Our Purpose Part II Be Equipped
1 Samuel 17:32-40 Ephesians 4:11-13 and 6:10-18 GNLCC 8/6/08
If you saw someone go into a sports store, and she was buying a white shirt, white shorts, some Nike’s, a tennis racket and some tennis balls, what would you assume they were being equipped to play. If you saw someone go into a store and he picked up some notebooks, a backpack, some pens, pencils, a calculator, and a dictionary, what would you assume he was be equipped to do.
What would you think if someone went and got the best football helmet available. Shoulder pads that made you look awesome. Football pants with pads that protected you all around. A pair of football cleats that could grip any turf so that you could turn on a dime. And they put it on in order to go and play guard on a basketball team? We know there is a direct connection between what you’re being equipped to do and what you plan on doing.
In our Old Testament reading, David was willing to fight the enemy, Goliath. Goliath could have made Shaquille O’Neal look like a small guy. When the King heard that David was willing to fight this massive warrior, he tried to equip David with the best armor in the land.
Naturally that would have been his armor. Now King Saul was a head taller than anybody else so that means he probably stood about 6 feet 6. David probably stood around 5’11. King Saul had good intentions in trying to equip David. But the helmet was too big. The coat of armor was too heavy. The parts to cover his legs were too long, and the shoes did not fit. The sword was too heavy and it just did not work.
David had been equipped, but he certainly was not equipped to go and fight any kind of battle. David was smart enough to say, I can’t wear this stuff into battle. He took it off, and got dressed according to the talents and skills God had given to Him to go into battle.
The Bible makes it clear that there is a battle going on in the spiritual realm everyday. We may think some things just happen to us, but no my friends some of things that happen to us are roadside bombs that the enemy has carefully laid for us to come by in order to have parts of us blown to pieces. Other things that happened have been caused by incoming missiles. That is why our New Testament reading encouraged us to put on the full armor of God.
Last week we looked at our purpose statement. Let’s say it together, Our purpose is to enter into a right relationship with God and be equipped for the ministry of Jesus Christ to make a difference in the lives of others. We saw that our purpose statement requires three things of us and challenges us in three areas. The First is to get to know God. The second is to be equipped for ministry. The third is to make a difference for others .
Last week we looked at what it meant to enter into a right relationship with God. We saw it began with leaving one place to come into another, accepting what God says about us as being true, and seeking an intimate relationship with God through confession, repentance, and a willingness to change. Today we will look at the second and third part of the purpose which is to be equipped for the ministry of Jesus Christ to make a difference in the lives of others.
When a person becomes a soldier in the army a lot of things happen. First of all there is somebody else calling the shots. You get up when they say get up. There is no such thing as “I do not feel like getting out of bed this morning.” When it’s time for a hike you, you go on the hike. Nobody is interested in hearing about you’re still tired from yesterday. You wear the uniform that they give to you. There’s no such thing as requesting a special color outfit to go with your hair or eyes or nails. You are given a weapon to learn to use. There’s no such thing as saying , “well I do not think I’ll ever use this, so I’m not coming to that class.” You go where you are sent. It does not matter if you think it’s fair or not.”
We are told in 2 Timothy 2:3, Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” As a soldier God expects us to be equipped for His army. We exist as a church to equip people for the ministry of Jesus Christ. Who is suppose to do the equipping. Let’s look at Ephesians 4:11-13. It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Now the He who gave was Jesus Christ. What was it that He gave. He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers? Now this verse alone completely destroys the notion that you can be a Christian on your own. It would be like a soldier in Iraq, telling the commander in charge, “I don’t need the rest of these soldiers or you either for that matter. I’m just going to take on the terrorist on my own.” The commander has an overall strategy for fighting, and there is a reason different people have different jobs. God has a plan in mind for each of us in His army.
Now we look close at what the job is for those who are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Their purpose is to prepare God’s people. Some translations use the word equip God’s people. The word means to make right or to mend. It’s the image of a broken bone being put back in place so that it can heal properly. Remember last week I told you that God’s view of us is that we are broken and in need of a lot of help that we cannot provide ourselves. As pastors and teachers we are called to help you get in the position you need to be in to do what God wants you to do.
