Revitalization
Revitalization • Sermon • Submitted
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· 38 viewsThe church is called to five functions: Connect, Grow, Serve, Go, and Worship.
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Intro
Intro
Good morning Church! It is great to be back in the house of the Lord gathering as followers of Christ.
Over the next few weeks I want to share my heart with you pertaining specifically to the church and where God is leading us as the body of Christ.
The past few years have been difficult on everyone including the church. According to the Scriptures, we will go through difficult times. But we need not fear or worry about those times for the Bible tells us in Psalm 46 that:
Psalm 46:1–3 (NASB95)
1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah.
Isaiah 41:10 (NASB95)
10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
Psalm 32:7 (NASB95)
7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.
I could go on and on about how we need not worry or fear at what is taking place in the world today. If anything, I believe that as Christians, as the church, as followers of Jesus, we live in an opportune time to live out the Gospel like never before.
We as the church have one of two options. We can either run and hide from all that is going on in the world, or we can take what is meant for evil and allow God turn it around and use it for good.
I believe all that is going on in our world is not only the unfolding of the prophetic Word of God, but it also an opportunity to catapult the church into the next season of a great revival and outpouring of the Spirit of God.
While we here at New Life are great supporters of missionaries abroad, we must not forget that we too have a mission field right in front of us. That mission field is called Corning. That mission field is called your place of employment. That mission field is the gas station. That mission field is Safeway, Sav-mor, Walmart, or wherever you go!
Jesus tells us that,
Matthew 9:37 (NASB95)
37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
Jesus is looking for workers. He is looking for a working church. Not a church that sits on the sidelines and worries about every little detail in life - finances, gas prices, food costs, health problems - you name it.
I believe the church as a whole has been in a revitalization process over the past couple of years. Those who choose to go through the process will live on and stay focused on the mission. Those who choose not to will close their doors.
Church, I refuse to be a pastor who closes the doors. I refuse to give up on the mission field that Christ has died for. My prayer is the same prayer that Jesus has.
Matthew 9:38 (NASB95)
38 “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
Church the harvest is right there, it is right outside these four walls. Here is what we need to understand about this harvest. It is plentiful.
It is not a small harvest. It is not a couple of people. It is a GREAT harvest! I don’t believe God has entrusted us with such a great property as we have here at 660 Solano St. Corning, CA just so a couple of people can know Jesus.
I believe that God has entrusted into our care this facility and its property to gather as many as we can for the Kingdom of God.
My heart isn’t to grow New Life. My heart is to grow the Kingdom of God. My prayer is that those that come to Christ are taught here, trained here, and then sent back out into the world to gather more of the harvest!
My prayer is that we raise followers of Christ who will become missionaries, pastors, evangelist, church planters, those who have a passion to know Christ and to share that knowledge with all who will listen!
Jesus is beckoning us to go out and gather the harvest!
The Old Ways
The Old Ways
As I mentioned in our last series we as the church are at a crossroads and the next step we take will determine our direction.
Jeremiah 6:16 (NASB95)
16 Thus says the Lord, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
In this revitalization of the church, when I say church I am not speaking of the building but the followers of Christ, we should go back to the ancient paths.
The ancient paths that we should be seeking out as a church are outlined at the birth of the church in Acts 2. God has already put into place a plan as how the church can be revitalized.
Revitalize - permeate with new life and vitality
Over the next few weeks we are going to look at this plan by looking at how we as the church are called to function. There are five functions of the church that is outlined in Scripture that will help us to fulfill the call to gather the harvest.
Connect - Loving Fellowship
Grow - Spirit Empowered Discipleship
Serve - Gift Oriented Service
Go - Missions & Evangelism
Worship - Spirit Led Praise and Prayer
Acts 2:42–47 (NASB95)
42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
43 Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.
44 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common;
45 and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.
46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,
47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Each week will dive into on of these five functions and I believe that if we function the way God has designed us to function, we will begin to see the harvest that Jesus said was out in our community.
Spirit Empowered
Spirit Empowered
Before we can get into the functions of the church, we must first recognize that we as a church need to be Spirit Empowered.
What this means is that without the Holy Spirit’s involvement in our church, our mission, our vision, values, and plans, all we will have is programs.
Jesus said this,
John 15:26–27 (NASB95)
26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,
27 and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
John 16:7 (NASB95)
7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
As a church, we must be focused first on being inspired by, led by, and helped by the Holy Spirit in order to function the way God has designed the church to function.
Sadly enough there are many in the church world who believe they don’t need another in filling of the Holy Spirit or feel that their church has enough of the Spirit. Some even go as far as believing that the Holy Spirit isn’t needed even when it comes to planning things for their church or even their personal lives.
