Sermon for Sunday July 20th, 2008

MY DREAM CHURCH by Bruce Ball

1 Peter 1:14-1:15


We all have dreams, don’t we? A man went to the psychiatrist and said he was full of anxiety. The doctor asked him if he had any reoccurring dreams. The man said he had the same dream 2-3 times each week.

He said he dreams he is in a teepee and doesn’t know how he got there. At this point in his dream, then he closes his eyes and opens them to find that he is in a pup tent. He asked the doctor if that meant anything.

The doctor said it meant he was too tense.

Did you know that tension exhibits itself in the from of stress? And stress is not always caused by negative things; it is also caused by positive things in your life.

For instance, Mike Parker was recovering from a severe heart attack, and the doctor said there should be no excitement of any kind in his life for a couple months. He repeated, "None whatsoever!"

So when his wife found out they had won the lottery, worth 4 million dollars, she was afraid to tell him, for fear it might give him another heart attack. After several days of her worrying about it, she called their pastor. She explained the situation to him and asked for his help, since he was very good at helping people handle grief and stress.

About an hour later, the pastor came over and went into the den where Mike was watching TV. They talked for a few minutes, and then very calmly, the pastor leaned over and said, “Mike, I have a problem and I’d like your advice.”

Mike said, he would do anything he could for the pastor.

The pastor took a deep breath and said, "It’s a theoretical situation regarding Christian stewardship. I am trying to figure out what a normal person would do if they just came into 4 million dollars. For instance, what would you do if you had that kind of money?"

Mike never hesitated at all. He said the first thing he would do is give 2 million dollars to the church. And the preacher had a heart attack.

I think we have all dreamed about having more money, haven’t we? As a young boy, I used to dream about having so much money my parents would never have to work again.

Of course, that was replaced by other dreams as time went by, such as my dream of being a cowboy and my dream of being in charge of the world.

As I grew up, I had other dreams. I dreamed of meeting that beautiful, once-in-a-lifetime Lady I could love, and later I dreamed of being successful in the business world, and on and on they went.

And then one day, God came knocking on my heart’s door. Over a period of years, He began laying the foundation that would give me a dream of preaching to people in a church.

I am glad to say that some of my dreams never made it into reality, but some did. I did meet that Lady and I do love her very much. I had many opportunities in the business world, but never became a master at any of them. And perhaps the most important dream of all came true; I now spend my life telling others about Jesus Christ and how He can do the same thing for them that He did for me – if they will just let Him.

I still have dreams, however. You know that time just after we go to bed; the time after we talk to God for a while? I’ll be truthful with you: I sometimes fall asleep while I am talking to God. Not because I am bored, but because I am at perfect peace and harmony with Him.

But there are other times I start thinking about other things as I pray or when I get done. Things like building this church and what I would like it to be doing ten years from now for the Lord. I look at it and say, “This is the world’s greatest church!”

And so today, I want to talk about my dream church.


1. MY DREAM CHURCH IS STRONG

Almost every preacher will preach God’s word about how we are commanded to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, and how we are to be unified through Christ. But as the congregational body leaves the church, it seems something happens to them between the church door and their car door. And whatever it is, makes them completely forget that part of the message that deals with brotherly love.

Two examples come to mind. The local pastor who said we could not rent their church from them on a temporary basis if they demolish this building before we find a place: His reasoning was, "We couldn’t do that because we would never let someone outside our denomination even walk through our door." So much for Christian fellowship or brotherly love. And so much for walking the walk of a real Christian.

The second example took place in 1999 in Landover, Maryland. A church body actually got into a divisive argument about the placement of a piano bench. And the argument had grown in intensity for many years. Finally, there was a major church split. The entire congregation split into four separate bodies.

The senior pastor wouldn’t talk to the associate pastors, and none of them would talk to each other, and very few of anyone else would talk to anyone else. So an outside mediator came in and settled the dispute.

They would have four church services, each headed by the one pastor they wanted. The services would be scheduled far enough part to keep any of one group from having any kind of conversation with a member of another group. And an outside party would come in between each service and reposition the bench.

Let me say this: If there is any kind of dispute between you and anyone else in the church you worship in, bury the hatchet immediately! If you cannot feel peaceful toward the other person, it will be necessary for you to find another church. I am not trying to chase anyone away, but I will keep this church safe.

