Who We Pursue, We Become
This year, C4 adopts "Building a Relational Church" as the theme and it reflects our desire to grow in Christ. In July, we preached about a community who builds one another up by nurturing a Spirit-filled community of Prayer, Worship and the Word. We sought The Lord through His Word to find meaning and form when it comes to a community of such, ie. what is our look and feel? I believe the sermons increased our desire to "taste and see" a Spirit-filled community, whose members contribute towards an increasingly relational dynamic of prayer, worship, the study and application of the Bible, but is that all? Surely there must be more!
In Exodus 7 : 16 , God told Moses to tell the Egyptian Pharaoh: ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened." Again in Exodus 8 : 1, God told Moses to say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me." And again, in Exodus 9 : 1 !
There is more to it than just cultivating spiritual and relational dynamics that identify us as a thriving church community! We build one another up for a singular objective: the Worship of God. We preach the Good News to pre-believers not just to save them, but like Moses, we are still commanding the spiritual "Pharaohs of sin and wickedness" today to let the people go and worship God. We pursue God by worshiping Him. We serve Him through church ministry expressions to worship God. We live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ in every sphere of life to worship God; so that the people God placed around us are directed to worship Him!
Therefore, let us pursue God by worshiping Him within and without the four walls of our church community; not just within. Who we pursue, we become.