1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,000 like the 90s, has created a desperate sense of loneliness and emptiness in the lives of people. 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:16,000 There is a driving search for significance, significance that is found in community with others. 3 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:21,000 People are longing for a place where they can feel accepted, 4 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:25,000 where they can learn about the fundamental things in life, 5 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:31,000 where they can find meaning and purpose of being human. 6 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:37,000 Community is found in many places in our world, not all of them good or healthy, 7 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:45,000 but nonetheless it is found in many places such as bars, gangs, country clubs, service clubs, 8 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:49,000 athletic teams, and the list can go on. 9 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:58,000 But none of these communities can really pull off what the human heart longs for. 10 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:08,000 The best place in the world to find the kind of unity and community that people are longing for is in the church. 11 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:14,000 Not that the church has always been the community it ought to be, 12 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:22,000 but it's the place where God intends nonetheless for community to be realized. 13 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:30,000 That's why we say about ourselves that Grace Church Roseville is a community of believers. 14 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:36,000 We are not a perfect community of believers, nor are we a community of perfect believers. 15 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,000 Both are true. 16 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:44,000 But that is our ideal, that is our goal, to be a community of God in this world. 17 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:50,000 The word community comes from the Latin word meaning common. 18 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:55,000 And so a community is a group of people who have things in common. 19 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:04,000 The unity comes from those things that the individual members share in common with one another. 20 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:09,000 Community is where, despite the normal diversities of being human, 21 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:15,000 there is nonetheless a basic foundation of things that people share in together. 22 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:24,000 Grace Church Roseville seeks to fulfill this ideal found in the Scripture for the church. 23 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:31,000 We are called by God to be a community of believers. 24 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:41,000 Not merely for our own sakes, by the way, but for those who are still searching for community. 25 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:49,000 As part of this community, you and I need to be reminded occasionally of those things that we hold together in common. 26 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:57,000 What are those things that we agree about that unite our hearts together in our diversity? 27 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:03,000 Well, the message this morning is broken into four parts that I'm going to call four pillars 28 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:08,000 that uphold the community that God is making us. 29 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:15,000 The first realization and pillar is this, that our community rests upon faith. 30 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,000 It rests upon faith. 31 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:26,000 We hold to certain teachings or doctrines of the Bible as being important and essential. 32 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:32,000 We say that without these, we would lose something of our commonality, 33 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:37,000 because our community rests upon our faith. 34 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:47,000 In our church constitution and in other things that we sometimes distribute, we include a statement of faith. 35 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:52,000 It includes nine paragraphs about different doctrines, 36 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:58,000 not all of them fundamental and foundational doctrines in the broadest sense. 37 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:04,000 Nonetheless, doctrines that we as a church feel are essential to who we are. 38 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,000 They help define our personality. 39 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:12,000 They help tell us who we are as a people of God. 40 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:18,000 These statements include the Word of God, the Trinity, 41 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:24,000 what we believe about God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, 42 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:34,000 our teaching about regeneration, the last things, the church, and the ordinances of the local church. 43 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:38,000 I don't have time to read all nine of those paragraphs, 44 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:41,000 but I hope that if you're a member of the church, you're familiar with them, 45 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:46,000 and if you're in the welcomeers class, you certainly will hear something of them. 46 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:54,000 If you're coming into our church in the future, you need to understand that we are a community that rests upon faith, 47 00:04:54,000 --> 00:05:01,000 and it is our intent by the grace of God not to fail in this pillar. 48 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:15,000 We believe that faith is the key ingredient to what a church is and accomplishes. 49 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:23,000 There are some communities in the church that have lost this pillar. 50 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:27,000 The result of that is that while they are still a community of human beings, 51 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:33,000 they have lost the essence of what they are called by God to be in this world, 52 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:42,000 because a community of the church of Jesus Christ must be rested upon faith. 53 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:48,000 What we teach, of course, goes beyond those nine paragraphs. 54 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:54,000 These nine paragraphs form the foundation for everything else that we teach here, 55 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:58,000 but these nine paragraphs we agree upon. 56 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:02,000 We share these together. 