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