These Three...

THESE THREE…

I Corinthians 13:13

S: Church

C: Characteristics of an effective church

Pr: WE SHOULD BE A CHURCH WITH A MISSION.

?: How?

KW: Essentials

TS: We will find in our study of Scripture three essentials that we must have as a church with a mission.

Type: Propositional

The ____ essential is we are…

I. LIVING BY FAITH

II. KNOWN BY LOVE

III. A VOICE OF HOPE

PA: How is the change to be observed?

Version: ESV

RMBC 22 June 05 AM

INTRODUCTION:

ILL: Priority: She was my wife

Three avid golfers were playing at the Buffalo Country Club one beautiful June day. The game seemed to go along smoothly, the friends enjoying one another’s company. As they neared the 18th hole which is on Youngs Road, a funeral procession began to pass by.

One of the men stopped in his tracks, removed his cap, and placed it over his heart. His two friends were quite impressed! "Wow, I never knew you were such a respectful guy," said the first.

"Yea, it makes me feel kind of like a bum that I didn’t remove my hat," said the second.

To which the man who had made the courteous gesture said, "It’s the least I could do. She was my wife, you know!"

What are your priorities in life?

They do have a way of showing themselves, don’t they?

Our study today is not about our individual priorities.

It is about our priorities as a church.

When it comes to the church, how do we show our priorities?

What would the people that watch us say is important to us?

Is it what we would want them to say, or is it much different?

TRANSITION:

Before we go on, let me share a few thoughts about our studies during the first two weeks of June.

First, I believe that…

1. The church is designed to be unstoppable.

It is built into the church to be successful.

Now I am not thinking success according to the world’s standards.

I am thinking according to the terms of God’s design.

For the church is, in truth, an organism that is designed to reproduce.

As Christians, and as a church, if we are not reproducing ourselves, we are not functioning as God designed us.

Fruitfulness is the order of the day.

We are designed to be powerfully fruitful, passing on the truth of the Word to the next generation.

In so doing…

2. We are to be visionary.

When I think of vision, I do not believe any old vision will do.

For the use of this word vision in the biblical context means to see things the way God does.

We are to long for and look for God’s mind and direction for us as a church.

To have this, we must be vitally connected to the Lord.

It does not come any other way.

When our hearts are connected to the Lord’s heart, we know that the minimum effort is not good enough.

Out of a desire to glorify God, we will only settle for the maximum.

In other words…

3. We are to move toward the ideal.

We are to move toward perfection.

We are to move toward Christlikeness.

Two weeks ago, I shared with you my dreams about Randall.

I shared with you my heart about what kind of church God is calling us to be.

I shared with you principles from the Word.

And I shared with you areas that God has burdened me with, some of which have been churning for seven years.

I believe with my whole heart we need to refocus as a church family.

And while we laugh about change, we are all frightened by it, because it is alright if somebody else changes, as long as I can stay the way I am.

If we all do that as a church, our objective will become safety and comfort.

Does that sound to you like that is what a church is supposed to do?

This is why I believe…

4. WE SHOULD BE A CHURCH WITH A MISSION.

Many of you know that I am a big believer in the concept of Network.

I have really appreciated the time and effort ... have put into this to get it off the ground, and to keep it rolling and a part of the Randall landscape.

I believe knowing our spiritual gifts, accompanied by our personality and passion guides us to the right fit in the church.

There is, though, something even more fundamental to us than our spiritual gifts.

They are like the primary colors of Christianity.

They are our red, blue and yellow.

So…

5. We will find in our study of Scripture three essentials that we must have as a church with a mission (I Corinthians 13:13).