"Divine Appointment or Dry Bones"
Sermon Transcript for November 10, 2002 By Rev. Duane Skjervem
Good morning. You learn quickly. In fact, why don’t you do this; turn to the person next to you and say this, "Your availability gives God the opportunity to do a miracle through you." Then turn to someone else and say, "My availability gives God the opportunity to do a miracle through me." I have come to very much appreciate your pastors and staff here. You have a great church. Did you know that? Then turn to the person next to you and say, "We have a great church!" Like that’s legal. Thank you Pastor Mike for allowing the congregation to step out of their comfort zone just a little bit and follow a little direction from someone strange—someone new, excuse me.
You know, when someone comes to church for the first time, they walk into the building; actually they walk in to the Narthex, and they kind of look around. And then they see through the glass back there and they look in to the congregation or at least look in to the sanctuary. And they go, "Well, it looks nice." Right? You guys have done a great job in creating a wonderful worship environment here. And they say it looks nice. And then the questions begin to come to their mind. "I wonder what kind of people go here?" Is that right? If you’ve come to Grace in the last year can I just have you raise your hand--if you’ve come just in the last year? Okay? Now, when you first walked in the building did you go, "Oh, man these must be wonderful people." Or did you walk in going, "I wonder what kind of church this is? I wonder what kind of pastor you have? I wonder what kind of music is going to take place?" And then probably the most important question becomes, "I wonder if they’ll accept me?" Isn’t that right?
Some of us who have been in the church here for—I say "us" generically you understand—but some of us who have been in the church here for years and years and years have forgotten what it was like to walk in the first time. Have forgotten what it was like not to know anybody. A number of years ago in Kansas City a guy name Ken Houts was asked to go on staff at a fairly large church--they ran about 4,000 on Sunday mornings. And one of the problems was they had a lot of people visiting. A lot of people come through the building, but they really weren’t growing; they were just kind of staying at the same number. And the pastor there asked Ken if he would come and see if there was something that he could do. And Ken was praying one night and as he was praying, God showed him a picture of people walking in to the church. And as they walked in through the back doors or in through the front doors—is this the back door or the front door? (We’re not sure.) Well, they walked in the doors anyway. And as they walked in they may be a little downcast. Did you know that when people come to church they come to church with a need? When they come the very first time there is something going on in their life that prompted them to come to church. Did you know that people just don’t wake up on Sunday morning and go, "You know, I think church would be a great thing to do today"? And so they get in the car and drive over here. That doesn’t happen because there has to be some pre-emptive work that has to be done. They have to know when your services are. They need to know what the location of the building is. They need to know if you have child care. They need to know all of those kinds of questions; and so no one just wakes up and says, "Oh, I’m going to go to church today".
There’s something that’s going on in their life. A lot of times people are going through issues—maybe they are going through some financial issues, maybe they are going through some marriage issues, some parent/child issues, maybe they are new to their community. I understand that Indianapolis is moving this direction, is that right? And so you have a lot of people that are new to your city and they are saying, you know, "We need a place that we can fellowship, we need a place that we can hear the word, we need a place where we can worship, we need a place where we can have our kids involved with some other great kids. Do you have some great kids here? (Great kids) I thought so. In all of that process they decide to come here. But when they walk in to those doors back there, they’re going "I wonder is this going to be a place that I fit? Is this a place where I’m going to be welcomed? Is this a place where the needs that I have are going to be met?" as they walk in the door. And, you know, there are folks in the back who are greeting people when they come in. They shake their hand and give them a bulletin and say, "Good to have you here today". Right? And they can come in and they can sit in the pew and the people around them kind of smile. Turn to the person next to you and smile. I want to make sure everyone gets a smile today. So someone smiles at them a little bit; yet in the process of the service—they can sit through a great worship, great—you guys have good music here, isn’t that right? And so good music, and Pastor Mike, I watched a couple of videos of your services and I appreciate that because I kind of get to know you a little better in doing that. I got to watch a great service. And Pastor Dan does great in the processes here and they hear all of that and they see all of that, but if they come to church with a need, all the worship and all the preaching sometimes doesn’t meet that need. Do you know why? Because they need somebody who will personally reach out and touch their life. Everybody needs a friend. Isn’t that true? Ask the person next to you, "Do you need a friend?" Sure, we all need friends. And so when they come in, they need some one to begin, to instigate that relationship. And if it doesn’t happen, they can walk back out. And even though someone in the back of the church is shaking their hands and saying, "Thanks for being here this week. We look forward to meeting you again." You know, if all they get is a handshake when they come in and a handshake when they go out, they can go to Wal-Mart and get the same thing. Isn’t that true? See, the church has to be a little better than what Wal-Mart is.
