Connecting Through The Church & Serving The Purpose and State of the Church Colossians 1:9-14, 27-29; Ephesians 4:11-16

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Aileen Ferguson
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1 Connecting Through The Church & Serving The Purpose and State of the Church Colossians 1:9-14, 27-29; Ephesians 4:11-16 Colossians 1:9-14, (NLT) 9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. 11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, 12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. 24 I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. 25 God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. 26 This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God s people. 27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. 28 So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. 29 That s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ s mighty power that works within me. Ephesians 4:11-16 (NLT) 11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won t be tossed and blown about by

2 every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. First some basic reminders of the birth and purpose of the church. Jesus introduced us to the church in: Matthew 16:18-19 (ESV) 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. We believed the church was birth on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit came down on the believers in the upper room and indwelt them. Our English word church is translated from the Greek word, ecclesia which literally means assembly. Some have called it the called out assembly. We have been called out of the world into a society of believers in Jesus. The local church is a gathering of those who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, (born again, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, baptized into the body of Christ), who place themselves under the discipline of the Word of God, who are guided by the Holy Spirit, and who are organized and committed to gather in Jesus Name regularly for worship, teaching, fellowship, and prayer, and who help make disciples of all nations. Matthew 18:20 (ESV) For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. How do marbles get gathered together? After dropping them on the floor or table and they are scattered everywhere, if they are to come together someone must pick up each individual marble and place it next to the others that are gathered. In other words, every believer that is here today, and a part of this local body of Christ, is not here by accident or coincident, but has been gathered here by the Holy Spirit.

3 The first purpose of the church, according to both the Colossians and Ephesians passage is to bring every believer to spiritual maturity. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. This is a growing process. Vs. 15 We never arrive at a spiritual destination but we are always on a spiritual journey. We are headed in the right direction, learning every day how to be more like Christ. The most spiritual person here is not the one who read the entire Bible through in the last 3 months and memorize a chapter this week and shared the gospel with 10 people the last two days, but might be the person here who last week said five curse words and this week said only two curse words. In other words, the spiritual person is the one growing and learning and being humble dependent on the Holy Spirit for every breath and every step he takes in the right direction!!!!! The greatest expression of spiritual maturity is love for Jesus! Remember the church at Ephesus in Revelation was rebuked because they left their first love. Revelation 2:4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. And this will be expressed in love for one another. Vs. 16 so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. The Main Job description for the Pastors and Elders is found in vss. 12 &13 12 Their responsibility is to equip God s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

4 until we all come to such unity. One of the most awesome and unique characteristic of the church is the ability to have unity with diversity. Ephesians 4:1-7 (ESV) 1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ s gift. Back in Ephesians 2:16-22 (ESV) 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Now both Jews and Gentiles can come together with their different cultures, different customs, different preferences and different whatever and worship as one body. Unity with Diversity. Diversity with Unity Only possible because we are one in Christ. We can set aside our preferences that come from our background or past experiences or traditions and enjoy the fellowship and love of those with totally different preferences. Let me make this as practical as I can. For years we have had three worship services on Sunday morning here at RFBC. Heritage more traditional style of music Resonate more contemporary style of music..

5 And Celebrate a blend of both the traditional and contemporary styles. Recently for the summer we felt led to combine our two last services. And we believe that we should continue this schedule this fall. An 8:15 Early Worship and a 10:45 Worship Service. And honestly, we re not sure exactly what the music style might be for both of these services. We are thinking that it would be great if they could be somewhat the same. Which would mean they both would be a blend of the traditional and contemporary. Sometimes a service might be more of one or the other as Pastor Shawn and the musicians work out their schedules with the bands, orchestra and the choirs and praise teams. But this is our opportunity to be able express our love and unity as we enjoy worship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ even if a song or two is not to our preference. My own experience and journey over the years has brought me to a place where my real joy in worship is being with other believers of different cultures (many times overseas) or preferences and observe them expressing their love and joy for the Lord in a way that might not be my way or preference. I ll never forget Stuart Briscoe telling us in a small pastor s meeting in Holland Michigan that in his church in Minnesota, they might have anything from Christian Rock to Christian Bach in one service. Diversity with Unity.. So please be patient with us as we continue this journey of growing in the Lord with you. We already know that our 10:45 service is somewhat crowded with limited room for growth, but our 8:15 service has ample room for lots of growth. We would love it and it would be fantastic if some 40 to 50 people would be willing to come earlier for the first service. WE are really excited about this fall. Next Sunday is promotion Sunday for the young people. For months the pastors and elders have been praying and seeking the Lord s direction for every area of ministry. When Pastor Lane resigned as Children s Pastor to take on the responsibility of Mission s Pastor full time it gave us the opportunity to make some philosophical changes in the area of both children s and student ministries.

