Revitalizing Faith: Restoring Dwindling Churches in America

That was awesome. One of the other important things that churches

do and should be doing is helping to revitalize churches. We

see in America, in Texas and around the states, churches that

have dwindled down to nothing. And a lot of that, many of them have

been really affected by Covid. And. And we're doing that with Brother

Wiggins, right? So Brother Wiggins took the church there in

Mobile, Alabama, running about 20, 25, but, you know, five acres

with a building and paid for. Why would we as Baptists just say,

okay, we'll just shut down and let that five acres and that building

be. No, no, no, there's five acres there in a building. And so

we want to go in and revitalize these churches. And that's

what we're doing with Brother Wiggins. We're doing that in Roanoke.

Not Roanoke. We're doing that in Rockwall with Brother Tony Roa.

Some of y' all know, Ms. Roa is on our staff here at the school.

And there, that church that he took is needing to be revived, and

he's doing a great job over there. And I could name off several

others of churches that had dwindled down. I believe Brother

Martinez, they were down to two there in Portland. And so. So

these are churches that need. And I could tell you a lot of other

cliches that I won't do tonight. It's harder to raise the

dead than he probably knows all of them. And sometimes it is

easier to do things like we're doing in the Kona, where you just

say, okay, it's good. Let's dissolve it and start brand new.

But be in prayer for projects like this. And. And we treat them.

We pretty well treat them as we should, as church planters when

you have two people left. But one of the things we have learned

and our church has learned over the years is the hump of getting

a building and getting a place permanently to meet in. It's a mountain.

And for you to already have a building and already have the land

and it's paid for, and if people cooperate, man, what God can

do. So he's done that with Brother Martinez, and we're excited

about that. I met Brother Martinez at the same place, at the

same meeting that I met Brother James, who preached Monday

night. And we started supporting him about two and a half

years ago, some around there. And so Brother Martinez, you come

on and he's got a presentation that he's going to preach for us.

I was going to let the video first, please. Thank you. Heritage

Baptist Church for the Opportunity to be here. It's a blessing.

I rejoice what the Lord is doing in our church and our ministry

there and Grace Baptist Church. My wife here, my family,

if you can just stand real quick, Mariah. And this is Mariah.

We've been married 11 years. And this is Noah, the oldest, and

then Elia, the middle. And then I have a two year old, Annalee,

in the nursery where she belongs there. And so I rejoice,

Pastor Crawford, to see what God is doing. And whenever I get

discouraged, I see what the Lord is doing in others and what

the Lord is doing and people getting saved, people getting baptized.

And that's what God shows me, how to keep going because of other

people. And so, as you can see there in the video, that's brother

Charlie. And he was all about rock and roll, dressed in black and

just all this craziness, bad words and loud music. And he didn't

want nothing to do with like Christians and church and all that.

Actually, I was told that the previous pastor visited him like

maybe one time. And so he said, no, I don't want nothing to

do. And he said, go, go away, you know. And so after some time

we, because they first came to church and then we went to his home

and then I talked to him about salvation. And so after that he understood.

And it took a little while, but he was ready. He was kind of

like I would say, all broken. And so he was ready to serve the

Lord. And he's been there, faithful for all this year and 10

months. And so we see that family just being there. His kids

been going there. They went so many with us last week. And so we

just see the growth in their family, we see the blessing of God

and we have many stories there. But I want to get with you.

There's many things that I could say about our church that,

that the Lord is doing. We got two weeks ago, we got about one baptism

and we got about five, six visitors. And then my wife was able

to witness a girl, young girl, 16 year old, she got saved. She's

been coming for three weeks. And so we see the blessing of God

that the call of God. And just to keep the thing, the main thing,

we want to be soul winners wherever we at. And we just want

to. I talk to pastors, I talk to missionaries, I talk to anyone

I can about how to grow the church. And it's always the same

thing. Just go and find someone to share the gospel, to share

Jesus, because that is where is the change, the difference in

our lives. And so I just want to encourage you, if you're kind

of discouraged, just go and knock someone else door or just go

give a gospel tract. And they will tell you their lies, they will

tell you their testimony, and you will be like, what I'm going

through is nothing compared to what others are going through. We

have a lady that has three tumors in her body. And so just a

month ago, she surrendered her life to give it to the Lord. She's

been going. Now she works harder than me now because she's

there like four or five days through the week. And so she is there.