57 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:07,000 We don't have to agree upon every jot and tittle beyond them, for sure, and we don't. 58 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:14,000 There ought to be room in the Lord's church for some latitude on nonessential things, 59 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:20,000 but when it comes to that statement of faith upon which our community rests, 60 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:30,000 there we must agree together that these things are important to us as a community of God's people. 61 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:37,000 The second pillar I want to point out is the pillar of purpose. 62 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:41,000 Our community rests upon purpose. 63 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:47,000 We have a common purpose or understanding of our mission. 64 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:53,000 You will find it on the back of your bulletin if you want to look at it this morning. 65 00:06:53,000 --> 00:07:00,000 In fact, it's on your bulletin every week in that little block that lists our staff. 66 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:01,000 It says, 67 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:08,000 Grace Church Roseville is a community of believers whose purpose is to worship the Lord Jesus Christ 68 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:16,000 and prepare itself through biblical instruction, service, and fellowship in order to evangelize the world. 69 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:21,000 We have a common understanding of what we're about. 70 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:25,000 Growing out of this mission statement, we have a vision of ourselves. 71 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:31,000 We see ourselves as a mission center and ourselves as missionaries. 72 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:38,000 We see what takes place in this church as being for the training and equipping of missionaries 73 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:43,000 to go out to their God-planned fields of service. 74 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:48,000 I was talking to one of our men on an evening during this week 75 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:53,000 as we were sharing his own understanding of what this means in his life. 76 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:58,000 I congratulated him for the fact that he sees his ministry 77 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:02,000 as not being only within the walls and the programs of our church, 78 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:09,000 but being out there in the community where he is a teacher in public education. 79 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:16,000 He sees himself as a missionary of Jesus Christ, and that's how all of us want to see ourselves. 80 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:20,000 Our community as a church rests upon this purpose. 81 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:26,000 Now, not everyone's going to have that kind of purpose, and that's fine. 82 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:33,000 There are churches that can accommodate all kinds of individual differences and definitions of what purpose is. 83 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:39,000 But for those of us who call ourselves a part of Grace Church Roseville, this is our purpose. 84 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:44,000 This is the commonality that we have, this understanding that we are a mission center 85 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:53,000 and we are here to worship God and to prepare ourselves to evangelize a world that is lost and dying. 86 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:58,000 We are here to touch the lives of people outside this fellowship. 87 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:08,000 If we exist as a community only for our own comfort, then we have lost our way. 88 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:13,000 Because God directs us to come here together to be prepared and equipped 89 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:17,000 so that then we can go out and in the course of our lives, 90 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:26,000 in our going about of our lives and our routines, we should make disciples of Jesus Christ. 91 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:33,000 We see ourselves as a mission center. We've used a little diagram to express that. 92 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:40,000 There's a circle with a triangle in it. 93 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:48,000 The arrows at the top of that diagram represent us coming into the mission center, the circle. 94 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:55,000 Within the mission center we worship and we're prepared, we're equipped to do the work of God. 95 00:09:55,000 --> 00:10:00,000 There is evangelism that takes place in the mission center itself. 96 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:06,000 But the real purpose of our coming into the mission center is that we then might go out 97 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:10,000 and through relational evangelism and cultural key kinds of ministries 98 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:15,000 where we touch the felt needs of people and by the establishment of branch churches, 99 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:19,000 we carry on the work of God outside the mission center. 100 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:23,000 That is our understanding of what we're about. 101 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:29,000 As we come to this 12th anniversary, it's good for us to remind ourselves this is who we are. 102 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:35,000 We're a community of believers committed to purpose. 103 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:40,000 The third pillar I want to point out this morning is our values. 104 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:48,000 We are a community which rests upon certain values. 105 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:54,000 These values are basic beliefs that we have about what's important. 106 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:58,000 It's an expression of what we value. 107 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:02,000 As I've tried to condense these in my own mind in preparation for this morning, 108 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:06,000 I decided to build around an acrostic. 109 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:13,000 I'm going to use the word grace, G-R-A-C-E. 110 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:26,000 These five letters can represent to us what I believe are five of the basic driving values of our church. 111 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:31,000 Value number one, God's Word. 112 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:41,000 Our basic value is this, that the Word of God is our final and ultimate authority in what we believe and how we behave. 