S.U.M. It Up! 9-27-23

   

9-24-23 Kenwood Church of Christ Live Stream

MORE TO THIS LIFE: Intentionality and context 9-24-23

MORE TO THIS LIFE: Intentionality and context 9-24-23

 

INTRODUCTION

 

God is doing a new thing!

There has got to be more to this life!

Identity - who are we

Integrity - internal and external

Intentionality

Intentionality and evangelism

Intentionality, evangelism, and you

Intentionality and the vulnerable 

 

Rescue the Perishing

By Fanny Crosby (1869)

 

Rescue the perishing,

Care for the dying,

Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;

Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,

Tell them of Jesus the mighty to save.

 

Refrain:

Rescue the perishing,

Care for the dying;

Jesus is merciful,

Jesus will save.

 

               “Older people are the fastest-growing age demographic in the Western world, but when it comes to church evangelism and outreach, they’re often overlooked.

               We have so much to learn from our elders, all of whom have enormous amounts of life experience and wisdom, and who deserve our respect, love and care. My heart aches when this precious generation gets overlooked and marginalized, especially as older adults are the fastest-growing age demographic in the Western world.

               Today, there are 12 million over-65s in the UK – that’s 19 per cent of the population - and that figure is set to rise.  In the US, older adults are expected to outnumber children by 2034.”

               PIppa Cramer, “We urgently need to reach older adults with the gospel”, Premier Christianity,                      June 8, 2023

 

I.  THE LOST

 

               A.  God has a heart for lost things

 

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. 

 

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” 

 

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ””

               Luke 15:1-32 NIV

 

               B.  Jesus was sent to save the lost

 

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.””

               Luke 19:10 NIV

 

               C.  We need to find that which is lost

 

Freddie Fritz shared these thoughts in a sermon.

 

“Throughout history, believers have had this heart for the lost. John Knox, for example, reflected Paul’s sorrow for his people when he said, "O God! Give me Scotland or I die!"

 

David Brainerd, the great missionary to the North American Indians in the early years of the 18th century, died at the tender age of 29 while attempting to minister to them amid many difficulties and trials. He wrote of his feelings for the unconverted American Indians in these memorable words, "I dream of lost souls. I care not what sufferings I undergo, as long as I see lost souls saved."”

               (From a sermon by Freddy Fritz, "Responding to the Rejection of the Gospel")

 

II. AND DYING

 

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

               1 Corinthians 1:18 NIV

 

Fred Markes tells this story . . .

 

I read a story of a man that got saved as a young, adult. He was so excited about Christ for the first couple of weeks, he told everybody the difference Jesus had made in his life. One Sunday night he was at his church and they sang this song, "Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, snatch them in pity from sin and the grave, weep over the erring one, bring them to Jesus, tell the poor sinner that Jesus can save." He heard that song and he got so excited that as soon as the service was over he rushed up to the pastor, and said, "Pastor, I'm ready."

 

The pastor said, "Ready for what?"

 

He said, "Man, I'm ready to go rescue the perishing--let's do it!"

 

The pastor looked at him and said, "Well, that's not something we really do, that's just a song we sing."

 

It wounded that man's spirit for many years until he realized that the normal Christian life is to be excited about rescuing the perishing.

               (From a sermon by Fred Markes, Do I Have A Burden For The Lost?, 8/30/2011)

 

“The message of the cross seems foolish to those who are lost and dying. But it is God’s power to us who are being saved.”

               1 Corinthians 1:18 NIRV (New International Reader’s Version)

 

           A.  Spiritual death

            B.  Physical death also  

 

III.  OUR EFFORTS

 

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

               2 Peter 3:8-9 NIV

 

               A.  Reach out to the vulnerable

               B.  Risk our comfort

             C.  Rescue the perishing

 

In 2000, 12% of the US population were over 65.  In 2021, 16.8% of the US population is over 65.

               (2000 info from US Census, 2023 info from Americanhealthrankings.org)

 

“The older population increased by 50.9 million, from 4.9 million (or 4.7% of the total US population) in 1920 to 55.8 million(16.8%) in 2020.”

