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00:00:01
Vision Sunday 2024
47 Plays1 year ago
In the sermon, Pastor Ridley Barron begins by reflecting on the achievements and impact of the congregation in the past year. He emphasizes the importance of restoration, growth, and leadership development, highlighting the enrollment in a leadership training program and the goal of establishing new churches. Pastor Barron celebrates the congregation's commitment to spreading the message of Jesus through over 21,000 gospel conversations and shares personal highlights, including the joy of one member becoming a grandfather.
As he casts the vision for the future year, Pastor Barron focuses on the church's aim to become healthier and expand its reach. He emphasizes the significance of discipleship, devotion, and community, encouraging individuals to deepen their understanding of the word of Jesus through various opportunities. The sermon outlines renewed commitments for the congregation, with a focus on expository preaching, transformative power of God's word, and living sent lives to fulfill the Great Commission. Additionally, Pastor Barron stresses the importance of prayer in carrying out God's mission and avoiding self-reliance, ensuring the church's teachings center on gospel doctrine and biblical truth.
Timestamps:
00:00 Excited for future, celebrating God's work. Healthy church.
03:34 Servants must stay focused on God's work.
07:24 Bible emphasizes remembering because people are forgetful.
10:19 Grove Hill Church aims to bring hope.
15:10 Support missionaries spreading gospel in Europe and Argentina.
19:01 Bible's power changes lives, real signs/wonders.
21:31 Renewed commitment to expository preaching and teaching.
25:24 Being a child of God is evident.
27:13 Question God-sized tasks accomplished without prayer.
30:57 Spread the gospel message through action and outreach.
33:26 Supportive church community affirmed faith, promoted growth.
37:00 Taking preaching seriously, preparing diligently, feeling scared.
41:27 Prayed for 5 men, now have 13.
43:06 Encouragement, faithfulness, and goals for new churches.
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Transcript
Celebrating Achievements and God's Promises
00:00:00
Speaker
Donnie raise your hand brother Donnie Morris one of my good brothers he's not in trouble don't worry about it this morning early before any of you are here Donnie showed up for his place to serve this morning out front thankful for guys and ladies who do that for us each week but Donnie came in here first with his cell phone held up proudly saying look at this little baby he and Katrina became grandparents again last night had a little granddaughter
00:00:27
Speaker
But he did what any proud grandparent would do. He said, I want you to check out this little girl, right? I kind of feel like that this morning.
00:00:35
Speaker
This is what I feel like. I feel like we're here to celebrate what God has done. But just like with the grandparent and the feelings they have towards that child or a parent who's the parents of a newborn, we don't just celebrate where they are or even where they've been. We have all these dreams about where they're gonna go, right? We get excited about they're gonna be the next doctor or lawyer or maybe the next great president, because we really need one right now. That's the kind of things that we want.
00:01:03
Speaker
As a pastor, I want to celebrate what God has done this past year and even these past five years, but I also want to look forward with incredibly eager expectation that this year is going to be even better than this past year. Not because you're that good, but because our God is that good.
Spiritual Health and Responsibilities
00:01:18
Speaker
and I believe he wants to do some stuff in us and he's just getting started and we've got a lot to do. I want to talk to you this morning again about what God has done this past year and celebrate those moments, but I also want to talk with you just about what it means to be a healthy church. Our church is a healthy church, okay? It's good, but we could lose about 10 pounds. You may eat a little bit better, get more sleep. There's some things we can do to improve who we are as we continue to
00:01:45
Speaker
increase the scope of what God is doing here last night as we gathered in this room and prayed for the service about 15 to 20 of us one of the prayers that was prayed was God would you extend the tent pegs for us this year so that our reach goes further than it ever has how many of you believe that God can change the world from a skating rink in Chapel Hill Tennessee
00:02:04
Speaker
Amen. That's awesome. So that's what we're going to look at this morning. We're going to start in Luke chapter 12. We'll bounce through a couple of places. As I said, I want to celebrate some things with you, but I also want to talk about where we need to be going and what we need to be recommitting ourselves to in this new year. A friend of mine named Vodie Balkham put this out there yesterday. My wife saw it on Facebook, said, you don't get to use God for your purposes. He gets to use you for his.
00:02:30
Speaker
And that's the kind of church we need to be. The story I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna set the parable we're about to read with another parable. Luke chapter 12, Jesus is talking to the followers around him and he starts to talk about some servants who are waiting for their master to come home from a wedding. And so they're doing their thing, they're taking care of the household, those kinds of things. But he says, you know, it's a bad deal when the master shows back up and the servants aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing.
00:02:56
Speaker
They will be held accountable for not following through on the things they were asked to do. We're going to pick up the story in verse 42 because
Preparedness and Accountability
00:03:04
Speaker
Peter asked the question, God, are you really talking about us? Are we the ones you're talking to? And Jesus says, Who then is the faithful and sensible manager his master will put in charge of his household servants to give them their allotted food at the proper time?
00:03:19
Speaker
Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes. Notice this, he says blessed is the servant. You and I don't know when Jesus is gonna come back.
00:03:30
Speaker
It could be in a moment, it could be in a month, it could be in a long period of time. What we do know is that when he shows up, the first thing he's going to do is look at his children and go, were you doing what I asked you to do? Or were you sidetracked by the world, sidetracked by material things, sidetracked by selfish desires, by your own interests, by your own hobbies, by your own plans for your life? All of those things are good, but they can't take the place of what God has called us to do as his servants.
