Sermon Brief
Date Written: August 28, 2014
Date Preached: September 7, 2014
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: We Serve the SAME God
Sermon Title: We Are On The SAME Team!
Sermon Text: Colossians 1:1-12 [ESV]
Introduction:
Have any of you seen all the rukus going on on the internet about ALS (Lou Gerhig’s Disease) and the Ice Bucket challenge? I have seen COUNTLESS videos of people dumping ice water over their heads in so many different ways, all to raise the awareness of this disease among the masses.
I was finally called out by my son-n-law this past weekend to take the ice-bucket challenge. I immediately went online and donated $100 to NoWhiteFlags.com – the Steve Gleason charity that supports research and development for an ALS cure. So far, I have not filmed my ‘ice bucket challenge’ but this morning with YOUR help, I would like to get it done.
Today is a busy day for our fellowship as we have our business meeting with its regular items as well as some other very important information and decisions we must look at as a fellowship. However, immediately following our business meeting, I ask for as many of you as can, to stay and be witness to my ‘ice-bucket’ challenge in the church courtyard!
You may wonder why I bring up the ice bucket challenge this morning in the sermon? Well, as I have said, for quite a while, I have watched so many of these challenges online and to be honest I sort of felt left out.
After all, no one was challenging me to dump ice cold water on my head. No one mentioned my name and asked me to participate, no one called me out to donate, so I began to feel like I was on the outside looking in.
I began to feel as if I would miss out on being a part of this phenomenon to raise awareness for this disease. I felt left out, and I was disappointed that I was not a part of this event, and to be honest the more I watched the videos online the more I felt this way.
Now I understand that I should never place my worth in whether or not I was ‘invited’ to join an internet challenge, but I have to admit I was a little sad about it.
Then 2 Saturdays ago, my son-n-law called me out on Facebook and all of a sudden I felt immediately included. I was going to be a part of what I believed was a really good thing.
Remember, before my son-n-law called me out I had felt left out… I had felt like I was on the outside of the bubble looking in at what was happening… I had felt that I was NOT a part of something that I truly desired to be a part of!
Now you may wonder why this was so important to me. In my quiet time God revealed to me that He used this internet phenomenon to teach me an object lesson about an extremely important Christian principle!
I am going to preach about that principle this morning and for the next 6 weeks. You see, just as I had felt left out of this challenge, there are many people who profess Christ as Savior today who also feel like they are ‘left out’ when it comes to serving God and connecting within their fellowship.
They see ministry happening around them…
They see others doing things for the church and the Lord…
They see their friends & fellow church members working in the kingdom…
But they don’t feel like they are part of something, to them they feel like they are still on the outside of some sort of spiritual bubble and they are looking into a world where they feel like they are either NOT needed or NOT wanted.
I want you to know that God does not desire that any believer should ever feel this way! God’s desire for His church is close fellowship! He wants us to be a close-knit group of believers who love one another and, in obedience to Him, which we lift up/encourage one another and include one another.
While it is true that we are called by God to do HIS ministry and spread the Gospel message of salvation to the lost… Scripture is also clear in that we are ALSO called to edify/encourage/uplift the body of Christ! We are called to lift up fellow believers who need our encouragement!
There are MANY believers who, for whatever reason, feel like they are on the outside looking in… they feel that they are not included in the efforts of the fellowship.
I want to emphasize here that Scripture paints a clear picture about this subject. Serving God within a fellowship of believers is about total obedience to God, and to accomplish obedience we must include and encourage everyone within our fellowship.
This is because God has called us to do so, but it is also because serving God is about teamwork and focus. We do not serve God in a vacuum. There is no purpose for a Lone Ranger type of believer within the church.
God created us as social beings and instilled within our hearts a desire to be a part of a community. We must love and lift up each other and work hand in hand with one another for the church to be effective! Unity in a fellowship is how a church functions at its best. Remember, we are not called to walk alone!
With that being said, have you ever felt lonely in your walk with God? Have you ever thought you have NO one to turn to, or nowhere to go when it comes to being encouraged or experiencing true Christian fellowship? Have you ever felt that even though you come to church…that somehow you were missing out on something… that you were somehow not included?
