1. Over the past two weekends 46 people have made the decision to begin a relationship with Jesus. Someone should SHOUT! Heaven is. This is the beginning of a wonderful journey for these and I ask you to pray with me that they would devote themselves to a growing relationship with Jesus (Acts 2:42).

2. For everyone who brought someone to our Easter services, served in a ministry, prayed, or egged the city with us, thank you! Winning souls takes effort, and a lot of it. But God always blesses our work with fruit.

3. If you are a member of Relate Church and are not serving in any ministry capacity, there is a place for your gift(s) to be utilized for God’s kingdom. If you are not sure where to start, I would encourage you to email our Dream Team Coordinator, Annette Walker at annette@relatechurch.com. She’ll get you connected in the right place.

4. If you are considering becoming a member of Relate Church, we have a membership class (Church 101) scheduled for Wednesday, May 2nd and 7:00pm. I will personally walk you through our statements, our structure and our strategy, in other words, what we believe, how we lead, and how we reach people for Jesus. This class will give you sufficient information to decide if relate Church is a place you would love to call home. I look forward to seeing you. You can read more about our membership process here.

5. A new semester of Relate Groups will begin in June and we would like to see everyone involved. This is how our church grows smaller and larger at the same time. Groups also give us a practical environment to live out the command Jesus gave us to love each other. There are a variety of groups to choose from and I would also ask you to consider starting your own group. It can be a Bible Study group, recreational group, supper club, One Year Bible group, prayer group, interests group, etc. Consider beginning a group around what you are already doing or like to do. There may be a few more people who enjoy doing the same thing. Look for more details about leader orientation.

That’s all for today.

You’re blessed!

PC

All of us have people we know that don’t know Him. They’re friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors, and acquaintances. They may have religion but they don’t have a relationship with God. They’re not saved. They’re not a child of God. They aren’t born again. But God has allowed you a place in their orbit for a reason…to be a light, to make a difference, and to point the way.

The first thing we need to do to win people to Jesus is identify which of our friends are from God. I wrote about this last week. Check it out.

After identifying those people in our life that are far from God we must:

2. Intercede (pray) for spiritual awareness in their lives.

Intercession is simply asking God to release his power so that your friend will be drawn into a relationship with Jesus. The Bible says the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of those who do not believe. There is a spiritual force at work and it takes a spiritual force (prayer) to deal with it.

How to pray for the lost:

• Use the authority you have in Jesus’ name to release your friend from Satan’s hold (Matthew 13).
• Pray that they would be aware. Aware of their sinful state. Aware of their emptiness. Aware of their need for Jesus (John 16:8).
• Pray they will be responsive to God (2 Cor 6:1-2).

Pray sincerely. Its the heartfelt prayer that is acceptable to God. You may not know everything going on in your friends’ lives, but prayer opens the door for God to move powerfully on their behalf. Don’t delay. Pray now.

Oh yea…Jesus loves them and desires them to come into a relationship with him more than you do.

P.S. I would love to know the names of those people you have identified. I’ll pray with you.

1. Five people made a decision to follow Jesus Sunday! Yippee! I love it!

2. To the Dream Team: Did you know you had just as much a part to play in this as I? If it weren’t for your servant-like hearts, people would have been turned-off even before the Word was proclaimed. Thank you for serving Jesus sincerely and with tireless passion. I thank God for each of you.

3. The Gospel about Jesus is the POWER OF GOD! I am so enjoying our current series, Going Deep. Paul prayed that we would be able to comprehend how deep God’s love for us is. Only the gospel can navigate us deeper into his love. The gospel is not the springboard by which we jump into the pool of Christianity, it is the pool. Explore it, its wonderful.

4. Who in your world have you identified that is far from God? Did you know that on Easter Sunday, 83% of the unchurched population would come to an Easter Service if asked. What an opportunity. Take advantage of the season and bring two or three people with you to Relate Church. Its going to be AWESOME!

5. One way we are getting the word out this year about our Easter Celebration is by egging the city. We will meet at the church at 600pm on Wednesday, April 4th and egg specific neighborhoods in the Byram area. To reward you for your help, we will meet back at the church for FREE PIZZA. God is going to do amazing things in our Easter Service and we need to let people know about it.

