Sunday Sermon
SO, HOW DOES YOUR CHURCH GROW?
...by obtaining the promises of God
Date: July 20, 2008
Speaker: Pastor Gerry Gregoire
Scriptural Reference: Acts 6:4
Listen to Audio Sermon

ACTS 6:4
4But we will continue to devote ourselves steadfastly to prayer and the ministry of the Word.

HERE WE HAVE THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PROGRESS OF THE NEWLY FORMED CHURCH, AND THEY DECIDE THAT THEY MUST SPEND MOST OF THEIR TIME IN PRAYER AND IN THE WORD OF GOD.

WE NEED NOW REALIZE THAT THE GROWTH OF ANY CHURCH WILL DEPEND SOLELY ON HOW MUCH TIME THEY SPEND IN PRAYER AND IN THE WORD OF GOD. THAT IS HOW GOD GROWS HIS CHURCH AND THAT IS WHAT WE NEED TO BE DOING.

WE CAN SUM IT UP BY SAYING THAT WE NEED TO BE PRAYING WHAT THE WORD OF GOD HAS PROMISED US AND BELIEVE THAT HE WILL DELIVER TO US WHAT HE HAS SAID IN HIS WORD.

IN ORDER TO RECEIVE WHAT GOD HAS PROMISED TO US, WE NEED TO BELIEVE AND OBEY WHAT HE HAS SAID. IN ORDER TO BELIEVE YOU MUST KNOW WHAT HIS PROMISES ARE TO YOU. THAT IS WHY THE EARLY CHURCH LEADERS SAID THAT THEY MUST PRAY AND DEVOTE THEIR TIME TO GOD’S WORD.

BELIEVING HIM IS TRUSTING HIM! AND WEBSTER DEFINES TRUST AS: ASSURED RELIANCE ON THE CHARACTER, ABILITY, STRENGTH, OR TRUTH OF SOMEONE OR SOMETHING. TO TRUST GOD’S PROMISES, THEREFORE, MEANS THAT WE RELY WITH ASSURANCE ON GOD’S CHARACTER, ABILITY, STRENGTH, AND TRUTH AS IT IS REVEALED IN HIS WORD.

THAT MEANS ALSO THAT WE WILL DO WHAT HE TELLS US TO DO TO BE IN LINE WITH HIS WORD. ONCE YOU ARE ALIGNED WITH HIS WORD AND BELIEVE AND DO WHAT IT SAYS, THE PROMISES WILL FLOW INTO OUR LIVES AND CHURCH.

DEUT 28:1-2 1 IF YOU will listen diligently to the voice of the Lord your God, being watchful to do all His commandments which I command you this day, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you heed the voice of the Lord your God.

THIS IS WHAT GOD’S WORD PROMISES US: HEALING, PROSPERITY, GUIDANCE, REVIVAL, AND VICTORY. HE ALSO PROMISES US PEACE, HEALTH, WISDOM, TRUTH, HAPPINESS, DELIVERANCE, PROTECTION, ETERNAL LIFE, FREEDOM, AND SO MANY OTHER BLESSINGS.

IN ORDER TO OBTAIN THESE PROMISES WE NEED TO KNOW THEM, LOVE THEM, BELIEVE THEM, LIVE THEM, AND PRAY THEM.

LOOK WHAT PETER WROTE IN 2 PETER 1:2-4 2 May grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in [the full, personal, precise, and correct] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue).
4By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature.

ALL THESE PROMISES COME AS A RESULT OF OUR FULL PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE OF HIM. NOW GET A HOLD OF THIS TRUTH AND DON’T LOSE IT.

RECEIVING HIS PROMISES WILL REQUIRE PATIENCE AS HEBREWS TELLS US IN HEBREWS 10:36-37 36 For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised.

37For still a little while (a very little while), and the Coming One will come and He will not delay.

WE NEED OBEDIENCE, LOOK AT DEUT 11:22-23 22 For if you diligently keep all this commandment which I command you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave to Him—23 Then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.

24 Every place upon which the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea [the Mediterranean] your territory shall be.25 There shall no man be able to stand before you; the Lord your God shall lay the fear and the dread of you upon all the land that you shall tread, as He has said to you.

26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse--27The blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day;

HEB 6:12 12 In order that you may not grow disinterested and become [spiritual] sluggards, but imitators, behaving as do those who through faith (by their leaning of the entire personality on God in Christ in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness) and by practice of patient endurance and waiting are [now] inheriting the promises. WE NEED TO BE AN ACTIVE CHURCH AND NOT ONE THAT HAS TRAITS OF LAZINESS, WE MUST BE ACTIVE AND PATIENT.

TO OBTAIN THE PROMISES WE MUST PUT GOD FIRST.

SEE MATTHEW 6:33 33But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides. WHEN YOU UNDERSTAND AND DO THESE THINGS YOU WILL BEGIN TO SEE GOD’S PROMISES FLOW INTO YOUR LIFE. THESE PROMISES WILL MAKE YOU THE CHURCH HE WANTS AND THAT WILL ATTRACT NEW BELIEVERS.

PRAYER IS THE AVENUE THAT WILL TAKE US FROM PROBLEM TO PROMISE, FROM DOUBT TO DISCOVERY, FROM VALLEY TO MOUNTAINTOP, FROM DISCOURAGEMENT TO ENCOURAGEMENT, FROM FEAR TO FAITH, FROM DESPAIR TO HOPE, FROM LIES TO TRUTH, FROM CONFUSION TO WISDOM, FROM LOST TO GAIN. SO YOU SEE, PRAYING GOD’S PROMISES BRINGS LIFE, PEACE, JOY, AND VICTORY INTO EVERY AREA OF OUR LIVES.

