Being devoted to gospel centrality is not a part time endeavor for us here at Light City Bible Church, it’s our full-time occupation. The good news about Jesus Christ is our vision, our goal, our hope, and it is the motivation for everything we do. Our gathering together as a people is toward being made ready to go and take the gospel, to go and be the “light of the world” as Jesus said in Matthew chapter five.
Not so long after giving that sermon in Matthew 5 Jesus also gave instructions to his disciples. He is commissioning them with the highest possible authority to make Him known by teaching other people “all that he commanded”. Preparation to be the light of the world and to be makers of disciples begins with preaching & teaching the word of God.
We could step back from this very famous exhortation and see the pattern that drives our distinctive of applicational preaching. Jesus spent about three years teaching those disciples what was necessary to “preach the Kingdom”. While all of his teaching is and was immediately applicable the Great Commission is the culmination, the grand application of those years spent laboring with the Twelve. The expectation is that they would do something with what they had learned from Him. Our purpose for gathering together is to be instructed by Jesus’ teaching through sermons that are simply an explanation of His Word, the Bible.
At our last vision meeting we saw the pattern of explanation, exhortation end application in the sermon Peter gave in Acts chapter 2. In Peter's sermon he explained the scriptures with the specific goal of getting his audience to come to grips with the reality that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. He then exhorted them regarding how their thinking and believing ought to be different. Finally, when the hearers of his sermon were gripped with this truth he gave them the application which was “repent and be baptized...”.
This same pattern is true in Paul's writings. You may be very familiar with how he builds his case for what to believe similar to what a lawyer will do in court. All throughout his letters he begins by explaining something to his audience. Interwoven in his explanation are the exhortations regarding what they (and we) should believe, many times as opposed to what is currently believed. The Apostle generally ends with things to do, sometimes even lists of things to do. So, it certainly looks like he wants his audience to apply what they have been taught.
What we aim to do here at Light City Bible Church is nothing new. We are simply trying to be faithful to the pattern of the prophets and the apostles and certainly of Jesus himself. So in every Lord's Day worship service at Light City you can expect to have the scriptures explained, be exhorted on what to believe and offered an application, something to do as a result of what was taught. Ultimately we rely on the Holy Spirit of God to apply his word to your hearts which then in turn becomes ongoing application. This is certainly the pattern in Acts chapter 2, Paul’s writings and in Jesus’ teaching as well.
We invite you to join us for the next example of this pattern at our next vision meeting Sunday October 10 at 6:30pm at the Wabash County Museum. This time we will be discussing our second distinctive; Expectant Prayer – Asking the Lord and anticipating His answer. See you soon.
SDG
Keith
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