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Like Adam and Eve, all boys and girls are created by the direct act of God and in His image (Genesis 1:26). As such, they have great value. The first Adam who failed points to the last Adam who was perfect, Jesus Christ. Genesis answers four basic questions:

1. Where do I come from? (the question of origins).
2. Who am I? (the question of significance).
3. Why is the world in such a mess? (the question of evil).
4. Is there a future? (the question of purpose and destiny).

Christ’s evaluation of the church matters most. Christ evaluates seven real churches, at real locations, made up of real people. What does Jesus value? There is a mix of affirmations and rebukes that form Jesus’ assessment of these churches. For example, neither love-deficient doctrinal purity (Ephesus) nor apathetic self-sufficiency (Laodicea) are affirmed by God. However, both a faithful witness amidst suffering (Smyrna) and faithful service (Philadelphia) do receive his affirmation.

When you evaluate a church, what do you look at? Do your values and assessments align with Christ's who is the exalted Son of God, the slain Lamb who purchased the church with his own blood, and the Head (leader) of the church? God evaluates his church through a very different lens than the one we often use.

Does your church pass the test?

First, in Matthew 16:18, Jesus said he would build his church (his community of called-out people). He is the architect and he engineers its growth. It’s an indestructible community, for he said, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Christ’s church has something to do with life and death, and the good news of rescue both locally and globally. But how does Jesus build his church?

Second, Ephesians 4:11-16 is a single sentence with a subject and a verb. Christ (the subject) gave (the verb) something to the church, and those gifts are to result in its growth. The emphasis of Jesus and Ephesians 4, and therefore the emphasis of verbally gifted leaders, is love and unity (John 13:34-35; Ephesians 4:2-3, 15-16). Doctrine certainly matters (Ephesians 4:4-6), but love-deficient doctrinal separatism was rebuked in the church at Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7).

Church growth is not really a secret. Jesus said, “just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

God gifted every believer to serve for His glory. That is what we are designed for, and one of our purposes in life. Most will not “preach the word,” but everyone should be using their gift to build up the body of Christ, the church (1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 1 Peter 4:10-11). How are you using your gift? If you’re not serving, but only attending, let us help you know the joy of serving Christ’s body that gathers as Highlands. Every member ministering nurtures a healthy gospel culture. This fall we will have a Ministry Fair to help make you aware of the variety of opportunities to serve.

There are no spectators in the church. Spectators become critics. If a spectator’s team is having a losing season they can quickly become dispirited and bitter. Let’s encourage one another with this — every member ought to be serving somehow and somewhere for God’s glory, “Then each one will receive his commendation from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5).

In John 7 Jesus cries out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” Many years before Jesus shouted this invitation, in Exodus 17 we read how Israel was thirsty in the wilderness. God promised his presence would go before them and rest on a rock. He told Moses to take his staff and strike that rock. Moses did this, water gushed from the rock, and the people were saved.  Jesus invites us to come to him and drink because he is the rock of living water (1 Cor. 10:4). He took the stroke of our punishment that we deserve for our rebellion against God. On the cross his blood flowed so we might be saved. "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”

John gives us a clear and distinct thesis in John 20:30-31. We can summarize John’s thesis in one word: believe. He says, “I’ve written this book, including these particular signs, so that you might believe.” In the course of twenty-one chapters, John will answer three questions: (1) What do we need to believe? (2) What does it mean to believe? (3) Why do we need to believe? There are seven signs in John’s account of the gospel (what he calls the things that “are written”) to help us answer these questions.

John the Baptist pointed to the one who can fulfill our greatest hopes and satisfy our deepest longings. What does John mean by calling Jesus “the Lamb of God”? At the center of the Passover celebration (Exodus 12) was the sacrifice of a lamb, which served as a reminder of God’s deliverance of Israel from captivity in Egypt when the death angel passed-over the homes where blood was applied. The Passover lamb links the two key events of biblical (and human) history that mark the theological focus of each Testament. God has provided a lamb for deliverance, a sacrifice for sin, a perfect substitute, and complete satisfaction. Are you pointing other people’s attention to Jesus? People need hope and long for satisfaction. What opportunities exist for you to tell people about Jesus?

