Dr Greg Bahnsen - New Year's Messages: What the Church Needs Is... (Revelation 2:4, 14, 20) (Part 3)

Third chapters I'm going to do something a little unusual this morning and read just a few scattered and somewhat parallel text for you as the basis for this morning's word. Revelation 2. First of all, the fourth verse Hear now God's word. Jesus says, but I have this against thee, that thou didst leave thy first love. And the 14th verse but I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast the stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication. And the 20th verse But I have this against thee, that thou sufferest the woman Jezebel, who callest herself a prince prophetess, and she teacheth and seduceth my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols. And then chapter three, the second verse. Be thou watchful and establish the things that remain which were ready to die for I have found no works of thine perfected before my God. And then verses 15 to 19 Jesus says, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot I would thou wert cold or hot. So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spue thee out of my mouth, because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art the wretched one, and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest, and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see as many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. And thus far the reading of God's word, even good things can be improved. Isn't that true? Our imperfect world is such that even when we are personally pleased with something, personally pleased with some event, something that's taking place, we can usually find nevertheless ways in which that thing or that event might have been improved. It doesn't mean that we are negative about the thing or the event, doesn't mean that we don't greatly rejoice in just shows that in this life nothing completely satisfies, completely satisfies our inner ideals of perfection. I think of a few examples here. You go to a play or some musical performance, you may be very pleased. You may have thought your money was well spent. And yet when you leave, you can say, you know but what this play needed was, and you can still think of a little way it might have been improved. Perhaps the second act should have been a little shorter. Maybe the climax should have been a little sharper. Maybe the usher should have done a little bit better job in getting you to your seats. In some way, that event might have been improved. Think of a sporting victory. You watch the Dodgers win the World Series and you say, boy, that's terrific. I'm just overwhelmed with joy that they are the world champions, and yet it would have been better if they didn't have as many strikeouts. You know, what this team needs is a little more consistent pitching, and we can go on and on. Yes, we're pleased with the event. We're pleased with what it is we're watching or involved in. And yet there are ways in which they can be improved. We see that in terms of pictures. We see a beautiful picture. We say, I like this picture, but, you know, what it needs is. And then fill in the blank. You see ways in which it might be a better picture. A new car. We bought a new car this year. We're really pleased with the new car. But now that I've driven it for a while, I can say, that's a great car. It was a good buy. But you know what this car needs. And then I can add a few things that might have been better in that car. You go to a good meal, you pay a handsome price, and maybe you're very satisfied. And you say, oh, I enjoyed that. And yet what this meal needed was a little better service or maybe not as much salt in the soup or whatever it might be. There are always ways in which good things can be improved. We can always add what this needs is. And the same is true of Christian churches. You know, most all Christian churches, evangelical Bible believing, Bible preaching, Bible practicing churches, most all of them have positive features that can be praised for which we can rejoice and give thanks to God. And yet all of them, most particularly this particular congregation, all of them can be responded to with the words, you know, what this church needs is. And then you can fill in the blank. I think of our family this last week. Since our own congregation doesn't have a Christmas Eve service, we, because we were inclined to worship on that evening, went to another evangelical church in this area. And it's always an interesting experience, by the way, for us. I'm not going to mention which church it was. It was a much more positive experience than it often is when we end up worshiping outside of Reformed congregations. But nevertheless, as we were sitting there, we thought, boy, you know, this is really good, and this is really good. And, boy, that was edifying. And this was a fine sermon, and this music was wonderful. And yet, as we left, we could still say for all of the positive feelings we had about that experience, you know, what this church needs is. And we can fill in the blank, it still needs something. Our congregation is the same way. You know, there are a lot of really wonderful features about this church. I don't hesitate to recommend it to people, and not because I'm its pastor, but because I think there's a lot going for it. It's a good church. Our congregation is a fine one. And yet it has its needs, and it can still grow, it can improve, and it can learn from others. It can learn some of the positive features of those other churches which we, for various reasons, may decide not to attend. Let me give you an example. Let's look at some past resolutions we've had here in our congregation. For you see, the season is upon us when people contemplate the coming of a new year and reflect on resolutions that they might want to make about that year, because it