00:03:57
Speaker
Verse 44, he says, truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all of his possessions. But if that servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming and starts to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink and get drunk, that servant's master will come on a day he does not expect him and in an hour he does not know. Look what he says, he says he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unfaithful. Now let me remind you, he's not talking to lost people here, he's talking to his servants.
00:04:26
Speaker
You and I, the ones who profess to know Jesus Christ, his disciples, he's saying if you're not doing what I ask you to do, you're going to receive some kind of punishment for not carrying out the things I've asked you to do. And that servant who knew his master's will, when you walk into this church on a regular basis, I am very confident, whether it's Matt Schmitt or Kyle Hess or somebody else who's preaching from this pulpit, I am very confident when you walk in here in a service on Sunday morning, you are going to hear about your assignment.
00:04:56
Speaker
You're going to know what you've been asked to do, starting with beginning a relationship with Jesus Christ, but more importantly, discipling yourself and discipling others. When you know that assignment, guess what? You become responsible for that assignment. You can't pretend like you don't know what you've been asked to do. And so when Jesus comes, He's going to look at you and go, hey, if you knew the will and didn't prepare yourself,
00:05:20
Speaker
You might be severely beaten. Now, that doesn't mean Jesus is literally going to physically beat us. But what it does mean is, once again, we are going to be held accountable for who we are asked to be as followers of Jesus. Verse 48 says, But the one who did not know and did what was deserved punishment will receive a light beating from everyone who has been given much what happens.
00:05:43
Speaker
Most of it could probably quote that before we ever heard it or saw it on the screen. We've heard it before. For those who have been given much, how many of you believe you've been given much this morning? Yeah. I'm not talking about your bank account. I'm not talking about the clothes in your closet or the car that you drive or the size of your house. If you know today that you have been saved by the sacrificial gift of Jesus Christ, you've been given much.
00:06:05
Speaker
and because you have been given much, you now have been given an assignment that asks even more of you. You're going to look at some of the stuff we're going to talk about here in just a minute. You're going to go, how can we do more? Well, the answer is you can't, but he can through you. If you're a willing, submitting servant, he will do through you things you never thought you
Church Growth and Mission Goals
00:06:23
Speaker
could.
00:06:23
Speaker
Anybody here been here the whole five years? I know Mr. Joyce, somebody else, anybody else? Linda, some of these, Ricky? Yeah, if you went and asked them and said, hey, did you ever imagine we'd have 600 people roaming in and out of this skating rink five years ago? I'm pretty sure none of them saw that coming.
00:06:41
Speaker
If you ask them, hey, did you ever imagine that some of the things that you've seen over the last five years that they would take place, they'd probably go, not at all. And that's why the Bible says that there is absolutely nothing that is impossible with our God. The only thing that limits his power is our willingness to trust that power.
00:06:59
Speaker
And so what I want to ask you today is make sure that that soil, your heart, is ready to receive what God's going to ask us to do this year because if we will turn loose and let go and trust that and follow that, we will stand in awe at what takes place in 2024 as part of this congregation. So I want to share a few things with you. Like I said, I want to celebrate. We talk about this a lot here. You probably have heard the word zakar. That word means to remember.
00:07:24
Speaker
Over and over and over again in the Bible, depending on who you ask, somewhere between 300 to 500 times, God says, do not forget or remember. You know why he does that? Because we're forgetful people. Very forgetful people. You wake up tomorrow morning, go to your mailbox, you get a bill that's way higher than what you anticipated. What is the first thing you say? Well, God, why aren't you blessing me? And he's gonna go, hello? Were you not paying attention for the last 364 days of this year? What I did for you?
00:07:54
Speaker
By the way, did you not read that story where I died for you? Don't question my ability to take care of you. Don't question my hand as I guide you. We're forgetful people. We don't remember all the time what God does. And as you read through the Bible, what you see so many times is God talking to different characters and going, remember, you're at a crossroads right now, write this down, build an altar, record it in a song or a poem or something. Remember this moment, because what's going to happen is you're going to need to look back.
00:08:25
Speaker
But why does God ask us to look back? It's not just so we can dwell in the past. In fact, He doesn't want us to dwell in the past. He asks us to look back so that we'll have the courage to move forward. Have you ever been in one of those situations where you're sitting there going, man, this is a tough thing that I'm facing. This is a trial that I'm in. But then you look back and you see God's faithfulness in some other scenario and you go, that's my God. He got me through the last time. He'll get me through again.
00:08:51
Speaker
He asked me last time to do something that was really, really hard and guess what? He showed up and he did exactly what he said he would do and so this time I'm trusting him to do exactly what he does. That's his character. You start to follow the character of God, you begin to trust the character of God and you know that those promises are real and they inspire us to do things that we never thought we ever could. I believe, some of you will not be surprised to hear this, I believe that the church is a place to party.
00:09:18
Speaker
It really is. It's a place for us to celebrate. It's a place for us to have joy. In fact, the most repeated command in the Bible is not do not do this or do not do that. The most repeated command in the Bible is to be happy or to rejoice. And the reason why is because of the promises of God.
00:09:40
Speaker
all the way through Scripture, literally from Genesis to Revelation, we have a God who makes promises that He wants to lift us to places we never could get on our own. He wants to give us freedom that we never could experience when we live in a life of sin. Believe it or not, freedom is not lack of rules. Lack of rules lead to what? Chaos.
00:10:01
Speaker
And so when the world tries to convince us, oh, all those rules are bad for you? No, those rules put us in a place where we can experience the freedom that God desired us for, created us for, in fact.
