Change is needed to stay effective and vibrant for the Lord. 2 Cor. 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

 

Oh, I remember the moment I trusted Jesus as my personal savior and I remember the joy and peace I sensed in my heart at that moment. I hope I never get over the fact that the God of the universe loves me enough to die for me. In those first years of my Christian life God allowed me to be a part of a wonderful body of believers and gave me wonderful people to help me to grow. As time passed, from time to time I have become complacent in my walk and forgotten the things that made me vibrant in the first place.

 

 I want to challenge you, my dear reader, to never become complacent and turn your focus inward. Always keep your eyes focused on the Lord, the One who died for you. Knowing Him more each day, pleasing Him and fulfilling His great commands should always be before you as they were when you first embraced Him as Savior.

 

God has called us to Go, into all the world, preach the Gospel to every creature, and to make disciples. This should always be our focus and our goal as believers and as the Church of the Living God. Once we take our focus off the main thing and start focusing inward we loose our effectiveness.

 

Do you remember a day in your life when you we so in love with Jesus that you would have done anything for Him, no matter how odd it seemed to others? Do you remember a time when no sacrifice was too great for the cause of Christ and to reach lost people?  I would like to challenge you today to go back to your first love, go back to the thing that caused your heart to burn passionately for the Savior. Turn your focus back to the main thing and stop looking inward. Reach out and touch someone with the love of Jesus today.

 

I want to share with you my thoughts about the Church and other human organizations. I mentioned this in a message a few weeks ago as I challenged our people to “Walk Worthy of the Lord.”  This is our theme for 2009 at Faith.

 

One of my teachers in seminary, Dr. Wayne Hasten, challenged us students to never “institutionalize” (this is the only way that we do things), because that is a step toward death of a church. I believe that it is a process that all churches and also we as individuals go through in our personal lives.

 

As you consider this challenge, where are you and where is our church? How can we avoid this process and continue to be vibrant for the Lord and continuing to make a difference for the Him and “Walk Worthy of Him?”

 

   All human organizations go through a cycle: 

1. Inception – Everything is new and fresh and people are willing to lay aside their former attachments for the cause. We are able to maintain complete focus on the need of others and reaching out.
2. Infancy- No sacrifice is too great for the cause. We are willing to do with very little, willing to give whatever it takes just to see things go forward. At this point we start to focus on a need for establishment (things bought or donated for worship, chairs, hymnals etc.)
3. Identity- A group is formed and norms are established. A building is built, and no sacrifice is too great for the good of the cause.
4. Institutionalism – Focus starts to become inward, form is chosen, a constitution adopted. Unknowingly, the focus becomes inward rather than outreach.
5. Isolation- The world is changing around us and we can not allow the world to affect us. Thus we develop a “bunker” mentality—we hide within our walls. We are safe, but we are not growing and we are not impacting the world.
6. Intimidation- Anyone who does not look like us or fit our “norms” is labeled and becomes the enemy.
7. Incarceration- We are imprisoned by the building and form that we worked so hard to establish. Remembering the “good old days” becomes our main focus and cry.
8. Incineration- Here we see self destruction, extinction and death. We will hold on at all costs, but it is hopeless and we are helpless. There is still and belief that God can work, but it is no longer fresh no longer a part of our experience.

 My goal is to continue on making a difference for the Lord until He calls me home. I know that we will have to change to impact our world today. We must continue to move forward and reach out or we will die. As our world changes, we have to adapt our methods in order to reach the society of today. Let’s not be blind to the process and our own needs to change. Let us not be ashamed when the Lord comes. Our methods and styles of doing things have to change, but our message never changes. 

Pressing On for Jesus! Phil. 3:14

 

Pastor John