United In Christ · Growing In Grace · Reaching Out In Love

Sunday Morning Sermon Summary

Note to the visitor:  These are Pastor Paul’s sermon notes from Sunday Morning.  They probably won’t make much sense if you weren’t in the service.  Feel free to contact Pastor Paul if you’d like more detailed information.
For past sermons, please visit the Sermon Archive. 

THE STATE OF OUR UNION

Ephesians 4:1-6; 2 Chronicles 7:14

Sunday, July 5, 2009

ME:     Cliff: MY WHOLE LIFE TO THIS POINT HAS BEEN PREPARATION FOR WHAT I’M DOING NOW!

      Circumstances right before Richard’s phone call.

      Never felt the passion for ministry that I do here.

      Every day I recognize something in the past that has been preparation

It will be 5 years in October. A.G. Bell’s question:”What has God wrought?”

State of the Union speech the President gives at the start of every Congress

      5 years in Dos Palos (circumstances) as preparation.

      Studied hard but I don’t recognize those early sermon notes. 

      Went to Butterworth, read everything I could find that might help. 

      Went to every seminar and Conference I could. 

      Went to Czech Republic, Slovenia twice (to encourage missionaries) 

      Perspectives 16 times! 

      Attend pastor’s prayer times (saved my relationship during Blessed Hope).

      Put in the preparation time every week (not customary for me!)

      Valued FAITHFULNESS over SUCCESS

WE:    Honesty is the best policy:

      Toxic, struggling with conflict, lost lots of folks, very few came back, some stayed for                               awhile and then finally left.

            Discovered early the value of Larry Osborne’s advice: “Churches that push                                  forward with programs, activities, and structure without unity do so at their                                     own peril.”

Philosophy of Ministry: Mission, Vision, Strategy, Values (looking for sentences that sing, not paragraphs that snore!)

►SUNDAY MORNING ATTENDANCE (We’ve lost 25 in previous 5 years)

06/01/2008    46                                06/07/2009    57       

06/08/2008    52                                06/14/2009    67

06/25/2008    47                                06/21/2009    61

06/22/2008    57                                06/28/2009    45

Average         50                                Average         56

Building project; no lack in any monthly budget amount

VBS (Children’s Ministry)

            Last year                                35        This year        60

Follow-up: Sunday afternoon; Bellevue Bridge; School Clubs; Young Life (M.S.)

Helped to send the Wendells to Czech Republic as missionaries

SMALL GROUPS (3 groups: nearly 30 total = ½ of our active congregation)

GOD:  God is preserving His ministry at our church! What is God’s ultimate plan for us; What is our relationship to Him and to each other to be like?

►Ephesians 4:1-6 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.   

1)  ►What CALLING have we received? (In Ch. 3) Paul was talking about the “mystery” of Gentiles (like the Ephesians and us) being including in God’s purpose and plan.

►UNITED IN CHRIST, ►GROWING IN GRACE, ►REACHING OUT IN LOVE

More than words in the bulletin or signs on the wall?

MISSION: (All true mission is really God on His mission…)

VISION: (a preferred future that we will always be striving for)

STRATEGY: Do things the way Jesus DID

VALUES: Community described in Ephesians 4: Interdependent, V and V, N and A, SE

2)  ►What does a LIFE WORTHY of that calling involve?

►“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ►There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all”.

►UNITED IN CHRIST, GROWING IN GRACE, REACHING OUT IN LOVE

YOU:  ►Where do you want to be in your spiritual life in 5 years? ►Do you have a plan for getting there?

            Could Jesus come in the next 5 years

            Will you and I live that long?

            Who do we know that needs Jesus who might not be here in 5 years?

WE:    ►Where do we want our church to be, what do we want to have accomplished, What will our strategy be over the next 5 years? ►Do we have a plan to get us there? How would we develop a plan? Would you be part of that process?

PROPOSAL: Pray and Prepare  for the next 6 weeks (together and individually)

                        Diaconate Team meetings? Workshop in late July?

                        Set aside the last two weeks in August to come together to plan

►2 Chronicles 7:14-15 …if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

►Prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles 4:10) "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!”  (NKJV)

►And God granted his request.

Legend:

Green: Mission and Vision
Blue: Illustrations and quotes
Red: Scripture

Note to the visitor:  These are Pastor Paul’s sermon notes from Sunday Morning.  They probably won’t make much sense if you weren’t in the service.  Feel free to contact Pastor Paul if you’d like more detailed information.
For past sermons, please visit the Sermon Archive. 

E-MAIL THIS LINK TO A FRIEND
Enter recipient's e-mail: