A Pattern for Doing Church (Part 2)

Well, if you have your Bibles, look with me to Acts chapter 2, and we're going to look at verses 41 through 47,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

continuing the message we began last week, finishing it up today.

And for those of you who couldn't be here last week, let me just go back and play a little bit of catch-up

for just three or four minutes to bring us all up to speed.

Here's what we saw last week.

Jesus has come, lived, died on the cross.

Three days later, He's risen from the dead.

He, 40 days after that, ascends into the heavens.

Before He does, He commissions His church to take the gospel into the world.

He gives them instruction.

He's seen them in Judea.

He's seen them down in Galilee.

He tells them to go back to Jerusalem.

He goes back with them.

And there He tells them to remain in Jerusalem because in a few more days, the Holy Spirit of God is going to come.

And so they meet together in the upper room where they had observed the Last Supper, and they begin to pray.

There's not just the 12.

There are 120 in number.

They replace Judas as the 12th apostle, and then they begin to pray.

And they pray for 10 days until Pentecost comes, 10 days following His ascension into the heavens.

At Pentecost, it's a wild, wild time.

They are praying, and suddenly there's the sound of a rushing mighty wind.

We likened it last week to that of the sound of a tornado, if you've ever been through one of those.

There's no wind.

There's just noise.

It brings out the people of the city, and even those who are in this room and they're praying,

they suddenly experience the coming of the Spirit who descends in the likeness of a giant tongue of fire.

The tongue of fire divides into many cloven tongues of fire and rests upon the heads of believers,

and the 120 believers are instantaneously baptized and dwelt of the Spirit of God.

They go out into the streets of Jerusalem.

A crowd is gathering, people from all over the world, not just the residents of Jerusalem,

but those who have come for the Passover and those who have stayed for Pentecost,

and they begin to listen as these believers begin to prophesy and say things in languages they've never studied.

Some skeptics in the crowd begin to say, hey, these men are drunk with wine.

Peter defends them, says, no, it's early in the morning.

That's not the case.

What is happening here is what was predicted by the prophet Joel when he said young men would dream dreams

and old men and old women would prophesy this is of God.

And then he goes to the Psalms and he begins showing them that Jesus was the Christ.

Preaches a powerful message and basically in the end says this,

All of you here today are witnesses of what I'm telling you that we have rejected God's Son,

and many of you here in this crowd have personally had a hand in putting him to death.

You're responsible for killing the Messiah.

But we all know, we cannot deny, that God raised him three days later from the dead.

But the Spirit of God fell on those who were listening and many were pricked in their heart, the Scripture says, to their very soul.

They came rushing to Peter and said, Peter, what can we do to be made right with God?

And Peter looked at them boldly and said, you need to repent of your sin, repent of what you've done.

You need to repent of all your sin.

You need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

And if you really mean business with God, come and receive the mark of a believer, which is baptism.

Three thousand that day.

Are you ready for that?

Three thousand that day came and became a part of this assembly.

It says they were added to the church.

It doesn't mean they were added to some role.

We talked about that last week.

It means they were adopted into the family of God there in Jerusalem.

Now, here's the million-dollar question, the one that we're attempting to answer in this two-part sermon.

And that is, where do we go from here?

You're one of those 120 and 3,000 come forward.

What do we do now?

In the past, we've had Jesus at our side.

Now, His Spirit is in us through the Holy Spirit, but it's near them.

And they're seeking to learn how to follow Him.

Where do we go from here?

Nine things they did.

Four of them we pointed out last week.

I want to point out an additional five today.

For those of you who weren't here, let me just hurriedly run through what those first four were.

Right out of the gate, they baptized all those who followed Christ.

And I want to tell you, they baptized them by immersion, I believe.

The word means to die, to dip into something.

I think they took them to a local river, and there they baptized them just as Jesus had earlier been baptized.

I want to tell you, I think Baptists ought to be unapologetic about how we choose to baptize.

I hope we will never give in to the thinking, well, it's just a symbol.

The means of baptism, the method of baptism doesn't matter.

Because in my estimation, it does.

Is it a difference of having heaven and hell?

Of course not.

But it is significant because the way we baptize by immersion clearly sends a message to those who observe.

That's the reason I believe, likewise, in public baptism the way they practiced it then.

Here's what happens.

It says, when a person is baptized, they're demonstrating outwardly, we believe in the death, burial, and subsequent resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

As we carry a person on the water and bring them up out of the water.

