Equipping Hour (9a.m.).

No Equipping Hour last week, but see the announcement below about The Equipping Hour schedule. Click on these links for a synopsis of the Thirsty? studies:

• Part 1: My Soul Thirsts?
• Part 2: The Monstrous Substitution

Service (10:30a.m.)

Announcements:

• On August 7 (Saturday), Jimmy & Niki Deason and Bill & Nancy Tomlin will be hosting a Baptism and Fish-Fry at their home in Perry. All are invited to join us starting at 4:30. A flyer with a map will be available on the information table. 
• Special thanks—again—to Paul Wilson for working with MSM systems and for reworking all the mic jacks on our newly refurbished platform! Last week, we had some work done to our sound system and the projector was hung from the ceiling. The updates to the sound system eliminated the dead spots in our sanctuary, and hanging the projector will not only give us better projection but will also protect the projector from the wear and tear from being moved so much. We’ve received a grant for this project from the Oldham Little Church Foundation—a foundation that specializes in helping small churches with relatively small projects. The grant is for $5700, but the project cost closer to $9,000. Please consider helping us bridge the gap with a gift over and above your regular giving—thanks. 
• Immediately after the service, several people who were interested in helping with some other building projects met for about twenty minutes.
• There will be no 9 a.m. Equipping Hour or Youth study in July. We’ll start again on August 1.
• Summer Nights. We’re having a great time on Tuesday nights, but we need YOU to be here—6:30-8:30. Bring a dessert and a lawn chair and spend some “family” time with us right here at CBC. Contact Jody Rees for more information ().
• Antioch School: A new Antioch course entitled Covenants, Unity of Scripture and Biblical Worldview, will begin on Thursday, July 29, at 6:30 p.m. This 10-week Antioch School course is open to all who want to dig into the Scriptures. The Covenants Course is designed to help students understand the big picture of the Scriptures as a basis for developing a lifeview that is consistent with God’s plan and purposes. For more information, please reply to this email. Click here for more about the Antioch School.

Music: (click on the links to listen/watch):

• Salvation is Here
• How Beautiful the Cross
• Mighty to Save
• It Is Well – Video tells the story behind the song
• I Will Rise

Message: “The Family Series: Connect, Grow, Serve” (Listen on the CBC Podcast)

Introduction 

We started this Family Series with a couple great country music philosophers. Let’s end with one more: Tim McGraw’s song “Live Like You Were Dying”. What a question: “All eternity…what did you do with it?

Last week: Strong families grow strong churches grow strong families. Today I want to finish answering the question “How do we strengthen families?” I finished last week with challenge to stand together to strengthen families inside and outside this family of families. Hopefully you’re asking, “What can I do?”

Connect, Grow, Serve. There’s a clear pattern in NT that answers the question—this demands our attention and action:

Matthew 28:19-20—The Great commission: Going, baptizing and teaching.

The key command is to “make disciples.” “Go” is not an imperative—it’s a participle like “baptizing and teaching.” “Going, baptizing and teaching” explain how we are to make disciples.

“Going” into the world is a command for followers—it’s not where disciples start.

“Baptizing” is where disciple starts. This is more than dunking. It includes water baptism—the first act of obedience—but the real point is to identify with God (“in the name of the Father/Son/Spirit) and His people. It is symbolic of the death and resurrection of Christ (identification with Christ) and public identification with His Church.

“Teaching” is not just “teaching” but “teaching them to observe…” To observe means to “obey (NIV) everything that I (Christ) commanded”. This includes “going, baptizing and teaching” eventually.

How did the early church understand this exactly? We see in Acts!

Acts 14:21-23—The Pauline Cycle: Evangelizing, Establishing, Entrusting. The first missionary journey reveals a pattern or cycle used by the first missionaries to the Gentiles.

First, they evangelized. They ”preached gospel”. They introduced unbelievers to Jesus Christ.

Second, they established churches. They ”strengthened” the local churches, not just individuals. In other words, they gathered the new believers into communities called churches.

Fiinally, they entrusted the leadership of these churches to elders. They “appointed elders” in every city. This is the household order explained later in Paul’s letters. This is the hallmark of healthy churches.

This 3-step pattern lines up with the Great Commission. It shows how the early church understood Jesus’ instructions. It shows that the local church was central to the work of the early church’s understanding of the Great Commission.

Paul’s Letters—Establishing Tools: Gospel, Church and Household Order.

Paul’s early letters (e.g., Romans) were focused on establishing believers in the gospel. Making certain they understood the full implications of Christ’s death and resurrection.

Paul’s middle letters (e.g., Ephesians) were focused on establishing believers in the purpose and significance of the church. If these locacl churches were to thrive, they must be one-minded around their message and mission.

Paul’s later letters (e.g., 1 Timothy) were written to leaders to help them order the churches as households. This included developing new leaders and establishing a family-like approach to relationships within the church.

CBC Vision—Connect, Grow, Serve. As we seek to fulfill the Great Commission in our day and time, we must first understand the commands of Jesus and how the early church understood those commands. Then we must ask, “How will we obey in our time and place?” Our vision is to challenge every person to connect with Christ and His Church, to grow to maturity in Christ and to serve as part of the Body of Christ. (See cards available in the foyer—these are for you to give out to others.)

Connect:

Connect with Jesus Christ and His Church. At its heart, Christianity is about relationships. God has made it possible for us to connect with Him personally through Christ. And following Christ is impossible without connecting with His people—the Church. When we connect, we can grow and serve.

Connecting is being part of expanding Christ’s Church—connecting people with Jesus Christ and His Church. It is the equivalent of “baptizing” in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19). Baptism represents the formal identification of a disciple with Christ and His Church. All of us should be connecting and then helping others connect—evangelizing unbelievers; leading unchurched Christians to church.

Action: Trust Christ and begin a personal relationship with Him right now. Then, be baptized and join CBC.

Grow:

God wants us to grow to maturity in our faith. This maturity requires that each believer connect with a local church to be rooted and built up in the teaching of Christ and His Apostles which is found in the New Testament.

To grow is to participate in the establishing ministry of the church. It is the equivalent of “teaching” in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:20). Teaching is the task of “rooting and building up” (Col 2:7) a disciple in the teaching of Christ and His Apostles—the New Testament. All of us should be growing and then helping others grow.

Action: Take full advantages of the opportunites available to you—Community Group, Equipping Hour, College Ministry, Youth Ministry, counseling, Antioch School, etc. Help others grow, but supporting CBC through your time, talents and treasures.

Serve:

Jesus was the ultimate servant. As His followers, we’re called to be like Him. To serve as part of His body—the Church. To serve people by helping them connect with God and grow up in the faith.

To serve as part of the body of Christ is to participate in the entrusting ministry of the church. It is the equivalent of “going” in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19). “Going” implies that a disciple has been equipped for ministry and is participating in the expansion and establishment of the church according to his/her gifting.

Closing

I read about a survey taken of several people 95-year-olds and older. The basic question was, “If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?” Most of the answers could be arranged into one of three categories: 1) I would reflect more; 2) I would risk more; 3) I would do something that would live on after I’m gone.

As we conclude this Family Series, I want you to ask that question Tim McGraw asked us earlier: “What did you do with it?” What will you do with this life—the days, the months, the years God gives you?

This CBC vision—if we embrace it and work together; if we all connect, grow and serve—will impact our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. It will impact other families we haven’t met yet—families not yet a part of this family of families. Since this is Jesus’ Great Commission, the impact will be for eternity.