Sermon Central
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2020 Foresight
Contributed by Jerry Shirley on Jan 12, 2020 (message contributor)
Summary: A new vision will help us find some dissatisfaction, devotion, direction, and determination.
2020 Foresight
PowerPoint and formatted text at https://www.gracenotessermons.com/sermons/2020-foresight/
This is a great time to go forward! We’ve seen amazing things happen in ministry, as have you!
To God be the glory...and yet, this message reminds us...
1 Find some dissatisfaction
ill.--Cruise control/coasting - God isn't pleased!
How many of you like to really relax as you drive? (I want to die just like grandpa, in my sleep, not screaming like the passengers he was driving!)
For a church to go backward, it doesn’t require people to go backward, just to stand still. Have you found a comfort zone in your spiritual life?
We’re not talking about contentment here
Materialism—Godliness with contentment is great gain
Spiritually—don’t ever be content, satisfied
Here’s the attitude to have: However much I read my Bible last year, it wasn’t enough (prayed, gave, served, worshipped)
I’m pressing on the upward way…new heights I'm gaining ev’ry day…higher ground!
In 2020 our God will want many to take a step up…
To sit and soak and sour for another year would be “cruise control” (idling)
It would have been easier to just stay where we were. We had a way to be comfortable there…but we would have to coast, we wouldn’t go forward.
Why do we get self-satisfied? We compare ourselves to others who are not making good progress. Since when are inferiors our standard?
“comparing yourselves with others is not wise”
We develop a false sense of spirituality when we compare ourselves to anyone other than our Savior...but when we measure next to Him, we quickly recognize how small we are.
Phil. 3:13—“brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended” (arrived)
No cruise control, put the pedal to the metal
If we’re not careful, we can allow ourselves to get to the point of complacency. (beat down with the woes of life, failures of yesterday)
Pastor pounded the pulpit… “Ignorance and complacency, that’s our problem! You sir, on the front row, do you even know the difference between ignorance and complacency? …
“I don’t know and I don’t care”!
When is a church officially dead, and when can we write Ichabod on the door? When we’ve looked backward so long we can’t find it within ourselves to look up, and look ahead!
find some dissatisfaction...
2. Find some devotion
Phil. 3:13—“but this one thing I do…” (one of the most important phrases)
To the self-righteous rich young ruler, Jesus said, “one thing thou lackest”
To busy Martha, working in the kitchen, criticizing her sister Mary, Jesus said, “one thing is needful.”
Ps. 27:4 David said, “one thing I have desired of the lord.”
Paul said, "This one thing I do"…a statement of devotion
His Christianity was not a sideshow ... not a compartment of his life
A wheel has many spokes, and so do we in our lives:
Work life, school life, hobbies, family life, church life
The spokes have nothing to do with each other
Your church life doesn’t show up at work, on the basketball court…to view your family life at home you’d never dream you also had that church life.
Jesus doesn’t want to be a spoke at all, he wants to be the hub of the wheel, out of which all the spokes grow and connect
Christianity shouldn’t be a compartment of our life, it should BE our life!
We need to trade some commitments of this world for commitment TO our Lord.
We’re too busy these days, it’s McDonald's every Monday, taco Tuesday, work out on Wednesday, tee-ball Thursday, fishing Friday, yard-saleing Saturday,… no wonder we’re sleeping on Sunday!
We need to learn to say no…be less devoted, that we may become more devoted where it counts
Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last!
When I was a child, I laughed and wept,
And time crept
When I was a youth, I dreamed and talked,
Time walked
When I became a full grown man,
Time ran
When older still I daily grew,
Time flew
Soon I shall be traveling on
Time gone!
Difference between an amateur and a professional:
Amateur does things from time to time…in spurts
Professional devotes full time…it’s his life’s work
You’ll never be effective for the Lord by attending church in spurts
[try telling your spouse you will be faithful to them ... in spurts!]
The Sunday morning Christian will go backward in their spiritual life week after week, and sadly, will likely never realize it.
[Praying in spurts, Bible reading in spurts, giving in spurts.]
Let’s become a church of devotion, with a professional mindset, 24/7, full-time job…this one thing I do.
D.L. Moody, preacher, promoter, evangelist, did YMCA work, had many irons in the fire…he preached one Sunday night, and said, “Go home and think about getting saved for a week, then come back, and we’ll lead you to Christ.” Great Chicago fire killed thousands that week, including many he had preached to.