And so what God showed Ken that day was that people when they come in, if they don’t have someone who can begin to show them personally the love of God, they can walk back out and never see them again. In fact Barna has told us--Barna’s not God but he does pretty good with statistics--Barna has told us that someone looking for a church will try three times. They’ll come to one church three times or three different churches. And if they don’t find a place, they don’t find fellowship, they don’t find a relationship, typically they will not try again for an average of ten years. Now I know the statistics that you have done here in the church, and the pastor was sharing yesterday with your leaders, that someone who comes to the church here, they may come two or three weeks and then they may not come again for a few weeks. And they may come one more time and you don’t see them again for a few weeks. They may come one more time and then you never see them again. Now is that because you are not a friendly church? How many people here think you belong to a friendly church? See we can talk a little bit, we can even raise our hands. It’s okay; I’m not committing you to anything here. Let’s do it again, how many of you think you belong to a friendly church? Here’s the next question, "Who were you friendly with the last two or three Sundays?" See most of us are friendly but do you know whom we are friendly with? The people we are friends with! Right? And so if someone new comes in and they see everybody talking to everybody they’re going, "Oh, what a wonderful group of people but nobody talks to me!" What do I do? I feel left out; I feel neglected. Now I may come once or twice or even three times as your statistics show, pastor, but then I don’t come. I might try one more time because I remember all of those people who were so friendly with each other. But then no one talked to me again. And what do I do? I leave and I never come back again. And that’s what God had shown Ken. As he was praying and God just gave him a vision of people coming in and then seeing wonderful things happen but as they walked back out, they walked back out with the same pain they walked in with. And because they said my pain wasn’t relieved, I guess I’ll try somewhere else. Or a lot of time people just say, "I’m not going to try again; I guess God doesn’t care". That’s really what it comes down to.
And so over the past, oh goodness has it been a year? Was it a year or a year and a half ago that you came to the conference? About a year ago the pastor came to a conference that I was doing and over that year we’ve had interaction and communication. He came to Kansas. And then he said, "Duane, we need to have our church become more caring." And it’s not that you don’t care. Turn to the person next to you and ask them, "Do you care?" See, it’s not that you don’t care because you do care. But there needs to be something put in place, a structure, to help that care be effectively communicated to new people. And that’s what Care Ministry is all about. Would you turn with me to Ezekiel, Chapter 37? Now Ezekiel’s one of those books that I’m sure you read on a regular basis for your devotions. Well, maybe not. But if you open your Bible to Psalms and then turn right for about three books you get Ezekiel. And you’ll be able to find it there. It’s fairly small print up there (on the screen), but I think you can catch it. And it’s NIV I believe and I’m using new King James so just bear with us, okay? But Ezekiel, Chapter 37 says this, "The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley and it was full of bones." Say, "Full of Bones". "And he caused me to pass by them all around and behold there were very many in the open valley and indeed they were very dry." Say, "Very dry". "And he said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘Oh, Lord God, you know.’ And again he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Surely, I will cause breath to enter in to you and you shall live. And I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put breath on you and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together bone to bone. Indeed as I looked, there were sinews and the flesh came upon them and skin covered them over, but there was no breath in them. Also he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army."
Here’s the situation. God had taken Ezekiel out into a valley and it was a dry valley. In fact it was a dessert valley and there were a bunch of bones lying out all over. And as they looked out on those bones God said, "Those bones are going to be an army." Now here’s the question this morning, "How many times had Ezekiel ever looked at a valley full of dry bones and said, "that’s a bunch of little people out there"? Hadn’t happened, had it? In fact when God said, "Ezekiel, speak to those bones and they are going to come to life". Now how many times had Ezekiel ever spoken to a bone and it came to life? Hadn’t happened, had it? And when God said, "Ezekiel can these bones live?" Ezekiel was a little political. He really was. He said, "God, you know." Kind of left him off the hook, you know? And God said, "Then if I know that I do know, and what I want you to do is I want to prophesy. I want you to prophesy and speak to those bones and say, "Live", because there is an army that I need to raise.
