We hope and pray that the things that we have chosen in this part
of our worship today, will be good for the congregation that
meets here from time to time. There was a little subject that
came up the other evening in our Wednesday night.
Study that prompt us prompted me to research this somewhat and I
hope what we're going to talk about will be the very best for
the occasion. I don't really know your
thoughts because I'm not able to read your minds but from time to
time, I think about the congregation and how long it's
been here at this place. And in the course of thinking
about that, I realize that, where's it going to be proc
approximately maybe 10 years from now or maybe 20?
And then that prompted me to really sort of get sober minded.
and I took an accounting in my mind and I thought, you know, in
about 20 years, maybe even less about a dozen of us that are
here this morning in this assembly, won't be here.
That's just the way things go because our bodies were out
disease, takes us and so on and so forth.
But my heart's desire and prayer to God is that this congregation
will remain strong. and it will be here for the very, very long
future serving, this community, and trying the best of our
abilities, to preach the gospel to those that are lost That
would be an answer to my prayer concerning this congregation.
Now in reflecting on 2nd, Timothy 4, verses 1 through 5
and that we quoted partial of it Wednesday evening and I'm going
to read it and just a moment. But think about this for just,
just a second, how many of us today without intention and
having the best intentions for ourselves and our families and
the congregation here have just relegated ourselves to
churchgoers. Is that all we do is just come
to the worship. Well, we're going to talk about
some things today, and I'm going to give you some statistics.
I'm going to talk about scriptures that perhaps, we need
to be reminded about this is not a Hellfire sermon preaching down
to you. I don't want to do that, but I
wanted to be encouraged this morning and just take inventory
of ourselves and possibly where we are as far as are serving.
The lord goes at this moment of Time.
That's important to me and I think it should be to all of us.
In second, Timothy chapter 4 will be going to begin here.
The Apostle Paul being the writer of this letter, he said I
charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing, and
his kingdom, preach the word be instant in season out of season
reprove rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and Doctrine.
For the time will come, when they will not endure sound
Doctrine, but after their own lusts, shall they Heap to
themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall
turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto
fables. But watch, thou.
In all things endure, afflictions do the work of an
evangelist make, full proof of thy Ministry. and another place
when he was writing to this young preacher, this young
evangelist He told us that we are commit the word I'm
paraphrasing it. Of course, commit things that he
has heard to good and faithful men.
And let me say a word in behalf of our younger people.
I see a growth period in this congregation.
That was mentioned in Darren's prayer this morning.
And I see that because of the things that were doing here
especially on our Wednesday night studies growth in our
younger people and that's a good thing and that is a positive as
far as thinking about where the church at this place will be in
the future and how strong it will maintain.
And let me just say this, In our conservative thinking and
according to what God teaches holdfast, those good things and
cast aside, those things that are not good for the church,
according to God's word. Well in the longest line this
morning talking about the future church, let me just say that it
doesn't take a lot of learning on our part.
To learn that nothing stands still for very long, we can see
that about us. We can understand the thought
that I'm trying to make it this moment of time at this very
moment. We are at the portals of another
year, it seems like the 2010 just got started and now it's
almost over. People are going to start making
resolutions. Perhaps you do that, I don't
know. But thinking about the future,
what am I going to do? Am I going to better myself my
family and what are we going to succeed at in the very near
future? But I want to take this
opportunity to talk about change that we see in the world, change
is a very constant thing and all changes are not bad, but there
are some changes that we expect some that we even hope for there
are some though that are not For us and they should never occur
and we should cast them off and certainly not let them enter
into our lives, especially in the church.
This morning, we're here today to talk about well, in essence,
in a short segment of it, our leadership and we want to
reflect upon upon that, we're here to discuss our attitudes.
We're going to talk about our goals and the future of the
Lord's, cause upon this Earth, And in short, we are here at
this time to take a long hard look.
At ourselves and what we're doing for the Lord and for his
cause I might just say the church and 20 years here at this
place. What will it look like if I was
able to be here and to see it in itself?
The very thought to me is awesome.
But think about it, we have to and we have to make plans, we
have to succeed in order for us to be at this place.
In the future. Proverbs 29.
Verse 18 tells us where there is no vision, the people perish.
So you see God's word teaches us that those that lead, the flock
need to have some sort of a vision needs to have some sort
of plans. I should use that term for what
this church is going to be like in the future.
