Mission Statement:
The Redeeming River Church is a family of believers committed to preaching the cross with conviction, reaching the lost with compassion, and equipping the saints with the Word!
Our Vison:
The Word tells us in Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no vision, the people perish”. Therefore, we know that where there is a God breathed vision the people have life. It is because of God’s specific plan for us that we can clearly see where we are going.
7 We Will Be’s
· We will be a life giving church whose waters flow from the River of God through all cultures and generations!
· We will be a life sustaining church where the heartbeat of God will keep our families spiritually healthy.
· We will be a life birthing church where new ministries are conceived, delivered, nurtured, and sent out.
· We will be a people of faith and expectancy who are not moved by what we see, but stand in the God who we know!
· We will be a people of devotion who are committed to the work of the Lord through the local church!
· We will be a people of worship who honor the Lord for who He is and not what He will do for us!
· We will be a growing church whose walls will not contain us!
I. INTRODUCTION
A. CHURCH GROWTH INSTITUTE SURVEY
1. The #1 reason for people not going to church is that “church is boring.”
2. The #2 reason is that “church is irrelevant.”
3. But the #3 reason for people not coming to church is they believe that “all the church wants is my money.”
B. A STUDY FROM BARNA RESEARCH HAS REVEALED THE FOLLOWING
1. First, a person’s moral foundations are generally in place by the time they reach 9. Their fundamental perspectives on truth, integrity, meaning, justice, morality, and ethics are formed early
in life
2. Second, responses to the meaning and personal value of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is usually determined before age 18
3. Third, most spiritual beliefs are irrevocably formed by the pre-teens. “In essence,” George Barna notes, “what you believe by the time you are 13 is what you will die believing.”
4. Finally, the research revealed adult church leaders usually have serious involvement in church life and training when they are young. Churches experiencing great influence in children’s lives realize that children are of special significance to God. Consequently, effective churches employ long-term, multi-pronged strategy that they tirelessly execute to facilitate the spiritual growth of children.
C. BEFORE WE GO ANY FURTHER
1. The church is not just a place that....
2. The church is a place that...
3. The church will grow if it is healthy
4. The church will bring people to the cross if it is healthy
5. When people come to the cross the church grows!
6. Can somebody give Him some praise in here this morning?
II. WHEN YOU GET EXCITED
A. YOUR FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS MAKE UP YOUR REALITY
1. One day I was excited about the cleaners....I had just bought my own business I was excited
2. Fast forward 3 years I was riding down the same road to the same place but I wasn’t excited anymore
3. Some of what I dreamed did not pan out with what I saw
4. Some of waht I was sure about I had lost faith in
5. The cleaners was the same...the car was the same...the potential was the same....What I felt was not the same.
6. What I felt defined where I was
7. Proverbs 23:7
7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
8. My mind and emotions made the world in which I lived in
9. Some folks have it good, but because of their negatism...they’ve got it bad!
10. Jesus is reality!
B. JESUS IS REALITY
1. When Jesus came along he didn’t make His reality
2. He was reality
3. God loved us and wanted us to be with Him
4. Thus Jesus
5. I wonder what went on inside of Jesus
6. Mark 11:12
12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:
7. We know that he was hungry
8. Jesus knows...He is touched by your infirmities
9. Hebrews 4:15
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
10. He was a man and tempted just like you...but without sin
C. WHERE ARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS?
1. Where are you this morning?
2. Are you in the pit of addiction?
3. Are you in the valley of depression?
4. Are you on the wind of despair?
5. Or are you on the solid rock of Jesus Christ?
6. Jesus created my reality over 2000 years ago..
7. I Corinthians 15:51-58
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
8. The strength of sin is the law
9. When you have to serve Him because you don’t want to go to hell...sin has strength
10. When you want to server Him because you love Him with all of your heart...sin has no strength
11. Are your thoughts based on the heart of God
12. Do your emotions line up with the heart of God
13. If not you have created your own reality through your own emotions and thoughts
14. But Jesus...He died on the cross
15. That my friend is all of the reality I need
III. THE CHURCH WILL GET EXCITED
A. EXCITEMENT SPREADS LIKE WILDFIRE
1. Everybody wants to feel good
2. Everybody wants to be around a positive atmosphere
3. I think that if you are a positive person you are a person who can accept the principles of faith
4. If your alway see your situation in a negative light...How can you receive a positive outlook
5. Phillipians 4:8
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
6. Can you find the Lord in your perdicument?
B. BUT BEING EXCITED IS NOT ENOUGH
1. How many of you know that being excited is not enough
2. Illustration: The Die Hard Fan
There was a man who never missed a football game for the St. Louis Rams. If they had a press conference...he was there...if they had a community outing...he was there. Matter of fact
he was so overtaken by his team...he convinced himself that he was ready to play wide receiver. He got all of his pads on one Sunday and went on his way to the stadium. Of course he
was around other die hard fans that all looked ridiculous as well. As soon as the announcer started to announce the team at the beginning of the game the man ran down...jumped the
fencing and proceeded onto the field. His eyes were on the prize...He was determined...He could see his destiny coming into fruition...and wham...he found
himself in the St. Louis city jail dressed like an idiot.
3. He was excited...He was ready...He was determined....He was wrong!
4. I wonder how many Jesus fans we have out there that have distorted the work of the Lord
5. How many cheerleaders we have that are cheering for the wrong team or even at the wrong game
6. You have to walk in the spirit
7. Galations 5:16
16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
8. You have to deny the flesh
9. I John 2:15-17
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
C. THE EXCITEMENT HAS TO BE BASED ON JESUS?
1. Excitement comes and goes but the cross is forever fixed.
2. Thoughts go to and fro but the power of the cross never fades away
3. This church will be built on the cross of Jesus Christ
4. When you got folks that love Jesus
5. You have folks that reach out to the lost
IV. BUT REMEMBER THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS
A. HE CURSED THE FIG TREE & OVERTURNED THE MONEY CHANGERS
1. The fig tree was not producing
2. The money changers were producing something other than the gospel
3. The fig tree represents the "Us four and no mores"
4. The money changers represent the "Do whatever it takes to fill the housers"
5. One preaches the Gospel without fruit
6. The other wants to produce pears when God wants apples
B. YOUR GROWTH HAS TO COME FROM THE CROSS
1. Isaiah 6:1
1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2. Acts 2:32-33
32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
3. The Lords train fills the temple
4. Jesus is at the right hand making intercession for us
5. We must take a drink from the fountain of life who is Jesus Christ
6. We should have a burning desire to bring others to the fountain that flows freely
C. CHURCH GROWTH HAS TO COME FROM THE CROSS
1. Programs have to be cross centered
2. The vision has to be cross centered
3. The mission has to be cross centered
4. The counsel has to be cross centered
5. The staff has to be cross centered
6. The deacons have to be cross centered
7. ....
CONCLUSION:
Do you know Jesus this morning?