          Census.gov 

 

Livonia.gov

 

18.2% under 18

 

21.2% over 65

 

90.6% people living in the same home as 1 year ago

 

Worldpopulationreview.com

 

Growth rate -.96% (-897)

Growth rate since 2020 -2.85% (-2,716)

 

76,613 adults in Livonia

19,338 adults in Livonia are seniors

 

64.1 age dependency ratio

33.8 old age dependency ratio

30.3 child dependency ratio

 

Average household size 2.45

 

3,315 veterans over the age of 65 (5,178 total)

 

Current population 92,690

2029 population estimate 87,419 

 

2021 was the shift in population density (2010-2019 -.15%/year , 2020 -.35%, 2021 -.95%)

 

point2homes.com

 

Average age 45.3 years

 

Households with children 9,237 (-2.3%)

 

Households with children 24.66%

Households without children 75.34%

 

City-data.com

 

Median resident age 46.4 years

MI median resident age 39.8

 

Biggestuscities.com

 

Livonia growth 2020-2021 -6.1%

 

The peak population of Livonia was in 1990, when its population was 100,864. In 1990, Livonia was the 200th largest city in the US; now its fallen to the 353rd largest city in the US. Livonia is currently 6.4% smaller than it was in 1990.  Livonia has shrunk 6.1% since the year 2000. Livonia, Michigan's growth is extremely below average. 98% of similarly sized cities are growing faster since 2000.

 

“According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there will be more people over age 65 than children by 2035. This swell in the aging population is what some are calling the “grey tsunami.” But I think Jesus would call it the white harvest. In the coming years, onr in every five residents in the U.S. will be elderly.”

               Shelia Dougal, 3 Ways We Can Bring the Gospel to the Elderly, Eric.com, February 2, 2019.

 

“There’s a mission field in our own streets: in lonely apartments and quiet care facilities. These men and women have not been forgotten by God. Let’s be his hands and his feet to them: visiting, befriending, learning, and proclaiming.”

               Katy Morgan, 3 Reasons to Visit an Elderly Person Soon, TheGospelCoalition.org, February 20,                     2020.

 

CONCLUSION

 

The lost.  The dying.  Our efforts.  What will you do?

 

Dr. Larry Petton tells the story of . . . 

Fanny Crosby, the blind hymn writer, wrote so many hymns we love to sing. When she was up in years, she visited the Macaulay Rescue Mission in NYC. She stood before a crowd of homeless, drug-addicted, alcoholic men. She said, “is there a young man here who doesn’t have a mother?” One young man timidly raised his hand. He explained that his mother died when he was very young.

 

Fanny Crosby asked the young man to come to the front. She gave him a big hug and kissed him on the cheek. It touched her heart so much that she went home that night and wrote these words, “Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, snatch them in pity from sin and the grave, weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen, tell them of Jesus the Mighty to save.”

 

Years later, Ira Sankey was singing for D.L. Moody in St. Louis. He rose to sing that song, but before he sang, he told that story. As he told the story, a middle-aged man jumped up and shouted, “It was me! I’m the young man she wrote about. She kissed me. I could never get away from that moment.”

As a result of one simple kiss.....a young man came to Christ and his entire life was changed!

 

What will you do?

 

INVITATION

 

It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word.  You may want to follow Jesus.  You may want to proclaim your faith.  You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things).  Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church.  If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now.  If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.  

S.U.M. It Up! 9-20-23

   

9-17-23 Kenwood Church of Christ Live Stream

MORE TO THIS LIFE: Intentionality, evangelism, and you 9-17-23

MORE TO THIS LIFE: Intentionality, evangelism, and you 9-17-23

 

INTRODUCTION

 

God is doing a new thing!

There has got to be more to this life!

Identity - who are we

Integrity - internal and external

Intentionality

Intentionality and evangelism

Intentionality, evangelism, and you

 

I.  WHO ARE YOU?

 

               A.  A child of the King

 

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

               1 John 3:1 NIV

 

“As Christians, our identity in Christ far transcends our identity in our work. We are children of the living God, fearfully and wonderfully made and deeply loved by the Father.”

               Boa, Kenneth, and Gail Burnett. Wisdom at Work. Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1997, 51.

 

               B.  A product of our history

 

“Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.”

