Stewarding the Gospel, the Message of the Kingdom of God

Grace Church family I am so excited about today! This is a day that I have prayed about wept over lost sleep thinking about and almost vibrated with excitement anticipating it. Why? Because it’s a day of decision. It’s a day of planting our flags as families in the ground and saying, “this is where we stand.” It’s a day where each of us can put our money where our mouth is. It’s an opportunity to respond in obedience to surrender the ownership of even our treasure to God for the furtherance of His Kingdom, and for the sake of the Gospel.

Now, if you haven’t joined us for any of the last three weeks, You might not know that we are on the last day of our summer of stewardship series stewarding our time, our talent, and our treasure, for the sake of furthering the kingdom of God. We typically are an exegetically preaching church, so we we draw meeting from the text of Scripture, chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse as we go through an entire book of the Bible. This is a brief step away from that practice to address topically address a timely teaching for our church family.

But why should we care advancing the Kingdom of God? Because if you are in Christ, you are a steward. You are a steward of your time, talent, and treasure. But, we are also stewards of the Gospel itself!

Colossians 1:25–29 ESV

25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

1. We are Stewards of the Gospel.

We are Stewards of the Gospel. We teach everyone at Grace the full counsel of the Scriptures so that you may be mature in Christ, who is the hope of glory.

Grace exists to see people in Kirksville and around the world Come to Christ, Grow in Christ, and to Serve Christ. This is our mission. Matthew 28:18-20

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Today, I need the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Does anyone believe that today Kirksville Needs the Gospel? Have you seen the news this week? Murder because of political difference! The United State of America needs the Gospel today.

Today you are going to hear testimonies from people on video and in person reminding you of what our heart beats for at Grace Church. Our heart beats for People to be in relationship with God and each other. We call that belonging in Christ.

2. True Belonging can only be found in Christ with the people of God.

Ephesians 2:13 ESV

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

To be known and not loved is our greatest fear, but to be fully known and accepted is our greatest desire. Our deepest need is to be accepted by God. And when these come together—to be known by fellow humans and still accepted and loved, and to be known by God and accepted and loved—that is the greatest possible human experience. That’s what grace means.

I want you to think back to the time when you were at your lowest point relationally and socially. I remember when I was at my lowest, and I nearly despaired of life. I wanted a place to belong, and I knew I needed Jesus. This is that place. We are a family of Grace who cultivates belonging in Christ. We are a place that sees those who were once far off brought near by the blood of Christ. We are a place to relationally belong with each other and a place to relationally belong to God.

We have a chance to belong when we walk through the doors our first week and find smiling faces and warm handshakes and participate regularly in Sunday Morning Services.

We have a chance to deepen our sense of belonging by attending a Sunday School class, joining a small group, or joining Church membership.

We know we belong when we’re in a hard time in our life and we find ourself in tears talking to trusted friends who have become our spiritual family and when there is no judgement there, just the Gospel lived out by acceptance and encouragement to run to Jesus.

An Expanded Facility is a Strategic Tool to Accomplish our Vision

That’s our vision. The building is not a vision, it’s a tool to carry out the vision. An expanded space to worship is not the end, it’s a means to the end of carrying out our purpose of bringing glory to God! A multipurpose room is not the mission, but it will help us continue to pursue our mission by being a space where others from the community can come to work and learn and play through events, trainings, or games. An expanded foyer is not the point; the point is cultivating belonging where there’s actually space to stand, and sit, and sip a cup of coffee with people you can trust. Being welcoming means there enough space to be welcomed to.

Larger classroom spaces are not to enlarge our membership, they’re to expand our understanding of Scripture. They’re to make room for young couples to find out that the Scriptures have something to say about how they’re to live as Husband and wife. More and larger Sunday school rooms is to help parents know how to raise up their children to know and love Jesus, and for men to discover camaraderie around eternal matters while also talking about Coffee, or hunting, or football or how to remain pure in their marriage.

More bathrooms are not just for more bathrooms…wait. Nope. Bathrooms are bathrooms, and we’re thankful when there are enough of them.

An expanded kitchen functions as a strategic base of operations for so many of our key ministries

Luke 21:1–4 ESV

1 Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

With what attitude will you respond to what God is calling you to give?

If you’re honest with yourself and others, are you completely open to God’s ownership of your whole life, including your finances, or are you arguing why those points might not be true, not apply to you, or how you feel left out of part of the process?