15th Anniversary
15th Anniversary
Pastor Charlie Weir
Philippians 1:3-11 (The Message) 3-6 Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God’s Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. 7-8 It’s not at all fanciful for me to think this way about you. My prayers and hopes have deep roots in reality. You have, after all, stuck with me all the way from the time I was thrown in jail, put on trial, and came out of it in one piece. All along you have experienced with me the most generous help from God. He knows how much I love and miss you these days. Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does! 9-11 So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.
Fresh Love
· Love Much
· Love Well
· Love Sincerely
· Live Love
Why did people who were nothing like Jesus liked Jesus. Because He knew how to love. He lived in love, died in love and raised in love!
You will not search for more life until you witness more life in someone else.
Everyone I have ever met swerve in and out of three particular life lanes… Stale, Alone and Stuck.
1) Stale –Life is a grind and it can wear you down. The same ole same ole is not inspiring or attractive.
2) Alone – Feeling alone has little to do with knowing people and more to do with being known and loved. Alone maybe the most defeating position to find ourselves.
3) Stuck – Stuck isn’t a lack of movement, it’s a lack of progress. If you don’t know your purpose you never know when your living in it.
John 10:9,10 (The Message) I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
Fresh Starts
Our first fresh start is salvation. Jesus doesn’t erase our past, He redeems it and us for a new day. We stay fresh when we give God time and space. No time + no space = stale. The more fresh we are the more attractive Jesus becomes.
Great Friends
God created us as relational beings. We gain life in community. The relational hole in our lives will not be filled by one BFF. God designed us to be a part of a grace-filled, loving community. Grace and love make great friends and they make great communities of faith and people are desperate for both. A life more and better than you ever dreamed is one lived in a grace-filled, loving community.
Real Purpose
We long for a purpose but we too often we settle for a cause. Causes are short lived, purposes are for life. In Christ, we all share the same purpose but we live out that purpose with different giftings in different arenas. Our universal purpose is to live out our Christ transformation so others can find Him through us.
Jesus’ words in Matthew 9:35-38 cements this purpose. 35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Fresh Starts. Great Friends. Real Purpose.
This is not a slogan.
These are key elements to the dream life and the essentials of spiritual influence.