Today we continue the series “Let’s Lose Some Weight”...

  ...Every church should have an engine or something that they can attribute to the life blood of the church and actually what makes them who they are. It’s their DNA. As I meditated on this sermon and on the history of Life Church I began to define what I thought would be the main cylinders for us. I came up with four. Works better for a sermon.

1. Our first cylinder is the Word of God. In our Tenets of Faith we see The Scriptures Inspired – The Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, are verbally inspired of God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct. One of the criticisms that I have received over the last 31 years is that I include or read so many scriptures in my sermons and my response to people every time is the same. Thank you! 2 Timothy 4:2 (NLT2) “Preach the word of God.” 

2. Our second cylinder is welcoming Holy Spirit. In our Tenets we see Baptism of Holy Spirit – All believers are entitled to and should ardently expect and earnestly seek the Promise of the Father, the baptism of Holy Spirit and fire, according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the normal experience of all in the early Christian church. With it comes the enduement of power for life and service, the bestowment of the gifts and their uses in the work of the ministry.

3. Our third cylinder is home and foreign missions. I hope all of you are aware of how blessed we are here at Life Church and how well God has taken care of us. That has not been by accident. We are blessed because we have taken God at His Word in regard to the Great Commission, it is because we have welcomed Holy Spirit, and it is because we have made missions the heart of our church.

4. Our fourth cylinder is generosity. Obviously, we refer back to cylinders one, two, and three for this. The Word of God, the unction of Holy Spirit, the mandates of the Great Commission, all shout for us to be generous. Generosity has been what has blessed Life Church and sustained us through many difficult times. God is so faithful.