Fortifying God's Kingdom (outreach and evangelism)

Planting and Pruning

Fall is one of the best times of year for planting new shrubs.  In fact, Kristen and I just did this at our house.  We had some plants that were dying in the front of our house so we pulled those up and replanted them somewhere else in hopes that they would thrive in their new environment and we also planted new, smaller shrubs in their place.  

Farmers go through similar process when they are planting their crops.  They spend a lot of time and money cultivating the soil that has already been planted in years past.  When it comes time to plant they have all the proper nutrients in the soil to make the plants produce fruit.  They have to remove all the old plants which are no long producing by tilling up the soil and then they plant new crops in their place so that they produce fruit. 

 

For individual plants, we go through a process called pruning to help them continue to thrive.  In order for a plant to flourish and grow, you have to cut off the old branches which stop producing fruit to make room for new growth.  The branches which don’t produce fruit steel nutrients from the ones that do.  So they need to be cut off. 

The Vine and Branches

In John 15:5-8 Jesus talks about the grape vine in the same.   He says, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  ⁶ If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.  ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.  ⁸ This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

In order for a branch to bear fruit it must remain connected to the vine!  That's a simple truth that we all understand.  But this also means that the branches which are not yet connected to the vine, must be "grafted in" for them to bear fruit. 

Grafting

  The Grafting of branches is a practice whereby the branches of one tree are inserted into a branch or stock of another tree so that the two can join together to become one.  If one plant has a good root stalk system and another has good leaves and branches, they can actually be grafted together to form one plant. 

Paul talks about this process when referring to how God was saving the Gentiles.  He says, "…some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root" (Romans 11:17).

Fruit bearing is important.  Christians bear fruit in many ways, but one of the ways in which they bear fruit is by sharing the gospel.  The fruit of their labor is that people come to Jesus.  This is what Fortifying God’s Kingdom is all about.  It’s about building the kingdom by becoming horticulturalists that graft new branches into the vine.  We help people get connect to the life source.  Without a vine, branches are destined to die.  Jesus said they are thrown away and wither and are only good to be thrown in the fire. 

The truth of the matter is simple, without Jesus people will perish.  We don’t like to talk about the place called hell where people live in eternal separation from God, but that should motivate us to share the gospel all the more.  We have the important job of helping other branches become and remain connected to the vine; to Jesus. 

Paul said in Romans 10:14-15, "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

This is who we are.  We are horticulturalists; the people who grow the kingdom of God.  And we should strive to help people see the truth of Jesus Christ. 

How are we doing with this Reinforcing Principle of the Refuge?  

The Reinforcing Principles of the Refuge

Requesting God’s Guidance

Enjoying fellowship

Fortifying God’s Kingdom

Understanding God’s Word

Giving to the Community

Elevating God in Worship

Enjoying Fellowship

How many of you have ever been on a suspension bridge before?  Many of you were on one at camp a few years ago when we hiked down to that waterfall and back up all those stairs.  Remember, that towards the bottom was a bridge that suspended itself across the river.  It didn’t have any supports underneath.  It was literally hanging from one side of the river to the other.  That scared some of you because it moved and swayed as you walked across it.  And you really didn’t like it when I jumped up and down.  

The Golden Gate Bridge was built in 1937 and is a suspension bridge that spans 4,200 feet!  That’s almost an entire mile!  Since then they’ve gotten even longer.  The longest suspension bridge in the world was built in 1998 and spans 6,532 feet.  That’s almost a mile and a quarter! 

Now imagine for just a moment that you were a half mile into a hike across the Golden Gate Bridge or the bridge in Japan when one of the giant cables holding up the bridge failed to work as they were designed to work?  Well, the bridge would likely fall and you with it.  All the parts of the bridge working together keep you safe from the raging waters below. 

Well the same is true of the body of Christ.  This is why fellowship is so important to your Christian life.  When Christians have strong fellowship in their lives, they can weather the storms of life.  They can cross great chasms and survive the raging waters of life.  Fellowship makes us stronger and provides us with the love and encouragement that we need.   

Have you ever heard the saying, “no man is an island?”  Well, it basically means that human kind is connected to its surroundings and the people that are there.  For the Christian this is especially true.  “No Christian is an Island.”  People were made in God's image and as such we were made for fellowship with other people.  Even God exists in a fellowship of people. 

We don’t have time to go into a full blown explanation of the Trinity, but God exists as three person in one.  He always has and always will be in perfect fellowship with the other persons of the Trinity.  God loved one another, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit before there were angels or human beings.  That's how scripture can teach us that "God is love."  This effects you and I because we were created in God’s image and therefore one of our default needs is fellowship with other believers.  

Hebrews 10:24-25  ⁴ and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,  ²⁵ not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.

1 Peter 4:7-11   ⁷ The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer (Requesting God’s Guidance).  ⁸ Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another (Enjoying Fellowship), because love covers a multitude of sins. 

Fellowship is part of God’s plan.  For every Christian and we are not to forsake it. 

Koinania

Now fellowship is more than just hanging out together, but it’s not less than that.  First and foremost we have to meet together.  But we do so for the purpose of loving one another through Jesus Christ. 