6 We believe our main purpose as pastors is to equip the saint for the work of the ministry!!!! As we have prayed and sought the Lord s guidance in this area we decided to put Pastor Jeff in position as our Next-Gen Pastor. He brought a great message on this role back in June to the church. Again, last Sunday night he shared with all the leaders and workers from nursery to senior high students what this will look like. The model we are looking at is what you might call a Family-Equipping Ministry Model. If you go to our website you will find the Core Values and Vision Statement of our church. In the Core Values for the Family we state: We value the importance of marriage, the family unit, and the sanctity of human life. This means: Marriage, as instituted by God, is a life-long covenant between a husband and wife and is the foundation of the family. The home is the primary place where children are taught to know and serve the Lord. The parents are the primary role models for children and we support them to fulfill that role. In the Vision Statement for the Family we State: Family Every Member Understands the Value of the Family Every member understands the biblical structure of the family. Every member understands the importance of the one man, one woman principle. Every member has access to resources/classes that equip husbands, wives and parents. Every member of every family knows their biblical role in the family. Every parent is equipped to lead their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Every family would develop and maintain functional and Christ-exalting relationships within their family. Every family would know how to worship together through prayer and praise. We believe this is vital to the spiritual health and maturity and witness our church in this community and around the world. The Family-Equipping Model simply means that our pastors/elders and our Next-Gen Pastor and his team, will lead to coordinate every aspect of our present ministry so that parents are acknowledged, equipped, and held accountable as primary disciple-makes in their children s lives.

7 We really are not going to change anything in an organizational sense. We will continue to have aged based ministries for everyone in the church, but will commit to focus on helping one another and especially our parents pass our faith down to the next generation of young people in a way that it becomes their faith and they can continue to pass that faith to the next generation. We will also focus on the transitions that occur from one stage or phase that children and young people go through in the growing up process so that easier for them to adjust to the next phase. Next month we will have children s church for Kindergarten through Second grade. The primary focus will be on teaching and communicating to the children what it means to enjoy corporate worship in the church. To prepare them to sit in a worship service and enjoy it. We want to connect the generations in our church with spiritual activities and such. Like tonight the Pray for me meeting where we will connect a student with several adults from different generations for specific and regular consistent prayer. One of the most exciting things in the entire world today is to have genuine and eternal purpose in life. I believe with all my heart that this can only be experience in the context of the church. Understanding and recognizing your position and giftedness by God s Holy Spirit to serve in His body the church. Remember Ephesians 4 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. This week I was reading a book by Bill Hybels the pastor of the famous Willow Creek Church up near Chicago. He writes about being asked by one of his newer and younger staff how he had the gall to ask people who were already busy at work or in the home to get involved as volunteers at church. Don t you feel a little guilty doing this? Isn t it hard to heap such a burden on people? Pastor Bill replied, He had a point, but I had a bigger point. Here s what he said.

8 Over the next few months you are going to meet people who work ten hours a day, five or six days a week. They might be press operators, real estate agents, insurance salespeople, car dealers, stockbrokers, brick layers, construction workers, police officers, plumbers, teachers and factory and office workers. But when they go home at night, few of them sense the pleasure, meaning and purpose of life they heard advertised in commercials for beer or computer systems. They might be godly, conscientious people, and they feel thankful for their jobs. But despite their commitment to their careers and jobs and whatever success they might experience, they are honest enough to admit that their secular vocation does offer enough meaning to satisfy the deeper needs that stir in their souls. Some of them love their jobs; they feel stimulated and energized by their work. Some of them even leave the workplace each day knowing that they have honored God by their work and their love for people. But few of them would say: This is what life is all about. Pastor Bill said he looked into the eyes of his young friend and said: You and I get to invite these people to be used by God in ways they never imagined. We have the opportunity to empower them to develop gifts they didn t know they had. We can cheer them on as they courageously assume new levels of Kingdom responsibility that fill their hearts to overflowing. And we get to see the look on their face whey realize God has used them to touch another human being. Remember Paul s prayer in Colossians 1 9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. 11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, 12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

9 28 So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. 29 That s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ s mighty power that works within me. 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Amen!!!!!! Ephesians 3:14-21 (ESV) 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

Our Theme Verse for Peter 3:15

Our Theme Verse for Peter 3:15 Our Theme Verse for 2017 1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it