Date: August 14th, 2005
Title:
Bible Text: various
Subject: are we available and willing to allow God to use us?
Complement:
Main Idea:
Intro: Now I want you to know up front that while I have fished several times in my life, I am not a fisherman, to me, it is messy, scales and worms on hooks, taking the fish off the hook, spinny, pointy fins that flap around and want to stick you. Ripping out hooks that are deep down in the throat of the fish…. It just doesn’t seem worth all the effort.
Fishing can be messy and even dangerous, but God has, in His Word, the Bible, called us to be fisherman. Not necessarily catching fish that have scales etc… but people. In Matthew 4:19 Jesus tells us that we are to be fishers of humankind! The truth is that being fishers of men can sometimes be messy too, but that is what we are to be and so we need to learn how to be the very best at it that we can possibly be.
Several weeks ago my family and I were down on the outer Banks of North Carolina. While we were there we had the opportunity to go with some friends who live there out in their boat to do some fishing. We were trolling along with two poles manned by my two daughters. Suddenly the fish started biting and we were catching fish as fast as we could get them off the hook and throw them into the bottom of the boat. They were practically jumping in the boat. It was an amazing and exciting time.
I believe God does those same kind of amazing and extraordinary things for us in our spiritual lives as well. He does things that surprise us, catch us off guard if you will. The question is, “are we available and willing to allow God to use us? Are we willing to be a fisher of men for God? Well, today we will see here in God’s Word, some key pointers in how we can be used of God to be the very best fishermen and women around.
I. All Eternal Efforts Begin With Finding Out What The God Of Eternity Is Doing In Our Midst. (John 5:19ff)
A. We can only accomplish eternal tasks by joining our Heavenly Father in His Work. (John 5:19ff)
1. We are told here in this passage that Jesus, God’s own Son, could do nothing that the Father wasn’t already working on.
a) This is an amazing statement.
b) In other words, Jesus the Son and His heavenly Father are so intricately tied together in purpose that they always, always, always are on the same page.
c) If anything of significance is going to happen, the Father is involved.
2. The same that is true for Jesus is also true for you and me.
a) We can do nothing of any real eternal significance, that is stuff that lasts forever, apart from what God is already in the process of doing.
b) Do you know the one thing that will go on to eternity? One thing that will go from this world to the next and eternity?
c) The souls of humankind!
3. Like Jesus we need to look and see what God is already doing and then join Him in that endeavor.
B. Every church needs to ask, “what is God doing in our midst?” (Matt. 4:19 & Luke 5:6)
1. We need to stop and look around and see what God is doing.
a) This requires us to note the things that have eternal significance.
b) Things that only God can do, like draw people to Himself.
c) In Matthew 4:19 Jesus tells His early followers that He will make them, no longer just fishermen, but fishers of men!
d) That is a God thing. Only God can draw people to Himself.
e) No program, no amazing preacher, nor awesome music, nothing, by itself, can draw a human soul to the cross of Jesus Christ.
f) So we need to look and see where God is working here at C&T.
2. One of the amazing things we see if we look is that God is drawing people to us.
a) In Luke 5:6 we find a somewhat skeptical man by the name of Simon Peter finding himself in the uncomfortable place of the presence of a religious man named Jesus.
b) This Jesus tells them to put out into deeper water with their boats and let down their nets.
c) Peter, an experienced fisherman tells Jesus, “Uh, Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything… then you can almost imagine this silent pause as they exchanged a look, and then Peter continued and said, but because you have requested this we will do so.”
d) Imagine the surprise when suddenly the net is so full they can’t hardly pull it in.
e) Immediately, Peter falls down on his knees before Jesus at the realization that God was mightily at work in this miracle.
3. That is similar to what God is doing here at C&T.
a) He is bringing people, or to use the analogy of being fishers of men, He is bringing the fish into the net.
b) Or perhaps a better comparison, He has the fish jumping into the boat!
c) With the help of our community pads we are able to extrapolate out that we have the potential of over 1500 visitors who will come to our church over the next 12 months.
d) That is 1500 people that God is tugging at their hearts and drawing them through our doors.
4. This is obviously something that only God can do.
a) None of us can orchestrate such an amazing thing.
b) This is God at work in our midst.
5. This being the case, it seems obvious that we must do all we can to make these people feel welcome so they want to come back.
a) Not through nifty marketing schemes or advertising campaigns or giveaways like some car dealership.
b) No, we want to show them Jesus in this church when they come through our doors.
c) How would Jesus welcome people who came into His home?
