Sermon Central
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Get It Together & Press On
Contributed by Selwyn Robins on Jan 13, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: Every Leader Needs a Leader. How the Chief Apostle (Paul) went through many perils in order to spread the gospel. In doing so, he battled not only the unbelievers but the church people as well.
GET IT TOGETHER & PRESS ON
Paul's tribulations...
2 Corinthians 11:23, 25-29
"Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?"
The word for you today is, Get It Together. Tell someone, get it together.
If we are really honest with ourselves, each of us live in a very uncomfortable tension. We are acutely aware that we just don’t have it together. There is a gap between what we go through and who we know we can be. There is a gap between me standing before you now and what I go through as a leader. Despite our best efforts to improve ourselves, getting it together seems like an impossible task. Is real transformation unattainable or is there a way of getting it together?
Each week we are before you presenting the living gospel, the good news through praise and worship, dance or by the spoken word and I do not mean poetry. Being in tune with the Holy Trinity. We take time out to be in prayer and fasting. We seek Gods face on what he wants for his children. Where we are to go on this particular day.
But I have to be honest saints, getting to that point of excellence is exhausting, and trying. There are trials and tribulations. Paul said not to be weary in well doing as encouragement to his leaders, but we get weary. We walk this walk by faith not by sight.
(For we walk by Faith and not by sight:)
"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses."
But sometimes there is a disconnect.
(video - Sunday Morning)
I watched a video a few months back. The scene shows a family walking into the church, with big smiles on their faces, waving at everyone because everyone has waved at them because they are seen as the perfect family. All eyes on them like a red carpet event at a movie premier. But it then cuts to the what happens 30 minutes before the grand entrance. The background is where it all happens.
The wife & her son in one bed. Alarm goes off, they have overslept. The father in another bed. Differing in opinion of who should get the kids ready. Wife wears the only dress she can find and realizes the zipper is broken. Husband said he will get a safety pin, but as he gets up his son spills coffee accidentally on his shirt. Daughter not standing still so mom can brush her hair. All the while the fathers toast has burnt. On the way, son realizes he has forgotten his shoe. "Honey we've got to turn around," the wife says. Father doesn't turn around...lol. While driving the father shaves. Then his wife screams out, husband slams on the brakes and his shaver goes up into his head clearing a path for a small Cessna plane to land.
But don't be fooled by the smile people. We all go through.
Naturally speaking, this family shows not just the simple hustle and bustle of a Sunday morning, but the chaos we go through to attain the presence of God. This happens because we strive each week to show Hebrews 10:25 true.
"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."
How can you lift each other up in spirit if their is no fellowship. And this is Paul's mission. To ensure the church is growing, give guidance, rebuke if need be, break bread with fellow believers. But in his travels he describes his problems in doing so.
As a minister of the gospel, you will go through. You will have to fight, beatings you will endure, loss will come, and on top of that you have to deal with church folk.
