Our Works in a Year
Ephesians 2:10
Introduction.
As I get older, it seems the years keep getting shorter and shorter.
But when I think about what’s happened this year, it begins to feel like a year.
For some reason a year holds a special significance for us as well.
A year after my mother passed away, I became very irritable, not really knowing why.
And then it hit me, and I became aware of this phenomenon.
We have an innate need to recognize certain events on a calendar, both good and bad.
That’s why I think we remember birthdays and anniversaries as well.
That said, it’s been a year since my family and I have been here.
Not a year since we’ve been here, exactly, but a year since I started preaching.
For those who helped us move in, you might recall how cold and rainy it was—just an icky day.
When my wife noted that it was a year ago today that we moved in on Jan. 3, we looked out and it was an icky, rainy day.
While I was ready to preach that coming Sunday, the elders insisted I sit that first Sunday out and rest—and I was grateful.
So it was the second Sunday of the year that marks the anniversary of my beginning to preach here.
In this lesson, we will look at where we’ve been this past year, and where we are going this year.
I can’t predict the future, but we are given a mandate in Scripture for what we are to be doing.
This lesson is meant to encourage us and to look forward as we continue in this walk.
Body.
Where we’ve been.
Preaching and Teaching.
On Sunday mornings, we started by looking at a series of lessons from a book by Bro. Earl Irvin West called Adventuring in Faith.
I saw this as a great series of lessons in starting a work somewhere.
It covered salvation, worship, and so many other things.
There were a few I completely reworked, and for all of them I added illustrations and connections with my own life and experience.
Then we moved on to the Sermon on the Mount—a great series of lessons that covered such foundational aspects of Christian living.
Then we moved on to the Christian Graces which we finished up last week, to make our calling and election sure.
It seemed like a logical progression, after many of the things we talked about on the Sermon on the Mount.
It was also great to begin the new year talking about love.
On Sunday evenings, we jumped around a bit, looking at Ephesians and Titus.
We also had a series on having evangelistic Bible studies which we’ll talk more about later.
Then we moved on to the book of Leviticus, which we are still looking at—it has been quite rewarding study the OT Law and how it is fulfilled in Christ.
For our Sunday morning Bible classes, we started looking at the Bible chronologically, though we ended for now at the reign of Solomon.
I had no idea what I was getting into, but it was a great study.
I have begun to go back in my spare time to redo some of Genesis and Exodus in the detail that I did later, if you’re interested.
And studying the timeline of the kings of the divided kingdom is perhaps just as, if not more, difficult than the timeline of the Judges.
There’s even a book called The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings.
So, I’m grateful for the break since now we are looking into the Gospel of Mark.
On Wednesday nights, Dan has finished the book of Acts, and Sam did Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians, and has now just finished 1 Peter 3.
Leatha taught on Esther in the LBC, and now Victoria is facilitating the Digging Deep Bible Study by Cindy Colley on the glory of God.
The ladies who have talked to me about this have expressed just how much they are enjoying that—if you’re a lady who can make it to that, please do!
Outreach and Evanglism.
The elders have made it a point to focus more on local evangelism this past year.
And, tallying it up, this past year has seen 12 baptisms, including four who are shut-ins in nursing homes—praise God!
For three of those four, it is due in large part to our work at Oak Grove and Fairhaven, singing and holding Bible studies at these places.
This does not mean we should rest on our laurels (next point).
We have had a presence at the local festivals, MayFest and Hilltop Fall Festival.
We purchased Bibles to hand out to people, and the book Churches in the Shape of Scripture to help people know more about us and the Lord’s church.
Many of us have been greatly encouraged by the attitude people have about the gospel.
We had purchased space on a billboard for several months getting the name of the church out there.
At MayFest we had people ask us questions about the Bible and we’ve been answering them in the local paper, Rutherford Weekly.
We’re doing this twice a month now because of the volume of the questions, where before it was only once a month.
We’ve also been going over them on Wednesday nights lately when Sam is out of town or sick.
And we also had those lessons on Sunday nights for awhile on studying with people about the gospel.
We are purchasing those Back to the Bible booklets you see in the back: green, blue, and red.
I don’t know how everyone is using them, but it seems they are flying off the table back there.
I pray they are all being used to study the Bible with someone and to help them to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Ongoing outreach that seem to be doing much good include the bear building and the back pack program.
If you’re not familiar, many of the ladies here build these plush teddy bears to give to first responders to help them calm children down during tragic events.
Many also have gone to help those in the rest homes around town to let them know they are loved.
The back pack program is where we donate food for children who need it when school is not in session.
One of the workers mentioned that we were one of the few churches that gave consistently.
Imagine what that says about our reputation among the community, not just to the children who see our name on the label, but to the worker at the school.
We revamped the church’s website and made a Facebook page.
We’ve tried to make the website more up-to-date with current church websites.
You see, for many people these days, the first impression someone will have of the church, and often the deciding factor of whether or not they’ll visit us, is based on our website.
A Facebook page is also helpful since so many people are on there these days.
Even though I haven’t done much with it since Mayest, we have 365 likes as of Friday.
Other Events.
There have not been a whole lot in the way of other events, but there have been some.
In March, we took three of our teens to the SOAR Youth Rally near Augusta, GA.
