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1 Timothy 3:16-17 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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Well, very good morning to you. If you will, please take your copy of God's Word and turn to 2 Timothy 3.
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! On this, the first Lord's Day of the Year, we are going to do something rather dramatically different.
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If you're a guest today, we want you to know that our regular practice for preaching is verse-by-verse exposition.
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And if you're not a first-time guest this morning, it's been a little while since we've done a verse-by-verse,
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through-a-book exposition as we've just come through Advent season and then kind of did the traditional sermon that we do at the end of the year,
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kind of charging you to make good resolutions for change. But this is even a little more dramatically different,
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because today I'm going to take our time together to talk about plans for the upcoming year.
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And I struggled a little bit with this idea. If you hate it, it's all my fault.
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But it's difficult, as we're thinking about doing new things together, to communicate that really clearly,
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to kind of help give you the thought process to undergird it the way we would like for that to happen.
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And as I'm just looking around the room, it seems that we have a lot of people out sick today.
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I know that we've heard both croup and RSV, and there's this, like, recycling stomach bug that I really hope is not the ronavirus.
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We'll see. But there's a lot of people out, so you may need to even help me to communicate some of this to others.
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But I have three goals this morning. I want to inform you of some of these plans for the year.
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I hope to excite you a bit about them and to involve you, both in those things that you can attend,
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those things that are for you, those things that you have time for,
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and to be praying for those things that you cannot attend, that you would understand why they're important and what we're up to.
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But I do want to first develop some biblical framework for how we ought to think about planning for the church.
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What should guide the process of that?
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And we're going to start here in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17,
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because the simple answer is the Scripture.
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The Scripture should be guiding the process for everything that the church does.
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So, Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17,
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all Scripture is breathed out by God.
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He exhaled it is the actual word that could be translated there.
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He is its very source.
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All Scripture breathed out by God and profitable
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for teaching, for reproof, for correction,
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and for training in righteousness.
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That the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
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Certainly, the doctrine of the sufficiency of the Scripture, which we derive from this,
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means that the Bible has everything in it that we need for life and godliness.
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It's not going to tell us how to design an electrical circuit,
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but for those things concerning righteousness,
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it is a sufficient text.
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So, it goes broader than just what we do together as a church,
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but it most certainly includes what we do together as a church.
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And I'm very grateful that early in my life,
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through many influences and by the great grace of God,
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this doctrine got, what I like to say, concreted in my heart.
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It's immovable, I believe, that the Bible is sufficient.
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And you have church leadership that believes that the Bible is sufficient.
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And frankly, I think our entire church believes that the Bible is sufficient.
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And I'm so very, very glad for this.
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So, we want to think biblically about what we do together as a church.
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Are we serving one another the way the Bible would ask us to serve one another?
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It's at the core of what we're doing, the instruction that God has given us.
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And we believe that this is the case.
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It doesn't mean we'll always get it right or perfect,
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but we want to.
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We need to keep going back to the text, back to the text, back to the text.
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Semper Reformande, right?
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The cry of the Reformation.
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Always reforming.
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Always looking back to the text.
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Making sure that we don't err.
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Making plans that the Lord will bless,
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because they come from, they're derived from His commands for us.
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So, we want to start there as we think about what we ought to be doing together as a church.
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The sufficient, God-breathed word that we have.
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Secondly, we should think about kind of the nature of the church and its leadership.
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What those leaders are to do and what those leaders are not to do.
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So, if you'll join me in Ephesians chapter 4,
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I'm going to speak to this briefly.
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And while you're getting there,
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I'm going to read to you Acts chapter 6 and verse 4.
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Now, I don't for a moment want to suggest that the elders of a church are synonymous with the apostles.
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But we believe that the elders of a church pick up certain elements of the apostolic ministry.
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The apostles were receiving revelation, right?
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They're writing much of the New Testament.
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We don't do that.
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We don't receive new revelation.
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But we do see them doing in Acts chapter 6 and verse 4.
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In Acts 6, they're calling men to serve.
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Calling men to serve to unencumber them.
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So that verse 4 says they can devote themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.
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So the simplest job description you could possibly come up with for the elders of a church is to pray and to minister the Word.
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Let me show you this a little further in Ephesians chapter 4.
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This is verses 11 through 16.
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Paul has just talked about Christ ascending,
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which then is implied, he says, that he also descended and he gave gifts.
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He gave gifts to the church for its function.
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And he says, starting in verse 11,
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and he gave the apostles, the prophets.
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There's much debate about what he means here.
