Our Future As A Church

Our Future As A Church – 5

“Staying The Course”

By Bill Denton

Introduction

A. During the month of October, we’ve been looking at the topic, “Our Future as a Church”

1. Taking a positive approach

2. The importance of dreams and hopes

3. The vital qualities of commitment and dedication

4. The indispensability of faithfulness

B. This morning, I want to address one more factor that will determine the future of this church

1. It’s the idea of staying the course

2. One of the great problems found among churches is the inability to stay the course,

to hold on for the long haul, to keep things going long enough to succeed

a. we’re greatly enamored by flashy things, by the promise of a quick fix

b. we love to hear the latest spiritual secret

c. we are enthralled by the person who suggest he has discovered the magic

method for growing a church

d. then, too often we find that flashy is merely flash-in-the-pan, and the great

spiritual secret is still a secret, and magic methods are really a disappearing

act – nothing works like the long-term effort

3. Illustration

Runner's World (8/91) told the story of Beth Anne DeCiantis's attempt to qualify for the 1992 Olympic Trials marathon. A female runner must complete the 26-mile, 385-yard race in less than two hours, 45 minutes to compete at the Olympic Trials.

Beth started strong but began having trouble around mile 23. She reached the final straightaway at 2:43, with just two minutes left to qualify. Two hundred yards from the finish, she stumbled and fell. Dazed, she stayed down for twenty seconds. The crowd yelled, "Get up!" The clock was ticking--2:44, less than a minute to go.

Beth Anne staggered to her feet and began walking. Five yards short of the finish, with 10 seconds to go, she fell again. She began to crawl, the crowd cheering her on, and crossed the finish line on her hands and knees. Her time? Two hours, 44 minutes, 57 seconds.

C. Hebrews 12:1-3 -- Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let

us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run

with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter

of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat

down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility

by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. NASU

1. The writer’s encouragement is this:

a. lay aside every encumbrance and sin which so easily entangles us

b. run with endurance the race that is set before us

c. fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who endured the cross

d. so that you will not grow weary and lose heart

2. That very last part is the key – so that we will not grow weary and lose heart

a. It's a rare person who doesn't get discouraged. Whether it happens to us or to

an associate we're trying to cheer up, the answer centers around one word:

perseverance. -- unknown

b. A missionary wrote me: "Sometimes adversity tempts me to discourage-

ment in the face of seeming failure. But I take courage and press on anew, as

I remember that God does not hold me responsible for success, but for

faithfulness." Jesus said, "Well done, you successful servant."

-- Corrie Ten Boom in Each New Day

3. One of the great keys to a successful church, one that grows, serves, preaches, helps

and encourages people to know God and his Son, Jesus Christ, is that it keeps on

doing it’s work

a. all the planning and purposing in the world, coupled with all the excitement

and activity you can muster, is useless without the ability to stay the course

b. don’t quit too soon – and too soon is anytime before Jesus returns

I. What Causes Churches To Quit The Course

A. Failure to understand the eternal purposes of God

1. What if God had not stayed the course of his plans when Adam and Eve sinned?

2. What if God had given up and quit, and drowned Noah and his family in the flood?

3. What if God had thrown in the towel after listening to the Israelites grumble and

complain for the umteenth time in the wilderness?

4. What if God had had enough when Israel rebelled one more time?

5. What if Jesus, when praying in the garden, had decided he’d gone through enough

already, and he certainly didn’t need the burden of the cross

6. So, what gives us the idea that our approach to God’s work should be anything less

B. Weariness, discouragement, failure, set-backs and roadblocks

1. This isn’t news, but it is true – the fact is that we’re human and such things get in

the way

2. That’s why we need to remember Jesus

a. he endured the cross – he didn’t give up and quit

b. he endured the shame of the cross

c. he endured the hostility of sinners

d. he did so because he knew what it was all about, he knew what was at stake

and he knew that it was worth it all

3. We will never conclude it is worth fighting through all the weariness, discouragement,

failure, set-backs and roadblocks until we have the same view of the goal as Jesus

a. Matt 16:24-28 -- Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come

after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For

whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My

sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and

forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the

Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and

WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. Truly

I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste

death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. NASU

1) the essence of denying self, taking up our cross and following Jesus

is staying the course, regardless of the cost

2) what would you exchange for your soul? – anything the world offers?

b. Mark 8:34-38 -- And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to

them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up

his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but

whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does

it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a

man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My

words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be

ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy

angels. NASU

1) would anything cause you to be ashamed to follow Jesus to the point

you would quit?

2) would you stand up to a sinful and adulterous generation so that when

he returns, Jesus would not be ashamed of you?

c. Luke 14:27-33 -- Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me

cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower,

does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to

complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to

finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, "This man began to

build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, when he sets out to meet

another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong

enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with

twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a

delegation and asks for terms of peace. So then, none of you can be My

disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. NASU

1) do you understand that it costs you something to carry a cross and

follow Jesus?

2) are you so careless that you’d start this journey only to give it up

somewhere along the line?

II. Staying The Course Requires Some Things Of Us

A. Actually, all four of the previous lessons have dealt with elements that comprise perseverance

Or steadfastness

1. Being positive – with faith, love and respect, and a sense of purpose

2. Dreams and hopes – forward looking, believing and trusting in God, and using our

minds to create opportunities to serve God

3. Commitment and dedication – accepting the challenges, giving ourselves first

4. Faithfulness – seeking God, his will, his ways – in al we do

5. All of these things are important elements in what we’re talking about today, but the

one thing that makes it all work is the willingness to stay the course, to not quit when

the going gets tough or tiresome

B. I’ll just mention a few things for you to consider

1. We need people who won’t quit working when everything doesn’t go their way

2. We need people who won’t let the world get in the way of their faith, and get so busy

with everything else that there is no room for building a church

3. We need people who are ready to invest in something eternal, where the payoff isn’t

when you retire, but when you go to heaven

4. We need some people who will get a vision of the possibilities for this church and

who will take on the long term, life-long task of making it happen

5. We need people willing to take money out of their pocket, time out of their days,

energy out of themselves, and put it into something that will take all you have of

everything, and not quit until the work is done

6. We need people willing to give their lives to the Lord, to build his kingdom here in

this community

Conclusion

A. You are a tool in the hands of God. He demands your service, not your rest. Yet, how

fortunate you are that he lets you take part in his work. -- Ulrich Zwingli

1. That’s the attitude it takes to serve, not sit

2. We’re talking about our future as a church – but we only have a future as long as we

don’t quit, for at the point of quit the future ends

B. Invitation