Gospel Sharing and Community Impact
00:10:12
Speaker
So yes, I believe that the primary purpose of the church is to introduce God to those who are far from Christ.
00:10:19
Speaker
Our goal at Grove Hill Church is to keep bringing people and bringing people and introducing this hope that we talk about all the time that most of us here have experienced. When the Holy Spirit captures the soul and someone is redeemed from hell, a party should break out. The Bible says in heaven, it does. And I think many times they look at us and goes, why are y'all doing some of that Baptist stuff? Y'all being all stiff and dead. Now look at those Presbyterians and go, y'all the frozen chosen, y'all look real bad right now.
00:10:48
Speaker
I think at that moment, God's looking at us going, hey, get a little Pentecostal in you because somebody just got redeemed from hell and it's time to throw a party for it. I'm glad y'all got excited about that. Yeah, Grove Hill should be a place of worship and celebration even in the toughest seasons of life because we have this one promise that God will never leave us or forsake us. And here's the really cool thing. We don't have to come up with some great idea to draw people to Jesus. He is the great idea.
00:11:18
Speaker
We don't have to come up with some new marketing angle. We don't have to try to convince or coax or persuade or even twist arms. All we got to do is say, listen to what Jesus has done for you. Look at what he has done for you and know how much he loves you. He is the reason we sing, he's the reason we serve, he's the reason we go, the reason we give, the reason we celebrate.
00:11:41
Speaker
So I'm going to take a second and do that with you. I'm going to look back and I'm going to celebrate and some of you are going to go, oh, those are just numbers. They don't matter. Well, if they didn't matter, then go back and take the fourth book of the Bible out.
00:11:54
Speaker
So are you going, what's that? Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, which is a place where God said, let's celebrate some of the good stuff I'm doing for you. This is a moment for us to celebrate what God has done for us in this past year. In 2023, we saw some really incredible things. Number one, our attendance, average attendance was 454. A year ago, it was 390. Two years ago, it was 161.
00:12:20
Speaker
That's how much God has blessed this congregation in the last year to two years. The month of August alone was 590 in average attendance. It's incredible. This past year, our elders, our financial team got together, said, we really believe God's doing some great stuff. We're gonna challenge our congregation because we believe God is up to something really incredible. And we raised our budget by over $300,000, right Ricky?
00:12:48
Speaker
And guess what? You met it. $928,000 in offering this year. Now, before you clap too long, you got to start all over again. Don't pat yourself on the back right now because there's work to be done. And every dollar that comes into this church is the potential to save somebody from the eternity in hell that we know is for those who do not know Him.
00:13:12
Speaker
There are ministries still yet to be done. There are homes who still need to be repaired. There are lonely people who still need to be rescued. There are people out there with questions who still need the answer that Jesus is for them. Those dollars matter. And I want to thank you, thank you, thank you for your faithfulness in giving those things. Last year we had 87 new members join our congregation. We're going to talk more about that in just a second.
00:13:36
Speaker
Sixty-eight of those by baptism. Sixty-eight baptisms. That way exceeded the goal I had set for us. Look at me, man of little faith. And just this past two weeks we have had nine baptisms? Is that right? Nine baptisms. God is doing some incredible stuff. June was fantastic. We baptized 27 people in my swimming pool over here one Sunday.
00:13:57
Speaker
People who, little kids who come to vacation Bible school and parents who were touched by those kids who got saved in vacation Bible school. Oh, by the way, out of those 68 baptisms, 48 of those were brand new believers in Jesus Christ. That's a weak party. Come on, people. I have seen you at the baseball field and I know you can do better than that. This one really matters to me too. $127,000 for missions efforts.
00:14:26
Speaker
That's everything from supporting missionaries that we have sent out to supporting Para Church ministries here in this community and beyond that we support and stand by, going and supporting families in this area who had needs. We used your money that you gave to touch people in ways that we probably couldn't have done otherwise without your faithfulness. And one of the greatest things that's really cool to me, we this year set a goal of $25,000 for what we call our one world
00:14:54
Speaker
One Hope missions offering, and this year you gave $26,000 to that missions offering. So next year the goal is $35,000. And I believe you can do it. I believe it on my heart you can do it. And because of that, people will have the opportunity to be engaged by the gospel that changes their life. Already it's happening in Argentina where the Colossians are having conversations with lost people down there where they have moved.
00:15:22
Speaker
Already it's happening in Eastern Europe where we're supporting Christina Kertner as she goes and serves in a place that we can't even tell you because it's too dangerous to mention. And already a family, another family from our congregation to Schmitz are getting ready to go out and serve the people of Spain. And as much as you may not understand it, there are actually in Western Europe, which once was the seedbed of Christianity, now more lost people than ever in the history of Western Europe.
00:15:50
Speaker
and they're going to share that gospel because of your support and your encouragement. So what I want to do now is look through the windshield. We took a second to look at the rear view mirror, but there's a reason why your rear view mirror is smaller than your windshield, right? Because God doesn't want you to drive backwards.
Scripture Engagement and Evangelism
00:16:06
Speaker
He wants you to drive forward.
00:16:08
Speaker
He wants you to keep continuing to raise the bar for yourself and the people around you to continue to raise the bar for this church because I believe we can do even more and serve even more and change this community by what he does through us. So don't tell me what we can't do. Let's talk about what God can do.
00:16:26
Speaker
Alright, so Acts chapter 2 verse 42 very quickly a familiar story. This is going to set the pattern for this and then we're going to talk about nine things that I think represent a really strong and healthy church. Acts 2 42 says this, they, what's the next word?
