Preached by Chris Broom, 1/13/2008

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Some of the remnant came from all over the Midwest to be gathered together by God.

Pray for the Remnant that still Survives - Isaiah 37:4
A Report of our 2008 Winter Workshops

What an incredible start to 2008! On January 2nd, Theresa and I flew to LA at the McKeans request to minister to the City of Angels Church for their Winter Workshops. (Click here for a report of that weekend.) Upon returning home, we prepared for winter workshops of our own.

Friday night, we gathered for our Bible Talk Leader’s meeting and Church Financial Presentation. The spirit of the fellowship was like a reunion as Theresa and I hadn’t seen many of the brothers and sisters in the new year. It was also great to see so many of our young Christians at the meeting who desire to raise up and lead Bible Talks.

Our church was energized that night by a van load of disciples that drove 14 hours to join us at our workshops. Mike Devault and his daughter Kayla, Ralph Holtzclaw, Lance and Angel Holtzclaw and their son Mitchell came from Tulsa Oklahoma. Brent and Tinka Davis came from Wichita Kansas and Corden Beyrer came from Oklahoma City. During a time of good news sharing, Mike paused for several moments and then with tears simply said, “I miss this!”

On Saturday, the men and women met for separate classes where the word of God was preached with the expectation of obedience. We were called to be a righteous people and the responses were heartfelt and full of zeal.

At our service on Sunday there were 137 worshiping God and we were filled with awe that God has worked so powerfully among us in such a short time! In just 1 ½ years, God has added to our number so that we have grown from 29 to now 74 disciples strong. (That’s just over 155% growth). Our campus and teen ministry has quadrupled from 7 to 28, and therefore we just hired our first campus / teen minister; Anthony Franklin. God blessed us with 179 in attendance at our Christmas Service; that’s 51 more than ever before, and in the last 9 weeks of the year, OVER THE CHRISTMAS BREAK, God added 11 to our number. 8 were baptized, 1 restored and 2 placed membership.

Three very special people placed membership that day, Juan Carlos and Betty Garcia and Raul Vazquez from Portland. They came to help us build an incredible Spanish ministry that will offer hope to those who cannot understand our preaching and teaching in English. We have already started having sermons In Spanish every Sunday. My wife, Theresa shared with deep conviction of her love for the Spanish work. She shared of her days on the mission field in Mexico City and Guadalajara, and how she believes God is going to raise up Juan Carlos to be a powerful evangelist that will send missionaries all over the world to help save his people.

Juan Carlos, Betty, JC and Samantha Garcia pictured with Raul Vazquez (2nd from left)

The title of our message comes from Isaiah 37:4, “Pray for the remnant that still survives.” We learned from God’s word that God’s remnant is just that … the survivors!

- The Anchor Bible Dictionary describes the remnant as “What is left of a community after it undergoes a catastrophe.”

- In the New Testament, after the catastrophe of the flood, only a remnant of 1 man survived along with his family. 8 in all out of the whole world.

- After the Exodus, out of 2 million, only a remnant of 2 men and their families were faithful and survived. The bodies of the faithless fell in the desert and they were not allowed to enter the promised land because of their unbelief.

- In the New Testament, the remnant is not about physical survival, but spiritual survival. The apostle Paul defines the remnant of Israel in Romans as Jewish believers who will be saved by faith in Jesus Christ. For Paul, the catastrophe is shown in most of his people did not accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah and therefore were not going to survive spiritually.

Are we as broken hearted about the lost as Paul is in Romans 9? If not, we won’t pray for them. Dry eyes are often evidence of a hard heart, and a hard hearted man or woman will not win souls to Jesus Christ. A hard hearted man or woman won’t pray for, share with, preach to, teach or disciple people who need Christ, much less send others to preach to them. And how can they learn if no one is sent to preach to them (Romans 10)?

We are committed to evangelizing the world in our generation so that everyone has a chance to hear about the Gospel, and we are equally committed to those that are saved, but undergoing catastrophe after catastrophe and still surviving. We believe that there are so many survivors out there, and we want them to know what God wanted Paul to know in Romans 11:2-5, that there is today, a remnant chosen by grace. We want to bring into our fellowship anyone one that needs help and anyone that shares God’s dream to evangelize the world in our generation. We believe that only churches who are made up solely of true disciples will make disciples who make disciples and build a movement where we can maximize our efforts to evangelize the world.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” We are committed to prayer in 2008. I have personally decided that I am going to fast everyday until I have prayed and / or read my bible for at least an hour. And preparing lessons doesn’t count! I’m talking about communing with the heart of God. I invite anyone who would like to join me and hold one another accountable. It has been amazing so far.

I hope you will listen to the sermon and be inspired by what God is doing in answer to our prayers. The three points of the message are:
1. Pray for the Remnant that still Survives. (That they can be helped!)
2. Pray Specifically. (Which includes praying for those that persecute us!)
3. Pray for Zeal. (Romans 12 calls us to never be lacking in it!)

My challenge to the church and to you comes from the great book of Nehemiah … FAST, PRAY AND SEIZE THE DAY! (Everyday in 2008.) That is the only way we can evangelize our neighborhood, much less the world. We are survivors, not superheroes. Without God, we are nothing, and even with God, our righteous acts are but filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), and we have only done our duty (Luke 17:10).

In the Warner Bros Picture “I am Legend,” Will Smith plays a scientist named Robert Neville. In the movie, what is believed to be the cure for cancer backfires and turns most of the human race into rabid creatures that can only come out at night. Somehow Neville is immune and is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and maybe the world.

Neville, who could be mankind’s last hope, is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood. But he knows he is outnumbered … and quickly running out of time.

For three years, Neville has faithfully sent out daily radio messages, trying desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there. “I‘m Robert Neville. I‘m a survivor living in NYC. If you need food, I can provide it, If you need shelter, I can provide it, If you need protection, I can provide. I will be at South Street Seaport every day at noon. If there is anyone out there, please … you are not alone!

That was God’s message to Elijah in 1 Kings 18-19 when Jezebel vowed to kill him and he cried out, “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me.” God’s message to him was, you are not alone, “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

That was God’s message to Paul in Romans 11 when he was heart broken because of the disobedience and stubbornness of the his people, the Jews. God referenced Elijah and told Paul, “So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.”

Just as it was in Elijah’s day and Paul’s day, so it is in our day … at the present time, there is a remnant, a band of survivors, and we’ve got to broadcast God’s message on every frequency. You are not alone!

Just a few years ago, I was struggling to survive and feeling pretty alone when I heard a broadcast that went something like this…

- Our names are Kip and Elena McKean, We are survivors living in Portland, if you need help … we can provide it. and they certainly did.

- Now, we’re broadcasting that same message in Chicago, and this summer, God willing there will be new broadcasts in new cities that goes something like this…

- Our names are DJ and Kacie Comisford, We are survivors living in New York City…

- Our names are Andrew and Patrique Smellie, We are survivors living in Washington DC…

- My name is Mike Duvalt, I am a survivor living in Tulsa…

- My name is Brent Davis, I am a survivor living in Wichita…

- You fill in the blank with your name and where your Bible Talk meets, and you tell em … If there is anyone out there … please … you are not alone! If you need vision, we can provide it. If you need faith, we can provide it. If you need discipling, we can provide it. If you need hope, we can provide it. If you need love, an example to imitate, or just a brother or sister in the battle, then we, with God’s help, can provide it! You are not alone!

Chris Broom

Categories: Sermons