The eternal Son of God, "the Word" (John 1:1-3, 14), took on flesh and lived among us. He ate our food, breathed our air, walked our paths, suffered, and died. He was full of grace and truth. God's gracious disposition towards sinful humanity was most clearly seen in his sacrificial death for us. Not only do we have life in Christ, but we can know the joy of having the same mind of Christ as we follow his example (Philippians 2:1-7).

On Sunday, we learned from Daniel 6, how Daniel's habit and dependance on God through prayer enabled him to live faithfully as an exile. We, too are exiles — citizens of Heaven who live in a sin cursed world. As exiles in this world, Daniel 6 teaches us that we must cultivate a life of prayer for three reasons:

• To live with faithfulness to our calling and to the word of God (vs. 1-5).
• To live in communion with God (v. 10).
• To live with victory over trials.

It's often easier for us to believe God's sovereignty when things go well in our life. But, when things go bad, when there is lying and mistrust, and betrayal and death, then our confidence in God's invisible purposes starts to get shaky. In Acts 1:15-26 we learn the ugly and tragic story of Judas's betrayal and death was actually part of God's invincible purposes in accomplishing salvation. The Scripture had to be fulfilled and God can be trusted to provide everything we need to be witnesses of Jesus.

What truths and realities lay behind and motivated the first century Christians into the risky and courageous obedience of spreading the message of Jesus to the ends of the known world? In Acts 1:1-14 we learn about the launchpad of Christianity. The launchpad of Christianity is uniquely built by God on the historic fact of the resurrection of Jesus, the priority of God’s kingdom, the empowerment of God’s Spirit, and the humble prayer dependence of God’s people.  

On Sunday we looked into the exciting story book of Acts. The death of Jesus is a main emphasis in the book, but even more so is the importance of the resurrection of Jesus. The disciples spread the message of Jesus far and wide. But, they did more than speak about Jesus. The message of Jesus was accompanied by the honest, gentle, cheerful, and courageous lives that compelled the attention of their cities. Acts shows us that while the mission Jesus gave his church is big (go and tell the world!) God is sovereignly at work in and behind it all. God grants repentance, appoints people for eternal life, and opens people to respond to the gospel with faith. A firm belief in God’s Sovereignty is exactly what encourages the Christians in Acts to engage in evangelism. Will you pray for God to use our study in Acts to encourage us, challenge us, and change us?

The picture of a shepherd with his sheep is a beautiful image of our relationship with God. Thankfully, the metaphor is not a cowboy rounding- up cattle, or a bookish theologian merely providing right answers. We don’t need to be driven like cows and we desperately need more than accurate information. We need the experiential loving care of a good shepherd. In Jesus, we have a good shepherd who cares for his sheep by leading, providing, protecting, and laying his life down as a sacrificial Lamb for sinners (John 10:11-15). “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall never lack what I need.”

In Luke 15, Jesus teaches a trilogy of parables. In each parable, something is lost (a sheep, a silver coin, a wayward child). In each parable, there is also great rejoicing (the shepherd, the woman, the father). In the third parable, the wayward son returns home and is joyfully received by and restored to the father. The older son, however, who remained geographically near is also distant from the father, and Jesus does not say whether he was ultimately restored to a close relationship with the father, or not. It’s designed to make us wonder. The father meets both sons in their need — he sees the younger son far off and runs to him, and he notices the older son is not in the house so he goes outside to entreat him. The unconditional love of the father is what is highlighted as he relates with both sons.

To younger wayward children, the invitation is to come home to the father. He is watching and waiting to receive you. To older children who have remained geographically near the father through religion or morality (Luke 15:1-2), the invitation is to come inside with the father. In both cases, the need is to be rightly related to the father. Thankfully, Jesus truly is a friend of tax collectors and sinners!

In Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8, we learn how the early church worked through internal controversies about religious convictions on disputed matters. Instead of dividing and polarizing around our specific convictions, the welcome we have received by God in Christ enables us to live in peace and serve together in love. The gospel of Jesus enables us to study the Bible together, worship together, and fellowship together so that we "may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 15:6).