How many know that God needs to raise an army in our world today? Not necessarily a military army but a spiritual army. How many know that your community needs to know God in a more personal way? And when your community gets to know God in a more personal way, all of a sudden the community becomes a better community. Isn’t that right? And do you know whom God needs to use to get that done? Turn to the person next to you and say, "He’s talking about you now."
So here’s the deal. God had a need; he had a purpose. His purpose was to raise up a great army. But he also had a problem. And the problem was, there was a valley full of dry bones and they were just scattered all over. Say, "The bones were dry. They were scattered all over." That’s what was going on. But every time God has a promise, he has a plan. He also has a purpose or a miracle. And he told Ezekiel to speak to the bones right away. Now you might be asking a question at this point, "Duane, are you taking us down the road to tell us that we are a valley of dry bones?" No, I am not. But I’ll let you answer it. So turn to the person next to you and say, "Are you a bone?" And then ask this question, "Are you dry?" Let’s find out.
This is what we find when we come to churches.
Comfort Zone: Churches live in what we call a comfort zone. Do you know what a comfort zone is? It’s where you are comfortable, right? It’s kind of same ol’ same ol’. Just out of curiosity, of the people sitting in this section over here, how many people sitting in this section sat in that section last Sunday? You know, Pastor, some of the people have been sitting in the pews for so long some of the pews are even shaped… In reality, that’s called the comfort zone. In fact if someone sat in your seat you’d go, "Why are you sitting in my seat? How can I worship if you are sitting in my seat? I don’t worship very well if I’m sitting somewhere else." Isn’t that true? Now you might not necessarily think that through or may not have thought that through before, but that’s very true. When we come in we typically sit in the same place all of the time. We live in what is called a comfort zone. And sometimes the rest of our life is the same thing. We get up and we do our devotionals in the morning, we say a short prayer and then we have breakfast. And then we get ready for work and we get ready for whatever we do and go through our day. And then, you know, we get home and we have our dinner and we do whatever we do in the evenings. And then we go to bed and we say a prayer before we go to sleep. And the next morning what do we do? We get up and do our devotion, do a little prayer and then we have our breakfast. Right? And it’s almost by the clock. Isn’t that true?
We just live in a comfort zone. And God wants to pry us out of that just a little bit. In fact sometimes we do it for so long it gets a little stale. It’s not that the word of God is stale; it’s just that we just keep doing it the same way. And it’s not that our prayer is stale, it’s just that we kind of keep doing it the same way. And in fact when we come to church, church is sometimes a little stale—except for pastoral preaching, I understand that. But you know, it’s just kind of same ol’, same ol’ all of the time. And God says, "You know what folks, it’s time for us to see the head of God move in a new and a fresh way. And maybe in a little different way, maybe to be open and available or if nothing’s happening, to have to get out of your comfort zone. In fact, in Matthew 14, and I won’t go there to read this morning, but in Matthew 14 it talks about Jesus feeding the multitude. And after he fed them he told the disciples, "Go to the other side of the lake." He said, "I’m going to go pray for awhile." And so some of the disciples got in the boat and they are rowing out. About the time they get out on the lake a storm comes. It’s about 4:00 a.m.; they’ve been out on the lake eight hours. It’s 4:00 a.m. in the morning and the storm is still going. Here’s a question, "Did Jesus know a storm was coming?" I think he did. Sometimes God saves us into a storm, not because he wants to destroy our lives but because he wants us to know how much he can do in our lives, how great he is. And here are the disciples, they are out in the middle of the storm and the waves are going all over and the boat… Yeah they were fishermen and they were somewhat comfortable being in the boat because that’s what they are use to, but all this storm is going on. And as it’s going on, here comes Jesus just walking on the water! And the disciples look over to where he’s at and go, "It’s a ghost!" And Jesus goes, "Come on guys, wake up. Smell the roses; it’s me. You should know who I am." (Now that’s a Skjervem translation, by the way.) And the disciples go, "Peter, tell him to come to you." How many times had Peter ever walked on water? Zero. Peter was a fisherman. He knew that if he were going to step down out of that boat what would happen? He’d sink. And yet he said, "Jesus, if that’s really you, please tell me to come." And Jesus said, "Come on." Here’s a question we need to ask, or answer, "Why didn’t the other eleven say, "Us too". Now if the other eleven had said, "me too" do you think Jesus would have said, "No, this is just for one?" I don’t think so. He would have said, "Come on guys let’s just walk on the other side." But they didn’t. Do you know why? They were in their comfort zone. They were in their security. What was their security? The boat.
