A paradigm shift for the church

To compete for a championship, during a game a great team must make some adjustments. The second half is the crucial period for any successful team and at this second half time, great teams must make some adjustments if they want to win the game. Our church has come to the half of the course of our race. We are in the second half of the game.

We need to make some drastic changes in the way we think about the important things if we need to be successful in the years to come.

Some people call these changes a “paradigm shift.”

Paradigm shift is defined as `a time when the usual and accepted way of doing or thinking about something changes completely`.

What I’m asking for is for us to begin to think differently as a church family. How can our church change for the better? How can we move from maintenance mode to a growth mode?

Let us prayerfully think about some adjustments we need to make to be more effective for Christ in the months ahead.

In our Christian Walk, there are some negotiable and non-negotiable. Our commitment to Jesus will stay the same. Our commitment to the Bible as God’s word and the source of truth will stay the same. Our mission and vision will stay the same. Our core values will stay the same. The message will remain the same, but the methods can be changed, modified or corrected as needed.

We cannot continue to look at things the way we always have. Here are five commitments I hope we can seriously consider and commitied to:

Analyzing the problem in his own church, onepastor quoted from one of his staff reports. This staff member was trying to share a word pictureto describe a problem they faced in their church.We were facing a volunteer shortage. She said,“The problem with some of our people is that they have this attitude: ‘Here, tie my shoe!’”

Too many of us have a “serve us” attitude. There’s no question that a church ought to meet your needs.

But I have found that when I am focused on having my needs met, then I most likely to gripe and grumble. That’s when I am most likely to be miserable and not grow. But when I shift from serve us to service, I find my needs miraculously being met. I grow!

Ephesians 4:11-12 “And He gave some asapostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ”

As the pastor of the church, my task is to equip you and to mobilize you to be obedient to God’s call on your life to serve. Most of us have been conditioned to think of “ministry” as something that pastors do. But here’s a definition of “ministry” that might surprise you. Ministry is meeting others needs with the resources God gives to you. Serving others ought to be a normal part of life for every Christ-follower. You may not be a Bible scholar or a Billy Graham, but no matter what your present level of spiritual maturity, you can meet someone else’s need with the resources God has given you

Our goal this year and beyond, is to see an increasing percentage of people serving in some ministry. We’re going to have to figure out a way to measure our effectiveness in mobilizing people.

Listen, there are lots of needy people in this world. They wonder, “Does anyone care?” Lots of broken people who wonder, “Who will cry for me?” by volunteering to serve in ministry inside the church and outside the church can make a huge difference in the lives of many.

Key question: What will I do to be mobilized to serve in some area of brokenness in 2024 and beyond?

The great preachers can impress us, but I am deeply impacted by the fellowship, prayer and love of my church. Many of us may not be famous, but you have impacted my life. The great anointed preachers impressed me but the fellowship, the small prayer meetings, the bible studies, impacted me.

Small group impact has a significant impact in the life of a church. We grow best and we grow most in a small group environment. We can impress people from a distance, but we can impact them up close. The reason some of us here aren’t gaining victory in key areas of our lives is because we won’t make a commitment to get into a small group. That makes us very unlike the followers of Christ in the early church. Look at their commitment to small groups.

Acts 2:42-47: They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe… And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common… Day by day… breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. We want to see an increasing percentage of people here involved in the fellowship and small groups.

We need to seriously consider the following questions:

What is my assignment in this church?

What role do I need to play to strengthen and edify my fellow believers.

Key question: What will I do to strengthen my involvement and commitment to the church in 2024 and beyond?

Way too many of us are spectators during Sunday services. Because of our relationship with Jesus, we’ve been given the greatest gift of all – forgiveness of sin, freedom from guilt, purpose for living, power to live abundantly, and a home in heaven when we die. Yet, for some reason, some of us are held back from offering the praise and thanks to God that He deserves.

Look at the scriptures:

Psalms 13:6 I will sing to the LORD, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

Psalms 33:1 Sing for joy in the LORD, O you righteous ones; Praise is becoming to the upright.

Psalms 34:1 I’ll bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth. Verse 3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. Verse 8 Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.

Psalms 104:33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.

Never forget. You aren’t the audience. God is. You’re not here to watch. You’re here to worship! God is the audience. And believe it or not, you are in the choir. Worship is all about him and not on us

We have to make a conscious decision to get close to God week after week. We need to be intentional in the worship. Let’s forget about ourselves and concentrate on him and worship him.

Key question: How will I engage in worship more passionately since I now know that God Himself is the audience? Decide not to be spectator anymore and get involved in the worship.

I’m not talking about conflict with other followers of Christ. I’m not talking about conflict within you or family or circle of friends. What I am talking about is conflict in a spiritual sense.

Ephesians 6:12 Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

John Piper, in “Let the Nations Be Glad,” writes, “Very few people think that we are in a war that is greater than WWII, or any imaginable nuclear war. Few reckon that Satan is a much worse enemy than any earthly foe or realize that the conflict is not restricted to one global theatre but is in every town and city in the world. Who considers that the casualties of this war do not merely lose an arm or an eye or an earthly life, but lose everything, even their own soul and enter a hell of everlasting torment?”

When we get to heaven God is going to ask us 2 questions.

“Why should you enter here?”

And “Who did you bring with you?”

The answer to the first question is because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ who is my Lord and Savior. It’s the second question that always gnawed at me over the past several years. “Who did you bring with you?”

Are you a casual follower of Christ or a committed follower of Christ?

The heartbeat of God is soul winning. God has only one son and he send his only one son as a missionary to this world.

Key question: How will I live differently as a warrior for Jesus in 2024 and beyond?

Mind of Christ – Philippians 2:5-8 In your relationships with one another, have the same mind set as Christ Jesus. (NIV)

1 Corinthians 2:16 says, “‘For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.

Having the mind of Christ means we “look at life from our Savior’s point of view, having His values and desires in mind. It means to think God’s thoughts and not to think as the world thinks.” It is a shared perspective of humility, compassion, and dependence on God.

True revival is when God transforms our lives. Transforming from our desires to His, from our selfish motives to His selfless plans.

The root cause of all problem is our selfish ambitions.

We are created as inter dependent, not intended to be in isolation. We become self-dependent and moved away from the plan of God.

This is “the mind of Christ,” an attitude that says, “I cannot keep my privileges for myself, I must use them for others; and to do this, I will gladly lay them aside and pay whatever price is necessary.”

More than twenty times in the New Testament, God instructs us how to live with “one another.”

We are to prefer one another (Rom. 12:10), edify one another (1 Thess. 5:11), and bear each other’s burdens (Gal. 6:2). We should not judge one another (Rom. 14:13) but rather admonish one another (Rom. 15:14).

Others is the key word in the vocabulary of the Christian who exercises the mind of Christ

Key Question: How will I live differently, moving from selfish mindset to the mind of Christ, transforming my desires to the plan and purpose of my Master in 2024 and beyond.