GBC Family Meeting Why do we do this? Acts 2:42-47 September 16, 2018
I. The WHY beneath the WHAT.
A. Faith: Not avoiding SOMETHING, but becoming SOMEONE. (Rom 8:29)
B. Growth: What we are DEVOTED to SHAPES us. (v.42)
C. Reality: Our LIVES have limited SPACE. (Heb 12:1-2)
We come here each week to worship, and we say we are a part of GBC, but why? What is it that we are actually trying to accomplish? It’s bigger than you think…
1. If you had to say why coming to GBC is important to you in one sentence, what would you say?
II. Commitment to LEARNING. (v.42)
A. COGNITIVE and EXPERIENTIAL learning. (I Jn 1:1-2)
B. Learning is a COMMUNAL ACTIVITY. (Eph 3:17-18)
To grow there are things we need to learn. It’s the spiritual equivalent to learning a language as you grow up. A child is already in a relationship with the parent, and faith brings us into a relationship with God, but language is what helps us to grow and
nurture that relationship.
2. How do you learn best? Are you a reader, a thinker, and experiencer?
III. Commitment to RELATIONSHIPS (v.42)
A. “Being with” takes SPACE and TIME. (Mark 3:14)
B. The GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY. (2 Sam. 12:7)
You cannot be the body of Christ alone. The scripture presents God as Trinity, one person in three. God’s very nature is relationship. Since we are created in His image there are aspects of us we cannot understand or experience apart from relationships
with others. Sometimes those things are quite surprising, and not what we expect.
3. Is your life too busy for real relationship with others? If so, what can you do about that?
4. Do you have 1-2 people with whom you can be completely open and honest with about what is going on in your life?
IV. Commitment to WORSHIP (v.42)
A. RECALIBRATING the RHYTHM for life. (Jn 4:21,23)
B. A PRACTICE, not a FEELING. (Gen 22:5)
Worship is so often misunderstood to be more of a good feeling we get about God as we sing to Him. It is far deeper than that. It’s a surrender of our will to His, and that is a practice that we need to incorporate all throughout our lives, not just on Sunday
mornings.
5. Have you ever said, “That was good worship today”? What did you mean by that?
6. How does worship currently shape your life? How do you want it too?
V. Commitment to MISSION. (v.43-47)
A. INDIVIDUAL and CORPORATE mission. (Rom 12:4-8)
B. IDENTIFYING and ENGAGING.(James 1:22)
All of these commitments drive us toward joining with God in His mission, both in GBC, in the community of Hope, and in the world. We all play a part in the mission of God, one we were designed to play by the One who is orchestrating all things for His glory.
7. What do you see as your own “mission”?
8. What do you think is important for us to do “as a church” in our community?