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Thanks For The
Opportunity
 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your
generous Spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be
converted to You.
Ps 51:12-13 NKJV
What a marvelous time God has given to us. It is like a marriage. God
takes two people from different family backgrounds and makes them into
one. The two individuals have no idea of what is in store for them. We
know that our optimism is high, but what will God do in us, to us , or
through us. This is the thank you to God for placing us together over
these 17 years. This is also the thank you to Antioch for saying “I do”
when we stood before God to unite us together. Now let me turn to the
key to what we are experiencing, our relationship with the Creator of
heaven and earth.
There is a song that keeps rolling through my mind, ‘O I Want to See
Him’. Read this first chorus and refrain:
As I journey through the land, singing as I go,
Pointing souls to Calvary—to the crimson flow,
Many arrows pierce my soul from without, within;
But my Lord leads me on, through Him I must win.
Refrain:
Oh, I want to see Him, look upon His face,
There to sing forever of His saving grace;
On the streets of glory let me lift my voice,
Cares all past, home at last, ever to rejoice.
This song reminds me of the freeness of God’s grace. As He has pursued
me now I want to pursue Him. I want Him to restore in me the joy of His
salvation. I could not explain everything that is in my heart but I can
say thank you for the opportunity.
I want a fresh encounter with the giver of every good and perfect gift.
I want a fresh encounter with Antioch, the apple of God’s eye. Thank you
and I will see you in three months.
The Joy of Pastoring
Therefore remember that you, once were Gentiles in the flesh-- who are
called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the
flesh by hands-- that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of
promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ
Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of
Christ.
Eph 2:11-13 (NKJ)
The greatest need of any people is to be ONE, one in spirit and one in a
purpose. The church is not brick and mortar but made up of living
stones. We are a commonwealth, the people of a nation or state; the body
politic of the Church. Jesus said in John 18:36, "My kingdom is not of
this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight,
so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not
from here." If Jesus is our example of how to live in the commonwealth
of faith, the Church, we should follow his example.
Turn to someone next to you and say to them, “The blood of Jesus Christ
has brought me nearer to God. I am no longer an alien, no longer a
stranger. If you are in Christ we are no longer strangers one to
another, welcome in my brother/sister, I greet you with a holy kiss.”
From this moment on God wants each of us to know that we are connected
by a cord, the cord of love, and that cord is unbreakable. This is a
three-strand cord: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Bless be the tide that binds our hearts in Christian love. The
fellowship of kindred hearts is like to that above.
It Is Imperative that We Make Disciples
When
they saw Him, they worshiped Him: but some doubted. Jesus came and spoke
to them, saying, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go
therefore and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and the Son, and the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe everything I
have commanded you: and yes I am with you always, until the end of the
world.” Amen.
Matthew 28:17-20
The church that is not willing to evangelize is dying. There is
something that strikes me. In a community of 80 thousand plus if we had
a church for every 500 people, we would have somewhere around 160
churches. Yet, I hear so often that there are to many churches. The real
issue I believe is that the churches we have need to be about the
business of making disciples. If this were to happen, our community
would see churches that would be reflective of Antioch in size. With
this will come many challenges, still we must rise to the challenge.
The dynamic of the church must be one of worship. When the disciples saw
Jesus, they worshiped Him still, some doubted. I believe this is where
our lack of an initiative comes from. What we have been called to
believe, we believe we cannot achieve. They knew that they had seen
Jesus crucified yet here He is. God does not call us to explain
everything we do, but to believe we can do all that he has called us to
do. In the verses above we are told to do some things: go, make
disciples, baptize, and teach. Contained in the Greek language there is
an imperative, there is a must do. The word for make disciples is in the
imperative form. That means we must do this, make disciples.
Let me tell you the story of what God is doing in our church. God is
raising an imperative spirit. There are those who have a burden to
snatch the souls of the lost out of the fire. It must not be only a few,
but it must be the entire church. We must let our relationships to God
be known through our worship and our witness. We must witness to a dying
world that Jesus lives and because He lives they can live also. Stand Still and See the Salvation of God.
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Stand Still and See the Salvation of
God
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever
shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy
name be joyful in thee. For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with
favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield. As for God, his way is
perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those
that trust in him.
Ps :5; Ps 5:11-12; Ps 18:30 (KJV)
I want to be a testimony today, a living testimony. When I think of what
God has brought me from I rejoice. When I think about where God brought
me from I praise Him. This week God has been constantly demonstrating to
me His liberality. There are so many needs that I have and I have come
to the conclusion that God can fill them all. I have come to the point
of trusting in Him.