But Peter said, "My security can’t be my boat. My security needs to be Jesus." Isn’t that right? And when Jesus said, "Come", Peter said, "Okay". And for the very first time in history he stepped out of the boat and walked on water. Right? Now sometimes we get on Peter’s case because it said the waves were boisterous and yet he saw the waves and began to sink and we’re going, "Oh, Peter come on, where’s your faith." Now, before you go there, he got out of the boat! How many of us would have gotten out of the boat. You know what, God never condemns us as we get out of the boat kind of looking at the wave going, "Oh, what am I doing?" He never condemns us. Because Jesus said, "Come on, get back up." Pulled him back up, isn’t that right? So we have to understand God doesn’t expect us to be perfect; he just expects us to be available—create the opportunity.
Let me give you a modern day example of that whole process of getting out of our comfort zone. There was a guy in Kansas City who was flying. And as he was flying there was a little girl on his right hand by the window. She was about ten years old; and she had Downs Syndrome. And on the other side of him there was a guy who had a suit on. He had his laptop out and he was typing away. And as they were flying the little girl taps the gentleman on the shoulder and she said, "Sir". He said, "Yes?" She said, "Did you brush your teeth this morning?" And he kind of smiled and laughed and said, "Yeah, I brushed my teeth this morning." She said, "Oh, that’s good; it’s good to brush your teeth." And so they fly a little further and the little girl taps him on the shoulder. And he says, "Yes?" And the little girl says, "Sir, do you smoke?" And he looked at the little girl and he said, "No, I don’t smoke." And she looked back and she said, "Oh, that’s good, because it’s not very healthy to smoke." So they fly a little further. And as they were flying there’s another tap on the shoulder. And he looks down and the little girl says, "Sir". And he says, "Yes?" And she says, "Do you love Jesus?" And he looked down at the little girl and said, "Yeah, I love Jesus." And she said, "Oh, that’s good because I do too." And they fly a little further. And then there’s another tap on the shoulder. And he looks down at the little girl and she says, "Ask him!" And he said, "Ask him what?" And she said, "Ask him if he brushed his teeth this morning." And so he turns over to the businessman sitting next to him and he says, "Sir, the little girl over here is wondering, did you brush your teeth this morning?" And the businessman smiled and he looked over at the little girl and he said, "Yeah, I brushed my teeth this morning." She looked back and she said, "Oh good because it’s good to brush your teeth." They fly a little further; there’s a tap on the shoulder. He looks at the little girl and the little girl says, "Ask him!" And he said, "Ask him what?" And she said, "Ask him if he smokes." And so he turned to the businessman next to him and he said, "Sir, the little girl over here is wondering, do you smoke?" And the businessman looked at the little girl and said, "No, I don’t smoke." And the little girl looked back and said, "Oh, that’s good because it isn’t very healthy to smoke." So they fly a little further; there’s a tap on the shoulder. He looks at the little girl and the little girl says, "Sir, ask him if he loves Jesus." And so with great boldness he turns to the businessman next to him and says, "Sir the little girl over there was wondering, do you love Jesus?" And flying across America at 33,000 feet a tear came to the businessman’s eye and he said, "No, I don’t but I need to." And he accepted Jesus Christ in to his life that day. All because somebody was willing to step out of their comfort zone and do something they’d never done before.Too Many Christian Members: Do you know what, God is asking us to reach out and touch people. Not to preach at them but just to give them the opportunity to receive his love. Did you know that in a church, in fact in this church, Pastor, you probably have too many members? You really do because you know what, Ephesians 4 says the pastor’s responsibility is to teach people to do the work of the ministry. Now if you are doing the work of the ministry, what would you be called—a minister! Turn to the person next to you and say this, "God’s called you to be a minister." See that’s what your pastors are called to do, to teach you to do the work of the ministry. So it’s not a matter of being a member because members come and say, "What do I get?" Isn’t that true? When I paid my dues at my health club, well I don’t belong to it anymore—I should, but when I paid my dues at my health club I expected something out of it. And sometimes when we come as members and we pay our dues—oh no, we paid our tithes. Well, if we don’t tithe we at least tip, right? —And we put something in we want something back out of it. But God hasn’t called us to the church to get something out of it. He’s called us to the church to minister. That mean’s give in to