113 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:47,000 Therefore, we study it, we preach it, we teach it. 114 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:51,000 We respond to it by worshiping God. 115 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:58,000 We give ourselves without reservation as living sacrifices to Him because of His Word. 116 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:04,000 We value His Word. God's Word is a driving value to us. 117 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:08,000 What is the measurement of our ministry? 118 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:11,000 It is the Word of God. 119 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:19,000 It is our adherence to what God, our Lord, our Savior has said to us in this book. 120 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:25,000 I don't think we could have a better value to start with than God's Word. 121 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:30,000 R represents reaching out. 122 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:35,000 That is a value to us. It is an essential value. 123 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:43,000 I am talking about evangelism and the nurture of new disciples. 124 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:53,000 The value that we adhere to is that we constantly have our arms open to newcomers. 125 00:12:53,000 --> 00:13:00,000 We want to avoid the mindset that says, we are big enough. 126 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:06,000 We have reached enough people. We don't need to grow anymore. 127 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:12,000 That is a mindset that leads to a brand new church name. 128 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:18,000 The new church name would then be the Church of St. Rigor Mortis. 129 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:25,000 The mindset that we don't need to reach out anymore is a mindset that leads to death for us as a church. 130 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:29,000 This is a basic value. 131 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:36,000 In the ministries we have as a church, this is one way that we measure whether we are accomplishing what we ought to be or not. 132 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:47,000 Is this value of reaching out to new people and touching their lives and helping them to know Christ and to grow in Christ, is that being accomplished? 133 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:53,000 A, in the word grace, represents the value of acceptance of each other. 134 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:55,000 I think this is so crucial. 135 00:13:55,000 --> 00:14:01,000 I thank God for the way that this is expressed in our church very often. 136 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:10,000 Never compromising holiness, we nonetheless want to extend grace and acceptance to others. 137 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:13,000 That is what Romans 14 and 15 are all about. 138 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:17,000 Accept one another in Jesus Christ, says Paul. 139 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:22,000 Accept one another in your differences, in your variations. 140 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:32,000 As God works out his purpose and his grace in your lives in different shades and colors and hues, accept one another. 141 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:39,000 One of the basic things we want to write in our hearts is that we are not called by God to fix one another. 142 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:43,000 That's not one of the one-anothers of the New Testament. 143 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:45,000 He doesn't say fix one another. 144 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:51,000 He says admonish one another, teach one another, love one another, and the list goes on and on. 145 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:54,000 But we're not called to fix one another. 146 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:57,000 That's not a spiritual gift. 147 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:01,000 We're called upon to accept one another with our variations. 148 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:11,000 We want this especially to be true of seekers, of those who are hurting, and of those who are immature in Christ. 149 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:21,000 We want to accept them where they are and lovingly bring them to Jesus and let him work out his grace in their lives as he desires to. 150 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:31,000 Just as in a family, an earthly family, we have to recognize individuality and practice loving, patience, and forgiveness. 151 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:36,000 So it is in the family of God. 152 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:44,000 Then there's a fourth value with the letter C. It is the value of change. 153 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:48,000 Change is vital. Without it we die. 154 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:52,000 We've experienced a good bit of change here over the years. 155 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:59,000 We have from the beginning been required to be innovative and flexible in our methods. 156 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:03,000 Some of the things that we've tried have worked, some have not worked. 157 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:05,000 That's all right. 158 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:09,000 If everything we try succeeds, then we're not trying hard enough. 159 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:14,000 We expect that there will be some failures as we experiment. 160 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:18,000 We value change. 161 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:22,000 And we face change right now as I talk in my column this morning. 162 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:31,000 As we enter into our 13th year, we're about to enter into a time of discussion as a church family about what the future holds. 163 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:34,000 There is nothing decided. 164 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:41,000 Information is being gathered and resources are being brought forward so that the congregation can be as informed as possible 165 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:46,000 as we enter into an important discussion about the future of our ministry. 166 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:51,000 We are facing change. That is nothing new. 167 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:56,000 And it is something that in fact we treasure and we value. 168 00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:01,000 Someone has written, people are God's most important product. 169 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:06,000 They take precedence over all programs and structured activities. 170 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:14,000 Because of this, we value creative, relevant programs which encourage the involvement of individuals in the life of the church 171 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:18,000 and in ministry throughout the community. 