Leadership Thoughts From Acts – Part Five April 24, 2009

#5 – God Moves Through Preaching And Teaching That Honors Him – Acts 2:14-41

Confession…I think so many times I’ve made preaching WAY too complicated.

Peter kept it pretty simple…three things I see that he did that we all can do…

A. He Preached The Word Of God – Acts 2:16-21, Acts 2:25-28, Acts 2:38

People need to be taught the Bible!!!  The first recorded sermon in the church is LOADED with Scripture…and Peter made no apologies for it.

(BTW–Peter most likely didn’t have a copy of the Scriptures in front of him…this was from memory, which is a challenge to me as a speaker and leader than I need to constantly be IN HIS WORD…getting to know HIM through it!  His Word IS His will…and the more I know it the better I can communicate it.)

One of the disturbing trends I am seeing among some churches today is that the Bible is not preached…heck, sometimes it is even spoken againsts and questioned.  (BTW…the questioning of God’s Word in Genesis 3 didn’t work out to well!!!)

I’ve never met a person who screwed up their lives by living according to the Word of God…but I’ve met plenty who have rebelled against it and suffered the consequences.

B. He Was Controlled By The Spirit Of God – Acts 2:1-5

The Bible clearly says that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit…and when that happened he preached a HARD message; in fact, he said some things that some people probably didn’t like and were upset over.  (See Acts 2:22-23 and Acts 2:36…whenever you tell a crowd they are a bunch of murderers…I am POSITIVE that someone got upset and complained!)

Some people think that when a person is Spirit filled they are always nice, popular and well liked…this passage proves quite the opposite!

Oh yeah…one more point on this…He was filled with the Spirit of God…which led Him to the Word of God!  God’s Word and God’s Spirit work together, not seperately.  When we listen to His Spirit…we will be led to His Word…and…

C. He Talked About The Son Of God – Acts 2:24, Acts 2:32, acts 2:38

If we want to see transformed lives in our churches then we’ve GOT to talk about JESUS!  We’ve GOT to tell them that JESUS alone paid for our sins…and that through Him we are made right with God!!!

YES, we can talk about marriage, money, purpose and so on–we should–the Bible talks about these things.  However, when we tell people how to have a good life without Christ I think we miss the point.

One more thing–when we preach the Word of God under the authority of the Spirit of God and lift up the Son of God…HE CHANGES LIVES!  (See Acts 2:37)  People were “cut to the heart!”  God worked through preaching that honored Him…and I believe He STILL does that today!

Leadership Thoughts From Acts – Part Four April 23, 2009

#4 – The People Who Need To Hear The Gospel The Most Are The People Who Show Up At Our Church Every Week – Acts 2:5-6

I’ve read through Acts at least 20 times or more…but I saw this section of Scripture this time and it FLOORED me…the people who came running to see what was happening, heard the message and 3,000 of them were eventually converted (Acts 2:41) were religious!!!

They could say all of the right things, pray all the right prayers…heck, they probably had a Christian fish on the backside of their camel!!!

BUT…they didn’t know Jesus!!!  (BTW…He said there would be people like this in Matthew 7:21-23!  I am preaching on that text this weekend…and praying that people will literally get the hell scared out of them!!!)

One of the false assumptions that the leadership of a church can make is that everyone who attends knows Jesus.

In the Southeastern part of the US people think that they know Christ because they were involved in some sort of program or process…but they’ve never met the person of Jesus Christ.

I’ve always said that the most untapped harvest that exists today are the people who show up every week…who are trying to be a good person by attending…but really are in desperate need of repenting.

I never will forget a revival that happened at my home church in the early 1990’s.  One of the most amazing things took place–the associate pastor at the church…the guy who seemed to love Jesus the most…the guy who literally witnessed to everyone wherever he went…the guy who preached so hard one night that his false teeth flew out, he caught them & put them back in and kept preaching–THAT GUY RECEIVED CHRIST!

People were blown away by it…and some were even skeptical…but he told us, “When I was a kid I went to my preacher and told him I wanted to receive Jesus…and he told me that I didn’t need to do that…that I was ok.”  He said he wrestled with that for years…and pride kept him from doing what he needed to do…until he finally surrendered to God’s Spirit and asked Christ to come into his life.

It was God’s mercy because in less than a year he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and soon afterward stepped into eternity.  I’m SO glad the Gospel was preached SO much that he finally heard it!

I can’t say it any clearer than the Scriptures say it…THE FIRST TIME THE GOSPEL WAS PREACHED…IT WAS PREACHED TO RELIGIOUS PEOPLE!  We can’t be afraid to share the Gospel!  The people who have met Christ will be amazed and overwhelmed by it…and those who need to meet Christ will surrender to it…if…well, next lesson…

Leadership Thoughts From Acts – Part Three April 22, 2009

#3 – A Move Of God Cannot Be Planned…But It Must Be Prepared For – Acts 2:1-5

What happened in this section of Scripture was both unexplainable and undeniable…and it made the church unstoppable!

YET it wasn’t something that the leadership got together and put on the church calendar…(does it bother anyone besides me that churches actually schedule revivals?)

IT JUST HAPPENED…the first word in Acts 2:2 is “suddenly!”

