| State of the Church | 2009 |
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Part 1 of 1 | February 01, 2009
Before we get started with the message, I’ve got a question for you. It’s an important question. It’s a question that some in our church are quite passionate about. Here it is. What do you think? I’m having so much fun with this, because we’ve got some families in our church who are diehard Steeler fans. You cut them and they’ll bleed black and gold. And then we have others who wouldn’t cheer for the Steelers if they were playing against North Korea. We’ll see how it all shakes out (*cough* Cardinals by a touchdown *cough*). Now, on to something that is much, much more important than a football game. Today is a really exciting day, and it has nothing to do with what’s going to happen in Tampa this evening. Today, we’re here to talk about the church. And if you think that sounds boring, just wait. You don’t know how exciting God’s church is. This is the annual State of the Church Address. This message usually coincides with the President’s State of the Union Address, but that speech won’t be happening since President Obama just took office. But we’re going to roll on with our message. This message is designed to help all of us accurately see the state of our church here at Amelia. What has God called us to do? Are we doing it? What is the state of the Amelia Church of Christ in 2009? The state of our church is very, very strong. I don’t take those words lightly. And I’m not saying them just because I’m onstage and it’s what I’m supposed to say. I’ve seriously and prayerfully considered this…and I am absolutely, wholeheartedly convinced that the state of our church is very, very strong. And we’re going to take some time today to celebrate what God has done and to talk about where he’s leading us next. In 1 Timothy 3, there are a couple of verses that are usually viewed as almost a parenthetical statement. Kind of an afterthought. Not that important. But actually, these words that Paul wrote to Timothy paint a very clear picture of God’s church. 1 Timothy 3, pick it up in verse 14. Paul writes to Timothy, “Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:14-15, NIV) A lot of people overlook these verses because they see it as just Paul’s personal remarks to Timothy. Paul wants to come and see Timothy, but he’s not sure when that will happen. Almost like a modern day email between two buddies. But hang on a second. In this one sentence, the Apostle Paul gives us a great glimpse into the kind of church that God wants us to be. Paul lists two things that must be part of any church, anywhere, at anytime. Truth and life. If the Amelia Church of Christ is going to be the church that God has called us to be, we will be a church of truth and life. Paul tells us that God’s church is centered on truth. In fact, he calls the church “the pillar and foundation of truth.” Do you realize that this is one of the most politically incorrect statements in the Bible? It would be fine if Paul said that the church is “a pillar and foundation of truth.” But he said that the church is “the pillar and foundation of truth.” That means that the church has sole access to the truth. The church has cornered the market on truth. The church is the pillar that holds up the truth. The church is the foundation on which all truth is built. The church is God’s exclusive vehicle to communicate his truth to the world. That is politically incorrect in the highest degree…but that is what the Bible says about God’s church. And if the church is the only avenue for truth in our world, then that means that the church had better take the truth very seriously. And we do here at Amelia. We like to have fun around here. This church is a joyful, exuberant, fun body of believers. I have a blast here. But let me tell you this…we are dead serious about God’s truth. When it comes to truth, we don’t mess around. A lot of things have changed in our church over the last year. And we will continue to implement changes to keep our church on the move. But you should know that there are some things that will not change. Ever. The preaching of God’s Word will always be central. If I preach here for 20 years, or if another guy assumes that role tomorrow because I was run over by a truck, the fact is that this church will always be built on the foundation of solid, committed, passionate, Biblical preaching. The day that changes is the day that we cease to be the church that God has called us to be. The Bible will always be taught as the inspired, inerrant Word of God. We will never bend God’s truth to fit a particular political or cultural climate. Ever. God’s truth is at the core of why we’re here, so the truth not only needs to be preached and taught, the truth needs to define our mission. If we are “the pillar and foundation of truth,” then our mission needs to be defined by God’s truth. It’s why we’re here in the first place. I get so depressed when I see so many churches who have gotten off mission. It’s tragic how many churches exist just to exist. They are there to pay their electric bill, keep their doors open, and exist. What’s their mission? To exist. To not close down. That is their mission. That’s tragic…and yet it’s