"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." ~ Romans 1:16

Monday, September 16, 2013

The Mission of God

Sunday we started a 7 week series called Connect Church Identity.  We are going to look at what we as a Church believe.  Our purpose at Connect Church is to bring glory to God, by making disciples through gospel powered worship, through gospel powered community, through gospel powered service and through gospel powered proclamation.  I know this sounds a bit redundant but this is on purpose.  I want to get the point across that it is only the gospel that empowers us to be the kind of disciples God desires.  Romans 1:16 says, "for I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe." The gospel should blow up our lives from living the old way of focusing on self to the new way of focusing on God and others.

Sunday we focused on the Mission of God.  Our starting point needs to be with God and not us (connect) because if Connect Church is not doing what God is doing, then it doesn't matter what Connect Church is doing.  So, what is God doing? I'm going to answer that question by looking at Psalm 23:1-3 "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake."  So we see from just this one verse that God is shepherding, leading, restoring and providing for us.  We see God's activity towards us and that is good.  It looks as if  "we" are the point of these verses.  What I want us to see in these verses is the motivation behind the shepherding, leading, restoring and providing.  The motivation behind these awesome things God does for us is, Himself.  The end of verse three says, "for his name's sake."

So, why does God love you, shepherd you, lead you, restore you and provide for you? It is not because you are so awesome, but because He is.  It's for the sake of His name. It's for the praise of His glorious grace.

Click here to go to a list of verses compiled by John Piper I used on Sunday.  

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