And we can't wait to be dragged into the Next Generation and the
next One. And the next one, we need to
walk hand-in-hand with it and make sure that the later
leadership first of all is strong and brings the young
along and that's the way we sustain the conservatism that's
found in God's word. Now this morning I give this
lesson to you was several understandings.
First of all I understand that I'm neither a prophet nor a son
of a prophet. I have no crystal glass ball
that I can look into and tell you what's going to happen.
I don't know what the future holds but I understand that
we're looking at a constantly changing scene against a
backdrop of an unchanging word. Let me just rephrase that like
this. Things are moving along at such
a rapid pace and we get caught up in things, don't we?
We certainly do. But behind the backdrop of life,
that's moving along. So rapidly, there is still
something behind that. That is constant, is always
there and never changing and that's the word of almighty God.
And we need to look through this movement, that is so fast and
furious, and can cause us to stray off into the bushes, so,
to speak. And remember that there is
something that will draw us back to the straight and the narrow,
and that's the word of all God almighty God.
It never changes. God designed it that way.
You know, there are many constants that we could talk
about but I just want to talk about a few today for them.
I am very, very grateful to God that he made it this way.
I want you to hear something that this morning, we could turn
over to Daniel chapter 2 and verse number 44.
I believe it is talking about the kingdom and how it Come and
what it would look like, and so on and so forth.
Then we flip in our Bibles to Matthew Chapter 13 and we read
the history that's found there and it's remarkable how the
prophets could see and how it came to pass.
You read over later on in James chapter 4 and how things were
succeeding in and going forth God is ever the same.
Now, what's his product? Well, God's product is the word,
and it is always here and constant, and it never changes.
And I can't say that too many times clearly stated
propositions that we find in God's word that can be Thought
about studied about learned about our human intellect can be
put in place and it's there for our reading for our
understanding. But do we do we know God's word?
Do we know what he's trying to tell us from the light of his
word, the word itself demands that we study the signs of our
times and we do move forward with a constant of God's word
and do those things that he would have us to be.
Already then. Turning our eyes to these times,
it almost leaves us dizzy. Perhaps the right word might be
dazed. The only constant thing
sometimes that we see is change itself and how rapidly that it
occurs. The field, the world, the hearts
of men, the soils are all factors that we have to consider
and we realize that men change, but the word of God doesn't it?
Just stays there in a constant form for us to when we move to
the right? Or we moved to the left can
readjust The way we live and come back down, the straight and
narrow. And that's a wonderful thing
that God has given us. And most of us I'm sad to say
just simply take it for granted. The changing world is out there
and we need to admit it and we need to look at it in sometimes
a bad way. We don't need to let it affect
us. In 20 years, I am told to, as
some surveyors have taken. And I've said this from the
pulpit time and time again that statistics, by the time, you
quote, them are usually old and perhaps forgotten or they change
from time to time. But here's some of them in about
20 years. It's said that one of every
three people that you meet will be of A different race.
And that's probably already here.
And you think about that, this is already true in some of our
country. We do not see this, though, from
a church standpoint as a problem as the world does.
But we see it as a challenge. What am I talking about?
Do we not need to develop some young preachers that can speak
Hispanic, Spanish, maybe foreign languages, that we would never
dream that we could do. This is a ideas that I was
thinking about and I wrote down some of them.
We need to plan for it. We need to face it.
We really have not done much for those people that migrated into
our Country. Well for sake, of a better term
they call minorities. I don't know what you want to
call it. But listen let me start talking
about this from the light of our homes are American Homes.
I want you to think about them. Things now that I'm going to
mention, we already in the church, I believe most of us
wrestle with the problem of what our homes are like.
Some of them are wonderful. Some of them are are just like
the Bible teaches, they should be.
But then again on the other hand, there are homes that even
in the church have been affected by evil and sin and been
decimated by divorce and so on and so forth. 20 years ago,
divorce among church members was practically unheard of It's
something you just did not hear much about because it wasn't
here today. There are very very few families
even possibly in the churches in this area that have about been
affected by that evil. It's an awful thing for the
church to be broken up because of divorce.
And, you know, if you had the ability to have the old serpent
or the devil's book, if he's written down names, let's never
let our name get there. We need to be mindful of it.
Losses up to 48 percent occur, among our young and our young to
middle-aged families. That is a startling to statistic
And if you were to take a survey today, it's probably higher but
this congregation, I believe moves in a, in a positive good
direction and that's to train our children and the way that
they should go and when they're old, they will not depart from
thee. That's what the Bible says over
in Proverbs. So you see there's a mission for
us something that we can all work together for and succeed in
And that's training our little ones and showing them.
