Stopping to Remember

TEXT: Joshua 4:1-9

TOPIC: Stopping to Remember: State of the Church in 1999

Pastor Bobby Earls, First Baptist Church of Icard, August 29, 1999

This morning I want to share my heart with you concerning our church. As best I can as your pastor, I hope to share with you what I consider to be the present condition or status of our church.

Proverbs 27:23 says Be sure you know how your sheep are doing, and pay attention to the condition of your cattle.(NCV)

If we don’t mind being compared to sheep and cattle, I understand this verse to say we should from time take careful analysis of just how well our church is doing. How well are we doing?

Imagine if you can, that I am visiting with you in the comfort of your home. We are sitting together in your living room or around your dining table. I am there to share my heart with you concerning the state of our church.

This morning I am going to address with you the strengths and the weaknesses, the successes and the failures of our church. And then, I want to remind you of our vision for the future. I want to share with you what I believe God wants to do in the lives and the ministries of the people who make up the membership of First Baptist Church of Icard.

Before I do all of that, please take your Bibles and open them to Joshua 4, or follow the printed text on your listening guides or the screen.

Joshua 4:1-9 “1 When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, 3 and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’ ” 4 Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. 5 And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, 6 that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut of…”

Joshua 4 is a call to God’s people to remember what God had done for them. God’s people sometimes suffer from spiritual amnesia. The psalmist complained, They forgot what He had done, and the wonders he had shown them. Psalm 78:11

Yet God expects His people to remember His mighty acts in their lives. As a church, we need to recall the mighty things God has done for us.

God desires His people to appropriately and meaningfully remember what He has done for them.

1. GOD PRESCRIBES THE WAY WE ARE TO REMEMBER

We are to remember inclusively. Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, v. 2. Twelve representing all the people of God were each to carry a stone for a monument to God’s mighty acts.

We are to remember conspicuously. Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of Jordan, v. 20. The twelve stones were set up in a conspicuous place so as to cause all who saw them to ask “What mean these stones?” We ought to keep close to us reminders of the goodness of God.

We are to remember with vividness. The stones of remembrance were taken from the place right where the priests stood, v. 2. They recalled with vividness the might act of God.

2. GOD PRESCRIBES THE REASON WE ARE TO REMEMBER

We are to remember for the purpose of instruction. V. 6, We are to tell our children His mighty acts in every generation. Thus, we are to instruct all our members, and our new members, the things God has done for us.

We are to remember in order to instruct others. In verse 24, He did this that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and that you might always fear the Lord your God.

We are to remember for the purpose of commemoration. Very simply, the miracle of the people of God crossing the Jordan and entering the Promised Land, was the mighty work of God. We are to remember all that we have is of God and not of ourselves.

We are to remember for the affirmation of the future. The monument of stones was placed midway between Jordan and Jericho. They placed their memory halfway between God’s mighty deliverances in the past and the unknown challenges of the future. The God who had delivered at the Jordan was the God who could deliver at Jericho.

In summary, remembering God’s faithfulness in the past compels us confidently into the future!

Now, leaving the exposition of God’s word and speaking personally and practically. Let’s begin by remembering what our church has come to over the past few years in regard to OUR PURPOSE.

THE PURPOSE OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF ICARD IS TO GLORIFY GOD BY MAKING DISCIPLES WHO EXALT GOD, EDIFY BELIEVERS, EVANGELIZE THE LOST AND EXTEND DISCIPLEMAKING TO ALL THE WORLD.

The Great Commission passage of Matthew 28:19-20 reminds us that the end purpose of our mission in the church is to make disciples.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

That is our mission. Make disciples. So often our focus is on growing the church numerically that we forget to place importance on growing believers individually and spiritually.

What the Lord reminds me is that if we make disciples, then the church will grow. But our focus should not be on growing the church first, but on making disciples.

How are we doing when it comes to making disciples?

A few years ago, we didn’t know how to make a disciple. We didn’t know what one looked like. Today we evaluate all that we are doing on how effective we are in fulfilling our purpose of making disciples.

For example, it is personally exciting to me to know that our church now has a Small Groups Disciplemaking Ministry that has grown from one model small group a few years ago to fifteen small groups today. We have gone from twelve original small groups members to presently 164 persons in small groups!

Regarding the future, we will conclude what has been a three-year training in the T-NET Disciplemaking Process in April of 2000. We expect another two to three years before we have fully implemented this new Disciplemaking ministry in our church. But the results are already exciting.

