| Be Contagious
Sermon Series
February 14-March 14, 2010
Pastor Gary's summary of the Contagious Living sermon series can be found below.
We hope that you can join us at 10AM each week for our Sunday worship service!
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February 14 – "Good Germs!"
Based on Ephesians 1:3-14
One
of our major purposes as Christ followers is to infect others with the
love of God that we have in our hearts and lives. We want to influence
them in positive ways that will make them want to know Christ. We want
to transmit God’s love to their lives so that they too can enjoy
knowing God.
In this message we will look at the spiritual
blessings and see them as "Germs that Make Us Contagious." These are
the things that we have "in Christ" that we ought to accentuate, the
things that make us optimistic, these are the germs we want to infect
others with. These are the spiritual blessings we ought to share with
others!
~ Holiness
~ Favor with God
~ Forgiveness
~ Purpose
~ Significance
~ A Powerful Friend
February 21 – "What Keeps You Being a Christian?"
Based on Philippians 2:5-11
Preached by guest speaker Joseph Modica
(This message is not part of the Be Contagious Message Series.)
We
are blessed to have Dr. Joseph Modica as our guest speaker on February
21. Dr. Modica is the University Chaplain and Associate Professor of
Biblical Studies at
Eastern University in St. Davids, PA.
February 28 – "Come As You Are!"
Based on Ephesians 2:8-10
Today
we want to talk about creating a "come as you are" culture in the
church. No one is a member of the body of Christ, the Church, because
they deserve to be. None of us got God’s attention by our perfection
because none of us is faultless. If you believe you’re perfect please
don’t congregate with the rest of us because we’re sinners. We’re
sinners saved by the grace of God and we’re very grateful for that -
but we’re still not flawless.
Nothing is more contagious to the
unchurched than to find out there is a place where they can come and
not be intimidated by the false notion that the people around them
think they already have it all together. How can the church
utilize this principle to her greatest advantage - this principle of NO
PERFECT PEOPLE ALLOWED? How can we create a "come as you are" culture
in the church? There are three SCRIPTURAL & SIMPLE PLANKS
REQUIRED TO BUILD A BRIDGE to a "come as you are" culture in the church
- three ways we can create a NO PERFECT PEOPLE ALLOWED church.
~ A Contagious Allowance - When we exhibit grace toward others - we are following the pattern set by God toward us.
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A Contagious Attitude - The humble attitude represented by this truth
is very contagious. Even God finds humility attractive and pride
repulsive.
~ A Contagious Artwork - "we are God’s masterpiece." God
is crafting a great work of art out of each and every life that is
committed to Him. Every one who has made a faith commitment to Jesus
Christ has been "created anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good
things he planned for us long ago."
March 7 – "Amazing Grace!"
Based on Ephesians 2:4-7
What are the simple truths about God’s grace to which we can all relate?
LOVE - Love is the starting point for any journey into the realm of
God’s amazing grace. In order to receive God’s grace in your life you
must begin with hearing and believing the Good News that He loves you.
DEATH - The Bible isn’t saying here that we’re going to die (future
tense). The Bible is saying that the person who doesn’t have Christ yet
is dead right now (present tense). The Bible is referring to spiritual
death. Spiritual death is to be apart from God because God is the
source of all life.
LIFE - Historical faith says:
"Christ lives!" Saving faith says: "Christ lives in me!"
Christ indeed lives but He must live in you in order for His life to
become yours.
HEAVEN - Once we decide to believe
in Christ – our physical position may still be here on earth – but our
spiritual position is in heaven with Christ!
ETERNITY - As trophies of God’s grace, all those who believe in Jesus
will spend "all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his
grace and kindness toward us."
Love, death, life, heaven,
eternity. All of these simple yet crucial terms work together to paint
a relevant picture of God’s amazing grace.
March 14 – "Exit Strategy!"
Based on Ephesians 3:1-20
One
essential for becoming a Contagious Christ-follower and a contagious
Church – The Church must leave the building! There are two main
reasons the unchurched remain unchurched.
1) Either they
consider church irrelevant, which is a shame because worshipping God
and being a part of Christian community and getting all this great
practical truth out of the Word of God together is so VERY
RELEVANT! Or -
2) They mistakenly think church is “ONLY (and this breaks my heart to even say this) FOR INSIDERS.”
We
don’t want to scare people away from church but we do want them to know
- AS FAR AS THE CHURCH THAT BELONGS TO JESUS – THERE ARE NO OUTSIDERS!
So when they are our guests we give them a warm welcome. Three
steps to God’s plan for the church to leave the building. Three steps
to God’s evangelism plan.
1. INCLUDE EVERYONE!
2. Have Confidence!
3. Think Big!
Our
greatest legacy will be those who live eternally because of our
efforts. The biggest thing you will ever do with your life, next to
deciding to make your own faith commitment to Jesus, is to leave this
building, and go to the unchurched and tell them the Good News about
Jesus!
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