6. I can’t wait for Sunday!

For those of you who need a little motivation to purchase the book consider this bit of information from the book:

Sex education curricula generally follow the guidelines of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. SIECUS is nonprofit advocacy group that proposes to “assist children in understanding a positive view of sexuality, provide them with information and skills to make decisions now and in the future.” Let’s review just a few of the guidelines written in the manual so that you can make YOUR OWN decision about what your daughter is learning at school.

For children ages five to eight (kindergarten through second grade):

• Touching and rubbing one’s own genitals to feel good is called masturbation.
• Some men and women are homosexual, which means that they will be attracted to and fall in love with someone of the same sex. (this is in the manual for the older children.)

For children ages nine to twelve (third through sixth grade):

• Masturbation is often the first way a person experiences sexual pleasure.
• Being sexual with another person usually involves more than sexual intercourse.
• Abortion is legal in the United States up to a certain point in pregnancy.
• Homosexual love relationships can be as fulfilling as heterosexual relationships. (This is in the manual for the older children).

I will stop here because frankly it gets repulsive. Hopefully dad, this will motivate you enough to take the lead role in your daughters life. She is looking to you whether you realize it or not. Be present!

If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, 

sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God 

became man for no other purpose.”

- C.S. Lewis

 I believe this. Jesus last command should be our first concern. Followers, fish.

Throughout the course of your day you come into contact with people who are far from God. Many of these people you know. They’re friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors, even acquaintances such as the person who cuts your hair or the barista at the local Starbucks. In other words, there are people you know that don’t know Him.

Someone asked Charles Spurgeon once if he thought  people who had never heard about Jesus could be saved. His response went something like, “I don’t believe they can be, but the better question is “How could those of us who have known Jesus and failed to take Him to those who have not heard possibly be saved?”

Bottom line: Those of us who are found have a responsibility to find, because found people find people.

Over the next five weeks I’m going to outline five things any believer can do to lead someone to Jesus.

Here we go:

1. Identify the people in your world that God wants to use you to reach.

Everyone needs Jesus. Not everyone is receptive right now though. Not long ago I read an article by Rick Warren about how to recognize spiritual receptivity in people who are far from God. In this article, Rick mentions two groups of people who tend to be the most open to spiritual matters: (1) People in transition. These are people who are experiencing big change in their lives, either positive or negative. (2) People under tension and emotional pain. When people’s lives are spinning out of control through divorce, death of a loved one, financial problems, family difficulties, loneliness, guilt, and other stresses, they tend to be open to real answers.

Jesus saw people’s pain and was moved with compassion. If you’ll ask, the Lord will open your eyes and allow you to see people’s pain as well…even if they do a good job at hiding it from everyone else.

God desires to use you to reach those far from God. And He will if you accept the challenge.

Assignment:

Who do you know that is experiencing big changes in their life right now? Do you know for sure if they are Christians? If you are not for sure write their names down.

Next week I’ll teach you how to pray for them effectively.

1. This past Sunday was awesome! Seven people who were far from God were raised to new life in Jesus! Heaven celebrates when one person turns to Jesus and we should too. I did…with thanksgiving to God and Bop’s.

2. Seven people were baptized Sunday during our second service making their public declaration of Jesus’ Lordship before family, friends, and their church family. This was an awesome time! I celebrated…with Bop’s. If you have never gone public with your faith through water baptism I would encourage you to register for our next baptismal service on April 15th. You can register here.

3. Dream Teamers: Each week your desire to serve Jesus and people shines through. This is what makes it possible for people who are far from God to be filled with life in Christ. Thank you for what you do. You make the dream work and your reward is great!

4. A new session of Growth Track begins Wednesday, March 7th at 700pm. If you are interested in finding out what we’re all about at Relate, this is where you’ll find that information. If you have been attending Relate Church for a while and are wondering, “what’s my next step”, this is it.

5. I cannot wait for Sunday to get here! We will continue in our series “Going Deep” . I believe this weekend will be a big game-changer. You don’t want to miss. To listen/view last weekends message go to www.relatechurch.com/resources.