Let me also say that God’s heart must break when He sees His beloved children act in such a hateful and devilish way. And these same type of conflicts can be seen in far too many churches today. It’s simply time to get up, get on, and get over it – like an adult instead of continually throw tantrums like small children do.

EPHESIANS 5:1-2 tell us,

‘Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children – and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us.’

We are called to copy God. And that means we are to not just talk about loving others; we are called to love others; to put it into action; to live a life of love.

For this church to be strong, it must be a united church. If it is not united, it will fall.

MARK 3:25 says,

‘If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.’

What makes a church fall into dissension? Self-focus. When we take our eyes off Jesus and put them on ourselves, we end up becoming the most important person in the church, and none of us are mature enough to handle that.

It isn’t about me; it is about Thee. Outside of Christ Jesus, I don’t count – period. And neither do you. It is only in Christ Jesus that we have the strength of Christ, the love of God, and the hope of eternity.

My favorite time in church comes after the service. Every week, as we all get about the task of finishing up, we always start talking to each other. I try my best to not get involved in too much of a long conversation with anyone, so I will have the time to have many short conversations with everyone.

But I always end up stopping for a few minutes and just start watching. The people in this church are like no other church body I have ever seen! You talk to each other every Sunday like you haven’t seen each other in months, and have missed each other very much.

Our services are usually over a little after 11:00am, but it is quite common for Diana and I to stay here fellowshipping with different people as late as 2:30pm!

Why does that happen? Because you love Jesus. You love coming to His house. You love being in His presence, and you love the rest of your family. Your are showing how unity in a church is supposed to operate.

I mentor some of the men at the city jail. One of them said when he gets out, he wants to become totally involved in the church. He said, “But not just this church. I want to help other churches, too.” Somehow, I think he understands what Jesus wants from all of us; unity and brotherly love.

And with unity comes strength. My vision for CrossRoads is for it to become a helping force in this community and in the world. We send Bibles to China and to our troops. We support a woman’s abuse center with both money and supplies. We are creating a ministry to collect old cell phones in the city so they can be converted into phone cards for our soldiers so they can call their families free of charge.

And we are forever preaching the Gospel of Jesus and baptizing more and more people as they receive Jesus as Lord. We have baptized 14 people within the last year, and are getting ready to baptize three more in a week or so.

How can a church this small do so very much? Unity. One horse pulling a buckboard can’t pull it as fast or as far as a team of horses, can it? Just a few people in a church will never be able to make that church as effective as a whole congregation can.

So my dream church is a strong church. And this church shows signs of being potentially stronger than any church I have ever encountered.


2. MY DREAM CHURCH IS ALSO AN ATTENDED CHURCH

There is an old song that has a line in it that says, "People who need people are the luckiest people in the world."

I don’t believe in luck, but I do believe that people need other people. We were not created to be isolationists or solitary individuals. We were meant to be in contact with others of our own kind. We were meant to fellowship.

HEBREWS 10:25 says,

‘Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.’

Some people claim to belong to a church but rarely spend any time going there. It seems there is always some “reason” that crops up to keep them away from going into the house of God on Sunday mornings.

I personally think that each Christian needs to select a church they can learn in; a church they feel comfortable and welcome in; and a church they feel drawn to, and then be regular in attendance to that church unless a real emergency keeps them from it. For how can we be devoted to anything if we don’t let it become a regular part of our lives?

I heard a pastor say it this way: "How can you claim to have a close relationship with Jesus, if you don’t like going to His house?"

God told us to go to church. Why do so many people feel so comfortable in disobeying that instruction? By not going to church, we keep the church at a distance. And when we keep the church at a distance, we keep Jesus at a distance.

Where in your world are you going to learn more about the Lord than in church? Where in your world are you going to be encouraging more people than in the church? And the list goes on and on. In short, if you want to grow you have to eat, and if you want to grow in Christ, you must devour His word. And you cannot do that while being isolated away from His family.

A young woman in China had been invited to a church and had gone just to please her friend. While she was there, she received Jesus Christ and began attending regularly. She did that because she found pure joy in her soul while she was at church. That was the one place in her life she could actually worship in the Lord’s very presence.

And since she loved being close to Jesus that much, she wanted her mother to know the same feeling. There were two problems, though. Her mother was an invalid and unable to walk, and they lived 18 miles from church. The daughter wanted to go to church so badly; she was willing to overcome these obstacles.

She purchased a basket big enough to put on her back, and she carried her mother all the way to church. They would leave the night before and walk most of the night – just to attend God’s house of prayer and worship. Then they would spend the entire rest of the day walking back home.