very common. The American church is not growing…it is shrinking. And one reason is because so many local congregations do not have a mission that is based on God’s truth. Here at Amelia, 2009 is going to be a watershed year. This will be the year when our church comes to a defined, memorable mission. And I’m not talking about some catchy mission statement that looks good on the wall but has no real meaning. I mean that this will be the year when our church defines our real mission. We’re close. We are. We’re doing some very visionary, mission-minded things. But God is helping us to clearly and simply define our mission. To define why we’re here and what he’s called us to do. But here’s the deal with this…our mission will be anchored like a rock to God’s truth. The truth defines why we’re here, what we’re about, and what we’re called to do. And when the church defines their mission by God’s truth, lives are changed. In Colossians 1, the Bible says, “This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.” (Colossians 1:6, NLT) God’s truth changes lives. And when the church cuts through all the fluff and focuses on a mission based on truth, all bets are off. In the past couple of years, we’ve seen more people come to Christ here at Amelia than at almost any time in our church’s history. The truth is being shared and lives are being changed. And we’re not backing down in 2009. Not even a little bit. We’re not backing down because we are the church. We have the full power of God’s truth behind us. And that truth makes us alive. Let’s go back and read our verses from 1 Timothy again. Paul told Timothy, “Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:14-15, NIV) Paul clearly gives us a second characteristic of God’s church…God’s church is alive. Look at how he describes the church. We are “the church of the living God.” Our God is alive. That sets us apart from every other faith in the world. In every other major world religion, their leader is dead. He’s buried in a hole somewhere. But Jesus Christ is alive. He died on the cross as the full payment for our sins, but then he rose from the dead. He ascended to heaven. He’s coming back for his church. Our God is alive. Do you believe that, church? Now look at this. Paul tells us that, not only is our God alive, but he lives in his church. Paul calls the church “God’s household.” In other words, the place where God lives. God is alive and he lives in his church. That means that, when you look at a church, any church, it should be obvious that God lives there. It should be obvious that the church is alive! Again, it’s sad that this is not the case in countless churches, but I can tell you this…anyone who looks at our church is going to notice very quickly that we are alive. It is obvious that the living God lives here! Think about everything that has happened during the last year in our church. Last year, our church leadership took the bold, visionary step of hiring a children’s minister. Melanie Presta has been an amazing addition to our church. Our children’s ministry is more alive and more vibrant than ever before. It has exceeded our expectations in every way. It is so obvious that God directed the Prestas to our church. His fingerprints are all over it. Along with hiring Melanie, we renovated our old, dilapidated basement into a vibrant center for our children’s ministry. What was dark and dreary at this time last year is now bright and vibrant and alive. Our ministry to Jr./Sr. High students was totally rebuilt in 2008. Our students can now be part of home Bible studies where they grow deeper in their knowledge and understanding of God’s Word. They can also be part of Nexus, which is the ministry’s flagship program. Nexus is crazy. It’s fun. It’s loud. It’s alive. If you’re a Jr./Sr. High student, you need to be at Nexus at the end of this month. Our church is obviously alive when you look at our leadership. Our staff works together with a synergy that is absolutely awesome. We are a cohesive team. I can honestly say that every staff member is more concerned about the overall health of our church than about their specific ministries or job descriptions. And as the senior pastor, I’ll tell you this right now…Brian and Melanie are top notch. This is the most unified, most passionate, most committed staff I’ve ever been a part of. And if you haven’t thanked them for their work lately, you need to. Our leadership team has nearly doubled in size from last year. We’ve got several new guys who have joined our leadership team. Our team is very passionate about our church. They are hungry to see this church win the world for Christ. And with the team that we’ve assembled, we’re going to do it. I believe that our leadership team grew so much because God knew that we needed more leaders to handle all the blessings that he’s getting ready to send our way. He’s positioning our church so that he can take us to the next level. Our church is alive in the realm of technology. The internet has a very ugly side, but we are in the business of redeeming technology and using it for God’s purposes. Our church now has four websites that are growing like crazy. Our four websites are generating an insane amount of traffic. In 2008 alone, our websites had