THE CHURCH AS A HOSPITAL

INTRO:

The church is very precious to the Lord today.

Every pastor today is having more & more problems in the church.
One day people will stand before the Lord & they will be held accountable for the way they have
treated the church.
It’s harder & harder today on ministers.

As we would travel every now & then we would see a blue sign with a white "H" on it.
This let us know that there was a hospital nearby.
If we were in trouble, sick or whatever, this sign let us know that a hospital was near & we could
get help.

Today, when we see a church with a cross on it or a church sign on the side of the road, we are
quickly reminded that this is a place I can get help also.
But you know, not every church you see is a place where we can get help.
Sometimes churches are no more than a Country-Club, unable to help people.
The only way a church can help today is for God to work thru the church.

II Corinthians 5: verses 17-21

17 
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:  The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this
[a]

is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.  And he has
committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God
were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made
him who had no sin to be sin  for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
[b]

7 
Ang bisan sin-o nga ara kay Cristo bag-o na nga tawo. Wala na ang iya daan nga pagkatawo,
kundi bag-o na siya. 18 Ang Dios amo ang naghimo sini. Ginpabalik niya kita sa iya paagi kay Cristo.
Kag ginhatagan niya kami sing obra sa pagbalita nga ginapabalik na niya ang mga tawo sa
iya. 19 Amo ini ang amon ginabalita: nga ginapabalik na sang Dios ang mga tawo sa iya paagi kay
Cristo. Wala na niya ginadumdom ang ila mga sala. Kag kami amo ang iya gintugyanan sa
pagpalapnag sini nga balita.20 Gani nagabalita kami bilang mga pinadala ni Cristo. Kag paagi sa
amon, nagapangabay ang Dios sa inyo nga magbalik na kamo sa iya! 21 Si Cristo wala gid sing sala,
pero siya amo ang ginsilutan sang Dios tungod sa aton mga sala, agod nga kon ara kita kay Cristo,
pakamatarungon kita sang Dios.

RECONCILE: The restore.

RESTORE: To bring back to a former condition.

God has called THE CHURCH into The Ministry of Reconciliation.

This is not a ministry for certain denominations, but a ministry that God is calling THE CHURCH
into Man because of SIN is in a fallen condition.
Unless things change, man will eventually die & then go to a burning hell.

RE-READ VERSE 17
17 
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! 
Ang bisan sin-o nga ara kay Cristo bag-o na nga tawo. Wala na ang iya daan nga pagkatawo,
7 

kundi bag-o na siya. 

Jesus Christ died on the cross so that man could be reconciled back to God.
Man was created to LOVE GOD, to have a RELATIONSHIP with God.
Without this RELATIONSHIP, man is LOST.
So, God calls the CHURCH to be in the RECONCILIATION BUSINESS!!
People may say today “Well, that just isn’t my calling, it is the calling of THE CHURCH!!”

The church is a Hospital for the SICK. THE WOUNDED. THE BROKEN, THE DYING.

ILLUSTRATION:
(Talking about receiving a gift from a friend or family from the store: it usually doesn’t fit; it is the
wrong color or it doesn’t work. Today it is so easy to just head to the store & take it to the
SERVICE desk. Pitch it up on the desk & say here it does not work, it is broke, or I don’t like it,
you need to fix it.)

WHAT ABOUT WITH PEOPLE?

He said wouldn’t it be easy if there was a great big SERVICE desk that you could take people
today & say here, they don’t work, they are broke, they don’t fit in, here take them back, FIX
THEM!!
There is a place like this, it is called the CHURCH!!
God is going to use the church to reconcile those that are broke, those that don’t work.
The church has got to be OPEN FOR BUSINESS.
Are we open for business?

RE-READ verse 20
20 
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore
you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 
Gani nagabalita kami bilang mga pinadala ni Cristo. Kag paagi sa amon, nagapangabay ang Dios
20 

sa inyo nga magbalik na kamo sa iya!