00:16:45
Speaker
they devoted. This is the key word of this whole passage. What we're about to talk about is a really cool story and it's very fascinating and if you've ever read it you know God did amazing things. But it was only because they devoted or committed themselves to following God as these things unfolded, okay? So it says they devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching, to the fellowship. Don't get excited there, that's not about having lunch together.
00:17:10
Speaker
It's not about sharing a cup of coffee. All those things are included, but that word is koinonia. It means community. We need each other. We need each other. And can I just stop there and just say this commercial. If you are here today and you're going, you know what, I'm not a part of a church. I've never been a part of a church. I'm not comfortable. I'm committed to a church. Let me just stop you and say, give it a try.
00:17:34
Speaker
Just be amazed at how it can change your life. And I will just put in a plug and say this is a great place to start because I have never ever served at a place where there were more loving people than this congregation.
00:17:46
Speaker
They will pray for you, they will encourage you, they will care for you, they will love you in ways that you have never expected. You just have to give it a chance. Yes, there you go. And by giving it a chance, I don't mean sitting back against the back wall, and I don't mean showing up one Sunday out of the month. I don't mean coming in disappearing and never talking to anybody during the week or praying with anybody or anything like that. I mean really engaging the community that's here
00:18:12
Speaker
you will find that your life will be encouraged and changed in ways you didn't anticipate. Let me keep going. It says, to the breaking of bread. There's the food part. I know you were looking for it. But it's also about breaking the holy bread that we do in communion. It's an opportunity to be bound together by the unity that Christ offers us by the cross of Jesus Christ.
00:18:32
Speaker
and then of course to the power of prayer, which we'll be talking about in just a second. It says, everyone was filled with awe and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. I would love more than anything if we got to a place where every single Sunday you walked out of these doors going, didn't see that coming. Oh man, what a morning. Holy cow, that was not what I've ever experienced ever in my life.
00:19:01
Speaker
And you're going, is that possible? Well, that's what the Bible says.
00:19:05
Speaker
I take the Bible as its word. I believe that things can change in this room. I had somebody after the first service come up to me, and he said, I just gotta tell you something. As you were going through that sermon today, and you were talking about those signs and wonders, I wanna tell you, my wife is one of those signs and wonders. He said, I have watched her just over the last year come alive in Jesus Christ. He said, she shared with me some things earlier in the year that I never had thought that my wife would say. And a year later, she's a different woman because of the power of Jesus Christ.
00:19:34
Speaker
That's a sign and wonder. We have seen marriages restored. We have seen broken people put back together. We have seen crushed dreams rearranged and revived the way God wanted them to happen. Those are signs and wonders and we should always be in awe of what God is doing because he's always doing something. The problem is we just don't open our eyes to see it. We're so busy. We're so caught up in our own agenda. We miss what God is up to.
00:20:04
Speaker
So what are these things I want to talk about with you today?
00:20:10
Speaker
Let me go down to verse 46. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple. There's that devoted word again. They devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. That's not the other Christians. When it talks about the favor of all the people, it's saying the people of Jerusalem were watching that early church going, those people are amazing. There's something different about them.
00:20:39
Speaker
I love what's in them because it draws me to them. Not all of them became believers, not all of them joined the church, but all of them were amazed by the work that God was doing in their heart. I would love it as a pastor. I would love it as a pastor if every time I walked through the streets of this town, people were going, your church just showed up big yesterday.
00:20:59
Speaker
Your people were here loving on somebody yesterday. My life has been changed because of you. I would love it if we get to the point where people would not dread going to Dollar General. They would go to Dollar General and go, I know there's gonna be a Grove Hill person there and they're gonna pray for me while I'm there. And that makes Dollar General just an entirely, it becomes holy ground.
00:21:18
Speaker
And here's what's so cool about it, they're building us another one so that we can do it. Yeah, more dollar generals. Yeah, let's turn them into churches, right? That's what we need to be thinking about. So here's the things that I think we need to make a renewed commitment to following this year to raise the bar, not just for me, not just for your elders, but for every single member of this congregation because we are the church.
00:21:45
Speaker
We are the church. Number one, expository preaching. Teaching the whole counsel of God's word. Romans chapter 12 verse 2 Paul writes this, do not be conformed to what? This age, but be what? Transformed. Do you know that every single time you're flipping through your social media you are being conformed to this age?
00:22:08
Speaker
Every time you sit in front of the TV and flip on the TV, you are being conformed to this age. Every time you ride in the car and listen to a radio station or a talk show, you are being conformed to this age. And what Paul says, we should instead be transformed. How are we transformed?
00:22:27
Speaker
by the Word, by our minds being renewed by the Word. The Word takes us to places that the world will never take us. It introduces us to a God who is bigger than anything the world could ever imagine. It introduces us to righteous living that we would never take on our own. And the closer we get to God, the better we are at following Him. But let me prepare you, the closer you get to God through His Word, the dirtier your heart's gonna look.
00:22:54
Speaker
because you realize how holy he is and how far we've missed the mark. But that's not a bad thing because it gives you an opportunity to let God transform you. We need God's word to be saved and that's awesome, but we also need to continue to be shaped and challenged. That word there to be transformed means to be transformed over and over and over and over.
00:23:18
Speaker
to continue to be in His word day after day. A healthy church is one that hears and keeps on hearing the word of God. And as long as I'm pastor of this church, it will be my emphasis, my goal, that every single thing we teach and preach would be the center of the word of God, that we would not focus on anything else. Number two, gospel doctrine.