And what do Americans do? We tend to let the smallest of reasons keep us from going to church. We are tired from the hard week we just had. We need to understand that God is a restorer, and He will restore our strength. We complain that we just didn’t feel that well, but then come Sunday afternoon; we are out and about, enjoying ourselves to the max. I cannot help but wonder if that hurts God as He looks down and sees how we cheated Him out of some time being spent with us.

On any given Sunday some people will be gone from our worship service. Some of this is expected. People take vacations. Some of this is not expected. Sometimes people get sick or they may have to work. Understandable. We feel for such people.

Last Sunday, several people were gone for one reason or another. What’s the reason? I don’t know. I do know, however, that our time on earth is shorter than we realize, that the world is a mess, that America is getting worse, that the devil is trying his best to devour us. Because of these negative things it becomes absolutely necessary that we be more committed than ever before to Christ and to His church.

In town should mean "in church." Out of town should mean "in church." If you’re on vacation there are plenty of churches that preach Christ. And, as a real Christian, it is your duty to support one of them with your presence.

Many don’t like hearing that admonishment. They don’t like someone telling them they need to be in church instead of “taking the day off.” I’ve told you about a man I knew in Arizona who would proclaim his allegiance to Christ and His church, but on the first Sunday of every single month, he would take off and go to the boat races south of Phoenix.

His allegiance was false. He ’went’ to church. His ’allegiance’ was to his boat races. I say that because he would feel free to miss church to go to a boat race, but would never miss a boat race to attend church. His races were his idols. Jesus wasn’t.

Let me ask you a very hard question: What is your idol? Let me answer for you. Your idol is the very thing you enjoy doing that keeps you away from the Lord’s house on Sunday.

Again, let me reiterate that there are reasons to miss church. If you are truly too sick to go, that is one. If you are working, that is one. But, to miss church so you can do something you really like to do is NOT one of them.

My dream church is a church where believers gather to worship my Jesus! It is a place where people go to seek comfort and solace. In short, my dream church is pretty much like this church. A church filled with people who really do love Jesus - enough to be dedicated to attending.

But my dream church is even more!


3. IT IS FILLED WITH THE LOVE OF CHRIST

Most churches today try and model themselves after the church as described in the book of ACTS. Someone once said, "Those believers loved each other and were dedicated to each other."

That is the type of church my dream church is. It is a place where people come together and fall in love with one another.

Let me pick on some of you for a moment. Many of you all went to the same church before coming to CrossRoads. And I have heard several of you comment on how you went to the same church for years, but didn’t know each other more than to say hello to each week.

But that has all changed now, hasn’t it? You stay here after church on Sundays and talk for an hour or so, just because you enjoy each other. I stand back and thank God that you have fallen in love with one another.

I have heard several people say that when they first started coming to CrossRoads, they were amazed at how everyone accepted them and drew them into our family immediately. All it took was their willingness to associate with the rest of the church body.

And along with that acceptance of one another, comes the willingness to help each other when needed. I have also heard several people here volunteer to do something for others later during the week.

My dream church is also dedicated, just as you folks have shown you are. If you only knew how blessed I am to be a part of this amazing, loving, friendly, and real congregation. There is not a week that goes by that I do not thank God many times for letting me be involved with people like you. I thank you, too.

My dream church is filled with people who help other people. And how can you better help somebody than to save their life?

JAMES 5:20 in the Contemporary English Version reads,

‘If you turn sinners from the wrong way, you will save them from death, and many of their sins will be forgiven.’

One thing I used to pray about was some people in church who loved the Lord enough to tell others about Him. I have heard most of you tell how you planted seeds on your jobs, with friends, and even at the store. You loved Jesus enough to spread His word. And you loved others enough to not want them to go to hell. I am very honored to call you my friends.

But there is one other thing my dream church is:


4. IT IS A SPIRITUAL CHURCH

Too many churches are more about religion than they are relationships. Most churches do not have a slogan, but we founded our church on one. It is, "not how, but why." See, we don’t really care how church is supposed to be done. We only care why it is to be done; to reach others for the sake of salvation.

When a church spends their time focused on HOW they do things, they don’t have any time to focus on WHY they should be doing them. I talked to a minister in Arizona once who had been ministering at this denomination church for over 20 years. We were talking about the Lord’s Supper.