172 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:22,000 Another way of saying that paragraph is that we value change. 173 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:28,000 Our programs, our structure, all of that needs to be reevaluated with some frequency 174 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:35,000 so that we can see if we're being effective and relevant in accomplishing our mission. 175 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:40,000 There's a little couplet that says it pretty well. 176 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:44,000 Methods are many, principles are few. 177 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:50,000 Methods always change, but principles never do. 178 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:56,000 We must keep in our mind that there is a difference between our methods and our message. 179 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:01,000 Our message is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 180 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:07,000 Our message is the Word of God and that must never change, but the methods that we use 181 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:15,000 to proclaim Christ and to teach the Word of God and to reach our community, 182 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:21,000 those methods must be open to change when it's necessary. 183 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:30,000 So we want to preserve a climate in our church where trying new ideas to serve people is encouraged. 184 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:38,000 We want there to be an entrepreneurship about you, about me, 185 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:44,000 so that we look at the task at hand and we say, now how can that better be accomplished? 186 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:48,000 And we let God create something brand new. 187 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:55,000 And then E, in the word grace, represents a fifth of value. 188 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:59,000 It is everyone's participation. 189 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:04,000 Our value is that everybody counts. 190 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:09,000 There is no one who is unnecessary in what Grace Church is about. 191 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:15,000 Every member of the body has a function and has a meaning by God's design. 192 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,000 He has told us that. 193 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,000 Paul in Corinthians goes on to write about it. 194 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:24,000 In this first chapter he speaks about the fact that they're enriched in every way, 195 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:28,000 and he suggests that they're enriched by their spiritual gifts. 196 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:33,000 He tells them in chapter 12 how God has called some of them to be various parts of the body 197 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:35,000 and others to be other parts, 198 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:39,000 but all of the members function together by God's design 199 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:44,000 so that the church grows and matures to the glory of Christ. 200 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:48,000 Everyone's participation is valued at Grace Church. 201 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:53,000 We're gifted to contribute to the total effort and the mission of our church. 202 00:19:53,000 --> 00:20:02,000 And I think one of the most exciting things that one can do is to discover how to be plugged in to be fulfilled. 203 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:09,000 We may not be able to define and to decipher our spiritual gifts in language, 204 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:15,000 but to find that spot where we fit is a wonderful discovery. 205 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:18,000 If you have not discovered that yet in Grace Church, 206 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:21,000 there are ways to help you find it. 207 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:24,000 And one of the most popular right now, one of the newest ways, 208 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:26,000 is what we call the Welcomers Class, 209 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:32,000 which is not just for newcomers, it's for everyone who has yet to feel they have found a place to plug in. 210 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:39,000 I hope you might become a part of that if yet you're not sure how to participate in Grace Church. 211 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:45,000 It seems to me that these are at least five of the driving values of who we are as a community. 212 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,000 Our community rests upon these values. 213 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:53,000 If you begin taking them away, we're not going to be the same Grace Church. 214 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:55,000 We're going to be a different church. 215 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:59,000 Therefore, we're committed to these values. 216 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:07,000 Not merely in language, not just in the sermon, but in practice, we're committed to the values that we've talked about. 217 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:12,000 Then there's a fourth pillar that we need to talk about this morning. 218 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:16,000 I see this message is sort of like a four-legged chair. 219 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:20,000 If you have a chair, the chair you're sitting in, for example, and you have only three legs on it, 220 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:23,000 it's not going to do you a lot of good. 221 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,000 You're going to have to balance yourself very carefully, 222 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:28,000 and when you get a little woozy and snoozy, you're going to come right off the chair. 223 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:31,000 Maybe we ought to create chairs that are that way. 224 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:33,000 That's not a bad idea. 225 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:36,000 Talk about change and innovation. 226 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:42,000 We'll have Wes cut off one leg of all of the chairs in our auditorium. 227 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:52,000 The fourth leg, the fourth pillar to the message this morning is this, that our community rests upon commitment. 228 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:55,000 We can have the mission. 229 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,000 We can have the faith. 230 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:04,000 We can have the values, but if we don't have the commitment, then we're not going to accomplish much. 231 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:08,000 We'll be like a lot of other churches that are filled with orthodoxy, 232 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:16,000 but doing nothing to accomplish what God wants them to do and to be in this generation. 