Not all believers struggle with theses battles; in fact, many believers would say they had a church family where they DO experience fellowship! They would say that they have Christian friends from whom they receive great encouragement.
However, many other believers feel alone and neglected when try to serve God and be a part of a fellowship. When we read the Gospels, we find Jesus was clear in the picture God desired for His church. Jesus said we must show a love for each other… This love was to be so evident in our lives that when the world sees us, they see our love for each other and that our love for each other points them to God.
Jesus paints the picture of the church being a fellowship of believers who rely upon God fully and totally! These believers do not serve God in a vacuum but they understand we are all in this walk for Christ together.
The book of Colossians is a letter to a fellowship of believers in the city of Colossae. Colossae was one of 3 major cities located in the Lykus River Valley. (Colossae, Laodicea and Heiropolis) Paul speaks of a letter he wrote to the fellowship in Laodicea, although we do not have a copy of that letter.
Paul did not plant these churches but it is believed that a person who was saved while listening to the preaching of Paul in Ephesus is the person who founded the churches in these cities. Many Bible scholars believe Epaphras was that person.
Paul wrote this letter in response to a report he had received from Epaphras about the church in Colossae. Paul was writing them to teach them, but also to offer his encouragement and support. I can imagine that many of these believers, coming from a Gentile background were experiencing this same ‘left out’ feeling I explained earlier. After all, Paul had not come to see them AND they were not a fellowship Paul started.
They knew who Paul was and they knew that Paul was not the one who started their church. They had heard that Paul wanted to visit them but he had never been to there church and some of the members may have been feeling a bit left out.
Paul wanted them to know that even though he had not been there with them, that they were all in this walk with Christ together. This letter reinforces the unity Jesus calls for in John 17 and what God expects of His church.
This letter also provides current day believers with a template on how we can find peace in knowing we are all on the same team and how we can focus as one in service to the One we call Savior!
How many of you have ever wondered about your purpose in life? How many of you have wondered about the purpose of our church? How many of you have ever wondered where and how you may fit in to that purpose?
In his letter to the church in Colossae, Paul lays out a very clear message about the church Jesus started. Paul wanted to encourage but still challenge those believers in Christ and still today, believers can find encouragement in his words as well as be challenged in our walk with God.
This morning we begin our journey through this wonderful letter by looking at the first 12 verses of chapter 1. Here Paul lays out the basic premise for his letter and that was “We serve the SAME God.” We all serve the same God and Paul reveals 4 mutual aspects of our fellowship together ‘In Christ’
The 1st aspect that Paul reveals that we ALL have a…
Mutual Persuasion in Christ (v.1-2)
1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
Here we find Paul described himself as an apostle of Christ. This phrase means an ardent follower and devoted disciple of Jesus. He shares that his apostleship was a direct calling from God, as described in v1 as “by the will of God”. This was his calling and how he served. This calling was not his idea but he was called by God.
Paul included Timothy in his greeting. Timothy was Paul’s spiritual son in that he had possibly led Timothy to Christ. Some would disagree that Paul led Timothy to Christ because of what we know about Timothy’s mother and grandmother (2 Timothy 1).
However, we can be reasonably sure that Paul took Timothy under his wing and discipled him to the point where Timothy understood God’s calling on his life as well. Here, Paul includes Timothy in with him in the ministry of the Gospel!
THEN, in v2 Paul addressed the fellowship in Colossae. He said, “To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae...”
Here Paul includes them as well in the ministry of the Gospel of Christ. Epaphras had told Paul many things about this fellowship how they had become a witness for Christ in their city.
I want you to take note of Paul’s use of the term ‘saints’ as his primary descriptor for the fellowship! He also uses the more generic term ‘brothers’ as well. The Greek word Paul used for ‘saints’ is hagioss which means those who are called out or set aside for God’s purpose.
We can see a parallelism with v1 here. Here Paul draws the same picture of those within the fellowship as he did with himself in v1 when he refers to himself as an apostle by the will of God.
