How Can I Make A Difference?

Matt 25:34-40

For most of this series, I have dealt with common questions asked by those wanting to know more about our church or God. Today I want to talk about a common question asked by probably every Christian at some point in their spiritual lives. How Can I make a difference?

It gets frustrating sitting in a pew week after week and being told we need to do more and not be told how to do so. I am probably guilty of doing that myself. As church leaders we see needs both physical and spiritual within the congregation and we tell the church they need to help meet these needs, but we don’t really articulate how to make a difference, only that a difference needs to be made.

Well, today we’ll look at how we can make a difference.

PRAYER

I. How Can I Make A Difference

A. Individuals can make a great difference

1. Usually we think about what we can do as a church. We’ll talk about that today, but I want to start off by talking about what we can do as individuals to make a difference.

2. Sometimes I think we fall into the trap of only thinking about what we can do as a church. While the church can do some great things for the kingdom of God, the Bible teaches us that as individuals we can do just as much.

B. What can I do?

1. That’s what our text was all about.

2. Individual people who did good things for others.

3. Jesus equated those good deeds to others with doing good deeds to him.

4. By the way you help your fellow brother and sister in Christ and people in general is a great way to make a difference.

5. Carol Minarik was so grateful for the cards and calls she got. In fact her voice kept choking up as she told me about how nice they were and what those simple little things meant to her.

6. Something so simple yet made such a difference to a person.

7. I always hear about how impressed our guests are with the notes and cards that come from church members thanking them for visiting with us. They may not know who you are, but they feel the warmth of our congregation through those notes.

8. Our prayer cards and love notes are another very simple, but very powerful way to make a difference.

a) When those prayer cards are turned in, each one represents a need that someone would like others to pray for.

b) When you pick up that card, you are telling the person that you care enough about their need to remember them in prayer during the week.

c) The love notes are obvious. Everyone loves a simple little reminder they are being thought about with love.

9. Giving.

a) We don’t like to mess with our pocketbooks too much.

b) But I am telling you, what you give as an individual to the church combined with what other individuals give can change the world.

c) It allows us to be more effective in helping those in our community and be able to support missionaries in a meaningful way.

10. Friend Day.

a) About once a year we have a friend day.

b) Most everyone I know attends this congregation.

c) You however, have a lot more people you know that an invitation to come and worship with us could change their lives and souls forever.

d) Friend days will only be successful if each of us as individuals make an effort to invite.

11. The most powerful way you can make a difference is to simply share why you love the Lord.

a) You don’t have to get in someone’s face and preach.

b) Just let people know what God means to you and why when the opportunity arises.

II. What Can We Do To Make A Difference

A. Our group can make a difference

1. Usually when we think of making a difference, this is the way we think. The church.

2. You are right, the church has a major role in making a difference to the world around it.

3. When a child gets lost outside, it almost always starts with a parent shouting desperately for their lost child. When that doesn’t help, they enlist others to help them. If that fails, we usually call the police and they organize teams of people and the best way to use those people to find the child. It is that concerted group effort that usually finds a child.

4. The church is much the same way.

a) As individuals we can do a lot for the kingdom of God.

b) But when you get a group together with a common goal and a plan, you can do things that most individuals could never do on their own.

5. God has always planned for us to work as single Christians and also as a church to make a difference in our world.

a) In 2 Cor 8 we read about Macdedonian churches and their desire to help saints in need.

b) READ 2 Cor 8:1-5

c) These groups of people did what individuals alone could not have done.

d) The church in Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey.

e) The church in Corinth started the relief effort for the churches in Judea.

B. What can we do to make a difference?

1. We already make a difference in many ways

a) We support 5 mission areas.

b) We help both within our congregation and within the community for families in need.

c) We have an active evangelism and education program.

2. But we can do more.

a) Instead of sending just funds to our missionaries, let’s send people to help as we can.

(1) Maybe we can take a group to Michigan, Maine or Adams County and do a VBS or other project that can be helpful to them.

(2) Maybe we can send some people to Malawi to help in the orphanage or preacher’s school there.

b) Instead of helping only with financial needs for our families in need, let’s see what we can do to help them.

(1) Maybe some of our members need repairs done. We could do that.

(2) Maybe our older people need their yards raked. We could do that.

(3) Maybe our youth need transportation to a youth rally or event. We could do that.

c) As a church we need to dream big for the kingdom of God.

d) Instead of dwelling on our being a small church, let’s dwell on the fact that we have a big God in which all things are possible.

3. I lay a challenge before us

a) I challenge this congregation to find a way to break our attendance record of 186 on a Sunday.

b) I challenge our congregation to find one person per family to share the gospel with.

c) I challenge our congregation to get with their family on the fellowship wheel each month.

d) I challenge our congregation to a 24-hour prayer vigil this summer.

e) I challenge our congregation to make our upcoming Super Saturday the best one ever.

f) I challenge our congregation to believe in our hearts that God can help us accomplish all of these things.

C. We CAN make a difference

1. It takes individuals and the church as a whole to work to make a difference.

2. If we all step up, nothing can stand in our way.

3. If we all make a commitment to move forward, it’s look out world, here we come!

4. We can make a difference. The question we need to answer is; will we?