more than 31,000 visits and over 85,000 page views. People visited our websites from 97 different countries. When I say we’re taking the gospel to the world, I mean it. If you’re not connecting to our church sites often, you’re missing out on a lot. I post on my blog almost everyday. Our church site is updated all the time, with news items and upcoming events. The text and audio of every single sermon is uploaded to our site. And our children’s and student sites are the best ways to stay in the know about what’s going on in those ministries. Our church is really taking the web by storm…because we are alive. Our church is obviously alive because our level of creativity is growing more and more. If you were part of our church last year, then you remember The Other Side series don’t you? We went all out in that series, creatively teaching what the Bible says about life after death. And it changed lives. We had baptisms every single week of that series. I bet you also remember our Vintage Christmas series. Brian Morrissey wrote an original story and we used it every week of that series. It was an unbelievably creative way to share the gospel, and it had a profound impact on a lot of people. Dead churches do the same old thing week in and week out. Living churches use every ounce of creativity and innovation they have to communicate God’s truth. When you look at our church’s generosity, it’s obvious that we are alive. We took on some big projects last year that cost some serious coin. But through our people’s generosity, we’re still financially healthy. The economy might be taking a nosedive, but I know that our church is going to come through just fine. You know why? Because I believe in our God and I believe in our people. I know our church is alive, and living churches are generous churches. Our church’s unity is proof that we are alive. Unity is an essential part of any church and over the last year, our church has come together in a huge way. Our church is more unified now than at any time in my ministry here. And that unity has propelled us forward in an unprecedented way. Gossip and criticism and division have no place in the Lord’s church. This past year has proven what God’s church can do when it is unified. Understand that unity doesn’t mean that we agree on every detail. It means that we are willing to look past the details so we can realize the greater good. It means we all look past personal preferences in favor of the overall purpose and mission of our church. And that is a sign of spiritual maturity. It is a sign that our church is alive. That’s just a quick little snapshot of the last year. All of the things I just mentioned are signs that our church is alive. As we consider the state of our church, this might be the best way to sum it up…the living God lives here! And that’s not going to change in 2009. The vibrant life of our church is going to keep increasing. We’re going to keep taking on new challenges. We’re going to keep taking risks. We’re going to keep dreaming big. And I’m going to let Melanie come up to give you a glimpse of just one of the big things that our church is taking on this year.
I’ll be honest. That’s big. That’s really big. But if we honestly believe that the living God lives here, how can we not go big? How can we not shoot for the moon? If you’re sitting there thinking, “That’s too big. It will never work,” maybe you’ve forgotten this Scripture. “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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21, NIV) God is alive. He lives in our church. And he is able to do far more than we could possibly ask or imagine. Any church that plays it safe, any church that is more governed by finances than faith, any church that isn’t willing to dream big is not the church that God intended for them to be. It’s sad to think about how much of God’s power goes to waste because his children dream too small. I want to be part of a church that utilizes every ounce of God’s power. He is offering it to us liberally and freely. It is ours to claim. And we’re going to claim it in 2009. The program Melanie described is just one of the incredible things that God has planned for us this year. So I’ve got one question for you. Are you in? This is going to be an amazing year at ACC. Are you in? Are you in with your finances? Will you give generously to this move of God that we call the Amelia Church of Christ? Are you in with your service? Will you do more than take up a seat on Sunday? Will you give your time and talent to our ministry? Are you in with your prayers? Every single person here needs to be praying for our church. Often. We need your prayers more than you can imagine. I can tell you personally that I’m desperate for your prayers. I am. I have people in our church family who tell me that they pray for me everyday. I can’t even tell you what that means. I need you to pray for me. Our staff needs your prayers. Our leaders need your prayers. Our church needs your prayers. I’m standing up here today to tell you that I’m in. I’m all in. I’m prayed up. I’m pumped up. I’m in! Are you? Mike Edmisten Tags: 1 Tomothy 3, church, life, State of the Church, truth, vision |
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