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Gateway Church gathers
for worship Sundays
at 10:30 a.m.

Location: 6425 Jefferson Rd.
(Hwy. 129) in Athens, Georgia.

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A GATEWAY SERMON SUMMARY


AUDIO


Being the Body of Christ
(part one)

Jerry Varnado, pastor
Gateway Church, Athens GA

January 9, 2005
  • Main Scripture text: Acts 2:42-47.
  • Last Sunday we renewed our covenant with God.

  • The Bible is clear that covenant faithfulness to God includes covenant faithfulness to our brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ.

  • Loving each other is part of loving God.

  • The New Testament has specific examples of how we are to show love for each another:

1) By forgiving one another

2) By providing material help

3) By gently offering spiritual correction and guidance

4) By bearing each other's burdens

5) By praying for one another

  • Being the Body of Christ means loving God and loving one another -- through our words and our actions.

  • When we receive a new member into the church, we have a ceremony in which every member reaffirms this covenant vow:

As members together with you in the Body of Christ and in this congregation of The United Methodist Church, we renew our covenant faithfully to participate in the ministries of the church by our prayers, our presence, our gifts and our service, that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

  • This is a vow to serve God and His church in four general areas.

  • The first is prayer. Until we have prayed, the most important thing to do is pray.

  • Do we really believe all the things we say we believe about prayer? Are we living up to our covenant to participate in the church's ministry of prayer?

  • I'm talking about time spent with the church in prayer, praying about kingdom issues, praying for God to come and heal our land.

  • You have an opportunity to engage in this kind of prayer at any one of three regular prayer meetings we have every week.

  • And you'll have an opportunity this Saturday to intercede for the work of God in our city and our state at the Athens-Area Solemn Assembly.

  • The founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote this: "God does nothing but in answer to prayer." If we want God to act, we must respond to His call to pray.

  • Next Sunday, we'll focus on the other three aspects of our covenant vows: our presence, our gifts, and our service.


Supporting texts: Exodus 20:1-17 | John 13:34-35 | 1 John 4:20-21 | Colossians 3:13 | 1 John 3:17 | Galatians 6:1 | Galatians 6:2 | Ecclesiastes 4:12 | James 5:16 | Ephesians 6:18 | 2 Chronicles 7:14 | Joel 1:14

A mp3 audio file of this sermon is here (27:00).
(Download to a PC by right clicking on the link and choosing "Save Target As." Mac users: click, hold, and choose "Download Link to Disk." Depending on your connection speed, the file may take several minutes to download.)


An audio tape of this sermon is available
free of charge (U.S. requests only).
Request a tape by calling or writing the Gateway Church office.
Please specify tape number 050109a: Being the Body of Christ-1.


© 2005 Gerald R. Varnado

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