00:23:43
Speaker
Gospel doctrine, A.W. Tozer said, the most important thing about us is what we know and believe to be true about God. You see, what you believe about God will change you. It'll change the way you act.
00:23:55
Speaker
So what we proclaim here is not what we think, it's not our opinions, it's not what we are doing, it's about what God has already done. It's about what He has already accomplished for us. So what are we going to talk about? We're going to talk about sin and how it has broken mankind. How sin separates you from a holy God and how God gave His only Son to bring you back by His death so that you could have a relationship with Him.
00:24:20
Speaker
We're gonna talk about confession and repentance because a salvation that does not depend on confession and repentance is not true salvation. If you're not acknowledging your sin and turning from your sin, then you don't understand the power of what sin does to you. And you don't understand the holiness of our God. We are not called to make people comfortable.
Doctrine and Discipleship
00:24:45
Speaker
If you came here to feel more comfortable, surprise.
00:24:50
Speaker
That's not my goal. I don't want to pat you on the back and lead you into some false promise that you could somehow get to God by your good works. I don't want to tell you that you're better than you are. I don't want to tell you that God is less than he is. I always want to hold God to the highest place possible and help you understand that the only only way that you have a chance of having a relationship with him is by the power of Jesus Christ's blood. That's it.
00:25:18
Speaker
is not convincing enough to say you're a child of God if you have none of the characteristics of your father. It's a quote from a pastor named Kevin DeYoung. Let me say it to you again, because I need you to understand this. It is not convincing to say you are a child of God if you have none of the characteristics of your father. You ever seen a child go, doesn't look anything like a dad? Raises questions, doesn't it?
00:25:46
Speaker
Well, imagine what the world thinks when they look at us and go, hmm, it doesn't look anything like the God I've heard about. Yeah, the way he acted at the gym yesterday, the way he acted at work when the deal fell through, man, the way she treated me in the yard yesterday when we were talking.
00:26:06
Speaker
So we gotta look more like God, and it starts by going deeper into what we know to be true. Not this next sermon series, but the second sermon series of the year is a sermon series called, Do You Really Believe It? We're gonna be talking about some deep stuff. Get some good sleep. Don't come in here sleepy, because we're going into deep stuff. We're gonna talk about why we believe Jesus is the only son of God, how we can know the Bible is true. We're gonna be talking about why we depend on this word, why we think it's reliable. Why?
00:26:37
Speaker
Because my goal is that by the end of that series, if you show up at every sermon, you're going to walk away here with a greater confidence that what you bet your eternity on is worth depending on. And you'll have confidence to walk out and have those gospel conversations we talk about. Thirdly, prayer. Told you we were going to come back to this because here's this. This is really important. If prayer is not vital for our church, then our church is not vital.
00:27:01
Speaker
If we don't need to pray to carry out the things that we're doing, then we're doing the things we're doing on our own strength and our own power. But we're not even there, sorry. If we can accomplish God's mission without prayer, then we must question whether or not we're pursuing God-sized task, whether or not we're doing God-sized things. Our church is too safe, and our activity is too irrelevant to Chapel Hill and to the Kingdom of God,
00:27:30
Speaker
if we can carry it out without the power of the Holy Spirit. You see, if we're doing it without prayer, then that means we're doing it under our own power. And the reason that becomes dangerous is because guess who gets credit when we do it under our own power? Us. Us. God has a pattern of working in the Bible where he does things in strange ways so that we can't take credit for it. You would have never dreamed of the idea of building a giant boat in the middle of the desert to save the world, would you?
00:27:57
Speaker
You would have never come up with the strategy of conquering one of the greatest cities at that time period by marching around and blowing trumpets. And you definitely would have never conceived of the idea of saving the world through a baby born to a virgin. So why did God do all those things? So that only one person gets credit and that's Him.
00:28:16
Speaker
I want to do those kinds of things. I don't want people looking at our church going, look at those really talented people over there. Look at those really qualified people over there. I want them to look at the pastor and go, that's the biggest idiot I've ever seen in the pulpit. How is he leading that church? I was waiting to see if anybody said amen. All right, number four, conversion and evangelism. We are not here to be a social justice program. We are not here to talk about the environment
00:28:45
Speaker
We're not here to talk about social justice issues. Are issues a part of what we deal with? Yes, but we talk about them from the sense of a changed heart. Where the Holy Spirit comes in and changes our heart, then we care about the world that God has created for us. If God comes in and changes your heart, then you care about whether or not racism is an issue in our country. If God comes in and changes our heart, then we care about the immigration challenges that we face at our southern border and now at our northern border.
00:29:12
Speaker
I mean, all of those things matter to us not because that's the focus, but because Christ is the focus. How do you love people who are crossing the border? Instead of screaming about the problem down there, how are you praying for those people? Guess what? Jesus died for them as much as he died for you.
Living the Great Commission
00:29:27
Speaker
So what do we do? How do we change those things? We exist to lead people to have a life-saving relationship with God. That's why we exist.
00:29:36
Speaker
And a lot of what passes for religion and churches these days, unfortunately, is just us affirming ourselves. Oh, you're okay, I'm okay. And guess what? None of us are okay. None of us are okay without Jesus Christ. And so what happens is we spend so much time patting each other on the back and saying, you're all powerful, you're good, you're great, you're independent, that we begin to compromise with sin and become complacent and apathetic about the things that really matter in the kingdom.