Therefore, the message from Paul to these believers was that just as Paul was called out by God, THEY too were called out by God into service FOR Him! Their service was also God’s will…
This is Paul’s encouragement that they were ON the same team! They served the same God and called into the same service… they were people of the same PURSUASION.
I also want to look at the phrase, “…in Christ at Colossae…” which can also be translated, “…in Christ IN Colossae…” which reveals Paul’s affirmation of their faith.
This let the fellowship know that Paul saw their faith lived out in their service to God! But it also draws a parallel between being ‘In Christ’ to being ‘In Colossae’… in other words this was a vibrant and healthy church.
It did not mean they were struggling with issues because they obviously were, but it indicated that Paul believed they were a healthy body of believers.
Finally in these 2 verses Paul spoke of the mortar that held all the believers together, “…Grace to you and peace from God our Father.” The grace Paul spoke of here is the grace that God offered through His plan of redemption.
Paul’s reference here to God as ‘our Father’ draws the picture of the church as a family with God as the head of that family.
In v1-2 Paul shares the mutual persuasion he shared with the believers in Colossae…These words are an illustration for ALL believers in that we all have been granted grace and redemption through Jesus and we all serve under the same calling/persuasion.
We have come to know Christ as Savior! We have become PART of something much larger than ourselves! We are no longer on the outside looking in! We are no longer un-invited, but now we are INCLUDED in His plan and purpose!
However, Paul moved forward in v 3-6 to describe another aspect of who we are in Christ. The next aspect of our faith that Paul describes here is our:
Mutual Purpose in Christ (v3-6)
3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,
Here Paul presents this aspect through a prayer for the fellowship at Colossae. He speaks of his love for them and his belief that they are a relatively healthy and vibrant church serving God. However, he knows he must bring teaching as well as encouragement because of a report he has heard from Epaphras.
Paul begins his prayer here by praising God. His praise is that he and this fellowship are on the same team, that God had brought them all out of sin and into Christ and redemption.
In v4-5 Paul uses 3 descriptive words for the Colossian fellowship:
4since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.
Paul spoke of the fellowship and their faith. He is speaking of the mutual saving faith that they have experienced in Christ as Savior.
This mutual faith makes all who know Christ as Savior, members of the same family. We are all connected! We become spiritually related when Christ comes into our lives and Paul wanted these believers to know and understand they were not alone in their service to God.
Paul spoke about this mutual faith in many of his letters, and in his letter to the church in Ephesus Paul wrote; “For by grace you are saved thru faith,…” This relates that we are saved through the grace of God and not how good we are individually.
It is not about how much we know, who we know, what position we hold or how much money we have. It is not about any good deed we have done or can do. It is not even about being able to avoid doing bad deeds. It is all about the wonderful grace of God that brings saving faith that leads our redemption.
This mutual faith is the same for everyone who accepts Jesus as Lord. From the Apostle Paul to Billy Graham to your own salvation experience, everyone who is saved possesses the same mutual faith that Paul speaks about here!
We also see Paul speaking about their love. “…and of the love that you have for all the saints…” Here Paul is speaking about a mutual love these believers have expressed toward him and other believers.
This mutual love Paul speaks of is the Greek word agape which is an unconditional love. Agape love is a love as a matter of character, not as a response to love from another source.
Paul told these believers it had been reported that they had truly loved their fellow believers. So here, he was expressing a thankfulness to God that he had heard how they were truly loving on one another in Christ.
In the Gospel of John we read that Jesus instructed His disciples to express this same type of love among one another and it would be a calling card to the world about WHO they were!
Every fellowship of believers should focus in on showing this same redeeming love to each other! The mutual love Paul speaks about is a love that reveals to the world that we see past the outward appearance and we look into the soul with the eyes of our Savior.
This love is not a love based on performance, but it’s a love that seeks to see others know Christ and experience His grace filled redemption.
Paul was stating that this fellowship in Colossae reflected just such a love to their fellow believers. They were loving each other within their fellowship like this and they were sharing this type of love with the world around them, especially to other believers.
This type of love becomes a drawing card to the world. When this type of love is expressed and experienced, God is glorified and the lost are drawn to Him.
