Sermon Tone Analysis

IMAGINE: Preparing for God’s Best

Jeff Jones, Senior Pastor

April 15~/17, 2005

 

Wasn’t that great, seeing our church in action?

I just don’t know if I’ve ever been more proud of our church.

People in our community were blown away as hundreds of our people made Christ’s love very real and very visible in this community.

And even though it was hard work, I promise you all those people would tell you that they were glad that they gave every effort they gave.

Love Collin County was a big day for our church and our area.

And we are just getting started.

As the body of Christ, God calls the church to be his feet and his arms to display his love and to make the invisible God visible.

It is our job to represent Christ right here and to point people to him, to bridge people to a great life in Christ.

That is what this Imagine campaign that we are in right now is all about—it is about that vision.

The only reason we would relocate our church is to better fulfill our vision and bring more glory to Christ—this is a big step and a bold one, but we believe God is calling us to do it.

And it really comes down to you and me taking this step together—that’s the best part.

Last weekend on Sunday afternoon we had our first gathering at the land, and it was awesome.

The weather people said that right at the time the prayer event was scheduled was going to be a massive storm and squall line…but we brought Gene Getz up here to pray…we brought out the big guns, spared no expense, and God obviously heard.

There were storms north and sound of us, but God protected that event.

After a brief time of prayer, people did the prayer walk and part of that was driving their stake in the ground.

On each stake were prayers that they had written, and as they drove the stake in the ground they prayed for what God would do through our church on this land.

It was overwhelming to see families and groups huddled around each other praying.

I want to give you a taste of what happened there.

Slide Show

 

Just being on that land together as a church and praying for God’s provision and nailing our stake in the ground was an awesome moment and made it all so much more real.

We could envision what it will be like to be there.

We could imagine the people we will reach there, the families who will be impacted there, the children who will come to know Christ, the youth who will be challenged to live for Christ.

The destination became more real.

And for all of us, one day that destination will be a wonderful thing.

It will be great to serve this community from that location.

But before the destination comes the journey.

That’s the way God has always done it.

He prepares us for the destination with the journey.

Some people have asked me, “Jeff, do you really think our church is ready for this?

Are we really ready to reach the people God is calling us to reach?

Are we really ready to live out this vision?”

And I’ve said, “No.

Absolutely not.

But we will be!

By the time we get there, I have no doubt that God will get us ready.

And he will use the journey to do so.”

As excited I am about the destination, I am even more excited about the journey.

It is in the journey that God will stretch our faith, solidify our vision, unify our church, and strengthen our commitment.

As I’ve said before, the journey is not long geographically—only a couple of miles—but it is an expensive trip.

It means raising 15 million dollars in order to relocate.

That’s our goal to fully relocate in one swoop, which is a big step.

That’s what we are hoping to do and we believe that God can certainly provide that through his people.

That’s our faith challenge.

For those who take the step, God will grow us and stretch us…the journey is the best part of this.

I feel so strongly about this that if Bill Gates called tomorrow and said, “Jeff, I’ve heard about your little 15 million dollar effort.

Jeff, I’ve had lunches that cost more than that.

Let me skip lunch tomorrow and send you a check so you don’t have to worry about it,” I know what I’d say.

It would be hard, but I know I would say something like, “Bill, thanks for the offer.

You’ve enriched my life.

I use Windows and generally like it.

But I’m going to have to turn you down.

Our church needs to do this.

That’s the way God does things.

He stretches each of us and will grow us in the journey.”

So today we want to look at how to take this journey—what it means to be faithful.

Because God wants to use ordinary people like you and me to do this…there is nobody else.

It really comes down to you and to me.

Next week is Big Step weekend, where we will all take this step together.

Next week we will among other things make our pledges of what we believe God is leading us to give over the next 3 years.

Almost everyone I talk to is excited and wants to be a part, but how do we even pray about this?

As a church, it has been over 20 years since we’ve taken this kind of step, so we are a little rusty.

I have never been through a building campaign like this, so early on I really didn’t know how to pray about what God would have us do.

But the good news is that we really don’t have to guess about how to pray about this because in the Bible God tells us.

There are four capital campaigns in the Bible, 3 in the Old Testament and one in the New, and in each God tells us how to pray about things like this…he tells us what to do.

Today we are going to look at one campaign in the Old Testament, when Moses and the people of Israel built the Tabernacle, and we will look even more at the one in the New Testament.

The 3 Old Testament campaigns are buildings, but the New Testament one is about famine relief in Jerusalem.

In 2 Corinthians, they are raising money above and beyond regular giving to the church for a special project over a certain period of time, and in this passage, God tells us how we need to pray about moments like this.

 

1)      Give sacrificially

 

In 2 Corinthians 8:1-7, Paul says, “1And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.

2Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.

3For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.

Entirely on their own, 4they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.

5And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will.

6So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part.

7But just as you excel in everything–in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us[a]–see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

This group of people gave not out of excess but out of poverty.

They weren’t giving out of the extras in their lives they gave out of poverty.

They sacrificed, and they begged for the privilege of sacrificially giving to God.

You might think that is crazy that people would beg to sacrifice, but some I’ve talked with already have had that mentality.

I’ve talked with a small number of families to ask them to pray about this in advance, and many of them have had that attitude.

One family said, “Jeff, go home and be with your family.

We are going to give, and give sacrificially.

Sacrifical giving is the only kind that truly honors God.

He’s not pleased with giving out of excess, but when it hurts and when it demands faith.

We are going to give sacrificially and there is nothing you can say that will keep us from doing that.

So go home and be with your family.”

That’s the Macedonian attitude.

I heard a story in another campaign at another church about this single mom who was raising two kids with a couple of minimum wage jobs.

She heard that the opportunity was to give over and above her normal tithe to the church, and she didn’t know how she could give any more than what she was already giving.

She said that she never bought a dress at a department store but always second hand and had given up wearing makeup because it was a luxury she couldn’t afford.

How could she find the money?

So, she prayed.

She said, “Every day I went to Wendy’s by my work and buy something for lunch off the 99 cent menu.

I get one item and then a water.

I realize that I can give that up, and that a dollar a day means 5 dollars a week and 780 dollars through the course of the whole campaign.”

She sacrificed and gave the 780 dollars.

When the church’s capital campaign was finished, they raised 500 dollars more than they needed to build.