STERLING CHRISTIAN CHURCH
  • Home
  • Livestream
  • Enter In
  • About Us
    • Contact Info
    • Staff
    • Calendar
    • Who We Are
    • Sunday Services
  • Ministries
    • Sunday School
    • Children's Ministry >
      • VBS
      • Outlet
    • Youth Ministry >
      • NYR
      • Teen Prayer Breakfast
      • Sunday Youth Groups
    • Adult Ministry >
      • Adult Small Groups
      • Kit Klub
  • Service Opportunities
    • Ministry Teams >
      • Preaching & Prayer
      • Adult Involvement
      • Youth Ministry
      • Children's Ministry
      • Worship Ministry
      • Missions
      • Finance
      • Building & Grounds
      • Visitors
    • Sterling Women in Ministry
    • Funeral Meals
  • Missions
    • Local
    • Regional
    • Global
  • Prayer
    • Prayer Requests
  • Give
  • Resources
    • Sermon Downloads
    • Podcasts
    • Monthly Newsletter
    • SCC Scholarship Program

SCC BLOG

Priorities--Gary Johnson

5/24/2017

0 Comments

 
From Thom Rainer.com

“Five Reasons Church Members Attend Church Less Frequently:
About 20 years ago, a church member was considered active in the church if he or she attended three times a week.  Today, a church member is considered active in the church if he or she attends three times a month. Something is wrong with this picture. For 2,000 years, the local church, as messy as it is, has been God’s place for believers to gather, worship, minister, and be accountable to one another. And every time I write something about church membership and attendance, I inevitably hear cries of “legalism” or “the church is not a building” or “the church is a messed up institution.” But the local church, the messy local church, is what God has used as His primary instrument to make disciples. But commitment is waning among many church members. Why?

1.     We are minimizing the importance of the local church. When we do, we are less likely to attend. A few drops of rain may keep many folks from attending church, but it won’t stop them from sitting three hours in the downpour watching their favorite football team.
2.     We worship the idols of activities. Many members will replace a day in their church with a day at kid’s soccer or softball games or sleeping off the hangover of the previous day’s activities.
3.     We take a lot of vacations from church. I am not anti-vacation. But 20 years or so ago, we would make certain we attended a church where we were taking a vacation. Today, many members take a vacation from church.
4.     We do not have high expectations of our members. Any purposeful organization expects and gets much of it members, whether it’s a sports team or a civic organization. It is ironic that most churches do not come close to being a high expectation church.
5.     We make infrequent attendees leaders in our churches. When we do, we are making a clear statement that even the leaders of the church do not have to be committed to the place they supposedly lead.

I heard a leader of an organization tell the members he did not want them if they were not fully committed. They could not be AWOL if they wanted to be a part of the group. He expected full commitment. He is a high school football coach. And all the team members follow that high expectation of commitment.

If we truly expect to make a difference in our communities and our families, members of local churches need to have at least the same level of commitment as members of sports teams.

After all, the mission of each local church is far more important. At least it should be.”

I fully agree.  Let’s quit messing around and get our priorities straight.
Gary
​
0 Comments

And  the Books Were Opened --Dave Sims

5/19/2017

0 Comments

 
I had the opportunity to sit in a courtroom a couple weeks ago.  It was an interesting scene as there was a flurry of activity prior to session.  Lawyers catching up on legal cases, talking shop, and ironing out details about other pending cases. Each of them were taking their turn to talk with the prosecutor about various issues.  The room was an intimidating place.  From the gallery where I sat you look over the back of the prosecution and defense tables.  A 12 person jury bench is seated to the right side of the room.  The witness block felt like it had the weight of the room on its shoulders located down in the front right at center of this arena.  And finally at center top of the room lording over everything was the judges bench.  I noticed that were glass covered book cases lining one entire wall from the front of the room to the back, and the entire wall behind the judge.  The books looked to be massive law books from more than a hundred years ago.  On the prosecutors table were stacks of legal folders ranging in size from thin to massive, holding legal details about the people whose lives would be on review that day.  
            I have been in a courtroom many times before, I’ll let you take that idea where you want.  But today was different, as I sat there I felt the Lord take me to Revelation 20:11-12 “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.  And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.”  What a scene, trying to fathom what it will be like when we stand before God our Judge, the Almighty, on the throne.  Every detail of every persons life written and read, this is a terrifying moment for me.  All this time Satan has been the prosecutor, he is our accuser, the fault finder, but by this time he is already condemned.   Yet we all stand in that moment guilty, who can save us?  "Another book was opened, which is the book of life.” (v.12)  If we are in Christ then He is our defense.  There is no escaping the Judgement of God, we must endure it, and we can only endure it through Christ.  What a terrifying and glorious moment that will be, I dread it and am excited all at the same time.  The day is coming… Are you ready for the books to be opened?  Is Jesus your defense?

