The State of the Church Address 2021

“Nostalgia in moments is fine… but as a lifestyle is deadly…

A healthy personal and corporate perspective in life is to:
• Appreciate but don’t camp in the past…
• Live in the moment…
• Look forward to the future Providence of God…

We need to remember the past, learn its lessons… and encourage ourselves that our God is a provider, active and living…

God is telling us also to look forward to the greater things to come… “I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”

God is going to create pathways and rivers of freedom to the community of Hays and beyond through us…

Part of these “pathways” and “rivers” requires something on our behalf… we need to be ready when God opens those floodgates…

The point of this prophecy was to ready the Israelite nation…

Luck = “when hard work and preparation meets timing”… We want to be ready at the word go…

The vision God has given us as a church is this…
• Love, Grow, Engage… and as we live “Love, Grow, Engage” out the Freedom that God has promised will saturate this community…

* This next part was cut because of time *

This up-coming year our unity will be tested…

Romans 12:9-13 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

“Devoted” not wishy washy in love… speaks to commitment… “preferring one another” this has been tested, this will be tested…

“serving the Lord” lack of laborers are caps on ministry… but adding laborers can be tricky to, and offense is easily taken when there is a fear of being displaced…

At its simplest this verse could be summarized ‘love one another…’ our love for each other will be tested… but we must “be devoted to one another” in love…

The enemy is going to come against us in 2021, but if we can live out Romans 12:9-13, we will not only hold our ground but advance the Freedom of Christ to our community…

*****

Jesus is coming back soon… and there is coming a “night when no man can work” so let us be found laboring when He comes… and bring as many people with us to Heaven as in His grace He would enable us to…

So in this upcoming year let us strive to live out freedom within our lives, love one another in Christ well, and express this freedom & love by our words and actions in our communities…

Will you join us in both prayer and prayerful labor for this upcoming year… that the freedom of Christ would be known…”

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