00:30:06
Speaker
We're gonna focus on confession. We're gonna focus on righteousness. We're gonna focus on real, real repentance. Guys, real repentance doesn't mean I'm sorry. Real repentance means I'm not gonna do it again. Number five, the practice of missions. You've heard the phrase a thousand times around here, and you're gonna hear the thousand more, and when I start it, you're immediately gonna know where I'm going. We live, sent lives.
00:30:35
Speaker
We live, sent lives. The last things that Jesus told his disciples in the limited time we have with them were two really important statements. Number one, go into all the world and make disciples, teaching them the things I commanded you and baptizing them so that they may know who I am and have a relationship.
00:30:50
Speaker
And then a little bit later in Acts, he says, oh, you're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. I think Jesus made it pretty clear our job is not to sit here and celebrate how much we have accomplished by being saved. We are supposed to go out and tell everybody how much he has accomplished in saving us. That's our goal. That's our goal. And so as we continue to go, as we continue to serve, as we continue to give, as we continue to pray, our focus is our Jerusalem literally to the ends of the earth.
00:31:20
Speaker
which this year hopefully means new churches, which hopefully means new partnerships with Argentina and India as we're having conversations in the days and weeks ahead about what that looks like. It means finding ways to permeate a high school and an intermediate school and an elementary school with the gospel. It means finding places to start new Bible studies that nobody's dreamed of yet so that we can introduce people to the life-changing message of the gospel. We sent out the Colossians, we sent out Christina Kertner, we're getting ready to send out the Smiths. I believe God is calling more.
00:31:50
Speaker
I hope and pray that some of you get really, really uncomfortable sitting here. And you quit squirming around going, I think God's talking to me. I think God's saying something to me. And instead you go, God is talking to me and it's time I respond. And before you say Amen too loud, I'm talking about you. I'm not talking about the person sitting on the other side of the congregation.
00:32:14
Speaker
And I'm not saying that always means that you're going to go to the Shema Wai... Shewema. You're not always going to go to the Shewema people of France. It might be that you need to go to your neighborhood and start a Bible study.
Membership and Accountability
00:32:30
Speaker
Number six, membership. Now, the reason I stuck membership in here is because membership matters. If you don't believe that kind of commitment matters,
00:32:40
Speaker
start dating a girl and tell her, I want to date you, but I don't want to make a commitment. See what happens. Right? In fact, some of you could stand up here and tell your testimony about how you and your wife got married when she said, okay, it's time to own up big boy. I've been dating you for 17 years. It's time you brought out the ring and let's get this thing sealed. Okay?
00:33:01
Speaker
A commitment matters. A commitment matters. And let me tell you five reasons why it matters for you and I. Number one, because the others in your life affirm your salvation. They see the fruit in you and they go, you know what? I see your patience growing. I see you caring more about God. I see you caring more about the things of God. And those things affirm in us. Anybody ever doubted your salvation?
00:33:23
Speaker
Okay, me and two people. Listen, I've doubted it before. When I was a teenager growing up, and if I had not been in a church with godly men and women who looked at me and said, I see Jesus working in you, I would still be questioning that those people affirmed what they saw in my life and it mattered to me. And from that moment, I grew. Second reason is, we work together to carry out that great commission we were just talking about. Aren't you glad that God didn't just come to your family and say, okay, you three people have to go to the end of the earth.
00:33:51
Speaker
You three people have got to go save everybody else. You three people have to carry out ministries to the adopted, to the fostering, to the hurting, to the racism. All those people, you've got to do it all. You three. Know what he did? He said, I'm going to look at my bride and I'm going to say, you guys are going to work together on this because together you're better. Together with a commitment, you're even better than that.
00:34:15
Speaker
And we make a commitment to each other. That's why we partner with 5,000 Baptist churches just in Tennessee alone to support missionaries and support the work of missionaries. We support children's homes and feeding banks and disaster relief programs and elderly care programs. All those things we do, you couldn't do it by yourself. We made a commitment to them. I'm asking you, if you're not a member, to think about committing to us. Because when you make a commitment, then I know you're there. I know you're there and I can count on you.
00:34:45
Speaker
Third reason we talk about baptism is because it protects us against false teaching. I love the fact, membership, sorry, which is connected to baptism loosely, but where was I going? Y'all interrupting me on the front row here. Where was I going?
00:35:07
Speaker
Oh yeah, false teaching. Yes, that's where I was. We have lots of people who start Bible studies. I love that. Can I remind you that we're not there to study the study, we're there to study the Bible. There's a lot of great voices out there that can teach us things, but be very careful who you listen to.
00:35:23
Speaker
And already in the last five years, I have heard and have had opportunities to myself, have loving conversations where some sister will pick up the phone and call somebody and say, hey, I just heard that you're doing this Bible study by so and so, and you need to be really careful because they're not really grounded in the gospel.
00:35:40
Speaker
or a guy who picks up the phone and says to his brother, hey, listen, other day in Bible study, you said this? And I don't think that really lines up with scripture. So we need to back up and go to the word ourselves together and let's talk about that. Because if we're not getting the gospel right, we're getting everything else wrong.
00:35:57
Speaker
So let's make sure we're teaching that. And by the way, if you're new here, you absolutely have permission to come to me and say, I don't agree with what you said. Can you explain to me why you said it? And let's make sure that we are constantly going back to the word of God. I make mistakes. I made three this year alone. Just kidding. Just kidding. There are mistakes. Excuse me, what was that? I can always count on Donny to hold me accountable.