It also says, this person being baptized has died to their sin.

They no longer exist.

They are a new creature in Christ.

It also says, just as Jesus was baptized of John, I choose to be his disciple.

I want to follow in his example.

So, they immediately baptized those 3,000 who came and became a part of the church.

Second thing they did was this.

They began to disciple those who were new to the faith.

You got 120 people who have walked with Jesus during his earthly ministry.

3,000 who just become believers.

They couldn't just turn these folk loose on their own, send them back to their native lands without knowing more about Jesus.

And so, they began to meet on a daily basis.

And they talked to them about all that Jesus did.

All that Jesus said.

All the correcting that Jesus ever did with his disciples.

They immersed them in the teaching of Jesus.

They discipled them.

Thirdly, they worked hard to build a strong partnership.

That word fellowship that we use so often,

I'm afraid that we have equated that with cookies and ice cream and Cokes

in a time of what we call fellowship.

The Greek word was the word koinonia.

It means they literally became partners.

That's why I know when it says they added them,

they didn't think of themselves as having just joined a religious club.

We're a part of this religious institution that is meeting here in the heart of Jerusalem.

That's not how they thought.

They thought we're embracing a new way of thinking.

We're embracing the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that is the common denominator among all of us,

is we share faith in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

They literally became partners.

A fourth thing they did was this.

They partnered together in prayer.

And listen, as they prayed,

I mean God did bona fide miracles.

Now, you listen to a lot of folk, including preachers, I'm sad to say,

talk about miracles today.

And they used that word so loosely,

it's just about lost all meaning.

We will call reaching a high attendance goal a miracle.

What was a miracle?

We had 500 in Sunday school today.

That's not a miracle.

Clemson has 85,000 every Saturday in the fall.

You understand that?

You can draw a crowd by just doing some pretty good publicity,

by getting on the phones and calling your friend.

Nothing wrong with that.

But just understand, that's not, is it a good thing?

Yes.

Did God have his hand in it?

I believe he did.

Is it a miracle?

Well, of course not.

This building that we're constructing out here,

the front of your church,

it's going to be gorgeous.

And God has provided the means.

Is it a miracle?

No.

Construction company's doing that.

You understand?

We're paying for it.

It's not a miracle.

It's a good thing.

It's a godly thing.

Is it a miracle?

It's not a miracle.

I want to tell you,

a miracle is when God does something

that no human being can possibly,

in their right mind, take credit for.

It's something so supernatural

that any who look at that say,

boy, I don't know how to explain that.

Even if they don't believe in God,

that's unexplainable.

But, man, something happened here

that's beyond the normal.

It's beyond the realm of explanation.

And I'm telling you,

God did bona fide miracles.

Men who were lame got up and walked.

People speaking in languages

they've never understood or studied,

that's a miracle.

It's a miracle how the gospel

of the Lord Jesus Christ spread

in that first century.

And here's what verse 43 and 42 and 43 tell us.

It uses the imperfect tense in that verb

that fear kept coming upon them.

And what it means is this.

The more they prayed,

the more God did.

And the more God did,

the more they stood in awe of God.

And the more they stood in awe of God,

the more they prayed.

And the more they prayed,

the more God did.

And it became a wonderful cycle.

And I'm telling you,

more than anything else,

that's what's holding our churches back

from being more successful

in evangelism today than anything else.

We don't witness the power of God

the way we once did.

And I believe that's attributable to the fact

we don't pray as we once did.

Well, let's move on.

You've caught up with me now

where we are in our message.

The fifth thing I want you to see is this.

They were incredibly generous

in sharing what they had

to meet the needs of congregants

in their assembly.

You look at verse 44 and 45.

Now, all the believers were together

and had everything in common.

Let that sink in for a minute.

Now, all the believers were together

and had everything in common.

And when we read that,

sometimes we're tempted to think

that means they were in one spirit

and one accord like we read about

in Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

Well, it indicates that a little bit,

but that's not nearly the essence

of what it's saying.

Look at verse, the same verse

or the next verse.

So they sold their possessions and property

and distributed the proceeds to all

as anyone had need.

Can you get your head around that?

Have you ever been a part of a church

where that kind of thing was taking place?

I know you're a part of a generous church,

but can you imagine this level of generosity?

And let me tell you what drove them to do that.

These people who had come to know Christ,

many of them were from other parts of the world.

That's the reason there was a need

for this miracle of tongues.