In June, we also went to Palmetto Bible Camp 2nd Week for the teens who seemed to have a really good time.
But with all these things, where are we going?
What does this year hold in store for us?
Clearly I cannot predict the future, and I’m sure things will change as the year progresses.
But here are some thoughts on where we would like to go, per the elders’ approval and the Lord’s help.
Where we’re going.
Preaching and Teaching.
On Sunday mornings, I intend to do something a little different than the series like we have been doing.
Once a month for a little while, I want a sermon to focus on the Christian home in some way.
Other lessons will look at moral and doctrinal matters.
On Sunday evenings, I’d like to continue in Leviticus—it has provided me such insights into the Old Law and how it can apply to us today.
After we finish with that, I was thinking of moving on to Hebrews, since it shows how much better the Christian system is.
For our Sunday morning class, we will continue in Mark, and hopefully move back to the chronology—I say hopefully because I hope to finish Mark this year.
On Wednesday evenings, Sam will no doubt finish 1 Peter and move on to 2 Peter.
I think I heard him say once he finishes with that, that he would like to go to Jeremiah and Lamentations.
He’s perhaps one of my favorite prophets, so I’m looking forward to that.
Victoria will continue facilitating the LBC at least for the forseeable future—as I said, the ladies all seem to enjoy, so check it out if you can.
Outreach and Evangelism.
As stated, with our dozen baptisms, it is no time to rest on our laurels.
One of those was one of our teens, and half of them found us.
I don’t mean to minimize all that went into that, but they came to us.
At least two found ads offering Bible studies, and we thank God for them.
My point is, we need to keep at it, keep getting the name of the church out there, keep sowing that seed.
One way we might do this is continuing our presence at MayFest.
We have not had any direct conversions from that, but we have been getting out and knowing the community better.
Plus our name is getting out there as are the Scriptures.
Think about ad campaigns:
You don’t go buy a Coke just because you saw one ad. The many ads that you see get you to think about it often so that when you see it in the store, you’re more likely to buy it. It has name recognition.
The more our name is out there on billboards, at festivals, or on food from the back pack program and the bears, the more likely someone will seek us out, and the more friendly and open they’ll be to us when we seek them out.
It’s not just them seeking us, but us seeking them.
Jesus says to, “Go into all the world,” doesn’t He? (Mark 16:15).
Other Events.
If we can generate interest, we’ll still go to the SOAR Youth Rally in March and PBC in June—I think the kids enjoyed that and learned something, too.
But with the influx of younger kids, we’ve been tossing around the possibility of having a one-day VBS this year.
It’s still a ways off in planning, but I just want to put that bug in your ears so you can think about helping out should we decide to do that.
A couple of the ladies and the elders have discussed the possibility of hosting a ladies day here as well. If you’re curious or interested see Victoria for details.
Christ’s Mission and Our Mission – let’s bring some Bible into this.
Christ had a mission while He was here on this earth.
In our Sunday morning class a few weeks ago we looked at some of the purpose statements of Jesus.
To preach the gospel (Mark 1:38).
To call sinners to repentance (Mark 2:17).
To serve (Mark 10:45).
To give His life as a ransom (Mark 10:45).
To fulfill the Law (Matt. 5:17).
To bring a sword (Matt. 10:34).
To seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).
To do the Father’s will (John 6:38).
To bring abundant life to us (John 10:10).
To die and be raised again (John 12:27).
To be a King and to bear witness to the truth (John 18:37).
We might have heard of the three works of the church: BEE.
Benevolence (Gal. 2:10), Edification (1 Cor. 14:26), and Evangelism (Matt. 28:19-20).
One might argue worship should be added, but I believe that is included in edification, along with exhortation and admonition (1 Cor. 14:26).
Some churches focus on one of these, lacking in the others often to their detriment.
But really, if we focus on evangelism, the other two will come naturally.
When someone is added to the church, are we not edified?
We are reminded of what we must do, and comforted that the church here is growing and will go on.
Of course, once they are here, we do need to focus on their edification, building them up to where they need to be.
When we do work in the form of benevolence, we should always be looking at it with a view toward evangelism.
We put our name and contact info on the bears and the food so people know we are here and how to get in touch with us.
“People don’t care what you know until they know that you care.”
All that Jesus’ did fit into these categories.
He worked benevolence by healing people and feeding them.
He cared about people, but He didn’t heal everyone because that wasn’t His ultimate purpose.
His purpose was to save mankind, and to do so by preaching and ultimately by dying for us.
His miracles opened the door for Him to be heard, as His message was confirmed by these signs (Acts 2:22).
Our benevolence work opens doors to help us reach people, but it can’t stop at benevolence.
You see, benevolence opens the door, evangelism brings them in, and edification keeps them here.
Conclusion.
So in this new year, let us have the mission of Christ.
We aren’t going to perform miracles for people, but we can serve them.
We won’t live a perfect life, but we can teach them about the One who did.
We can’t die for the sins of others and save them, but we can seek the lost and point them in the direction of the Savior.
Having this mission is and will be our goal, whatever this year holds.
We have a lot on the horizon.
But let us make sure we stick to God’s Word and He will bless us.
So let us work hard to make that happen.
But first, why don’t you join us on this journey? Be added to His church today.