reminds us, I think, that time is passing. New Year's Day has become a convenient and appropriate time to reflect on changes we might like to make. And those changes might be individual changes, and they can just as well be corporate or congregational changes as the body of Christ. And, you know, we did this last year. You may remember that I preached a sermon on resolutions we should make as a congregation. Last year. I suggested as your pastor four New Year's resolutions. Do you remember what they were? I gave you a head start. There was a reminder in the weekly communique a couple of weeks ago, just in case you had become a little rusty or a little dusty about these things. If you don't remember, how could you conscientiously be pursuing them? Well, the four that I suggested last year were that we should learn to worship reverently, to love fervently, to learn constantly, and to grow significantly. And in these areas, I think we've enjoyed some measure of positive success mingled with ways in which we have fallen short. Let's look at these. First of all, we said that we should worship reverently, and I do think the worship attendance in our congregation has become more consistent. I think the room is laid out better for the sake of worship. We've been enjoying the sacrament of the Lord's Supper on a weekly basis. And all of this has been very positive for the reverence of our worship service. And yet we do still struggle somewhat with arriving on time and minimizing activity in the room during the worship service. So positive and yet room to grow. I said, secondly, we should love fervently. And there is indeed a greater feeling of mutual friendship and commitment as I've experienced it and seen it in you. This year I think hospitality has increased in our congregation. However, the geographical sense of isolation that comes from a church being spread out over the county has not been systematically attacked. And I think too many people are absenting themselves from functions like supper and sing and other church activities where we could get to know each other on a personal basis in a way that we can't while we're sitting in these chairs during a worship service. So there's a lot of good and yet room for improvement. Thirdly, last year I said that we should resolve to learn constantly. I think this has been one of our strongest points throughout the life of our congregation was a strong point. During this year. Bible study attendance has improved measurably. In fact, we got to 1.1 evening where we. I don't think we had room for one more person in the house where we were meeting. That was tremendous. I think there are more people who are consistently staying for a time of continuing education. What we usually call Sunday school books from the literature table are being taken, I might add. Are they being. I don't know, but I know that they're being taken and that shows an interest in growing and learning and all that's to our good. Our fourth resolution last year was to grow significantly and indeed our worship attendance has been higher recently. There are at this time three, maybe four families that are contemplating membership with us. However, that growth has been counterbalanced by losses due to church transfer and erasure during this year. And thus we do need to work even more consistently at bringing others to church. And I would hope that we'll outgrow this facility by next year. I hope by next New Year's Day we'll be looking at a new meeting location. At least the prospects of it. Now a new New Year's is upon us. Though those were our past resolutions, we now need to stop for a more up to date look at ourselves and as a congregation and analyze what we might do to strengthen our core corporate witness in our life as Christ's people during this next year. And before we do that, we should ask, how does Christ analyze the church? Obviously we should pattern whatever we think about ourselves after what our Lord, who is the head of the church. Our pattern should be what he does when he takes a look at the church and analyzes it. And we find a good example of that in Revelation chapters two and three, where Christ through John, writes seven letters to seven churches of Asia Minor. And if we look at what Christ says in these letters, I think we'll have at least the categories, the priorities, some of the principles that we should be using when we think about ourselves and say, how could we improve? How should we analyze ourselves now in these letters that we find in Revelation 2 and 3? All of them, it turns out, contain the same pattern with just minor variations. The same pattern. It goes like this. First, there's a greeting to the angel of the church, which I interpret to be the pastor of the church, the messenger to that church. And as I've said kiddingly before, that's why it would be appropriate to be called Angel Bonson. Reverend Bonson, Dr. Bonson are nice, but Angel Bonson, very few of you say that. But nevertheless, Christ says, and to the angel of the church at Sardis, write. And to the angel of the church at thyatira, write right, etc. So that's how these letters begin, with a greeting and then a special identification of Christ as the sender. These things, saith him who? And then we have a description of Christ that is following that. That's the way these letters commence. And then usually there's a commendation. Christ says, I know thy works, that you do the following, that you have persevered in this way. And then there's a criticism, but I have this against thee. You probably caught that as we were reading through the text this morning. Jesus says, but I have this against thee, and I have this against thee. Then there's a warning to the church, an exhortation. