New year, New Challenge

 

 

            Good morning everyone, I’m glad to be with you today. Several of you have been asking how I made out last week in Halifax, and I‘ve been told, I did quite well, they were able to replace a few drains and stints.

So thank-you for your continued prayers for my family and me during this season of life. You have no idea what it means to us.

I’ve been doing some praying lately. Lying in a hospital bed for hours on end, allows one time to pray.   Along with praying, I have been doing some dreaming about what could be possible here at MRWC--- but I’m getting ahead of myself.

            As we are still unwrapping this new year, I would like to do a couple of things this morning: I want to take you back, and I want to move you forward.

            We as a church have seen some great things over the last 4 ½ years; allow me to mention just few of these things:

            Life change- we have been blessed to see over 20 decisions for Jesus in the last few years! This loved ones, is cause for celebration!

            More people will be in heaven because of their commitment to Jesus, here at our church.

            We have also seen over 40 people go through the waters of baptism! This is another reason to celebrate! Lives are being changed because of our church!

            I have had the awesome opportunity and privilege to dedicate 10 children to God. If you are a parent of one of the children that I held in my arms and dedicated to God: Thank-you!

Thank-you for trusting our church to help in your child’s spiritual development. (I also want to ask you to HAVE MORE BABIES!!!!)

We have made significant improvements to our Sunday morning experience; we have an awesome children’s program, and have seen growth not only numerically, but also spiritually.

This is terrific and something to get excited about, and to give thanks to God for!

If you have prayed; given to; or volunteered for anything in our church over the last several years, Thank-you!

There is no way we could have done, or still do what we do without you, so thank-you!

But, we must not stop here. As good and awesome and wonderful as all of the above mentioned things are; I’m praying and dreaming for more.

I’m praying and dreaming for more, because God has called us to move forward, not stay where we are, even though it might be comfortable for us to stay where we are.

We must move forward and pursue all that God has for us as His church.

So, because it’s a new year, I would like for us to begin with a new challenge. But before I lay out this new challenge, I think it’s important for you to know that this new challenge has come out of my time alone with God.

I have been in prayer asking God for Greater things for our church for quite some time now. I have been dreaming about what our church could be and where our church could go.

I have looked into the Scriptures for guidance; and one passage in particular led to this new challenge. The passage comes from Matthew 9:35-38.

Jesus’ popularity was at an all-time high, and he: “went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (NIV84)

The verse that resonated with my heart then, and still does today, is verse 36: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (NIV84)

Jesus saw these people, the people from His hometown, and His heart broke for them. They were without direction; harassed and helpless, wandering around on their own.

ILLUSTRATION- For so many of you here today, this area is your hometown.

        You were born and raised here; you know almost everyone, and who they are related to. This is your hometown.

            Others of us are not from this area, but we live here now. This is our “hometown”. We live here, have set roots down here, and love the area.

We need to develop a heart of compassion for the people in our hometown, just as Jesus demonstrated.

Jesus’ heart broke for His people, they were, as Matthew wrote: “like sheep without a shepherd” (9:36).

Many of these people were bullied and oppressed, without direction to help them face the storms of life.

ILLUSTRATION- You don’t have to spend much time looking around to see that people are messed up.

            I see this most clearly every time I end up in the hospital. People are filled with sickness, and disease.

         Some people are in hospital for a life altering operation, or because of pain inflicted on them at the hands of someone else.

            The pain and hurt seen in a hospital ward is, often times, unbearable.             This is just the physical pain that can be seen; we cannot see how desperately people need the Lord, not only in hospitals, but also here in our hometown.

            Paul reminded us that: “we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12, NLT2)

            Our battle isn’t just a physical battle, it’s a spiritual battle, and if we believe what we say we believe about the afterlife, we as a church have a responsibility to rescue the perishing.

            Paul, in 2 Corinthians, reminded us that: “we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead,

“Come back to God!” (NLT2)

            An ambassador is one who represents one in authority, and we represent The One in authority, the Lord God Almighty.

         He has chosen to spread His message of reconciliation through you and me. We are God’s plan A, there is no plan B.

            So, the challenge, and please don’t misunderstand me. There is no way in the world that I think we are able to meet one, two or all aspects of this challenge.

Without the direct involvement and full participation of God’s Holy Spirit, we cannot accomplish one thing.

            But with God, we can do anything! I know this because of the words found in Eph. 3:20-21:

         “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (NIV84)

            We need the power of Almighty God to fall upon our church and people like we have never experienced before.

       It’s “'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.”

(Zech. 4:6, NIV84)

            So, we must pray like crazy for this new challenge, and I’ll have more to say about that in a moment.