it. And there is a Biblical principle and here’s the principle: Give and what? It shall be given. Is that right? Press down, shake them together, and run them over. So if I’m going to expect to get something when I come to church, what do I have to do first? Give! And if I come with a heart that says I’m going to give, what do they give me? Well, when worship starts I’m going to give worship to God. Right? When the sharing, when the preaching starts I’m going to give attention and hear what God is going to speak to my life. Also, when there are people around me that need a touch in their life, if I’m willing to give in to their life, what does scripture say God’s going to do for me? He’s going to give it back in a greater measure than what I gave. And do you know what, when I come to church with a heart attitude that says I’m going to give, I get a whole bunch more than if I come with a heart attitude that says, "I wonder what I’m going to get today?" Right?
Barrenness Spiritually: So this is what we find when we come to churches. First of all we find that sometimes there is a disease in the church. What’s the definition for koinonea? What does koinonea mean? Fellowship! And do you know what, sometimes our churches have picked up a disease and the disease is koinonites. Do you know what koinonites is? We’re in grown in our fellowship. It’s like I asked you a little bit earlier this morning. I said, "Who were you friendly with the last two or three weeks?" And whom did you say you were friendly with? Your friends! Because you see, it’s just a small group and we all get together and we just are nice one to another.
There was a young girl who came to our church one time, came in the service and sat in the back. And as she sat there, she was by herself. She was kind of quiet and had her head down. And we had one of our care team members go up and introduce themselves, ask her how long she’d been coming to church there, and then asked this question, "Is there anything I can be praying with you about?" And the lady said, "Yeah, there is. My husband this past week told me he doesn’t love me anymore. He wants a divorce. In fact, he said he’s not involved with anybody else. He said he’s just tired of me." Can you imagine committing your life to someone else and then just say, "I’m just tired of you; get out"? Man, what pain was going on in that young ladies life! And so our care team minister just sat with her and she prayed with her. She asked her where she worked and found out she didn’t work to far from her and said, "Hey, let’s have lunch next week." And so they did. And the young lady came back the next week and came back the week after that and made a confession of faith. Come to find out the care team member’s husband played bass in the worship band and knew this gal’s ex-husband that had gone through a divorce. And so he got to get together with him for a little bit and he said, "Hey, why don’t you come and play bass with me on Tuesday night? We have practice, worship practice, on Tuesday night. Just play along with us. And the guy goes, "Yeah, that would be great because I never get to play anymore." And so he came and he played on that Tuesday night. And so the next three or four weeks he came on Tuesday nights and he just played along with the worship band as they were practicing. And then the care team member’s husband said, "Hey, why don’t you come to church with me on Sunday?" And see, you have to earn the right to invite someone to church sometimes. And so the guy goes, "Yeah, that would be great. But I’d better come the second service because my ex goes to your first service and I know she doesn’t want to see me." So he came to the second service and he came for about two or three weeks and then he, himself, came forward and made a confession of faith. And then he called the staff one day and he said, "Would you call my ex-wife and have us get together? I’d like to meet with her and she won’t meet with me. So if you call her and just say, "Would you come meet with, you know, come and meet with the staff and then I’ll just happen to show up." And, of course, we didn’t want to do that. But we did call and ask her to come meet with her ex. And she said "no". And we said, "Would you please?" And she said, "No". "Why not?" "Because he’s hurt me too bad and all the things that’s gone on, he’s just playing a game." And we shared with her that he really had made a confession of faith and he had turned his life around. And she said, "Well, I’ll try." So they come and they met. The next Sunday they each drove to the parking lot for the same service in their different cars from their different apartments, and they sat together. And they did that for two or three months. And then one Sunday morning after the morning service, we had a re-marriage ceremony for this couple. You know what, God wanted that marriage to be restored. But in order for that to happen, even though we had good worship and even though we had good preaching, it needed somebody to be a personal touch in to that young woman’s life.