We are Ambassadors for Christ.

AMBASSADOR: An official representative of another country.

You & I as the church are Official Representatives for Christ.
People out there in this world are going to CRY OUT TO GOD for help, to cry out in need.
The church is going to have to BE OPEN FOR BUSINESS

God doesn’t look at the size of the church.

He looks at the AVAILABILITY of the church, the WILLINGNESS of the church.

ILLUSTRATION:
Example the fire station
I thought about the Fire Department that I was a member & a chaplain on. I thought about the
big fire trucks you see in Little Rock. I see the big fancy trucks in Memphis. What a comfort it is to
see one of these babies near your neighborhood thinking how nice it is knowing this piece of
equipment is nearby just in case Then I thought about the volunteer rural Fire Department that
was in Frog level, I remember when the forestry dept gave them an old gasoline truck they
converted into a fire truck. How proud everyone felt & how safe we felt knowing this was now in
our community!!
Then I thought what if a horrible fire broke out in town & the big city called on the pumper there
in Frog level It might even be embarrassing to get into town & compare equipment. WOW look at
that big fire truck & all of the latest technology Even the fire fighters (I remember in the fire
department I was a chaplain on we didn’t have new turn outs or new helmets) But we might
compare our equipment with theirs & we might even begin to think that we are even insignificant.
This week we were in Little Rock, we drove past Immanuel Baptist church. Went down 430 got on
40 headed back to Cabot & drove past the 2 big churches on 40. Then later on that night I was
heading home & drove past our little church & thought wow. What part do we play in this battle?

As a church, if we think we don’t have finances, No fellowship hall, etc.

How can we impact the world?

Just like the small Fire Dept, that was called to the fire, not to compare equipment, not to feel
insignificant, BUT CALLED TO FIGHT THE FIRE.
Same thing as a CHURCH, we are called to do our part.
We need to do what we are supposed to do!!

There are people in this world that will cry out to God & we must be ready to answer God’s call.
(Just like Israel, they were in bondage in Egypt they called out to God, He heard their cry)
And in turn God called out to Moses.
This world is FULL of people with HIGH POWERED problems today.
People are going thru things we have no idea what they are going thru.
THE ANSWER? Jesus Christ.

The majority of the world problems could & would be solved if they would turn to Jesus Christ.

Two things have got to happen:

1. They must TURN FROM Sin.
Sin is a short word that carries a long sentence. People have got to Turn from Sin.
Then,

2. They must TURN TO GOD.

The answer today is Jesus Christ.

The church is a place we come to learn, a place we come to Praise & Worship God.
But it is also a place where God equips us to go out into the Highways and the hedges.

Sign: Members and Qualified Guests only.

I am ashamed to say today that I believe there are signs in the front of churches today, they may
be invisible but they are nevertheless there: Members and Qualified Guests Only.

CLOSING

You see our church was open for business as a hospital.

A place where there are people that are part of something that is OPEN FOR BUSINESS.
We get discouraged because we don’t have a lot of the resources a lot of the bigger churches
have. God is ALL THE RESOURCE we need.

This evening, He does not look at our financial situation, or the number of people or members we
have or the size of our building or our location.
He looks at WHAT WE ARE WILLING TO DO. HE LOOKS AT WHETHER OR NOT HE CAN
USE US.

God will use this church & it will GROW.

We don’t have to look around & worry about what is going on around us.
We are to just be about the Fathers business.

THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION

As a part of this church, CLFP-A, let us pray every day for 3 things:
1. God send us lost people, sinners, people that don’t know Jesus as their Savior,
2. God send us broken, hurting, people’ other churches have thrown out and
3. God send us laborers.

When #1 & #2 requests are answered.

They make the best laborers.
The church is a hospital.
The questions this evening is:
Are we AVAILABLE?
Are we welling?
and As a CHURCH, are we open for business?