Obstacles to an Awakening or Revival
Jerry Watts
John 5:1-9
It was in 2004 that a member of the church we served, Tim Paige, experienced an accident at work. It resulted in a fellow employee lay breathless with no heartbeat. Without thinking Tim risk life and health to save this fellow employee. As I recall, the man was saved through a combination of CPR and Mouth-to-Mouth. Every time an individual tries to help or revive someone else, it is risky business. Why? There are many reasons: The risks with 'mouth-to-mouth' or bleeding can be biological. The risks with helping a person who is in cardiac arrest is that you break a rib doing CPR - and end up in a lawsuit.
Because there is a chance of your efforts not working and then you'd feel like a failure. That could possibly haunt you for years.
What if you don't try and death comes? You might never forgive yourself.
Let's apply this thinking to the gospel and the church in the USA today.
From many studies we are keenly aware that 60%-90% of churches are plateaued or declining in US. This means that with a rising lost population, the church is losing ground because the gospel (good news of Jesus Christ) is not being seen by the masses so it is not being experienced them.
How does this relate to HBC? Here are our Core beliefs 1) The Bible is our Guide Book, 2) God loves us and has a plan for us, 3) All people matter to God, 4) We seek to honor God in all we do, and (here's the payoff) 5) The local church is the hope of the world. We know why #5 is true, it is because the local church is the purveyor, the teller, spreader, the source, and the demonstration of Jesus in this world. If the church does not GIVE Jesus, then the world will not HAVE Jesus. And here's our problem, the one body (the church) that is task with the responsibility of showing Jesus to the world finds itself in turmoil - trying to do many things, but forgetting to do the best.
When we arrived at our Bible text, we see a man w ...
Jerry Watts
John 5:1-9
It was in 2004 that a member of the church we served, Tim Paige, experienced an accident at work. It resulted in a fellow employee lay breathless with no heartbeat. Without thinking Tim risk life and health to save this fellow employee. As I recall, the man was saved through a combination of CPR and Mouth-to-Mouth. Every time an individual tries to help or revive someone else, it is risky business. Why? There are many reasons: The risks with 'mouth-to-mouth' or bleeding can be biological. The risks with helping a person who is in cardiac arrest is that you break a rib doing CPR - and end up in a lawsuit.
Because there is a chance of your efforts not working and then you'd feel like a failure. That could possibly haunt you for years.
What if you don't try and death comes? You might never forgive yourself.
Let's apply this thinking to the gospel and the church in the USA today.
From many studies we are keenly aware that 60%-90% of churches are plateaued or declining in US. This means that with a rising lost population, the church is losing ground because the gospel (good news of Jesus Christ) is not being seen by the masses so it is not being experienced them.
How does this relate to HBC? Here are our Core beliefs 1) The Bible is our Guide Book, 2) God loves us and has a plan for us, 3) All people matter to God, 4) We seek to honor God in all we do, and (here's the payoff) 5) The local church is the hope of the world. We know why #5 is true, it is because the local church is the purveyor, the teller, spreader, the source, and the demonstration of Jesus in this world. If the church does not GIVE Jesus, then the world will not HAVE Jesus. And here's our problem, the one body (the church) that is task with the responsibility of showing Jesus to the world finds itself in turmoil - trying to do many things, but forgetting to do the best.
When we arrived at our Bible text, we see a man w ...
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