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. And then finally, a promise for overcoming their problems and triumphing in the Lord. Now that pattern is found in all of these seven letters. Here are the examples. Exceptions. There is no commendation of the church at Laodicea. Even without looking at the content, that formal matter is just such a striking blow. Laodicea has nothing to praise, only rebuke and exhortation. On the other hand, there's no criticism of two of the churches. Do you know which two? They are Bible students, Smyrna and Philadelphia. Those two churches Christ did not bother to write. I'm sure that they were still imperfect in some ways. But in terms of overall and brief exhortation, Christ had nothing that needed to be said to them. But that pattern tells us how we might then begin to look at ourselves. We can stop and ask, what is going on in our church? What could be commended as strengths as a congregation? And we should then add to that, however, and importantly, a recognition of ways in which we can overcome weaknesses. A section of observations that begin with, you know, I like this church, but what this church needs is like, a good meal. I like this meal, but what this meal needs is, you know, I like the fact that the Dodgers won, but you know, what that team needs is we can do the same thing to ourselves even as Christ does. I like certain things about this church. There's commendation in most cases as we find them in Revelation 2 and 3. And yet Christ says, but I would have this against Thee. Notice our text. Every one of them begins that way. I have this against Thee. And I would like you to Note Especially chapter 3, verse 17, where Jesus says, because thou sayest, I am rich and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art the Wretched One, and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I counsel thee to buy from me what you need. Jesus says, because you as a congregation say, I don't need anything. I'm just fine. No improvement is necessary here. And Jesus says, I tell you, you are poor and miserable and naked, and you need to find your sufficiency in me. And so, congregation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, this morning I warn you, I beckon you to not think of yourselves as in need of nothing. As happy as we may be with our church, let's look at ways in which we might say what this church needs is and follow it well. First of all, what can really be admired about the congregation? Jesus does have commendations for churches, and though I don't speak with infallibility and inspiration on these matters, I do think, as your shepherd, that there are certain things about our church that do call for commendation, things that make this church worth coming to and being loyal to. I think of five first of all, our church has a commitment to the truth from God. A commitment to the truth from God. And in a relativistic age, which cares very little about error, little about revelation from God, little about pleasing a master that goes beyond us and does not just suit our whims and wishes. In an age that does not believe in these things, you are to be commended. Because of that commitment to the truth from God. In this church, we do not bear with doctrinal and ethical error as something indifferent. We do not Say, well, you have your opinion, I have mine, and really doesn't make any difference. It's different strokes for different folks among us. No, we have an attitude that says, if God has spoken it, it is important and we are responsible to be faithful to it. And we try to do that. We are not completely faithful to it. We must recognize that. I think you do recognize it. And yet the desire is there to constantly be reforming ourselves in our outlook, in our doctrine and our understanding of the Christian life. Life. Our congregation is a knowledgeable congregation. And it strives for theological accuracy. And I say praise God for that. Don't let anybody take that away from you. Secondly, I think we can admire this in our congregation that we share in the ministry and labor of the church. Just one example in passing. We have a rather unique system in this congregation of chairmanships that work under the deacon or deacons, as that is the task delegated from the session to the deacons. There is a sense of structure and overseeing. And yet everybody is involved. It's not as though there's only one or two people that do everything in this church. You want to take care of music, you talk to a particular individual in our church, or communion, you talk to another individual in our church. Or social events or education or evangelism. And I can't mention them on all. But you see my point. There is a sense in which we take together the ministry and labor of the church. And I commend that. I think that is good. Don't let anyone take that away from you either. Thirdly, I think it should be admired that we have a commitment here to a disciplined body, a disciplined congregation. We try to accomplish that through shepherding oversight, which is perhaps more active, not as active as it should be. I would be the first to say that. More active than you'll find in most congregations today. We have a commitment to good order, doing things decently and according to our constitution. And I think the fact that we commend people as well as admonish people in the congregation. Is something that has been lacking in the Christian church for well over a century. Indeed, it's interesting to me that there's something of a reawakening to the need for active church discipline at places of. In the Christian community. And not always in the Presbyterian churches. Our denominational paper, New Horizons, published a book review just recently of a person who was writing on the need for church discipline. And one of the things the reviewer said is, what a shame this person doesn't understand Presbyterian Church government so much of this ground that's now being broken by fundamentalists and evangelicals has