The mission at 74
Notes
Transcript
Organization
Organization
Text: 1 Timothy 1:3
As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines,
Hymn: 602 O brother be faithful
Foremost in my mind, as I prepared for devotion this morning is what is the role of the Conference. The Church manual states that “As our numbers increased, it was evident that without some form of organization, there would be great confusion, and the work would not be carried forward successfully. So the conference was set up to provide support for the ministry; protect the church from unworthy members; legally hold church property, and publish the gospel through the press.
You may be wondering why I brought this up for devotion. Well when you look at the history of our church, there was a time when to be organized like this was thought to be Babylonian. Our pioneers at first were very fearful of becoming organized. Why? well for one thing it was an organized church that persecuted the people of God. The reality is, a people can be organized to do the wrong thing like the people that were building the tower of Babel Gen 11:1-4 1 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. 2 It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. 4 They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ge 11:1–4.; or the January 6 attack on Washington by its own citizens. But if we are united to carry out the mission of God then that is one powerful organization. According to George Knight, the earliest Christians may have had little formal structure, but they probably felt no need of it. After all, Jesus would return soon.
But Jesus didn’t come as soon as they expected. That resulted in problems in the church that needed to be cared for. thus by the time Paul wrote his Pastoral Epistles (1&2 Timothy and Titus) he had to deal with creating a mechanism for maintaining order in the congregation.
the Good thing today is here at 74 Constant Spring Road there is a President, an Executive Secretary, and a Treasurer That are focused on God’s mission. There are departmental leaders who work toward completing the Mission of God. There are administrative assistants whose sole desire is to see to the building up of God’s Kingdom; so the reality is an organization is good when the people are united, working together, praying for each other, and focusing on the mission that God has given.
11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which we have been entrusted. 12 We thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened us, because He considered us faithful, putting us into service, 13 even though we were formerly blasphemers and persecutors and violent aggressors. Yet we were shown mercy because we acted ignorantly in unbelief; 14 and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. 15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom we are foremost of all. 16 Yet, for this reason, we found mercy, so that in us as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. What we do here matter.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), 1 Ti 1:11–16. in completing God’s