00:36:28
Speaker
Yes, we've got to have that. Did you know in the book of Acts, there's a whole group of people called the Bereans who were celebrated for that? Because they didn't just take the word that was shared with them, they went back to the letters and to the gospel and heard it and read it for themselves to go, okay, let's make sure he's doing the right thing. Many Sundays I do, I have people come up to me and go, hey, you quoted the wrong passage of scripture. And after I smack them on the face,
00:36:57
Speaker
No, it's never happened. Listen, I'm not gonna do that to you. I'm not gonna do that to you because I need you to hold me accountable. Can I just tell you that I do not take this job lightly? It scares me to death to stand up here in front of you on Sundays. Kyle and I were talking about that just this past Sunday because he preached on Sunday and we talked about it. I said, you know what? It scares me to death because I know there are people in this congregation know the Bible better than I do. And so when I get up here to preach this word,
00:37:26
Speaker
You better know I've read over it 72 times. I've thought about it. I've prayed about it. Most Saturday nights, I don't sleep a whole lot. It's a huge responsibility to be a shepherd for you guys. And if any of you want to take over, actually, I'll fight you for it because I love doing it. It also is a place for encouragement in a tough world.
00:37:54
Speaker
The world's a tough place, right? It can get really nasty out there. You're trying to live a lifestyle that's completely counter to what much the world is doing right now. And so you need encouragement in that journey. And lastly, the Bible says 47 different times in the New Testament to do things for one another. Love one another, care for one another, pray for one another, bear for one another's burdens. Every one of those instances, it's a command for somebody in the church to do it for somebody else in the church.
00:38:23
Speaker
It's a command to do those things for one another. And that's where the church is expected to be committed to one another. Seven, gotta move a little faster, church discipline. Church discipline. Church discipline. How many of you have ever seen a church practice church discipline? Very few typically. It's not a negative thing, okay? The purpose of church discipline when it's done right is for restoration and reconciliation. It's to get people back on the right path.
00:38:54
Speaker
It is the fulfillment of Matthew 18 where Jesus teaches. He says, if you've got a problem with the brother and something that's going on in their life, go sit down and talk with them. If it doesn't work, you take another brother or sister, you go sit down and talk with them again. If that doesn't work, you take them to the elders and let the elders have a conversation with them. Why? Because we want to keep you on the right track. So if an elder ever knocks on your door, don't freak out. Unless it's an elder you don't like, then you can freak out. But don't freak out.
00:39:24
Speaker
That brother's probably just coming to say to you lovingly, hey, we've noticed some inconsistencies in some things that are going on. We just want to talk to you. I want to pray for you. I want to see if we can help you, restore you, put you back on the path where you need to be.
Leadership and Future Plans
00:39:37
Speaker
And all of us need that from time to time.
00:39:39
Speaker
In fact, if you read very closely the travels in the book of Acts, the stories there, Peter and Paul had those conversations from time to time. John Mark and Paul had those, I mean, not John Mark, Luke and Paul had those conversations, Barnabas, Barnabas and Paul had those conversations about John Mark. Sorry, trying to get the story straight. But they were conversations, hard conversations where they looked at each other and said, I don't think you're doing the right thing here. It's not a bad thing, it's a restorative thing. Number eight,
00:40:06
Speaker
Discipleship and growth discipleship and growth this is this is this is incredibly important your job as a as a follower of Jesus isn't to just Get saved. It's not that's not the goal line. That's not the finish line. That's the beginning of the journey The command is for us to continue to grow So what would it mean for us to remove every distraction from our lives and turn people into students of the Word?
00:40:32
Speaker
When I preach, my goal is to keep taking you deeper and deeper and deeper. We're offering some great Bible studies starting this Wednesday night. Ladies Bible study over here led by Kathy Featherstone. Josh Friend is going to be continuing our journey through the Old Testament together. I'm going to be starting the Leadership Academy with our guys on Wednesday night.
00:40:50
Speaker
Joanna Craft's going to be doing something with some ladies. There's going to be all kinds of opportunities. No matter your age, Wednesday night, we've got some great stuff going on. We have our life groups. We have our D groups. All of those are places for you to engage and continue to go deeper in the Word, to disciple and to train your heart. And so we're going to continue to offer more options that take us deeper into their Word, but it's always going to be about the Word.
00:41:13
Speaker
It's not about John Maxwell. It's not about Beth Moore. It's not about Andy Stanley or J.D. Greer. It's about Jesus and his word. Always. Lastly, leadership. Leadership. I'm just going to simply here just say this. I prayed for five good, solid men who would be interested in taking this leadership training thing starting me Wednesday night. As of last night, we have 13.
00:41:36
Speaker
and I'm excited about that. That's an incredible thing. It's an opportunity hopefully to see new men stepping up in their marriages, new men stepping up into the possibility of discipleship, future elders, maybe even some church planters, places that we want to continue to grow. So let me talk about this just again in a way of celebration and again a challenge to continue to grow in this. Back in 2020,
00:42:01
Speaker
I set these goals for the year 2025. There's a lot of prayer and conversation with other members of our church, specifically our elders. Goal number one was that by the year 2025, we would have 50,000 gospel conversations from our congregation. How many of you think that's a really high number? Okay, I think it's a really high number. Maybe I didn't set it high enough. Maybe we should go 75,000 gospel conversations. 50,000 gospel conversations. By the way, there's not even 50,000 people in Marshall County, I don't think.
