Jude 1:20-24 (KJV)
But ye,
beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy
Ghost,
Keep
yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
unto eternal life.
And of
some have compassion, making a difference:
And others
save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted
by the flesh.
Now unto
him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
The subject I have been
given is “How HOPE Benefits the Church.”
That’s a legitimate
subject, isn’t it?
1 Corinthians 14:12 (KJV)
Even so
ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel
to the edifying of the church.
Ephesians 5:25 (KJV)
Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
- The most important
thing to God is Jesus Christ
- The most important thing to Jesus Christ is His church
So the most important thing
that we can strive to excel in is that which would edify or benefit our church.
I have been part of the
HOPE ministry from its beginning. Ours probably wasn’t the first church to
incorporate it, but ours was one of the first 3-5 churches.
I had already been involved
in an addictions ministry for about three years.
There were specific reasons
why I encouraged Brother Carter to write this curriculum – all of them related
to how a program developed from his doctrinal position could be a greater
benefit to a local Baptist church than was the curriculum I had been using.
The HOPE curriculum was
written for the local Baptist church.
There is no other
addictions program that I am aware of that will reinforce and edify the local
Baptist church like the HOPE program.
- HOPE is cost
effective
- HOPE is adjustable
to the needs of the church
- HOPE is manageable
for any size of local church
- HOPE is respectful
of the local church
- HOPE is used only
in independent Baptist churches
But I want to speak in more
general terms, “How HOPE will benefit YOUR church.”
HOPE will benefit your
church because,
I. IT IS A FULFILLMENT OF THE GREAT COMMISSION
- all the world, every creature
Matthew 28:18-20 (KJV)
And Jesus
came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth.
Go ye
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with
you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Mark 16:15 (KJV)
And he
said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature.
Jesus said,
- All nations.
- All the world and
- Every creature
No one church can do all of
that on its own, but we can work together with missionaries to reach all the
world and, if God so leads,
With HOPE, we can reach a segment that is often forsaken and forgotten,
right in our own back yard.
I was preaching for a
friend of mine in Alaska a few years ago. We had had dinner in his home, a nice
place – not expensive, but in a new development.
- On one side of the
development was a major route through Anchorage boasting the kinds of
restaurants you and I like to eat at.
- On the other side
of the development was a small river, teaming with salmon – and, he says,
bears that want to eat the salmon.
After dinner he and I went
for a walk. I was enjoying pleasant conversation, when he turned the corner
around a building and introduced me to about 15 homeless people living in and
around the back step of this place.
It was October – the snow
already covered the hills surrounding Anchorage, and ice had already frozen
over the little river.
Every one of those people
were addicts.
And they were literally in
his back yard. [1]
Sometimes they are closer
than that.
Sometimes they are in our
own homes and in our own churches.
HOPE will benefit your
church because,
II. IT IS AN AVENUE TO HELP LOVED ONES OF THE
CHURCH MEMBERS
Matthew 15:22 (KJV)
And,
behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him,
saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously
vexed with a devil.
Have you ever meditated
upon how many people brought their loved ones to Jesus for help?
One of the first people we
had in our addictions ministry way the brother of a faithful church member.
He had gotten himself in
trouble, was facing a prison sentence and, began attending our ministry in
fulfillment of a court order.
That’s been years ago now.
- He did go to
prison.
- He got out and
Just the other day, when a
windstorm blew some shingles off the roof of our church, he was there within a
couple of hours and fixed it.
I would not be able to
count now, the people who have come to our HOPE program because one of their
family attends our church and needed some way to offer help and HOPE to a
- Brother
- Sister or
- Son
The HOPE ministry gives the
members of your church a tool they can offer to people they love.
In that way HOPE offers
hope for the people in your church.
HOPE will benefit your
church because,
III. IT IS A TOOL THAT BRINGS NEW PEOPLE INTO
CHURCH
Acts 2:47 (KJV)
…. And the
Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
We tend to separate
ourselves from the addicted with the designation, “the addicted.”
Truth is, everyone is
addicted to sin.
All of us have some sort of
bondage.
And there are many who are
looking for something to help them get free of that bondage.
We do have people in our
HOPE classes who are addicted to alcohol and drugs.
But the majority of them are
looking for help
- For their marriage
or
- To overcome anger
or
- To deal with
gambling problems
We have several faithful
families in our church now, whose first contact with our church was through
HOPE.
HOPE will benefit your
church because,
IV. IT IS A PROGRAM OF DISCIPLESHIP FOR NEW
CONVERTS
Jude 1:20-24 (KJV)
But ye,
beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy
Ghost,
HOPE is, more than anything
else, an intense discipleship program.
Those involved in the HOPE
classes learn:
- To pray
- To keep devotions
with the Lord
- To attend church
services
- To serve the church
and others
- To be accountable
to other Christians
That’s discipleship.
I have recommended a number
of the new families in our church to get involved in HOPE just because it is
such a great discipleship ministry.
Every week, as I dismiss
the Sunday school classes to their rooms, I remind the adults that we have a
HOPE Sunday school class and encourage them to attend if they are so inclined.
I have a fellow attending our
church right now, whose wife and he just separated.
Among other things, I urged
him to attend HOPE as a means to grow in faith while he tries to reconcile his
marriage.
HOPE will benefit your
church because,
V. IT IS AN INSTRUMENT OF COUNSELING FOR TROUBLED
MEMBERS
Titus 2:1-6 (KJV)
But speak thou the
things which become sound doctrine:
That the aged men be
sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
The aged women likewise,
that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given
to much wine, teachers of good things;
That they may teach the
young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
To be discreet, chaste,
keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be
not blasphemed.
Young men likewise
exhort to be sober minded.
Very frequently I recommend members of
our church attend HOPE just to help them get some area of their lives
straightened out.
HOPE is, as much as anything, a place of
sound doctrine.
- Marriage problems
- Anger problems
- Rebellion issues
Name the trouble someone is having in
their Christian walk and HOPE can be a help to them.
HOPE will benefit your
church because,
V. IT IS AN AVENUE OF MINISTRY FOR SOME
We have three families in our HOPE program
right now who believe they are called into the ministry.[2]
HOPE is a great place of training for
them and, frankly, if a person isn’t interested in being in a ministry like
HOPE, I doubt that they are really interested in being in ministry at all.
CONCLUSION
HOPE has benefitted our church.
It didn’t happen over night but over the
course of years, but HOPE is now an integral part of our ministry,
- One that I think is
self perpetuating[3], or at least
nearly so. And
- One that adds value
to our church instead of being a drain upon our church.
http://www.hope4addictions.com
[1] He frequently takes a
BBQ out there and fixes them a meal as he tries to win them to Christ and point
out a different path.
[2] Some of them do not
believe that God is calling them to be full time, but they want to be involved
in the ministry of our church.
[3]I believe we have
developed enough people now that, should our current director be forced to quit
through health or age, we would have others to step in.
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