11 Traits of the People of God Part 9

Introduction

Genesis 30:22–24 NKJV

Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” So she called his name Joseph, and said, “The Lord shall add to me another son.”

•     Well church, welcome to our final sermon on the 11 traits of the People of God.

•     In this series we have gone over 10, now 11 with todays message, sons of Jacob… these sons become 11 tribes of Israel, 12 with Benjamin who is born in Chapter 35.

•     Each of these sons is born in unique circumstances and is given a prophetic name based on his birth, and each name is based off of a Hebrew word. You should have been given a hand out when you came in recapping this who serries so you have something  to remember it by…  but today we get to finish the serries, at least until we get to chapter 35, talking about the name Joseph.

•     And what a fitting end to this series, and on mission Sunday non-the-less, to talk about a son who’s name means “Adding”,

•     Finally, Rachel, after about 10 or 11 years of infertility… finally she get’s pregnant and has a son,  yet she still is in this petty rivalry with her sister, this son having competition… so maybe in envy, or maybe in faith, she names her son “Joseph” declaring “God is going to add even more sons after this”.

•     So just like all the other sons of Jacob, Joseph comes from a Hebrew word or phrase, Joseph in particular comes from the Hebrew word “Yosef”

Yosef  יָסַף

•     To Add

•     To Increase

•     To Grow

•     Now, at CLC one of our key values is “Everybody Grows” so I could easily preach a sermon about how we should all be growing, we should all Yosef to be more like Christ… but it is Mission Sunday, so I think it very fitting that we focus on the addition and the increase… because as we talk about the 11 traits of the people of God, I think it is incredibly important that we as Christians have a spirit of addition.

Joseph – Addition

Acts 2:41 NKJV

Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.

Acts 2:46–47 NKJV

So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

•     Listen, I hear so much talk about “I want to be a Biblical church”… I see arguments online, and even amongst my peers, my fellow pastors…

•     “A biblical church is a church that does this… or looks like this… or acts like this”.

•     We argue over what Sunday service should look like… what kind of place we should meet in… what church government is supposed to look like…

•     A biblical church sang this kind of song, a Biblical church had this kind of gifts of the spirit, a Biblical church had this kind of sermon…

•     And it goes on and on and on… and there are good arguments, and there are bad arguments… but I will tell you this… LISTEN! A BIBLICAL CHURCH IS A CHURCH THAT ADDED TO IT’S NUMBERS…

•     That’s a New Testament church… a Church that Adds to it’s numbers… No no, scratch that… not a church that adds to it’s numbers, but a church that Adds to THE CHURCH’S NUMBERS…

•     In other words, a Biblical church gathering is one that grows the UNIVERSAL CHURCH… one that subtracts souls from hell and adds souls to heaven.

•     A church where people get born again, and then more people get born again, and then more people get born again.

•     A biblical church is a church where people get saved… A church where people do not get born again is not a New Testament church, because Biblically it is clear, it is VERY CLEAR… whether you are meeting in a house, or a stadium, a strip mall or a cathedral… a biblical church is a church that adds to the Kingdom.

•     Weather you sing hymns or hype praise music, weather your church is crying out in tongues, or a church that stays silent while the preachers speaks… Biblically a church is a place where people get saved.

•     It is a place, a movement, a group of people who the Lord uses for addition… where the Lord adds and adds and adds to the number of people being saved.

•     But this sermon series is not 11 traits of a Biblical church, though it easily could be, it is 11 traits of the people of God… this trait of addition needs to be a trait that all of God’s people represent… we should all have a trait of addition… individually, each of us should be adding to the kingdom of God.

•     It is not just your churches job to add to the Kingdom of God.

•     It is not just your pastors job to add to the kingdom of God.

•     It is YOUR job to add to the Kingdom of God. It is not just your job, it is your mission… your great mission, as given by Christ right before He ascended… Christ commissions us to ADD to the Kingdom of God. It is the great commission, it is the mission statement of this church, and it ought to be the mission statement of your life as a Christian…

Matthew 28:18–20 NKJV

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

•     Make disciples… that is the great commission. MAKE DISCIPLES! Baptize them! Teach them… Make Disciples.

•     Every disciple you make, every new believer, every person you lead to Christ, then to the water, then to studying the things of God… Every disciple you make, that is a plus one to the kingdom of God.

•     This church, Christian Life Church, we have seen Hundreds of people come to Jesus in our 11 years of serving God in Cedar Rapids.

•     100’s have been added to the kingdom of God through His work through this church body.

•     100’s who have responded to the Gospel, who have been baptized, who have been discipled.

•     Hundreds who have grown in the Lord through Sunday’s and Wednesdays, through foundations notes and now growth track, through one on one discipleship, through B90, and prayer and fasting, and worship and prayer nights, through miracles, and prophesies, and visions… 100’s have been added to the Kingdom…

•     And this church is why we do Missions Sunday… this is why this is a perfect sermon for Missions Sunday… because the great commission is not “Baptize and make disciples of your own nation… the great commission is go and make disciples of ALL nations”.

•     This is Region 3/4 of Victory Family Center Singapore. VFC Singapore has 12 regions, and it was this region that sent a young team of missionaries to Cedar Rapids, Iowa 11 years ago.