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I'm going to suggest to you that he's talking about the Scripture in this place.
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We have now the Bible that serves this role.
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The evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry.
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So he's given to us leadership to the church.
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We've got the Scripture and we have leaders in the church, evangelists, shepherd, teachers,
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to equip the church, to equip us, all of us, for the work of ministry.
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And I think this is one of the most important texts that's often not referred to
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when we think about congregationalism.
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What is congregationalism?
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I want to say it's so much more than just showing up to a members meeting of the church
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and voting on stuff.
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It is that.
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But it's so much more than that.
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We as the total congregation, myself and our other elders included,
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are to be doing this work of ministry.
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So you're to be equipped to love and serve one another.
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Look what the text goes on to say.
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For building up the body of Christ.
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Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.
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To mature manhood to the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ.
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So there's the goal and the positive.
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And then in the negative he says in verse 14,
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So we want to be mature.
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We want to be growing up into Christlikeness and not staying immature.
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This is the ministry work of the church together.
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And he tells us how it's accomplished in verse 15.
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Rather, speaking the truth in love.
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We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.
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From whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped,
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when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
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Right?
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So we are to be speaking the truth in love to one another.
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And doing all of the various things that God has gifted us to do.
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So if you're a member of this church, or another church for that matter.
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If you go on and you're a member of another church.
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It's right and proper.
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And it's safe to assume that God has brought you to that church.
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That you might function in some way in that body.
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You have a part to play in the life of that church.
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And that includes all kinds of things.
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And I'm not about to recruit you to take out trash.
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Although you're welcome to be recruited for that.
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Because we have to do it.
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What's the focus here?
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Speaking the truth in love to one another.
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Which happens in informal, casual ways.
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It should be going on all the time.
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You should hit the ground here on a Sunday morning thinking,
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How am I to love and serve others this morning?
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How am I meant to walk into the building and greet people and speak the truth in love to them?
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And I think you'll find as you do this, others will speak the truth in love to you.
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And will press at each other and will grow in holiness together.
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This is what's supposed to be going on when each part, verse 16, is working properly.
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And I fear that often we don't function properly.
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Because every part is not doing its part in this work.
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So, the leaders of our church need to be thinking in these terms.
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If we're to be praying and doing the ministry of the word.
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That ministry of the word has this extension.
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It's part of the ministry of the word.
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To be equipping the saints to minister the word, the truth in love to one another.
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We're going to have to think about the best ways to do that.
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We're going to have to be rational.
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Perhaps a little bit practical at times.
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How is this accomplished?
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For a lot of years, and no dramatic change here, but for a lot of years, we have really, really pushed back.
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And tried to keep ourselves from becoming highly problematic.
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And the reason for that is that very often in the lives of churches, programs begin to exist for the sake of the program to exist.
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And you push people into them and you burn people out.
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And it must go on because we've always done it this way.
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And we lose sight of why we would even start to do something particular at all.
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But we're not entirely anti-programs.
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What we're doing right now is, in some sense, a program.
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We've decided that we should gather together at certain times.
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We kind of start at that time.
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There are certain things that ought to be done during this time.
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There's goals in mind as we gather together and do this.
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There's a great little book called The Trellis and the Vine.
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I'd love for all of you to read it at some point.
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Although it's really written for church leaders.
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And in that book, they work out this analogy of a trellis and the vine.
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And the author talks about how he has on the side of his garage this really beautiful hand-built trellis.
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And nothing seems to grow on it.
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And it's just put in a bad spot.
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A side of the house that just nothing seems to grow on.
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But then on his fence, he has another trellis that he can't see because there's a jasmine vine growing on it.
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And that jasmine vine has outgrown the trellis.
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And it threatens to pull the trellis off the fence.
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And he has to go in and get up underneath it and pin it back onto the fence to keep it held up.
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And what they suggest in the book is that there are, of course, those necessary things we should do together as a church.
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The plans that we should make.
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The structures we should build that are trellis.
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But that that trellis is meant to hold up the vine, which is the people work.
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The gospel proclamation.
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The speaking the truth in love to one another.
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And it's easy to get those two things out of priority.
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Right?
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Let's do some things.
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Let's put some things in place.
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Let's structure stuff and program things so that the vine can flourish.
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And for a lot of years, we've been able to do it with very, very little trellis.
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We've always tried it minimally.
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We want to do so little trellis.
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We want to focus everybody's attention on vine.
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We want to be so clear about this.
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But I think we find ourselves, as we've been growing, that we just need a bit more trellis.
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We need to put a little more structure into place.
