Keep It Fresh: God's Vision For Us!

INTRODUCTION

We have begun a new phase of our Christian journey together as was evident in last week’s worship service in which many of us witnessed the culmination of one ministry and the inception of another. We received a word of encouragement that challenged us to remember where we have been; to reflect upon just how far the Lord has brought us. I could not help but imagine the enormous growth that has taken place in your lives as you surrendered your lives to God. Over the past several months God has miraculously moved, awakened, transformed, and empowered Christ’s Body here at Warrior Gospel. This is undoubtedly both a bitter sweet occasion. Bitter because our brother-in-the-Lord and God’s servant Chaplain Kehmes Lands is no longer physically present with us. I see that tear in your eye, but I know that the transformation that has begun in you is still reverberating throughout your lives, this church, Camp Liberty and the entire Victory Base Complex. I can sense the fire in your heart; in fact, so can others. During my first six weeks here there is one common report that I have heard wherever I went it seemed about Christ’s Body here at WG. I hear that God’s word is being faithfully preached and peoples’ lives are being dramatically changed. I am not naïve to believe that we all behave as saints or have arrived at full Christian-maturity inside or outside this church. God still has work to do in all our lives, mine included. I’m thankful for last week’s message because there is more to this Christian life than just being born-again, as wonderful as that is. I believe the “Message” translation of Colossians 2:6-7 “captures the intent of God’s desire for us.

My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve

been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.

The Lord has given me, long before I came here, a vision, mission and ministry for the Body of Christ here at Warrior Gospel Chapel that goes along with and builds upon the groundwork of what has already been started.

Today’s Message has three parts but we’re only covering parts 1 & 2 today and 3 next week:

1. God’s Vision for Us

2. God’s Mission for Us

3. God’s Ministry for Us

Read: Habakkuk 2:2-3; 1 Peter 1:18-21; and Philippians 1:3-6

Pray:

Title: Keep it Fresh!

The dictionary defines fresh as that which is newly made or obtained; that which does retain the original properties without any degradation. Conversely, staleness is defined as: having lost the freshness, effervescence, or palatability; lacking originality or spontaneity; impaired in efficacy, vigor, or spirit, as from inactivity or boredom; having lost effectiveness or force through lack of exercise or action. Spiritually speaking a fresh faith is that which is active, alive, and meaningful today. It has a sense of newness, recentness, not yesterday and not tomorrow. Presentness: a moment or period in time perceptible as intermediate between past and future: now. Therefore a fresh gospel means a fresh faith and as a stale gospel means a stale faith.

Big Idea: God’s provision for fresh faith is fresh gospel.

God’s New Vision for Us: (This answers the question, “Why do we exist?”)

“We exist to glorify God by knowing, applying, and proclaiming

the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Childlike Faith

There’s nothing more overpowering than to climb Calvary’s hill in childlike attentiveness and wonder, with all our distractions and wrong assumptions cleared away. The intent of this vision is that we might be gripped by gratitude and enflamed in passion for the Savior, Christ our Mediator, who suffered the Father’s righteous wrath for us.

What Really Matters

Have the peripherals, the things that are less important, taken over and left the core of your faith forgotten? There is a critical difference between snacking on the benefits of the cross and surveying the wonders of the cross. Although it seems almost too obvious, the center of our faith is surprisingly easy to forget. Remember Jesus Christ?

The Secret to Sustaining Joy

Do you desire more passion for Christ? Do you get confused by what you feel versus what is real? The answer is to look at the death of Christ not from our point of view, but from God’s. Our human tendency is to look at the Savior’s death (and at everything else!) through our own subjective feelings and impressions, rather than from the standpoint of objective truth. By nature we always begin with ourselves rather than with God. But by following the God-first "Divine Order" in how we think—and by asking "What do I believe?" instead of "How do I feel?"—we’re freed up to embrace the right truth in the right way. The right feelings quickly follow, and they’re reliable because they’re anchored in truth. Return to the very essence of your faith—the cross of Christ. Here, the deepest truths of Calvary will stir your passion for Him into an unquenchable fire. As you better understand the true nature of His struggle, you’ll grasp more than ever the staggering significance of why Jesus died…and fully experience His sacrifice as a personal act of love for you. Allow the deepest truths of Calvary to stir your passion for Christ our mediator into a flame that burns your whole life long.