The need to be mindful of God and to respect him and serve
him, all the days that they live.
Out of every 100 children that are born today.
According to this survey Statistics indicate the
following 12 are born out of wedlock. 40 were born to
parents. Who will divorce before the
children? Reach the age of 18.
Five were born to parents who will separate before they reach
18. Two were born to parents of
home. One will die before the
children. Reach, 18, only 41 will reach
age 18 in what the world calls normal Now, if you talk to 10
different people, you get different in different ideas
today about what is normal. 59 percent of the children.
Born in 1983, will live only one with one parent before, reaching
18. But today this is a normal
experience. This is what we see in our
society. Good know what can the church do
about it. We can affect it, we can do
things further. Statistics reveal that real
problems are ahead for the the world.
A society, the church, And it is alarming when you think about it
in 1955. Now this goes back several years
in nineteen fifty five, sixty percent of American households
had a working father, a household mother who was a
housewife and two or more children found therein in 1980
that Union was unit was found in only 11 percent of our homes, In
1995, it was down to 7% already. So you see the decline.
Now, we're talking about the foundation of everything and
that's our homes. So if we work hard, if we use
the instructions found in God's word, as far as how the home is
to look and survive and succeed, these statistics will not affect
us in the church whatsoever. I'm told according to a survey
that was back in in the early 2000s.
That the typical family includes any of the following single
parent male or female with one or more children, a female
Breadwinner with a child and a live-in, husband, a previously,
married couple with a combination of children.
One of the three. The family by never definition
several years ago. Was this a combo of people not
related by blood or marriage but by voluntary Association Folks
listen, I say this too began to show you just how detrimental
Society can become if we just let ourselves become
churchgoers, just coming to worship and I might just mention
the fact that some of us can't even do that.
Except on the Lord's day. If we're going to build up this
congregation, it takes everyone. And let me tell you this, if you
think for one minute in this particular place of the church
that the leadership here is not interested in you and how you
are to live and succeed to make Evan Then you are absolutely
diluted. The congregation here together
can accomplish that and the leadership will help you.
If we can't do those, things will find ways to do.
Them will learn will educate ourselves and will help you
every way that we can Brethren, listen The Winds of Change blow
and they blow in Gale proportions in my short
lifetime. I've seen us move from Workers
in the field. Over into the industrial side
from the industrial side to the informational side.
And that's just the way how things are, and how fast things
are moving today. I remember as a kid to make
extra money to help buy my school clothes, I got out and I
chop cotton Pick cotton. Worked out in the fields.
Why are kids wouldn't do that today?
If they if you force them, if you beat him to death almost
they think that oh how persecuted they are?
And that's okay, we have educated ourselves.
We have sent them to school, we have better dim and that's a
good thing. But us never look down upon
those that still do it. Technology is turning the world
inside inward upon itself, I cannot keep up with it.
I would break break Darrell and Gail's Financial Bank.
If I tried to keep up with electronics, it's amazing.
What things can be done in a little handheld.
Gadget-gadget today. And what it will succeed in
doing technology is a tremendous thing.
We can Avail ourselves of it but let's not get caught up in it.
And let us take us away from the road that we're traveling.
You know, folks listen one man said this and think about it.
He said that the global village is here Think about how far we
can get from point A to point B and just a few hours today.
How small the world has become and how fast we can travel from
this place to that place. It's just remarkable.
We are in transition if we like it or not.
If there has ever been a time to think for the leadership of
congregations to plan things out.
Together to sit goals. It's now, who are we?
What are we about? Where do we want to go?
And what do we want to achieve? When we get there?
That's some things that we can think about and study about.
And that's the reason why today for the purpose of this lesson
is to remind us and the leadership of this congregation
that we have plans that we need to make and stick it and adhere
to them and do those things that God would have us do.
What's out in this changing world.
The greatest need of the church today and in the future will be
the leadership and see it strong.
Strong in the eyes of the Lord and the congregations there is
Grass Roots cry for leadership in our congregations.
And if you think for one minute that if you study to show
thyself approved unto God, a Workman that needeth not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing it in its true sense.
You will be followed and appreciated because you'll be on
the straight and narrow and that's what we're talking about
today. It's so important we need to
have the Proper scriptural, guidance, that God didn't give
us, never has leadership and so important, never have, we had a
priority, so great. And, you know, truth.
