If people are going to know that Jesus is for them, they need to know that we are for them.
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Title: "What Are We Here For?"
Speaker: Matt Shires
Series: For The Verde Valley
As a church, we exist to:
Help people take steps from wherever they are, to where God wants them to be.
I. Three basics…
Matthew 22:35-39
One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
Matthew 28:18-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
II. If people are going to know that JESUS is FOR them, they need to know that WE are FOR them.
John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
III. Our POSTURE needs to shift.
1 Peter 2:12
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
We must learn the art of being able to:
1. Have integrity in our convictions.
2. Genuinely love, listen to, and serve those who do not share our convictions.
3. Consistently do both at the same time.
"We draw people to Christ, not by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it."
-Madeleine L'Engle
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