Partnering With God Through Ministry

Partnering with God Through Ministry

Chuck Sligh

NOTE: BUY AND USE THESE PROPS: 5 loaves (round, Middle-East style if available) of bread and 2 fishes

November 16, 2014

(A PowerPoint slide presentation is available for this sermon upon request by emailing me at chucksligh@hotmail.com.

TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 14.

INTRODUCTION

I’m going to be up front with you this morning and let you know what I’m going to do. Today I want to use all my powers of persuasion to persuade as many of you as possible to get out of the bleachers and off the sidelines and into the game of what’s going on in the life of GBC.

By the way, they’re locking the doors right now, so there’s no point in trying to escape! But seriously, I just want to do everything I can to convince you to get involved at GBC.

OUR GOALS AND MEANS TO REACH OUR GOALS AT GBC

Here at Grace Baptist Church, we have five overarching goals for each person who walks through the doors of our church, and they’re represented by this chart:

1) First, that you come to KNOW Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.

The most important decision you will ever make in your life is be saved, and one of the reasons we’re here as a church is to show you how to have a relationship with Christ.

We mention this often in our Morning Worship Service, but we’re ALWAYS available to answer questions about salvation—after any service or anytime in the week.

2) Our second goal is for you to WORSHIP God. – Though we should worship God every time we meet, the most impactful venue for worship at Grace is in the Morning Worship Service.

3) Our third goal is for each of you to learn and obey God’s Word, the essence of discipleship. We’re trying to turn non-believers and believers into dynamic disciples of Christ through practical and doctrinal teaching from God’s Word. We try to integrate discipleship into every service, activity or program in the church, but the venues where this happens most naturally are in our PM Service, Sunday School (where there are classes for all ages), and in our homegroups. Every Christian needs to grow, and we grow by learning and applying God’s Word. Commitment to these venues will help you grow in Christ, challenge you in your faith and help keep you from sin and backsliding.

4) Our fourth goal is to build close, strong relationships between believers in small groups through studying God’s Word together, encouraging one another, serving one another, and being accountable to one another. – Surely, whenever we meet together, we want to strengthen our relationships with one another, but the best and most impactful venues for this goal are in our homegroups and small group Bible studies.

5) Finally, we want every one of you to be serve God and others in ministry by using your gifts, talents and abilities in order to build the body up in faith.

How can we reach these goals?—We can reach them by what I call “Growth Vehicles.”

What are the Growth Vehicles that will drive us to our goals:

• First is RELATIONSHIP

The first key is to encourage every one of you to get the issue of your salvation settled.

As I said, we’re here 24/7 to help you come to a living faith in Jesus Christ.

• Second is MEMBERSHIP – We believe that it is God’s will that every believer should join a local church wherever they live and be involved in it.

• Third is PARTNERSHIP – Encouraging each member to faithfully attend these ministry venues so you can reach these goals in your lives.

• Fourth is STEWARDSHIP – Not being part of any denomination or fellowship, this church itself receives no support from outside the church. It takes money to pay the mortgage, the utilities, pastoral salary, teaching curricula, sound and media equipment, cleaning supplies, office supplies, and many other expenses. Only as God’s people take on their responsibility to support their church with their tithes and offerings, we can do what God has called us to do, and you grow personally in faith and generosity.

• The fifth growth vehicle is OWNERSHIP. – When you SERVE in your church, you feel a certain degree of ownership of it. You feel you have a greater stake in its success. It’s YOUR church—the place you serve in and labor for the Lord in.

• The final growth vehicle is through OUTREACH. – How can those without Christ find forgiveness and freedom, and how can those who have dropped out of church hear about a church that wants them to reconnect with God? By people like you who take the Great Commission personally and go out into the community and tell others about Christ, your faith, your church.