“Enlarge Your Tent”

We are creatures of habit / we all like we used to / actually our tendency to resist… being stretched / Dangerous at times

Great blessing of new church / new opportunities / but a new church won’t necessarily change you / New building wont change your prayer life / your dedication to outreach / ministry / Could be caught in a rut / Problem / For most of us Ruts define the way we live

We get up every morning / get out of that some old bed / put on same old clothes / walk to same old table / eat same old breakfast / pack same old lunch / put same old kids on the bus / kiss same old spouse / drive same old car / to same old job / get off same old time / drive down same old street / pull into same old drive / have same old dinner / get back in same old bed / Get up next morning / do the same old thing all over again / And you think to yourself / that’s life…. Friends THAT IS NOT LIFE!

Two hunters got a pilot to fly them i far north for elk hunting / They were quite successful / bagged six big bucks / The pilot came back, as arranged, to pick them up / They started loading their gear into the plane / including the six elk / But the pilot objected / "The plane can only take four of your elk; you will have to leave two behind."

They argued with him / the year before they had shot six and the pilot had allowed them to put all aboard / The plane was the same model / same capacity / Reluctantly the pilot finally permitted them to put all six aboard / When the plane attempted to take off / leave the valley / it could not make it / they crashed in the wilderness

Climbing out of the wreckage / one hunter said to the other, "Do you know where we are?" "I think so," replied the other hunter / "This is just about the same place we crashed last year."

Someone has said "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is called insanity"

We don’t mean to / but we settled into ruts / For some that means spiritual barrenness / We slipped into rut / became spiritually soft / Then our lives no longer bear the same kind of fruitfulness for God’s purpose

Isaiah 54 / COI were experiencing spiritual barrenness / They were thirsty for God to do something in their life / Tired of the same old answers / same old dialogue / They were honestly seeking God to feed their souls

Have you ever felt like that?

Your life has the same old things it had a year ago / You find yourself searching for meaning / in the grayness that just seems to blend from day to day / Isaiah is writing about people who are craving meaning in their life

Maybe you can hear Isaiah calling to you today / Maybe you can hear God whispering in your ear today

The key to Christian living is to go when God asks you to go

Isa 54:1-3 “Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, You who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate Than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.

2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes. 3 For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the nations, And make the desolate cities inhabited.

God has a bigger plan / We have created the space / Now we must go to the next place where God wants us to go / Spread out to the right and to the left / But In this text the question that God is asking is “Will YOU Grow?”

There are some common misconceptions about how to grow spiritually

A NYC businessman moved to the country / bought a piece of land / Went to the local feed store / talked to the owner about how he was going to take up chicken farming / Then bought 100 chicks / "That’s a lot of chicks," commented the owner / "I mean business," the man replied / A week later the new farmer was back again. "I need another 100 chicks," "Boy, you are serious about this chicken farming," / "Yeah," the man replied. "I just need to iron out a few problems." "Problems?" asked store owner / "Yeah," replied the man, "I think I planted that last batch too close together."

We cannot grow by burying ourselves / expecting sprouts / To grow spiritually There are things you need to do

I. Enlarge Your Capacity For God

God wants to be made known THROUGH us / means bigger purpose / going to take enlarging

A. Making room to grow

1. Prayer of Jabez / great example of this

a. 1 Chron 4:10:Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!

1. God did just that / enlarged his territory

2. It’s not wrong to ask God to bless you / I recommend you praying for His blessing / but for right reason

a. Jabez was not asking for selfish reasons / but centered on allowing God to expand his area of influence

B. God wants to expand your influence for his purpose

1. The measure of our lives is not what we consume / but what God can do through us

a. Principle for Christian living: We live to Give

1. It’s woven into creation

Salmon spend the last days of their lives battling upstream to spawn / They have an intuitive sense / that they exist for the purpose of birthing new life

2. It’s not based on our ability / but on our expandability / God needs expandable tents / people He can use

What is bigger? Water Bottle or Balloon? But which will hold more? Ballon! Water bottle is restricted / can’t expand

a. It’s not about our current size / but ability to stretch with what God wants to do

3. It’s why Jesus said you can’t put new wine into old wineskins

a. Old wineskins grew old / lost elasticity / ability to stretch / grow / change / expand in God’s capacity

1. To expand your influence / you must expand your capacity

a. Remember faith is not a word / it’s an action / By faith… (Heb 11)

II. Stretching Your Commitment

A. Stretching has the tendency to cause pain

Everyone stand up / without bending your knees / bed down touch toes! / Yeah it hurts! / working certain muscles!

