Sermon Tone Analysis

I think if you were to put a theme on last week’s sermon, it would be this:

The Enemy We Face

And what we found out was that - in this world - our TRUE enemy is - NOT of flesh and blood.

We saw that our TRUE enemy is - the Spiritual Forces of Evil looking to destroy us - eternally

Our TRUE enemy - seeks our eternal destruction - the destruction of our souls and the souls of our kids.

And the problem with this enemy is that - it has an ALLY...

And its ALLY - is our hearts...

Our HEARTS - by nature - are friends with the enemy - with this world...

And so - THAT REALITY - lead to us understanding - THAT OUR CALL -

…is to PREPARE for battle!

And if we were to continue today - in our trek through chapter 6 of Ephesians - we’d see how GOD equips us for battle...

BUT first, this week - I want to look inward - as a church fellowship.

I want to apply the truth of this PREPARATION that’s needed - and aim it at Abiding Faith Bible Church.

I want to aim it at you… in context of this gathering…AFBC.

Our MISSION here at Abiding Faith - which directly correlates with the VISION for the church...

is this...

The mission of AFBC is to glorify God by honoring His will and His purposes by the making of disciples and by pursuing Christian maturity and a deepening knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ—bringing people to a genuine saving faith and teaching them how to grow in their faith through their relationship with Christ.

We shall faithfully strive to accomplish our mission through the use of our spiritual gifts and talents, through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, and through the implementation of God’s Word, as it shall not return null and void, through:  Preaching and Teaching, Ministries, Evangelism and Missions.

Preaching and Teaching:

Rightly dividing the word of truth, building up and strengthening believers so that they may grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Ministries:

Taking advantage of opportunities to do good, especially to those who are of the household of faith to edify the body of Christ, but also with focused efforts of reaching out and distributing to the needs of the poor.

Evangelism and Missions:

Seeking the lost by going out into the world proclaiming the Gospel to men, women, and children to win them to Jesus Christ by personal witnessing, group/corporate evangelism, and the sending out of missionaries.

And so what all do we find in this mission?

We find in our mission:

Preaching and Teaching:

This entails the study of God’s word, both individually and corporately

Weekly sermons

Children’s classes

Youth studies

Bible studies

Discipleship: living life together -

This leads to both:

Training those younger in the faith

Leadership training: Training future leaders in the church

Fellowship:

This entails relationships

Cultivating relationships

Putting out fires within relationships

We find in our mission:

Ministries:

This entails:

Planning / Promoting / Recruiting / Executing Ministry events / Follow-up

Men’s Group

Women’s Group

Food Ministry (on hold due to Covid)

Back-Pack ministry

Music Ministry

We started a Finance Committee

I know I’m missing some obvious ones...

But all of these entail - planning / promoting / recruiting / execution / follow-up

We find in our mission:

Evangelism and Missions:

This entails:

Our annual Events

Community Christmas Event

Thanksgiving Meal downtown

Community Easter Event

Sunday Service Days (which we’d LIKE to get back to)

Night to Shine Event - Special Needs Prom

We’d LOVE to get involved with the local police and fire departments / first responders / military

A ministry to encourage those who serve

We’ve talked a long time about an after-school program - being RIGHT HERE next to the school

We currently support a missionary over in Birmingham, England...

ALL this and more (we didn’t even mention the GENERAL OPERATING of the church) - And all of it entails...

Prayer

Study

Planning

Promoting

Recruiting

Execution

Follow-up

A lot goes into what we DO...

…AND what we HOPE to do in the future...

ALL of that to say - if we were SUMMARIZE all of that into a - MORE concise mission statement…it would be this...

SLIDE:

Abiding in the faith, love, and truth of Jesus Christ, proclaiming Him and all that He is to a lost and dying world.

If someone was to ask me what our mission is at the church - THIS is what I tell them.

The first half of this statement - INWARD focused...

that WE OURSELVES would - ABIDE...

in the faith of Jesus

in the LOVE of Jesus

in the TRUTH of Jesus...

That we would SEEK to GROW in the knowledge of Christ...

WHY?

So we can become SPIRITUALLY OBESE?

NO -

So we can live out the 2nd half of this statement...

So we can ACCURATELY - proclaim Jesus to this fallen world!!

INWARD focused - for OUTWARD IMPACT!

If we want to HONOR God - we MUST do both!

We’ll never IMPACT this community for Christ - if we don’t FIRST - seek HIM ourselves...

And so - this is our MISSION here at AFBC...

Now - understanding THIS to be our MISSION?

- - what does the Bible TELL US to do ?

We are called - KNOWING what our mission is - to COUNT the cost!

And COUNTING the COST - entails - preparation!

We saw it last week - PREPARE for the Spiritual BATTLE to come!!

Can we even DO this?