Doing God's work, one step at a time

This is the last week of our sermon series, “Getting the Church to Work: Gifts, Leadership & Disciplines. It’s been a fun journey, about 8 weeks’ worth! Through this process, I pray everyone has learned something. Today we are talking about the Corporate Disciplines which are Disciplines that are practiced with, to and amongst other Christians. They are Confession, Worship, Guidance, & Celebration. Before we go too much further, let’s pause to read the Scripture for the morning. It is going to be Psalm 138. If you would, read along with me. 1 I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; before the “gods” I will sing your praise. 2 I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. 3 When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted. 4 May all the kings of the earth praise you, O LORD, when they hear the words of your mouth. 5 May they...

Can others tell that you follow Christ by your lifestyle? Are people astonished to find out that you follow Christ? Does it come as a surprise to them, saying, “I can’t believe he’s a Christian! I would have never guessed!” Well, more times than not, that means that you’re not living the lifestyle that a Christian should be living. I heard a man once say, “I didn’t know Christians were allowed to cuss like that?!” Well, that will certainly put things in perspective now won’t it! Like we talked about last week, the Inward Disciplines are geared to build a personal relationship with Christ, the Outward Disciplines are not only geared to this, but to actually realizing the freedom that we indeed have in Christ. Freedom not in that we can sin to beat the band and still be covered by Christ’s blood, but freedom in that we can realize that there is more out there than us. There’s more to life than just the accumulation of wealth, stuff, and all the things that the world tells us is important...

Have you ever gotten stuck? I mean really stuck? Stuck so bad that you're not sure what to do next? Last week we were headed to Tom & Margaret's for the potluck dinner for the Sunday School and we were getting ready to head over there. Sherri asked me, "should I go on the dirt road?" Well, knowing it had rained the night before, but it had gotten hot the next day, so I said, "yeah, sure, why not!" "Ok," she said. So we headed down there and as soon as we went down from the gravel to the dirt road, I knew we were in trouble. I heard the tires spinning, saw mud flinging and sure enough, we got stuck. So Sherri tried rocking the van from fwd to rvse, but nothing. Now what!? Well, the only thing I knew to do was to get out and push. Envisioning myself all muddy, I hesitated for a second, but remembering that the van is front wheel drive, I breathed a sigh of relief. So, I got in the back and pushed. We made progress, but my sandles were caked in m...

“Leaders are not born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.” That is a quote from one of the greatest coaches football has ever seen…Vince Lombardi. Whether you’re a Bears fan, Packers fan or Miami Dolphins fan, everyone agrees that Vince was one of the best. But the quote is right. Great leaders aren’t born. They’re made. In The Last Days Newsletter, Leonard Ravenhill tells about a group of tourists visiting a picturesque village who walked by an old man sitting beside a fence. In a rather patronizing way, one tourist asked, “Were any great men born in this village?” The old man replied, “Nope, only babies.” How true! A question meant for mockery brought forth a very profound answer! No one is born instantly great. Growth takes time, and even spiritual leadership must be developed and earned. It is my contention that everyone has the potential to lead. I have the same pote...