And so as they had come together for Passover

and now Pentecost,

and now they received Christ as Savior,

these who had been with Jesus recognized

we can't send them back to their homes

unless they know more about the gospel.

And so they immersed them

in the teachings of Jesus.

And these folk didn't immediately return home.

And after a period of time,

their resources ran out.

And so what they did was they said,

hey, we need to help these people out,

these fellow believers out.

These people have become a part of our family.

We are inseparably linked to them

and tied to them.

They're partners with us in Christ.

And so some had some real estate.

They went and sold it.

Some had some homes or some possessions.

They sold them.

And they brought the money

and they laid it at the apostles' feet,

the next few chapters tell us.

And they then distributed it

to people in the congregation

however they needed it.

Now, some folks have mistakenly said

this is a picture of what communism looks like.

And that's why we ought to be communist.

That's absolutely false.

This is not a picture of communism at all.

It is a picture of Christianity at its best.

Understand the differences in this in communism.

Communism says,

I'm going to give you five

and you'll have five

and you'll have five

and you'll have five.

At least in theory, that's what they say.

It never really works out that way.

But we're all going to take what we have

and spread it out

and everybody will have five

and we'll all be equal

and we'll all have equal concern

for everyone in the world.

But if you want to see a true picture of communism,

look at the Ukraine right now.

That's a picture of what communism looks like

where Putin says,

you know what?

We have might and might makes us right.

And because we can take what is yours,

we will.

And we'll take as much of it

with no regard for you or your people

or the sanctity of life.

We'll just take whatever we desire.

That's communism.

You understand that?

And what you see here is exactly the opposite.

It is a spirit of generosity

born by people's gratitude

for what Christ has done for them on the cross.

where God changes our heart.

And material things are no longer the benchmark

by which we measure the success of our lives

because we know there's life after this life.

So do we use material things?

We do.

Is it okay to have material things?

It is.

But do we just invest our whole life in that?

Of course not.

We recognize this is a tool that God has given for us

to help others and to spread the gospel.

I'm going to tell you,

if you want to be a New Testament church,

a solid, good New Testament church,

be known by your generosity.

Man, I was fortunate.

I pastored only two churches in 40 years,

and both of them were generous, generous churches.

They were generous when they had a little,

and they were generous when God had blessed them,

and they had more.

I hope you'll always endeavor to be a generous church.

Now, let me just say a personal word here,

and I'm not going to dwell on this,

but I just want to tell you something.

I've been looking at your budget,

and I want to first of all commend you

for exceeding your Lottie Moon offering

and for doing well in the campaign

to build this new addition to your building.

But two weeks ago,

I was looking at how far we've fallen behind

in our budget receipts to date,

and we were about 60,000 two weeks ago,

and I saw where today you've closed that gap

and you're only 50,000 behind,

and man, that's great.

Can I tell you something?

It won't be long.

You'll have a full-time pastor.

Don't put the burden on him

of having to find a way

to close that gap.

Can I just be honest with you?

If I were coming as your pastor

in the days to come,

I would want to do this in my first year.

I don't know what he'll do,

but I suspect whoever you get,

this will be their agenda,

to come in in that first year

and simply preach the Scripture

and get to know you and love you

and not have to make hard, critical decisions,

especially about my...

In fact, if I came as your pastor,

I wouldn't want to talk about money

for a whole year

if I could get out of it

because I'd want to build credibility

with you where you trusted me

and you knew that, okay,

it's okay for him to do that.

He's proven himself.

Don't make him come in

and ride out of that,

have to deal with financial issues.

Right now, you're not paying

a full-time pastor

and you're not paying

a full-time youth minister,

and I'm telling you,

if a full-time pastor was here

and a full-time youth person were here,

that pastor would have

some difficult decisions

to make financially going forward.

So don't put him in that position.

Just take that off the table.

Say, you know what?

Between now and Easter,

let's really try to close this gap

so that it's not as significant

as it is now.

There's a sixth thing,

don't you see they did?

They were faithful

in getting together for worship.

Look at verse 46 for a moment.

And allow every word to sink in.

And every day.

Everybody say that with me.

And every day.

They devoted themselves

to meeting together

in the temple complex.

Every day.

Every day.

You know what that means?

That means Sunday they gathered

and they had worship

and they prayed

and they probably ended up

with a fellowship meal.

They got to get,

they did some discipleship.

And then of course on Monday,

well they got together

and they worship

and they prayed

and they fellowship.

