Saturday, January 7, 2012

So what do I do?

Here’s a brief summary of my message from this past Wednesday night. We have, for the past few weeks, been emphasizing Bible Input and how necessary it is (see the blog post below this one). One of your main goals in the Christian life is your own sanctification (a theological way of talking about your spiritual growth). One of the primary elements of your Sanctification Strategy must be Scripture. (click here for the 2012 Scripture Stuff)
Hearing God’s Word (being at church)
Reading God’s Word (have a Bible reading plan)
Studying God’s Word (click here)
Memorizing God’s Word (so many reasons to do this)

Now, we’re looking at part 2 of this Sanctification Strategy.

Serving the Church.

This past week, we looked at Ephesians 4:12-16 and what it teaches us about all this.

There is a Plan/Sequence in the Bible for all of this.
1. Pastors & Teachers Teach
• God has equipped certain people in the church to teach His Word.
• They should teach it.

2. Everyone does Ministry (Serving)
Pastor’s & Teachers teach (“to equip the saints”) God’s Word so that you can learn, apply, and do it. We should all be serving the church together. Pastors also teach by example. We don’t just sit back and watch you go do the work. We should all be striving together to put God’s Word into action, serve, and be out there sharing the Gospel with others.

3. The Church is Built Up
So what does this look like? It’s a really cool picture!
• Unity of the Faith – we all learn, we’re on the same page. We are drawn together in unity. Read Philippians 2:2)
• Knowledge of the Son of God – This is the deep, experiential knowledge of Christ. It’s the head knowledge and heart knowledge working together. Becoming His hands and feet through serving really makes a difference in your spiritual growth (it’s vital)
• GrowING – the emphasis is on the “ING” It’s active. You’re being intentional about your spritual growth (planning how to grow. Having a Bible reading plan. Planning to serve. Making church a priority)
• Un-fool-able – you have good, solid theology. You aren’t easily led astray by someone with something that might sound like Christianity, but isn’t. The more you grow, the more you know, the harder you will be to be led astray.
• Love – the foundation of love grows. The more we are growing spiritually, the more we have a love for others and the more passionately we’ll be sharing the Gospel (God’s love for us, right?) with them.

We all need to be committed to Christ and His Word. We need the Bible’s input and message in our lives. We have no shortage of secular input (TV, movies, magazines, internet.... the list goes on). What we need is more Bible.
We all need to be committed to the Body of Christ and be serving.
Click here to see how you can serve through the HSM at Immanuel.

These are two very important, vital elements to your Christian life. Remember - the goal is your sanctification. Become more like Jesus. Follow Him. Seek Him. Serve Him. Then, we’ll see SIX33 and Immanuel built up and growing!

Ephesians 4:15b-16we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Soli Deo Gloria!
Rob
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