"So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!" (2 Cor. 5:17)
Sermon 4/26/15 Since I wasn't able to do this this morning.
With 2 baptisms and 7 new members, I want to take the time to remind the church of the promises we make to the children, to nurture them, and for joining the congregation, making an effort to grow in faith along the lines of the compass.
In AD that we are watching, the moving of the Holy Spirit brings confrontation with the existing order, but it also brings healing and power to those who have been hurt or broken or out of the system. The beggar is healed and the Sanhedrin wants the disciples to shut down the ministry.
We live in a world that really wants to shut down the ministry too But some of our negativity and criticism and nastiness should be shut down. But our love from God and for one another needs to keep growing.
The church’s mission is to help people discover the living God. Our mission is what Jesus gave us, go and make disciples, teaching them to obey all that he has commanded us, and to know that he is with us until the ends of time.
As a congregation, we should be creating those moments that help us grow. We ought to be inspiring people to connect with God by our worship and by our nourishing the soul. We ought to be creating a way to get to know our neighbor and to love them. We ought to share our resources so we can show God’s love is real and genuine. We ought to serve our community so we will be able to nurture and encourage a relationship to God because of what they see us do, and how they see us treat each other.
We grow in faith with attendance at worship, we grow in our faith by nourishing our souls, learning about the Bible, study, book reading, exploring the resources we try to make available to you to help your faith. We grow by getting to know one another, In Methodist history, everyone was in a small group to help them grow in faith. Each week they gathered together to ask how was it going with your soul? What joys and places were you seeing God at work in your life. What challenges and struggles were you having in your walk with God this week? Praying for one another and offering suggestions to grow in faith was what the group was all about. Then they shared and served with what they had for others.
God has welcomed us in as a baby, before we could do anything to merit God’s welcome and acceptance. This should generate gratitude that plays out in our daily lives, how we worship, how we nourish our souls, how we let the love of neighbors help us to grow.
We all promise to support the ministry of the church/local congregation, with our prayer, our presence, our gifts our service and our witness. We can all renew today our pledge to do that growing.
PRAY
PRESENCE
GIFTS
SERVICE
WITNESS
I challenge you to grow and feel encouraged to answer your call from God to be a person of his body on earth.
Pastor Jeff