This week God has been constantly demonstrating to me His liberality.
There are so many needs that I have and I have come to the conclusion
that God can fill them all. I have come to the point of trusting in Him.
The psalmist talks about himself learning to trust in the Lord. He says
we have to be willing to sacrifice. The sacrifice of righteousness is a
life that is yielded to God; that means our time is yielded, that means
our talent is yielded, that means our money is yielded. It means that
all our worldly possessions are yielded to God. Just as important as
sacrificing is our willingness to rejoice. Praise is the ability of the
heart to express joy when it experiences the exaltedness of God. This
attitude should be present in our private and public worship of God.
Sacrifice and rejoicing are the two sides of the coin of worship. When
sacrifice and rejoicing are present, we know that our Lord is in our
midst. Come let us see the salvation of the Lord.
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Purpose and Practice Brings About
Accomplishment
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Inasmuch as God has shown
you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. "You shall
be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your
word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you." And
Pharaoh said to Joseph, "See, I have set you over all the land of
Egypt." Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on
Joseph's hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a
gold chain around his neck. And he had him ride in the second chariot
which he had; and they cried
out before him, "Bow the knee!" So he set him over all
the land of Egypt.Gen 41:39-43 (NKJ)
Does the world recognize that
we the church have a connection with God? Are we so oblivious to the
things happening around us that we are of no earthly good? It is time
for a reality check. This is not a question of the relevancy of the
church, the church is very relevant. What is at issue here is that the
church recognize her role in God’s great drama called life. Because God
is in charge does not mean we as the church should not plan where we are
going and how we are going to get there. In particular here at Antioch
we are posed with this very issue. There are some physical plant needs
and there are some ministry needs. Each of these are spiritual in
nature. The question then is, how do we accomplish the task and not
loose sight of our God given purpose?
Joseph is our example that God will carry us through the scenes of life
and establish us for our appointed purpose. Antioch just like Joseph
must be ready for her appointed purpose. Our gifted-ness as a church
must work hand-in-hand with the supernatural calling of God. These two
thing must have a seamless relationship. Antioch must know where we end
and God begins, but the world around us should see no distinction. Let
your light so shine that men might see your good works and glorify your
Father which is in heaven. We are to use the principles contained in
God’s word to bring about the things God directs us to accomplish. We
are in the soul saving business. We are in the people restoration
business. We are in the good stewardship business. Joseph was the man
for the job. God had spoke this to him in a dream. It took years to be
fully manifest. We must be the church for the times. Let us walk in the
purpose that God has called us to accomplish.
An Equipment Failure in Progress
The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap
around you.
Isa 28:20 (NIV)
Have you ever had the feeling that the equipment you were using was not
sufficient for the job? Have you ever come to a task that you needed to
carry out but the means was not effective. Each time it was lacking in
what was necessary or required, it was not producing results. Then we
can say that it is insufficient or ineffective.
There is a stiff wind blowing in the land today, and it has not missed
the church. This wind is the wind of mediocrity. There is a high rate of
divorce. There is the cancer of mediocrity in education. There is the
doom of our grown children never leaving home. There is the decay of our
neighborhoods all around us. Our moral values have flown out the wind.
We have so much and we don’t know what to do with the surplus.
Therefore, we spend it on ourselves.
However, we are the Church of the Living God. Our beds cannot be too
short, our sheets cannot be too narrow. We must be those who are over
comers (I Jn 4:4). The Church must live out the implications of being
the Church. “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing
as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;” (2 Cor 3:5). What God
has equipped us with is sufficient for the Church. “For what if some
were without faith? shall their want of faith make of none effect the
faithfulness of God?” (Rom 3:3) What God has equipped us with is
effective for the Church.
The Great Commission will still do the job. (Mat. 28:18-20) We need to
go! We need to baptize! We need to teach them to observe the teachings
of Christ! The Church must take back the city. The church must take back
the homes. Will we continue to sit on the sidelines or will we get into
the game? I do believe the time is right. I believe we are the people. I
believe we have sufficient and effective equipment. It is now an act of
the will. Will you and I do the WILL of GOD?
The challenge at hand is to help believers live out their faith!
The Family of God
Part #3
21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed,
being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness
of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.
