“Keep Pressing On”

Prayer:

Dear Lord, my God above, I thank you for your everlasting love. God, I realize and admit that the last couple of years it has been difficult for me to change. I have not been the best that I could have been. Lord help me to understand how to spread your word, I’ll try to become a person of purpose for your church. Oh heavenly father I know the work of salvation is “all of Christ and none of me” help me understand in order to live out my purpose it must be “ all of Christ and all of me.” Amen

There are many questions that need to be addressed continually when a church moves from one of maintenance to one of purpose. How committed are the new people? How receptive to change are our present membership? Do we really know what we believe and how to properly shepherd to all people? How far spiritually has each one of us really come in the last few years?

Years ago on a variety show, a guest appeared who was a body builder. The crowd went crazy as he entered the stage with his huge muscular body and began to flex his muscles and show his power. After a brief demonstration the body builder sat down and prepared to receive some questions from the audience. The first question asked of him was this: “What do you use all those muscles for?” Without answering, the body builder again stood up and began flexing his muscles while the crowd cheered wildly. A second time, the question was asked, “What do you do with those muscles? Again, the body builder flexed his muscles and the crowd became almost ecstatic.

After asking three times, “What do you do with all those muscles?” the body builder just sat in silence and had no answers. The man possessed a tremendous amount of power, but his power had no purpose other than to show off and bring attention to himself.

I believe there are a lot of people in the world today that are asking the same kind of question as they look at the church. They look inquisitively at the average church gathering and say, “I see the beautiful building and the list of activities. I hear the joyous music and notice the smiles on people’s faces. But what do you really do? Why do you get together every week? What are you really accomplishing? Like the body builder, many Christians don’t have answers to these questions. But these are questions that have answers and deserve to be answered and remembered.

Our task (Purpose) is to sow the seed of the gospel, water it and rejoice in whatever increase God may give. Presently the greatest temptation we may have to over come is to think the tasks at hand are complete. Purpose defines our existence. It is what we are called by God to be. It is our true identity. It is our created intention. It is a matter of our being or essence. It is who we are. Remember it is imperative that we keep the relationship between a purpose driven church and a maintenance one in the proper perspective in order to fulfill God’s purpose for all. So what are God’s purposes for the Church? We can see God’s purpose and design for the church in Matthew 22:36-40 and Matthew 28: 18-20


The road to change requires persistence. Little progress will be made if we think we have arrived. We must maximize the excitement for the ministry continually. In spite of all the positive things that have occurred in the last several years, we need to keep pressing on. How we fulfill God’s purposed will, of necessity, change with the changing needs of the church and the community, but why we exist remains ever the same.
God Bless You and This Ministry