Focus On Five Meaningful Relationships Series

LET’S PRAY

Father we ask for Your anointing on us today. Place Your anointing on me as Your messenger today. God move in our lives. Rip open the heavens and visit Your people today.

Open our eyes so that we may see Your Word. Open our ears so that we may hear Your Word. Open our minds so that we may understand Your Word. Open our hearts so that we may receive Your Word today. AMEN

Once again we are looking at our updated mission statement for our church and our plan to carry it out. These things can be summed up in just a few words; Transformation, Healing, Equipping, and focusing on five which is the plan to carry it; Invest and Invite, Word of God and Prayer, Meaningful Relationships, Serving Each Other, and Praise and Worship.

Last week we looked at the Word of God and Prayer.

We learned that the Word of God is the inspired Word of God and it is the only infallible guide and rule of the faith and practice of the people of God. We learned that the Word of God has the power to Revive, Restore, and Restrain the enemy.

And we learned that persistent prayer is the foundation of all Christian growth. This is true for both the individual child of God as well as the church as a whole. Fervent and persistent prayer has always been and will always be of the utmost importance to God’s people.

Before we move on today to the third focus I would like to do a quick survey.

Ask, How many believe that it is God’s will for the church to grow numerically?

Ask, How many believe that it is God’s will for the church to grow spiritually?

Make a pie graph for each on the white board.

Ask, For those of you who said you believe it is important for the church to grow numerically, what can you do to aid in the numerical growth of the church?

Are there people in your life that you need to invite to church?

Are there people in your life that you need to tell them how much God loves them and how much God has done for them?

Ask, For those of you who said you believe it is important for the church to grow spiritually, what can you do to aid in the spiritual growth of the church and the spiritual growth in your own life?

Are we ever too old to stop growing spiritually? Never!

These five things that we are focusing on are all a part of a person’s spiritual growth and we all need to grow in these areas.

Today we are going to talk focusing on Meaningful Relationships. It is important to build meaningful relationships within the church. We should connect with like-minded people so we can build each other up, worship, learn, and minister together. We will love each other and stand together through all things.

Show the “Me Church” clip.

Church is not about me and it is not about you.

Church is about serving a Risen Savior.

Church is about getting into the Word of God.

Church is about praying.

Church is about serving.

Church is about praising and worshipping an awesome God.

Church is about investing into the lives of others and inviting them to know Christ.

And Church is about building meaningful relationships with like-minded people.

The reasons that we want to have meaningful relationships within the church are stated in our focus statement. So we can build each other up, worship, learn, and minister together.

When God created us, He did so with the thought in mind that we are to be in relationships. That is why, when God saw that Adam was alone in the garden He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

God was setting the pattern for all of mankind to move us from isolation to relation.

These principles that are found in our third focus are based upon the Word of God.

READ Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Build each other up.

“If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who has no one to help him up!” Ecclesiastes 4:10

Godly, intimate friendships bring strength to the relationship.

There are times in every one’s life in which we face tough situations. It is during those times that the people with whom we have developed Godly, Biblically based relationships with build us up.

They are the people who come to comfort us when we are down. They come along side us and strengthen us when we are weak, and they help calm us when we are scared.

When we are involved in a meaningful relationship with a fellow Christian they don’t have to be told to build us up, instead they allow the Holy Spirit to show them what needs to be done.