"THE CHRISTIAN BELIEVER"

Sermon Transcript for August 27, 2000

By Rev. Mike Beck

Scripture Reading: I Peter 3:15

I don’t know whether you are aware of it, but the preachers’ jobs here at Grace just got harder because your life got softer. You know the padding on the backs of your pews today--and I do hope you’ve noticed that--means the preachers better spend an extra hour in preparation for their sermon because its all that much more easier for you to fall asleep. But we promise to do that and we’re so thankful for the continued results of the remodeling that are just about now to come to a close.

I want to begin today with some words of "thanks", if you will allow me. First of all to our youth. Steve Wakefield today is down at Camp Indicoso and most of our youth are with him. But if you missed last Sunday’s worship service led by our youth, be sure to stop by the office and pick up a tape. They were a blessing to all of us. And I hope that you are in prayer for the ministries for our children and youth in the months ahead. I want to say a continued "thanks" to Sarai and to Deanna, but then even beyond our paid staff, to people like Shawn and Michelle, the ladies who sang today, the members of our Praise Team, that are just making such marvelous strides forward in our music here at Grace.

I want to say "thanks" to Cindy Winteregg and the F3 Connection Planning Team. I’m just tremendously excited about what that ministry can mean within the life of this church. There are numerous, numerous people to thank in terms of the remodeling. Praise God it’s almost all done. But especially to Mark Freeland, to Paul Williams, and to Faye Petro for the countless hours that they and others have put in. And to Sandy, Rose, and Donna who have helped me keep my sanity, or tried to, over the last six to nine months. I just come today with a grateful heart.

I believe that we stand at the threshold of unprecedented opportunities here at Grace Church. I hope you’re trusting what the Bible tells us. That God wants to do more than we are able to even think about or ask for. We must continue to pray. We must be on guard against pride. For what God is doing here is not of us. We are just his vehicles. It’s God’s work in our midst. And all of us, and I stress the word "all", must share and continue to share your gifts. Let me illustrate this. When you leave this morning, out in the Narthex you will see a display board. We are trying to expand our ministry to the students of Franklin College. Dan Sinkhorn, himself a part-time student there, will be over at the Ministry Fair all day tomorrow. He wanted a display board that would catch the eye of college students. He didn’t know how to do that. I didn’t know how to do that. But he called Holly Klotzsche, and Holly turned to her boyfriend, Tony Miller. Tony, I believe, is about 23 years of age. New to our church. New to the Christian faith. But he’s a graphic designer. What he has done is awesome. It is an example of him simply doing what God wants all of us to do--share our gifts for the advancement of God’s kingdom.

I want to continue to assure you that I am committed to long-term ministry here at Grace. Steve, did you hear that? Because, at least over the last ten years of your history, some of you are getting nervous. We’re coming up on Rev. Mike’s fourth year. That’s about the time you change pastors. Can I say with all sincerity, we’re just getting warmed up. And I am so thrilled to have Dan Sinkhorn serving here with me. Dan’s going to be preaching next Sunday. He will be the primary preacher for our Wednesday evening worship services. If you haven’t yet got to know him, when you do you’ll discover how blessed we are to have him here.

Rather than preaching today, I’d like to engage with you, if you would allow me, in what the Bible calls the ministry of exhortation. Now, my understanding about this word is this. That exhortation is to seek to communicate God’s vision for God’s people and then to call forth God’s people to share in that vision. So, I wouldn’t want to do that very often during the year, but I’d like you as we stand at the beginning of so many things that are starting, to allow me to speak to you in that vein today. To do that I would ask you to take your bulletin in your hand and turn, first of all, to the cover. Printed there is our mission statement. So many churches spend countless hours preparing a mission statement and then forget about it. We’re trying not to do that. So would you read with me the mission of our church. Join me. "The mission of Grace Church is to worship God; proclaim Christ as Savior; encourage growth in Christ as Lord; fellowship together; and care for those in need."