I'm like, mariah, we need to be there before she gets there. And

she just giving her life to God and just want to serve the Lord.

And so we are excited that God is touching his heart and touching

people's lives. And it is a blessing. And so I'm just going to

go to the Bible. If you could open the Bible with me. And the Gospel

of Mark, chapter five. Mark, chapter five. Another funny story

I will mention right now is about my kids. I go tell everybody

about this because I think it's funny. I think maybe some of

your kids are the same. I see many kids here, so I'm just gonna

go ahead and say it. So a couple months ago, we were just inside

the house, and my wife and I were talking about some things, and

all of a sudden we hear some noises on the roof. And we're like,

what is that? What's going on? You know, it's like, squirrel. No,

that sounds like someone is on top of the roof. So what's going

on? And so I got up and I went outside. I started looking around.

I look at the roof and it's my kids, Elijah, Noah, on the roof,

running and just jumping into the trampoline. Just like, nothing.

And then I was just. They didn't see me yet. And they were

going back through a pole and climbing like this and on the roof

all the way to the pitch and running with everything they could

use, like a flip into the trampoline. I said, babe, come here,

come here. Look at this. We were always looking. They didn't

see. When they saw us, they were like. And they just went, like,

down slowly went down. And they knew they were in trouble. They

went back inside. And I was just like. I didn't know if I should

get upset. Pastor Crawford, I don't know if I should just tell

them, but they knew they were in trouble. So I said, just go to

your room and wait. And I was like, what should I do? And so I'm

like, I didn't tell him. I explained afterwards, I tell them,

you know, guys, that's dangerous, you know, you couldn't

get hurt. And so we. But I don't know, it's just pray for me

as I have my ministry, my family, my kids there. Annalee, the

little girl, 2 year old, is just, you know, giving us all these

type of lessons in life. And so pray for us as we continue serving

the Lord and have our team there with our family. By the way,

they go with us every time we can two, three days out of the week.

So winning. Noah and Eli go by themselves. And so sometimes we can't

talk to the kids, right, because whatever law is going on.

So went in, but they go and talk to them. And so they go by themselves

and knock. Of course we're in the next house looking at them, but

they go and talk. And I can't tell you how many times they invited

someone to go to church. And so we're going to use our children

as arrows for the Lord. Amen. And mark chapter five, verse 25.

And we're going to go all the way to verse 36, 30. If you can read

with me. I don't know if you guys stand or you can stay seated.

I don't know how you do it here in your church, but if you just

can read with me together. Verse 25 all the way to verse 30.

The Bible says, read with me. And a certain woman, which had an

issue of blood 12 years and had suffered many things of many

physicians, had spent all that she had and was nothing better, but

rather grew worse when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press

behind and touched his garment. For she said, if I may touch

by his clothes, I should be whole. And straightway the fountain

of her blood was dried up and she fell on her body that she was

healed the plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that

virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press and

said, who touched my clothes? And then in verse 34, Bible says,

if you read with me. And he said unto her, daughter, thy faith

had made thee whole. Go in peace and be whole of the plague.

Let's pray for Father. I pray that you bless this time. Bless your

word, Lord. I pray that help me to be a blessing, help me to encourage,

help me to support, help me to just give your word, Lord. There's

power in your word. There's power in you, Lord. And I am nothing.

