Renewal of Commitment to God’s House
There is a story… God decided that it was time to end the world, so he called together the three most influential people in the world – Pres. George Bush, (represents free world), Fidel Castro (represents communist world) and Bill Gates (represents tech world). God told them “The world will end. You must go tell the people.”
Bush made a live statement on CNN “I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that we have been right and the Raelians are wrong. There is a God. The bad news is that he is ending the world.”
Castro send out a worldwide message to communist world. “I have bad news and I have worse news. The bad news is that we have been wrong all along. There is a God. The worse news is that he is ending the world.”
Gates got out his laptop and sent out a worldwide e-mail on the Internet. He wrote, “I have good news and I have better news. The good news is that God thinks that I am one of the three most influential people in the world. The better news is that we don’t have to upgrade Windows XP.”
As Christians, we have good news. No, we have better news. Good news is “There is a God” and the better news is that He has not left us alone. He has come for us. That’s what we just celebrated in the Christmas season. It is to tell the world God so loved the world that He gave His Son Jesus. He is revealed to the world. God is not far off in some remote Neverland, illusive like the Loch Ness Monster, invisible as the air we breathe. He came close, close enuff to be touched, close enuff to be held, and to hold someone, close enough to be felt. God came with flesh on him.
Perhaps that’s all you need to hear today. But let me tell you more, God did not come to just to be close to us. He came so that we can belong, belong to Him who is eternal, belong to something beyond our little world and ourselves. There’s something in us that wants to belong to a bigger world, belong to something we would give our life for, world-wide movement of God, belong to a family…
Today is membership Sunday… and this is not just a paper-pushing event. It is an event of that can change the world, because it is day that we declare we are one in the Lord.
21 My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father—that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.
22 “I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are—23 I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one. Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me. John 17:21-23 (NLT)
This passion and prayer of Jesus… When we live as family members of the living God, capturing the vision of being One just as the Father and Son are one, loving, giving, mutually supporting, there is power. When we know that is God’s calling on us all to be one, how can we disobedient to it - how can we divide, how can bicker, how can we fight, how can we be at odds with each other… See the heart of God? Isn’t it to be one? Isn’t it time to put aside especially this new year all that divides, all that creates conflict, all that destroys love and come under the heart of God which is His calling to be One!
If there’s anyone here who harbor hate in his heart, or grudges, it is time to hear God’s call to be one. Hear His heart crying out for us to be one? God desires us to be changed through the power of love. So shall we gather to be one? this delights God to no end. If we have a heart desiring unity, purposefully seek that Oneness Christ prays for, this world can change. O for a world that is rid of fear, terror, gangs, violence, war, bullying, chemical dependency, poverty, injustice, hatred, racism, o for a world that is One as God the father and the Son, Jesus is one. Isn’t there enuff of bad news, it fills every newscast
Isn’t there enuff discouragement in our world to fill a thousand worlds… Look at Senators hockey team best in NHL but unable to pay their players – other teams wonder where have the fans gone. Climate change –global warming, terrorist threats, conflict everywhere u look. People are troubled, get sick, people get laid off, people face pressure, people die, and people have disappointments, people hurt. They wonder when will it all end. Is there light at the end of the tunnel? We can show the world there’s light when we show that we are members of one family, when we mean business in sharing life together, when we do church as God intended.
When we gather intentionally in the Spirit of Christ, because there is potential for others to be impacted for eternity. Bible says “Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me” Can u sense in your heart why membership in church, when we intentionally seek unity with others, seek to declare we are together, one, loving one another is such a great step of faith and a testimony of God’s miracle of changing lives.
Isn’t there enuff discouragement within us… honestly take a look inside our lives… many of us struggle… story of 2 sons and king – is a gentleman made or born – one son argued said made or said born – king said show me an example and one son found a cat trained to walk serve beer in a tavern but the other son found nothing until final day he saw something in a store. In the throne room, 1st son exhibited the cat – case closed gentleman is made – next son opened a box, mice came out and cat tore off the clothes went after the mice - a cat is still a cat! w
18 I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can’t make myself do right. I want to, but I can’t. 19 When I want to do good, I don’t. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. Romans 7:18
Born with a sin nature, we will die with a sin nature unless…
Come back to Christ who can change inside out, He can go in the heart… Christ does heart surgery. Real change is POSSIBLE!
