If you were to build a house, I'm not the man to call for help. My father instilled within me a fear of power tools when I was 5, and I still haven't quite recovered from his detailed description of what would happen if I touched a spinning blade. Suffering from ergalilektriphobia (fear of power tools) is something my boys will never struggle with...I don't own any. (Check that...Lauren has a drill she uses to put up curtains) And somehow, an individual who has no experience in building anything is charged with the task of building our church. Perhaps this is what Paul meant when he wrote to the Corinthians, "God chose the foolish things of the world." (1:27).
Building Christ's church in Bentonville is something I'm a little better suited for. It's also something I am very excited about and honored to do. Over the next 4 weeks I'm going to be sharing a series of messages from the book of Ephesians entitled, "The Blueprint." Here in Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus, he outlines some things that I believe function as God's blueprint for building and strengthening the Church. The blueprint is centered around Paul's description of Christ as the cornerstone and foundation upon which everything else is built:
"In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit." (Ephesians 2:21-22)
With Christ as the cornerstone of our lives and of our church, I hope we can rise to become the spiritual dwelling place of God in our community. For our church to become all that God has designed and purposed it to be, I pray that believers would become disciples. For this to happen, we as a church must embrace the blueprint we find in Ephesians. I hope you'll join us on this journey.
August 21 - Everyone Needs a Plan, Ephesians, 2:14-22
August 28 - Made to Worship, Ephesians 4:1-6
September 4 - Saved to Grow, Ephesians 4:7-16
September 11 - Called to Serve, Ephesians 4:7-16 & Luke 9:1-9
Click this link to see a video about The Blueprint at BNC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oupdOFO_0M
I look forward to seeing you in worship as we build Christ's church together!
Until He's Finished,
Pastor Mark