I'm nobody, Lord, and you are everything. So I want to give back

the glory to you. I pray that anyone here tonight that maybe is

going through discouragement, maybe they're going through anxiety,

maybe going through a situation in their lives. Lord, I

pray that through your word and through you, maybe someone that

does not know you, Lord, and you are not their Savior, you're

not their Lord. I pray that you would touch their heart. Holy

Spirit, I ask you to help me in this moment. I yield myself to

you and use me in Jesus name. Amen. So we have here this lady that

comes to a situation and verse, verse 25, we see that this

woman at the end of the verse says, but rather grew worse. And

so she had a problem. She had a situation like you and I. She was

going through something that no one could help. If you keep reading

a couple more verses, it says that she spent money on it. She was

trying to find a solution in her life. She was trying to just

find a way to overcome her problem. I don't know about you this

evening, but all of us are going through something. We all battling

something, we all facing a giant. We all been in the hospital

or we are in the hospital, I don't know. We are going through

different situations. And the more that I serve the Lord as a pastor,

I find out that people have a lot of problems. And so this evening,

if I could get a little bit of your attention, my brothers and sisters,

I just want to show you through this, the word of God, that

whatever you're going through tonight, the solution is in Jesus

Christ. I've been a pastor for almost two years and I can tell you

right now about five testimonies what Jesus has done in

people's lives. One of them, I'm going to tell you tonight that

she shot herself a couple years ago. And so she came in a wheelchair

the first time to our church. She was not open to anything. She

just came because her daughter came first. And then her daughter

brought her to church. So she had this face, like close. And no

connection with nobody. No smiling, no singing, no opening the

Bible, no nothing. Just close to everything. After about five months,

six months praying and just doing what the Lord says in his Word.

And we shared Jesus. We did what we have to do. We pray, we fast,

we just did as a church does, being a lie to others. She began

to smile. She began to open up. She began and finally she accepted

the Lord. Now she comes with the Bible, now she sits, now she

sings. Now she's even inviting people. Believe me or not, now she

gives gospel tracts. Who gives gospel tracts? The one who have Them.

So if you have some gospel tracts, you're going to give them.

So this lady, we went to eat with her husband and she opened her

purse and said, look, Pastor, I have gospel tracts. And she began

giving the restaurant gospel tracts. My friend, my brother, my

sister this evening, Jesus is real. There's power in Jesus. If

you believe and in this woman, in this story in the Bible says that

she believed. You can find there in verse 28 that says, for

she said, if I may touch by his clothes, I shall be whole. I

know that all of us, we are kind of looking to the American dream.

Some of you, you already are there, you are established financially,

you are settled in some of the goals, your life seems pretty good.

But let me tell you, my brother and sister, there is no satisfaction

without Jesus. You can't be complete without the Lord Jesus.

I have in our church some of the people that are very professional,

they are very successful. But how they came to our church, they

began to talk to me and they say all their problems. And I can

tell that money is not a solution. My brother and sister having

a successful job is not a solution. Everything else in our

life is not a solution. Jesus is the solution. And that's why God,

our Lord, keeps calling us to do his will, to keep being alive

wherever we are. John teenager this evening, I want to tell you

right now to you, Jesus and God is looking for someone that has

a heart for him. And if God's speaking to you, God's been showing

you a way. Don't say no to God. God is calling. Especially in

our time that we don't know when Jesus is going to come back.

Jesus is calling, is still looking. And so in our story here

in the Bible, we find this lady, that she had a problem situation.

And though she everything seems that it was going worse. I

don't know if you've been there, my brother and sister, that

you look at the bills, you look at the family, you see your

wife, you see your husband and. And then you cry when nobody's

around. You go to sleep, you can't sleep. You probably had nightmares

about the situation. And then the morning comes and you don't know

what to do. And it seems that things are getting worse and worse.

Let me tell you this evening, it doesn't have to be like that.

Believe in the Lord, believe that Jesus will give us a solution,

will help us. Look what it says in the Bible in verse right

there. 33. The Bible says, but the woman, fearing and trembling,

knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him. Let

me tell you real quick. We can't understand nothing about God

and Jesus if first we don't fall down before him. Let me say

that again. You cannot understand the Lord Jesus and his

ways if you don't fell down before him. This woman understood

that there was something different about this man. It was

something different about this preacher or prophet. There was something

real. And she decided to honor him as someone beyond a man. So she

fell down right away, all the way. And according to the scholars,

they said they fell down all the way to her, face down. And so,

my brother and sister, God cannot work in our lives if we don't

humble ourselves before him. We have to give it all 100%. Let's

see what else happened here in our word, the Word of God, it says

in verse 2033, it says, fell down before him and told him all

the truth. We have to be sincere with the Lord. We have to

open up, not just fell down all the way, but open our hearts

all the way. Look at the Lord and say, this is what's going on,

Lord, let me talk to you. And then after that, verse 34, it says,

and he said unto her, daughter, I don't know if your Bible,

but my Bible is read because Jesus is speaking now. And so you

can connect, understand God's way or the Lord's way, if you're

not falling down and allow him to speak to you, open up your heart.

