Why Churches Die

Why do churches die? Thom Rainer's list:

(1) because they refuse to admit they’re sick,

(2) they don’t take sufficient responsibility,

(3) they are too inwardly focused,

(4) they want to return to the glory days,

(5) they are waiting for the super pastor,

(6) they are unwilling to change.

The Greatest Conversion in History (Acts 9:1-18)

• Video recording, Sun, Feb 12, 2023: The greatest, most famous and perhaps most radical conversion in history.
• ** What is your conversion story? This is my magical mystical supernatural conversion of meeting God for the first time in 1980.

What happened when Saul met Jesus?

1. Contact (Ac 9:3), confrontation (Ac 9:4a), conviction (Ac 9:4b; 2 Cor 3:18; 4:6; 1 Jn 1:5; Jn 1:4-5; 15:25).
2. Command (Ac 9:6; Mt 28:19).
3. Communion (Ac 9:9), conversation (Isa 1:18), connection, contemplation (Phil 4:8), confession (Ac 22:4; 26:10; 1 Cor 15:9; Gal 1:13).
4. Call (Jn 15:16; 1 Pet 2:9) and commission [through Ananias] (Ac 9:15-16); from God (Ac 26:16; 1:8; Mt 28:19).
5. Conversion (Ac 9:3, 17; 22:8; 1 Ti 1:15; Phil 3:7-10; 1 Cor 15:3-4).
6. Cost (Ac 9:16; I Cor 15:31) and contentment (Phil 4:11-12; 1 Tim 6:6).

Called before Conception (Jeremiah 1)

"The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations'" (Jer 1:4-5).

• Review Isaiah 6.
• What was the God that Isaiah saw like (Isaiah 6:1, 5)? What/Who is God like to you? How do you feel about Him?
• How would you explain your own conversion/salvation (Isa 6:5-7)?
• What is God calling you to do with your life (Isa 6:8)? How do you understand God's call?

1. What role did "the word of the Lord" play in Jeremiah's call (Jer 1:2, 4, 9, 11, 13; 15:16; 20:9)?
2. What role does God's word play in your life and your calling (Ps 1:2; Isa 66:2b; Jn 6:63; Ac 17:11; 2 Tim 3:16-17; Heb 3:7, 15; 4:7, 12)? How does God's word define
• who you are?
• what you are to do?
• how you are to do it?
3. To respond to God's word/God's call why do you need
• ears (Jer 1:2, 4, 11, 13)?
• eyes (Jer 1:11, 13)?
• mouth (Jer 1:9)?
• courage (Jer 1:8, 17-19)?
• heart (Jer 4:19; 9:1)? What was Jeremiah known as?
4. What does it mean to you that God
• "formed you" (Jer 1:5a; Ps 113:13-16)?
• "knew you" (Jer 1:5b; Gal 4:9; 1 Cor 8:3)?
• "set you apart" (Jer 1:5d; Jn 15:16)...
• ...even "before you were born" (Jer 1:5c; Eph 1:4; 2 Tim 1:9)?
• "appointed you as a prophet to the nations" (Jer 1:5, 10; Mt 28:19; Mk 16:15)?
• What would you do differently knowing the above [the primacy of God]?
5. What was Jeremiah's excuse (Jer 1:6)? God's rebuke (Jer 1:7)? God's promise (Jer 1:8, 18-19)? Do you have objections to God calling you?
6. How was Jeremiah enabled and empowered (Jer 1:8-9, 17-19)? Do you experience the power of God (Rom 1:16; 1 Cor 1:18)?
7. What are the two visions about (Jer 1:11-16; Isa 6:11-13)?

Big idea:

1. God appoints his servants to difficult tasks but empowers them with his presence. So they don't cop out or bail no matter the difficulty or opposition.
2. God does not choose us because we are good. But because God chooses us He makes us good.