The leadership received the vision from Jesus, began to pray and dealt with the leadership issues in chapter one…and then kept doing what they knew they should be doing until BAM…God moved in an incredible way.

When we begin to plan moves of God I believe we are walking on dangerous ground.  His plans and ways are so much higher than ours – Isaiah 55:8-9

I remember seeing this with my own eyes in the fall of 2002 when we were meeting in rented facilities at Anderson University.

We had been running around 400 – 500 people that spring and summer…and on August 11th of that year we had 504 people…the next weekend 970 people showed up…and within five weeks we had 1,600 people and were in two services.

People always ask, “What did YOU do?”  (Because the church in America believes that a move of God can be reduced to a formula.)

We always answer, “We have NO IDEA!”

• We didn’t launch a new series (in fact, we were in the middle of one of my least favorite series of all times!)
• We didn’t send out a direct mail invite.
• We didn’t have a special speaker.
• We didn’t have “pack a pew Sunday.”

We seriously cannot explain what happened.  All we know is that from the start we were dogmatic about the vision God had given us…we knew we weren’t going to please everyone…we wanted to see people come to know Jesus…we believed the church was His idea to reach AND change the world…and we were dedicated to keeping the vision simple and only doing what we knew He had called us to do…

And He moved!  It was unexpected…it can’t be explained…but I am so glad He did!

Church leader–your job is not to orchestrate a move of God…but to get ready for it!!!  I believe God wants to move in awesome ways in our churches…we just need to be willing to do whatever it takes to get ready for HIS moving!!!

Leadership Thoughts From Acts – Part Two April 21, 2009

#2 – We Must Deal With The Leadership Challenge – Acts 1:15-26

After Jesus went back into heaven the believers (about 120 people) got together and prayed (Acts 1:14).  What I find interesting is that so many well meaning people think that prayer alone will grow a church…and that line of reasoning leads to frustration and, in some cases, disappointment in God.

Yes, prayer IS NECESSARY.  Prayer is a reminder that we need the grace and mercy of the Almighty if we are to accomplish ANYTHING significant.

However…verses 15-26 clearly show us that the Apostles were clearly led by the Holy Spirit in this time of prayer to deal with the leadership challenge that was clearly in front of them.

Judas was one of the twelve…and he sold Jesus out, thus leaving an empty place on the leadership team that Jesus had assembled.

In this text we see the Apostles had clearly defined leadership expectations (Acts 1:21-22) and were guided by the Word of God (Acts 1:20).

Whenever people talk about the book of Acts the common fascination seems to be with Acts 2; however, I believe the foundation for the move of God that took place in Acts 2 was in Acts 1…the leaders received a clear vision and then made sure the leadership was in place to execute that vision.

God works through leadership…I’ve seen in all through the Scriptures.  And…He will not give a church more people and resources than the leadership is able to handle.  That is why I believe a pastor/church leader must be obsessed with continually doing what it takes to grow as a leader so that they can expand their platform and therefore be entrusted by God with more blessings and responsibility.

Here at NewSpring Church I am constantly asking the following questions…

• Am I being a responsible steward of the leadership gifts I believe I’ve been given?
• Who are the leaders I need to make it a point to spend some time with in order to be stretched and grown?
• Am I willing to pay any price to grow and develop as a leader?  (Proverbs 4:7)
• Am I willing to invest in the people on this staff to be grown and developed?
• Am I pouring into the leaders God has given me the privilege to serve with?
• What am I supposed to do…and then what am I supposed to delegate?
• Are there ANY obvious leadership issues that I am choosing to ignore?
• Do I fully understand that not dealing with those leadership issues could hold our church back from experiencing next level ministry?

Leadership Thoughts From Acts – Part One April 20, 2009

Recently God has been absolutely rocking my world in the book of Acts…I’ve been writing down some thoughts that I am praying/wrestling through and wanted to share some of the things I am learning here at this site.

(Not sure how long this series will last…may come in posts over the next several months)

#1 – Jesus MUST Drive The Vision Of The Church – Acts 1:6-8

In this section of Scripture the Apostles asked Jesus if He was going to restore Israel, in other words, “are you going to do what WE have been expecting You to do all along?”  (Evidence that even after three years of walking with Him and seeing Him risen from the dead they still didn’t completely get it!  BUT…I can’t judge them…I am a work in progress as well!)

He offers a rebuke in verse seven…and then in Acts 1:8 He lays out the vision for the church.  (Which we see fulfilled by chapter 10!  Acts 1-7 is Jerusalem, Acts 8-9 is Judea and Samaria, and Acts 10 is the Gentiles, which begins “the ends of the earth.”)

The vision was simple–clear–and unmistakable.  Jesus didn’t apologize for it or try to defend it…He said it and obviously the Apostles took it to heart.

When a group of leaders will commit themselves to seeking the face of Almighty, hearing from Him and then doing what He says…the church can accomplish so much more than it ever imagined.

We can never let our passions and ambitions drive the church…but rather HIS passions and ambitions coming out of us!

One of my constant prayers is, “Jesus, teach me to see as You see and feel as You feel so I can be passionate about what matters to You!”  He’s GOT to be the driving force behind what is happening in the church…or the church will be fruitless, boring and unproductive.