I don’t know about you, church, but I don’t want to be complacent. I don’t want to merely survive. I want to thrive.

Back in April of 2021, I preached a sermon that challenged our church to thrive in 2021 and beyond. We were coming off our first year of COVID and folks seemed to be a little defeated. I prayed that God would light a fire in the church and I believe He has. Our numbers are up, our spirits are high, people are being saved, being baptized, and joining our church. We’re praying for our city, serving others, growing in our faith, and looking ahead to what God will do.

However, now is not the time to be complacent. Now is not the time to let our foot off the gas. Now is the time to continue to look to God as we seek to thrive as a church!

So, we are taking a small break from Romans to consider a three-week series called, “How Does the Church Thrive?”

In part one, we’re going to remind ourselves of this truth: “The church thrives by focusing on God.”

If you’ve ever gone out into the woods to look for animals, for whatever purposes (hunting, photography, or just for fun), you’ve probably learned that you need to focus. Oftentimes, you’re excited to be out there and you are extremely focused. However, after time you can get hungry, tired, cold, and bored. You might think, wow, I’d really like to have a cheeseburger right now. Or, wow I bet that bed would be nice right about now, Or, perhaps you just fall asleep. You see, it’s easy to lose focus.

In the same way, it’s easy for us to lose our focus on God. We must remember this: if we lose our focus, we cannot thrive.

So, let us look at three ways that we can thrive by focusing on God. Before we do, let’s go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to bless us.

(prayer)

So, here we go. Let’s uncover three ways we can thrive by focusing on God.

First, . . .

I. The church must believe in God.

Belief in God is the foundation of what it means to be a follower of God. That may be obvious to some. You may be thinking, “Well of course we must believe in God.”

However, we must not take this reality for granted.

As a church, we must begin our focus on God by believing that there is a God, He is sovereign over all things, and He is the reason that the church even exists.

We must be intentional to focus upon our belief in God.

Consider what the Jewish people would do to remember this reality.

They had a saying that they would repeat often that was based on

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

. They called this, The Shema.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

says, “4 Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates.”

The Jewish people would take many different steps to constantly remind themselves that their faith was based on their belief in God.

Church, we must remember and believe in who God is and all that His Godness brings.

Our foundation as a church is built on our belief in God.

Listen to how the prophet Isaiah reminded us that God is who we need.

Isaiah said in

Isaiah 12:2

, “Indeed, God is my salvation; I will trust him and not be afraid, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation.”

The church needs a lot of things but our utmost desire must be God. He is the strength and song of the church. He is the salvation of the church.

The facilities we desire are not what we need most; God is who we need most. The music or teaching style is not what we need most; God is who we need most. Fellowship meals, great programs, or powerful ministries are