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That is to say, in order to free you all to do this precious and most important vine work,
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we just need some plans to do so.
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We need to be deliberate about doing these things.
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I find for myself, I want to be a person who is so clearly prioritized in my mind that it's just natural.
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It just runs around in me.
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That there's no doubt in my mind what the next right thing to do is.
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It just bubbles up out of me.
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But if there's anything important that needs to happen in my life,
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I find that I have to make a plan for it.
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I've just got to be really deliberate.
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I've got to write it down.
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I've got to think about when it's going to happen.
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If you happen to have a child sitting next to you that has the coloring sheet,
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it's a drawing of the mind that America has ever produced.
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And many will say he's the greatest mind that America has ever produced.
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And he had to write down notes and pin them on his jacket in order to remember things.
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This encourages me.
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Important things, I think, need to be planned for.
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If you're not like me, that's a wonderful gift to you.
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But I've got to structure.
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I've got to think about those most important things.
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Otherwise, they tend to get put back.
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They tend to get chased away by the tyranny of the urgent,
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the crisis that often seems to be right in front of us.
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So we're going to add a few things this year.
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And I just want you to understand the why behind some of these things.
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Again, hopefully to inform you, to excite you, and to involve you.
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So in your bulletin that you were handed, there was an insert.
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You're welcome to, this might serve you to pull this out and take a look at it.
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This was just a temporary thing that I can't pull together.
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I'm really hoping that we have some graphic artists, and I know that we do,
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who are looking at this and saying, this is terrible.
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It could be so much better.
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I agree with you that it could be so much better.
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And I would love for you to volunteer to make it prettier for us.
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I would even gladly turn this into a magnet that we could stick on our fridges.
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So there's some thoughts for you.
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You're going to notice firstly at the top, it says Providence Baptist Church.
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And if you're unaware, I want you to know that our church has voted to change our name.
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So that's not taken place yet.
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There's a lot of details that have to be sorted out to make that possible.
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But as I sat down and typed this up this week, I just thought,
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this is going to go perhaps in the front of somebody's Bible,
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maybe up on the fridge, and we're going to change our name, I hope, very soon, formally,
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and I just didn't want it to be confusing.
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So that's what's happening.
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Be confused for a moment this morning so that you don't have to be confused in the future.
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These are some plans for this upcoming year.
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So it's a save the dates, you know, kind of like a wedding save the date,
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but this is multiple dates, some things to be thinking about,
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some things to be looking forward to,
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to go ahead and put on your digital calendar,
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to have it up in a visible place,
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to stick it in the front or back of your Bible,
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to be able to reference the things we're planning on doing this year.
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And I will tell you that the years that we've done more good things together
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are years that we tend to plan this early,
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because if it goes on the calendar, it's most likely going to get done.
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And if it doesn't, then, oh man, it's Christmas again,
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and we're off on into the next year.
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So I want to talk through some of these things.
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Probably the most significant change is that we're going to add
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a Sunday evening litany of things to do together.
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I want to be really clear.
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The church, the church as a total, only gathers,
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as a total, only gathers on Sunday mornings.
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This is what we've decided as a church.
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We have two what we call gatherings.
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We have a members gathering at 10, it goes till 1030,
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we take a little break,
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and then we have this gathering, which we call the public gathering.
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If you're a member of our church, I've said to you,
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you ought to think of that as a singular event.
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Come Sunday morning, when we say to you,
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Hebrews chapter 10, do not neglect to meet with the saints,
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that's what we're talking about, right?
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That time that we have all decided to come together.
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So everything I'm about to talk to you about is optional, but good.
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I want you to really seriously consider
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if these things are worth spending your time on.
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So Sunday evenings from 6 to 730,
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beginning January 19th,
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and that is just a couple of weeks away, I know.
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We're going to do some things together.
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Now, those things together will be interrupted at times
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by members' meetings.
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It's when we typically have had those meetings.
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That's going to happen next Sunday evening,
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January 12th, and then April 13th,
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and July 13th, and October 12th.
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So that's when you can anticipate those members' meetings.
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things happening,
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and those will interject on top of
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and take the place of the things that I'm about to mention.
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The first thing that we'll do on Sunday evenings together
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is a men's prayer meeting.
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So we're going to ask that the men of the church
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come together and pray.
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It's good that the church prays together.
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And we do this already.
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We do this on Sunday mornings, right?
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When you're led in a prayer in the morning,
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this morning, it wasn't just Gary that was praying,
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and you were listening to him pray, right?
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He was leading us in prayer.
