Psalm 23 series, part 11. Preached by Chris Broom, 12/23/2007

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Jennifer Szafian (center) is baptized

My Cup Overflows

This continues our series on Psalm 23, “The Lord Is My Shepherd.”

In Psalm 23, David teaches us so many “lessons from the sheep pen” that help us understand how God cares for us as our Shepherd. During our last lesson, we talked about the summer months that the shepherd spends with his sheep in the high tablelands of the mountains. As we continue our study today, we move into the fall of the year. In Autumn, storms of sleet, hail and early snow begin to hit the high country, and the sheep will soon be forced down from the tablelands to the home ranch for a long quiet winter. Blizzards can also make this a miserable time for the shepherd and his sheep. There are, however, some amazing days yet to be enjoyed during the Indian Summer weather that comes before the winter sets in. The flies and insects and scab that tormented the sheep during the summer months are gone, and the sheep are strongest during this season. That is why David writes in Psalm 23:5, “my cup overflows.”

As we think of all that our Shepherd does for us, is that our mindset? My cup overflows! Contentment is the mark of a sheep in a good shepherd‘s care, and it should also be the hallmark of a disciple in the care of our great God. The problem is that most of us don’t see it that way. When trouble comes our way, we often feel forgotten by our Shepherd. We are tempted to think that God has fallen down on the job, but God is never asleep. He is never indifferent to how we are doing. God always has our best interest in mind. He is with us during the wonderful times and He is with us during the storms of life striving to lead us safely home. It is that confidence in his Shepherd that causes David to proudly proclaim, “My Cup Overflows!”

It was so exciting to have Jennifer Szafian’s family with us on Wednesday night to see her as she was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Whenever I see a baptism, it reminds me of my own. It keeps me from becoming spiritually nearsighted and blind and forgetting that I have been cleansed from my past sins (2 Peter 1:3-9). When I forget all that God has done for me, I forget that “My Cup Overflows!“ We are so happy for Jennifer, that she is no longer blind to what God has done in her life. God used Brittany Parlour, one of our freshman disciples at UIC to reach out to Jennifer. Brittany also shared her faith with Peggy and Christian. All three of these incredible women were baptized this fall because Brittany had the love and courage to share God‘s good news with them, and because they responded to Jesus‘ sacrifice and call. It has built Brittany’s faith as well as ours, to see all three baptized into Christ this fall semester.

A preacher once said, “Every heart with Christ is a missionary; every heart without Christ is a mission field.”

Steve Johnson, the Evangelist of the Portland International Church of Christ once said, “The world might be a very different place if every one who claimed to be a Christian took to heart our Lord’s command to “go into all the world and make disciples.” If all of us who claimed to have Jesus in our hearts acted like the missionaries we’re supposed to be we would be able to see that everyday, around us everywhere, is a mission field. For us to go into all the world we must first begin with the heart nearest us that does not know Christ.”

Joel Parlour, the Bible Talk leader of the great UIC campus ministry once said, “The mission team isn’t done until the city‘s been won.” The Chicago Mission Team is still in it‘s infancy. We have only been in Chicago for a year and a half and already God has multiplied our efforts. He has added to our number so that we have grown from 29 disciples to over 70 disciples and just last week, He blessed us with 179 at church. Still, Chicago is a metropolitan area with over 9 million souls that belong to God. The problem is that many in this city still don’t know Him. Will our mission team reach them? Our aim is to win as many as possible (1 Corinthians 9:19).

Lucy Vazquez (left) places membership and Juan Carlos and Betty (right) arrive in January to lead our Spanish ministry

Some one once said that if you aim at nothing, you hit it every time. Unfortunately, so many churches and individuals fail because they fail to dream. Here, in the Chicago International Christian Church, we have many dreams for the coming year. Dreams for our Marriages, Parenting, Single Disciples, Campus, Teens, Middle School, and Kingdom Kids ministries, as well as our ministries that meet specific needs like our Chemical Recovery Ministry. We have renewed dreams for the Latino Ministry with Juan Carlos and Betty coming to lead that group. We will have sermons in Spanish every Sunday as soon as they arrive the first week of January. And that’s not all, there’s more besides. We have more group goals and individual dreams for our families and our communities that we all want to see happen in 2008.

There are two church dreams that I want to put before you today.

1. Bible Talks that Multiply.

Every member of our church is in a small group that we call Bible Talks. These groups meet, as the early church often did, in our homes. Our desire for these groups is to meet the needs of every Christian by providing an atmosphere of family where we can fellowship one another and build deep and lasting friendships. This is also where we long to bring those that do not yet know God, so that they can see his love at work, study the Bible and become true followers of Jesus.

These groups cannot exist without men and women who are willing and able to take on the responsibility of leading. Our goal is to raise up new leaders so that just as one disciple multiplies and becomes two disciples (Matthew 28:18-20), one Bible Talk will multiply and become two Bible Talks. We will begin the new year with 70 disciples and 10 Bible Talks. It is my prayer that God will multiply our efforts and double our number of Bible Talks by the time we attend the 2008 World Missions Jubilee in Los Angeles on July 31st. (Start planning your vacations around those dates now.)

2. An April Missions Contribution of $35,000 (roughly 15 times our weekly contribution).

The history of our churches is rich with stories of the generosity of members in giving money to missions and sending members to help plant churches all over the world, including the Chicago International Christian Church. This doesn’t happen without sacrifice.

This contribution will specifically help us to…

1. Hire Anthony Franklin on January 1st to work with our Campus and Teen Ministries.

2. Purchase a sound system.

3. Help the Central New York Church of Christ plant the Washington DC International Christian Church in the summer of 2008.

4. Supplement our weekly budget until we become self-supporting.

Les Brown once said, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” Brothers and sisters, if we work together and lay our lives down as Jesus did, we will be very proud of our church in 2008. If we can imitate our Great Shepherd who is there for us in the good times as well as in the storms by rejoicing with those who rejoice and mourning with those who mourn (Romans 12:15), God will be very proud of our church n 2008. We will see new churches planted, new men and women going into the full-time ministry, and many more men and women raising up to lead Bible Talks in their homes in order to help spread the gospel all over the world. Remember, we can’t win the world for Christ if we don’t share our faith with the person next to us, and we will meet more and more needs in our communities as we help more and more people to have the mind of Christ. As our cup overflows this Christmas, let’s make sure that the love of God overflows and pours out into the lives of those around us.

In His Name and In His Service,

Chris Broom

Categories: Lord is my Shepherd, Sermons