Paul spoke of their mutual faith and love, but the third item Paul expresses here in these verses is their mutual hope. “…because of the hope laid up for you in heaven...”
This mutual hope Paul speaks of is hope in Christ. Paul references “…a hope laid up for us in heaven…” which is THE hope we all receive when we come to know Christ as our Savior.
On His final night with His disciples, Jesus spoke about this hope when He said in John 14:3, “I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am you will be also, and if I go I will come again and and take you to be with me.” The mutual hope we all have in Christ will be finally realized in the eternal life that is promised all who receive Christ as Savior.
But it is not only about our hope in eternal life after this life, but we find that the power of the Gospel is filled with this same mutual hope! Each person who receives Jesus as Savior has this mutual hope that in Him we can serve and live victoriously in THIS life as well.
A mutual hope that we will see the ‘mansion’ Jesus has prepared for us and see our Savior face to face! A mutual hope in knowing we can live victorious here in this life…I can imagine the heartbreak of the disciples that Jesus was leaving, but He told them He was coming back which brought hope to their hearts.
I can remember when we were young parents and we would drop our children off with the baby sitter. We would always comfort them and tell them that we would be back soon. Our children could then play and not be afraid because they knew we were coming back!
As believers, we all have this SAME peace we find in our mutual hope in Christ. We know that one day Christ will return, and one day we will witness Him in heaven and that one day our eternal dwelling place will be revealed and given to us. One day His victory over death will be final and as believers, we ALL share that same mutual hope.
As followers of Christ we have all 3 of these aspects in our walk with God:
We have the same mutual saving faith,
We are called to the same mutual love for our fellow believers, and
We have the same mutual hope in Christ.
Because we have these things we must understand that we are drawn to the same purpose as the believers from Colossae. Our purpose is revealing our mutual faith to the world around us.
Our purpose is to reveal and show the mutual love we have for one another to the world around us. Finally our purpose is illustrated in that we all have a mutual hope in Christ and the future He has prepared for all who know Him as Savior.
We are all on the same team! We have a mutual persuasion in Christ Jesus, we also have a mutual purpose in Christ Jesus that if fleshed out through our faith, love and hope. But Paul does not stop there, he continues on with this mutual inclusion-fest for believers, next he tells us of our:
Mutual Partnership in Christ (v7-10)
7just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. 9And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
Paul follows our mutual persuasion and mutual purpose in Christ by revealing a third aspect and that is our mutual partnership in Christ!
Paul begins this section with a reminder that Epaphras had been a wonderful teacher in bringing them the truth about God! He tells them that their mutual faith, love and hope was given to them through the teaching of Epaphras.
Epaphras was like a proud parent in relating the things from Colossae to Paul. v7-8 Paul is uplifting the leader of the Colossian church, Epaphras. Epaphras was a faithful servant of God and has worked tirelessly for your benefit is what Paul tells them here in v7 and in v8 Epaphras reveals their love in Christ to those around them.
Again this is about agape love which is about giving not receiving. Paul wants them to understand that their love for Christ & love by the Holy Spirit was noticed & they had been taught this love from a faithful minister of the Gospel in Epaphras.
Here Paul is expressing the same type of mutual love in his prayer offered up on behalf of their fellowship. This once again reveals Paul’s intentions for his letter and that it was to reveal to the believers in Colossae that they were part of something that was much larger than themselves.
They were part of a fellowship that was to grow in knowledge, wisdom and understanding of God and His ways. Here we find Paul coming along side these believers to encourage that very thing. In other words, Paul was solidifying the partnership he had with these believers.
He challenged them to be filled, but just what is he saying? Well first he speaks to filling their spirit with the knowledge of God’s will.
Do you understand that the knowledge of what God wants for us is crucial to our service to God? How often do you wonder what you are supposed to be doing for Christ? How often do you doubt your path or question the direction of your walk with God?
Paul calls on these believers to be ‘filled with the knowledge of God’s will’ this means Paul is praying that God will illuminate their hearts & minds with His plan & direction for them as a fellowship. That God will open their eyes to His vision for their service!
How can we know God’s will? We must seek after it! Seeking God’s will comes through an active prayer life and a vibrant study of God’s word.
