I want to think through some of the ramifications of our Church's vision. The vision is to be a body of fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ who BELIEVE God, BELONG together, and BECOME all that God wants us to be. The three words, BELIEVE, BELONG, and BECOME summarize what it means to be THE CHURCH. Eventually, I will suggest that our work as a church can be whittled down to two things ... two legs that we stand on. But that's for another day ... we'll get there. For now, I want to flesh out the significance of each these words (believe, belong, become).
There is more to this word BELIEVE than first meets the eye. When we say that we want to be a body of fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ who BELIEVE God, we are NOT saying that we simply believe IN God. We do. But our confession is that we do much more than that. James says that even the demons believe IN God (James 2:19). The diference is that we believe in a God who is active in our world and in our lives because he loves us. This is our great HOPE. If that's true, then we must TRUST God. We trust him, not just to get us into heaven, but also to get us through today. That's where belief begins to impact our lives: at the point where hope intersects with trust.
To summarize: We BELIEVE in a God who is active in our lives because he loves us. The consequence of this belief is that we TRUST God and place all our HOPE in Him. Now, there are certain ramifications to this hoping and trusting. They are the following:
1. We believe what God says in His Word.
2. We place God first knowing that he will take care of everything else.
3. We serve God the way a slave would serve his master.
4. We dare to risk everything for God.
I told you ... there's much more to BELIEVE than first meets the eye! More on these ramifications in the days to come ...
Blessings,
pastor ellis
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