The State Of The Church
[Editor's Note: Pastor Watts shared a review of the previous year in his church. He lays out God's plan for the church in the coming year. Disregard the year involved and look at the idea of what this pastor did for his church.This is a great way to help your church see the weaknesses, strengths, and goals to be considered in the life of a church
Introduction
Welcome to a New Year. As most know, today’s message will be a little unique if not unusual. Today’s message has more of a collective than personal message. However, the last part of this message will be highly personal.
The year 2008 is now history. We cannot amend, change, rewrite, or correct any of the happenings of last year. History is written and that calendar is both filled and closed. Whether we are proud of our actions and activities or not, they are written in stone. The past cannot be changed, we can only review, remember, and/or reflect on what we might learn “To Do” or “Not To Do”.
The year 2008 contained highs and lows, promise and pain, good and bad, as well as the wonderful and the difficult. In beginning this New Year as God’s family, let’s begin by reflecting and reviewing some of the highs and lows of 2008 — then let’s look ahead to the opportunities that lie before us in 2009.
As a communicator, most of the time I would begin with the positive, good, or the plus and then share the negative or the difficulties; however, today let’s walk the stairway from the lowest to the highest and march into this year expecting God’s best.
I. Let’s Onside Our “Valleys” Or “Difficulties
I begin at a very personal level. Within our congregation and extended friends, I have had more than one family express the difficulty they faced in 2008 and quite honestly, they are scratching their heads in wonder. May I pause to offer these families a word of perspective? As you will hear during the “Blessings” section of this message, I believe that during this past 12 months we have begun raising our desire to serve God to a new level and when you do this, the enemy gets after us (and you may not even realize who’s responsible). This is like a “Job” complex. Staying personal, among us are those who have suffered incredible losses during 2008. We have buried loved ones, others have buried careers, retirement funds, and the list goes on. While some might think this doesn’t affect the church family, anything which impacts any member affects every member.
With respect to the church, we must acknowledge that our number of baptisms fell sharply as did Sunday School attendance and we had only a few 1st time visitors. Additionally our LEG ministry, while good in some ways, did not give the “intentional discipleship” which we had longed for.
Consistent attendance at all church services is down. This seems to be the same phenomenon which existed in the first century church and was addressed by the writer of Hebrews. He wrote, “Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves — as is the manner of some.” In Acts 2, Dr. Luke points out what God expects for His Bride when he said, “They were All Together and In One Accord." Lack of consistency in attendance and participation dishonors God and His plan.
One of the other valleys we have experienced is not to embrace the call to prayer. Before anything of eternal consequence will happen in our classes or services, there must be conscious, consistent, and compassionate prayer. Every Sunday morning from 8:25am - 8:55am this worship center is set aside as a place of prayer. Today, I am calling for two things. First, please honor this effort by being respectful, quiet and in an attitude of prayer during this 30 minute time slot. If you happen to ease through this room and no one happens to be praying at that time, Please do not take it as a license to break the spirit of the morning. In fact, the second call is for commitment to praying for 5 or 10 minutes each Sunday morning. My dream is to have people slipping in and out for prayer every Sunday morning.
Finally, the most heart-wrenching decision a church can have is to change the status of a staff position. The church family chose to follow the directions of the church leadership to change the status from having a music director to an associate pastor and for some, a staff change was required. God has honored our courage and faithfulness. After months of purposeful, patient, and prayerful seeking, we believe God had led us to the man who will join us where we are and assist in leading us to where God wants us to be. These can be exciting days.
Having simply stated these valleys, may I suggest we “forget what is behind” except maybe to see how we can improve our faithfulness and commitment, and take a look at the highs.
II. Now Let’s Consider Our “Mountaintops” Or “Blessings.”
This section could be a message unto itself. God has given us or “granted” us so much for which we can be thankful. I begin by reminding you of the Community Revival last February. We saw over 800 people come together every night with many life-changing commitments made. This year we are refining this meeting and are hoping for the week to be even more blessed by God.
Some 18 of our men completed the 6 month training called “Men’s Fraternity,” plus went as a group and heard Steve Farrar. Additionally, the Men’s ministry gave oversight to the Mississippi Mission trip.
The Women’s Ministry refocused their vision and headed-up both mission and ministry to people in our community. This includes close to a half-dozen families in the November-December time frame.
During the summer time Tina Hamilton came on board to coordinate our Preschool/ Nursery ministry and we are being blessed by her leadership in that area.
In August our Children’s Team was “refit” with GREAT results. Also this fall we have begun our Junior church for grades 1-5 with great success. (two baptisms today). Also in August, we fed over 750 in our Community Meal effort. It was a great act of faith and work of God that we fed all these people.
During December, people offered to our congregation and community Christmas Music which was both entertaining and inspiring. Additionally, not only have we made inroads with our young people but our SALT (Happy Trails) is truly on the rise with over 70 people in attendance at the Christmas party.
While all these are great, I have saved my personal favorite for last. During this past year we seemed to have lost some in the family which we Needed to lose. It is the family of “They.” As a personal word of encouragement, I am hearing “less and less” about what “They” say while at the same time, I hear about people who love God standing firm but loving again. The loose talk which harms the body, hinders the words, and is hated by God is waning. It is only when God’s people make a conscious decision to become like Him those things happen which can only be explained by Him.
Now that we have reviewed last year, let’s hear and adhere to the words of Paul and “forget what is behind, reach for what is ahead, and pursue the goal of God in Christ for us.” The goal of God for us?!
Wonder what that can be? As we will hear tonight’s message, in Christ Jesus God has a specific plan for His people. A huge part of His plan is for His children to spread the “Joy”. Joy is to be a huge part of the family!
