Welcome Back to Church

Good morning and welcome to PFBC

It’s good to see familiar faces

We have weathered the storm together.

Our last full worship service with no restrictions was on March 15 of last year.

Then we were “shut down” so to speak, and moved to Facebook live stream.

Truly thankful to God for technology to allow us to continue to meet.

It was hard not being able to gather together for over a year, but here we are.

We’ve continued our work the best we could by adapting to the circumstances.

In addition to all of that, we had a lot of work take place in our building.

Roof was repaired

New floor and paint in the old building - the education wing.

Now work has moved to the outside

Repair of rot in places.

New siding

New porches

Store rooms

But church is really more than just a building.

It’s people, us, me and you.

A definition of church is a group of Christians who regularly gather in Christ’s name to affirm one and another’s membership in Jesus Christ and his kingdom through gospel preaching and gospel ordinances.

That’s a fancy way of saying we come together to worship our God Almighty, Love one another, and share the gospel to a lost world and thus make disciples of Christ.

We are God’s people, we are a family, and today is a reunion.

A Time To Celebrate

As I’ve thought of this day, I pictured my being like David bringing ark to Jerusalem worshipping along the way and David was dancing before it.

2 Samuel 6:12-15, “So David went and had the ark of God brought up from Obed-edom’s house to the city of David with rejoicing. When those carrying the ark of the LORD advanced six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.  David was dancing with all his might before the LORD wearing a linen ephod.  He and the whole house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of the ram’s horn.”

Can’t you just see me leading us all in worship dancing around here on the stage all excited.

Or I thought of the dedication of the temple that Solomon built.

They finished the temple and dedicated it during the Festival of Booths, commemorating their time in the wilderness.

Again the worshiped God and dedicated to Him.

Or again, when Ezra led the people to rebuilt the temple they too worshipped and celebrated Passover feast.

Another celebration

So folks, let’s celebrate that we are together.

What Are We Here For?

Our purpose is to Love God, Love Others, and Make Disciples

We all know that

But what does that look like?

I see us as church where we come together to worship God with exciting reverential awe.

Where we enjoy being in God’s presence as we sing, pray, and hear God’s word taught.

Our church will love each other and those yet to be members or followers of Christ that we begin to serve people where ever they are.

Lastly, we’ll be a church that sees people coming to Christ regularly as we share the Love Christ through ministry

Gospel-centered Worship

So we are going to have gospel-centered worship.

Here’s what Jesus says about that in John 4:23–24. “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

I want you to know that our intellects and our faith are not at odds.

You don’t shut off your mind and just have an emotional response to Jesus.

I want to engage your minds.

I want to let the Word of God read our culture, read our lives and I want us to come face to face with lies that we’re believing and things that sound right and smell right but in the end will kill us.

There should be an emotional response to the fact that you are a sinner and Christ died for you.

To be loved despite who you are is an unbelievably powerful thing.

And to get that, to sit in that and to understand that is a profound gift.

So our worship here is going to revolve around the perfect life of Jesus Christ, the wrath-absorbing death of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As a church we are going to have gospel-centered service as we love others.

The motivation for our service comes out of an understanding that we have been served, loved and have had grace and mercy extended to us in Christ.

So there is an overflow out of us onto others, to serve others, to empower and help others because God did that with us.

Let me read you Galatians 6:9–10. “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

We will do this through serving in our church and it’s various ministries like nursery, small groups, cleaning the church and such.

Secondly we’ll do this outside the church as help those in our community overcome their bad habits and decisions, assist them in finding jobs, healthcare, or child care.

We will meet the needs of those around us however we can.

Like the backpacks.

Gospel-centered multiplication will be our focus on making disciples.

Let me read for you 1 Corinthians 5:17-19, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!  Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.”

This tells us that we are ambassadors of Christ as though was making His appeal through us.

That’s how He wants us to join Him in mission of redeeming a lost world.

I want to encourage you to touch the lives of those you know they way God has touched your life through someone else.

I could list Ruffin Snow, Robert Cupp, Mike Rhoades just to name of few of those that touched me.

God has given us a job to multiply what God has done in us in the lives of others and to do that to the ends of the earth.

The Importance of Gathering

Hebrew 10:24 says, “And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.”

Some Christians (then as well as today) were in the habit of not going to the church meetings.

For whatever reason the believed that could survive on their own.

That same attitude is prevalent today, as well.

God did not design Christians to be completely independent of each other, however; he designed believers to need and encourage each other.

We need each other to survive the battles we are in.

One of the reasons we need each other is to encourage one another.

We are responsible for each other.

Christians cannot be concerned just for their own spiritual well-being; they must also encourage others to keep fervent in their love and active in their service to God.

This encouragement should happen all the more as you see the Day approaching.

This “day” is Christ’s return.

Christ will return.

We must live as if Christ is coming today.

Christians must live as if the Lord will come back at any moment.

And we need encouragement to do that from each other.

Since we are to encourage one another, love one another, and worship together today we’ll do one the things Jesus command us to do.

Observe The Lord’s Supper

We welcome all that are baptized believers in Christ to join us.

Acts tells that the first church in Jerusalem broke bread together which was the Lord’s Supper

Paul writes to the Corinthian church these instructions

“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup.”

Pray for Bread and Cup

Lord, as we come to share in this simple meal, this time with you at the centre, as we take the bread and wine, may we recognize afresh your presence with us.

Heavenly Father, you are completely just and holy. You do not ignore our sins; in fact, you cannot because your eyes are too pure to look at evil.

We are deeply aware that our sins have offended your righteousness and that we are no longer worthy to be called your children.

We can do nothing to blot out our sins. “Nothing in my hands I bring … simply to your cross we cling”.

We thank you that you have provided a way out. The penalty that we deserved to pay was paid by the Lord Jesus Christ himself on the cross. We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you gave up your life, you poured out your blood, to make us at one with yourself. Lord Jesus Christ, you took our place. You bore the punishment of the sins of the world in your own body … the punishment that was due to us. You laid down your life for us.

We trust in Christ’s death for us right now, Father, and that you count us as righteous in your sight. We are forgiven, accepted in Christ. Thank you for the gift of faith you have given us. Thank you for Christ’s death for us as the sign of your love for us. May we continue to lead a life of worship and service. We pray in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Come to table

Blessing

Numbers 6:24-26

May the LORD bless you and protect you;

may the LORD make his face shine on you

and be gracious to you;

may the LORD look with favor on you

and give you peace.”

Picnic