For there is no difference;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through
faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were
previously committed, Rom 3:21-25 (NKJ)
By the grace of God this week I have been lead to a study in the book of
Romans. To show you how good God is this study is perfectly in line with
several areas of need in our church. In the course of my study the
Spirit of God spoke strongly through a new Max Lucado book, “In the Grip
of Grace: You Can’t Fall Beyond His Love.” In the first chapter of the
book I saw myself and also I saw others, I saw the family of Antioch.
These last several weeks have been filled with a need to be and grow
closer to the Father. Looking back I see that a closeness to Him is the
only thing that could fill the deep need in my life. I find in the
course of my life that this present attitude is not always so. The
family is filled with a multitude of personalities who possess a
multitude of needs. We can be placed into four convenient categories:
The Hut-Building Hedonist (Romans 1:21-32), The Fault-Finding
Judgmentalist (Romans 2:1-11), The Rock-Stacking Legalist (Romans
2:17-3:20), or The Grace-Driven Christian (Romans 3:21-25).
When we examine our lives are we kept from the Father because we are
hedonist (pleasure seekers), because we are judgmental, or because we
are legalistic? So many of us seek our own comfort to the point we have
excluded the will of the Father. So many of us aspire to be the Father
and in doing so we become the judge and jury of others. So many of us
have lusted after the holiness of the Father that we have become lost in
the rigors of rules.
The family of God should be in the GRIP OF HIS GRACE! Each of God’s
children are to be GRACE-DRIVEN!
The Family of God
(Part #2)
The wicked are overthrown, and are not: but the house of the
righteous shall stand. Every wise woman builds her house: but the
foolish plucks it down with her hands. Whoso rewards evil for
good, evil shall not depart from his house.
Prov 12:7; Prov 14:1; Prov 17:13 (KJV)
I permeated the church. We the people of God find ourselves in
a close quarters combat zone and we need to establish a front line
position. There must be a distinction between the righteous and
the
wicked.Righteousness is not a new word
for being snooty, we are talking about living God's way.
Wickedness is not different strokes for different folks, it is living
contrary to God's way. The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me;
because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;
this is our calling in our community, better yet, this is our calling in
our homes. We can no longer live under the slogan, do as I say not
as I do. We must realize that the actions we take affect the
individuals around us, especially our children and our young people.
Are we walking around among the ruins? Are we mindful that battle
is in full course and the causality count is rising?
We must claim the promises of God. The house of the righteous
shall stand. The wise woman builds with the work of her hands.
The wise man will not regard evil. These promises are to us, the
redeemed of the Lord. We can continue to listen to the experts of
the world or we can take God at his word and strengthen our families.
Is is up to us. It is in our hands.
The Family of God
As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men,
especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
Gal 6:10 (KJV)
He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?"
Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and
sister and mother."
Matt 12:48-50 (NIV) What is the sum total of Antioch? What makes us what we are? These are
questions that are at the heart of who we are. Everyone no matter who
they are or where they come from are looking for an identity. We see
street gangs, social clubs, and fraternal orders all imparting to their
several members a collective meaning. As pastor God has lead me to draw
from his Word that we are "The Church of Three Ships."
A ship is an
apt metaphor for our church family. A ship has no purpose outside of the
sea. A ship can not sail except its sails are filled with the wind. A
ship has no course in the sea, driven by the wind, if there is no crew
to man their stations. As I said a ship is an apt metaphor. I don’t know
if you have ever read Moby Dick, it is a classic novel that tells the
story of man’s struggle between good and evil. The church is a ship on
the restless sea of time and King Jesus is the Captain.
The Captain has called us from our worldly wondering to
be the crew of "The Old Ship of Zion." As a crew we are a family. We
must be a tightly knit together group with one focus in mind, to get to
our appointed destination. We are on our way to heaven restoring a
spirit of rejoicing. We may be a motley crew but we are definitely a
chosen crew.
The Challenge of Living in the Ghetto
II Pet 2:4-9 (NIV)
Please excuse me as I ponder the interaction of the
godly with the ungodly. "A family moves to a new city. The decision to
move was made for financial reasons, the father believed there were much
greater opportunities for prosperity in the new location. After they
arrived, they discovered that the cultural surrounding of their new home
are fraught with obstacles for their family’s spiritual well-being.
While the economic opportunities are there, the city turns out to be a
moral cesspool. Unwillinor unable to relocate, the family suffers
horribly, resulting in the death of the mother, the loss of their home
as they flee in terror of physical violence, and, eventually sexual sin
between daughters and father." It is, of course, the story of Lot and
his family.
