CHURCH
... her primary purpose!
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Who can tell me the purpose of the church, and the ministry?
I have to ask this because recently I have become aware that in many denominations we have turned our churches away from "teaching and raising up the saints for ministry" and into more or less a "service center", or a "ministry of helps".
Our mission trips and our retreats have become "work farms" where we take our youth and go out and build, and clean up, and work in the community. While this is a worthy task, it is not at all the primary purpose of our churches! Have we so quickly forgotten the command of Jesus?
In Ephesians 4:11 Paul tells us of the 5-fold ministry offices and why they were put into place. He says they are "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." He goes on to tell us in verse 14 that we are to be "no more children" tossed to and fro by various teachings and doctrines, but we are to "grow up" into Him in all things!
He teaches here that the Body of Christ (the Church) is to become fitly joined together, working well together. He says we are to abandon the ways of the Gentiles (the non-Christians) and are to walk with a renewed spirit in the faith of God.
We often think that because Jesus fed the hungry, and healed the sick, that this was why He was sent. The fact is that healing the sick or feeding the hungry is a temporary fix, at best! Jesus used these to meet the needs of the people so that He could "get their attention"! If you heal a man, or feed him, or pay off his bills, YOU HAVE GOT HIS ATTENTION!
Somewhere in the process, we have become so focused on the feeding and the healing and the caring for others that we forgot the whole purpose of those was to "get their attention" so that we can "teach them"! In every event where you see Jesus healing the sick, He was also preaching and teaching to them! And I assure you "THAT" was His primary goal! For if you teach them and you get them saved, "they" can carry on the healing and the feeding and the caring for others ... so that they too can preach the word!
So, in your church plannings, and in your missions, don't get so focused on helping others that you forget your "primary purpose". We, the "Church", are here to prepare the saints for the work of the ministry! We are here to "preach the gospel ... to the World"!
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CampfireTALK is our weekly e-newsletter, speaking life into your heart, with stories, a word from our affiliate ministries, and a devotion from pastor Rich. It's a source for you to feed your spirit, to challenge your faith and to build you up!
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 WORD CHURCH is a church, a ministry, and a fellowship, even an outreach, where like in the days of the Apostles and Acts, the people joined together! Our vision and our goal, is to bring churches together in the unity of the faith, to help them to begin to bring together the gifts and talents of each separate church, and to share those gifts and talents with each other, that we may be better and more effective in teaching and training the Body of Christ, for the word of the ministry, to tell the World about Jesus! .... Learn More |
THE BOAT DECISION: TO WALK OR NOT TO WALK
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 Remember the story of Peter, when he saw Jesus, walking on the water and he said to Him, "If it's really you tell me to 'come'!" And Jesus had no choice but to say, "Come!" Peter had a choice that day, whether he was going to get out of the boat and step out in faith, or was he going to sit back in the boat and play it safe? How many of us find ourselves faced with a decision like Peter's where we must choose ... "walk or don't walk"? Granted most of our decisions are not whether to stay in the boat where it's safe or get out and literally walk on the water! Or ... are they? You have to look at this story in the light of how it happened. The trip Jesus told His disciples to take is a relatively short one, traveling across one end of the sea to get to where they are going. But, due to the winds and the waves, or due to their confusion (not sure on this), the disciples ended up in the middle of the sea ... the deepest part of that body of water, with windy conditions, and the waves that come from that. They are in the dark, out there alone, and feeling somewhat vulnerable, mortal, and fearing for their lives. Jesus, on the other hand, comes walking across the waters, near where they are located in the middle of the sea. He is obviously a good distance from them because they could barely make Him out, and, given their location, they thought Him to be a ghost! However, once He had identified Himself, Peter ... a man I dearly love for his courage and his interest to always "step out" in his faith, says to Jesus, "Master, if it is truly you, bid me to come!" Jesus had no choice but to tell him