What are the characteristics of a great church?
A Guatemalan Baptist pastor died and went to heaven. Peter told him he has to know the Bible if he wanted to go in. Peter asked him how many testaments are there. The pastor answered two and got in. Another pastor came in. He was asked how many gospels are they. He answered 4 and went in. A Catholic priest came and he was asked whether he knew about the feeding of the 5000. He said yes. He was asked to name them.
Sometimes we don’t want to help people.
Do not despise young people.
Can ordinary people make a difference? We may believe a girl with a Master’s degree can make a difference. But what about a maid? We read in 2 Kings 5:1 a maid that influenced the king. Naaman was a brave general but he had leprosy. Sometimes a person can be powerful and rich but not liked / respected. In v2, the maid suggested Naaman go to see the man in Samaria to get healed. Words got to the king and he sent Naaman on his way.Who was the channel God used to transform this general? A maid. We should not despise ourselves because of our profession or social status. We may be little people to the world, but as long as we know Jesus, we are not little people. God is raising young people from every background everywhere and God is going to make use of them to make a difference.
We read about King David. We sing his psalms and tell his stories. Israel was in danger to become a slave nation to the Philistines. It was a young David who confronted and defeated Goliath.
Marie was courageous to accept pregnancy without marriage. She risked getting killed in those days.
Something that starts small can grow. Do not despite small beginnings.
do not despise bad people
We were sinners. We fell short of the glory of God. Every Christian was a sinner before they became Christians.When Maria Magdalene came to Jesus, the Pharisees despised her. They thought she was a bad person. But Marie Magdalene became a good person. Jesus takes people not accepted by society and transform them.
Do not just a person by his outward appearance.
The woman at the well went to the well alone because she was despised. Jesus talked to her. He doesn’t despise bad people. We cannot transform society if we are happy to be with good people (clean, nice smelling people) and not be with bad people.
When we are with a bad person, we can help them to be a good person.
What happened to the woman at the well? Jesus spoke to her in love. She then ran into town and told people she met a prophet. Many found out Jesus is the Messiah. When you bring a bad person into the knowledge of Jesus, he / she is the best recommendation to bring people to Christ.
Matthew was a tax collector. He worked for the Roman Empire. They made money on commission and extra taxes. Jesus transformed him.
Jesus did the same to Zacchaeus.
Act 8:1 And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Paul used to be Saul who persecuted Christians from house to house and was involved in causing Simon’s death. That was how he started. He was bad news.
Ordinary people scatter people all over the world. The little people change the world. Make ourselves available and God will make us able. We will be surprised what we can do.
So, how can we make a difference? Be sure that Jesus is in us.
Trust in the Lord and believe in yourself
If you believe you can, you can. If you believe you can’t, you can’t.If you think you can or cannot, you are right. ~Henry Ford (I got this from Twitter.)
Jesus will give us according to the measure of our faith. When we believe, God will do wonderful things. He will give us streams in the desert. He can give manna for 40 years.
Elijah asked the woman to give up her flour enough for 1 meal. She believed and they had enough for 1 year.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. We need to trust God. We are indeed little things but God love us and when we accomplish great things, people know it’s God and not us.
God made good use of a staff. What can we do with a staff? Moses was 80 and he didn’t think he could do a lot. God showed him he could do good stuff with the staff. God asked Moses to go to the Pharaoh and throw down his staff and it would turned into a serpents. It was the same staff that open the Red Sea. If God can use a staff, he can use us.
God also used a donkey’s jawbone. Samson found a fresh jawbone of a donkey and killed many enemies. We sometimes say people are like a donkey. If Samson can use a jawbone to do so much, how much more God can use a whole donkey.
David picked up 5 small stones from the stream. And God used the stones to kill Goliath. Just put ourselves in the hands of God and he would use us to defeat the enemies.
We think we don’t have much. Just give what little bit and God will make good use of what we gave him. Give some of what we have and God will give us more. Then we can give more. And we get more. And so on. If we don’t give, God will give to the next person.
A mustard seed can grow to a big tree. A sperm can grow into a chubby child.
5 breads and 2 fish are enough to feed 5000+.
After three and a half of years of drought, there was a cloud the Elijah’s servant described as as small as his palm. Yet is rained and ended the drought.
God choose the foolish things to shame the wise. We become trophies of the glory of God. We are not doing things because we are smart but because of God’s power.
The following are additional notes from the conference folder.
1. It has great perseverance.
Act 2:41-47 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. (42) And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (43) And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. (44) And all who believed were together and had all things in common. (45) And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. (46) And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, (47) praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.2. It has great power.
Act 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."- Power to give testimony that Jesus Christ is alive.
- Power to heal the sick.
- Power to be generous to give offerings.
3. It has great fear.
4. It has great prayers of faith
5. It has great faithfulness.
- As a faithful steward
- As a faithful suffering Church
- As a faithful bride of the Lamb
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