The series we’re in is about a new you. How can we get different results than we have in the past? We are thinking about what it means to be made new. As a church, how to we do things together in a way that pleases God and is healthy? We want you to be taking good care of yourself. We have disagreements at home and with fellow church members sometimes. Paul is addressing disagreements in this passage. We are opinionated people. We don’t agree on all things. What’s the best peanut butter? Is crunchy better or is creamy? Some disagreements are more serious and we can find ourselves in a power struggle. This is happening in our nation. They key to being healthy is right here in this text. Two weeks ago in my sermon I talked about Jesus being seated at the right hand of the Father. We can choose to set our minds on Heaven. We can have a new way of thinking. Jesus is the center of power in the universe. Jesus has all power regardless of people who claim
For two thousand years the church has gathered together and every time we gather together there's a sense that we are reproducing what is in Heaven. We are a reflection of Heaven. For Baptists, we do things more casual than some and some are even more casual than us. In this setting we can lose a real sense of what's in Heaven when we come together. We are in God's presence when we gather together; it's not that God is uniquely here. Worship is an awareness of God's presence. When we sense God's presence we know we are not worthy and there's a conviction that comes; many things come to our minds. We are reminded of the cross and the resurrection and this brings us to confession of sin. That's what we want to do in worship. Worship's ultimate intent is to know you're in the presence of God. As a group when we spend time together in God's presence we model Heaven. Sometimes we're just getting into God's presence as the servi