State of the Church 2024
State of the Church • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Well this is I have been told by my wife one of her more favorite sermons
This morning is our State of the Church Address
I think we like this because it is sort of a one stop shop on what God was able to do last yr
Yes we talk numbers because it is a measurable thing we can track, but it is also in the Bible
We also know that God was able to accomplish more than the numbers will ever show
You can’t measure sometimes what the Holy Spirit does
And before we look back at 2023 I wanted to take this opportunity to remind you of our Vision Statement at Maranatha Baptist Fellowship
To make Jesus KNOWN to people
We know that known is an acronym
KNOWN
KNOWLEDGE - to have an understanding and knowledge of who Jesus is, what He did and how that affects me personally.
NEW CREATION - to know that because of Christ’s death on the cross and His resurrection I can have a personal relationship with Christ. And because of that relationship I am made new in Christ
OBEY - To know what Jesus said and to follow through with it. To do what Jesus says.
WITNESS - to share Jesus with those around me at the Holy Spirits Leading
NECESSARY - To have personal Bible Reading, Personal Prayer is necessary to my own growth in Christ
That is our goal, mission and vision as a church
We want to Make Jesus KNOWN to people
If you will recall our verse in 2023 was
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
We know this is part of the 10 commandments
We know this is a command from God to have no idols
To have nothing in place of God
And church we know that if there is anything in the place of God then it needs to removed
Last yr that was our verse
We sort of started the yr with that verse and even ended in on Dec 31 with a recap or a reminder of that verse
To always keep it in front of us
Because we know that sometimes things get in the way and church to be honest they need to be dealt with
Sometimes is a reordering that needs to happen in your life
Maybe family members or relationships have gotten out of order and jumped into Gods place in your life
Not that you need to remove that relationship or family member all together but you need a reordering of things
But we also know that sometimes it is other things that get in the way of God’s rightful place in your life
And for those things church it is sin or pet sin that has been allowed to attach it self to your life
And church that is the stuff that needs to die
And we understand that it won’t happen over night but church if you expect to grow as a individual and if we expect to grow as a church
Things in our personal lives need to be rearranged and somethings all together need to die so that God can be in the correct place in your life
Church we continue to allow idols to reign in our lives and expect to grow in Christ
That was our verse for last yr but church understand it is something we must continue to do flee from idols
So as we look at the numbers for 2023
We had an average attendance 73 during Sunday School which is once again slightly up from last year
Church that is exciting you see and understand the value of getting into to smaller groups to study Gods word together
We have an average attendance of 96 during Big Church
And During Big Church we sang 333 Songs
I am a bit old school for me Big Church is our Worship Service
Church even that was slightly up from last yr
Well done on getting to church and showing up
It is good to be in Sunday School and Big Church
It is important that you are here
We have Sunday School for all ages
From the Nursery to the Seasoned Citizens and everyone in between
I have been going to the different Sunday School Classes and I have been so excited because in the classes I have been to
Church everyone of them opens their Bibles and reads from it
Praise the Lord church that we have Sunday Schools that use the Bible as the Authority
Last year was Twist and Turns VBS
Vacation Bible School
The Theme was that Following Jesus Changes Everything
What a great night
We had such a great time teaching
I did get to teach the Kindergartens and church that was a lot of fun
We were able to eat some really really good food each night to help us be prepared for those kids
We had an average attendance of 89 adults, kid, and youth each night
What a joy that is to have those kids each night
Those kids raised 557.86 for First Baptist Church in Madison, KS for help in purchasing a new projector
Last year we were able to come and Help Be Filled with handing out school supplies at the school in Montara
As well as coming back in October for their Fall Festival and cooking Hot Dogs
And Yes church I was able to help cook hot dogs
Out Youth Group has been very very busy
They took 23 Youth to Super Summer this year
To accomplish that church you all gave 9589 dollars to the Youth Group to send them to Super Summer
Our Youth group has gone on
They have memorized 7 different passages of Scripture
And gone through some very good studies
Probably most notable they are currently going through the book of Deuteronomy
And church they don’t shy away from those awkward sometimes difficult verses
Our AWANA Program is off and running
These kids show up each week and get to listen to Bible Stories which are true accounts and then how they apply to their own lives
I get to work in the TNT and what a joy it is to see these kids wrestle through memorizing scripture
Last year we graduated 4 students from our AWANA Program to our Youth Group
So very exciting
Last year our budget was 220,000
We brought in 248,446.68
We spent 216,130.08 which means we brought in 32,586.60 more than we spent
As best I understand the funds
Praise the Lord church you are good stewards of what God has given us
We also raised 5,211.17 for Annie Armstrong and 5,228.00 for Lottie Moon, that is 10,439.17 that we sent directly to the mission field
We ask that you give 10% of your income a tithe to the Lord we see that in scripture
So Maranatha Baptist Fellowship also tithes
We give 6% of our general income to KNCSB which last yr was 13,184.24
We gave 4% of our general income to Flint Hills Association which was 8,790.17
So our total tithe last yr as a church was 21,974.41 that we tithed back to KNCSB and Flint Hills
Add that to our Missions Giving we sent out 32,413.58 praise the Lord for that Church
As things change so does our budget
Last yr it was 220,000 this yr we have set a budget at roughtly 235,223 dollars
Praise the Lord church you have a Kingdom Missions Mindset with your giving
Last yr I believe our goal was 20 baptisms
We fell short of that goal
So next yr church we will keep that goal the same
To see 20 Baptisms for 2024
in 2023 we have 6 Baptism
not the 20 that was our goal but church we got to baptize 6 people
Praise the Lord for that
