Develop Followers

We are in the middle of our sermon series where we are focusing on our mission and vision as a church and also individually. You can find our previous sermons on our YouTube channel.

Last week we looked at the first pillar of our mission “form believers.” This week we examine what it means for us to become developed as followers of Jesus. Our scripture comes from Mark 1:29-39. The words will be on the screen.

29 And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. 31 And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

32 That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34 And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 37 and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” 38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Please pray with me…

Being formed and being developed can seem like two ways of speaking about the same thing. In the case of our mission statement, it is speaking of us relating to God in two different ways, our heart and our mind.

All people have been formed in some understanding of God. In some cases that formation may have led a person to believe there is not a God. For some it may have led them to different religions.

Those of us that consider ourselves to be Christians believe that God consists of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is our creator, Savior, and constant companion. God made this type of relationship possible through the son dying on the cross so that our sins can be forgiven.

Our first reading speaks of this formation. It tells us that we all begin our faith journey like we are little children. We have accepted a belief that God the father and his son Jesus have allowed for us to become transformed.

We have been changed from beings living under the weight of our sins to people who still sin but have had the separation that sin caused between us and God to be able to be removed. We are children of God.

The decision to become a child of God will often take an internal change in both our heart and mind. We have to feel God and also believe that God can change us before we are willing to let him in and become the one who we trust.

The heart portion of the change we are speaking of is our focus on being formed. It is important that just like a little child grows we also need to grow in our faith. We should continue to have God have an even greater impact on our heart and soul as we continue to follow him and trust him more each and every day.

We continue to be formed by becoming more connected to God. By being willing to trust him more. It is often through developing our understanding of God that we will be formed into a closer relationship with Him.

It is the responsibility of the church to help those within the church to mature in their faith. This maturity is to help us to reach the “stature of the fullness of Christ.”

The first reading points this out and adds that this is accomplished through “equipping the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” We are called to do this to allow each of us to attain knowledge of the son of God so that we can become mature in our faith.

Those that are new to the faith and also some that may have believed for a long time but haven’t developed their faith become easily swayed by life’s circumstances. It is easier for us to believe in God and follow God when life is going well.

It is when struggles take place that doubts may arise. Developing our faith can help us not be swayed by life’s troubles. Getting to knowGod better can allow us to discover that God doesn’t abandon his people. Our heart faith becomes stronger as we develop a greater understanding of God.

It is also through becoming mature in our faith that we become united in the mission given to us by God within scripture to love God and to love our neighbor. These two should always be united together in our minds.

We can get ourselves into trouble when we attempt to separate them. It is through an emphasis on one or the other that can often cause us to not serve God as he desires.

We can focus too much on loving God and attempt to focus so much on following his commandments that we can lose our focus on why we are to do what God desires for us to do. Jesus is clear that following the laws given by God are important, but they should never be our only focus.

We are to also love our neighbor. When our only focus becomes on loving our neighbor it can become more about us and less about the needs of others. We end up forgetting that we do what we do because God first loved us and wants us to share his love with those around us.

It is through being united in our mission as a church and in the mission that God has given us that will allow us to have a greater impact on our communities in serving them and letting them know about the God that first loved them.

It is our desire that each of us discover the ways to allow for us to become closer to God. That is the focus of our current vision. We grow closer to God when we are connecting with God with our heart, soul, and mind.

It is through spending time with God that we receive a greater understanding of what God has done for us. We can read the stories and receive an understanding of the ways those within the scriptures have been impacted by God.

We offer a number of ways for each of us to not only read scriptures individually but also to receive scripture through other ways. We offer Sunday School for children, teens and adults at 9:30 on Sunday mornings.

We have a devotional on weekdays that can allow you to hear a scripture and receive an understanding of how that scripture can impact your life on that day. We have Bible studies during the week on Wednesday afternoons at 2 at the church or through Zoom or on Thursday evenings at 7 through Zoom. We want to help you connect to God and grow in your understanding of him.

Our scripture for today gives us an example of how reading scripture can impact our understanding of God. Today’s scripture shows us that Jesus is a person of connection and compassion. It is through developing an understanding of the connection to Jesus that leads us to become closer to God in our heart, mind and soul.