Key Themes:

• The word of God plays a critical role in Jeremiah's call.
• God choose Jeremiah to be his prophet even before he was born.
• God reassures Jeremiah by promising the power of his presence.
• The word of God Jeremiah proclaims will bring both destruction and restoration.
• God's presence will deliver Jeremiah from those who will oppose him and his message.

A Fire in My Bones. "But if I say, 'I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,' his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot" (Jer 20:9).

Confrontation, Conversion and Calling (Isaiah 6)

https://www.facebook.com/ben.toh.9/posts/10159744412734490 Sermon in Ukraine on Nov 7, 2021.

My eyes have seen the almighty holy God. "I saw the Lord…my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty" (Isaiah 6:1, 5).

1. Do you want to "see" God (Isa 6:1, 5)? Have you?
• What does it mean to "see" God? To confront a vision of God (Isa 6:1-4; Jn 1:14; Judg 13:22; Exo 33:20)?
• Do you have a memorable "(God) moment" in your life (Jn 1:39)?
• Did Isaiah see Jesus (Jn 12:41)?
• What does it mean that God is "holy, holy, holy" (Isa 6:3; Rev 4:8)? That "the whole earth is full of his glory" (Isa 6:3; 5:30)?
• Is your God big (Isa 6:1, 5) and your problems small, or are you problems big because your God is small?
2. How do you know if you are saved? How is one saved (Isa 6:5-7)? What does it mean to:
• be convicted of sin (Isa 6:5a)? Have you felt woe? Doomed by your sins (Lk 5:8; Rev 1:17)?
• confess sin (Isa 6:5b; Ps 51:4)?
• be cleansed of sin (Isa 6:6-7)?
• be changed (2 Cor 5:17, 21)?
3. Could Isaiah not hear "the voice of the Lord" before Isaiah 6:8? Why (Isa 59:2)?
4. What does it mean to you--personally and practically--to be called by God and to serve God (Isa 6:8-13; 66:2; Eph 4:1; Gal 2:20; Phil 1:27; 1 Pet 5:2)?
5. What does God caution about calloused people (Isa 6:9-10)? Can a person become worse after studying the Bible and after knowing the Bible? Why (1 Cor 1:22-23; Mt 7:26-27; Jas 1:22-24)?

"Christians are missionaries by necessity because all that we are and do only makes sense if what we are and do is done in the name of Jesus." Stanley Hauerwas, Sent: The Church is Mission (Sermon, 7/4/2010), Working With Words: On Learning to Speak Christian.

"Give me a man in love; he knows what I mean. Give me one who yearns; give me one who is hungry; give me one far away in this desert, who is thirsty and sighs for the spring of the eternal country. Give me that sort of man; he knows what I mean. But if I speak to a cold man, he just does not know what I am talking about." Augustine.

The Call to Ministry

OT accounts of individuals' calls to divine service has been cast in two forms:

1. the protested call and 
2. the overwhelming call [Moses (Exod 3:1-4:17); Gideon (Judg 6:11-24); Jeremiah (Jer 1:4-10)].

Ezekiel's call is generally classified among the latter with the following typical features:

1. The person called receives a vision of Yahweh in all his splendor and majesty.
2. The person demonstrates verbally or non-verbally an overwhelmed response to the vision.
3. The person is reassured, prepared and equipped by Yahweh to fulfill his or her prophetic responsibilities.
4. The person receives a special commission from Yahweh [Isaiah (Isa 6:1-13); Micaiah ben Imlah (1 Ki 22:19-21); Paul (Ac 9:3-39; 22:3-21; 26:12-18)].

Yet several features suggests that Ezekiel was not a willing prophet, at least in the beginning:

• the extra-ordinary length and detail of the account (exceeding the call of Moses by almost 50%), 
• the intensity of the opening vision, 
• the duplication of the commissioning speech, 
• the prescribed physical ingestion of the scroll, 
• the stern watchman charge, and 
• the threefold binding combine, which all combine to soften Ezekiel's resistance and prepare him for the role into which he is conscripted by the sovereign Lord.
  