Not only are more than 160 adults involved, but we also have four ABF’s or Adult Bible Fellowships, which help meet the need for fellowship in the disciplemaking process. Our worship also continues to improve which enhances our unity and vision as God’s people.

This is something God has done and we should celebrate it!

OUR EVANGELISM

FBI has been known as an Evangelistic Church. As we remember the Lord’s blessings upon us we have to rejoice over revival weeks that saw as many as 60 to more than 100 persons trust Christ as Savior.

We will remember that remarkable Saturday this past March when we threw the biggest party in Icard, our Block Party. The actual name of that event was an Evangelistic Block Party. Not only did we serve a wonderful meal to close to 600 residents of our community, and gave away food and clothing to the needy, but we also saw over 20 persons trust Christ as Savior.

Monday nights have always been an essential part of what we do in evangelism. This past year has seen a major shift in our Outreach and Evangelism as practiced on Monday nights. We might say we have experienced both highs and lows on Monday nights.

Although we had been sagging in our attendance and participation on Monday nights this past year, I am grateful that over the last six weeks, we have seen a major increase in the number of people coming out on Monday nights. In fact, we averaged about 40 people every Monday night even though we now only ask our members to come out only one Monday night each month.

We still feed all those who come out and provide childcare. By the way, we have returned to volunteer childcare on Monday nights. Our Deacons of the Week are asked to visit our guests and prospects on Monday nights. And if we are to continue to be effective in outreach and evangelism on Monday nights we must see every Sunday School worker participating. That means more than just teachers. That includes, care group leaders, and of course, outreach leaders.

I also want to challenge those small group leaders to mentor your members and train your disciples by enlisting them frequently to join you in outreach.

I am as excited about the next few months in evangelism as anything we have ever done. Our Celebrate Jesus 2000 Crusade in September will offer to our church an overwhelming harvest of new believers and their family members for us to reach in the months ahead.

In October we will experience another evangelistic special event designed to reach a large number of people with the gospel message in our Judgement House production. This will call for 100 plus volunteers in order to properly present this biblical drama.

OUR GROWTH

Let’s talk a moment about our church’s growth. I like the summary statement of the study for Celebrating God’s Pattern of Change for His Church. “Churches which embrace and respond to change are growing. Those which don’t, aren’t.” Over the years we have changed a lot. Growth will always involve change.

All living, healthy organisms, if they are growing are changing. The same is true in our church. One of the most noticeable or measurable areas of change for our church is our Sunday School. I have always believed the statement, “As goes the Sunday School, so goes the church.”

A healthy, growing, Sunday School is absolutely essential to church growth. What we have noticed as we have looked at our SS over the past few years is that we are not growing. In fact, we have been plateuted and declining. That is definitely a trend we intend to turn around.

Let’s take a quick look at a chart that will tell you a little of where we have been and are in Sunday School and our church’s growth. (Point out bar graphs on slide) What the graphs show is the number of baptisms, total church membership and Sunday School average attendance over the past four years, 1996 – 1999.

YEAR BAPTISMS MEMBERSHIP SS ATT.

1996 84 1043 410

1997 90 1106 430

1998 41 1202 398

1999 42 1235 326

The greatest concern I have is in the area of SS attendance. Since going to two Sunday Schools in April of 1997, our attendance has steadily dropped below 400 in 1998 and this past year saw a significant drop down to 326.

That doesn’t sound good, but I am very optimistic. Why? I have a number of reasons:

1. We have called a dedicated minister who is committed to seeing our church return to our previous SS attendance and grow beyond even those numbers.

2. As mentioned earlier, we now have four ABF’s whose leadership is enthusiastic about reaching people and growing their groups up to as many as 70 adults each.

3. Our return to one Sunday School. We are going back to what worked before. For seven straight years our SS attendance grew with only one Sunday School. We believe that can happen again.

One principle I have always believed is that “We Must Be Willing To Change.” Following close on the heels of that principle is another, “We Must Be Willing To Fail.” Not every change we make will work. That’s okay. It’s all right to admit some things will not work. Move on. Don’t spend time playing the blame game or accusing or saying, “I told you so.” Just learn from it and move on.

We are moving on. We have stopped long enough to remember, but now we’re moving on.

Close with the story of the lost little girl and the community that joined hands together to find her.