We discover the connection that Jesus had with his disciples through a willingness to go to them and to be where they hang out and live. Jesus goes in this case to Peter’s house where he plans on eating a meal with his disciples.

We find other places where he stayed in Samaria with people he wasn’t supposed to be around. We have him going to the houses of tax collectors. It is no coincidence that Jesus runs into fishermen and tax collectors at their places of work. We have Jesus desiring to connect with people where they are.

This should help us develop our own understanding of what it means to be like Jesus. We aren’t called to just be around fellow believers. We are called to be out in our communities. We are called to create connections with those that God places before us.

Scripture also shows us that Jesus spoke in the synagogue. He went where the people were and also spoke to them within the communities place of worship. We should invite people to be a part of us. In some cases that might mean one of our holiday parties or meals.

We also should take the opportunity to invite those around us to be a part of our time of worship. They might not be comfortable going to our building. It is why we live-stream our services so that those that have some interest can get a glimpse of who we are by watching online. In some cases that may lead them to decide to join us in person.

We also find within today’s reading Jesus connecting with people physically. In his case it would involve healing the sick, the leper, and even raising the dead. For us that might look more like serving those around us. This is where we see that through connection comes compassion.

Our scripture has Jesus serve both someone he knew, Peter’s mother-in-law, and the people of the community. Our church needs to both work within our walls and help out those that are a part of our church community. But also,those that need help within our communities.

There is no one that does not deserve to be shown the love of God. We show compassion when we seek out the ways that we can be the hands and feet of Jesus to those in our communities. Jesus shows us how to be compassionate.

Jesus very seldom healed someone without them asking what he wanted them to do or him asking if they would like to be healed. This may seem like a weird question to ask but that’s because we don’t understand their society during that time.

A person who was unable to walk, or blind, or deaf could go to the synagogue and ask for alms. This was the way that the Jewish culture took care of those that were unable to work within society.

Jesus’ healing someone would remove that possibility. It is possible that a person would have to find a trade or a profession without any previous training. Therefore, Jesus wants to make sure that is what they want.

We should also make sure that we are helping people the way they want help instead of attempting to help them the way we think they need help. We need to develop relationships with those around us in order to discover how they want served if they want served at all.

It is through reading scripture and connecting the information to our lives that allow us to become closer to God and serve him as he desires. Christian author Lysa Terkeurst uses the word “saturated” to offer what needs to occur. We need to become saturated with God and what God wants us to do and less focused on what we want to do.

Jesus shows us one of the best ways to intertwine our heart and mind so that we can become more saturated with the desires of God. We have Jesus in our text going away from those around him and praying to his father.

Prayer is the best way for us to combine our heart, mind, and soul. Prayer is how we communicate with God, and it is through this connection with God that we can also hear from God what he desires for us and from us.

One of our focuses under the area of developing followers is for us to become as a church and as individuals more focused on prayer. This is why we are allowing time at the end of the service for those in person to have an opportunity to be prayed over.

We will also be having a prayer service every other month. We will be joined by Summit Station and Pataskala United Methodist and anyone else within our communities that would like to join us to pray for our communities, our schools, and the churches in our area.

We have Jesus going off to pray before he chooses his twelve disciples. We have Jesus praying in today’s text to know what his father desires for him to do next. It is thorough prayer that God can help us know what to do and also open doors for us to be successful in serving our communities.

Reading scripture, prayer and listening, and also, we should add spending time in community with each other. Stories of transformation and serving God does not only occur within scripture. They also occur within the lives of each of us that follow God and desire to serve him.

We can help each other better understand the way God works in lives today. This can allow each of us to grow in our faith and become more mature in our own understanding of the ways that God works.

This is why we are planning on beginning small groups. These small groups will be a way for us to fellowship with each other while also spending some time in scripture to help us through each other understand how God is at work.

The challenge is for you to find ways to develop your faith. Develop methods that will regularly have you spending time with God and getting to know God better. I am available to help if you need it. But it is important for us as a church for each of us to grow mature in our faith so that we can reach those that God desires for us to reach.

Let us pray…