Faith Community Church Of Hopkinton

Christ presented Himself as a guide to God. He used phrases like "light" and "way" to describe His work. He claimed to have a unique relationship with God so that anyone who heard Him or witnessed His life gained insights into the very nature of God. His approach to God was unique. Jesus Christ abolished the need for sacrifices as a means to forgiveness. He also turned the purpose of spiritual practices away from a means to a right standing with God to a means of fellowship with God and aid to people. Christ's approach to God eliminates fear, doubt, guilt, and pride. Instead, His approach produces love, peace, joy, confidence, and hope.

Probably the greatest contribution of Christianity to the world is the focus on love. Prior to Christ, God was perceived as distant - too holy and dangerous to approach. In the Roman world, the gods were capricious, manipulative and self-serving. Humans went to great lengths to gain their attention and favor. Even when one did, there was no guarantee that the strength of his god would prove sufficient over another god's designs. Christ promoted the God who is loving, kind, interested and involved. Christ was the only one who used the intimate term "Abba/Father" and taught others to do the same. Christ was tender to children, compassionate to the grieving, helpful to the sick and a friend to the outcast. Christ called Himself our brother and stated that one of the defining characteristics of a follower was his/her commitment to love. As a religion, Christianity is saturated by love, committed to loving deeds and balanced on the transcendent/imminent God who desires relationship.

Christ presented an ethic code that was not prevalent in His day. He calls us to love our enemies, lead by serving, and care for the poor. He promotes humility as a virtue (unheard of in the Roman world) and teaches that the way to greatness is through self-sacrifice. In a world that valued power, honor, and strength, His message was confusing and unusual. Yet, His virtues have taken over the world. We respect the humble over the proud, admire the compassionate and venerate those who serve others at their personal expense. Think of all the nonprofits, hospitals and government programs that have been birthed by these virtues. What would have happened to all those who have benefited from their generosity? Christ's ethics promote peace, compassion, mercy, and aid. Our world is better (ask those who receive the benefits of these virtues) because of Christ's teaching and call to follow.

The life and work of Jesus Christ was a critical part of God's restoration of the world to His original intention. Jesus came to bring all people back to their Creator. His desire was grand in that He wanted the whole world restored. Everything Jesus said and did was meant to change the world, not just a few people or a small region. Jesus wants us to continue with the work He started. Bringing the message and work of Jesus Christ to all cultures of the world is an essential part of our mission to serve God. We do this by imitating Christ's work of spiritual guidance and compassion relief. There is even the indication in the Bible that God has a project plan with a completion point - when we achieve it, civilization hits another turning point.

Don Golden, VP of Church Relations at World Vision, talks about the motive and power of doing good in the poorest regions of the world.

God is Creator. He has a purpose for Creation that included people. This purpose includes a relationship with God, peaceful relations with one another, and a stewardship of the world. These three intents are God's desires for humanity. We disrupted all three in an important moment with God and have continued to disrupt all three throughout time. God wants to repair and restore His design for His Creation. It's His art restoration project. Doing this will bring glory to the artist and wonderful good to His Creation. Our mission is to partner with God in restoring the world to His intended purpose. Helping people reconnect to God through Jesus Christ is the first step in this process. God's desires are global so we need to think globally about restoring the world to the Creator's original design.

Studying God's Word can seem intimidating to some and not challenging to others. In this message, I want to share techniques and resources relevant to people at different stages in their spiritual journey. We'll look at how God's Word is a powerful gift to our spiritual development. Then, I will present how people new to faith, growing in faith or mature in faith can study God's Word differently in order to meet their growing needs. We'll talk about the importance of reading, studying and reflecting upon God's Word. I will also talk about specific resources that people at different stages of spiritual maturity should have in order to grow.

Knowing that God's power and promises make us holy, we can partner with God in confidence by making effort to grow in Christian character. God's commitment to us enables us to grow. Therefore, we can work with confidence to refine our character under the guiding work of the Holy Spirit. We can examine our character develop our faith, moral virtue, Christian knowledge, self-control, commitment to faith, reverence towards God, love for other Christians, and love for all. Working on these qualities makes us more powerful and effective in our Christian walk. Ignoring this development proves we are blind to the danger of sin, short-sighted in regards to what it took for Christ to get us here, and forgetful to the joy of salvation.