We had 3 salvation's at VBS
Praise the Lord
Last yr 7 people joined our Body here at Maranatha Baptist Fellowship
Praise the Lord they were obedient to the call that God had for them to join our church
What a great year 2023 was
I know the numbers are just a snap shot of the work God has done here at Maranatha
I know there are many many more things that have happened
I know that some of you have grown in your walk
Some of you God has called you to do somethings
I want to encourage you to continue on
Church as we look to 2024 I believe we have 2 verses we know that things must be different
BRING OUT THE PULPIT
I will explain this in a few minutes
Our verses are
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Church things must be different
We can no longer be ashamed or quite about The Gospel Message
If we truly believe that it changes lives then we should be living different
We should be so bold with the Gospel that we are labeled those Jesus People
Church the Gospel will change lives
It is true
It has changed my life, my families lives, I have seen it change your lives
It will change your neighbors life, your co workers life
We don’t do the changing the Holy Spirit does the work we simply have to present the message
To do that Maranatha Baptist Fellowship is stepping our in faith to plant a church
I know we have said that before
But we are taking action steps to send Matt & Janara, Matt & Kayla and Ed & Crystal to Holton to plant Holton Baptist Fellowship
Church Matt and Janara are going to go through THE NAMB Send which is the church planting arm of the North American Mission Board
See what happens when the Gospel becomes the focus and we stop being so ashamed or quite with the Gospel
It will change your life
Not only will we be planting a church in Holton but we will renew our focus to reach Montara with the Gospel Message
It is for everyone not for us to pick and choose
But for us to simply present the Gospel Message
Church if the Gospel is our focus it will drive us and compel us to do what we can to reach the nations and the neighborhoods with the Gospel
That means things will look different
I am not even sure what that different means
But I do believe God is calling Maranatha Baptist Fellowship to plant or probably a more accurate description is to birth Holton Bible Fellowship
And then whilst we are doing that to reach Montara Neighborhood for the Gospel Message
Not to build up Maranatha Baptist Fellowship although that would be nice but our focus is Kingdom Growth
As we look to 2024 we have a 2nd vs
The Gospel must be our focus and our focal point
To accomplish that we need to ensure we are doing our 2nd verse
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
For the Gospel to be our focal point
For the Gospel to be our focus
We need to ensure we are being transformed from the inside out
Not from the outside in
I think some churches are all about behavior modification
Change your behavior and it will happen
To a degree that is true
Start reading the Bible and it will change you
The outside behavior is the reading of the Bible but notice it changes from the inside out
The Word of God gets inside you and begins to change you from the inside out
As I ended 2023 I started to read a book by Allister Begg
In that book he tells the story of him and another pastor preaching at a Pastor Conference
during the conference the other preacher would remove the podium so as to create a more casual talk with the people
After Allister would come on and bring the pulpit or podium back on so as to create more of a sermon
Allister draws this conclusion of probably the American church for sure but we have removed pulpits and dressed down the Pastor to the point of it becoming a more comfortable message just a talk in place of sermons that hit us right in the heart
So church we built a pulpit
Randi found the design
Chad did the steel work
Kevin and Erick did the wood word
Kevin and Erick put it all together
And Gary helped install it as founding Pastor of Maranatha Baptist Fellowship
And I brought the Cup Holder
Let me explain the Cup Holder
This is not a podium this is not a lecture
This is a great piece of art but it is more than a great looking podium
This is a pulpit
This is where we point to long after the pastor is gone, long after the sermon is done, long after the songs are done
This is where the Word of God Truth Himself is to be preaching, and Proclaimed to the World
That is what a pulpit is
It points us to the Word of God, not the pastor, not a preaching style but to Truth itself which is The Word of God
And church that should be our focus is the Word of God
that is what this does
It takes our focus and puts it on the truth of Gods Word
This pulpit stands
And it is not so easily moved
It is solid
So that our foundation has been and will continue to be Word of God and Christ as our foundation
Because our focus will be on the Word
That is what the purpose of this pulpit
To put our focus on the Truth that is Gods Word no matter who stands in the pulpit
Which is only part of the transforming of our minds
We must be renewed in our minds by the reading, teaching and church the preaching of Gods Word
But we also must be transformed by prayer
We recently went on a conference with other church leaders
My focus as we went to the breakout sessions was prayer
We have said this time and time again
Church for must be a praying church
It is imperative for us to be focused on Christ and the Gospel that changes our lives we must be praying
It will change us and how we see people
It will change us in how we respond to people
Church it will change us to the point we feel obligated to share the Gospel with a lost people in hopes they recieved Christ and are forever changed
Church to be truly transformed we must renew our mind through the reading of Gods word
Through the teaching and preaching of Gods Word
And through Prayer
Through personal prayer and through corporate prayer
To the point we will look to incorporate pray into our worship service for more than just a change in scene
To involve you the church in praying to God the Father as part of our worship service here at Maranatha Baptist Fellowship
I told you things will be different this year
We will continue to seek the Lord through prayer and scripture reading not only corporately but also personally
We will continue to be obedient as we are called to birth Holton Baptist Fellowship
As we are called to reach Montara Neighborhood for the Gospel of Christ
To do this it is imperative that both personally and corporately we be reading, teaching and preaching the Word of God
And to be praying both privately and corporately
CLOSING
Church as we come to a closing of our State of the Church address
I would call you to spend time in prayer
Prayer at the altar
Prayer at your seat