(How does God calling His Church to fulfill His purposes?)

1.  We should do our best to walk in 100% obedience to God’s will.

There is nothing wrong with tradition.  However, we should refuse to let tradition keep us from following God’s will and His new directions for our church.  As a church, we should seek His will and follow His commands.  We should do whatever He tells us to do.  (There are no sacred cows in church.) 

Along those lines, this means that pastors should not preach a gospel of hate and legalism.  God’s Word emphasizes grace and forgiveness.  It is not our job as a church to play the role of the Holy Spirit in people’s lives.  Sin is wrong and will never be endorsed.  Instead, the Word should be preached and let The Holy Spirit do His job of convicting people. 

For the individual, the church, should encourage others to surrender their life completely to the Lord.  It is only when we totally surrender ourselves to the Lord that He can do great things through you.

Mark 7:1-8.  1 John 5:2-3a.  Luke 5:36-39.  2 Tim 3:1-5.  1 Corinthians 15:1-8.  Dt 10:12-13.  Mark 8:31-38.  Jude 1:4,10.  Luke 22:42.  Psalm 51:16-17.  Matt 11:28-30.  Matthew 23:26.  Luke 6:43.  John 15:5. 

2.  We should Love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

We love God because He first loved us.    We do what we do because we love the Lord and want to express our love for Him.  Specifically, we will love the Lord by following His commands and walking in obedience to His will for our lives.

Mark 12:28-34.  Matthew 22:40.  1 John 4:19.   John 3:16.  Romans 5:8.  1 John 3:1.  Deuteronomy 7:7-9. 

Jeremiah 17:9.  2 Cor 10:5.  1 John 5:3. 3. 

3. We should love our neighbors as ourselves.

We love because God first loved us, taught us how to love, and commanded us to love others.  We love others because the entire gospel message is a message of love.  When we love others, we are actually sharing Jesus with them and drawing them to God because God is love.  When we love others, we will do our best to model love as defined in the Scriptures.  Knowing that it is impossible for any human to love as God loves, we ask God to love others through us.  We ask Him to help us to love others.

Mark 12:28-34.  1 John 4:19.  John 3:16.  Romans 5:8.  Mark 12:32-34.  1 John 3:10.  Colosians 3:12-14.  1 John 4: 10.  1 Corinthians 13:4-9. 

4.  We should be willing to do whatever it takes to reach people for Jesus.

          The church should have as its main priority, reaching people for Jesus.  Reaching people for Jesus starts in the home and extends outward from there.  Believers should try their best to bring people into the church but they chould also not be willing to sit back and wait for them to come.  It should start by reaching our families for Jesus and then working our way out into the global world.  The church musst constantly ask itself, “what about how we do church brings people to Jesus and what pushes them away?”  After a person puts their faith in Jesus, the church should continue to disciple (help them grow) them so that they can become a mature, healthy Christian who is equipped to reach others for Christ and do amazing things for Him.

Matthew 28:16-20.  Mark 16:15.  Luke 24:46-47.  Acts 1:6-8.   Acts 1:8.  Acts 13:47-49.  John 14:23-24.  Matthew 22:37-39.  Ephesians 4:11-13.  Acts 2:42-47.  Acts 13:47-49.