We begin our spiritual journey with Christ by grace. We continue in our journey by growing daily towards spiritual maturity. This journey is as much by grace as is our salvation. God has provided some 'great and precious' promises that enable us to participate in God's divine nature, ensuring our growth towards godliness. This guarantee releases us from the fear that we are not righteous enough, good enough or holy enough for God. It is not dependent upon our works to make us acceptable before God. Neither do we labor to make ourselves truly holy - it is a gift of God, made possible by the resources He provides. This is joy, knowing that we can trust God to make us right and guarantee a rich welcome home.

Guest Speaker: Marty Pomeroy

Too often people equate joy with happiness. This means that joy comes and goes with the ebb and flow of our own chemical processes and external circumstances. However, while joy may have emotional qualities to it, it is not an emotion, but instead a character choice. We discover that joy lasts when we make that choice as an active participant in our lives. This means that joy can be a lasting experience when we maintain an eternal perspective on life and consider the following qualities to joy: Lasting joy is content, lasting joy is generous, lasting joy is gracious and lasting joy is victorious.

The most common response to the conception and birth of Jesus Christ is joy. John the Baptist rejoices in Elizabeth's womb, Mary rejoices that she has been chosen to bear Christ, the angels rejoice with the Shepherds and the Magi rejoice in just seeing the star. What is it about this child that human beings and supernatural beings all rejoice at His arrival? Jesus is the fulfillment of all promises regarding the hope of Israel. They saw the arrival of the Messiah bringing help to people caught in suffering & captivity. They saw Him as the fulfillment of all God's promises, thus showing God powerful and faithful. They saw all the signs as God involved in human affairs. Joy came as the reaction to these revelations.

Joy has an emotional quality that must be guarded and nurtured. Since we are commanded to rejoice always and resourced with joy through the Spirit, we should be able to build a lifestyle of joy. There are habits we can learn to help us be joyful in all circumstances. When we feel our joy diminish (or even lose it), we need to take stock of our lives and review these habits. They can refresh, renew, reinvigorate our joy.

Joy is part of the character of God. He possesses joy and expresses it. It is His reaction when people obey Him and when creation operates as He designed it. Human joy is similar. It is our reaction to the character of God, the gifts of God, and His work on our behalf. Joy comes when we align ourselves with God's design and experience the peace of a soul realigned to its created purpose. Joy then becomes our response (seen through our actions) to God for all He is and has done. Consequently, the lack of joy is an indicator that we have lost alignment, perspective or a lifestyle consistent with God's design. In short, joy is the natural human reaction of a soul reconnected with God and aligned to His design.

God has called me to gather more people into God's family. How has He called me to do this? God wants to use ordinary people, empowered by God, to make a difference together - wherever they are! That means He wants us to make a difference with the people in your life, your community and our world. God cares about people everywhere. He wants to reach everyone, not just some. To do that we give, pray and serve to that end. God has called us to do that now - not later. People are dying for a relationship with God now.

God has called us to serve Him. Our call is to be a bi-vocational minister for Jesus Christ. We have been called to make a difference with our lives. Serving God with your life creates joy, improves all the relationships in your life, makes your life meaningful, and leaves a legacy from your life.

  God has called us to become like Christ. We call this discipleship - the process of becoming like Christ.  

God has formed us for His family, another name for the church. It's there that we learn our true identity, find support from others, discover our unique value, receive caring protection, and become productive. This fellowship is an important gift from God that helps us fulfill our call to be productive members of God's family.

God is love. He created us in order to love us. Therefore, my calling is to enjoy a relationship with God as a member of His family! You are called to be a son or daughter of God. Because He is love, God wants to express His love to people. The Bible describes God's love as wide enough to be everywhere, long enough to last forever, deep enough to handle anything, high enough to overlook my sins. This means you can feel accepted not ashamed, bold to bring my needs to God, peaceful in pain you don't understand, courageous to take risks. You are free to worship God, not worry about your life.