We officially have two Sundays under our belt at our NEW HOME at 11 State St. And although we’ve still got some kinks to work out, by and large, our two gatherings have been absolutely phenomenal. And what made them absolutely phenomenal was not so much that the bathrooms, HVAC, and electric all worked (although, I’m super thankful it did), but what made our gatherings so powerful was the manifest presence of God.
For today, I wanted to return us to our devotional series that I started on October 1stcalled, ‘THIS IS US.’ The aim of these devotionals was to simply peel back the layers of ALL things GENESIS and give some insight into things like…
Why does GENESIS rarely talk about money (tithes & offerings)?
Why does GENESIS only have male elders?
Why is GENESIS Reformed… and what is Reformed Theology?
Why does GENESIS rarely ‘speak’ about cultural or political issues?
How does GENESIS serve & engage the local community?
For this entry in ‘THIS IS US’, let’s look at this together…
WHAT ABOUT SUNDAYS?
Very specifically, GENESIS has a way of doing things when we gather on Sunday… so, how we do we think about our Sunday gatherings?
For starters, we do not think about Sundays through the labels that are often attached to church gatherings on Sunday.
Traditional… not us.
Contemporary… yep, not us either.
Sermon centric… nope.
Program driven… still not us.
Music… we love the music, but that’s still not us.
Those labels do not represent who we are or our heartbeat on Sunday, so let me now share with you what we AIM for when GENESIS gathers on Sunday…
SEEING JESUS!
Our focus is singular in wanting anyone and everyone that walks into our NEW HOME to SEE JESUS.
As a church, by the grace of God, we will ALWAYS be committed to opening God’s Word and ‘telling’ people all about Jesus.
And by the grace of God, we will always be committed to ‘singing’ songs the magnify the greatness of King Jesus.
But just so you know, it’s very possible to talk about and sing about Jesus and still not SEE JESUS. How is that possible?
Consider these five words from the Apostle Paul… and please brace yourself because they are five life-changing words.
“And Christ lives within you.”
Romans 5:10 (NLT)
If people are going to SEE JESUS, it will be through the people who Jesus lives within.
SEEING JESUS is not limited to the sermon or the songs we sing in worship. Please don’t get me wrong, worship through Scripture and song are so vital to what we do when we gather on Sunday, but if people are going to SEE JESUS, it will largely happen through the people who Jesus lives within.
What does that practically mean?
In short, if you are a disciple of Jesus… a Christ-follower, well, when you come on Sunday, you have the opportunity to help everyone SEE JESUS.
In the way you worship God…
In the way you serve others….
In the way you smile at those around you…
In the way you greet those around you…
In the way you pray for others…
In the way you thank others…
YOU GET TO HELP OTHERS SEE JESUS.
What makes a GENESIS Sunday gatherings so powerful is not whether or not the sermon resonated with you or the worship team sang a few of your favorite songs. Those are good things for sure, but our aim… our singular focus is wanting every heart and soul who gathers with us on Sunday, Christian or non-Christian alike to SEE JESUS.