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So we do this corporately,
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but we think it would be helpful
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if we set aside an additional time for prayer.
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Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2, verse 8,
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I desire then that in every place the men should pray.
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There's a little story about the ministry of Charles Spurgeon
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you may be familiar with,
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but it always encourages me to encourage the church to pray.
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It goes like this.
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Five college students visited London one Sunday
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to hear Charles Spurgeon preach
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at the Metropolitan Tabernacle.
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They arrived early and were met by a kind gentleman
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who offered to give them a tour.
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At one point, he asked them
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if they would like to see the furnace room in the basement.
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If you're very young,
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you may not know what a furnace room is,
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but it heats up water,
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and it circulates it all throughout the building
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so that the building can be warmed.
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So the furnace room in the basement.
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It was a hot July,
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and the students were not interested,
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but not wanting to appear rude,
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they consented.
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Their guide quietly opened the door,
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and there in the basement
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of the Metropolitan Tabernacle,
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there were several hundred people
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fervently praying for the service
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that was about to begin.
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It was then that their guide introduced himself.
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He was none other than Charles Spurgeon,
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and he wanted those college students
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to understand that prayer
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was the power source of his ministry.
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Prayer matters incredibly.
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I too readily rush off into things
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thinking that I've got it handled,
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but I have nothing handled
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without God's help.
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Prayer is that thing
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without which nothing happens.
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Sine qua non.
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Without which nothing.
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We need to pray.
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We need to pray for God's blessing
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on the things that we are about doing.
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And we need to be praying
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more broadly as well.
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We need to be praying for area churches.
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Churches in our area.
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Those that are like-minded,
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that are preaching the gospel,
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that we can praise God for,
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that God would give them great courage
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and spur them on.
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We need to be praying for churches
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that we might not agree with so much.
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That they would see the truth
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of the gospel
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and perhaps come to conviction
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and change.
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It's a good thing for us to do.
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We need to be praying for our ministry partners.
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We need to be doing this regularly,
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which we often do on Sundays,
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but we need to be doing so
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in more detail and more carefully.
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They're on the back of your bulletin
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this morning, right?
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The Andersons were serving
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in Southeast Asia.
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They're learning language right now.
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They're working towards being sent
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to an unreached people group.
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They need a great deal of prayer.
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The Hamores,
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Josh is serving as the director
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of the UNG FCA.
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You may have opinions about FCA,
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but I can tell you
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that Josh is doing a good work
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on that campus.
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And we need to be thinking about
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how to partner
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and how to be praying for him.
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Matthew Carnegie,
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who's going to actually come
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and share with us this evening,
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talking about the state
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of Bible translation in the world.
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He's in Texas right now
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at Bible translation school
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and preparing very soon
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to go with a team.
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We don't know where to just yet,
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but to be going and doing
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translation work.
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Emma Zwimpke,
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we need to add her
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to the back of this.
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She also is going to be going
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and doing a very similar work
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in the coming year-ish,
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doing Bible translation work.
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The Walkers,
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also in Southeast Asia,
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they're there with the IMB.
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And the Zwimpkes in Germany
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who are coming back to us
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this summer, praise God.
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We're very thankful for that.
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But we need to be praying
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for these,
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for Great Commission work.
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We need to be praying
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that the Gospel would go
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to all peoples.
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And perhaps in the process of that,
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the Lord may raise up people
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in our midst
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that would go to those very places.
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We need to be paying
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for people in positions of power,
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for governmental leaders,
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local and state
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and certainly federal.
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We need to be praying
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for the future of our church,
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that God will give us wisdom,
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what things ought we do
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and what things ought we not do.
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We need to be praying
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for our church leadership.
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We desperately need your prayers.
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We are feeble men
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and we need your prayers.
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We need to be praying
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about the possible future
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of a biblical counseling center.
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We've talked about this for years.
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What might it look like?
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You may not be aware of this,
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but this past semester
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on the University of North Georgia's campus,
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there were three suicides.
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And I sat with Josh,
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just him absolutely heartbroken
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over that.
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And there's currently a president
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at the University of North Georgia
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who wants biblical counseling
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to be available
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to students on that campus.
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He said,
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I'm going to say this
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on a recording,
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he said
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that the services
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the college provides
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are not ample
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for what those students need.
24:45
There's a door of opportunity.
24:47
At least in some small way,
24:49
we could help.
24:51
What a chance.
24:52
What a chance
24:53
to be on the leading edge
24:55
of sharing the gospel
24:56
on that campus.
24:58
So we need to be praying
24:59
about that.
