This past Sunday at GFchurch we began looking at the 5 functions of the church. We are going back and covering some basic Biblical principles for how we are to be going about ministry in our communities. This week we covered Worship. We looked at and discussed some of the expressions of worship like singing, commitment, hearing the Word, giving, baptism, meditation, Lord's Supear and such....We will be looking at Evangelism, Discipleship, Fellowship and Ministry. We have set apart 5 weeks for this, but I am not sure we will actually get it covered in that amount of time.
Worship is with all your heart, soul, and mind
....... "This people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me"~ Matthew 15:8. Worship is real, authentic experience in the heart with God, or it is nothing.
Worship is in 'Spirit and Truth"
....... C. S. Lewis - "We only learn to behave ourselves in the presence of God."
....... Richard Foster - "As worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience. Holy obedience saves worship from becoming an opiate, an escape from the pressing needs of modern life."
Worship is a LIFESTYLE
....... Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.~ Romans 12:1-2
Worship is being satisfied with God
....... as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.~Philippians 1:20-21
We must see God as He is. When we worship in truth and spirit as is referenced in scripture, it leads to confession and repentance. It also leads us to proclaim the Gospel. When we truly worship it demands from us a response.
If you missed the service, you can catch it in its entirety at GatewayTV
Here are the scripture texts for the message this past weekend::
1The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4Now he had to go through Samaria. 5So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
11"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
16He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."
17"I have no husband," she replied.
Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
19"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
21Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
25The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
26Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."
......Don't forget about our discussion about Spiritual Disciplines. We hope you decide to pick one (or more) of these to begin training this week......
~Worship
~Meditation on Scripture
~Prayer
~Fasting
~Making war against sin
~Others before self
~Submission
~Service
Mark Your Calendars::
~October 9, 2010 GF Ladies Bunco
ConnectGroup Schedule::
TuesNite @ 7pm @ The Snow's
WedNite @ 7pm @ The Brown's
SunMorn @ 915am @ GFchurch (Youth)
I love our church
I love our people
I love what He is doing in us
I love what He is doing to us
I love what He is doing through us
I love that He is not done with us
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Quote~ Charles Spurgeon
I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love. So I am forced to accept that great Biblical doctrine. — Charles Spurgeon
We are in need of the Gospel. People may know church, but they need to know Jesus. We must be intentional about our celebration of what the Gospel has done. It has saved us. It has justified us, and it sanctifies us. Determining to celebrate what Christ has done for us keeps our heart's devoted to HIS fame and not our own personal success.
We are in need of the Gospel. People may know church, but they need to know Jesus. We must be intentional about our celebration of what the Gospel has done. It has saved us. It has justified us, and it sanctifies us. Determining to celebrate what Christ has done for us keeps our heart's devoted to HIS fame and not our own personal success.
Reflections From Sunday
This week at GFchurch we heard from one of our elders, Dennis Dodds. Dennis shared out of Romans helping us close out our 4 week long discussion over Romans 8. If you were unable to attend service this past week, you can watch it in its entirety here at GatewayTV
Here is the scripture text for the message this past week::
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am excited about the next few week as we begin a new series that will cause us to look at the biblical purposes of the church and how it relates to us and our community. As we understand that we have been called to live communally, think missionally and worship authentically, I pray He continues to stir our affections for His Word and His Will.
Last week, when we celebrates our 5yr anniversary, we talked about the ONE campaign. The ONE campaign is a campaign for us to engage in and partner with over the next year. We are looking at each family in our church prayerfully INVESTING&INVITING at least ONE family over the year to one of our ministry events. We are asking each family to engage in a relationship with at least ONE family or person that is pre-churched, de-churched or anti-churched in an effort to share the Gospel of Christ with them. As a part of this campaign, we asked you to fill out an IMPACT card this past Sunday that you can keep in your Bible to help remind you to pray for them. On that card are the names of the 10 families or persons we just shared about above. We also asked that you fill out another card with the exact information on it and turn it back into the church so the Elders and staff can pray over them specifically.
We are asking our connect groups to begin "stretching" themselves in the area of local and global missions. We are also asking them to begin the birthing process of another group out of their existing one. We must be intentional about the discipleship process and forming new leaders. We must birth at least ONE more connect group out of each of our existing ones.
We are also planning on birthing ONE more GFchurch campus over the next year. Church planting is a part of our DNA and we must be going through birthing pains over the next year. We are already a regional church, and as we experience God's growth, we know we will need to meet needs by offering services in different places and at different times.
Another challenge we are asking our people to partner in is sacrificing ONE "going out" meal a week and give that money to the church to help support our missional efforts in our community and other surrounding communities.
......Don't forget about our discussion about Spiritual Disciplines. We hope you decide to pick one (or more) of these to begin training this week......
