Is Your Church Dying?

James Emery White gives 10 signs of a dying church.  Check them out...

http://www.churchandculture.org/Blog.asp?ID=122

What Is The Gospel?

Check out this great video from Southern Seminary.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/06/14/what-is-the-gospel-3/

Waiting

Waiting can reveal some interesting truths about our lives.  Here are 7 that I mentioned Sunday morning.

Waiting can...

1. expose a skewed perspective.
2. challenge your resolve (will to continue).
3. question your faith (cause us to doubt and 2nd guess God and ourselves).
4. leave you weary, fatigued, and tired.
5. lead to frustration and confusion.
6. make you feel anxious and urgent.
7. make you think nothing is happening.

The text was Habakkuk 2 and the challenge of what to do while waiting was...

1. Listen (Hab 2:1).  What is God trying to teach you.  Waiting is often God's reorientation program.
2. Write (Hab 2:2).  Journal and document what God reveals to you...so you will remember.
3. WAIT (Hab 2:3).  Consider Psalm 27:14.  Wait for the Lord and trust by faith that He is in control and that His time is the right time.

Jesus, Leading Transformation

In their new book, Transformational Church, Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer argue that Jesus displayed the following traits as a transformational leader.  Consider how you compare as a leader.

1. Jesus invested in people.
2. Jesus saw long and far.
3. Jesus sent people away from Him on mission.
4. Jesus grieved for communities.
5. Jesus led a balanced life.
6. Jesus embraced other cultures.
7. Jesus gave up His will.
8. Jesus surrounded Himself with lost people.
9. Jesus' harvest vision was leveraged by prayer.
10. Jesus felt the needs of people.

You can find Stetzer and Rainer's expanded thoughts on these traits on pages 90-93.

How to Listen to a Sermon

From George Whitefield:

1. Come to hear them, not out of curiosity, but from a sincere desire to know and do your duty.
2. Give diligent heed to the things that are spoken from the Word of God.
3. Do not entertain even the least prejudice against the minister.
4. Be careful not to depend too much on a preacher, or think more highly of him than you ought to think.
5. Make particular application to your own hearts of everything that is delivered.
6. Pray to the Lord, before, during, and after every sermon.

Check out the full article here:

http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/howtolisten.html

Why A Church Covenant?

Check out this link regarding this topic.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/06/09/why-a-church-covenant/

Here is a brief excerpt:

John Piper explains why it’s good to have a church covenant even if church covenants aren’t in the Bible:

The Bible does not say explicitly, “Thou shalt have a written church covenant,” any more than it says, “Thou shalt have marriage licenses,” or, “Thou shalt have wedding rings.” . . .

One way to look at it is that a church without a covenant is like a marriage without vows. Marriage vows are not spelled out in the Bible just like church covenants aren’t. Both follow necessarily from the nature of the relationships.