been, you know, worked out for years since the Reformation and Presbyterian circles. Well, there is an attempt to practice that in our congregation. And there was such before it became something that was in the limelight. You probably all have heard that song that goes something like, you know, I was country before. You know, country was, you know, the fad. It was something big. And we were into church discipline before it became the thing on the literary horizon of the evangelical church. Church. I commend you for that. Fourthly, I would commend you as a congregation because you have a concern for the vindication of the faith against challenge or compromise. There is a real interest in knowing how to answer people who don't believe the truth claims of the Bible. There's an interest in how to answer theological or cultic compromise with the teaching of scripture. And fifthly, our congregation can also be committed, I think, for its godly concern for social influence and reform. Where some people would say, you know, that church, it's known for interest and social flares, I say, well, let the world speak. God commends that you are to be salt, you are to be light, and you just keep right on being so. That's great. So there are good things in this congregation. My guess is others could be mentioned. And if you were making a list, you might put some other things down here. But I think of these five things as outstanding, somewhat unique features that make this church worthy of your support, your contribution, and your ministries. And yet, you know, what this church needs is Jesus might say, you know, I have this against thee, though. And for this year, 1986 that's coming, I pray that you will take three exhortations from your pastor and that you will concretely do something about these three things. I think what this church needs is, first of all, greater involvement in corporate prayer. Greater involvement in corporate prayer. I mean involvement, not some kind of lip service to it. Because if I were to take a survey, I don't doubt for a minute that we'd get 99% of you. Probably 100% of you would say, boy, we need to pray together. Yes, sir, we do. So I'm not going to teach you that you need to do that. I'm going to tell you, why aren't you doing it? Let's read what the scripture says in Acts 2:42. Acts 2:42. There we have a description of the earliest Christian church. And Luke tells us they continued steadfastly in the apostles teaching and Fellowship in, in the breaking of bread and the prayers. You know what the problem is? We tend to read that verse and you know, we put all this emphasis on the first part of the verse and then it kind of goes downhill to the end. Boy. They continued steadfastly in what the apostles teaching doctrine. Yes, the truth and it should be that way. And in fellowship and the breaking of bread. Oh yeah. And they prayed. Oh no. They continued steadfastly in these things. They were committed to the prayers. The church was known as a praying church. In Philippians 4, verse 6. Notice what Paul exhorts the church there. And by the way, I want to remind you, as a piece of New Testament background, the Philippian Church was Paul's favorite church. He highly commended it. And yet, yet he had things that he agonized over in that church. And notice what he says to this church. Philippians 4, 6. In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known unto God. In everything, pray in everything, you know, and then you won't be anxious about anything at all, will you, because you'll pray about everything. And this is a congregational exhortation. He says to the church, pray continually. Pray in everything, pray with thanksgiving. Make your request known to God. And so the Bible says that the church should be known for its corporate life of prayer. When Peter was released by the Sanhedrin, actually not released. When the angel of the Lord came and released him from prison out of the grip of the Sanhedrin, you know, Peter went back to the congregation. What was the congregation doing while Peter was gone? He comes and they are at prayer. You see, the Christian church is a praying body. So what should you do about this? Especially what should you do about this in light of the fact that we don't all reside in one neighborhood or even in one little city in Orange county, that we're spread out in a number of localities here. What should we do about this? Well, I'm going to exhort you that you should sacrifice to make the time necessary to come together and pray. Now Mike Turry has opened up his home and has offered to lead us that in 1986. We're going to begin on Saturday mornings, we believe, or if we find it a more convenient time, but we're going to begin gathering together not to have more instruction. We have plenty of instruction in the congregation and not simply for social fellowship, but specifically to get down on our knees and pray to God. Come to the prayer meeting. Do not put that somehow on the back burner. Do not say, yeah, but you see, we're doing evangelism. When we have social outreach and we have doctrine and we get together for worship. Don't forget that the Christian church is to be known for its corporate prayers. Secondly, I would exhort you to participate in prayers that are offered at worship service. And I'm going to step on a few toes here, but I'm going to be very honest with you. I'm going to be honest because I have the same problem. I, growing up as a Christian, faced this dilemma. And it's the dilemma of what happens when there is an elder up here leading you in prayer during the worship service. Your mind wanders, doesn't it? Take a little nap. You may not even listen. You hear words spoken up there, but you're not hanging on every word. You see, if this is a congregational prayer, then you should be praying from the heart. What you hear the leader say. If the