02/23/03 - "Strengthen our stakes" - by Pastor Mike Baker
Is 54:1-3
5 Exhortations:
- Enlarge the place of your tent
- place
- locality & condition (of our hearts, dreams, visions, expectations)
- God has big things in store for us
- expectancy is the atmosphere for miracles
- tent
- clearly seen & attracts attention
- as we enlarge our capacity to serve Him, it will make us obvious and attract people to us
- place
- Stretch out our curtains
- pulls out of our comfort zone
- God expects more out of us today than yesterday
- Do not spare/hold back (be passionate, Ecc 9:10)
- Lengthen your cords
- add to;keep what you have and make it bigger
- build unto your foundation
- Strengthen your stakes
- deals with foundations
- when increase comes, we need to be able to handle it
- our Stakes
- foundation in word of God
- vocation & know that we are saved
- election
- corporate vision
- unity
- Christian disciplines
- love
- commitment to God & one another
- our distinctives as a church
- our heart for the unsaved
Mk 16:15-18
Mt 28:16-20
- Need to better understand who we are so that we can convey that to those we bring
- not just worshipping to get blesses, but worshipping to bless God so that we can bless those who are around us
- there must be a sensitivity to the lost without sacrificing the anointing of the service.
Jn 4:35
Mt 9:35-38
- we cannot expect people to get saved just by showing up
- we need to be intentional about making reaching the lost an everyday part of our lives