25:00
Without which nothing,
25:01
how are we to accomplish
25:02
such a task?
25:03
I have no idea
25:04
we need God's power.
25:09
So there's some things
25:10
that we're going to be asking
25:11
that the men would come together
25:13
and that they would pray.
25:16
We also are going to add
25:18
a men's morning meeting.
25:19
So this is just kind of men,
25:20
men on the side
25:21
I'm just talking about
25:22
for a moment.
25:23
We did this some time ago,
25:24
a Saturday morning meeting
25:25
once a month.
25:27
It's going to be
25:27
a little bit longer form
25:29
this time
25:29
and we're not just going to talk
25:31
about man issues
25:31
all the time,
25:32
but we're going to
25:33
in advance
25:34
let you know
25:35
what topics may be covered.
25:37
I think this will give us
25:38
the opportunity
25:38
to have some kind of
25:39
longer form teaching
25:40
about some issues.
25:43
The first one
25:44
will be February 1st.
25:45
I will tell you
25:46
just off the cuff,
25:48
I can't guarantee this,
25:49
but I think when I'm
25:50
going to be
25:51
and let's think together
25:52
biblically
25:53
about whether we should
25:54
or shouldn't
25:55
take up this kind
25:56
of teaching.
25:58
We shouldn't.
25:59
But February 1st,
26:01
if I can manage
26:03
to prepare for that.
26:04
So in advance,
26:05
I'll let you know
26:05
what we're going to do.
26:06
We're going to come together.
26:07
We're going to have
26:07
some breakfast.
26:07
We're going to really
26:08
get into the Word
26:09
together around
26:10
some particular topics.
26:13
And a men's retreat
26:13
every year.
26:14
We can check that one off.
26:16
We did it this weekend
26:17
and I'm really grateful
26:18
for those guys
26:19
that could come
26:19
and sad if you weren't
26:21
able to be with us.
26:22
Genuinely,
26:22
wish you could have
26:23
joined us
26:24
over these past
26:24
two days.
26:27
Also on Sunday evening,
26:28
we're going to have
26:28
a women's Bible study.
26:30
So my sweet
26:32
and wonderful wife
26:33
has been pressing
26:34
at me for quite some time
26:35
that the women
26:36
need a consistent time
26:37
to connect together
26:39
without little ones
26:41
distracting them.
26:42
Boy,
26:43
do we have a lot
26:43
of beautiful
26:44
little distractions
26:45
right now,
26:46
don't we?
26:47
So she's been
26:48
encouraging this
26:49
and pressing this
26:49
and I said,
26:50
you're absolutely right.
26:51
We should be thinking
26:52
about how to do this
26:53
and so we're going to
26:54
try to accomplish this
26:55
on Sunday evenings.
26:57
Sam is going to begin
26:59
that by leading
27:00
through a book
27:01
called Women of the Word
27:02
and then beyond that
27:04
it will be an inductive
27:05
Bible study.
27:06
So we'll select a book
27:07
and the women will
27:08
get together
27:09
and discuss those texts
27:11
together.
27:13
We'll also have
27:13
a women's retreat
27:14
and that will be
27:15
April 4th and 5th
27:17
of this year.
27:18
We've got the
27:19
center booked.
27:21
It is happening.
27:21
It's going down
27:22
April 4th
27:23
and 5th.
27:26
And then to support,
27:27
kind of the broader needs
27:29
of the men and women
27:30
of our church,
27:31
this year we're going
27:31
to do two one-day retreats.
27:34
The first will be
27:35
on parenting.
27:36
That will be February 8th.
27:38
Many of you are
27:39
in the trenches
27:39
right in those early years.
27:42
Right now,
27:43
including unborn children,
27:45
the members of our church
27:46
have 84 kids,
27:48
four and under.
27:49
Really,
27:49
that's a staggering number.
27:52
And then I think
27:52
when you add the
27:53
five and up kids in,
27:55
we're like at 128 children.
27:57
It's a wonderful blessing
27:59
and a need
28:00
that we should be
28:01
thinking about together.
28:03
And then in September
28:03
on the 27th,
28:05
we're going to do
28:05
one on marriage.
28:06
And I think,
28:07
I think we may do these
28:08
every single year.
28:09
Do a parenting one day
28:10
and a marriage one day
28:12
every single year.
28:15
Also on Sunday evening,
28:16
we're going to start a,
28:18
what I'm currently calling,
28:19
and this is just me,
28:20
so it may take
28:21
a different shape.
28:22
Somebody may tell me
28:23
they hate it.