But then on Tuesday

they got together

and they worship

and they prayed

and they fellowship

and on Wednesday

they got together

and they prayed

and they fellowship.

But now come Thursday

they got together

and they prayed

and they fellowship.

And then Friday

they got together

and they prayed

and they fellowship.

But Saturday

they got together

and they prayed

and they fellowship.

and then they did that again

every day

now

we're not going to do that here

and we can't do that here

I don't want anybody to feel guilty about that

because I want you to know

the world that they were a part of

is not like the world that you and I

are a part of and that's not our fault

we shouldn't feel guilty

our world has changed

I want to show you something

Jesus came into Jerusalem 2,000 years ago

on a donkey

but at the turn

the beginning of the 20th century

man was still

pretty much riding on beast

of burden

they were pretty much getting around on donkeys

and on horses

but in the last 120 years things have

radically changed

our world has shrunk

in many ways but it has also expanded

for us personally

because now we have the ability to be here today

and in New York this afternoon

or to be in Europe tomorrow morning

right

and some of you

you don't work the way they did then

where they worked pretty much

within a few hundred yards of their houses

many of you work 5 or 10 miles from home

and many of you work 50 or 100 or 1,000 miles from home

some of you get in the car on Monday morning

or on a plane Sunday afternoon

and you're somewhere all week

and you're back here on Friday

and with your families on the weekend

man our world has changed

right

and so

we can no longer

because of school

and so anything

we can't meet

seven days a week

but I want to tell you something

we can be regular

in our worship

we can come together

on a weekly basis

and we can worship the Lord

and praise the Lord

and do discipleship

even more than one day a week

we can meet to pray

and we can meet to fellowship

and to do the work of the church

but the big thing is

there needs to be regularity

in our worship

in Hebrews chapter 10

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

one translation

puts that old verse

that we all know by memory

forsake not the assembling

of yourselves together

as the manner of some is

here's how it puts it

not staying away

from our worship meetings

as some habitually do

in other words

not just once in a while

but often

but encouraging each other

and all the more

as you see the day

the day of Christ returns

what it's talking about

drawing near

the writer of Hebrews

is saying this

listen

I know you're busy

and I know

there are things going on

in your world

but don't get to the place

that you forsake

the assembling

of yourselves together

some have

taken up that habit

and they are habitually

out of fellowship

with the church

do you hear what he's saying

you need to assemble

with other believers

and that's true

not just during times

of heartache

but in your everyday routine

you need the fellowship

of the church

and I'm going to tell you something

the fellowship of the church

needs you

we need you in the choir

we need you in midweek prayer service

we need you in the nursery

they just desperately need folk

down in the nursery

all the time

they need people

in the children's department

and in the youth ministry

we need believers

here at the church

and believers need to be a part

of the fellowship of God

can I tell you

the last few years

of my ministry

at Brushy Creek

boy it broke my heart

some things I saw happening

and it wasn't just

at Brushy Creek

it was across the board

I talked to so many pastors

about this

from about the year 2000

attendance in church

radically changed

I'm talking about

people's attendance habits

changed

from the way it was

when I started

in the 70's

when I went to

Western Avenue

in the 70's

you could count on this

there were about 80%

of whoever was in

the congregation

that attended

almost every Sunday

about 50%

of that 80%

about 40%

of the whole church

attended

Sunday night

Wednesday night

anytime the doors

were open

but about 80%

attended

on Sunday morning

you count on them

being there

next Sunday

and next Sunday

and next Sunday

and next Sunday

and they would miss

two to three

or four weeks a year

and we call those

active participants

right

we all knew

what it was

he's active

in his church

it meant

he's there

just about every time

the doors are open

he's there

at least four

or five Sundays

out of the month

occasionally

he'll be off

on vacation

occasionally

after work

occasionally

he'll be sick

but most all the time

he's there

then there was about

20% of the congregation

that are hit and miss

they'd come one Sunday

they'd miss the next

or they'd come two Sundays

and then they'd miss

the next two

or they'd come for a month

and then you wouldn't

see them for a month

you know what I'm talking about

right

and then you had

the third category person

and that's the ones

who showed up

on Christmas and Easter

they'd always come out

the door and say

pastor

is that the only

two messages

you got

well

come more often

maybe you'll hear

something different

you know

but around the year

2000

we not only

recognized

that Americans

have more