6. We need to provide an environment, which for some might be the first time ever in their life, to experience the presence and the POWER of God as witnessed in power through His people.
a) We talked about this in a staff meeting just this last week…let me show you what I mean.
SHOW VIDEO CLIP – Be My Guest.
Trans: To truly welcome the people God is throwing into our boat here at C&T we need the power of God!
II. A Welcoming Church Is An Empowered Church. (Acts 1:8; 1Cor. 1:5&6; Hebrews 13:2; Eph. 5:19; Psalm 96:9)
A. The HS gives the church its power to welcome others to Christ. (Acts 1:8)
1. Jesus is ready to rise up before the very eyes of the disciples.
a) But before He goes He tells them, and all of us that we will receive power to do the things God has called us to do.
b) This power will come when we receive the Holy Spirit.
2. For the disciples the HS came in a very special and unique way at Pentecost over in Acts chapter 2.
3. For us today, the Bible tells us we receive the Holy Sprit at the moment we invite Jesus to be our Lord and Savior.
a) The HS comes into our life and dwells, that is takes up residency in us.
b) When He does this we have available to us power.
4. That power is to be used to be witnesses!
a) That is those who testify by their lives and their words and their actions who Jesus Christ is.
b) We become visible, tangible examples of Jesus Christ which is powerful to behold.
c) We can’t do this in our own strength, we are empowered by God through the HS living in us to do far more than we could ever do in and of ourselves.
5. When people come here to visit on a Sunday morning, we have just one golden opportunity to show them just who Jesus is.
a) We do so by welcoming them as we would someone into our home.
b) We want them to go out from church saying to themselves, “That was good, I want to go back.”
Trans: This can only happen as the people God throws into our boat see the power of God at work here. A couple of ways that this is evident in the church today are found in the Bible.
B. The power of God is evident when we extend a Christ-like welcome to strangers. (Matthew 25:35; Hebrews 13:2)
1. Jesus makes it clear that we are to have a certain report with the unchurched around us.
a) It is to be a caring, loving example.
b) The difference between those who are true Christ-followers and those who are not is this idea of how we treat others.
c) When we reach out in love to those around us, there is supernatural power that is evident.
d) When we love the sinner and accept him or her without approving of their lifestyle, God is honored.
2. When someone comes to church here some morning having gone through who knows what to get here, and they are met by people who take the time to love them and care for them and offer them a cup of coffee out under the tent and listen to them…
a) My friends, in a world where it seems nobody cares about anybody but themselves, there is great power in seeing Christ at work in His Body.
b) The Bible talks of this power to the extent of even entertaining angels! (Hebrews 13:2)
3. People see God’s power at work in the church as we reach out to those He brings across our path.
a) A divine appointment.
b) No one is here this morning or any morning by accident or coincidence!
c) God has you here!
C. Holy Spirit Power is noticeable when we whole-heartedly worship. (Eph. 5:19; 1Cor. 14:23-25)
1. The Bible speaks to the power of the Holy Spirit filling us up in Eph. 5:18 and then moves right into this idea of worship.
a) Spirit-filled life leads automatically into worship.
b) It can’t be stopped any more than we could stop the Susquehanna.
2. We are told here to sing and make music in our heart.
a) Worship that has power is worship that comes from our heart.
b) I don’t care if you worship with your hands lifted up in the air or straight by your side, whether you clap, or whether you move your lips or sing out loud and clear, worship must be a heart effort.
3. In the Bible we read of one of the first churches in a city called Corinth.
a) God’s Word gives them and us a window into this power of God at work in worship when we worship in Spirit and truth from our heart. (1Cor. 14:23-25)
b) There was an issue of what outsiders or those who were curious about God coming to their church and what they would find.
4. Without getting into the entire tongues debate, we simply need to understand that the thing that most will touch a person’s life is worship where everyone is speaking what God has revealed.
a) That is what prophesying is. It is speaking forth what God has revealed.
b) Imagine someone coming into church and we, who are familiar with church do our think with no thought or concern for someone who has not been initiated, well, it just seems irrelevant and weird.
c) But imagine someone coming into church and seeing people totally sold out for God and worshipping Him with truth and sincerity and God’s Word being communicated in a clear and relevant way.