               1 Corinthians 1:26-30 NIV

 

               C.  A servant of all

 

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”

               Galatians 5:13 NIV

 

An engineer had this note taped inside his desk drawer at his office: "This is not my life.  This is my job.  Christ is my life."  Upon his tragic death in a car accident, his family found the note in his desk.

               From Dr. Fred W. Penney

 

II. WHAT ARE YOU GIFTED TO DO?

 

               A.  What makes you different?

 

“The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.””

               Exodus 4:11-12 NIV

 

               B.  What has God given you to use for others?

 

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

               1 Peter 4:10-11 NIV

 

On Christmas morning, the children in a family do not usually all receive the same gifts.

 

One gets a football, one a puzzle, another receives a doll house, and another a table game.

 

Yet, although each child does not receive the same gifts as the others, the parents intend the gifts to be enjoyed by all the children as they use them together.

 

The same is true of the gifts God gives His children.

 

We do not all have the same gift, but we are all to use our gift for the good of all in God’s family.

               A. Todd Coget

 

“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.”

               1 Corinthians 12:7-11 NIV

 

               C.  How open are you to discovering the gifts God has for you?

 

Imagine how a parent would feel if on Christmas day when the gifts for their children were handed out, the children just took them, said “Thank you,” and laid them aside with no attempt to open the gifts not even to find out what they were!

 

Imagine how the Lord must feel when he has given gifts to us that He intends for us to use, and yet we never take the trouble to find out what they are, never put them to work, and then excuse 

ourselves from serving the church by saying that we can’t do anything!

               A. Todd Coget

 

               We have no idea what God has in store for us!

 

When Gabriel Hurles turned six in January 2009, he was so focused on eating his birthday cake that he hardly noticed the giant package in the corner of the room. When another child pointed out the large gift, Gabriel ran over and began to tear off the wrapping. It wasn’t a bicycle or any of the other items a six-year-old would want. It was his dad, Army Specialist Casey Hurles, home on leave from the war in Iraq. Gabriel and his father had been apart for seven months, so when Casey learned his leave would coincide with his son’s birthday, he hatched a plan to offer one whale of a surprise. 

               (Boys wrapped birthday gift is dad back from Iraq, Associated Press and YahooNews.com,                                             1-30-09)

 

III.  WHAT OPPORTUNITIES ARE BEFORE YOU?

 

In the past, there was a well-known bronze statue of Kairos by a Greek sculptor named Lysippos. On this famous statue was an epigram about the meaning of the statue.

 

The epigram was a series of questions and answers. After inquiring about the author and his origins, it continued:

 

"And who are you? Time--Kairos--who subdues all things.

 

Why do you stand on tip-toe? I am ever running.

 

And why you have a pair of wings on your feet?

 

I fly with the wind.

 

And why do you hold a razor in your right hand?

 

As a sign to men that I am sharper than any sharp edge.

 

And why does your hair hang over your face?

 

For him who meets me to take me by the forelock.

 

And why, in Heaven’s name, is the back of your head bald? Because none whom I have once raced 

by on my winged feet will now, though he wishes it sore, take hold of me from behind."

 

This gave rise to an expression that "Opportunity is bald from behind." Once it’s past, you can’t get it back!

               (From a sermon by Mark Adams, "Opportunity is Bald From Behind" 2/25/2009)

 

              A.  Where can you serve?

 

“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

               Galatians 6:10 NIV

 

Remember that if the opportunities for great deeds should never come, the opportunities for good deeds are renewed day by day. The thing for us too long for is the goodness, not the glory.

               F. W. Faber

 

              B.  Where can you be the voice of God?

 

              C.  Where can you show the love of God?

 

               D.  When will you take the initiative?  

 

Opportunities Missed

 

There was a very cautious man

 

Who never laughed or played.

 

He never risked, he never tried

 

He never sang or prayed.

 

And when one day, he passed away

 

His insurance was denied

 

For since he never really lived

 

They claimed he never died.

               Source unknown

 

CONCLUSION

 

"The gates of opportunity and advancement swing on these four hinges: initiative, industry, insight, and integrity."

               William Ward

 

Thomas Edison said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

 

Are you ready to work?  Who are you?  What are you gifted to do?  What opportunities are before you?

 

INVITATION

 

It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word.  You may want to follow Jesus.  You may want to proclaim your faith.  You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things).  Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church.  If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now.  If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.