Hold on to your sensibilities I want to talk about the ghetto. The only
real ghetto is when you discovered that the cultural surrounding your
home is fraught with obstacles to your family’s spiritual well-being. In
that case many of us find ourselves challenged with living in the
ghetto. Sodom and Gamorrah were ghettos in the cultural scene of its
times. Nazareth was a ghetto on the cultural scene of its times. The
question was asked could any good thing come out of Nazareth. Jesus came
out of Nazareth. Will you rise or sink in your cultural challenge.
We need to know that God is able to deliver no matter
what we have been influenced by. The real thing that is at issue is
whether we will have an encounter with the True and Living God. You and
I need a fresh encounter with God in the course of our lives. Let God
meet you right where you are. Don’t try to clean up the stuff in your
life, let God do the cleaning for us. Before you rush in! You need to
know that in an encounter with God He will cause you to make major
adjustments in your life. We will adjust our life so that we can spend
more time with God. Spending more time with God will work obedience in
us. I don’t know about you but I am glad I have access to the God that
is able to deliver me.
The challenge at hand is to help believers live out
their faith!
Don’t Be Minimized!
Dan 11:32 (NKJ)
"Those who do wickedly against the covenant He shall
corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be
strong, and carry out great exploits.
In the scripture above we have a prophetic piece, Daniel has inquired
of God concerning the future of Israel and he is in the process of
receives an answer from a heavenly messenger. The angel of the Lord
speaks to Daniel and enlightens him about the spiritual warfare that was
being fought on the behalf of Israel. Remember Israel has been in
captivity and their homeland is subject to another king. I believe the
Church is in the very
same position. I don’t want to be generic but specific.
Antioch we find ourselves in this same predicament. We need an answer
from heaven concerning the future condition of our church. When we
live in the shadow of defeat so long we begin to believe that we are
defeated. Reading the texts we find that our social position may be that
of a captive people but our God is never a captive God. We have allowed
ourselves to be flattered into submission. This can only happen if we
walk away from the covenant of God. God has a way, do we know his way?
God is the God who works in the realm of the impossible. If this is
where God functions then this is where the church of God should be
functioning. This begins with individual victory. Daniel is an example
of individual victory. Here is a man living in an ungodly kingdom and
yet he is prospering. He applies the principles of God no matter what
the social climate measures. We can not apply what we do not know. The
people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.
This is living in the realm of the impossible. Is it possible to have
our own credit union? Is it possible to have our own school? Is it
possible to have our own senior citizens facility? Is it possible to
have control of our own community? Don’t be minimized. The church is the
pillar and the ground of the truth.
Hey! Hey! Yes you. Little old you. I challenge you to pursue a fresh
encounter with God.
Our Motivation Should Reflect the Old, Old Story
Heb 10:19-25
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the
Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He
consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a
High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in
full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the
confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is
faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and
good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is
the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as
you see the day approaching.
The church if it is inflexible, resistant to change,
is dying. I am constrained to write these words to you, the church of
God should live in a state of holy boldness in a new and living way.
Let us be clear. I am not talking about changing any of the core beliefs
of Christians. I am saying that we, the church can minister to this
present age we live in. We must be careful not to bring the world into
the church but rather equip the church to minister to this present age.
Let me be clear. Sin is sin! The thing we are battling with is
the mind set of our times. We are living in a time when the belief is,
"everything is true." How can we confront this plague that sweeps our
land?
The Church must hold fast to the truth that Jesus is the TRUTH.
We must know that He is our only message. Then, we must see the
creativity that is demonstrated by Christ. Jesus is not locked in by the
temple, or the synagogue. We find Him teaching the word of God
everywhere. We must see the creativity of Paul on Mars Hill. There he
enters into the world of the Athenians and with clarity brings to them a
knowledge of the ‘unknown God’. How are we fairing as we bring the
gospel to those called our neighbors? I am calling us to a fresh
encounter with the Creator of heaven and earth.
As we enter the church house called Antioch to worship, we must be
infused with the Spirit of unity. We must encourage one another in God’s
work. As the song writer says, "I need you, You need me. We’re all
a part of God’s body. I’ll pray for you, you pray for me. We’re all a
part of God’s body. I won’t harm you with words from my mouth. I love
you." This is the mark of creativity that our neighbors should
see in us.
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