leader says, bless the missionaries in Ethiopia, you should say, lord, bless the missionaries in Ethiopia. Follow every word. You don't do, do it. Confess that you don't do that. You need to do that. You need also to show that you have heart and soul support for this prayer. When at the end, the Amen is given by the congregation. The Amen is not the leader's amen. The Amen is, all of God's people say amen, God, so be it. So there's a way in which I think we need to improve. Jesus might say to you, I have this against you. You're not really a praying church. A third way in which I think you should improve is by being willing to lead in prayer. I have sometimes found it difficult to get people to lead in prayers. I tried to do that. I tried to get Elder Andrus and others of you as well to help out in praying before the congregation or at various functions of the church. And I want you all to be encouraged to do that. Do not let 20th century American reservations about being religious in public keep you from doing that. Don't be afraid to stumble, to revise your words. Don't be afraid of that nervousness. Learn to stand in the presence of God and lead God's people in prayer. And fourthly, let's let our praises and petitions be known at the beginning of our worship service. Feature of our church is we begin by coming together and asking, what do we need? What do we praise God for? Why should we be thankful to this last week's activities? And then what is it we as a people should be sharing how can we bear our burdens together? And sometimes I think it's with a little embarrassment that not this morning it turned out, but it's a little embarrassment that the leader waits to say, well, doesn't anybody have any thanks to give? Doesn't anybody have any need? I mean, we're just perfectly filled up with blessings and no problems and no thanks to be given for those blessings. We need to actively make use of that time. I would love to see the leader have to say, well, we're going to have to stop now and get on with the worship service. And let's bear during this week those requests that have been brought over the last 10 or 15 minutes. Let's actively get involved in being a corporate praying body this year. Secondly, I think what this church needs is not simply greater involvement in corporate prayer, but greater effort for community fellowship. Greater effort for community fellowship. Again, I don't have to teach you the need for fellowship. You would tell me that if I gave a quiz, you'd get it 100% right. In terms of effort, though, I think we do need a greater output in that area. Look at Acts 2:42. Again, the verse we started with in Acts 2:42, Luke describes the church as continuing steadfastly in the apostles teaching and fellowship in the breaking of bread and the prayers. They steadfastly continued in fellowship, you say? Yeah, but they all lived close to one another. That was easy. Well, let me tell you something. They didn't have cars back then either, and they didn't have neighborhoods. That isn't the way Jerusalem was laid out. They did have to put out a little effort to get together. And they didn't have telephones to call one another. The only way they saw each other is by walking across town and making a point of doing it. So let's not write this off as yeah, but you see, that's not the 20th century. I think it's easier in the 20th century to be doing this, and we aren't doing it. First Corinthians 10, 16, 17. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? Christ. The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ, seeing that we who are many are one bread, one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Look at Paul's emphasis there. He says, you come to the Lord's table, you all drink from the same cup, you all eat the same bread. That's because you as a congregation are one body. That's how important fellowship is. Do you think it's important to take the Lord's side Supper? I know you believe it is. Well, it's important that the Lord's supper be fleshed out in the way we relate to one another and the actual fellowship that we have on an interpersonal basis. Because we are one bread, we are one loaf in the Lord. Romans 12:15 is well known. Paul says that we should rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. And you know what keeps us from doing that? Well, we don't know what people are rejoicing about. We don't know what they're hurting about. And when we don't know these things, we can't join in sympathetically with them to weep and to rejoice in their needs. And so what can we do in order to have greater community fellowship this year? Well, some suggestions. First, don't you miss the opportunities for church fellowship that are provided by the activities of the this church, apart from weekly worship service? I commend you for being here to worship God. It sometimes breaks my heart, though, to see that when we have a supper afterwards that over half of the congregation has other things it needs to do. Do you really have other things that are more important than continuing steadfastly in the fellowship of God's people? Do you. Do you really have things that are so important? I mean, apart from important emergencies and illness and so forth? Do you really have things that keep you consistently from going to the social events of the church? And I'll be the first one to tell you, I don't believe in programs for program's sake. I think anybody who knows me knows I don't pursue the church in this organization that way. But it does concern me that we hear people who say, you know, I just wish I could feel closer to the people of the church. And I say, yeah, but where were you when we got together? Why don't you consistently come and participate then? Please make a point of doing that. In this next year, if we are spread out, we must take advantage of every legitimate opportunity