Greater Things in 2012

the following post is a message I preached this past Sunday. It's my vision/dream/goal for this new year. Enjoy

            For the last 9 years that I have been preaching, I have taken the opportunity on the first Sunday of a New Year to “set the stage” for the upcoming year.

            Please understand that I have absolutely no idea what this year has in store for you, me or anyone else.

I don’t know if 2012 will be the best year that we’ve ever had, or if 2012 will be the worst year that we’ve ever had.

What I do know, is that God will be with us each and every step of the way.

God will be with us when we receive the bad news from the Doctor. God will be with us if—or when—the world’s economy tanks once again.

God will be with us each and every step of the way in this New Year and beyond.

I know this to be true, because of the promise that we looked at last Sunday morning, the promise of Immanuel:

“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" --which means, "God with us." (Matthew 1:23, NIV)

The Bible tells us that God is where with me; God is here with you; God is

with us. 

            This is the same promise that God gave to Joshua has he prepared to take over from Moses and lead the Israelites into the Promise Land is as true for us, as it was for him:

            God told him: “…As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5b, NIV)

            “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9, NIV)

            No matter what happens to us in the New Year, we have the promise—and assurance-- that God is with us.

            With that said, I would like to take a few moments this morning and share from my heart as to what I envision the MRWC doing in 2012.

            You can call this a vision casting sermon, you can call this indigestion—call it what you want, but by the end of this day, I want you to know that I am asking God for Greater Things in 2012.

ILLUSTRATION- The other day, I sat in my office and began pondering a series of questions. These were questions that needed to be asked, and bringing these questions to the Church on the first Sunday of a New Year seems like an excellent idea.

            Before I share these questions with you, I give you a disclaimer. I do not want to be judgemental, harsh, rude, pompous, or self-righteous by asking these questions.

            I’m simply doing my job as your leader. I’m examining every square inch of MRWC and trying to improve it—or kill it.

            If you folks have a concern about where we are going, come talk to me, and I will pray for you.

            I think these are questions that need to be asked, they need to be wrestled with, for these are questions of why we exist. If you have a pen, perhaps you’d like to write them down.

            The first question is this: “When was the last time that someone came to faith in Jesus Christ because of MRWC?”

            My initial response to my own question was “well, there’s no way that we can know for sure who has come to faith in Jesus because of our church.”

But then my mind jumped to the pages of Scripture and I had found my answer.

            All thru the New Testament, when people had an encounter with the Living God, they were changed.

            Take for example, the women at the well. Before she met Christ she went through more men than I have shirts, but after meeting Christ, she brought her entire village to faith.

            When Peter preached 3000 people came to faith and were baptized. In one day. (Acts. 2:41)

            In Acts 8, Phillip followed the leading of the Lord, and because of His obedience, he led an Ethiopian Enoch to faith in Jesus.

            While it’s partially true that we will never know the exact number of people who have been changed because of the ministry of this church, I believe that we should be seeing people cross the line of faith and surrender their lives over to Jesus Christ.

            So when was the last time that we have seen people come to Jesus in one of our services?

            If we have to think about that answer for too long, it’s been too long.

ILLUSTRATION- The second question is this: with the exception of this past summer, when was the last time that we filled that tank and baptized people as part of our Sunday morning experience?

            Again, if we can’t recall when the last time a baptism took place as part of our Sunday experience, it’s been too long, and we’ve got work to do.

ILLUSTRATION- The 3^rd question is: If MRWC were to shut her doors in 2012, would she be missed?

             I don’t know how these questions are affecting you, but I need to be honest with you, after reflecting on them, my initial response wasn’t all that good.

            At first, I started to become frustrated, but as I pondered these questions, I realised that we have the ability—and the responsibility—to affect the answers to these questions.

            We can see people come to faith in Jesus Christ.

            We can see baptisms taking place in our Sunday morning gatherings.