            I’m calling this new challenge: “5 fifteens in 2015”. Starting today, we are praying for:

            15 Salvations. There are hundreds of people in the 463 exchange—even more if you add in the 575 exchange—who are not regular attenders of an evangelical church.

        Starting today, we’re going to pray that at least 15 of them will come to faith in Christ Jesus because of our church.

            We’re also praying for 15 baptisms this year. If someone has committed their life to Jesus Christ, baptism is the next logical step to take as we move forward in faith with Jesus.

            If you are a follower of Jesus and have never been baptised, or if you were baptised early on in your life and want to renew your commitment to Jesus, we want to talk with you!

There is something supernatural that occurs when God’s people get baptised, so we’re praying for at least 15 of them.

            We’re also praying for 15 thousand dollars to be given to Missions.

        I believe God blesses a church who gives to His work globally, so we’re praying for 15k to be given to missions through the missionaries and missions projects that our church partners with, which are:

Ø Dr. Bob and Brenda Bagley, who serve as the Africa Area Directors;

Ø Allan and Sherri Stevens, who are missionaries to Albania;

Ø Kevin and Laura Meyers, church planters in Sydney, Nova Scotia, and

Ø Our Church plant in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

            As well as our own local outreach, the Berean’s, which is the name of the Bible study that meets each Tuesday morning that is facilitated by Marilyn Moore.

This group regularly prays for people, and reaches out to those in need in our community, so we want to stand with and support them!  

            We’re also praying for 15 new families to be part of our church!

            The church is the only organization that exists for the people who aren’t here yet, so we want to pray and reach out and attract at least 15 new families this year.

            Each one of you has a special part to play in this. You know at least one family that doesn’t attend church regularly, so we want you to invite them to church on the Ridge!

         We are not a county club for members only, we’re open to anyone and everyone, so get out and invite!

            You have my commitment that we will do everything in our power to continue on improving our Sunday morning experience, because a Higher calling deserves Higher standards—and we will share the life changing message of Jesus Christ in a relevant way.

            So join me in praying for who we can reach out to.

            We’re also praying for 15 servant leaders.

            To make this church function, we need people who are willing to step up and serve in an area of ministry here at the church.

            When we work together, everyone wins, so I’m praying for 15 new servant leaders to rise up and serve in our church this year.

            President John F. Kennedy once said: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

            I say: “Ask not what your church can do for you, ask what you can do for your church.”

We’re not called only to take; we’re called to serve too, so we’re praying for 15 new servant leaders this year.

            Please understand friends, these are not just numbers to me. Each number

represents real people.     

        As Pastor Perry Noble says: “Every number has a name, every name has a story and every story matters to God!”

            Because every name matters to God, we who follow Him are to concern ourselves with lost people. So how we do that?

Well, I’m glad you asked, as this is the “what do you want me to do with what I just heard” part of the sermon.

            I want to take you back to Matthew chapter 9 for another moment.

            After Jesus had compassion on the people of His hometown, He called His disciples together and said to them:

            "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (37-38, NIV84)

            The first thing you can do is pray!

            Pray that God would send workers into His harvest field, and reach more people for Jesus, and chances are that God is going to use you to reach the people you will be praying for.

            Pray for our 5 fifteens in 2015. Pray for lives to be transformed this year, Pray for God to pour out His spirit on our church.

            You can begin praying as soon as tomorrow, for tomorrow is our day of prayer and fasting.

       This day is where you give up something—usually food, but it could be anything—and spend that time praying to God.

ILLUSTRATION- When we’ve had days of prayer and fasting in the past, I’ve fasted from using my iPad, and spent the time I would normally be on my iPad to pray.

         I will do the same tomorrow. I will ask God to take our 5 fifteens in 2015 challenge.

            Oswald Chambers once wrote: “We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there's nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.” (http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/41469.Oswald_Chambers)

            God himself said: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chr. 7:14, NIV84)

            So before we do anything else, we’re going to pray and ask God for 5 fifteens in 2015.

            The second thing you can do, is take the card that is in your bulletin—or the extra ones on the alter rail—and write down the name—or names—of someone who you can invest in this year.

            It could be your friend, your neighbour, your co-workers, or a loved one—whoever it is, write their name down on this card, and stick it where you will see it most often, and it will remind you also to pray for our challenge.

            If, at the end of 2015 we don’t reach our goal of 5 fifteens, but we did something for Jesus this year, we’re going to rejoice, because we have seen lives transformed for Jesus Christ.

            We’re told in Luke 15 that: “there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” (15:7 NIV84)

            I hope and pray that PM and I can count on you to embrace, be excited about and take part in this new challenge for this new year.

            We have the opportunity to see lives transformed for Jesus this year and I’m praying that we would make much of Jesus and we would continue To Know Christ and to Make Him known!