28:23
That's okay.
28:24
But I'm framing it this way
28:26
for our thinking.
28:27
A young adult class.
28:28
And by that,
28:30
I mean youth.
28:31
So I just don't like
28:32
that term very much.
28:34
Young adult class.
28:37
And we think this is important
28:38
because this age
28:40
is a difficult age.
28:44
I'm so really glad
28:46
that I'm not that age
28:48
in this age.
28:49
Does that make sense?
28:50
Like, oh,
28:51
the pressures
28:52
that they're experiencing
28:54
are immense.
28:56
And parents,
28:57
you're doing a wonderful job.
28:58
So we're in no way saying,
29:00
oh gosh,
29:01
we've got to come in
29:01
and rescue these
29:02
poor teenagers
29:03
from their parents.
29:04
And we don't want to suggest
29:06
that at all.
29:08
But we do think
29:09
it's an age
29:10
that needs a lot of support.
29:14
Very tragically,
29:15
Hillary Clinton
29:16
has co-opted the term
29:18
that takes a village.
29:18
So maybe we can just
29:19
turn it into,
29:20
it takes a church.
29:23
We need to be helping
29:24
and supporting one another.
29:27
Our young men
29:28
need the wisdom
29:29
of their fathers.
29:30
And then they need
29:31
a bunch of other fathers
29:32
saying the same stuff
29:33
to them.
29:34
Right?
29:35
Their heads are thick.
29:37
My head was very thick.
29:38
It still is.
29:39
But I think it's thinning
29:40
as I get older.
29:41
But very thick.
29:44
And they need a lot
29:45
of input into their lives.
29:46
And they need that
29:48
age group friendships.
29:50
They need to be able
29:51
to talk to one another
29:52
through the challenges
29:53
that they're going through.
29:54
And so,
29:55
we intend to do this.
29:56
I'll have a meeting
29:57
with parents.
29:57
We'll talk out
29:58
what this might look like.
29:59
We need your help.
30:01
We need your help
30:02
pulling this off.
30:04
Church,
30:04
we need your prayers.
30:06
We suddenly have
30:07
a bunch of teenagers.
30:09
And I will tell you
30:11
right now,
30:12
myself included,
30:13
all of those parents
30:14
are trembling
30:15
with the challenges
30:16
that are ahead of us
30:17
with these young people.
30:19
And yeah,
30:20
we need your input.
30:21
We need your partnership.
30:23
We need your help.
30:24
So we're going to have
30:24
a class for them.
30:26
That'll be on Sunday evenings.
30:28
And I'll tell you,
30:29
just in case,
30:30
it's going to be a shocker
30:31
to you,
30:32
we're going to have
30:32
some fun.
30:34
And we're going to
30:35
feed them some food
30:37
they probably shouldn't eat.
30:38
but we are going to
30:39
open the Bible together.
30:41
We're going to get
30:41
their noses in the text.
30:44
We're going to
30:44
help them learn
30:45
how to study the Bible
30:46
well,
30:47
understand the gospel,
30:48
get the church
30:49
and what the church is
30:50
and the great blessing
30:51
that it is.
30:53
Yeah.
30:54
We've also put
30:54
on the calendar
30:55
a retreat for them
30:56
in June.
30:58
I just blocked out
30:59
the entire week.
31:00
I can't promise
31:00
it'll be the entire week.
31:02
We'll talk more
31:03
with parents
31:03
and see what might work
31:05
for us.
31:06
But we want to take
31:06
those young people away
31:08
and with their parents
31:10
to be clear.
31:11
We're not going to
31:12
steal your children
31:12
but we'll take them away
31:14
and teach them.
31:15
And then in addition to that
31:15
on Sunday evening
31:16
we're going to do
31:17
children's classes
31:17
for all the other age groups
31:19
as well.
31:20
And I'm excited about
31:21
what we may be doing
31:22
with them,
31:23
developing some curriculum
31:23
for them.
31:26
So that's the big one,
31:27
Sunday evening.
31:28
And I think there's
31:28
a lot,
31:29
a lot of good.
31:30
And again,
31:30
think of it as trellis
31:32
for us to step into
31:35
together and do
31:36
a lot of really good
31:37
vine work.
31:39
Speak the truth
31:39
and love to one another
31:41
in all of these various ways
31:43
and around these
31:43
different issues
31:44
and topics.
31:46
I think this will be
31:47
a very good thing
31:49
if we can lean
31:49
heavy into it.
31:51
And once again,
31:52
Sunday evenings may be
31:53
the worst time for you.