~Worship
~Meditation on Scripture
~Prayer
~Fasting
~Making war against sin
~Others before self
~Submission
~Service
Mark Your Calendars::
~September 25, 2010 Men's Breakfast
~September 26, 2010 101/membership Class
~October 9, 2010 GF Ladies Bunco
ConnectGroup Schedule::
TuesNite @ 7pm @ The Snow's
WedNite @ 7pm @ The Brown's
SunMorn @ 915am @ GFchurch (Youth)
I love our church
I love our people
I love what He is doing in us
I love what He is doing to us
I love what He is doing through us
I love that He is not done with us
Here is the scripture text for the message this past week::
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am excited about the next few week as we begin a new series that will cause us to look at the biblical purposes of the church and how it relates to us and our community. As we understand that we have been called to live communally, think missionally and worship authentically, I pray He continues to stir our affections for His Word and His Will.
Last week, when we celebrates our 5yr anniversary, we talked about the ONE campaign. The ONE campaign is a campaign for us to engage in and partner with over the next year. We are looking at each family in our church prayerfully INVESTING&INVITING at least ONE family over the year to one of our ministry events. We are asking each family to engage in a relationship with at least ONE family or person that is pre-churched, de-churched or anti-churched in an effort to share the Gospel of Christ with them. As a part of this campaign, we asked you to fill out an IMPACT card this past Sunday that you can keep in your Bible to help remind you to pray for them. On that card are the names of the 10 families or persons we just shared about above. We also asked that you fill out another card with the exact information on it and turn it back into the church so the Elders and staff can pray over them specifically.
We are asking our connect groups to begin "stretching" themselves in the area of local and global missions. We are also asking them to begin the birthing process of another group out of their existing one. We must be intentional about the discipleship process and forming new leaders. We must birth at least ONE more connect group out of each of our existing ones.
We are also planning on birthing ONE more GFchurch campus over the next year. Church planting is a part of our DNA and we must be going through birthing pains over the next year. We are already a regional church, and as we experience God's growth, we know we will need to meet needs by offering services in different places and at different times.
Another challenge we are asking our people to partner in is sacrificing ONE "going out" meal a week and give that money to the church to help support our missional efforts in our community and other surrounding communities.
......Don't forget about our discussion about Spiritual Disciplines. We hope you decide to pick one (or more) of these to begin training this week......
~Worship
~Meditation on Scripture
~Prayer
~Fasting
~Making war against sin
~Others before self
~Submission
~Service
Mark Your Calendars::
~September 25, 2010 Men's Breakfast
~September 26, 2010 101/membership Class
~October 9, 2010 GF Ladies Bunco
ConnectGroup Schedule::
TuesNite @ 7pm @ The Snow's
WedNite @ 7pm @ The Brown's
SunMorn @ 915am @ GFchurch (Youth)
I love our church
I love our people
I love what He is doing in us
I love what He is doing to us
I love what He is doing through us
I love that He is not done with us
Monday, September 13, 2010
Reflections From Sunday
This past Sunday at GFchurch was a big day for us. We celebrated our 5th anniversary and we talked about the ONE campaign, which is a campaign for us to partner with over the next year. We are looking at each family in our church prayerfully INVESTING&INVITING at least ONE family over the year to one of our ministry events. We are asking each family to engage in a relationship with at least ONE family or person that is pre-churched, de-churched or anti-churched in an effort to share the Gospel of Christ with them. As a part of this campaign, we asked you to fill out an IMPACT card this past Sunday that you can keep in your Bible to help remind you to pray for them. On that card are the names of the 10 families or persons we just shared about above. We also asked that you fill out another card with the exact information on it and turn it back into the church so the Elders and staff can pray over them specifically.
We are asking our connect groups to begin "stretching" themselves in the area of local and global missions. We are also asking them to begin the birthing process of another group out of their existing one. We must be intentional about the discipleship process and forming new leaders. We must birth at least ONE more connect group out of each of our existing ones.
We are also planning on birthing ONE more GFchurch campus over the next year. Church planting is a part of our DNA and we must be going through birthing pains over the next year. We are already a regional church, and as we experience God's growth, we know we will need to meet needs by offering services in different places and at different times.
Another challenge we are asking our people to partner in is sacrificing ONE "going out" meal a week and give that money to the church to help support our missional efforts in our community and other surrounding communities.
If you were unable to attend this past Sunday, you can catch the service in its entirety on GatewayTV
If you would like to see the slide presentation for the ONE campaign you can see it here
We also covered Romans8 part3 Sunday morning:
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,[j] who[k] have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."[l] 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
......Don't forget about our discussion about Spiritual Disciplines 3 weeks ago. We hope you decide to pick one (or more) of these to begin training this week......