I want to say this in a course of our study this morning.
Truth does not assure leadership while truth provides it and
God's word demands it. We are the ones that must
develop it. It's our responsibility to do
that. No one will do it for us.
You know, it's appalling to me than in one survey, 59 percent
of our Brethren have no plans for developing elders.
Deacon's or preachers. Now, we've talked about this on
our Wednesday night, cited study to, and it's a, it's a marvelous
in the fact that God has designed a way for the church to
be governed. But yet we just kind of Move
Along at a snail's pace and perhaps we need to think about
that a little bit more. Do we not all read from the same
book and what he teaches us web solutely we do and we can read
together the instructions for leading the church forward and
the things that need to be need to be done the word demands that
we do. That are we not forced to the
conclusion that we either? Do not know the word.
Or sometimes. We just get in a mode that we
really don't care. And that's the dangerous part.
We really just don't seem to care.
There is indeed a crisis today Among Us I believe and it is a
terrible lack of biblical knowledge.
Let me cite to you what God said about this many hundreds of
years ago, over in Hosea, the fourth chapter verse 6 and it's
never been truer. Listen my people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge. This can be decimating to you
and your life and your family's atmosphere.
If you don't step up to the plate and learn the language,
found in God's word, people can cause you to drift because you
don't have the strength that it takes to withstand those that
put pressure on us from the outside.
My people are gone into captivity because they have no
knowledge. That's what the Bible says.
In Isaiah chapter 5. Verse number 13, you can be
captivated by sin because of the lack of knowledge of God's word
to combat it. And we don't want that to
happen. Especially not in this
congregation. Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 12
is so applicable. Today, there is a distinct
correlation between the way we live and what we know between
the leadership of a congregation what it knows and what it can
accomplish by the knowledge that it has studied and received from
God's word. We must have leaders who will
lead us to accept the destiny of our design.
Let me give you a challenge. Sometime, take the time to read
and study at length Ephesians 3. Ephesians chapter 3.
There's a great deal of insight. Their leaders who senses have
been exercises to sort out what matters from what does not
matter the sacred from the secular, the primary from the
secondary and growth from change folks.
Let me say this one is permitted and one is not one is permitted
and what the other is condemned. We desperately need men who know
and will lead the church to know.
It is just over simplified, perhaps, but that's the way it
is. We need men who will stand in
the Gap and show the world. A city that is set on a hill
whose streets are not lace with denominationalism.
We don't want that in this congregation.
We don't want to have anything to do with it, and we need to
have the knowledge to combat it from time to time.
If it does attack us from the outside, The Winds of Change
blow Brethren and they blow universally Something that I
read, that was rather interesting and it's far from
our Shores. But men who have led the church
for years in this country have looked across the Atlantic Ocean
to Great Britain. And they say that there is great
concern about the falling away that they see, they state that
there are many following doctrines that the church wants
once fought and condemned. And this is the way change
happens. Sometimes it's such a subtle
slow thing, but you look around and it's here and it's too late.
Almost, let's grow up the Old Paths movement of 1920 shall
have ground for us to remember that.
The church can be decimated by those who will teach error.
Let's train, our younger boys that are going to come up and
have a voice and leading this congregation excuse me, so that
they can stand on a dust, saith the Lord and the congregation
will support a minute. That's what we strive for Both
at home and abroad. We're face sometimes with what
we call a Monumental task. You know, if I could have my way
do you know what a simulation is?
Assimilation is where we let ourselves gradually, be changed
into something different. And it's sometimes, like I said,
just a moment ago, it's a soul slow process and the
assimilation. If we let ourselves become weak
and we forget the word or we don't even know it to start with
can cause us to assimilate into something that God doesn't like
that, he doesn't want and he won't have it and it's just as
simple as that simple as that. We cannot sit idly by and watch
people. Assimilate into the world and
become weak because of the way that they live and let the world
influence them. That's the thing that we need to
fight movements. Tend toward three distinct
stages. There is a beginning stage
characterized by a fervent urgent evangelism, distinctive
people and great unity. And that's what we need to
exercise and stay with and promote The second is a
degenerating of the first. And like I've already said it
sometimes it's a very slow process.
Let's be mindful of it. Let's think about it evangelism.
First of all, drops off. In Camp conflicts, rise and
power struggles began in the congregation.
You might have a whole congregation, but one brother,
that stands out, that supposed to everything the congregation
wants to do to let it go forward and succeed in this world, what
do we do about that? Set on our Laurels and nothing?