And so this is what we are finding. Sometimes the reason that we are a little dry in our churches is that we have an attitude. And do you know what our attitude is? We don’t like people who aren’t like us. Turn to the person next to you and say, "Are you a nice person?" You see, we like nice people. We like people who come to the 9:30 a.m. service. You know, 9:30 a.m. service people are really nice people. Right? And then we all come and we enjoy being together. If you’re a part of the bell choir, you know, we like people who are bell choir people. And if you are part of the next service, you know that radical service, and if you’re part of the band, well, we like band people. You know? And this service, we like people that we come and spend time with. And we have an attitude. The attitude is that we don’t like people who aren’t like us. In fact, we don’t like those people who stand out, you know, tell those dirty stories and use that foul language and all of that kind of stuff. We like nice people. Turn to the person next to you and say, "You’re a nice person".
See that’s the kind of people we like. In fact when I was first raised in the church we were taught something. And the scripture said that we were supposed to come apart and be separate. Have you ever heard that before? Well, we did that really, really well. In fact, we came apart and became so separate that we didn’t let anybody else in. In fact, sometimes we are even afraid to let them in because they might get "cooties" on us. I mean they might get their sin on us. And yet scripture says, "Greater is he that is in us…" then what? "…he who is in the world." And we need to understand something folks. It’s time for us to quit being afraid of the world getting on us. It’s time for us to share the reality of who God is with the world because the scripture says, "The same Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead is alive and well within us." Right? So we don’t have to worry about what’s going on in their lives, but impact them with the reality of who God is.
The second thing that we find out when we come to churches is that churches have all kind of Christian activities. Man those pancakes smell good! You know, we have Christian breakfasts and we have Christian dinners. Most churches have a lot of good food. Isn’t that right? And we have Christian men’s groups and Christian women’s’ groups, Christian youth groups and Christian singles groups, and Christian couples groups. And we have Christian softball and Christian baseball and Christian bowling. We have a Christian thing for almost everything. Right? And sometimes we have so many Christian things that we isolate ourselves in to this new world of Christian activity. And God says it’s time to step out to where people are. In fact a lot of us, all of our friends are Christians. In fact, some of us have been Christians for so long that we have so many friends that are Christians, that we need someone to be a friend with who may not know Jesus in a personal way. In fact, is it okay if I do this? (Walking around) I know I should probably be behind there, but I won’t hurt you. Okay? Sometimes we need to go out in to the world around us. "Hi, my name is Duane. Good to meet you Bill. You know, Bill, all of my friends are Christian friends, and I need a sinner friend. Would you be my sinner friend?" It’s safe; it says Reverend here. Some of us do need to step out of where we are and reach out in to someone’s life who needs to know Jesus. And don’t tell them that they are a rotten person. They just need someone to love on them. Isn’t that right? Because if you love on them, they’ll begin to respond; and then you can share who Jesus is with them.
But where I live—I moved recently to a home in Kansas. I use to live in Boise, Idaho—next door my wife got to know a lady. And as she was talking to her one day and found out she wasn’t a Christian. She didn’t ask her; she just knew. And she woke up one morning and said, "Duane, I have a ministry to do today." And I said, "You do?" And she said, "Yeah, I need to go to malling." Do you know what malling is? It’s m-a-l-l-i-n-g! She said, "You know, Anne next door needs to know Jesus and the only way that I will ever be ever to share with her is to spend some time with her. And so I have a ministry to do today. And it’s going to take me all day. We’re going to go to the mall. And, dear, you need to know that I probably won’t be back for lunch and may not be back for dinner. So you’re going to have to take care of the kids. But don’t worry; it’s my ministry. It’s a hard job, but somebody’s got to do it." And so the next week I said, "Dear, do you know John?" And she said, "Yeah." And I said, "Dear, John needs to know Jesus and John really likes to golf so I have a ministry to do today. And it’s a tough thing. We may have to go 36 holes. But don’t worry, I’m doing it for Jesus." You know what, sometimes we need to step out to where the people are, in to their lives.