1. It happened again. Two people received Jesus and passed from death to life this past weekend. Hell is losing. C.S. Lewis said, “The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose.” I’m glad we aren’t wasting time. Every moment you give toward the kingdom of God will be rewarded!

2. This coming Sunday during our 1045am service we will observe water baptism. If you have committed your life to Jesus but have never been baptized, water baptism is your next step. If you have questions about water baptism check out part 1, part 2, and part 3 of Q&A about baptism. You can register for water baptism here.

3. Our First Wednesday service in April is April 4th, and we are going to do something different. We are going to Egg-the-City. You heard right! We will meet at the church at 600pm, drive to our designated egging station (we’ll let you know where that is), and let the egging begin. Afterwards we will meet back at the church for “a little something extra”.

4. I cannot wait until Sunday. We are continuing our series Going Deep: Exploring the Depths of God’s Love. The message the Lord is giving me is both powerful and practical. The gospel about Jesus brings about an unmistakable change in a person’s life when it is received. This love that has been demonstrated toward us and poured out in our hearts compels us to forgive radically, share extravagantly, and respond to the lost urgently! Please do whatever it takes to be here at 900am or 1045am.

5. I love what Jesus is doing in us and through us. The best is to come.

That’s all folks. You’re blessed!

Chuck

IV. Who Should Be Baptized?

Every person who has put their faith in Jesus. A Believer is someone who has realized that their sin separated them from God. They have given up all efforts to reach God through good works or religious activity. They have concluded that Jesus’ death on the cross for their sins is the only thing that can bridge the gap between them and God. A believer is someone who has decided to trust Jesus alone for their salvation. If you have come to this point in your spiritual journey, then you are ready to be baptized (Acts 2:41; 8:12-13).

V. What About Children?

The New Testament shows no example of baptism when a person did not request it. Baptism followed an individual’s decision to trust Jesus alone for their salvation. At relate we wait until the child is old enough to believe and understand the true meaning of baptism before we baptize them.

VI. What About Infants?

There is no record of infants being baptized in the Bible.

VII. When Should I Be Baptized?

As soon as you have believed. There is no reason to delay.

I hope I have answered your questions.

Our next baptismal service at Relate Church is Sunday, March 4 during our 1045am service. You can register here.

III. Why Be Baptized By Immersion?

A. Because Jesus was baptized that way.

“As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water.” (Matthew 3:16)

B. Every baptism in the Bible was by immersion.

(For example) “…then Philip and the man went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water…” (Acts 8:38-39)

C. The word “baptize” means “to dip under water.”

D. It best symbolizes a burial and resurrection (See Romans 6:1-11).

Our next baptismal service is Sunday, March 4th at our 1045am service. You can register here.

www.relatechurch.com

]]> http://www.chuckford.org/my-declaration-part-2/feed/ 1 http://www.chuckford.org/my-declaration-part-1/ http://www.chuckford.org/my-declaration-part-1/#comments Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:07:23 +0000 ckford http://www.chuckford.org/?p=245 The Bible clearly teaches that baptism is the first step of obedience after making a commitment to Jesus. Baptism allows a believer to communicate to the world their heart-felt commitment to Christ; at Relate we call this “My Declaration”.  People often have questions about water baptism, so over the next couple of days I hope to answer those questions.

I. Why Should I Be Baptized?

A. To follow the example set by Jesus.

“At that time Jesus came from Nazareth and was baptized by John in the river.” (Mark 1:9)

B. Because Jesus commanded it.

Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19,20)

C. It demonstrates that I really am a Believer

Baptism publicly identifies a person as a follower of Jesus. It’s one way we confess him before men.

II. What Is The Meaning Of Baptism?

A. It illustrates Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.

“Christ died for our sins…He was buried…and He rose again.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

“For when you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and in baptism you were also raised with Christ.” (Colossians 2:12)

B. It illustrates my new life as a Christian.

“When someone becomes a Christian he becomes a brand new person inside. The old life has passed away and a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:4)

C. Baptism doesn’t make you a Christian.

Only your faith in the finished work of Jesus can do that. Baptism is like a wedding ring – it’s the outward sign of the commitment you have made in your heart. See Ephesians 2:8-9.

Our next baptismal service is Sunday, March 4th at our 1045am service. You can register here.

www.relatechurch.com