Growing The Church God’s Way

Subject: How Does God Want to Grow His Church

Habakkuk 2:14 (NKJV) 

1 I will stand my watch And set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what He will say to me, And what I will answer when I am corrected. 

2 Then the LORD answered me and said: "Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. 

3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. 

4 "Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.

Matthew 16:18 (NKJV)
¹⁸  And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

–2010 I felt God had given me a dream of seeing Life Church grow to 1000...the initial goal not the end.  1000 by 10.

–Obviously the dream did not come to pass and I was crushed and embarrassed...I admit that I was not focused on God’s will as much as I should have been…I repented.

–As I have sought God and studied about Lazarus God has shown me that growing to 1000 was His dream.

–Thru Lazarus being raised from the dead we can learn many things about our dreams:

A. It may be the right request or God’s will, but just the wrong time.

B. You cannot have a resurrection until something dies...the dream I had died.

C. It is not over until God says it is over...He has the final Word.

D. Litmus test...If it was God it will be raised; if not it will remain dead.

–In preparing for growing the church God’s way I think it would be good to ask some important questions.

1. What have we done to see Life Church grow and for souls to be won into His Kingdom?

A. We have hopefully prayed God will give us souls...pray every day!

B. We have preached...if every family reaches just one family we will grow.

C. We have had HGHF several times and Easter and Christmas outreaches. 

D. We have done mass mail-outs to our community inviting them to come.

E. We have emphasized the importance of personal evangelism.

F. We had Seeds for The Harvest...knocking on doors in Fruitland Park.

G. We have been benevolent to our community...House of Hope and financial needs.

H. We have consistently given opportunity for salvation in our services.

--We are definitely growing but can we do more?

2. What are the trends of the day that appear to lead to church growth?

A. We have seen quite a bit of growth in churches who are seeker sensitive.

B. We see some churches growing because of tremendous outreach ministries.

C. We see many churches in our District going the direction of church planting.

D. We see satellite churches growing around us.

3. The big question for us is what is God’s plan for Life Church to initially grow to one thousand?

Habakkuk 2:24 (NKJV) 

2 Then the LORD answered me and said: "Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. 

3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. 

4 "Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.

A. We need to hear from God, get His vision, and make it plain to our people.

B. The vision or the dream should be such that we and our people can run with it.

C. Because the dream is being resurrected by God, it will surely come.

D. This is a time to lay aside our pride and operate in the faith God will give us.

–Good ideas are okay but what we truly need is God or God inspired vision where what happens will be clearly a sovereign move of God...according to His Word!

–What other churches are doing and even what some of you have done at other churches (past experience) can be of some benefit but without a God vision for Life Church it will not happen.  He knows our DNA!

Proverbs 29:18 (NIV) 

18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law. 

–We have seen that God can and often speaks thru the laity of the church so we are open to ideas (God ideas) from wherever they come.

4. So what do we see as benefits to growing initially to one thousand?  Are there benefits?

A. The first is the most obvious...souls being won into the Kingdom of God.

Acts 2:4647 (NKJV) 

46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 

47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. 

Luke 19:10 (NLT) 

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” 

B. The second tied to the first, an increase in support of missions and missionaries.

C. The capability of expanding the base of our church thru staff. Example of the pyramid. 

D. The capability because of finances to bless our own community.  Legacy!

E. The influence God can give us in decisions here in our community.

5. What would be the negatives to growing to one thousand?

A. More work...harder work...running with a vision takes effort.

B. More department heads and laity trained to do the work of the ministry.

C. Multiple services...preaching, ushering, altar workers, music, etc.

D. Dealing with hurting people and their problems...healing the brokenhearted. 

E. It will mean a greater laying down of our lives.

F. As one lady put it, our church will not be as personal as it is now.  Really?

Matthew 16:2427 (NKJV) 

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 

25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 

26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 

27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 

6. Do we need to stop looking backward and start looking forward?  Yes!

--Reading Mark Batterson’s book All In he shares this scripture:

Amos 5:45 (NIV) 

4 This is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: "Seek me and live; 

5 do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing." 

–Bethel is the place where Jacob had his life changing dream...he built an altar and made a vow.  

–Gilgal is where the Israelites camped after God miraculously parted the Jordan River and they stepped foot into the Promised land for the first time.

–Beersheba is the place where Abraham made a treaty with Abimilek and called on the Lord.  His son Isaac dug a well and built an altar there.

–All these places were wonderful, sacred landmarks in Israel’s spiritual journey so why wouldn’t God let them seek Him there?  You won’t find God in the past!

–His name is not I was but I Am...He is the ever present God. What got you where you are may not get you to where God wants you to go.

Batterson:  When we cling too hard to what God did last we may miss what God wants to do next.  God wants to work here and now.

–God is always doing a new thing...it is ok to remember what Jesus did in the past but let those only serve to remind us for what he will do in the future!

Isaiah 43:1819 (NKJV) 

18 "Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. 

19 Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert. 

–As you count the cost:

A. What can the Youth Dept. do? Music? Children’s? Women’s? Men’s? House of

Hope?  Young Adults?  Missions?  Sunday School?  All others?

B. What can we do to grow to one thousand as a beginning place?

C. What will motivate us to have a God dream and to see this happen?

7. So what do I want from you today?

A. I want prayer...I want Holy Spirit led prayer...I want God’s wisdom & presence.

B. If you have listened to what I have already shared, you will understand I am not 

looking for the mechanics of ministry but for God ideas that will make an impact.

C. This is not throwing everything in our minds out on the table and then picking 

and choosing what we want or do not want...it must be God or we must be silent.

E. This is God’s time...it is serious and we must be sober and vigilant.

F. Allow God to speak to your heart, and if He has not yet, keep praying until He does.

G. Unity is a must in this growth adventure. Decide to jump in! No spectators please!

H. Finally, God must build the house:

Psalm 127:12 (NLT)

1 Unless the LORD builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the LORD protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. 

2 It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones. 

--When you study the Acts of the Apostles you will note that the main reason the church grew was because of Holy Spirit…He must be present for us to grow supernatural. 

Acts 1:8 (NLT)
⁸  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”