Harrisonburg First Church of the Nazarene
In case you missed it...Our new mission statement:
Transformed by God to bring hope to others through Christ.
Thank you for joining us in this new chapter of our ministry!
Who are we called to be?
At HFCN, we are committed to living lives of complete obedience to God. So we sense His love compelling us to worship Him wholeheartedly but, more than that, we will reach beyond our walls to welcome the outsider, the broken, the lost, the hopeless. Our work to bring hope to others through the person of Jesus Christ will make us relevant and valuable in our community.
Last week: The Call to relevance
This week: The Call to obedience
Our new mission statement:
Transformed by God to bring hope to others through Christ.
Transformados por Dios para traer esperanza a otros a través de Cristo.
2 Corinthians 5:14-17 NIV
He died so we might live through Him.
...His death, His payment for our sins, gives us access to forgiveness instead of the penalty of death
He died so we might live for Him.
...we want to live our lives for His honor, for His glory, for His purposes
He died so we might live with Him.
...we experience His power at work in us and the promise of eternal life with Him
The bottom line:
The transforming work of God begins the moment we say yes.
•God does the transforming work as we obey Him
•Disobedience has the power to stunt God’s transforming work
•Obedience and transformation go together. You don’t have one without the other.
•As we introduce this brand new mission statement, our first focus must be on obedience.
Transformation into Christlikeness is not going to happen unless we act...what transforms us is the will to obey Christ Jesus.
-Dallas Willard
Christianity does not begin with our pursuit of Christ, but rather His pursuit of us. Christianity does not with an invitation we offer to Jesus, but an invitation Jesus offers to us.
-David Platt
•How will you respond to His invitation?
•We are a holiness church, meaning we believe that the power of God can transform us, to make us like Him, as we obey Him.
Texts for Further Study/Reflection:
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and
John 14:15-17
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
James 1:22 NIV
“But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”
1 Samuel 15:22 NIV
“Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.”
John 5:19-20 NIV
“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”
Romans 6:16-18 NIV