In last week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy, I let you know how excited I am about our new weekend series. We’ll be studying the Book of Acts, chapter by chapter, for the next 28 weeks. You may be thinking, “28 weeks?! That’s a big commitment! Will this hold our attention? Will it be worthwhile?” Let me tell you: Yes, yes and yes! These messages will be vital. Watching the early church expand is encouraging and Acts is full of great principles for application. There’s an emphasis on action throughout the book of Acts. What we will cover will be very relevant. Our post Christian, postmodern world is not unlike what Peter and Paul encountered in the first century. With the neo-paganism and pseudo-spirituality of our age, we are facing challenges much like they did long ago. Acts shows that the Christian message can withstand close scrutiny. It gives us courage to bring our faith into the increasingly hostile public square. As we learn, we will be motivated to serve the Lord with passion. The actual process of diving into verse-by-verse study will be of great value to you as well. One of the many benefits to expository teaching is that it models a method of study that you can employ on your own. You’ve heard the expression: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” It is a Chinese proverb. (The Oregon version says, “Teach a man to fish and he will stop working and buy a boat.”) Studying together week by week will teach you to fish in the bountiful sea of the Scriptures!

I am excited about what is coming up and believe the next sermon series will be greatly used by God to get Dayspring on track and moving forward. I believe this because we will be studying the Book of Acts, and that is where God has given the blueprint for what the church is supposed to be and do! It is our authorized manual on church growth and health! In this installment of my weekly Messages About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll give you a glimpse at how I feel about the prospect of presenting one chapter of Acts per week for the next 28 weeks: I’m stoked! I’m really looking forward to this. John and Chris will be joining me as we lead you through this voyage. We’ve decided on a title for the series: RetroChurch. I have not decided on a tag line yet (sorry, Chris). It will be something like: RetroChurch - studies in Acts on what the church should be. The idea of RetroChurch is that what was is what should be. Some retro-movements are like that. For instance, in the opinion of some, retro-rock is what rock and roll should return to. RetroChurch - what God first did among his people can happen again, because he is alive and well. I believe this study in the book of Acts will guide us into a future of honoring God by relying on his Spirit and obeying his Son!

Our baptisms in last weekend’s services were particularly encouraging. We saw men, women, boys and girls of all ages make public statements about their faith and commitment. In this installment of my weekly Messages About Purpose I’ll highlight just one comment by one person that really stuck out for me. A woman named Shirley was in the water, about to take the plunge expressing her identification with Christ, and she motioned to where some friends were sitting and said, “Thank God for my Growth Group.”

Shirley’s family has been experiencing a significant revival. It is fun to watch what God is doing in and through them. And it is a joy to hear of the role her Growth Group is playing in their spiritual maturation. We all need to connect with God and his Word. And we need to connect with others who can walk side by side with us as we grow in our faith. Our Growth Groups are just one of the many vehicles we use here at Dayspring Fellowship to help people experience our three-fold motto: Reaching, Connecting, Growing.

I was encouraged by Shirley’s testimony of her faith in Jesus and her statement about the value of the relationships she has developed over the last couple months in her Growth Group. You can experience fulfilling connection with others by participating in the opportunities that we offer. Don’t sit back. Rise up and step out by faith! You can call the office on weekdays to learn more about how to tune in, turn on, and light up!

You’ve been hearing about our church’s participation in the upcoming Keizer Iris Festival. In this installment of my weekly Messages About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll urge you to sign up to volunteer. Our motivation to get involved is pretty simple: we want to serve the community. Some of what we will be doing to help will be seemingly mundane: picking up trash, giving directions, smiling, and so on. Jesus said that doing simple things to meet needs is like serving him.

When we follow in Christ’s footsteps, putting others above ourselves, we honor God our Maker. And when our motivation is God’s glory, it is amazing what the power of God’s Holy Spirit can accomplish through us – more than we could ever do by our own effort. Jesus said he washed the disciples’ feet as an example for us to follow. Our plan to serve our community during the Iris Festival is just one way we can follow Christ’s lead and show people the love of God. I’m into this, not as an end in itself, but as a simple way we can organize to show people that we follow the One who came to serve! Maybe then we will have more credibility when we talk about Jesus as the One who also came to save!

You can learn more about the specific ways to get involved by visiting the Iris Festival table in the lobby this weekend.

In this installment of my weekly Messages About Purpose and Strategy I’ll simply remind you that there is still one week to sign up to be baptized in one of the services next weekend (May 5th & 6th). If you have considered following through but have been vascillating in your thinking, I can certainly understand why. Getting wet in public does not strike most people as fun! It may even seem embarrassing. It would be easy to think we asking for too much; maybe we are setting the bar too high. But when you study Christ’s ministry methods (look at John 6:60-66 for a striking example), you realize we should not be afraid to ask for a demonstration of faith, in fact, we should be afraid not to! Jesus set the bar high. He asked for a lot. And he commanded his followers to baptize those who place their faith in him (Matt. 28:18-20). Let’s leave self-consciousness behind and become more Christ-conscious.

Remember the basics:
1. Baptism is a physical symbol of a spiritual reality! Our faith has an internal dimension: our trust in Jesus, but it also has an external dimension: our observable expressions of that faith.

2. Baptism is a social sign of identification with Christ and his people. We link the decision with a public event just as witnesses are part of the wedding ceremony.