to be together, to know one another, to hear our needs, to share our joys, to be a people of God. Secondly, I wish that you would schedule specific times for hospitality and then be sure to get around to everyone in the congregation. This here. Schedule specific times for hospitality. Oh, how un American. Oh, how unromantic. Isn't that supposed to be spontaneous? Aren't we supposed to just do this because we feel like it at the moment? Yeah, that'd be great. And I do think there's a sense of spontaneous wishing to get together. You know, the problem is, I've heard all of you say this. You know, I wish that I just spend more time seeing these people. You all wish it. You know what your problem is, is you let other things get in the way. If you run your life saying, when I get a free moment, then I'm going to call up this family, invite them over to dinner. You're not going to invite them over to dinner. Haven't you figured out by now life doesn't work that way for most of us. There's always something going, always something to do. And if there isn't something on the calendar tonight, there's always, we got to relax because there was so much on the calendar last night. That's the way 20th century American life is. And so I want to suggest to you, if you take me seriously today, go home and put on your calendar. I don't care if it's systematic in this way. Every third Tuesday night we're having people from the church over. Maybe Friday night's better for you, maybe Saturday afternoon. Maybe it's not the third. Don't worry about that, but schedule it and say, we will make a point that someone from our church is going to be in our home on a regular basis. And then I want to suggest as you. You might imagine that you spread that around. I don't think that we have in our church. I trust we don't have the social cliques that tend to divide into special interests and friendships. I think we all enjoy one another. Just make sure that gets demonstrated in an outward way. Visit in other people's homes and have them visit in yours. Be hospitable. Thirdly, participate in praying for the needs of each person in the church at least once a month. Again, this may sound mechanical, but I want to suggest it will work for you. You have a prayer list. If you don't, you should. You have a prayer list. And on that prayer list, I think every single member of our church, children, mothers, fathers, singles, engaged couples, whatever it may be, every single person in this church ought to be prayed for at least once by you every month. So maybe you want to take a quarter of the congregation every week and say, I'm going to pray for this individual and this individual and this individual. Oh, yeah? And what are you going to pray about? Well, there's only one way you're going to find out, and that's to call them and talk to them and say, what's happening in your life. You got some big tests coming up. You're going to a job interview. Someone in your family has been ill. Are you in need of money? Whatever it may be, tell me about it, because I'm going to pray for you. And you know, if every single member in this church prayed for every other member in this church every month, it would be amazing how the fellowship and the sense of oneness would improve during this year. Do that. And fourthly, make a point of speaking to someone from the church, someone outside your family. The Bahnsons could talk to one another on and on and on. I guess talk to someone in the church outside of your family at least three times a week. At least three times a week. And we have Bible study. There you have it made you come to Bible study. You talk to someone. But if you can't make it to Bible study, call someone in the church. Call someone and share your needs. Ask what theirs are. Make sure you are in constant contact with people. In the 20th century, we have no excuse. We have cars and telephones and we have modem systems with our computers. If we have to get to that point. We have so many ways in the which we can be in touch with one another. You know why we don't? It's because we don't really put out the effort to do it. And so you know what? This church needs greater effort at community fellowship. And thirdly, I want to suggest that what this church needs in 1986 is greater outreach to the lost than needy. We are a strong church and a good church doctrinally in terms of discipline, in terms of our community life and labor, our interest in apologetics, our interest in social reform. But I do have to say that apart from individuals who have involvement in these things, we are somewhat weak as the people of God when it comes to our outreach. We really are. In Acts 1:8, we read these words, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And turn to chapter eight, by the way, to follow up on that, you notice in 8:1 we read, there arose on that day a great persecution against the church which was in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles, verse 4. They, therefore, that were scattered abroad went about preaching the Word. That's a powerful message, friends. It wasn't just the apostles, not just the elders, not just the leaders who were out there on the line. When the persecution arose, the apostles for the most part stayed in Jerusalem and other Christians were scattered abroad. And when they went, they fulfilled the words of Jesus to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, and the uttermost parts of the earth. And we need to be a witnessing church too. A church that is constantly getting the word out, evangelizing people. Not so that the church might grow. I mean, that would be far too self centered. So that men might be saved from the horrors of hell. That men might come to know the real meaning for life. That men's lives might be saved. We need to be talking about these things more. We need to have a greater outreach not