I asked him why he thought we observed that in the first place. He answered quickly that we do it because Jesus told us to. I fully agreed. Then I asked him why Jesus told us to observe it. He began to give me his denomination’s perspective, and I interrupted him. I told him why he really thought Jesus wanted us to remember the Lords’ Supper. He admitted that he didn’t understand. But he added that didn’t keep him from doing it.

That is an example of doing something strictly because it is a tradition, and not having the first clue as to why we do it. In my honest opinion, if a church does that, they need to research and try to find the biblical reason they do something, or they need to just throw the tradition out and replace it with something that brings us closer to God.

If you have been coming to CrossRoads for more than one time, you are aware that we are a little different. Oh, we do some of the things other churches do, but we try our best to make sure they are biblical in nature, and then we try to explain that so everyone will know why it is done.

So, to be spiritual, our top priority is to want to be holy. And to want that so much that we are willing to pursue it and not just sit back and hear about it.

1 PETER 1:14-15 tells us,

‘As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

A church may have thousands of names on its registers; it might have the most beautiful of buildings; and it may overflow with each service, but a holy church has even more.

A holy church offers hungry people the information they need to fill their souls. A holy church’s first priority, even above helping with the everyday needs of people, is reaching people for Jesus.

Our church does many things, but I certainly pray that the one thing it does most is pursue holiness. Notice I said, "pursue."

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines “pursue” as:

···· To chase after
···· To find, or to obtain
···· To engage in, or to proceed with

We do not need to go to church just to listen to my sermons. We don’t need to go to church just to listen to this wonderful singing. We only need to go to church to learn how to become holy for our Lord.

Make up your mind that you cannot go to heaven if you are not holy. That is a biblical truth that you will not hear many churches talk about today, because this is 2008, and we like soft, easy-to-listen-to messages. You know, messages that don’t make us have to actually “do” anything.

Your only recourse is to chase after holiness with all your might. Let nothing stand in your way. You must find holiness, and then obtain it so you can engage in holiness. Then to proceed with holiness in all the rest of your lives.

True, dedicated, pursuing Christians are the most valuable people in the world. It will be that holy and dedicated believer in Christ who will reflect His glory out into the world. It will be His glory that will change and save a multitude of people.

And to show you how Jesus works, the more that Christian reflects the glory of Christ, the more Christ will glorify that Christian. And the more he glorifies that Christian, the more the Christian will help the church reach even more people for Christ.

I recently had to replace one of the strings on my mandolin. I laid the new string on the table as I took off the broken string. When I had thrown it into the trash, I looked at the new string lying on the table and realized how much it resembles many Christians.

That string has the ability to play beautiful music. Yet it is lying there unused, idle, and totally worthless in its present location.

Christians have the ability to reach so many people for the glory of God. Yet we go to church and sit, then go home and sit. We let our lives become idle and totally worthless for building up the kingdom of Christ.

Which are you today? Are you the string that is making the beautiful music, or are you the string that sits idly by, not doing what you were made to do? If you take another look at the mandolin string, you will notice that for it to play beautiful music, it must be stretched beyond its present condition.

And for us to work fully for Jesus, our Creator, we must also be stretched out so we can accomplish more. Are you willing to be stretched out in your life? Are you willing to give up some of your comfort so you can pursue God? Whether it means going on a far away missions trip, or just sitting down with your family in the evening and reading a book of the Bible.

You might ask who I am, to be telling you these things. I was a man walking my own path, relying on my own power, and submitted to nobody but myself. But something happened and I chose to pursue a relationship with Jesus Christ. And because I tried my best to chase after Him, He changed me.

Today, I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have stepped over the line and the decision has been made. I won’t look back, I won’t let up, I won’t slow down, back up, or go away.

My past is forgiven, my present is sustained, and my future is secure. I live and walk by pure faith, lean on His presence, am lifted by prayer, and set my face towards heaven.

My mission is clear and my motives are pure. I won’t give up, shut up, or let up … until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up all for the sweet cause of my Jesus.

I have a job to do and will do that job until the final clock ring of my life. And it will be then, I will cross the Jordan, setting foot on the sandy beach of heaven that I will look into my Savior’s eyes and hear Him tell me, "Well done my good and faithful servant. Come into your reward."

When you give up and give to Him, you will receive all He has for you. And I promise you that you will never regret nor will you ever look back. I urge you now to make that decision. Be sold out, be on fire, and be forever active in His kingdom and in His church.