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When we
use the term ‘vision’, we are defining what it is
that we are called to do for God. The ‘vision’ then,
is a description of what it is we’re going to accomplish,
and how it is we are going to accomplish it.
Jesus
Christ gave direction to His followers just before He was
taken up to heaven. One place we can find His words is in
the gospel of Matthew, chapter 28, verses 18-20. Let’s
see what He had to say.
"Then
Jesus came and spoke to them saying, "All authority has
been given to Me in heaven and on earth. (That means He’s
the boss…everywhere…all the time…forever!).
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have
commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end
of the age." (Italics mine).
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We see here a two-fold direction.
First, is that we are to go into all nations. Second, is that we
teach His disciples, or followers, all that Jesus taught.
Goffstown, New Hampshire, and the other New England cities God has
asked us to get involved in, is the part of the world that we have
been sent to. And it is here in this area that we do the second
part, and that is to teach and walk out all that Jesus taught. There
you go. The whole purpose for church and all that Christians are
supposed to do. Pretty simple so far…huh?
If you were to sum up all that Jesus said and what it is that He
came to do in one statement, it would also be found in the gospel
of Matthew. This time in chapter 1, verse 21.
"And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call
His name ‘Jesus’, for He will save His people from
their sins."
Jesus came to free people from their sins. My sins. Your sins.
So all that He taught and performed, was to illustrate to you
and me what it is to be ‘saved’. To be ‘saved’,
means that you were rescued from something. Sin, simply stated,
is any act that is outside of the will of God And sin separates
us from God.
It’s kind of like if you were to take a chainsaw out of your
back pocket, and cut down a tree in your backyard. Once you cut
the tree from the root system, it dies. The leaves die. The branches
die. The only thing left for it to do is provide wood for your
campfire to roast marshmallows on.
Jesus came to rescue us from being cut off from God. We need to
be saved because all of us at some point have cut ourselves off
from God. And guess what happened? Our leaves started to die…we
got sick because no more of God’s life was flowing into our
bodies. Different branches started to die…we get depressed
or afraid because we have lost the security of having the protection
and provision of God…we get angry, bitter, walk in unforgiveness,
and scream at the guy driving to slow in the left lane, since
we don’t know how to love because we have been cut off from
the One Who is the very definition of love.
Ultimately
our body totally dries up, and returns to the ground from which
it was created. Our spirit, or the part of us that lives in our
body and will move out when our body quits, leaves and can not
be with God because by our own choice, we separated ourselves
from Him. So forever, all the good that God has and desires to
give, is not accessible and you exist in a state forever that
is opposite of all that God is.
This would be a totally depressing scene if not for the fact that
Jesus came to reunite us with God. He came to save and rescue
us from this horrendous process. And when His life reunites with
us, which happens instantly the moment we ask Him for this salvation,
or rescuing, we come alive again.
This brief description of the state of human beings was necessary
so that you would be able to understand what should be being accomplished
in church.
Our services are geared to teach and walk out this ‘new life’
or as Jesus called it, ‘new birth’, in three main areas.
The first area… is the spiritual area.
Eternal, or everlasting, life, is the name given in the bible
for the life that God has and that which He gives out. |
In the gospel of John, chapter three, verses three and sixteen,
Jesus says…
"…Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven…"v.3
"For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life."v.16
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When we accept Jesus’ sacrifice for us, and His salvation from
sin, we are reunited with God. The first place this life enters
is into your spirit. We all know that our body will not function
forever, and all of us will someday die. Yet the bible teaches that
we will live forever. This eternal life is what will allow us to
live forever in the presence of God, not separated from Him. We
are supposed to learn how to cooperate with this life inside of
us, and not wait until we get to heaven.
So we teach that you must be saved, or ‘born again’, as
Jesus called it in the gospel of John, chapter three, verse three.
Many go to church and leave totally confused because they are trying
to understand a way of life that they have never asked to become
a part of. From the outside, people watch the customs and practices
of the church, yet leave no more changed or impacted by them.
The second area… is in the area of the mind. Peter,
who was one of the original followers of Jesus and was with Him
during His ministry, had this to say.
"Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge
of God and Jesus our
Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain
to life and
godliness, through the knowledge of Him Who called us by
His glory and
virtue…" II Peter, chapter one, verses two and three.
This new life is awesome. And God has given us everything it takes
to live with God as His children. This new life brings you into
an enormous inheritance that you will live with and in forever.
Let’s say a man had a million dollars in the bank. He had
inherited five cars. Tuition for college for himself and all his
children was paid for. He would never again lack for anything.
There is only one problem…
…no one told him.
All the wealth in the world to your name means nothing if you
don’t know it was given to you and/or you weren’t taught
how to use it wisely.
The same is true about the kingdom of God. All that God provided,
His life, His comfort, His strength…does you no good unless
you know you have it and how you can walk in it. So many, perhaps
even you, have blown off going to church, because it just seemed
to not make sense, or all they did was make you feel terrible
by being there.
That’s not what church is to be about at all. We’ve
been given all things pertaining to life and godliness and God
wants you to know how to live in these things through the knowledge
of Him. Instead of a place where you catch up on your weekend
rest, church should be the most exciting event of the week because
you should leave there knowing more how to live in your inheritance!
This inheritance is so grand, that it will never run out, forever
and ever!
So our services are geared to fill that gray matter of ours with
not just the knowledge itself, but thirdly…
…. to give you opportunity to walk in what you have been
given. The church was never designed to be a spectator sport.
It is a contradiction in terms to say that we are Christians,
and not to serve in some capacity.
The pastor of the church in Jerusalem, James, in his letter made
this statement.
"But be doers of the word, and not just hearers only, deceiving
yourselves. For if
anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man
observing his
natural face in the mirror; for he observes himself, goes away,
and immediately
forgets what kind of man he was." James, chapter one, verses
22-24
Those of us who have been out of school awhile know very well
that if we were handed a junior year test on geometry theorems,
we would fail miserably. By not using the information, what was
even good and practical information, became useless, simply because
we stopped taking the information and applying it to our daily
lives.
The same is true with our walk with God.
That guy we talked about earlier that had the million, and the
cars… once he learned that he had an inheritance; would begin
to look and act differently because he had the means to do so.
He would regularly walk out and practice his status as being a
millionaire. |
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The only way you and I cannot forget
the kind of man (or women), we have been made in God, is to have
regular opportunities to exercise what we have learned. The messages
that you hear are the description of the type of person God has
made you. Then you put it to action. We have everything from mission
trips to foreign countries like India and Africa, community outreaches
in Goffstown and other New England towns, to just being at the
door to greet someone and shake their hand when they walk in the
door.
Well, I trust that you have an idea now of what
and why we do what we do.
We believe church is not a place that we punch in at the clock
to report for weekly religion duty because we think that that
is what God wants. The church is the place we gather to learn
to live in a new kingdom governed by the Creator and King of the
universe Himself, Jesus.
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As a local church and a ministry to the region of New England.
I trust you will stop by and say hello. Please email
us if you have any questions, prayer requests, or overall
observations.
God bless you.
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