And also, you will not understand anything if you are not

a child of God. Jesus said, daughter, what? Why? Because she

already believed. She already accepted him. Many of us, I don't

know in this church right now and Heritage Baptist Church, I don't

know. All of us, we have Jesus in our hearts. I hope you do. But

if you don't have Jesus in your heart, you are not a child of

God. You have to have Jesus in your heart. You have to believe that

you're a sinner. You have to believe that there is a consequence

for the sin. You have to accept the Lord as Savior, as Lord

as king, in your life and your personal life. It's not just Jesus

for the whole world of this church, but it's my Jesus, it's my

God, it's my King, it's mine. And so it begins in our hearts with

salvation. And so God can come, the Lord can come to you and

say, my daughter, my child, my son. So tonight God is speaking to

you and to me and is saying, daughter, son, daughter, son, what

is your need? What is your problem? What are you Going through.

Daughter, son, son, daughter. What is going on? Have you talked

to me? When was the last time we went to our room or closet or

wherever? You have a spot there and you cry before God, before

Jesus, and you spoke with them and you said, lord, I don't understand.

I don't know, the hospital, the veil, this burden, this weight.

I'm tired, I don't have energy, this sickness, Lord, when

was the last time we opened up, we went, came to the Lord, and

our Lord said, daughter, son. And then after that we see that Jesus

says in verse 34, thy faith had made thee whole. Oh, by the way,

that's what I want to talk about tonight. It says verse 34,

Thy faith had made thee whole. Thy faith had made thee whole. Thy

faith, your faith, my faith, brothers and sisters, my faith towards

God, towards Jesus, to our Lord is what is going to make us

whole, is what is going to make us complete. It's going to make

us satisfied. There's nothing else in this life. Then allow our

Lord, Fulfill our soul and our physical body. Look what it says

in verse 34. After that it says, go in peace. Go in peace and

be whole of the plague. Whatever is your need tonight, whatever

is your problem, whatever is the situation you're going through

tonight, I just want to tell you this verse, and you were in the

Bible that the Lord is saying to you, your faith that you have

towards Jesus is going to make you whole, it's going to make you

complete. And then God is going to say to you, go in peace.

You're going to have the peace of God. Let me tell you this example

about what the Bible says. I was in my office about two months

ago. I was just talking to a family, a couple there, a team. And

so they were just sitting there. We're talking about the church

and we're gonna do this ministry, the ministry, we're kind

of like planification. Every Wednesday we have a meeting at 5,

getting together about what else we're gonna do better. And so

all. Suddenly someone comes and knocks on my door. They didn't

knock, like just a little bit. They were like at my office. And

I was like, okay. I opened the door, there was this mom crying.

And then the son was crying. Both of them were crying, like with

tears everywhere. And she was just like, pastor, can you help me?

And then the son, he didn't want to look at me. He was just like

down like this, just with a lot of tears. And I'm like, yeah,

yeah, I can help you guys. Can you give me the room, please. They

came in and they began to tell me all their problems, how this son

got into a fight with his dad and were just fist punching each

other, grabbing stuff and throwing to each other. A couple

months ago, not just that, but they found that this son has been,

he was doing drugs for a year and they didn't even know. They found

out that the police had to come one of those days and they had

to take him to jail because he was fighting again. They were paying

about $100, $200 for session so they can take him to the, to the

counseling with someone. And so all these problems. But the last

thing before they came to my office was that he said he was done

with his life. And he said, I'm gonna end my life today. So he

went and grabbed a knife, went to his room and he's about to just

do, do something with the knife. So his older brother was there.

He, he saw what he was doing, he intervened, grabbing the knife.

So he went and grabbed a capsule or a lot of pills that he

was taking because of an accident he had. And so he wanted

to take all that in his mouth. And so the brother also stopped him

to do that. And they were fighting again. So after that they

rushed to the church and said, the mom said, pastor, I tried everything.

I went with the police, I went with juvenile, I've been with the

counseling, I've been everywhere, the hospital, I don't

know anymore. I don't know what else to do. I don't understand,

I don't know. Can you help me, please? So I sat down with this young

teenager, 16 year old, and I allowed him to just tell me also

everything he had to say. He said, that's true, that's true, Pastor.

I don't know. I don't understand. I'm angry all the time.

I'm mad. I don't care for nobody. I'm just so full of angry.

I just want to, I don't know, I start crying. And he said, I didn't

believe in God before. I have done a lot of sins in my life. And

so he said, I don't know what else to do. So I began to talk to

him about Jesus. And I can tell he is broken. He's ready to

accept Jesus. We talked there for an hour and so crying. We were

sitting on a chair, both of us. He said, pastor, I understood

what I had to do now. Can I bow myself? And he bowed himself.

He said, all the way like this and crying and tears going down.

He accepted the Lord Jesus it's been two months. He's been there

in church, every service. He brought three visitors to our church.

Two of them got saved. One of them, he went two times already to

soul winning. He's been going soul winning. The other week he called

me and said, pastor, I don't feel like going to soul winning because

I'm tired. I have school, I have all these things. But I feel

that the Lord is telling me to go, so I'm coming. He came all tired

from school, when did some sports and he came and he was just

tired once or winning with me. Brothers and sisters, I don't know.

I don't know about you, but that there is a miracle of God. This

kid with drugs, with all these problems, with violence and all that

stuff, and his mom tried everything. It didn't work. If you

believe that Jesus is the way. If you believe that Jesus is Lord,

then my brother and sisters, we're going to do something about

it. We're going to believe in him and talk to him and just do something

about it. So reading again. Verse 34, it says, and he said unto

her, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace and

be whole of the plague. I would like to tell you three things

real quick. Number one, Persist. Persist through your pain.

Persist in the Lord through your pain or the situation that you're

going through. Persist. Keep going. Keep believing. Knowing that

the Lord, he give us eternal life. He can help us with our problem.

Act and bold and faith. Act. Being bold, having boldness to do

something in our faith. Maybe for you is being bold to come to

the altar to give a gospel tract, to talk to someone about Jesus.

I don't know. Whatever the Lord will put in your heart. Then

number three, seek a personal encounter with Jesus. Seek a personal

encounter and experience something that you would do with

the Lord. Persist, act and seek. Someone said the beginning

of the anxiety as the end of fate. The beginning of the anxiety

is the end of faith. And the beginning of faith is the end of

anxiety. Brothers and sisters, the word of God is real. I have other

stories. I have like three or four more to give you. God is real.

Do you believe? Do you follow? The Lord is God, your Lord, that

you say, I love you, God. But are we showing? Are we doing something

with the Lord? And if you are, then you and I should keep doing

the things that we please, our God. If you can bow your head and

close your eyes this evening if you would like to make a decision

about this verse, whatever the Lord is calling you, whatever the

Lord is saying to you, whatever Jesus is saying to you through

that trouble problem struggle you having tonight, believe in the

Lord. Remembering this, Jesus said, daughter, son, thy faith shall

make you whole. Your faith towards me is going to make you complete

satisfied. I'm going to fulfill you with my spirit. Go in

peace. I don't know what you're going through. Will you talk

to the Lord? Will you pray? Will you make a decision? Will you

just surrender? Humble yourself before Almighty God. He

will lead us and guide us. Salvation, restoration, dealing with

sin, whatever it is, God is there. Pastor Crawford.

Faith is such a big subject in the Bible. It's faith by which we

are saved. It's faith by which we should live. And again, I'll never

forget again what you think of God. What you believe about God is

the most important thing about you. Aw tells her. And when our faith

in God is like this lady who came to just a touch, if I could

just touch the hem of his garment. Just that kind of faith

that no matter what you're going through, that if you just get

to Jesus, if you'll just trust him, you'll just put your faith in

Him. He'll take care of that problem. We've been dealing with

a lot of problems this week here at the church. And again, families

and people as this brother Martinez deals with too. As a pastor,

I just think as I met with a family yesterday and one today, I'm

so thankful that I have a Savior who can overcome any problem

in my life. It's such a pointed message. Tonight I needed

it. Let's all stand, we'll have a first invitation. Lord spoke

to your heart you come Israel on the altar hymn 156.