00:42:29
Speaker
What does that mean? That means wherever you're going you're taking the gospel of Jesus Christ and you're having those conversations. This year alone we had 7,346, that number is incorrect, 7,346 gospel conversations. So far through the first three years of this, our church has had over 21,000 gospel conversations. 21,000 opportunities for people to hear the name of Jesus.
00:42:53
Speaker
21,000 people who've had an opportunity to be prayed with, to be prayed for, to be encouraged in their walk with Jesus Christ. Not all of them accepted Christ, some did. Not all of them needed to accept Christ. Some just needed to be encouraged closer to the image of Christ. Some of them just needed to be lifted when they were down in depression and discouragement and frustration. Some of them just needed to be encouraged in their marriage or some other relationship. But 20,000 gospel conversations taking place because of your faithfulness. But the job's not done.
00:43:23
Speaker
Second goal, two new churches. Don't know where these are going to happen, but we know they're going to happen because we're going to keep pushing towards that goal. I mentioned it just in passing a minute ago. We are in just a few weeks going to be having a conversation with leadership from India, where if you remember Ashish, who was here a few months ago and spoke on our stage, we're going to be talking about Ashish because Ashish has become the head
00:43:44
Speaker
of a church multiplication group in India. And we're gonna be talking about the possibility of partnerships with him. We're still working in Eagleville and Lewisburg. Right now we've got two or three life groups that meet in Lewisburg. We believe that one or two of those may turn into an opportunity to start a new church in Lewisburg. We need you to continue to pray about your involvement in that. Number three, 300 members by 2025. You'll see currently we have 282, which means you got two years to get the other 18 people in here to meet that goal.
00:44:15
Speaker
January 21st is our next Discover Us class, a place where you can begin to engage in that process. If you're interested, sign up, come be a part, and remember, membership matters.
00:44:27
Speaker
700 average attendance. As I said just a minute ago, the month of August this year, we averaged 570. For the year, we averaged 490 something. Three or four times in August and September, we were over 610 people in this place. Easter this year, we had 760 under the tent for Easter this past year. You will be happy to know that this year we have rented and reserved the gym at Forrest High School for our Easter services.
00:44:58
Speaker
So what that means is yes, ladies, you can prepare to wear your Easter sandals. Because for the past five years out under the tent, there was too much mud. That means you also are without an excuse. You don't have to worry about it being too cold, too hot, too rainy, too whatever. And I'm praying for a thousand people to fill that gym. I don't even know if a thousand people will fit in that gym, but we're pretty good at fitting people in where there's not enough room. So I'm asking you to begin even now to pray about Easter Sunday services because the world needs to know Jesus.
00:45:30
Speaker
I mentioned a minute ago that we had this past year raised our offering by $300,000 and you bet it. So we raised it 300,000 more because we believe you can do it. And what this does, if we meet this $1.2 million budget this year, it means that not only will we be able to carry out all the ministries we have here with youth and children and women and men and Para Church organizations and just keeping the light on, it also means that we will have the ability to pay at least $30,000 a month of mortgage on a new building.
00:46:00
Speaker
which says to the people who are out there being very reluctant to loan us the money to get that started. These people were more serious than we thought they were. And so even this week, our financial ministry team will be working to prepare a new proposal for one of the organizations that's been talking to us about loaning the money.
00:46:17
Speaker
And our prayer and I hope your prayer is that if this is the right time that God would open this door and they would be willing to let us take the money we need to get this thing started because I believe that that is just going to be another catapult in the direction that God wants to take us. So a lot of good things. Let me just wrap up by saying this. We can be afraid of the future or we can embrace the future. The former depends on us. The latter depends on our confidence in God.
00:46:46
Speaker
How many of you believe God can? Don't raise your hand, prove it. I know that's a sassy response for the ending to a service, but it's true because I can raise both of my hands and say I believe it, but until I'm ready to extend both of those hands in service to this community, I don't really truly believe. I can say amen with my voice, but until I'm willing to speak the name of Jesus in this community, I don't really believe.
00:47:13
Speaker
I can give all the vocal support to the pastor I want to and scream every opportunity I can, way to go, good job church. But until I am willing to give of my time, my talent, my testimony and my treasure, then I really don't believe. So what do you believe? Do you believe God wants to do exceedingly abundantly more than we could ever ask imagine this year? Because if you do, I'm gonna ask you to drink big with me.
00:47:42
Speaker
because the best is yet to come. I'm gonna ask our band if they will come to lead us in the song. And as they lead us this morning, I'm gonna ask you to do a couple of things. Number one, ask yourself, was my heart good soil today? Was it ready to receive what God wanted to show me and teach me? Did I hear? And now what am I gonna do with it? I'm also gonna pray, I already have this morning, that this, along with all 51 of the other Sundays that are followed this year is another Sunday where this altar has people praying at it.
00:48:11
Speaker
Praying at this altar doesn't mean that you're about to fall apart. Maybe you are. It doesn't mean your marriage is in trouble, but maybe it is. It doesn't mean that you are a lost person, but maybe you are. What it means is that you understand the power of prayer.
00:48:31
Speaker
And instead of just acknowledging by shaking your head and maybe saying amen and just walking out of here, you're willing to take one more extra step and say, God, I believe so much, I'm gonna bring it to you in prayer and trust you for the results. So my prayer is that every single service we have, every single Sunday this year, that we are a praying people.
00:48:53
Speaker
We will have course staff elders up here available to pray with you or to talk with you if you have needs or concerns. But as we stand in saying, I invite you to respond this morning as God leads.