February 10, 2013
John 2:10
Introduction
- Today we will be having a membership meeting, where we discuss the business of the church
- Last couple of years have not been easy
- Yet God has been working in thge background
- We tend to look at numbers
- But God looks at quality
- It is not about those who start the race, but those who finish well
Reading
- John 2:1-11
How
does God work?
- A new Christian
- God does not expect a new Christian to immediately have it all together
- He starts small, then grows us
- Mark 4:28 For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
- He works in us, sometimes he doesn't change the things we think are important, first
- But change is happening
- Like a caterpillar going into a cocoon, and then coming out as a butterfly!
- Over a period of time we see the results
- God is not into instant coffee
- God is into quality
- And he prepares us for our task
How
about the church?
- God starts small
- A church plant
- People are fired up
- God moves in big ways
- The church grows
- But growth that is based on excitement will soon wither away
- Like the seed sown on the rocky ground
- The tough stuff comes, and people give up
- The kingdom is not made up of quitters
- It is those who persevere to the end who will be saved
- It is the overcomers who will have a place in God's presence
Growth
is not always consistent
- Sometimes there will be down times as well as up
- In Jesus ministry this happened too
- There were times when huge multitudes flocked to Jesus
- Feeding of the 5000
- Mark 6:44
- Yet when all was said and done, people fled away when things got rough
- Mark 14:27-31
- During recent years this church has gone through some of the rocky patches
- Most have stood firm during the trial of fire
- Some have quit for various reasons
- We do not judge them, they have to follow where the Lord takes them too
- But there was a prophecy in 2010 that God would be shaking the tree
- And he did
- He gave a year of peace for people to consolidate
- But 2012 was a year of change
- This last year has been both traumatic and exciting
- Some left our fellowship
- But God replaced them with people of his choosing, to prepare this part of the body for the move he wants to do now
- We will now take a look at the encouraging way God has worked in our church during 2012
Church
business meeting
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