~Worship
~Meditation on Scripture
~Prayer
~Fasting
~Making war against sin
~Others before self
~Submission
~Service
Mark Your Calendars::
~September 25, 2010 Men's Breakfast
~September 26, 2010 101/membership Class
~October 9, 2010 GF Ladies Bunco
ConnectGroup Schedule::
TuesNite @ 7pm @ The Snow's
WedNite @ 7pm @ The Brown's
SunMorn @ 915am @ GFchurch (Youth)
I love our church
I love our people
I love what He is doing in us
I love what He is doing to us
I love what He is doing through us
I love that He is not done with us
We are asking our connect groups to begin "stretching" themselves in the area of local and global missions. We are also asking them to begin the birthing process of another group out of their existing one. We must be intentional about the discipleship process and forming new leaders. We must birth at least ONE more connect group out of each of our existing ones.
We are also planning on birthing ONE more GFchurch campus over the next year. Church planting is a part of our DNA and we must be going through birthing pains over the next year. We are already a regional church, and as we experience God's growth, we know we will need to meet needs by offering services in different places and at different times.
Another challenge we are asking our people to partner in is sacrificing ONE "going out" meal a week and give that money to the church to help support our missional efforts in our community and other surrounding communities.
If you were unable to attend this past Sunday, you can catch the service in its entirety on GatewayTV
If you would like to see the slide presentation for the ONE campaign you can see it here
We also covered Romans8 part3 Sunday morning:
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,[j] who[k] have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."[l] 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
......Don't forget about our discussion about Spiritual Disciplines 3 weeks ago. We hope you decide to pick one (or more) of these to begin training this week......
~Worship
~Meditation on Scripture
~Prayer
~Fasting
~Making war against sin
~Others before self
~Submission
~Service
Mark Your Calendars::
~September 25, 2010 Men's Breakfast
~September 26, 2010 101/membership Class
~October 9, 2010 GF Ladies Bunco
ConnectGroup Schedule::
TuesNite @ 7pm @ The Snow's
WedNite @ 7pm @ The Brown's
SunMorn @ 915am @ GFchurch (Youth)
I love our church
I love our people
I love what He is doing in us
I love what He is doing to us
I love what He is doing through us
I love that He is not done with us
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Reflections From Sunday
I am encouraged with what is taking place in the life of our church. It is a blessing and a privilege to serve the body of Christ at GFchurch. This past Sunday we continued our look at Romans 8. If you were unable to attend service this past week, you can catch it in its entirety here at GatewayTV. As always Scott Finch did a great job leading us, with his team, in worship. This coming Sunday is an important day for our church. Sunday, September 12, 2010 will be our Vision Sunday. We will be looking at some important steps for our family of faith and for us as individuals, as we look at the future of GFchurch and what the Lord has in store for us. Please make time in your schedule to come and worship with us this Sunday. You do not want to miss it.
The elders are really excited about what the Lord has put in front of us as a church and realize that it is going to take some "stretching" in all of us. We are asking you to begin praying now about what it is that HE will call you to and what sacrifices He may ask of you.
Don't Forget:: Join us this Sunday, September 12, 2010 for VISION SUNDAY
......Don't forget about our discussion about Spiritual Disciplines 2 weeks ago. We hope you decide to pick one (or more) of these to begin training this week......
~Worship
~Meditation on Scripture
~Prayer
~Fasting
~Making war against sin
~Others before self
~Submission
~Service
Mark Your Calendars::
~September 12, 2010 Vision Sunday (notice this is a new date)
~September 18, 2010 Men's Breakfast
~September 26, 2010 101/membership Class
ConnectGroup Schedule::
TuesNite @ 7pm @ The Snow's
WedNite @ 7pm @ The Brown's
SunMorn @ 915am @ GFchurch (Youth)
I love our church
I love our people
I love what He is doing in us
I love what He is doing to us
I love what He is doing through us
I love that He is not done with us
The elders are really excited about what the Lord has put in front of us as a church and realize that it is going to take some "stretching" in all of us. We are asking you to begin praying now about what it is that HE will call you to and what sacrifices He may ask of you.
Don't Forget:: Join us this Sunday, September 12, 2010 for VISION SUNDAY
......Don't forget about our discussion about Spiritual Disciplines 2 weeks ago. We hope you decide to pick one (or more) of these to begin training this week......
~Worship
~Meditation on Scripture
~Prayer
~Fasting
~Making war against sin
~Others before self
~Submission
~Service
Mark Your Calendars::
~September 12, 2010 Vision Sunday (notice this is a new date)
~September 18, 2010 Men's Breakfast
~September 26, 2010 101/membership Class
ConnectGroup Schedule::
TuesNite @ 7pm @ The Snow's
WedNite @ 7pm @ The Brown's
SunMorn @ 915am @ GFchurch (Youth)
I love our church
I love our people
I love what He is doing in us
I love what He is doing to us
I love what He is doing through us
I love that He is not done with us
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