0 Comments

    Author

    Blog posts from the Sterling staff, and maybe even the occasional guest blogger. 
    -Gary Johnson
    -Dave Sims
    -Kevin Wildman
    -Jason Davis
    -Derrick Jackson

    Archives

    July 2018
    May 2018
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016

    Categories

    All
    1 John 1:9
    1 Kings 2:1-4
    1 Peter 3:7
    2 Timothy 11
    2 Timothy 3:16 17
    2 Timothy 3:16-17
    Acts 2:38
    Apathy
    Apostle Paul
    Attendance
    Baptism
    Be Still
    Blessing
    Calling
    Catholic
    Character
    Choice
    Christlikeness
    Chris Webb
    Church
    Colossians
    Colossians 3:15-17
    Commitment
    Communion
    Community
    Confession
    Derrick Jackson
    Devotional Classics
    Discipleship
    Disciples Pursue
    Discontent
    Disiples
    Donald Whitney
    Encouragement
    Ephesians 4:29
    Ephesians 5:25
    Evangelism
    Faith
    Fatherhood
    Friends
    God
    God The Father
    God The Son
    Gratitude
    Green Bridge
    Guidance
    Half-Marathon
    Hebrews 10:23-25
    Hebrews 10:24-25
    Holiness
    Holy Spirit
    Hope
    Husbands
    Hypocrisy
    Imitation
    Integrity
    Isolation
    James 4:2
    James 4:3
    James 5:13 20
    James 5:13-20
    James Bryan Smith
    Jerry Bridges
    J.K. Jones
    John Baillie
    Journal
    Joy
    Kevin Wildman
    King David
    Knife
    Leviticus 11:44-45
    Life Change
    Love
    Love People
    Love Your Wife
    Marathon
    Masks
    Matthew 5:28
    Matthew 6:14-15
    Memorization
    Mentor
    Obedience
    Passion
    Peace
    Prayer
    Psalm 46:10
    Pursuit Of Holiness
    Pursuit Of Holliness
    Revival
    Rich Mullins
    Romans 2:24
    Romans 6
    Romans 6:16
    Romans 7:18-19
    Romans 8:26
    Romans 8:34
    Running
    Scripture
    Selfish
    Selfless
    Sermon On The Mount
    Sin
    Spiritual Formation
    Strangers
    Struggle
    Temptation
    Thankfulness
    Thanksgiving
    The Church
    Thom Rainer
    Time
    Transformed
    Trinity
    Trust
    Visitors
    Waiting
    Wrong Way To Pray

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Livestream
  • Enter In
  • About Us
    • Contact Info
    • Staff
    • Calendar
    • Who We Are
    • Sunday Services
  • Ministries
    • Sunday School
    • Children's Ministry >
      • VBS
      • Outlet
    • Youth Ministry >
      • NYR
      • Teen Prayer Breakfast
      • Sunday Youth Groups
    • Adult Ministry >
      • Adult Small Groups
      • Kit Klub
  • Service Opportunities
    • Ministry Teams >
      • Preaching & Prayer
      • Adult Involvement
      • Youth Ministry
      • Children's Ministry
      • Worship Ministry
      • Missions
      • Finance
      • Building & Grounds
      • Visitors
    • Sterling Women in Ministry
    • Funeral Meals
  • Missions
    • Local
    • Regional
    • Global
  • Prayer
    • Prayer Requests
  • Give
  • Resources
    • Sermon Downloads
    • Podcasts
    • Monthly Newsletter
    • SCC Scholarship Program