When I say a study of God’s word, I am not speaking of academic accomplishment, but rather spending time in His word & allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal His will to your heart! It is allowing God to speak to your heart through His word!
You see, when we have the knowledge of God’s Will, the pathway for our life is much more clear. Many of us believe that when we know God’s will that our walk will be smoother, but that is not always the case. Paul absolutely knew God’s will for his life & yet he did not have a smooth walk in life, rather Paul’s life had been filled with opposition and struggle.
However, knowing God’s will brings peace to our hearts. Here we find Paul praying that these believers would seek after God’s will and then submit to it through His wisdom and understanding. Paul wanted them to know God’s will as he did…they were partners in service to God and they should all be in tune with God!
Paul challenged these followers to experience the knowledge of God’s will, but also to revel in God’s wisdom and understanding that comes with knowing the will of God.
When we commune with God seeking His will we learn to trust Him and begin to lean on His wisdom and understanding to guide our steps. This is what Solomon was speaking about in Proverbs 3:5-6 when he wrote:
5Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.
This was how Paul lived his life and this where Paul is calling these believers to join him… to become partners with Him in the Gospel by seeking out God’s will and then leaning on His wisdom and understanding to carry out His will.
10so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
Paul has challenged these believers to do something that requires full trust in God. Something that requires them to hand over the controls of their lives to God… but it is for a reason. They do this to reveal to the world the glory of the One they stand with!
When we seek out God’s will and trust in God’s guiding hand it reveals that we are willing partners in His calling. When we do these things, we are walking obediently (worthy) before Him and it is a pleasing sight before the Lord!
We serve as partners in the Gospel to please God, not ourselves! Our obedience pleases Him but Paul tells us that it also bears fruit through the work of the Gospel in our lives.
When we seek Him and trust in Him and walk obediently in Him we will bear the fruit of a true disciple which is another soul he can/will save!
Paul tells us that we will bear fruit in our obedience to Him, whether that obedience is through our works for the Gospel or in our growing closer to Him through the knowledge of who God is… or more specifically knowing the will of God for our walk in Him.
Paul revealed their mutual persuasion in Christ as well as their mutual purpose and mutual partnership in Christ! However, in v11-12 we can also see where Paul reveals the mutual power we possess in Christ, look at these verses with me this morning…
Mutual Power in Christ Jesus (v11-12)
11May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
What Paul was revealing here was that they could NOT serve under their own power but rather they needed God’s power to strengthen them! Paul knew that ‘in Christ’ that we cannot rely on our own strength. Look what he says in v11:
11May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy,
“…strengthened with ALL power…” is quite an enormous promise, but it is based on the fact that God, as creator, has promised His power so that we can live as He has called us to live. When God provides us with His power… it is for HIS glory and not our own!
Over the past couple of weeks there has been a video going crazy on the internet. It is about a church service at Lakewood Christian center in Houston, TX. The pastor’s wife stood before some 30,000 attenders and said these words,
“I just want to encourage everyone of us to realize that when we obey God, we’re not doing it for God (I mean that’s one way to look at it) we’re doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we are happy. That is the thing that gives Him the greatest joy…just do good for your ownself… when you come to church, when you worship Him, you are not doing it for God, you are doing it for yourself and that’s what makes God happy…”
My dear brothers and sisters… being on His team, being of the same Christian persuasion, knowing the same Christian purpose & experiencing the same Christian partnership with other believers is NOT about US! Paul shares that this is about HIS glory!
The words from that pastor’s wife are a lie straight from the pit of hell! Our worship & service for Him is not for OUR sake, but for His glory!
If you are serving Him for YOUR sake, no matter what you are doing, no matter how successful you are, you are OUTSIDE His will and He is NOT pleased! Serving for OUR sake relies on our own wisdom and our own power!
Here Paul say we must seek to be powered by Him, not by our own power! If we rely on our own power, it is for OUR sake but when we rely on His power, it is for His glory and for His kingdom!
We are mutual partners with each other, and we are ALL empowered by His Spirit! God offers ALL of this to ALL believers, but it is not for our glory, but for His!