Many people think the purpose of the church is to entertain them or to simply make them feel good inside. There is nothing in the bible that says you should come to church and be entertained. If you come with that thought in mind, after a while you’re going to get bored. We live in a world of entertainment. After a while the spectacular gets boring. The first time we saw dinosaurs in Jurassic Park it was great. In Jurassic Park II it was much harder to get us inspired at the sight of dinosaurs. Now any movie with dinosaurs has to top those dinosaurs in Jurassic Park or we say, “been there, done that. I’m bored.”
Our young people have more gadgets and things around them today than we ever had. If we had 10 records or ten tapes, we thought we were something. They have mp3 players with 1,000 songs and they’re bored. I simply do not have time to be bored. There are two many ways to be making a difference in the lives of others for me to sit around and be bored.
The purpose of coming to church is not to be entertained, but to see how you can me mended, equipped, or prepared to do your part as a soldier in the body of Christ. We are being prepared for works of service. Does the words work of service sounds like something we are too actively be doing. You come to church, to be prepared to do works of service.
Now those works of service are going to take place on different battlefields. They are to take place in the church, in the home, on the job, at school, at the grocery store, on the corner and wherever we find ourselves. We are coming to church to discover what it is we need to change and what it is we need to do and what’s the best way to go about it according to the Word of God.
Church becomes boring when we have no intention on changing our lives to conform it to the word of God. The works of service that we do are geared to the building up of the body of Christ. God did not save us simply to take us to heaven. If that were the case, the best thing God could do is kill us the moment after we got saved. That way we would not sin anymore and mess up the life we’re supposed to be living. There would be no such thing as lazy or unfaithful Christians. Zap, they would be gone.
Do you know God’s purpose in saving you. Let’s read Ephesians 2:8-10 together. Ephes. 2:8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. The only reason we are here is to do the works God prepared in advance for us to do.
We are to make the ministry of Jesus Christ as strong as we can. The church has the mission of going into the world to tell others about the love of God so that their lives can be changed and they can spend eternity with God. The apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers furnish and equip the believers to do the work of the ministry, which results in the building up the body of Christ. How do we build up the body at Glenville.
It starts with us taking personal responsibility and doing what God has given us the ability to do it. There is no such thing as a believer who has nothing to offer in the church. Whatever we do, we should offer God our best. One of the reasons we had losing football teams when I was in high school, was that many of the guys who could have made a difference refused to join the team and then spent their time telling us how sorry we were.
Our purpose is to be equipped for the ministry of Jesus Christ, not to sit on the sidelines and make commentaries about it. A great church is built on people who will not allow their schedules to exclude making a difference in the life of the church. The church builds itself in the faith as the members care for one another, show love to each other , sacrifice for each other and work together for the good of the body.
Yet the church also builds itself as it reaches out to its surrounding community with the love of Christ, drawing others into the fold. God has given his church an enormous responsibility—to make disciples in every nation (Matthew 28:18-20). This involves preaching, teaching, healing, nurturing, giving, administering, building, singing, dancing, volunteering, and many other tasks. No one person can be Glenville New Life Community church. Trying to fulfill God’s command alone would be impossible. But God calls us as members of his body.
No one should be a bystander or an observer in the ministry of Christ. The only spectators we find in the bible are in Hebrews when it says we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, and all of those witnesses were dead. Everyone is called to do the work of ministry. Some of us can do one task; some can do another. Together we can obey God more fully than any of us could do alone. We tend to overestimate what we can do by ourselves and underestimate what we can do as a group. But as the body of Christ, we can accomplish more together than we could dream possible working by ourselves. Working together, the church can express the fullness of Christ.
You see it’s not about what we like. It’s not about what we feel like. It’s about being who God wants us to be. God’s goal is to work through so that others can enter into a right relationship with Him. The whole purpose of being equipped is to make a difference in the lives of others. When we make a difference in the lives of other people, we get a sense of enrichment and fulfillment that we do not get from simply pouring more and more into ourselves.