31:54
You might be hearing
31:55
all of this
31:55
and you might be saying
31:56
this all sounds so great
31:57
but I just don't think
31:57
I'm going to be able
31:58
to make Sunday evening work.
31:59
But when else
32:00
would we do it?
32:00
That would be my
32:01
retort to you.
32:02
And I think these things
32:03
are important enough
32:04
to make the effort
32:06
if it's at all
32:06
possible for you.
32:09
A couple of other
32:09
opportunities
32:10
to connect
32:11
and to serve.
32:13
There are some
32:14
50 commandments
32:15
in the Bible
32:16
that end in
32:16
one another
32:17
and those things
32:18
can be happening.
32:19
All those one another's
32:20
can be happening
32:20
in everything
32:21
that I've mentioned
32:22
so far.
32:23
Some examples,
32:24
love one another,
32:25
welcome one another,
32:26
bear with one another,
32:28
care for one another.
32:30
To do that,
32:30
you need to be
32:31
connected with people
32:32
and it's really easy
32:33
to show up
32:34
on a Sunday morning,
32:36
the last minute,
32:37
get up when it's time
32:37
to go and get out of here
32:39
and not ever really
32:40
get to know anybody
32:41
or to be known
32:42
by anybody.
32:43
We're not a terribly
32:44
large church
32:45
but the way this building
32:47
is set up,
32:47
you kind of get
32:48
funneled in and funneled out
32:49
and it creates
32:50
some difficulty.
32:51
It's hard to connect
32:52
with people
32:53
if that's all you're doing.
32:55
So we're going to
32:56
continue to do
32:56
community groups,
32:58
no changes to that.
32:59
Those groups,
33:00
if you're not familiar
33:01
with them,
33:01
are led by an elder.
33:03
Often, not always,
33:04
but they're hosted
33:05
in an elder's home.
33:06
They're on the second
33:07
and fourth Tuesday
33:08
or Wednesday
33:08
of each month.
33:10
It's very light.
33:11
You can bring
33:12
your children to it.
33:13
We're going to open
33:13
the text for just
33:14
a few minutes,
33:15
perhaps sing a song,
33:17
a prayer.
33:18
I think just about
33:18
everybody eats food
33:19
in some measure
33:20
or another.
33:22
Our group,
33:23
not because I'm
33:24
a great leader of it,
33:24
but our group
33:25
does a dinner
33:25
and it's always
33:26
a really,
33:27
really wonderful
33:27
time to get it.
33:28
So it's a chance
33:29
to come and connect
33:30
with people,
33:30
get to know people,
33:31
and hopefully this
33:32
flows into other
33:34
discipling relationships
33:35
beyond just that
33:36
time together.
33:39
And then some
33:39
service days.
33:40
So we have some
33:41
property work days
33:42
on the calendar.
33:43
Beloved,
33:43
we need to steward
33:44
this building well.
33:45
It's a gift to us.
33:47
You've benefited from it,
33:48
whether you think
33:49
you have or not.
33:50
You're benefiting
33:50
from it right now.
33:53
And we can't pull
33:55
this off on our own.
33:56
We need your help.
33:59
Unclogging toilets
34:00
does not fit in the
34:02
prayer and ministry
34:02
of the word job
34:04
description.
34:05
Although I'm happy
34:06
to do it,
34:07
but we're finding
34:08
ourselves so busy
34:09
that something else
34:10
is getting neglected
34:11
if I'm doing that.
34:12
If I'm unclogging
34:13
a toilet,
34:13
there's something
34:14
prayer and ministry
34:15
of the word
34:15
that I probably
34:17
should be doing
34:18
and I'm not able
34:19
to do it.
34:20
Not above any
34:21
of that kind of work,
34:23
but we need to be
34:24
able to pitch in
34:25
and help out.
34:26
And so we're going
34:26
to schedule some work days
34:27
both to clean
34:28
on the inside
34:29
of the building,
34:30
those things that are
34:32
difficult to do
34:33
like dusting
34:35
the lights in here
34:36
and also working
34:37
on the outside
34:38
of the building
34:38
as well.
34:40
And then in some
34:41
other months,
34:42
we've been calling
34:43
them barn raisings,
34:45
but I dropped the G
34:47
and did an apostrophe S
34:48
which makes it look
34:49
really hilarious.
34:50
It says barn raisins.
34:51
And I'm seeing it
34:53
now that I'm looking
34:54
at it written down.
34:57
But it doesn't
34:57
really matter.
34:57
So if you're not
34:58
familiar,
34:59
the Amish are
35:00
incredible people.