disposable income

they have more

what they view

as disposable

time

and what happened

was this

it got to be

okay

for folk

to miss

a couple

three Sundays

a month

and they could

go the

on vacation

and then next week

they might go to the lakes

they got a friend

that's got a lake house

they'll just go the way

or maybe

Wade just

worked hard this week

and we just need to sleep in

or I've got some yard work

I need to do

and it got to where

instead of

one or two groups

in the church

that 80% group

just disappeared

and

we redefined

what it was

to be active

people in their mind

think now

that active is

I show up a couple times

a month at church

I'm active

I've actually seen people

in times past

when I'm still a pastor

and I'd say

hey we missed you

the last couple of Sundays

and they'd look at you like

how dare you insult me

I'm active

I was here three weeks ago

you understand what I'm saying

the scripture

warns us

admonishes us

don't forsake the assembling

of yourselves together

as the matter of some is

you know

it's important

that we be faithful

to our church

that that become

a priority in your life

and I want to tell you

especially why

those of you

in this room

who maybe have fallen

in that category

where you say

well we go about

every other week

or we go two out of three weeks

can I tell you something

your parents went more often

than that

for the most part

now some of you

may have come from

non-Christian homes

but

attendance has been declining

in terms of people's

habits of regularity

for the last 20-30 years

and I want to tell you something

you're going to live to regret

the time's going to come

when you see your children

leave home

you're going to find out

rather than come

once or twice a month

they're not going to come at all

because you're signaling them

it's okay

not to be faithful

in my attendance

it's just not that important

I can still love God

and I can still

you see what I'm saying

you don't want to do that

these people

they were faithful

in their

attendance

to church

seventh thing

I want you to see

is this

they got along well

and worked to protect

the harmony

of their fellowship

verse 46

the latter part of the verse

and broke bread

from house to house

they ate their food

with gladness

and simplicity

of heart

you know what that says

they got along

they liked

each other

you wouldn't meet

so often

and go to each other's

homes

and fellowship

and have your meals

and be involved

in that level

of discipleship

unless

you developed

a strong bond

with each other

these people

were friends

in and out

of church

they were their

closest associates

they were the ones

they were doing

life together with

and so as a result

man they protected

the fellowship

of their church

now you see that

in the epistles

of Paul

one of the churches

Paul liked

I believe the best

we had him here

right now in this state

he'd say Paul

of all the churches

you ever served at

which one you liked

the best

I don't know

which one he'd say

but he would tell you

one of the places

he liked the best

was the Philippians

they were good to it

and he wrote them

the book of Philippians

is about that relationship

but even in the midst

of this book

you know what he says

he said there are

two old girls

in that church

who man

they're fellow workers

with me in the ministry

and I love them both

but you know what I hear

I hear they're at odds

with each other

some of you go

and straighten that mess out

man don't

don't let them continue

to be at each other

work through that

to the Corinthians

a church

I think he probably

had a lot of problems with

he says hey

I hear

and I partially believe

it's true

because I'm hearing

so often

that there is actually

division among you

and he cites

some of the problems

and he says

you need to address

these problems

and you need to

discipline those folks

even if it means

putting them out

of the church

for the good

of the whole body

you need to do that

so this was

a tight-knit group

they loved each other

but I want to tell you

something

they weren't above

going to somebody

and saying hey

you know what

your life is drifted

away from the truth

and we need to call

you back

and you need to

repent

and if not

we're going to

practice church

discipline

in your life

and in our church

we have this notion

today

that to be loving

is always to be

gentle

but I'm telling you

to be loving

at times

is to be gentle

but at times

it's to say

we can't put up

with any foolishness

I raise my kids

on that principle

and I'm going to

love you

and as long as

I can be gentle

I'm going to be gentle

but I'm going to

tell you something

if I have to have

a firm hand with you

I'm going to

exercise a firm hand

because I'm going

to discipline you

because there's a way

I want you to turn out

and I don't want you

to be lawless

I don't want you

to be unruly

I don't want you

to be making trouble

all your life

for yourself

or for other folks

and so is their daddy

I discipline my children

and they love me

and respect me

for that

I want to tell you

I've been disappointed

at times

in the church

when I see

church people

sit back

and see somebody

in the church

who is unruly

who divides

who is

a sharp tongue

and leadership

in the church

and membership

