For the past five or six years, I have come to the congregation with what I call a State of the Church address. Many years, I have shared two of these; one for our local church and a second to share what God is doing in our denomination. I had fully intended to give this back in April. Unfortunately, we had the tragedy at Virginia Tech, and God led me to preach the sermon that I preached that morning. Then, we were busy with all the special services in May and I had already planned my preaching through August, so here we are. I want to share with you where we’ve been and where I see God leading us.
As I shared with you at our Local Church Conference back in April, the past year was not without it’s difficulties, but God is good (all the time) and all the time (God is good.) God led us through the year with this verse from Romans, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good, pleasing and perfect.”
God is teaching us what it means to worship him and I also believe that he is teaching us that we must be transformed into his image if we are to follow his will.
In the Bible we have two examples of the church. In one example, we have a church that is powerless – locked behind closed doors. In the other we have a church that has been transformed by the power of the Spirit.
The powerless church is represented in the scriptures in John chapter 20, verse 19. “That Sunday evening (after the resurrection) the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! ‘Peace be with you,’ he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.’ Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.’”
Here was the church meeting behind locked doors – in their holy huddle – they were afraid of what was going on outside. They were fearful of what people were saying about them. They were thinking inside the box. Their vision was clouded by the weekend’s events. Could we even say that they were comfortable with those who were there – us four and no more? They probably thought that they were living in the most evil time imaginable. It doesn’t appear that these disciples were even aware of the power of the resurrection. Paul writes in Ephesians 1:19, “I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe in him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.” The disciples were unaware of the power that was brought on by the resurrection.
There are churches today that are paralyzed just like the church was in John 20, but there is another church referred to in the scriptures and that is in Acts 2. “On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each one of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.” Most of you are aware of what happened because of the Pentecost experience. The very same day that the Holy Spirit came on the believers there in Jerusalem, the church grew by three thousand people. Peter, yes the very same Peter who was cowering in a locked room after the resurrection for fear of the Jewish leaders, was now shouting the Good News from the tops of the houses. Even later in the book when facing imprisonment, he did not back down. Some of you will notice that Christ breathed on the disciples back in that locked room, filling them with the Holy Spirit. I believe that was a temporary filling, just enabling them to get out of the locked room. Jesus had promised the Holy Spirit’s coming and he knew the Holy Spirit was coming in just a few days. He even tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Spirit’s coming. The Holy Spirit that he breathed on them was a temporary measure to get them out of the locked room so that they could be ready for the real infilling in just a few days. The rest of the book of Acts if filled with the mighty actions and miracles that the disciples were able to do because of the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
So here we are today. Do we resemble the church locked behind closed doors? If so, why are we here? Does God want his church behind closed, locked doors? Why were the disciples in the locked room? They were afraid of what was going on outside. Are we afraid of what is going on outside? Are we afraid the culture will infect us more than we will infect it and therefore we huddle behind our doors? Are we comfortable like the disciple were? Do we have a passion to see more than just us four meeting together for worship? Are we comfortable with those who are around us, so that we don’t feel a need to go out and compel them in? Is our vision clouded?
Just a few weeks ago at our first Leadership Team Meeting, I asked them, if money were no object, what do you see Preston Wesleyan doing for God. I was well pleased with the answers. One suggested a community center. Another suggested a daycare or day school. There were also some other great suggestions. What I loved about the suggestions is that they were out of the box. Your Ministry Leadership Team was providing future vision for our church. Some would be quick to be a wet blanket. Pastor, “do you know what that costs? Do you know what that entails?” I will agree that the scriptures admonish us to always count the cost. However, what if God is leading through his Holy Spirit, and we are just not following? Are we afraid to think outside the box? Are we afraid to do things differently than we’ve done them before?
There is one area that we have pushed the envelope and that is in the area of student ministries. We have made a decision to devote Wednesday evenings completely to Mosaic Student Ministries. We will never know this side of heaven, what impact we are making. However, my observation is that we are making a difference. Over the past few weeks, I have notice a different attitude around student ministries. The past several weeks have been a joy to teach. We will be re-launching Mosaic next Wednesday night. We could really use some help. Maybe you can’t teach, but you could cook, or you could help transport students, or you could pray. You could 6:30 PM each Wednesday evening aside to pray for us and our students. What can you pray for us? Pray that we would continue to draw students, especially younger students from K to 5th grade. Pray that we would be able to share the Good News and disciple our students to grow closer to Christ. Some of you are aware, but not everyone, that we have received a generous grant from our district to purchase a new laptop, video projector, screen, and software. The primary purpose is for Mosaic, but we will use these in other areas as well.
As we prepare for communion, let me encourage you to be like the Acts 2 church – to be a Pentecostal church in the true sense of the word – a church that is completely controlled by the Holy Spirit – not by the pastor – not by the Ministry Leadership Team – not by individuals – but by the Spirit. That is the only way we will be a transformational church.
Does being a transformational church mean that we won’t face difficulties? Not at all. The church in Acts faced difficulties, but because of their faith in the risen Christ (the faith that we will sing about in a moment.) Because of their faith in the blood of Christ that was shed on the cross, they were able to face it and through the power of the Holy Spirit they were able to overcome. This morning our communion will be a celebration of the Christ to rose from the dead, of the God who sent his Holy Spirit into our lives, so that we can tell others about the transforming power of the Good News.