Welcome to Westside

5th Sunday Service — Community Blood Drive, January 29th.

Church of the Week— Grace Assembly in Bakersfield.

New Message Series: Bridgebuilders

Today’s Big Theme: The mission of the church… and how the devil tries to stop us by sabotaging our unity.

Reflection Question: What is the mission of the church?
1. Fish — “Fisher of Men” (Luke 5:10) = Make disciples by loving people to Jesus.
2. Sheep — “Feed My Sheep” (John 21:17) = Care for God’s people.

Love God, Love Others:

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31 (NIV)

Go Make Lifelong Disciples:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)

Thinking Like the Enemy

Reflection Question: If you were on team Satan, how would you try to stop the church from accomplishing its mission?

(1) Convince Christians that church is a product to be consumed instead of a mission to be pursued.

“Surely you know that if a man can’t be cured of churchgoing, the next best thing is to send him all over the neighborhood looking for the church that ‘suits’ him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches. …The search for a ‘suitable’ church makes the man a critic where the Enemy wants him to be a pupil.” C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

(2) Sabotage the Unity of the Church

“If you were Satan, how would you discourage them? I know what I would do. I would keep them from the one thing God said would actually save people: unity.” Francis Chan, Until Unity

Jesus tells us that the unity of the church will be a powerful testimony to the world about the truth of the Gospel message:

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17:20-23 (NIV)

Key Points from John 17:
1. The church should have the same kind of unity with each other that Jesus had with his Heavenly Father (“just as you are in me and I am in you”).
2. Jesus empowered the church with his Father’s glory so that we could be united as one and live in complete unity (“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one.”)

What Happens as a Result of this Kind of Unity?
v. 23, “Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

Paul tells us that when the church works together in unity towards a common mission, the world takes note.

27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel 28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. Philippians 1:27-28 (NIV)

Key Points from Philippians 1:
1. Live in a worthy manner
2. Stand firm in the one Spirit.
3. Strive together as one for the Gospel — The word for an athletic team working together.
4. Live fearlessly and courageously

What Happens as a Result of this Kind of Unity?
This is a sign to the world that the Gospel message is true and vital—that that there are real consequences to rejecting it and eternal blessings for accepting it.

Application

Stay focused on what matters most: Loving God, loving others, making disciples
Church isn’t a product to be consumed, it’s about a mission to be pursued
Don’t let the Devil sabotage our unity with infighting

Next Week: Our roots as a unity movement within Christianity and how to practice the principle of charity.

Commit Your life to Christ
Pray About a Difficult Situation
Talk About Baptism or Next Steps

Tap here to Respond to today’s message

Questions? Contact Bryan: (609) 356-3147 or bfojtasek@westsidelife.org.