only to those who are in need of spiritual salvation. I think there are plenty of ways in which our congregation should be active in meeting the physical needs of others that we aren't doing right now. Look at Acts 20:35. That's the very theme that is brought up. And we read in all things. I gave you an example that so laboring ye ought to help the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. When all is said and done, we tend to be a real selfish people. We want to receive and receive and receive. We come on Sunday and we soak it up when fellowship time is there. We want to soak that up. We want to get all these positive benefits. But what are we giving to others? Remember the words of our Lord Jesus. He said, it's more blessed to be a giving rather than a receiving person. So help the weak meet the needs of the impoverished. Meet. In James 1:27, James explains to us what true religion is with these words, pure religion. And undefiled before our God and Father is to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Are there people you should be visiting that you should be cheering up, that you should be supporting financially giving some kind of physical help or remedy to? We as a church need to develop programs not simply that run on individual initiative, but I think we need, through our evangelism chairman and through our deacons and service chairmen to develop programs of specific outreach and evangelism and help to the needy. And that's something which I trust by God's providence and with your prayers, we will do in 1986. So we have a good church. I think we do. And yet I think Jesus would say to you, you know what this church needs? It needs greater involvement in corporate Prayer. It needs greater effort for community fellowship and it needs greater outreach to the lost and needy. In Revelation 3, 15, 19, I want to conclude with these words. Jesus said to the one church that did not receive commendation, Laodicea, I know thy works and that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou wert cold or hot. So because thou art lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth. As I conclude, brothers and sisters, our works must not in 86 be lukewarm. You have now heard from your pastor what you need to do. Do it and don't do it. Just saying. Well, yeah, I guess we ought to get involved sometime and do these things. Get out there and do it quickly, zealously, enthusiastically, consistently, and put some effort into it. Don't let your works be lukewarm. And if you're going to do that, we as the church need to realize we can't run on our own goodness, on our own power and our own strength, our own reserves are not enough. Jesus says in verse 18, I counsel thee, buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich, and buy of me white garments and I salve. All those things you need, I will supply. We need to become a church that is more Christ centered, Christ dependent, Christ glorifying that our sufficiency might be of him in all these ways. And in verse 19, Jesus says, as many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Therefore be zealous, pursue these things zealously. That's the problem with 20th century Christianity. We're afraid to be zealous, aren't we? You know, we got to be kind of macho and cool. We got to be held back in these things. Anybody who's openly religious is a fanatic. I'm saying become fanatical. Become zealous for prayer and fellowship and outreach. Because Jesus says, you need to do that. And you know what the conclusion will be if you do that. Verse 20, which we didn't read in our reading earlier on purpose, verse 20 tells us what Jesus will do them. He says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with me. Jesus says, if you'll do these things, if you will be zealous and find your sufficiency in me, if you'll turn and do those things which are lacking in your church, I'll have supper with you. I'll sit down and you will be at my table and we'll eat and drink, drink together. Now, which of us would ever turn down an invitation from Jesus like that? We're about to take the Lord's Supper this morning. Are we ready now to commit ourselves then to open the door and find our sufficiency in Christ? That we might pray this year, have fellowship this year, and have concrete programs of outreach in 1986? If so, and Jesus is ready to have dinner with us, let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the goodness and grace that you have shown, the power you have displayed in calling out for yourself a people here, here in Placentia. We thank you for our own congregation because we know that we aren't here out of a sense of our own wisdom or spiritual insight, not because of any accomplishments of our own or good works that we might have. We're here simply because you have broken down our resistance and changed our hearts and given us new life. We are here and call upon your name and have your name upon us as your people only because you in mercy saved us, changed us, made us new. So we thank you for our church, a church that comes about through your grace and provision. We thank you for the good things that by your Holy Spirit have been accomplished here in our church this year throughout the past. But Lord, we would not sit upon our commendations, but rather ask that you would change us in terms of those areas that are weak in our life. We pray you would forgive us for not being prayerful, for not putting out the effort to have fellowship with one another, that you would forgive us for so often being indifferent to outreach to those who are lost and those who are needy during 1986, make us zealous to improve in these areas that we might at the end of this coming year, look back over what you have accomplished and give you all the praise and the glory for the good things you are doing in our midst. For we pray in Jesus name, amen.