Absolutely, not the word of God instructs us.
What we can do about that. Well, in the third evangelism is
almost non-existent The people battle or settle down to
church-going. As I've already mentioned,
briefly peaceful coexistence is the order of the day.
In order for us to just get along, all we want to do is just
come to worship. That's not the way it works.
We all know that there are different personalities in this
congregation and others, and sometimes are going to be times
when we don't agree with everything, but upon the
scriptural side, First Corinthians, the first chapter
says, that's a necessity. So we grow up, we learned that,
and we learned how to cope with each other.
And I think we succeeded that here.
I really do and we need to keep up that good work.
To me. The matter of most concern
utmost concern. I should say, is where are we?
I will tell you right now, were some of us are and it's
alarming. We are more like the world than
we've ever been. Now I could get specific but
time will not permit. Let me go on, we talk like the
world. Listen now.
We dress like the world. We go to the same places of
entertainment that the Worlds at In short, we are.
And in many instances, not only in it brethren, we are it.
And that's what I'm talking about.
That's dangerous. We seek the world for
entertainment. We forget the church and the
things that need to make it survive.
And that's dangerous. Let's not do that.
Let's be reminded of it. We are confusing the world and
doing this. Now, what do I mean by that
confusing? The world?
well, you know They don't like to understand why we're trying
to change them. Sometimes they get frustrated,
they don't understand. Why are you preaching to me this
Doctrine? And this commandment and so on
and so forth? When they look at us and we're
just like them. We'd look like them.
We sound like them. We dress like them.
And that proverbial duck quacks like him.
So, you see the fruit ility in the Church of our Lord and
Savior. Jesus Christ, doing the things
that God has taught us to do to convert the world.
And the danger is we're just like them sometimes and we can't
do that the church in the future real problems faced us and would
less we look back and be a distinctive people that God
intended us for us to be a peculiar people that simply
means different that they can see a difference in us.
A holy nation, the light and the salt I want to remind you of
something right here. Salt and I'm told that if you
put a lot of it on your food, it's not good for you.
But spiritually speaking in this in this idea that's given forth
in Scripture, it preserves. It flavors it stings.
And makes people thirsty. Now, what do we do about that?
The Lord grant us boldness to run out into the world and
emphasize what makes us unique. We need to tell them, show them,
remind them convert them. That's what the Bible is talking
about. And you know what, Brethren the
Mandate that we have before us is very, very clear indeed.
Distinctive people of God, preaching a definitive word is
what God is looking for today and what the world needs.
Why is the church and the world still here today?
Can you answer that question for me?
Think about that, just a moment. We'll listen in conclusion this
morning, and I'm just about out of time.
Skills are not developed by wishing that they were ours.
And here it is. Parents may love their children
with all of their heart, but they may still lack parenting
skills. You don't just learn how to
raise a child overnight. It is something that is worked
at continually to train these little children.
The way that they should be. Doctors may wish to help people
by the score, not to have. And within their repertoire, the
skills to fix something that this person needs.
So they send you to a specialist.
That's what we do. Folks, listen, if I was to
design a leader in the Church of Our Lord, it would be a skilled
individual with every facet of what it takes to live a
Christian life and to help you along the way.
Facing the future is getting prepared for things that are
going to come our way. The church in the future will
depend largely on its people. In this room, all of us will be
involved in it all of you. If you live to see tomorrow a
week a month, twenty years will be involved in the process of
what the church is going to be like on down the road.
In conclusion this morning, let me read something from First
Corinthians chapter 3, and I want to begin at verse 10.
According to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise
master builder. I've laid the foundation and
another buildeth thereon, but let every man, take heed how he
buildeth thereupon. For other Foundation can no man.
Lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ.
Now if any man build upon this Foundation, gold silver,
precious stones wood, hay and stubble.
Every Man's work shall be made manifest for the day.
Shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and
the fire shall try. Every man's work of what sort it
is. If any man's work abide which he
hath built thereupon he shall receive a reward.
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss,
but he himself shall be saved yet.
So, as by fire, Brother, listen, we cannot let the church go
begging and let it become like the world.
We need to take those things that are found there in, and
hold fast to it, and train, and teach our young.
That one day in the distant future.
Our congregation will still be intact and the word of God will
succeed. We thank you for listening to
our podcast, put on by the Church of Christ at 22:15 plans.
Road in Bakersfield, if you would like any additional
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