Everyone we know could use some refreshing at times. Life and problems wear people down physically, spiritually, and emotionally. It would be great if there were a lot more refreshers around, people like the man we'll meet today. He made an extraordinary difference by repeatedly using ordinary abilities to do one thing: refresh a lot of people, including someone who told us about him. This week, you'll meet Onesiphorus, the refresher.
Paul was imprisoned in Rome, and the church in Philippi wanted to sent him some financial support, They needed someone to make the weeks-long journey, find Paul, and deliver the gift. Epaphroditus volunteered. As it turned out he did much more than deliver some money. Like Epaphroditus, you never know what God may do when you choose to serve your church.
Meet a woman who never taught a Sunday School class, led a ladies' meeting, or sang a solo in church, yet had an extraordinary impact on her community. Her name is Tabitha, or Dorcas, and her impact came through her ministry to the widows in her community. She excelled at community ministry, and through this some amazing things happened.
Through a chance meeting with a committed church planter, two Jewish believers became involved in starting two significant New Testament churches. Their names were Aquila and Priscilla. Aquila was a simple tent-maker, but he and his wife, Priscilla, helped start the the church in Corinth and the church in Ephesus as they supported Paul, the church planter and did evangelistic work of their own. They were ordinary people who made an extraordinary difference by supporting the starting of new churches.
Being chased from your home and country might make most people self-focused, desperate to restore security and normalcy to their lives. Philip had to flee his home and city because of persecution, but instead of focusing on himself, he saw others and took the opportunity to share Christ with them. God blessed his work with supernatural signs and many conversions. Later God called Philip to leave all of this and go to a desert road. He obeyed and ended up opening up the door of the gospel to Ethiopia through an Ethiopian official he led to the Lord along that road. His faithfulness to witness impacted two nations: Samaria and Ethiopia. He was an ordinary man who made an extraordinary difference because he was faithful to witness.
Perhaps the most underused resource in the Kingdom of God is the supper table. In this first message focusing on ordinary people who did extraordinary things, we look at Lydia and how her simple gift of extending hospitality had a big impact on God's work in her town. Then we'll think about how we might use our own supper table to make an impact for the Kingdom of God. Ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they put to use what they already have available to them.
As we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the church we might wonder, what will the church be like in another 40 years? Will it even exist? If so, what will it be doing? While the way the church functions in another 40 years no doubt will be different, God hasn't left us with any questions about what the church's continuing purpose is to be. We'll look at three commandments of Jesus that need to guide the church in every age. They are known as the Great Commandment and the Great Commission and they yield God's three continuing purposes for the church.
In this message we return to one of the verses we covered last week and focus on a phrase we did not look at then. In it we discover one of the secrets behind the fruitfulness and simplicity of Paul's life. It is a secret that we need individually and in very church - the secret is focus. We'll see how to develop and maintain focus, and through it reap the benefit of a simpler life and simpler, more effective, church.
The apostle Paul had a philosophy of life that, if adopted, would help a lot of Christians live a more fruitful life, and would keep churches from stagnating or dying. It's a simple philosophy involving just two on-going practices. We'll encounter it in this message and explore the positive effect it can have on us and on the church.
Most of us have felt compelled to do things in the past: study for a test, show up on time for a job, or ask someone you love to marry you. Every follower of Christ has also probably felt compelled at one time or another to try to share the good news with someone who is lost. Whether we acted on the feeling or not is another matter, but most of us have felt it. Why? What is the source of that compulsion to share Christ with others? What motivates us to try to reach the lost? That's the subject Paul discusses in the passage we'll look at today. We'll discover three things that motivated him to share Christ, and discover those three things motivate us to share the good news with those who are far from God, too.
One of the greatest things we can do to help bring those who are far from God to God is to pray for them. But how? In this message we uncover three spiritual truths about those who are far from God and consider three things we should be praying for so those who are far from god will turn to Him.
The PowerPoint presentation can be found under Media & Resources>Downloadable Documents
Jesus called his followers to be fishers of men (and women). He told Peter and Andrew that he would make them fishers of men if they followed him. We'll look at some of the things Peter and Andrew learned from Jesus about fishing for men as they followed him in this message. We'll learn how to fish for men and women, Jesus-style.
How does a church measure success? When does it know it is accomplishing what God wants? How about individual Christians? What is the measure of their success? In this message we'll see the measure of success that Jesus set for his disciples from the start of his ministry. We'll look at how that applies to everything we do as a church, and you'll have a chance to think about how it applies to your life.
If the church is going to move the needle on lostness in any significant way, it needs a simple, repeatable strategy. The New Testament tells us what lay behind one of the greatest evangelism movements in history - the growth of the early church. We'll examine that strategy, then learn and practice a simple way to share our faith with others.
The PowerPoint slides for this message can be found under Media & Resources>Downloadable Documents.
We are celebrating our 40th year as a church. While we certainly want to celebrate the past we must look to the future. There is one statistic that should make it clear what our mission must be in the next generation.
Studies show that at least 96% of the people in our area are lost. Today we'll look at what it would take to move the needle back on the lostness gauge by just 1%, from 96-95%.
The slides for this message can be found under Media & Resources>Downloadable Documents