But why do we NEED His power? Well the journey is a hard one and Paul describes why we need His power:
11…for all endurance and patience with joy…
Paul instructs these believers that when they seek God’s will & empowerment that will enable them to endure during the difficult times, but not just so that they will ‘endure’ hard times, but that they will be experience patience in their trials and joy in their journey!
When we seek God’s will and when we are filled with His knowledge, it brings us peace. We cannot understand this peace, but it is there and carries us through the difficult times.
When we experience this peace, we are able to go places we never thought we could go… We will be able to do things we never thought we could do… When we are empowered by His strength and covered in His peace we can be the Christian He desires us to be… this is something we could NEVER so under our own power!
12 …giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
So Paul says, to give thanks…Give thanks for what God will bring into your life when you submit and surrender to His will. Give thanks for Him bringing you INTO His family, into His plan and purpose!
We give thanks because we are ON the inside serving with our Savior…we are not on the OUTSIDE looking in… we are no longer yearning to be a part because we are a part of His kingdom!
Paul shares that as believers…
We are called to a mutual persuasion in Christ…
We are called to a mutual purpose in serving Christ…
We are called to a mutual partnership with each other in service to Christ…and,
Finally we are called to seek after a mutual power that enables us to be, serve and do things we would never be able to accomplish outside of Christ!
My brothers and sisters, we are part of something wonderful! This is something of God and from God! This is something that is much greater than we are! Today, if you know Jesus Christ as your Savior…REJOICE because you are part of His plan and purpose…
This means that YOU and I are on the same team… that God has called us to a plan and a purpose here at Oak Park. We are of the same persuasion in that we all follow Christ as Savior and believe Christ is the only hope for this world.
We are called to a mutual purpose in sharing the Love of Christ with the world around us, especially the community around us! Sharing that love and redemptive grace will bring salvation to the lost in our community.
We are all called to a mutual partnership in that we have the same focus. Our partnership is evident when we seek God’s will & trust in God’s guidance! We have divisions and factions in our churches because we don’t seek His will & trust He will lead us…
We are called to a mutual power through God’s Holy Spirit in that He will enable us to go where He sends, to do what He wants and to accomplish what He wants accomplished! In Christ, there is NO end to what we can do thru His power!
This community seems like a unclimbable mountain and many of us believe it cannot be reached! However, I want to share with you that in His power, with His leading and under His guidance, WE CAN reach this community! His strength will power our ministry and His wisdom will lead our efforts to share His love with this community!
The biblical truth I want you to take from today’s sermon is that as believers, we are all part of a team and we serve the SAME God.
We were persuaded by God and His Holy Spirit to accept Christ. We were given purpose through His love and calling on our lives.
We are partnered together by the Holy Spirit & led by God’s guiding hand...
We are empowered by God to do what He wants, to go where He sends and to be His body here in this world… are you ready to BE the church today?
You may wonder how this biblical truth applies to YOU. You may be wondering, “How do I apply this to my life?”
Being a PART OF A TEAM… being a part of something MUCH greater than yourself helps us to understand God’s plan! He has a plan and a purpose for His church as a whole, but as part of the team God also has a plan for YOUR life as well because you are part of His church!
Do you realize that you are a part of the SAME family of God that the Apostle Paul led so many yrs ago? It is the same family that turned the world on its ear with the Gospel!
In Christ we are called to act and not sit… you are called to apply this truth in your life! You are PART of a team and you need to become active IN your team’s efforts to be obedient to Christ in reaching the community around us!
How can you realize this and apply this truth of being on the same team? I believe you can actually DO four things:
You can share your faith by revealing God’s love and calling others to salvation in Christ (persuasion)
You can reach out to the world around you by meeting needs and sharing love of Christ (purpose)
You can loving and joyfully work alongside of your brother/sister in Christ (partnership)
You can lean on and trust in God to lead, guide and direct your daily life (power)
Let’s get busy with the business of the kingdom! You are loved, embraced and empowered by Him to do His work…are you ready to embrace your place on the team?
[call for saved to come confess and pray]
Give evangelistic invitation
