“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
Acts 2:42
Today is week two in our short, four week series called “Who We Are as Christ’s Church and Why It Matters.” With this series, we’re trying to get a clearer view of what Christ’s purpose is for our church as we gather week to week. With that in mind we looked last time at Our Mission as Christ’s Church. We saw from Matthew 28:18-20 that our mission is “to make disciples.” So while there are many good things we might do as a church, this is the one thing we must do. We must be faithful to proclaim Christ’s gospel in such a way that men, women, boys and girls are brought to saving faith in Christ and discipled into a new life of joy-filled obedience to Him. That, in a nutshell, is the goal behind everything we do as a church. We are disciples, making disciples; followers of Jesus inviting others to come follow Jesus with us
If that is our goal, then what kinds of things must be our priority as we gather each week? This is what we mean when we talk about our “values” as a church. What should do each Sunday? What gifts has Christ given us to share, knowing that through these He will make Himself known and lead us to grow in likeness to Him? That will be our focus this morning. There are five things we believe we must prioritize as a church if we are to make mature, Christ-like disciples. These things give us our identity as a church and build us up in faith as we gather each week in His name. So what are these priorities? They are:
• Truth that transforms our lives (making us more like Jesus)
• Worship that centers on Christ (bringing us into the presence of Jesus)
• Fellowship that binds us together in Love (as we walk together in Jesus)
• Prayer that expresses our dependance on God (as we follow Jesus)
• Mission that shapes our lives for God’s glory (in proclaiming Jesus)
Lord willing we will consider these Five Priorities today.
Pastor Scott