THE FOLLOWING ARE GOD’S PROMISED ANSWERS THAT WILL COME INTOYOUR LIFE AS YOU PRAY THEM.

YOU WANTS GOD’S PROTECTION LOOK AT 2 SAM 22:3-4 3 My God, my Rock, in Him will I take refuge; my Shield and the Horn of my salvation; my Stronghold and my Refuge, my Savior--You save me from violence.4 I call on the Lord, Who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.

JUDE 24-25 24 Now to Him Who is able to keep you without stumbling or slipping or falling, and to present [you] unblemished (blameless and faultless) before the presence of His glory in triumphant joy and exultation [with unspeakable, ecstatic delight]--

25 To the one only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory (splendor), majesty, might and dominion, and power and authority, before all time and now and forever (unto all the ages of eternity). Amen (so be it).
GOD PROMISES TO HEAR US. 2 SAM 22:7 7 In my distress I called upon the Lord; I cried to my God, and He heard my voice from His temple; my cry came into His ears.

JOB 34:28 28 So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him, and He heard the cry of the afflicted.
PSALM 9:12 12 For He Who avenges the blood [of His people shed unjustly] remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the afflicted (the poor and the humble).

PROV 15:29 29 The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the [consistently] righteous (the upright, in right standing with Him).

1 JOHN 5:14-15 14And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us.15And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him.

WHERE DOES GOD PROMISE HEALING? 2 KINGS 20:5 5Turn back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of My people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your [forefather]: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.

ISAIAH 53:5 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole. HEALED MEANS PHYSICAL MENDING.

HIS PROMISES FOR DELIVERANCES ARE: PSALM 91:15-16 15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. 16With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.
JOEL 2:32 32And whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered and saved, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the remnant [of survivors] shall be those whom the Lord calls.

HIS PROMISES TO ANSWER PRAYER: JEREMIAH 33:3 3Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand).

MATTHEW 7:7-8 7Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. 8For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.

MATTHEW 21:22 22 And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and [really] believing, you will receive.
JOHN 11:22 22 And even now I know that whatever You ask from God, He will grant it to You.
JOHN 15:7 7 If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. HERE WE SEE THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WORD LIVING IN YOU AND YOU LIVING IN THE WORD.

JOHN 16:23 23 And when that time comes, you will ask nothing of Me [you will need to ask Me no questions]. I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that My Father will grant you whatever you ask in My Name [as presenting all that I AM]. WHEN YOU POSSESS THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST, WHEN THE FATHER LOOKS AT YOU HE SEES HIS SON JESUS.

HOW ABOUT LONG LIFE? PSALM 91:15-16 15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.

HOW ABOUT HIM COMING CLOSE TO US? JAMES 4:8 8Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery]. IT ALL STARTS WHEN YOU START COMING CLOSER TO HIM.

HIS PROMISE TO MEET OUR NEEDS IS IN PHIL 4:19 19And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

HIS PROMISE TO GIVE YOU POWER OVER YOUR ENEMY IS IN LUKE 10:19 19 Behold! I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and [physical and mental strength and ability] over all the power that the enemy [possesses]; and nothing shall in any way harm you.

HOW ABOUT HIS PROMISE TO DO BEYOND WHAT WE EXPECT IN EPHESIANS 3:20-21.

20 Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]--
21 To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen (so be it).

AND THER ARE SO MANY MORE PROMISES THAT BELONG TO US. WE, THE BELIEVERS IN JESUS CHRIST, ARE THE MOST FORTUNATE PEOPLE WHO EVER WALKED THE FACE OF THE EARTH. WE NEED TO BE THE HAPPIEST PEOPLE WHO EVER LIVED. WE ARE THE MOST VICTORIOUS PEOPLE IN THE WORLD, AND ITS ONLY BECAUSE OF THE RICH AND PROMISES OF GOD.

PROMISES THAT GOD WANTS US TO CLAIM AS OUR OWN THROUGH FAITH AND PRAYER. REMEMBER 2 COR 1:20 20 For as many as are the promises of God, they all find their Yes [answer] in Him [Christ]. For this reason we also utter the Amen (so be it) to God through Him [in His Person and by His agency] to the glory of God.

WHAT MAKES THIS CHURCH GROW IS WHEN WE START CLAIMING ALL OF GOD’S PROMISES THROUGH OUR PRAYERS AND OUR BEING OBEDIENT TO ALL HIS WORD, NOT ONLY TO HEAR THEM BUT TO DO THEM.

WE WILL PLACE OUR EMPHASIS ON HIS WORD BECAUSE HIS WORD IS WHO HE IS. WE WILL CONTINUE TO BE A PEOPLE OF PRAYER. OUR PRAYER MEETINGS WILL NOT BE JUST A TIME OF FELLOWSHIP BUT A TIME WHEN WE WILL SEE THE HAND OF GOD MOVE IN OUR FAVOR. THERE WILL BE HEALINGS AND DELIVERANCES AND PEOPLE WILL COME FROM NEAR AND FAR TO BE WITH A PEOPLE WHO KNOW HOW TO GET A HOLD OF GOD.

IT’S ALREADY STARTED WITH OUR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION BUT THAT IS JUST THE BEGINNING. WE HAD THE BIGGEST ATTENDED PRAYER MEETING ON TUESDAY AND IF YOU WERE NOT THERE YOU MISSED A BLESSING FROM GOD.

WE MUST FOLLOW THESE 6 STEPS IN SUMMARY:
1. KNOW GOD’S WORD.
2. BELIEVE GOD’S WORD.
3. RECEIVE GOD’S WORD.
4. PERSONALIZE THE WORD
5. PRAY THE PROMISES.
6. RECEIVE GOD’S PROMISED ANSWERS.
ALTAR CALL AND INVITATION TO THE CHURCH.