Did you know that sometimes people who are not Christians do not believe that Christians can have fun? Did you know that? Maybe I should ask, "Do you have fun?" Some of you do, I can tell. You know, being a Christian does not mean you can’t have fun! And the world needs to know that being a Christian doesn’t mean that you just come to church and sit and, you know, eat persimmons. You know? When you become a Christian, it just means that you are freed from your past life. And they need to be freed from their past life. They need to be freed from the things that are going on in their life.
There was a lady in the church in Kansas City. Her name was Dorothy and some of you have read the story out of your Miracle book. But Dorothy came to church and was loved on by a care team member. And she came and said, "I’d like to be a part of the Care Ministry." She said, "Can I do it?" And we said, "Sure, that would be great." And she said, "I don’t know what to do?" This afternoon we’re going to spend about four hours, starting at 3:30 p.m. and go to 5:30 p.m. and then have something good to eat, and then will go from about 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. This will be an interaction kind of thing, some relationship training, some communication skill training, and just giving some structure to what care ministry is going to be. But she hadn’t gone through any of that. And she said, "I don’t know what to do?" And so we asked her this question. We said, "Dorothy, can you say, ‘Hi, my name’s Dorothy’?" And she said, "Yeah, I can do that." And we said, "Dorothy can you say, ‘How long have you been coming to church?’" And she said, "Well, I can do that too." And we said, "Dorothy, can you say, ‘Is there anything I can pray with you about’ and then pray for the person?" And she gulped a little bit and said, "Out loud you mean?" And we said, "Yeah". And she said, "I don’t know. I guess I can try." And I went "Great, there’s a lady sitting back over here. Why don’t you go talk to her? She’s all by herself." So Dorothy walks up to this lady and she says, "Hi, my name is Dorothy. What’s your name?" And she said, "My name is Claudia." And she said, "Claudia, how long have you been coming to church here?" And Claudia said, "Oh, about four weeks." And then Dorothy asked this question, she wasn’t suppose to but she asked it anyway, she said, "Has anybody talked to you since you came to church?" And Claudia said, "Well, just the people who, you know, hand me the bulletin and say, ‘Hi, thanks for coming to church’." She’s one of those people who are falling through the cracks. In fact latter we found out she said, "If Dorothy hadn’t talked to me that Sunday she’d had made the decision she wasn’t coming back again." She said if someone hadn’t talked to me she wasn’t going to come back again.
So then Dorothy asked a third question and this was a little tougher. She said, "Claudia is there anything going on in your life that I can pray for you about?" And Claudia lifted her head a little bit and said, "Well, actually my husband was institutionalized with a drug problem, he wants a divorce. My son is involved in Satanism. Other than that things are going really good." See, she was in a crises and she needed someone to be there for her. And so Dorothy, even though she didn’t know what to do or how to do it, she just stepped in. And she said, "Let’s pray." And she prayed for her in her own simple way. She cried with her for she had felt the pain. Dorothy herself had gone through divorce. She knew what that was like. She sat with her through the service. And at the end of the service there was an opportunity for people to make a confession of faith and Claudia responded. She said this later, she said, "I would never had gone forward and made a confession if Dorothy hadn’t talked to me before the service." Three months later Claudia’s husband got out of the institution and came to church, gave his heart to Jesus and the marriage was restored. And three months after that the son came home from college during spring break, come and met with the pastoral staff and understood that Satanism isn’t a good thing to get involved in, accepted Jesus. And out of one person, Dorothy, talking to somebody she’d never met before in a church, there was a marriage restored, there was a family restored, and there was an eternity with Jesus.