III. God’s Plan For HBC Is To Be A “Culture Of Joy!”
Think about it, in the midst of a spiraling society, God has called us to be THE very answer to the questions of today. Those answers are found in Joy.
Think about all the places in scripture where joy is mentioned. David prayed, “Restore the joy of my salvation”. The second listed fruit of the spirit is joy. Paul tells the Philippians to “Share Your Joy.” For years we have quoted Nehemiah as saying, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” In John 15, Jesus expresses His desire for His Joy to be in the disciples who that their joy might be complete. It seems to be me that we should be a people and place of Joy. Joy does not depend on comfort, on your ability to get you way, on your ability to live without problems, or even having a big bank account. Joy is the outgrowth of something bigger than you going on in you and growing in you. I’ll offer us a simple recipe for “Joy”.
A. The Letter “J” Stands For Jesus
The “J” stands for Jesus. “Jesus First!” While we might “know” this intellectually, it is far different to practice this practically. The first step to joy is the first step to peace which is the first step to abundant and eternal life which is Jesus. Last year, I offered the acrostic “Jesus” and called us to be a “Jesus Church”. That is, a “Joyful, Encouraging, Sensitive, Unselfish, and Serving” body. Isn’t it interesting that to be a joyful church means that Jesus comes first? Here is the “deal-breaker”, Jesus can never be first in the church until He is first in the lives of the believers who make up the church. He must be first, not second or third or “just on the list” of things which are important to us. He must be first for several reasons. The top reason is that He Is Lord and Knows Best. This is a difficult concept for some to grasp because most of Us think we know best for our lives, our families, and even the church. The truth is that He knows best and that He is Lord. Another reason is this; whatever has first place in our lives becomes our master. Jesus has told us that “no one can serve two masters.” Jesus half brother says it this way, “anyone who attempts to serve two masters becomes a mental case—and is unstable.” Let’s play this out a little. Have you ever held two jobs?
How did that balancing act go? How about this? For years I have watched people as they tried to be a part of two church families.
While this might seem “highly spiritual”, my observation has been that they’ll like some things and not like some things in one and at the other church the same thing will happen and the result is that “over the years” – they fall by the way side because of this Biblical principle “no one can serve two masters”. Candidly, the person who puts Jesus first is a person who will put Jesus’ church first. How do I Know that I am putting Jesus first in my life?
1. I Put Him First In My Eternal Decisions
My decisions about eternity must be controlled by Jesus’ instructions and directions, this is my beginning point. Jesus tells us He is The door to the Father. This means He is the door to eternal life. We do it His way or we go the Other way. Please do not be duped into believing the gospel according to Oprah—there is indeed only One way, and that way is Jesus. You eternity hangs in the balance.
2. I Put Him First In My Everyday Decisions
There is no way to make Him first in your everyday decisions if you haven’t made the eternal decision to trust Him. If you have, now He’s expects and even Demands to be a part of your everyday life! This means He is in on your job, your social habits, ‘after hours’ activities, your finances, your relationships, and your schedule. Putting Jesus first means that I attempt to make the decisions which honor Him and His gift of grace He’s extended to me.
B. The Letter “O” Stands For Others
Next, others come before us. It seems that every time I offer this type of thought to any crowd, that I get a massive eye roll because this cuts across the grain of today’s culture. Today’s culture is wrong! In fact, the title of next week’s message is “A New World Order” and identifies God’s way. For just a moment, let me speak to those of us who are Over 40. (Hang with me students, it’ll be worth it) To those of us in our mid-to-senior years, don’t you remember, like I do, when the Golden Rule was still taken seriously? Am I the only one who recalls that our culture and country was strong when we believed it was “better to give than to receive?” and when we saw our parents “put up with” instead of selfishly demanding to have their own way? We even had a hymn about it. “Others, Lord yes others. Let ‘this’ my motto be. Help me to lives for others, that I might live like Thee.” I remember a world like that and candidly, I want it back.
Yet I am keenly aware that the only way it will be recovered is to begin in a godly fellowship just like this. Where one by one we make a conscious decision to place Jesus and others before our own selfish interests. Turn to Philippians 2 with me for a moment and let’s read verses 1-5.
These five verses have been studied, taught, and preached many times and it always comes to that Last statement, “Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus.” What was Jesus’ attitude? He placed you and me before Himself, endured the cross, and bore the pain. He calls us to do the same. Some will say “That’s not true, Jesus died for us so that I might live. What pain must I bear?” Jesus says, “Take up your cross” and no cross is pain free. Putting others before self means the pain of self- denial. It may mean sitting in a pew where we’ve never sat to allow a newcomers to sit where we’ve always sat. It may mean parking where we’ve never parked to allow someone else to have ‘our spot’. It could mean silently enduring music or activities which are not your favorite because you know someone else’s heart is being touched. The list could go on and on, but for the sake of time, let’s end our journey;
C. The Letter “Y” Stands For You
Finally, put yourself (or myself) last. Yikes, anyone besides me who doesn’t particularly like this? Know why this is? Because of the sinful of mankind and the constant attack of Satan telling us that this world is All about Me! Jesus said it this way, “Whoever is first will be last, whoever exalts himself will be humble and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” It is a sad day for a professing “believer” to actually believe their press. To believe we are as good as we think is self-deception, to believe that everything will go our way is self-deception, and to believe that God wants us to have everything our way is self-deception. The model of Jesus offers us a picture of “self-denial.”
The old chorus said it this way, “It you want Joy, Real Joy, Wonderful Joy, Let Jesus come into your heart.” For us to become a “Culture of Joy” we must become a “People of Joy.” For us to become a “People of Joy”, I must become a “Person of Joy.” To become a person of joy means that consciously I put Jesus first, others second, and myself last.