35:01
From a lack
35:02
of technology,
35:03
they get together
35:04
when they have to
35:04
raise a huge structure
35:06
and the whole community
35:07
comes together
35:07
and raises the walls
35:09
of a barn.
35:10
It's called a barn
35:11
raising.
35:12
And so we've been
35:13
doing this now
35:13
for this past year.
35:15
Opportunities to come
35:16
together and serve
35:17
those people in our
35:18
church that especially
35:19
need help with big
35:20
projects as kind
35:21
of the priority.
35:22
But it's just a good
35:23
time to get together
35:24
and make some stuff
35:25
happen.
35:26
So y'all have helped
35:27
me on my property.
35:28
I had to hand dig
35:29
a ditch to run
35:31
power in.
35:32
And I am so grateful
35:33
that I didn't hand
35:34
dig the ditch.
35:35
A bunch of you guys
35:36
came and made that
35:37
happen.
35:38
We tore up a deck
35:40
and we've done
35:42
some pressure washing.
35:43
So it's a good
35:43
opportunity to come
35:44
together, love and
35:46
serve one another.
35:48
Men especially,
35:49
but I don't want to
35:49
exclude the women
35:50
of the church,
35:51
but men especially.
35:52
Put those on the
35:52
calendar and just
35:53
consider if you might
35:54
be able to take some
35:54
time to come together
35:56
in that way.
35:58
So there's a lot of
36:00
good opportunity here
36:01
and it may seem like
36:03
too much, like it's a
36:04
whole bunch.
36:06
But we really want to
36:07
be careful not to
36:08
overpack anyone's
36:09
schedule.
36:11
We want you to have
36:12
time for work and
36:13
family and your
36:14
unbelieving neighbors
36:15
and friends.
36:17
we want you to have
36:18
time outside of these
36:19
plans for Christian
36:21
fellowship and service,
36:22
that informal stuff
36:24
that you all do so
36:25
well.
36:26
So I just think a
36:27
little bit of
36:27
perspective may help
36:28
at this point.
36:29
I did a little math
36:30
and if I did it
36:32
correctly.
36:32
If you're a member
36:33
of the church who
36:35
were involved with
36:36
everything I have
36:37
mentioned, and no
36:39
one's saying that you
36:39
have to be, but if
36:40
you just said,
36:40
all right, I'm doing
36:41
it, every single
36:41
thing I'm showing up
36:42
to, if you availed
36:44
yourself of
36:45
everything, you'd
36:46
only be giving
36:47
about 30 hours of
36:49
your month.
36:51
About 30 hours of
36:52
your month to all
36:53
of these good works.
36:55
It's a little
36:55
perspective.
36:56
It's not a terrible
36:57
ask of you.
36:59
And I think you'll
37:00
find, in whatever
37:02
measure you decide
37:02
to engage, that
37:03
you'll find yourself
37:04
being served by it.
37:06
So, for 2025, just
37:08
ask yourself, how
37:10
would God have you
37:11
spend your time?
37:13
And I don't presume
37:14
to answer that
37:15
question for you.
37:16
I don't know how
37:17
God would have you
37:18
spend your time.
37:19
The only expectation
37:20
that this church can
37:22
and does lay upon
37:23
you, if you are a
37:24
member, is that you
37:25
join us for the
37:26
times when the whole
37:27
church gathers, or
37:28
should be gathered,
37:30
which is that Sunday
37:31
morning, those meetings
37:32
that I mentioned.
37:33
I think that's the
37:34
only moral obligation
37:36
that you have.
37:37
But I hope that you
37:39
will, with what I
37:41
presented, see these
37:43
opportunities, and
37:44
you'll find some
37:46
measure of excitement
37:47
for and some
37:49
involvement in, if
37:51
in nothing else, that
37:54
you would help us by
37:55
praying that those
37:56
efforts would be
37:59
fruitful.
38:00
In closing, I want
38:01
to read Psalm 127
38:03
and verse 1, which
38:05
says,
38:05
Unless the Lord
38:07
builds a house, those
38:09
who build it labor
38:10
in vain.
38:12
Unless the Lord
38:13
watches over the
38:14
city, the watchman
38:15
stays awake in vain.
38:19
Our efforts to
38:20
build and to
38:21
protect are of no
38:23
value unless God
38:24
blesses our efforts.
38:27
So let's pray to the
38:28
end that he would
38:29
use our plan in
38:31
mighty ways in this
38:33
coming year.
38:33
Let's pray together.
38:34
Let's pray together.