HAVE YOU BEEN TO KADESH?

Numbers 13:26-33

Introduction

1.      Illustration – I read a cookbook about roasting a turkey. The cookbook told how to prepare, stuff, and roast the turkey. One problem – I don’t have a turkey in the house.

2.      What is stopping me from eating roast turkey?

a.      Motivation – Am I hungry enough to do the work?

b.      Resources – Do I want to pay the price?

c.      Ingredients – What lack I yet?

3.      What is stopping the church from growing?

a.      Lack of ingredients? – I don’t think so.

b.      Lack of motivation? – Are you hungry enough?

c.      Not willing to pay the price? – This may be the key issue.

CHURCH GROWTH IS A “NATURAL TENDENCY”

1.      The question is not “How can we grow?”

2.      The church is a living oranisim – therefore it grows.

3.      Real question: What is stopping us from growing?

ONE REASON: IT IS DEAD!

1.      Look at a brown plant. It is dead. It can’t grow.

2.      Some churches are tradition bound = dead.

3.      We do not need recipes – How-to books

4.      WE NEED RESURRECTION!

EVERY CHURCH COMES TO KADESH – that decisive moment where we either go forward or backward

1.      There will always be minor decisions to make.

2.      We come to a MAJOR decision – Kadesh

3.      It is easier to know when you have just been there than when we are approaching

4.      Every church comes to that fork in the road – major decision time

5.      See quote below

6.      Look at attendance records, contribution, baptisms, etc.

HEBREWS 12:2

1.      There are two requirements here

a.      Lay aside al the things that impede

b.      Examine yourself for the sin that hinders us

2.      Are you ready to run – forward?

YOU’VE BEEN TO KADESH WHEN:

1.      Someone says, “My house is just before you get to the cliff.” Go over the cliff and say, “That was Charlie’s house.”

2.      Only half of the church comes back on Sunday night.

3.      Before a game, the coach suggests prayer. “Are we really that bad?”

4.      Someone says, “Amen” and “Praise the Lord” An usher says, “We don’t praise the Lord in this church.”

5.      A six year old asks out loud during the sermon, “Is he live or on tape?”

6.      The congregation leaves the front pews empty.

7.      The hard of hearing turn off their earphones.

8.      The congregation ceases to grow.

From The Pyramid Principle of Church Growth, David A. Womack, page 59