October 6, 2024
Morning Service

Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

            To receive a vision of where we are going it helps for us to take a look back where we have been.  This scripture has been a battle cry for our Fellowship from Day #1 back in 1978 (46 years ago). This is where our Fellowship’s name originated from as Jesus is the Bridegroom and we, His church, are the Bride of Christ. How long have you been part of the Bride?

 This scripture also in a way is our Mission Statement.  We strive to be a Bible teaching fellowship of the Lord’s church that is inviting, welcoming, and loving to those in our community.  We do this by not only being “hearers of the Word, but doers” as well letting the Word and the Holy Spirit to transform us into the men and women of God He created us to be.  We want the Light of Jesus to shine out from us in this dark world for those who are seeking Him.  We want to be fountain that flows freely offering “the water of life freely” to those who are thirsty.  We do this by utilizing the gifts God has given us within the church as Paul explains to us in the Ephesian letter about the 5-fold ministry.

 

Eph. 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

            These ministers are given to the church for the purpose of:

Eph. 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

            These ministers are to equip each member of the church to do ministry within the church which edifies it (builds it up/makes it better).  Our job is to lead, empower, and point you to Jesus so you will become an active part of our Fellowship busy about our Father’s business.  How long will we need this teaching?

 

Eph. 4:13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

            We are called to continue our works of ministry to edify the church until we the church are united as one in the knowledge of Jesus and until we all are imitating Christ to the fullest of our abilities.  Are we there yet?  How will we know when we are?  Paul tells us what that will look like:

 

Eph. 4:14-16that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,  (15)  but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—  (16)  from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

            We will be strong and established in our faith knowing the One who has called us to follow Him, and be able to recognize false teaching and run from it embracing the truth.  We will all speak with love in our hearts and be growing together into the full stature of Christ.  Our fellowship will be “joined and knit together” by our faith in Jesus our Lord and Savior. That unity will cause us to work together by which every part does its share.  Look at the results of our combined efforts; it “causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”  You are a tool in God’s hand to make our church grow.  Your faithfulness and service makes all of us better.  As we follow Jesus, doing the work of the ministry, and just loving one another we become BETTER TOGETHER!  You are a part of that.  You make a difference.  You may say what can I do, I am not a preacher, singer or even a teacher?  Aren’t those the only things that matter? Certainly not!  Jesus tells us this truth about the kingdom of God:

 

Mar 10:42-45 But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.  (43)  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.  (44)  And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.  (45)  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

 

            It is not the ones who are in authority that are great in the kingdom of God, but those with a humble heart of a servant.  You don’t have to be an eloquent speaker or be able to sing on key to be great in God’s kingdom, but simply have a desire and willingness to serve in whatever capacity that you can.  There are so many in our fellowship that right now I could list that are making us better by using their abilities to serve all of us, but for fear of leaving anyone out I will not do that.  However, the Lord has laid one specific person on my heart to recognize today.  He has been a lifetime member of our church here, and is always seeking out what he can do to help.  Andrew, would you come up here with me please?

            This young man has had a huge impact on our church.  For one, he was instrumental in sharing his faith with his best friend and inviting him to church resulting in us baptizing him today; Kaden.  He is here to greet each of us at the door on Sunday morning with a smile, he helped to install the new carpet on the outside, he helped clean the fence row in the back, and is always sharing ideas he has for more projects.  He has not even finished junior high yet and may not have many skills to use, but his desire and willingness to serve is what sets him apart.  We all need to use him as an example for doing our part and doing it well.  Thank you Andrew for desiring to be great and doing that by serving us; you make us better!

We have a saying that when you come the first time to worship with us that you are our guest, but when you come the second time you are family.  We are a family as we walk the journey of life together faithfully following Jesus.  We have mourned together at funerals.  We have prayed for each other and been there to lend support and a helping hand when we have encountered the difficulties of life.   We have celebrated together in the joyous times in this life like today’s baptisms, weddings, births of babies, birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations.  We have laughed, cried, and everything in between, and we have done it together.  We are better together!  We make each other stronger as we each help to carry one another’s load.  We are never alone as Jesus always walks with us, but we also have the blessing of having each other to lean on.  If you have a need, ask.  Someone in our church family may be able to help.  Our enemy wants to use the cares of this world to isolate us from each other, but God’s design for us is to find strength in each other.  When we are weak and in need our church family is there to pray with us and for us to lean on during that hard time and we in turn will be there for them when they travel a difficult road. 

Today we will share a wonderful meal together that not one person fixed, but all of us did our part.  One day there is another feast we will share together at the great wedding feast of the Lamb as He is married to His Bride.  It is day when all our efforts will be rewarded as we are together in heaven at last!

 

Rev 19:6-9 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!  (7)  Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready."  (8)  And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.  (9)  Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!' " And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God."

            The challenge for each of us today and individually is this; make yourself ready. “For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” The days we are in now are days of preparations.  We need to be drawing closer to God personally and investing heavily in our church family that we are surrounded with.  Prophecy tells us that difficult times are ahead and we will need each of us to be at our best when they come. By doing your part, you make us all better; thank you for that.  It is an honor to serve you as your pastor and a privilege for me to walk through life with such a wonderful church family.  Let’s refocus and keep first things first as move forward knowing that as we follow Jesus faithfully together we are better together!  In doing that we glorify our Father in heaven by reflecting the Light of His love to the world! 

 

Heavenly Father thank You that You have called us as a Fellowship (family) to follow you side by side.  Give us strength, courage, and wisdom for the journey that lies ahead.  Give us a vison of one day being at the marriage supper of the Lamb knowing that all our effort will be far overshadowed by all You have prepared for us.