losing hope because of the lack of justice can cause the love to grow cold

If your love grows cold you will find that you don’t have the endurance to endure till the end

III. Equipped to Endure vs. 13-14

If you’re going to endure to the end you need to be equipped.

I want to give you four ways that this church is going to equip you this year

We want you to be with us when we get to the end

Apply God’s Word

The first way you need to be equipped is to apply God’s Word to your life

I am shocked how many people I meet who have been Christians for decades who haven’t read through the whole Bible.

If you don’t have God’s word in you, you do it

If you can’t chew on the meat of the Word of God and only still drink the milk you can be a 50 year old baby Christian

Don’t expect coming to church once or twice a month is going to feed you enough to make it through the week.

This is why we have a Sunday service in the NT, and Midweek in the OT, Bible studies, and D-groups

This is all to get you to grow in your knowledge of God’s Word

If you aren’t anchored to the Rock, you will be tossed back and forth by every storm

Encounter the Spirit

The second way you need to be equipped is to encounter the Holy Spirit

Ten years ago I got a desperate phone call that my dad was in the hospital with heart problems

75 years of a bad diet finally caught up with him and he thought he was going to die

I got up real early the next morning and drove to Lancaster

I get to the Hospital and he is out in the hallway giving the nurses a hard time

I walk up to him and ask why he wasn’t in his bed

He told me that it was just angina

What most people call being led by the Spirit is really Angina

The early church was full of the Spirit and it exploded

Acts 4:31 ESV

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Sadly, too many people have been turned off by some crazy acting people and they don’t want to look stupid

We need to encounter the Holy Spirit

What do I mean by that

There needs to be times of prayer, worship, and waiting on the Lord

We have scheduled prayer on the 1st & 3rd Saturdays. The elders will be leading the charge with some of the Elders wives leading the Women

We will be scheduling quarterly nights of worship

I’m hoping to include others churches

When we invite the Spirit to work in the church, He feels more welcome on Sunday mornings.

Increase Our Love

The third way we need to equip ourselves is to increase in our love

There is an old song that we used to sing in Sunday School called Deep and Wide

We need to deepen our love for those who God has brought to our church and we need to widen our love to include more and more different types of people

The way we fight our love growing cold is to increase our love for one another

We are going to include more fellowship times in 2022

Take the Next Step

vs

2 Corinthians 5:6–7 ESV

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.