Part of equipping you for ministry is for you to use what you have and enjoy doing it to bless others. Dorothy Parker has a gift to sew. She’s offered to teach our young goals how to sew if they want to learn. That’s a way to make a difference. Elice offered her gift of teaching fashion to make a difference in our youth. Those of you who enjoy coaching, would you use that skill for God to make a difference in the lives of others. We’d like to have a church basketball team in the church league next year for our youth, but we need a coach to do it. Would you seek to make a difference.
Those of you who can teach, would you be willing to say, I’ll give you two hours a week on a Wednesday to tutor. Those of you who can do an overnight with a group of kids, will you say yes I’ll serve how you need me for two overnights during the coming year.
Those of you who have been the struggles of drug addiction and been victorious, would you be willing to start a group to help those in its midst or if you were a parent of one on drugs, would you do a four week support program for others experiencing what you experienced. Preparing you for the work of ministry to make a difference in the lives of others does not mean doing something forever, but doing something as you are able.
You see God has an interest in people’s lives. Most of the bible is not about going to heaven or heaven itself. Most of the bible is about helping people whose lives have been shattered by the enemy through the abuse and oppression of others. When me make a difference in the lives of others, our ultimate goal is that they be saved, but that’s not the only goal that we have.
The bible says, Matthew 25:34-36 "Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Making a difference in the lives of others includes their physical needs. We are getting more and more letters from people in prison seeking just somebody to care. Is writing a letter something you can do?
Making a difference encompasses a lot of areas. Every young person that we can steer away from drugs and sex into college indicates that we have made a difference for Jesus Christ. Every marriage and family that we can hold intact, indicates making a difference for Jesus Christ. Every young man that we can educate on what a man is or a father is and every young girl that we can educate on what a woman is or a mother is means we’re making a difference.
Every adult we equip to make right moral choices in a given situation is making a difference. Every person we offer hope to in a time of crisis is making a difference. Every unjust law we fight to change, every predator lender we can get rid of, every unjust war we shorten is making a difference.
God has blessed us with a resource of people. With all the teachers in our congregation, we should have a program so that everyone of our members who wants a GED can study and be tutored right here. That’s making a difference in the lives of others. The whole vision of the New Life Center is rooted in making a difference in the lives of others.
Soldiers are equipped to make a difference in the lives of others. How strong of an army do we want to reside here at Glenville New Life Community Church? Who among is willing to endure hardship as a soldier for Jesus Christ? Who is willing to declare, it’s not about what I can get out of it, it’s about what I can offer to the glory of God. What is our purpose: Our purpose is to enter into a right relationship with God and be equipped for the ministry of Jesus Christ to make a difference in the lives of others.
Sermon Outline Pastor Rick
Our Purpose II Be Equipped
1 Samuel 17:32-40 Eph. 4:11-13, 6:10-18
8/6/2006
A. What Does The Equipment Say
1. What’s Your Guess
2. Equipped For Football, But
3. David’s Equipment
B. Our Purpose Statement
1. Know God, Be Equipped, M.A.D.
2. Right Relationship
C. The Call Of The Soldier
1. Excuses Do Not Work
2 Tim. 2:3 Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
3. It’s Time To Equip & Prepare
Ephes. 4:11-13 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, [12] to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up [13] until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
4. There Are No Solo Christians
5. Prepare—Mend, Make Right
D. What Is The Reason For The Church
1. Let’s Be Entertained
2. Jurassic Park’s Dinosaurs
3. Come To Be Mended & Get Papers
4. Are You Open To Change—Boring
5. God’s Purpose In Saving You
Ephes. 2:8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- [9] not by works, so that no one can boast. [10] For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
6. The Mission Is To Tell Others
7. The Missions Is To Build The Body
F. Making It All Happen
1. Hey I Can Do That
2. Forget The Sidelines & The Stands
3. Obligations To Each Other
4. Obligations To Community
5. Together Is The Key
6. What Do You Have To Make It
7. What Will You Offer
G. Saved For More Than Heaven
1. What’s Most Of The Bible About
Matthew 25:34-36 "Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. [35] For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, [36] I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
2. Making A Difference In Areas
3. Equipped For A Purpose
4. New Life Center MAD
5. Ready To Commit Myself