in the church

just sits there

and never says a word

they think

they tell themselves

try to convince themselves

we're just being loving

we're just being patient

we're just being gracious

and sometimes

it's a matter

of being cowardly

before I left

Western Avenue

I'd been there

about 15 years

and one of the last

couple three years

I was there

we were having

a business meeting

and there was this lady

who from the very start

of my ministry there

she didn't do it often

but about once

every year

18 months

she was going to say

something in a business

meeting that was crass

she was going to pick

somebody apart

sometimes it was staff

sometimes it was me

sometimes it was a deacon

in the church

but she would just say

something that just

had a barb to it

and when she would do it

well people would just

wince

you could sit on

people didn't like it

in the congregation

they were a harmonious church

and they didn't like that

but she would say

and one Sunday night

in a business meeting

she had some pretty

sharp words for me

and she said

what she said

and I didn't say anything

and we went on

the business meeting

and when it was over

I looked over at my wife

and four or five women

had come and gathered

around my wife

because tears

were streaming

down her face

she didn't like to see me

get beat up like that

and so

they were huddling

around her

and I went over to her

and said

you ready to go

and I heard one of these

women say to my wife

she said

I want you to know

call this lady by name

says we all take her

with a grain of salt

don't pay that

any attention

we know how she is

she's always been

she was that way

with the last

she just got to say

what she says

she prides herself

in her frankness

and her candor

and we don't take her

seriously

she just says

what she says

and then she said

we want you to know

we're always behind you

we've always got your back

my wife

it was out of character

for her

because I'm the one

who's more opinionated

but she looked that lady

in the face

and she said

that's the problem

there are times

I wish you were

in front of us

instead of behind us

you hear what I'm saying

you've been in those

meetings haven't you

where somebody said

something

you just knew

that's not

Christian behavior

that's not how

we should act

and I'm telling you

it would be a good thing

if in those moments

you went to that person

either publicly

or privately

depending on the situation

how bad it is

and say

you know what

we love you

we're not going to

tolerate it here

at First Baptist Pickens

that's not how we behave

that's not how the Bible

instructs kingdom people

to behave

and say

you can't do that here

if you're going to do that

you're going to have to

go somewhere else

because

we just can't tolerate that

they guarded

the fellowship

of the church

and I'm going to tell you

something

a church that doesn't

guard the fellowship

of the church

is a church

that one day

will be in trouble

if you think

harmony just happens

and unity just happens

you're mistaken

you've got to guard it

you've got to prize it

I hit my odometer

this morning

five miles

from the church

going that direction

on highway 8

because I'd noticed

this before

and I had my wife

who was in the dark

this morning

because of the time

moving back

I think I got them all

I'm not sure

but you know how many

churches there are

from just five miles

down this road

to this spot right here

there are either

16 or 17 churches

down that road

in a five mile distance

you think that's all

about missions

you think that's all

about spreading

the gospel

of the Lord Jesus

are you like me

are you a little bit

suspicious that

we just can't get

along one another

isn't that the case

you hear about that

old guy

he was rescued

from this island

and he'd been

missing five years

and when they got there

they said

hey we spotted you

by a plane

and we came back

to rescue you

and so they're

putting him

in the helicopter

to get him out of there

and this guy

who was flying

the helicopter

said

hey you got

three outbuildings

out here

what are these buildings

he said

well that's my house

okay well

what's that other building

he said

well that's where

I go to church

he said

well what's that

other building

he said

well that's where

I used to go to church

that's why you got

17 buildings

down this road

you understand

because

we don't take seriously

working out

our differences

and guarding

our harmony

and guarding

our unity

it's just easier

to pick up

and go somewhere else

I want you to see

an 8 thing

they were looked on

with favor

by the outside world

verse 47

8

praising God

and having favor

with all the people

that means just those

in the church

that's what we just

got through talking about

here he's talking about

having favor with people

outside the church

I just got to tell you

if you're the church

that God has called you

to be

and you're going to

stand on biblical

principles

the people in the world

are not always going to

like everything

you got to say

there are going to be

times that the world

is not going to like

your pastor

or your staff

or you

because of your

standing on abortion

or about

homosexuality

or about

transgender

situations

about alcohol

and drugs

and I could just

go on and on