            We can do all that we can to ensure that our church doors remain open in 2012—and longer.

            This morning, I am introducing the 20x20 in 2012 challenge. (show poster)

            I’m praying for 20 people to come to faith in Jesus Christ in the next 365 days.

            I’m praying for 20 people to be baptized in the next 365 days.

            I’m expecting God to change lives in 2012. I’m praying for God to open the windows of heaven and take our church—and people—to heights that we have never experienced before.

            I’m praying, trusting, and expecting God to change our church in 2012.

            For this to happen though, we’ve got to change. You can’t do what you’ve always done and expect what you’ve never had. That’s the definition of insanity.

            We can’t keep doing church the way we’ve always done it. We must be willing to think outside the box. We must be willing to move forward in faith.

            As Pastor Tim Guptill says: “A Higher calling deserves higher standards”

            We’re not changing the message. Jesus Christ was, is and always will be God. I’m not going to change the message, but the methods will change.

            If we are going see our church reach its full redemptive potential, we’ve got to change how we do things.

            The apostle Paul knew this to be true. In 1 Corinthians 9, he said: “Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ.

²⁰ When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law.

 ²¹ When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ.

²² When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some.

²³ I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.”  (1 Cor. 9:19-23, NLT2)

Paul understood the urgency of doing everything that he could do to help people find faith in Jesus Christ.

I want you to know dear church, that I am committed to doing anything and everything in order to see people come to faith in Jesus Christ.

You see, it’s not about me. It’s not about my likes, my needs, my wants. It’s all about Jesus Christ. It’s about our church doing what it needs to do to reach people for Jesus.

There are people outside our doors who will slip away into a Christ-less eternity unless we do something about it.

We are the church of Jesus Christ. We exist to “Know Christ and to make Him known”.

We do not exist to make money; we exist to make disciples.

We do exist for you; we exist for the people who aren’t here yet.

We do not exist to get a “church of the year reward”; we exist to tell the world about what our God can do.

            We exist to know Christ and to make Him known.

ILLUSTRATION- I envision the day that we have 200 people in our church. I envision the day that we have to go to multiple services. I envision the day that we have to add on to the church.

            I envision a dynamic youth where real teens meet a real Jesus.

       I envision a dynamic Children’s ministry, where kids bring other kids to faith in Jesus.

            I envision my God doing way more than I could ever ask, imagine, or dream.

            I envision all of these things, because God wants to do all of these things. God said, in Isaiah 43:

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” (Is. 43:18-19, NIV)

I’m not asking God to do what He did in the past at MRWC. I’m asking God to do a new thing at MRWC.

I’m asking God to do something new, something better, something off the charts, something never seen before. I’m asking God to show up in our church-- and her people-- in a remarkable way.

Paul said: “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!” (1 Cor. 9:24, NLT2)

            I’m here to proclaim that my God isn’t dead. I’m here to proclaim that God is alive, that Jesus is the Christ and He has the power to alter every moment of our lives.

            But I can’t do it alone. I need help.

            John Wesley once said: “Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergyman or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon the earth.”

            There are a little more than 100 persons in this room today. Some of you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and some of you don’t. I want to say a word to each of you.

            To those who don’t know Jesus as Lord and Savior. I want you to know that I am praying for you. I’m praying that this will be the year that you surrender your life to Jesus.

            I’m praying that you will make this Jesus your Lord.

            To those folk who have accepted Jesus: I’m asking you to join me in the 20x20 challenge.

I’m asking you to invite your friends to church. I’m asking you to join me as I seek to take our church forward.

I’m asking you “…to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some.” (1 Cor. 9:22, NLT2)

We’re not here to show off, we’re here to reach people for Jesus, so let’s get prayed up and start inviting people to church, because found people find people.

            As you can see, I’m trusting God for crazy things in 2012. I’m asking God that this year would be the best one in the history of MRWC. I’m asking God to do greater things in 2012.