5. That is powerful to behold and speaks right to a persons heart.
a) There at Corinth they would fall down and worship God and say, “God is really among you!”
b) When we worship as those empowered and filled with the Holy Spirit there will be an attraction for those who God is bringing to us.
Trans: So we see that God is doing something only He can do. He is drawing and tugging on people to come to Him and He is doing that as He brings them to us, to our boat! We must welcome them and do so under the power and authority of the HS. What will be the result?
III. When A Church Is Exemplifying A Christ-like Welcome, People Will Be “Added To” Their Number. (Acts 2:41; 47; 5:14)
A. A relevant message leads to individual life change and brings people back to church. (Acts. 2:41)
1. Peter had been preaching God’s truth to the people.
a) That truth was about Jesus Christ.
b) It was about people turning away from their present and past lifestyle and beginning a new way of life, in Christ.
2. The result was a work of the HS to begin to do some heart surgery on those who listened.
3. We as a church must continue to be welcoming to all the people or fish that God throws into our boat.
a) That is our responsibility, our calling, our challenge.
b) But we must never do so at the expense of the message.
4. We must differentiate between what is the biblical message that never changes and what is personal preference.
a) One way it is said is, “The message can never change but the method of how it is delivered and given changes constantly.
b) That means that we must find new and relevant ways to tell, “The Old, Old Story” as the hymn proclaims.
5. We must preach Christ by our message and our witness.
6. At the same time we must be willing, ready, and even eager to try new ways to make people feel welcome and wanting to come back.
ILL. Perhaps you have noticed the occasional times we are offering coffee and fellowship out front under the tent. This is intentional to help us welcome the people God brings us. The fellowship hall is fine, if you are one of the initiated and you know where to go. But what about those 1500 people God is bringing? We need to be proactive in reaching beyond our own personal comfort zones and try new ways to reach out.
B. Sincere, Biblical community brings people back to church. (Acts 2:47)
1. In the early church the people who were not a part of the church yet, were watching what was going on in the church.
a) They were meeting and rubbing shoulders with those “Christian” people who were part of this new church.
b) They would have contact with them at work and in their neighborhood.
2. The really amazing thing is that they were really attracted by what they saw!
a) People genuinely caring for each other.
b) People sacrificing their own selfish desires for others.
c) People who loved God and loved others with a “no strings attached” kind of love.
3. This, we know as Biblical community.
a) This is what the church is to be about.
b) People who come and check out our church will be attracted and want to come back when they see people who sincerely love one another.
c) People who are willing to sacrifice for one another.
4. When a church lives this way, people will come, fish will jump in the boat.
a) It might get messy!
b) People can be messy sometimes.
c) But what joy, what a privilege to introduce hurting, messy people to a loving, caring, healing savior!
C. Strong faith in the midst of suffering brings people back to church. (Acts 5:14)
1. By this point in Acts the newly formed church is getting persecuted and anyone would be insane to join them.
a) Verse 13 tells us that no one dared join them.
b) Persecution and ridicule faced anyone connected with those Christians.
2. Yet, in the same verse it says “they were highly regarded by the people.
a) The religious and political leaders were another story, but the people in the streets, loved them.
b) They saw the cost of following Christ, the suffering they endured for their affiliation with Jesus, yet they were still drawn to what they saw.
3. As the people outside this church watched what was happening inside the church, they were drawn toward God.
a) These people were living out their faith in Christ and it was contagious!
b) It was welcoming.
c) People were hungering for what they saw.
4. The result was that, even though they would suffer insult and perhaps ridicule and even physical harm from the leaders, they were joining the church.
a) They were willing to suffer hardship to be in a genuine biblical community where people truly lived out their faith.
b) The same can and will happen in any church where people are willing to welcome others, love others, share with others in the name of Christ.
Conclusion: In the weeks to come we will be continuing to look at how we can be fishers of men in God’s Reel Deal. You will soon begin to see a much greater emphasis by your church staff to implement ways for all of us to get involved in making people feel welcome as they see Jesus in action in His body the church. We are starting a “First Impressions team” to help facilitate an atmosphere of hospitality and warmth. The Coffee Connection tent will be in full swing as the Fall comes and cooler weather.
We are also going to be celebrating 40 days of community where we will, as a church body, be studying and working together to learn to apply Biblical principles to our lives as we learn to live in true Biblical community together. God is drawing people to us. Now the question is, Are we willing to fish?