The truth is we need the Holy Spirit active in every part of our lives. Jesus called him the Helper. One who will help us live a Spirit Empowered life.
Every church, every follower of Christ needs to have an infilling of the Holy Spirit. Our cry should be that of the Prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah 64:1–3 (NASB95)
1 Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, That the mountains might quake at Your presence—
2 As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil— To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence!
3 When You did awesome things which we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence.
This world NEEDS the presence of God like never before!
We do ourselves and the church we are a part of when a great dis-service if we think that we have nothing to gain by praying for more of the Holy Spirit.
Let me clarify what I mean by more.
I am not speaking of more of God. Too often we pray, “God I want more of you!” You can’t get any more of God than what you have.
Listen to what Paul says.
Colossians 2:9–10 (NASB95)
9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;
The FULLNESS of God dwells in bodily form.
What Paul is saying is the FULLNESS of God, everything that He is dwells in Jesus. So Jesus carries all that the Father is.
Paul also says in:
Colossians 1:27 (NASB95)
27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
So if the fullness of God dwells in Christ and Christ dwells in you…do we really need to ask for more of God?
Looking at the Scriptures we do not see the disciples of Christ asking for more of God, what we see is them learning how to walk in fellowship with God and to renew their minds to what they have already been given.
If we are going to walk in the 5 functions - Connect; Grow; Go; Serve; Worship - that we are called to walk in, we must learn how to walk in fellowship with the Spirit of God.
Galatians 5:16 (NASB95)
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
Walk by the Spirit
Walk by the Spirit
We cannot have more of God, we already have the fullness of who He is through Jesus Christ, what we need is more from Him activated in our lives. This takes place when we walk by the Spirit.
The key to receive more of the Spirit is to have less of you.
John 3:30 (NASB95)
30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.
Some want more of God and are not seeing more of God active in their lives because they have yet to get out the way.
Let’s make it a little more personal.
Some of you want to see more of God active in your life but you have yet to get out the way!
Sadly many in the church world don’t want to get out the way. I have seen the Spirit of God stopped because there were those who were caught up in their own ways. They were caught up in the traditions of men. The root of this type of mindset is self.
Jesus addresses this.
Mark 7:9 (NASB95)
9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.”
The religious folk in Jesus day were experts in not listening to the Spirit of God and doing what they wanted to do how they wanted to do it. Because of this, they missed out on a-lot that Jesus had to offer them.
Freedom and Life.
Traditions are not bad nor evil in and of themselves, but when we hold the tradition of man over the command of God, we are not being Spirit led. This is the complete opposite of what we are taught in the Scriptures.
The only way to increase God is decrease ourselves. The way we decrease ourselves is to set our minds on things above.
Proverbs 23:7 (NASB95)
7 For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, “Eat and drink!” But his heart is not with you.
What you think, you become.
Colossians 3:2–5 (NASB95)
2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
The mind is a powerful weapon. The mind will dictate who you are and direct where you will go.
In order to function the way God outlined in the Scriptures, we must change the way we think!
1 Corinthians 13:11 (NASB95)
11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.
What Paul is saying here that when he was a child he did certain things, spoke different things, even his thought process was different. But when he grew up into a man, things changed. His actions changed. His thought process changed.
As a Christian, we ought to speak different, act different, and think different! As we walk with Jesus and led by the Spirit we should grow out of the things of this world.
We should grow out of immorality, impurities, evil desires, greed, lust, getting our own way, selfishness, which all lead to idolatry.
We live in a world today where it is all about idol worship. The idol that is worshipped is self. This ought not be in the church that is Spirit led, Spirit filled, and Spirit empowered.
When it is about us, it ceases to be about Jesus.
Abide in Jesus
Abide in Jesus
If we desire to walk in the Spirit, we must abide in Jesus. Abiding in Jesus is living your life in the continual presence of the Spirit of God.
John 15:5–6 (NASB95)
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
This word abide means “to remain as one, not to become another or different”.
When we walk in the Spirit, we become like Christ. Over and over we are told in Scripture we are to be like Jesus.
1 John 2:6 (NASB95)
6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
Galatians 3:27 (NASB95)
27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Galatians 2:20 (NASB95)
20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Closing
Closing
Church family, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. We are looking for co-laborers who are Spirit filled and Spirit led in order to reach our community with life changing message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit active in our church, in our ministries, in any program or outreach we do, we do it all in vain.
Acts 1:8 (NASB95)
8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
We can only be a witness for Christ when we are Spirit led and Spirit filled.
Zechariah 4:6 (NASB95)
6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is…there is freedom!
Prayer
Prayer