My favorite saying lately has been, "We are better together than we are apart!" I believe that with my whole heart. You see, I have a burnden for many things, but I don't have a passion for all those things. That is why I am so glad we have the Church. In Ephesians 4:11-16 it says:
"And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teacher,to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."
Not only do we have a specific calling by God as indiviuals, I believe we have a specific calling as indiviual churches to be the Church, the Bride of Christ. We all need to pull together and work together for the common good of making Christ famous and doing His work here on this earth (feed, clothe, give drink, visit, you know the score). We are His hands and feet. I like to say we are Jesus with skin on.
So while I don't necessarily have a passion for helping with, let's say, those in prision, I have a burden for it so I must find someone with a passion for it and partner with them and come along side them as they do not only their burden and passion. I have not only the burden for the local church to be the Church, but I have a passion for it as well. I'll give my life for it. And there are those that have burden for the Church to be what it should be, but don't have a passion for it. I believe by us coming together with all of our passions and burdens, we make the church be the Church!
I'm excited for this next year to see what God is going to unvail to us and those we are partnerning with the be the Church. And no matter where you are, you can help! (and if there is anyway we can help you, with your passion, let us know!) Please, commit daily and partner with us for a couple of things.
1. Pray for us that we are able to reach this community, this city, this county with Christ's love and passion and heart.
2. Please help our community by voting every day in the Pepsi Refresh Grant contest. Vote daily by text AND by email. Here's the info:
Text: Text 105496 to 73774
AND
Online go to http://www.refresheverything.com/bereal (there is also an app for ipod/ipad/android available)
3. Share this info with your network, on facebook on twitter, or however else you can promote it (check earlier blog post for downloadable promotion piece. We need all of this to make it happen. (Also check out http://tinyurl.com/27zd85a if you haven't already to see a recent article our local paper did on our church.)
If you mail box is blowing up because of all my craziness with the Peps Refresh Grant, sorry, what can I say, I have a burden and a passion to make a difference in this community.
In His Grip,
Brett
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