Defining Our Mission:

The Great Commandment:

A Summary of God's Requirements
Matthew 22:36-40 Jesus said, Love the Lord your God with all your heart...soul...and mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.

The Great Commission:

Jesus' last words to His followers
Matthew 28:18-2 Jesus came and told his disciples, I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.

Loving God, Loving others, & Serving the world

Get Real - Loving God

Get real = acknowledge you have sinned against God & you need His forgiveness; accept His grace - gift of salvation.

John 8:1-11 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, ² but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. ³ As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. ⁴ Teacher, they said to Jesus, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say? ⁶ They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. ⁷ They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone! ⁸ Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust ⁹ When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. ¹⁰ Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, Where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you? ¹¹ No, Lord, she said. And Jesus said, Neither do I. Go and sin no more.

Get Relational - Loving Others

Going Relational-

Hebrews 10:24-25 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. ²⁴ Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. ²⁵ And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another...

Relational is not Optional-

1 John 1:7, 4:20 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin...If someone says, I love God, but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?

The Quality of My Relationships Directly Relate to the Quality of My Spiritual Development-

Ephesians 4:15-16 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. ¹⁶ He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

We Belong to Each Other & We Need Each Other-

Romans 12:4-5 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, ⁵ so it is with Christ's body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

Get Relevant - Serving the World

Sharing my life with others who need the hope I have found in Christ

Ephesians 2:10 We are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ, so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.
Matthew 20:28 Jesus: Your attitude must be like My Own, for I did not come to be served, but to serve...
1 Corinthians 9:22 Whatever a person is like, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some.

If you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for My sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.
Mark 8:35