And now I invite you to take out the insert sheet that has those five areas listed on it because it will be an outline for some of the things I’d like to share with you. And I would ask you to turn, first of all, to the side that begins with the words, "Worship God". I think I’m going to send out a letter within the next two weeks to all our members. And they’ll begin with these words, "Seven days without worship makes one weak, w-e-a-k." God has created us with a need for worship. And what we are trying to do here at Grace, a church filled with very busy people leading very busy lives with very different ways in which they experience God best, to provide a variety of opportunities for people to worship God in many ways and now at different days even of the week. More opportunities are present now starting September 13^th for worship here at Grace. For those who are hearing my words now, who use to come at 11:00 a.m. but experience God best at traditional worship and you’ve had to adjust your time and are coming at 9:30 a.m., I can’t say "thanks" to you enough. This will always be a major part of our worship experience here at Grace. But friends if you haven’t been at the 11:00 a.m. service, you may not realize the very real needs that are being met through that different form of worship. And now in early September our people will also have an opportunity to worship on Wednesday evening at 6:20 p.m. We’ll be singing, we’ll be sharing. There will be the preaching of the Word.

Secondly, our mission statement tells us that we are to "proclaim Christ as Savior". I hope you have a passion for those around you who have not yet come to know the Savior. It was years ago, but my dad taught me this quote. I didn’t understand it fully at that time. I’m not sure I still fully understand it. But the quote is listed there for you. "The church exists primarily for those who are not yet a part of its fellowship." Now, that doesn’t mean that our meeting your needs is not important. Anything but that. But at the very core of what we are about, we are a lighthouse to reach out with the gospel of Jesus Christ for persons who haven’t yet come to know him. Pastor Dan’s job description is almost totally wrapped up in this element of our mission. For those of you with children and youth at home, perhaps the greatest responsibility in life you have now is in those formative years to help them come to know the Savior. Our children’s and youth ministries are going to be taking place primarily at two time slots--Sunday morning and Wednesday evening. We’re giving Sunday night back to families for time together at home. But make it a priority in those two times for your children and you to come to know Christ.

Our mission statement is to "fellowship together". And friends, there’s probably no better fellowship group in the church then are the groups that are beginning today--the choir and the handbell choir. Linda Wirey, would you say Amen to that? That group of people that gather over here on Wednesday evening, not only bless us in music, they bless and minister to one another. Through a gift we were able to purchase sixty choir chairs. Now, they are not all up front here. But we believe the day will come that at least for special occasions we’ll need all sixty chairs. Has God given you the gift of music? If so, what’s keeping you from being a part of this group?

We have space for two more couples on the Marriage Enrichment Weekend. A time of deep fellowship with each other. A new event this fall, our Women’s Retreat for women of all ages. It will take less than 24 hours, but it’s going to be a great time together. We already have many applications.

I’m not going to take time to talk about all of those things that bring us together as a family other than to again ask you to pray and to be a part of the Wednesday evening ministry. And those of us who have been involved in the planning, one thing we have already discovered is this. This big building isn’t so big come Wednesday night! Every square inch of space is being utilized for groups that will be meeting on Wednesday.

And then if you will turn the page, we have the responsibility to "care for those in need". I really had only had the casual opportunity to meet Albert Cox before this week. But what it meant to him for me to be there when he came home, to minister to them in the funeral home and yesterday in the funeral. We were called to care for one another. We do that by prayer. Our prayer groups are not closed groups. Come and join us. Monday at 1:00 p.m., over at the Wesley Center on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. If you’re not sure you know how to pray come to Dan’s group on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. and he’ll help you in that regard. We have a great time with our men on Saturday morning at 7:15 a.m. And I can’t say enough about the fact that God does his work through prayer. I was so blessed this week, I believe it was Thursday afternoon. I walked out of the office and looked in the Wesley Room and there was Kay Findley, Melinda Ramsey, and Tracy Nash. They had just come together to pray for the ministries of Grace Church. As we try to stress over and over again, the pastors don’t have enough hours in the day to do all the caring that needs to be done. We are a body of Christ in ministry to one another. The Caring Ministry team, the week of September 10^th, will resume their ministry. It’s a great fellowship group as well as an outreach group. God may be calling you to be a part of that.