233 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:24,000 God has modeled commitment to us, of course, because He has committed Himself to us, 234 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:29,000 and He has been faithful, and God calls us to be faithful. 235 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:37,000 That is an old-fashioned term, I recognize, but it is relevant, it is important to the people of God today. 236 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:41,000 It is the word faithfulness. 237 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:49,000 It is a word that needs to describe our service for Christ, our living for Christ. 238 00:22:49,000 --> 00:23:00,000 Faithfulness and commitment of time and energy, and involvement in the structured programs of the church and outside as well. 239 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:03,000 To say, God, my life is yours. 240 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,000 How am I serving you? How can I serve you? 241 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:12,000 How do you want me to serve you? I commit my time and I commit my energy. 242 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:18,000 And being faithful in that. 243 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:27,000 There's no place where faithfulness is more greatly needed in the walls of our church than in our children's ministry. 244 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:36,000 Where we have a rather constant rotation of people working with our boys and girls. 245 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:40,000 What we really need there are committed people who will say, 246 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:47,000 I see children as God's calling in my life, and I will commit myself to more than one time a month, 247 00:23:47,000 --> 00:24:01,000 more than one month a year, more than one quarter a year, I will commit myself in my time and energy to work with them. 248 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:06,000 If we could go on down the list of all the ministries inside our church and the opportunities outside our church, 249 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:08,000 the message would be the same. 250 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:11,000 God calls us to commitment of time and energy. 251 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:15,000 He calls us furthermore to commitment of our financial resources. 252 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,000 That's God's plan. 253 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:23,000 In 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, in 1 Corinthians 16, verses 1 and 2, 254 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:30,000 Let each one of you lay by him in store as God has prospered him, says Paul. 255 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:35,000 Regardless of our income, we're to give. 256 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:39,000 The idea that we're too poor to give is unbiblical. 257 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:44,000 It doesn't meet the biblical standard. It's an excuse. 258 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:48,000 All of us can give and are called by God to give. 259 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,000 It is a matter of spiritual discipline. 260 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:59,000 Just like love or faith or prayer, giving to God is a spiritual discipline or a muscle 261 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:07,000 that we build up and we become stronger in our Christian faith because of our exercise of it. 262 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:14,000 In fact, Paul tells the Corinthians to excel in this grace of giving. 263 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:19,000 Our giving is a demonstration of our genuineness. 264 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:23,000 It is evidence of our sincerity. 265 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:29,000 And it is a means by which God brings blessing back into our lives. 266 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:39,000 God has called all of us to participate in the financial undergirding of this community that we call Grace Church. 267 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:47,000 It is not for some to do the contributing so that all can enjoy the ministry. 268 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:54,000 That is not only unfair in human terms, it's unbiblical in God's terms. 269 00:25:54,000 --> 00:26:06,000 His calling is for all of us to be investors in the work of Jesus Christ in tithing and in bringing our offerings to Him. 270 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,000 And then there's the commitment to prayer. 271 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:15,000 Our community rests upon commitment to prayer. 272 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:20,000 Whatever else we do well, if we do not pray, we've lost it. 273 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:24,000 We must learn to pray well also. 274 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:31,000 We must grow in our becoming a prayerful church, in expressing our dependence upon God 275 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:38,000 and seeking His will for the growth and development of the vision that we have. 276 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:46,000 I want to testify to you this morning as your pastor that I thank God for the hundreds of people who are committed 277 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:54,000 and who have committed, have proven their commitment to Grace Church and to Christ. 278 00:26:54,000 --> 00:27:00,000 In some of the terms that we've talked about this morning as well as in others, 279 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:07,000 we have this fourth pillar in place in our church, but as in all churches, it needs to grow. 280 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,000 It needs to grow. 281 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:20,000 Our community rests upon our faith, our purpose, our values, our commitment. 282 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:24,000 A community is where people share things in common. 283 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:31,000 It is not a place where some provide for everyone else. 284 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:38,000 A community is a place where everyone buys into what the community is about. 285 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:41,000 It's where there is an ownership that pervades everyone. 286 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,000 That's a community. 287 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:49,000 I want you to know something. That's what the world is crying for today. 