and on and on

many people

when they hear

the word of God

preach

are going to be

offended by it

and they're going to

be angry with you

it's one thing

for them to be

offended

it's one thing

for them to be

angry

and it's another

thing for you

to give them

just cause

and some

believers

some ministers

they live such

unscrupulous lives

that when people

see them

on the outside

they discredit

their testimony

because they say

man that guy

comes in the

restaurant

and he's just

rude

he's just

he's just

rude

may that never

be said about

anybody here

at First Baptist

Church of Pickens

when I was

serving in

Statesville

there was

a time where

I was asked

to serve as

chairman of

this group

that was

going to

fight a

liquor issue

in our town

and I had

to go down

to the

chamber of

commerce

because the

guy who

was leading

the fight

for this

liquor thing

was the

president of

the chamber

in Statesville

North Carolina

and so when I

walked into his

office for a

preliminary meeting

he said now

you're the guy

at Western Amity

right

and I said

yes sir I am

and he said

the guy who

was your

predecessor

was Jake

Honeycutt

wasn't it

I mentioned Jake

a few weeks

ago to y'all

and he said

I said yes

and he said

you know

I don't know

if you know

this or not

but Jake

and I

locked it up

like you

and I

didn't

ready to

lock it

up

about 10

years ago

over the

issue of

liquor

and I said

yeah that's

what I hear

and he said

I'll tell you

something

even though

he and I

went toe

to toe

and nose

to nose

and it

got hot

sometimes

he said

I hope

you're as

nice a guy

as he was

because he

said I'm

going to

tell you

something

I don't

have anything

but good

things to

say about

that guy

he said

man he

was a man

of character

and a man

who is gracious

and a man

who is loving

and I want to

tell you something

that's how it

ought to be

with every one

of us in

this room

we might have

to disagree

with somebody

we don't

ever have

to be

disagreeable

do we

we ought

to be

people

whose

lives

are found

in favor

with the

world

and then

there's

one last

thing

and I

close

they

partnered

together

in getting

out the

gospel

look at

verse 47

I love

this

and every

day

the Lord

added to

those

added to

them

rather

those

who

were

being

saved

can you

imagine

that

every

day

somebody

was being

saved

you know

there are

churches

right here

in Pickens

I'm not

making this

up

who in the

course of a

year

they never

baptized

anybody

all across

the state

of South

Carolina

there are

lots of

churches

that don't

baptize

a single

person

in the

course

of a

year

I know

without even

seeing the

records that

during these

two years

of COVID

fewer people

have been

baptized in

our Baptist

churches

than probably

in the last

hundred years

there's no

question that

COVID has

kept us from

being as

aggressive in

evangelism as

we were at

one time

but I'm

going to tell you

something

if this

becomes a

way of

life for

us

and we

just settle

in and say

you know

what

it's okay

that we

just minister

to our

own

and that we

not take

the gospel

out to the

nations

only take

them

we will

have

forfeited

our right

to be

called

church

we'll be

nothing more

than a

sacred

society

of secret

snobs

do you

understand

that

the church's

mission

is clear

cut

and that

mission is

to take

the gospel

to the

nations

as soon as

you're a new

pastor on

board I

hope you

quickly will

develop a

strategy where

you'll say

let's have a

strategy for

reaching

Pickens for

Christ

and then you'll

have a strategy

about how do

we influence

Pickens County

and Greenville

County for

Christ

and how do

we get the

gospel across

the state

and into the

nation

all 50

states

and how can

we be a

part of

bringing the

world to

Christ

how can we

give the

gospel to

the Ukraine

and to

Uganda

and to

places we've

never been

and may

never go

that's the

mission he's

given us

and if we

settle for

anything less

than that

we can be

good people

and having a

good time

and doing

some good

stuff

but I want

to tell you

something

you're not

a church

you're just

not a church

and I hope

you'll never

ever satisfy

to just be

a bunch of

good folk

who maybe

even love

the Lord

who are

looking

to him

to save

them

but have

no regard

for people

in the world

who don't

know Christ

let's bow

together in

prayer

Father

I pray this

morning that

you would

convince us

leadership

staff

members

alike

that this

is the

pattern

that we're

to follow

we don't

have to

reinvent the

wheel

Lord

we just

have to

get on

board

with what

you've

already

told us

in scripture

we ought

to be

about

and I

pray God

that we'd

always hold

this standard

up before

ourselves

we'd go

back and

check from

time to

time and

say are we

doing those

things that

really the

church is

called to do

are we getting

out the gospel

are we discipling

the lost

are we

praying

are we

ministering

are we

sharing

our goods

with others

please oh

God

I pray you'd

make First

Baptist Church

Pickens the

strongest in

the days to

come it's

ever been in

this wonderful

history bless

them give them

souls for their

labor it's our

prayer in your

name amen