to "come"! And that he did! Now most stories that I hear practically have Jesus there standing right by the boat, with Peter sinking and Jesus there to his rescue. Some even have one foot still in the boat! The fact of the matter is very clear in scripture! Jesus was so far away from the boat that they thought He was a ghost! So, Peter had to actually get out of the boat, stand on the water, and walk on that water, all the way out to where Jesus was! THIS IS AWESOME!! He actually did it! He walked on the water! It was only when Peter got far enough away from the boat that he was alone, out there on the seas, with the wind and the waves all around him, that he began to take notice of his situation! And yet he still walked on the waters! It was not until he got to where Jesus was, that the thought of all of that wind, and the waves crashing about him began to weigh heavily on his faith, and he began to fear. It was when the fear set in that Peter began to sink. Did you notice that the Bible says Peter "began to sink"? It didn't say that "plopped down to the bottom of the seas"! It said that he "began" to sink. He was just starting to walk in fear when Jesus reached out and took him by the hand! They still had to walk back to the boat together! Some translations say that "instantly, they were in the boat", so if this instead is what happened, then Peter also got to see what it's like to be transported to another place in an instant, like Philip experienced (later in the gospels). The point is that Peter ... "walked" - "on" - "the" - "water"! He didn't just step out of the boat and jump into Jesus' waiting arms; He didn't leap from the boat to Jesus; He didn't just step out of the boat, and start to immediately sink, only to be saved by Jesus; HE WALKED ON THE WATER! And, Peter walked a good ways out there, to get to where Jesus was! My point to today's message is that Peter made a decision. While he was in the apparent safety of the boat, he chose to "step out and believe"! His reward was an experience that is to this day, recorded in the history books! He had an "awesome" experience!!! When you are challenged with something that God has commanded you to do ... "come", what are you going to do? Are you going to set aside your fears and believe, stepping out into the seemingly unknown? ... or are you going to play it safe and "sit there". That's what the rest of the disciples did! Guess who got to have all the fun that day? You guessed it! It was Peter! Now, go thou and do likewise! Step out! Trust in God, and ... believe! Make me proud! -pastor rich-
Get ON-TRACK with HIS Plan ...
1. Be holy - the Bible calls us a "Holy Temple", where the Spirit of GOD lives. the Spirit of GOD lives in your heart! And to keep it holy, we must confess our sin when we sin (1 John 1:9). "
If we confess our sins, HE is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleans us from all unrighteousness." In order to remain holy and clean, before GOD, we must avoid sin, and when we do sin, we must confess those sins before GOD, so that we can be made clean again.2. Study the Word - Jesus said in John 8:31-32, "If you continue in My word, then are you truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." Folks, rare is the time you will ever see someone skip eating for the day, let alone days upon end. But we do that all the time spiritually. The Word of GOD is food for our spiritual bodies! We need that spiritual food, for spiritual energy, and for the faith that we need ... to live the life that GOD has called us to live, here in the Earth. When we study and meditate the Word of God, our spirit man grows strong, in much the same way as a battery is charged! (Romans 10:17) But when we do NOT study the Word, our spiritual battery begins to run down, and the natural man begins to surface. We act more like our "old self" than like the renewed man that GOD created us to be. In other words, the "flesh" wins out. 3. Pray in the Holy Spirit - Paul teaches us that we are to pray in the Holy Spirit. "But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith [make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the spirit." [Jude 1:20 - AMP] Our supernatural energy, our faith, is charged and built up when we spend time in the presence of GOD, and when we "pray in the Holy Spirit". We are told in Ephesians 6 to "be strong in the Lord, and in the power of HIS might", putting on the whole armor of GOD. We cannot be strong if we do not spend time in GOD's presence, and in supernatural prayer! ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS:
"This is YOUR day ... YOU control it, how it goes, how you deal with the obstacles that come, and how you finish it! Master it! And don't let the day, or the little bumps that come with it determine how "YOUR DAY" is going to be. This is "YOUR" day!" Master it! Conquer it! MAKE IT ... what your Father wants it to be!-pastor rich-
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