288 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:55,000 That's what people in our world are crying for, a place to commit themselves, 289 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:59,000 a cause for which to live and to die. 290 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:06,000 May we who know Jesus Christ give them an example of what commitment is, of what community is, 291 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:11,000 of what values are, of what mission means, of what faith is about, 292 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:17,000 so that in this community that we call Grace Church Roseville for our own purposes, 293 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:20,000 but in this community of God that He has placed here, 294 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:26,000 others may see that what they are crying for can be found here. 295 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:35,000 That their cry for significance and relevance, their need to belong, can be fulfilled here. 296 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:38,000 As in any community, there are certain requirements for membership. 297 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:43,000 If you join the Boy Scouts, there are some hoops to jump through. 298 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:48,000 If you belong to Rotary, there are certain requirements before you can join. 299 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:55,000 If you belong to a union, there are some requirements for that, and the same is true of a church. 300 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:59,000 Churches have somewhat different requirements, of course, 301 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:02,000 because of the kind of community that a church is. 302 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:11,000 But a church like Grace Church requires, first of all, a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 303 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:17,000 It does no one good to come into our church and by coming and thinking he becomes a Christian. 304 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:21,000 We become a Christian by trusting in the Savior, 305 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:27,000 and having made that profession of faith in Christ, we then are baptized by immersion 306 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:31,000 to signify our identification with Him. 307 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:37,000 Then we agree with what the church is about, its doctrines, its mission, its values. 308 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:45,000 And we willingly say, I commit myself to support these with my service, with my finances, with my prayer. 309 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:50,000 I am committing myself to this community. 310 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:56,000 We have nearly 700 people who have made that decision, 311 00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:01,000 who have said by their life, I am committed to this community. 312 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:04,000 But there are many others who have not yet done that. 313 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:09,000 And this morning I want to give you an opportunity to make that commitment. 314 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:14,000 And to say by coming forward at the conclusion of this service on our 12th anniversary, 315 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:17,000 I believe in Grace Church. 316 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:21,000 I believe in what God is doing in this community of believers. 317 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:24,000 I agree with its values, its mission. 318 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:27,000 I agree with its purpose. 319 00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:33,000 And today by coming forward I am saying I want to become a member of this community. 320 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:39,000 We have some folks who are prepared to take your names and help you understand the next step to take. 321 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:43,000 But I want to urge you to take the first step today. 322 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:49,000 But in addition to that, and beyond that really, 323 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:54,000 you have never made a public profession of your faith in Jesus Christ. 324 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:58,000 If you are not sure you are a Christian, or if you are a Christian who has done that in private, 325 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:04,000 who has made that decision in private, I want to urge you to come today as well. 326 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:08,000 It may or may not be related to church membership. I hope it will be. 327 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:12,000 But if you have never made a public profession of your faith in Christ, 328 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:17,000 I want to urge you to come this morning in obedience to His Lordship in your life. 329 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:21,000 He calls you to publicly stand with Him. 330 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:26,000 I invite you now to stand with me as we pray together. 331 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:31,000 Now Father, I thank you for who you have called us to be. 332 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:38,000 And in this brief message we have laid out in broad strokes some of that truth. 333 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:45,000 There are some friends who are here who I believe the Spirit of God would have respond 334 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:49,000 by saying, I want to belong to that community. 335 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:53,000 And so Father, lead them I pray by your Spirit. 336 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:57,000 And for those who need to come in profession of their faith in Christ, 337 00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:00,000 lead them to come by the Holy Spirit. 338 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:05,000 Urge them to make this important step of obedience. 339 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:10,000 For Christ's sake I pray, Amen. 340 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:13,000 We are going to close by singing hymn 460, 341 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:16,000 All the Way My Savior Leads Me. 342 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:22,000 And as we sing this verse I want to urge you to step out on the very first part of the first verse. 343 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:25,000 Don't wait for anybody else. 344 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:33,000 We want to have you give an opportunity to speak with someone personally and privately about this decision. 345 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:38,000 And so I urge you to come as we sing the very first verse, 346 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:41,000 All the Way My Savior Leads Me. 347 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:42,000 Let Him lead you this morning. 348 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:47,000 And this important decision about community. 349 00:32:47,000 --> 00:33:13,000 Let's sing together.