•     It was this churches training, their people, their vision, and all of these people’s missions giving that started CLC, every baptism, every disciple, every saint added to the Kingdom of God, is an addition from a church in Singapore… this church in Singapore is adding to the Kingdom of God through us… and everyone who gave to missions some 11 years ago to send us, they can say “There are 100 who have been added to the kingdom of God in Iowa because I gave to missions”.

•     And not just Singapore. Here is International Christian Center, in Seattle Washington.

•     We are bigger then them as a church now, not in spiritual influence but in Sunday attendance… yet they can say “We added to the kingdom of God in Cedar Rapids” because they financially supported our church for the first 5 years or so of it’s existence.

•     And not just ICC, but Faith and Victory, the church I got saved in… here are the people of Faith and Victory.

•     They spent years supporting our church as well… a church giving faithfully, and because of them the kingdom of God grew in Cedar Rapids.

•     I show you these pictures because when you give to missions at CLC you get to be that picture.

•     In the same way that people of ICC, and VFC, and FVC have added to the Kingdom of God by supporting us at CLC, we the people of CLC are adding to the Kingdom of God by supporting churches around the world.

•     In the same way these churches supported us, we are supporting Kingdom Life and Prayer ministries international, and Shekinah Glory Academy Sierra Leone.

•     If you gave to missions at CLC 5 years ago, then these saints are additions to the Kingdom of God you are a part of!

•     I love this picture because it is young and old getting added to the Kingdom of God! There have been dozens if not hundreds more added since this photo was taken, I just grabbed one from Facebook… but you get the point…

•     And the same goes for Kingston Jamaica…

•     If you give to missions at CLC that money goes to VFC Jamaica, so their pastors can have a salary so they can focus on running the church and making disciples… we get to be a part of that addition. Pastor Musa is constantly sending me baptism photos and videos because they are a church that adds to the Kingdom.

•     Now I want to read another scripture, because I don’t want to focus too much on what we are doing for addition, because truly it is God, but I want to show you that what we strive to do through missions is Biblical addition… take a look at this passage about the growing church in Antioch from the book of Acts.

Acts 11:22–24 NKJV

Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.

•     The church in Jerusalem sent out one of their best preachers, they sent him 300 miles away, which in ancient times would have been a two week journey… to a place which spoke a different language, and had a different culture… but they sent Barnabus from Jerusalem to Antioch, shortly there after Paul would join… why? Because Stephen had gone to start a church there, and they went to encourage the saints and continue the work… and the result: A Great many people where added to the Lord.

•     Joseph, Yoseph… Adding!

•     Three years ago we sent one of our best, Rebecca Farrier, with a small team of missionaries from other churches, to Japan to start a church, along with a team of missionaries.

•     Then we sent Cainen, on of our best, with a small team of missionaries from other churches to continue the work.

•     Now we have sent Ryan and Grace, two of our best… to continue the work… and we are believing that a GREAT MANY will be added to the Lord…

•     And I have to be honest, it has been tough in Japan. You can talk to Rebecca and Cainen and they will tell you. It is hard work over there…

•     And we have spent a lot of money, and training, and time to see just a handful of people saved so far… but you know what…

•     When takuma get’s to heaven, I think he will be grateful to the people in Iowa who gave sacraficially to see him added to the kingdom of God… I don’t think he will say we spent too much time or money adding him to the Kingdom.

•     Nor will… XYZ XYZ or XYZ…

•     I mean Jesus gave His LIFE so I could be added to the Kingdom. I think it is ok for me to give a little of my money so people in Japan can be added to the kingdom… so people in Sierra Leonne can be added, so people in Jamaica can be added… so people in India, and Kenya, and Nigeria can be added to the Kingdom… so people in Israel can be added to the Kingdom… so people all around the world can be added to the Kingdom.

•     Now that brings us to the Missions Faith Pledge portion of this sermon… and I am calling this part of Mission Sunday “Addition by Subtraction”.

MFP – Addition by Subtraction

Genesis 30:22–24 NKJV

Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” So she called his name Joseph, and said, “The Lord shall add to me another son.”

•     Rachel says “God has taken away my reproach” the word for “Taken away” is the same word for “subtraction” and it sounds very similar to the word for addition, the word here is Asaph… Yoseph means addition, Asaph means subtraction.

•     So as is common in this section of scripture, Rachel is doing a bit of word play… subtraction and addition… Aseph and Yoseph.

•     I mentioned earlier the concept of subtracting people from hell and adding them to heaven…

•     That is what we do when we lead people to Christ. The Great evangelist Reinhard Bonnke used to say “We must Plunder Hell and Populate Heaven”

•     Every soul that says yes to Jesus, that confesses Him as Lord, that turns from it’s sin… every soul, be it from Japan, or Sierra Leone, or Jamaica, or Cedar Rapids… Every Soul that says yes to Jesus is one less soul destined for hell and one more soul destined for heaven.

•     We Aseph from Hell and we Yoseph to heaven…

•     But maybe you are not the best evangelist… maybe you are cripplingly shy… or not great with words… maybe your health or your age makes it difficult to go on missions, or even do much more than make it to church… but listen, through Missions Faith Pledges you can be a part of this plundering and populating…

•     And I know I am talking about money here… and that sucks, I don’t like asking for money… but listen… NONE OF THIS MISSIONS MONEY goes to me, not a cent of it goes to me or Amanda or our bills… it all goes to the different missions works we support.

•     It is because people subtract a little bit of their money from their wallets to give to missions that Ryan and Grace are able to eat dinner tonight.