Acts 2:42  ⁴² And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

It was here in Acts 2 when the Christian church was forming and they shared their lives together.  Not just by going out on Friday nights.  Notice they were learning God’s word from the apostles and praying together, they were eating meals together and sharing their lives together.  This just wasn't a ragtag group of people that got together and said, “Hmmm, what are we going to do for fun tonight.”  This was a group whose common denominator was the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Christians need one another.  Someone without fellowship is like a person trying to cross the river without a bridge.  And when we fail to fellowship through the church it’s like taking parts of the bridge apart.  The Bible uses the metaphor of the body.  All the parts work together to form one body and all the parts are needed to function as a body.  All are important and all need to be present for the body to function.  Just like the parts of a bridge.  

·         What are some ways that we can improve upon our fellowship with one another?

       Do we love one another like 1 Peter says, or do we care more about our selves than others?

       Do we strive to be in fellowship with other believers or do we just come to church when we feel like it or when we 'have to'?

       Fellowship is an essential part of the Christian life.  

Foundations - Requesting God's Guidance

Last year we began talking about our prayer life being like the roots of a tree.  They are so important for the tree to grow.  Without the roots, indeed there would be no tree!  The root system of a tree extends out even further than the crown (branches) of the tree.  Without a solid root system to soak up the nutrients from the soil, a tree will die. 

Well the same thing is true of a foundation of a house.  Without the foundation, there would be no house!  The house would crumble and fall to the ground when the first storm rolled into town.  If you think about it, the foundation is really the most important part of the house.  You don’t see it or even think about while you’re in the house, but it is the most important.  Without the it the house would just fall down on your head. 

In college I studied architecture.  And there we learned about parts of the foundation.  Well one of the things that you learn is that the footings, which are part of the foundation, are much wider than the actual wall.  Usually they are at least twice as wide as the foundation wall that extends up from them.  So it looks something like this…(draw the footing and foundation wall).  The footing is typically made of concrete with steel rebar reinforcements and the taller and heavier the structure is that you are going to build on it, the thicker, wider, and more steel you need to support the structure. 

Same thing is true of prayer.  Prayer is the foundation of the Christian life.  It is the way in which we talk to God to express our gratitude, concerns, and requests.  It’s one of the means by which we hear God’s voice and are able to understand and discern His ways for our lives.  In fact, you could say that without prayer, the Christian, like the tree or the house, will eventually fall down and die.  And the more the Christian does (like the house getting bigger) the greater the foundation of prayer needs to be. 

The House built on the Sand

The bible teaches us this very thing.  That a house built on a strong foundation, will stand against the toughest of storms.  Turn in your bibles to Matthew 7:24-27.  Who will read those verses for us?

Matthew 7:24-27  ²⁴ "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock.  ²⁵ "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock.  ²⁶ "And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand.  ²⁷ "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and it fell, and great was its fall."

Leaning Tower of Pisa

You all know the leaning tower of Pisa?  It is one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world.  The Italian bell tower’s initial construction started in 1173.  It began to tilt during the construction phase.  The tilt was caused by an inadequate foundation on a ground that was too soft on one side to support the structures tremendous weight, thus causing the tower to lean to one side.  Since then, many things have been done to the foundation and structure to support it in its leaning state. 

The problem was the foundation was only 3 meters deep (about 9 feet) on a soft soil (like sand) and the structure above ground was much taller and too heavy for such a small foundation.  This is often what happens in our Christian lives.  The building gets too large for the foundation.  We get so busy with life and activities and friends and techno-gadgets that we our prayer life can’t support it all.  So like the tower of Pisa, we begin to topple. 

I’ve shared with some of you the story about the orphanage in Honduras.  When my buddy Jon and I got there we began work on a structure that was nearing completion.  The exterior walls and foundation were already in place.  As time when on, during the dry season we began to notice cracks starting to form in the walls.  When we dug down through the concrete slab and down to the foundation, we found a very inadequate structure on top of clay soil.  As the season changed the soil would expand and contract and the foundation was not strong enough to support the shifting.  This caused the cracks.  In an area where they experience earthquakes, this could be a huge problem.  Our Job quickly become to dig down beneath the current foundation of every exterior and interior wall at four locations in each room to lay new foundation under the old. 

Prayer should be the solid foundation that holds up everything we do.  From school, to family, to sports, to church activities and evangelism, prayer is the key component to it all.  In Colossians 4:2 Paul tells the church of Colossae to “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;”  DEVOTE YOURSELVES TO PRAY.  Have we done this in our own lives?  Do we do this at the refuge?  

High School Guys Leadership Retreat

Leadership is part of life, it's not something we choose...it just is.  People follow people.  People follow you whether you like it or not!  Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth...[and] you are the light of the world." What are the impressions that you are leaving behind and how do they impact the people/generation that follows?  Yes it's true that some people lead more naturally than others.  Never-the-less, we are all leaders.

So I'm planning a Leadership retreat in September. You high school guys are leaders in your classes and to the younger students at the Refuge. So this is for you. The plan is to go camping in Gorges State Park near Turtleback falls on Saturday the 14th of September. I hope we can all learn to step into our leadership roles. Let's make it a point to start now.