Isn’t that what it’s all about? We can come to church week after week after week and hear good preaching, hear good teaching; but if we never put legs to what we hear, what good does it do to have the teaching and the preaching. And that’s what Care Ministries is all about. It’s about helping other people to come to know the reality that God loves them. It’s not a matter of preaching at them. It’s not a matter of telling them that they are unacceptable and that they are unloved. It’s a matter of someone just being willing to love someone else who needs to be loved on. As you become part of the care ministry team, it is just one service, one Sunday a month. You come and be a part of a group of people, a team of people, who in this service would be sharing and loving on one another, ministering to one another. You would be looking about one Sunday a month to see someone new and instead of talking to everybody you know that one Sunday you’re going to find somebody new and introduce yourself and get to know them a little bit. You’re going to have someone who is a team leader who is going to be there to help you out, answer any questions you have, help you make it to be effective. That’s what Care Ministry is all about. And this is what you need to understand. When people come to church there are seven conditions of hurting people. They come to church:
1. Discouraged.
2. Confused.
3. Condemned.
4. Hurt and Wounded.
5. Lonely.
6. Vulnerable and Weak.
7. Hungry for God.
And they need somebody to be Christ’s hand extended in to their life. See what it goes back to what we said earlier today, my availability does what? —Gives God the opportunity. See it is not who I am, it’s who God is. It’s not my power; it’s God’s power. It’s not my strength; it’s God’s strength. It’s not even my spirit; it’s God’s Spirit. But God needs to use somebody to touch the lives of the people around us. And this is what we find. Is that when I get accustomed to touching people’s lives in the church, and become comfortable with touching people’s lives in the church, I become more comfortable in touching the lives of people outside the church. Something you need to know. Over the past year, you’ve had about 600 people visit Grace. This past year came in to see what you are all about. About 150 of those people said, "This is a good place to be." What’s wrong with the other 450? (Some transcription lost due to tape change)
And the church is really the body of Christ. And if the pastors have been called to teach you the work of the ministry, guess who needs to be doing it? Turn to the person next to you and say, "He’s talking about you again." God says that who you are and what he’s done in your life, he’s now asking you to reproduce that by loving somebody else, by sharing with somebody else in your life. So this morning we are going to do something that maybe is a little bit different, a little bit new. Two things actually, the first thing is this: If you are flying across America and you had a little girl ask you if you loved Jesus, could you say "yes"? And if you can’t today, if you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I would encourage you to come and talk to one of the staff at the end of the service. They’d love to share with you. Okay?
But this is one other thing we are going to do today. We’re going to have you stand in a few minutes and I am going to have you come forward and say, "I’m willing to let God use me." I know pastor has shared with you over the last month or so about this Sunday. And he’s been praying and the staff has been praying that there be between 60 and 80 people who would come and volunteer just one service one Sunday a month, kind of ignore the regular people and love on the new people. Just because the new people need to know that they are loved and that they are accepted. Sixty to eighty people to say; "I’m going to step out of my boat, out of my comfort zone. Do something I’ve not done before. This afternoon we’re going to go through some training; we’re going to give you some opportunity to share with one another and do some practical application kinds of things. And when it is all said and done, you’ll be able to do what needs to be done. Not just because you’ve been trained, but because if you are willing God will do what needs to be done through you.
And so why don’t we stand for a moment, and I’d like to pray a quick prayer. And then we’re going to invite you to come. "Father, as we stand here this morning, first of all I thank you for every one that is here. I thank you for their willingness to come and spend some time in your house, spend some time sharing with one another, spend some time worshiping, spend some time listening. And Lord I ask now that by your Holy Spirit that you would reach out and touch each and every life. Lord I know that people are busy and we are not asking people to over commit. Lord we also know that there is a need as represented in this church. And the need is that when new people come they need someone to be a friend to them to help them to assimilate, get acquainted, and become a part of the family that gathers here on a regular basis. And so, Lord, I ask that you would even right now by your Spirit begin to draw each and every one. Father, you know their need, you know their number. And Lord I thank you that as we come to you that you will challenge each and every one who needs to come and be a part to go through some training this afternoon to learn and, Father, to be your hand extended in a loving way to someone in need. Thank you for that. We praise you for that. In Jesus name, Amen."
This is what I’d like you to do. If God is speaking to your heart, if as I’ve shared today you just think, you know I could probably do that. I might be a little scared but I could probably do that. We’d like for you to just come forward. The pastor’s going to have a clipboard or some cards you can write your name. We ask you to come and commit to helping out to make Grace an even greater church than it already is.
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