Maintain health of the heart…in a world not heaven yet. To up the energy level, in a world filled with personal discouragement? In bible God has designed church to answer that need Heb.10:24,25
24 We should keep on encouraging each other to be thoughtful and to do helpful things. 25 Some people have gotten out of the habit of meeting for worship, but we must not do that. We should keep on encouraging each other, especially since you know that the day of the Lord’s coming is getting closer. The Contemporary English Version
Answer: lies in power oneness Jesus envisions. There is power to continue to change in presence of another.
In Hebrews context it is a time when Christians are persecuted severely, lives were lost, many feel pain of losing loved ones, some are giving with battling with sin and they’re wondering - is it worth it? God’s word to them is keep meeting together, lift up each other, support each other, most of all meet God, get your strength… God’s word to us is the same… beaten down, feel like giving up, gotta meet together… the church is where we get feel a touch from God and courage to hang on in world that gets us down. Keep committed as a member
By the way being down is not bad, it give others the opportunity to bless us with their love, concern, prayers… it gives others a chance to unite with you spiritually. When we meet we don’t have to say “fine” to every “how are you”. We can say “I need you to pray…, your help, ” I need some Heb 10:24,25 encouraging. Don’t feel like going to church, I’m messed up, whole life’s spinning. It’s OK to be messed up, no need to fix everything…
That’s why when anyone believes… they are added to the church. I like that… it didn’t say they became perfect. It didn’t say they lived sinless life. It does say they believed in joining together to become the church Christ died for and believed in. That’s the Bible way of progressing in faith. They are not left alone…
41 Those who believed …. were baptized and added to the church—about three thousand in all. 42 They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord’s Supper and in prayer. Acts 2:41,42 (NLT)
1. Church is not optional: Those who believe are baptized and added to the church.
2. Church is not a building: It is about people, not about the size of one’s facility.
3. Church is not a solo act: They will join with other believers
4. Church is not a forced activity: They devoted themselves freely in response to the Good News
5. Church is not a one pastor/leader thing: Apostles’ (many teachers) and fellowship (many other people, learning from each other, cared by many, not just one guy)
6. Church is not about getting your own way: Sharing in the Lord’s supper, learning to lean on God and getting God’s way in us
See Picture of encouragement in Acts 2. People like it! People click together, scoring points, giving an assist here there, touching, there’s power!
When a team clicks together it’s like a magnet, it has power to draw others - Acts 2 church. See in our Canucks, as they clicked together, people will pay to watch them, sold-out home dates!
Let’s click together!...
The human eye is a marvelous thing. It can distinguish shapes, distance, colors, light and dark. It feeds information to the brain. People in love can’t get enough of gazing into them. The eye is remarkable and beautiful. But let me ask you, what good is it apart from a body? None. In fact, if I held up a human eyeball detached from a body right now you’d be grossed out. That isolated eye can’t function at all by itself. You could preserve it in a lab, but for all purposes it’s dead without a body.
Members with out membership are the same way. They’re powerless to do what they were created to do. They’re grotesque separated from the body. The fact is we need one anther to both find and fulfill our God-given purpose. It can’t be done in isolation. Can u see what today is such a neat day, a day we say we are one!
Jean Nidetch, a 214 pound homemaker desperate to lose weight, went to the New York City Department of Health, where she was given a diet devised by Dr. Norman Jolliffe. Two months later, discouraged about the 50 plus pounds still to go, she invited six overweight friends home to share the diet and talk about how to stay on it. Today, 28 years later, one million members attend 25,0000 Weight Watchers meetings in 24 countries every week. Why was Nidetch able to help people take control of their lives?
To answer that, she tells a story. When she was a teen-ager, she used to cross a park where she saw mothers gossiping while the toddlers sat on their swings, with no one to push them. “I’d give them a push,” says Nidetch. “And you know what happens when you push a kid on a swing? Pretty soon he’s pumping, doing it himself. That’s what my role in life is-I’m there to give others a push.”
Let us renew our commitment to God’s house
MEMBERSHIP is important
“But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.” John 13:34,35 (CEV)