And then, finally, we are here to "encourage growth in Christ as Lord". Which brings us to our text for today. Peter tells us, "In your hearts, set apart Christ as Lord. Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that is in you." I want you to do a little soul searching. Can you do that? If someone asks you about the faith you possess, do you have an answer ready to give them? All of those ministries that you see listed there, are our attempt to help you grow in Christ and to help the church carry out Jesus’ last command. Do you remember what he said? "Go make disciples." Your name ought to be penciled in on one of those groups.

But then I want you to notice in the scripture we read today that we are to do that with gentleness and respect. And I want to detour for just a moment and I want you to hear me carefully. Several members of our church who love God and love the United Methodist Church have come to me in recent months with a vision. Their vision is this. The United Methodist Church is all too splintered and fractured at this present hour. And they are looking around at Grace and seeing tremendous theological diversity in our midst. But yet they also see that despite that theological diversity there is a unity of purpose. That despite differences in belief the people here at Grace are uniting in ministry in the name of Jesus Christ. And they sincerely believe that God is calling Grace Church within our conference and maybe even within our denomination to be a beacon of hope as to how people, even with their differences, can be united in ministry for Jesus Christ. And as your pastor, I’m excited about being a part of seeing that vision become a reality for the sake of Christ and perhaps for the sake of a denomination that we love very dearly.

I’m going to close today by sharing with you an exciting new ministry here at Grace. A ministry called the "Christian Believer". Sandy loves it on weeks like this when I give her two inserts. Take out the other one now. Where at the top it says, "Why Christian Believer?" And I invite you to look with me at the purpose statement. The purpose of this study is to make available to people the substance of the faith as the church has confessed through the centuries as a way of connecting to God and living faithfully. Out in the Narthex this morning are a number of these booklets. They are free for the taking. They will give you more information about this ministry including the thirty topics that are covered. I’m not going to read them all; I’m just going to give you a sampling. The Providence of God, the Human Condition of Sin, Salvation, Christ as Lord, Faith, the Church as the Body of Christ, Worship, Sanctification, Resurrection, Eternal Life. If you’d like to know more, we’re meeting tonight and also on September 10^th for a short informational meeting to answer questions and share more. We’ll have three classes that begin September 12^th and 13^th--Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m., Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. And in addition to the opportunity to be a part of a study group, God has laid it upon my heart to preach these themes in the worship services which we’ll be doing starting September 13^th and continuing all the way to the end of April next year.

I leave you with these two questions. How is God calling you to move closer to him in the coming months? Now friends, you need to hear me on this one. You’re going to be in my office for counseling if you try and do everything on that insert. That’s not at all what we are about. We’re about providing a smorgasbord of ministries for you to choose what meets your needs. But, where does God have your name penciled in on those pages? I hope it’s penciled in on two or three different places. And then, finally, do you have a hunger after the things of God? I can’t say that sincerely enough. Do you have a hunger after the things of God? I remember going down to Asbury Seminary several years into my ministry for a time of personal retreat. And during that time I walked across the street to the office of Dr. Whitey Westerfield at Asbury College. Under his preaching I became a Christian at the tender age of nine years old. Whitey, who’s now gone on to be with the Lord, was probably in his mid-80's at that time. But he so warmly invited me in to his office, shared with me so candidly, and then as was Whitey’s custom knelt on the floor and had prayer with me. But I’ll never forget his words that day. He said, "Mike, your greatest responsibility is to seek to create a hunger in your people after the things of God. If they will hunger after the true and living God, everything else falls into place."

The things of this world, my friends, will never satisfy you. But there is spiritual food in the ministries we have lifted up this morning. Our role is printed on your offering envelope each week. "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you." Our closing hymn speaks to that, it is number 419. "I am thine, O Lord, I have heard thy voice. Draw me nearer, nearer to you." Let’s stand as we sing versus one and two together.