1. In order for us to stretch ourselves to what God asks us to become / it will require some pain

a. Both as a church / but personally as well

2. You expand your influence by expanding your capacity / Stretch your commitment / It’s like muscles

a. Do you know how you make a muscle stronger?

1. You have to tear down some of the cells / by over-committing your muscle

B. Now I don’t expect you to sign up for every ministry available

1. But take a serious / healthy look at the amount of spiritual commitment you are currently undertaking

a. Our church is at a crossroad / we’re growing / people getting saved (will you be part of their lives?)

1. We know what kind of sacrifice has to be made

a. Thank God for those who have increased in giving/service

1. Others / can God stretch you / to be a part of what God wants to do in Farmington?

b. Can I encourage you to stretch your commitments to God?

2. Do you know why we come to church? (Yes, I hope you come / leave refreshed / encouraged…)

a. Main reason we come to church is to give! / We come to praise God / give honor / give glory to Him / give of ourselves to others / Build on relationships with others in the church / have deeper relationship with God

C. Ask God / how can I get involved in some kind of Service?

1. What is God calling you to do?

I remember a Men’s Discipleship / Pastor Heimberg / said God speaks to you about your calling in many ways / for most it’s the thing you think is missing in church / so you complain about it over and over / why doesn’t someone start that ministry / Ever stop to think it’s on your heart / mind / because He’s calling YOU!

a. For some just cleaning the church would be a stretch / helping pack things up for an outreach

b. Others maybe volunteering time at local shelter / read Christmas stories

c. Maybe it’s volunteering / local troubled youth home / maybe preaching in the jails / youth detention center

d. Maybe it’s as simple as preparing a dinner once a month for new convert / family

1. There are a number of ways to become involved in service

2. Allow God to make you uncomfortable / Those growing pains will subside / Your commitment will be larger.

III. Expand Your Influence

A. How Big Is your Tent?

2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes. 3 For you shall expand to the right and to the left

1. In this verse Isaiah says you need to spread out to the right and the left

a. Means we need to make a mark on a land / that does not yet know who you are?

1. Other words / Expand your influence

A defendant in a lawsuit involving large sums of money was talking to his lawyer / ’If I lose this case, I’ll be ruined.’

’Would it help if I sent the judge a box of cigars?’ / ’Oh no! This judge is a stickler for ethical behavior / A stunt like that would prejudice him against you / He might even hold you in contempt of court / In fact you shouldn’t even smile at the judge.’ / Within the course of time the judge rendered a decision in favor of the defendant / As the defendant left the courthouse, he said to his lawyer, ’Thanks for the tip about the cigars. It worked!’

His lawyer said ’I’m sure we would have lost the case if you’d sent them.’ ’But, I did send them. ’What? You did?’ said the lawyer, incredulously. ’Yes. That’s how we won the case.’ ’I don’t understand,’ said the lawyer. ’It’s easy. I sent the cigars to the judge, but enclosed the plaintiff’s business card.’

2. Not the way we should seek to influence others

a. God does want you to use your influence in a positive way

1. I think you may not realize how much your influence effects other people

B. Simple Biblical Truth(write this down)

1. We reap what we sow

a. Your return will only be as great as your investment

2. When you enlarge your capacity for God by stretching your commitment / God will expand your influence

Steven Covey says that the best was to expand your circle of influence is to stop being reactive. He suggests that instead of being controlled by our environment, that we become proactive and begin to take charge of our lives.

a. We can expand influence by showing concern for others / anticipating their needs before they do / before they ask!

3. The best way to expend our influence / is to expand our circle of concern

a. Churches that grow / are churches that show a genuine concern for their community / for other people

1. Which is the call of Christ! / It’s what Jesus did / over and over / again

b. Not just love those like you / but even those who might irritate you

1. Expand your circle of concern / Go out of your way to show people the love of God

C. You say how can I do this? (Glad you asked)

1. Ask yourself how can I reach people in our local area?

a. My prayer is that we begin to expand our influence

1. Who knows… endless options / Maybe it’s appreciation dinners / preparing meal for someone in need

2. Maybe new outreach / ministry

b. By the grace of God / I hope that He calls us to more areas of concern for our city

2. You say that’s great but what could I do?

a. Easy / go pray for a stranger in the hospital / help someone in need / minister to the lost

1. Take a visitor out to eat / OR… invite them into to your home!

a. Lots of things we can do to increase our influence

Someone has said that no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.

3. The way to influence people for Jesus / is to expand your circle of concern

2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes. 3 For YOU shall expand to the right and to the left

You might need to come clean about your life and accept Jesus as your Lord and savior.

Perhaps you want to start making a difference / allowing God to use you in new way

You might need to make a commitment

If Jesus is telling you to expand your life to accept him come forward today.