Several additional general observations of the OT call narratives are:

1. The prophetic call was not an ecstatic or trance-like experience. The divine confrontation occurred when the person was engaged in the normal activities of life
2. The accounts are punctuated and controlled by dialogue between Yahweh and his prophet. The commissioning of a prophet was a very personal experience and issued in direct imperatival form.
3. The call of the prophet was a private affair initiated by Yahweh alone and without 3rd-party involvement. The call seems at times to have been quite arbitrary, irrespective of personal faith (Gideon), interest in the divine agenda (Moses), or personal gifts (Jeremiah).
4. The function of the prophet was mediatorial. The call was not for the prophet's own sake, but that a divine message might be communicated to a third party, usually the nation of Israel, and also to foreigners.
5. When the prophets went forth they went with a divine message and with divine authority. Yahweh, the great divine king, conscripts into his service human ambassadors, messengers carrying his proclamations to their intended audiences.

Reference: Block, Daniel I. The Book of Ezekiel Chapters 1-24, NICOT (New International Commentary on the Old Testament). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1997, 78-79.

The Call (Jeremiah 1:1-19)

Jeremiah: God's Word is a Fire in My Bones. "But if I say, 'I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,' his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot" (Jeremiah 20:9).

Outline and Structure (Jeremiah is difficult to outline because it is not always in chronological order.)

1. The Call of the Prophet (1).
2. Prophecies concerning Judah (2-45)
1. Because of your sin, judgment is coming (chapters 2‒29).
1. Divine judgment on Judah (2-25).
2. Jeremiah's personal conflict with Judah (26-29).
2. Book of consolation (30‒33). Future comfort for Israel and Judah.
3. The prophetic warnings are refused and judgment falls (34‒45). Present catastrophe of Judah.
3. Judgment against all the nations (46‒51). Prophecies concerning nations.
4. Historical appendix/supplement: the fall of Jerusalem (52).

Why did God Call/Chose Abraham? (Gen 18:19)

Previous passage: "Walk Before God Blamelessly" (Gen 17:1-27)
Next passage: "The Wonder of Laughter" (Gen 18:9-15; 21:1-7)

Christians often inadvertently think that they choose God, because they accepted the invitation to study the Bible, or to attend church, or to repent and accept Christ as Savior and Lord, or to go overseas as a missionary. But Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide..." (Jn 15:16, ESV). This is the doctrine of election. Likewise, Gen 18:19 says, "For I have chosen him (Abraham)..." It is confounding and humbling. Why would a holy God humble himself to chose a proud sinner who thinks he knows better than God?

The God who chose Abraham gives us a clue as to why God chooses and calls proud sinners to be his humble servants. Consider these questions: How does God summarize Abraham's call (Gen 18:18-19)? How does Grace and Law, Calling and Obedience, relate to each other (Gen 18:19)?

The Call of God (Genesis 11:27-12:9)

Theme: God calls his people to claim all nations as his kingdom (as Abraham did).

Goal: Soften and sensitize our hearts to the call of God.

Application: The call of God makes all the difference in the world in any man's life. Have you heard the call of God?

What made Abraham great was the call of God. What makes one's life great is the call of God. What makes one a Christian is the call of God. The call of God is what truly shapes a Christian life.

Some challenges in teaching/preaching this biblical narrative:

1. Avoid superficial "character-imitation" preaching.
2. Turning this text into a moral tale: God's call to Abram becomes God's call to everyone, and they, like Abram, must respond with unquestioning obedience. They apply God's unique call of Abram directly to everyone in the congregation, thus committing the error of generalizing and universalizing.
3. Spiritualizing the text: People must leave their "country," their old way of life, and go to the new life God will show them. This is not unbiblical, but it is not the message of this particular text. It fails to ask first what was the message the narrator intended to convey to Israel.