3. Baptism is a spiritual statement. Saving faith is shown (not earned) through acts of obedience (James 2:14-26).

If nothing is preventing you from being baptized (Acts 8:36), call the church office soon to put your name on the list. Here’s your chance to rise up and step out by faith!

In this installment of my weekly Messages About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll share two Bible verses that were the original motivation guiding me to offer my new series of messages. Why would I want to invest time in these explanations of church practices like baptism, communion, mentoring and more?

First, consider Eph. 4:12, which says that pastors and teachers are given to the church to equip the saints (that’s you) to do the work of the ministry. That sounds intimidating to many people! They think, “Me, a minister? I need all the help I can get!” Don’t worry, pastors are responsible to prepare you to serve. That’s what it means to equip the saints for ministry. Now, what do you need to be equipped to do?

Take a look at the second verse guiding me in these lessons. It is 1 Peter 3:15 - “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” What if someone asks you about baptism or communion? I’m to equip you to answer those questions and more. The pastor is not the paid performer, drawing the crowds. That model of church ministry copies our cultural, but it is not biblical. Your leaders here at Dayspring will continue to equip you to accurately and attractively represent Jesus Christ in your daily lives and normal conversations. That’s our role. Consider yours.

My last series of weekend messages was aimed at preparing our hearts to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. We studied what happened at the end of Christ’s life and it all culminated in our Easter services last week. So, what do we do now? We’ve focused on his death and burial and resurrection, what is left for us? I’ll give you the answer in this installment of my weekly Messages About Purpose and Strategy. What remains for us is to actually live the life of Christ here on earth! That is the ultimate strategy to fulfill our purpose of glorifying God. Gal. 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Imagine the increase in our effectiveness when we are carrying out the Great Commission to make disciples by the supernatural power of Christ within us! Picture the level of living we can rise to live when we really experience his transforming, abiding presence in our lives. This is literally the secret of Christian living and the only way Christianity really works: Christ in us! Let’s rise up and step out by faith to live the life of Christ here in the Willamette Valley. Our world still needs the incarnational presence of Jesus!

Our Easter services provide a particularly useful opportunity to introduce a friend to what you believe about Jesus. You may actually get a chance to introduce your friend to Christ himself, which is really the point of it all. Dayspring has used a simple, three-word motto: Reaching, Connecting, Growing. In this installment of my weekly Messages About Purpose and Strategy, I’ll suggest you participate in that process by asking a friend to come sit with you in one of our weekend services. That’s really not much to ask and I think you would be surprised how receptive people are to such invitations. I’m motivated by a verse in Paul’s letter to the Colossians. In 4:5 it says, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.”I want to communicate about Christ in a way that draws in people who may feel left out. The next verse goes on to remind us about speaking to people in a way that demonstrates grace. God’s grace is the most attractive thing on earth. But it only operates on earth if we display it here. Let’s do so. Let’s reach out in love to more people. These Easter services are a simple way to express friendship with someone who may want to learn more about the most important thing in your life: your relationship with the living Lord, Jesus Christ.

The Book of John teaches that all things were made through Jesus (1:3). While people love to argue about the means he used to accomplish this end, the main point is that he created us. He’s our Maker and therefore, our owner. The Bible further teaches that our purpose is tied to our origin. Referring to Jesus, Col. 1:16 says, “all things were created by him and for him.” All of creation was created for him. Our purpose is to honor our Maker. That’s why we were made. We exist for his glory, not our own. What can we do for him? He has told us. Jesus commissioned us to engage in a conquest of the world in his name. He told his disciples to make disciples, that is, to follow him in a way that leads others to follow. We do so by shining his light, radically loving, and passionately serving. As you can see, this installment of my Messages About Purpose and Strategy is a freeform biblical explanation what we are doing here. So many Bible verses spell out our ends and means. 2 Cor. 5 also comes to mind. We’ve been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation. You are here to help others to know, love, and serve God! And the fruit of your efforts will last forever! Nothing is greater than sharing the good news of new life in Jesus Christ! Let’s rise up and step out by faith! If you would like to learn more about how God can use you, call the church and make an appointment with any of our pastors.

What we do here is all about connecting people with God. The Bible describes our mission as one of reconciliation. We are entrusted with the responsibility of leading people back into relationship with their Maker. I write these weekly installments of my Messages About Purpose and Strategy to help us think about the many facets of our role here. We want to really grasp what it is that we are to accomplish and how we are to do it. This week I want you to consider the Old Testament character Ezra as an example. He honored God and was greatly used by him. We can discover and apply Ezra’s secret to his success. It is found in Ezra 7:10 - “For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.” Here’s a guy who had a tremendous commitment to learn and live and pass on the truths of the Scriptures. Notice that is says he devoted himself to three things: to study, to obey, and to teach God’s Word. That middle item lends credibility to the last one. He didn’t just read the Scriptures to increase his knowledge; he followed through by obeying! This is the kind of example your kids can follow. If we try to communicate God’s Word without obeying it, we are guilty of hypocrisy and our efforts will fail. Ezra was careful to put God’s Word into practice in his own life. I like that. For Dayspring Fellowship to faithfully serve God in our generation, we must first devote ourselves to the study the Law of the Lord, then obey it, and finally pass it on to others.