MORE THAN ENOUGH CHURCH (4 OF 4)
by Jeff Strite
Scripture: Isaiah 54:1-5
This content is part of a series.
More Than Enough Church (4 of 4)
Series: More Than Enough
Jeff Strite
Isaiah 54:1-5
OPEN: About 100 years ago, Edgar Guest wrote the following poem:
''Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But he with a chuckle replied ''maybe it couldn't'',
but he would be one who wouldn't say so till he tried.
So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin on his face.
If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing, that couldn't be done
and he did it.
Somebody scoffed: ''Oh, you'll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it''
But he took off his coat and he took of his hat,
and the first thing we knew he'd begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin, without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing that couldn't be done,
and he did it.
APPLY: This is the last in our series about faith
We've talked about how important our faith is.
We've talked about how we can develop a stronger faith in God
And we've discussed how our faith should influence our giving
This week I want to look out how our faith should effect how we ''do'' church
I. Many churches don't really function on the basis of faith
They function as a Church:
they sing the songs, collect the offerings, offer communion, preach the sermons and so on but when it comes to exercising faith as a church, they often stumble because they aren't geared toward faith.
Many churches are geared toward survival. All their decisions are based - not upon growth - but upon simply existing.
ILLUS: We had a sister church up north that had a building fund of $40,000. Whenever they made an improvement to their building they would scramble to bring that fund back up to the original $40,000. Now - not only did that reflect a lack of faith in God. It reflected their mind set of desiring to survive
Now - of course - survival isn't a bad thing. But when a church gets into (what I call) a survival mode it's not healthy.
ILLUS: A denomina ...
Series: More Than Enough
Jeff Strite
Isaiah 54:1-5
OPEN: About 100 years ago, Edgar Guest wrote the following poem:
''Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But he with a chuckle replied ''maybe it couldn't'',
but he would be one who wouldn't say so till he tried.
So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin on his face.
If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing, that couldn't be done
and he did it.
Somebody scoffed: ''Oh, you'll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it''
But he took off his coat and he took of his hat,
and the first thing we knew he'd begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin, without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing that couldn't be done,
and he did it.
APPLY: This is the last in our series about faith
We've talked about how important our faith is.
We've talked about how we can develop a stronger faith in God
And we've discussed how our faith should influence our giving
This week I want to look out how our faith should effect how we ''do'' church
I. Many churches don't really function on the basis of faith
They function as a Church:
they sing the songs, collect the offerings, offer communion, preach the sermons and so on but when it comes to exercising faith as a church, they often stumble because they aren't geared toward faith.
Many churches are geared toward survival. All their decisions are based - not upon growth - but upon simply existing.
ILLUS: We had a sister church up north that had a building fund of $40,000. Whenever they made an improvement to their building they would scramble to bring that fund back up to the original $40,000. Now - not only did that reflect a lack of faith in God. It reflected their mind set of desiring to survive
Now - of course - survival isn't a bad thing. But when a church gets into (what I call) a survival mode it's not healthy.
ILLUS: A denomina ...
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