Victory Christian Fellowship Rev. Daryl Mckillian

 





As a pastor concludes his ministry in a local church, in particular in a church he planted, What should his reflections be? What should he desire for his people? Paul articulates my sentiments.





 

 





 





Have you ever been a member of a church in crisis? If not, have you ever been in a personal crisis? Oftentimes when the alarm of the catastrophe becomes acute for us, our immediate thought is what do I need to do to get out of this – right now! In our passage today we find young Pastor Timothy in crisis at the church of Ephesus. Approximately midway through the letter Paul gives Timothy his purpose statement for having written the letter in the first place. VCF, like Ephesus, is experiencing a bit of a rough go of it & I like Timothy, and our respective churches need to be reminded of a few things if we are going to triumph in the mist of the crisis.





 










 













 

 





Here in the American West, we oftentimes see ourselves as individuals. We are a low-group culture. The culture in which Jesus was socialized was a high-group culture; they viewed themselves not as individuals, but a part of a larger social group. This social construct is evidenced in today’s story. Matthew, Jesus’ newest disciple, immediately upon becoming Christ’s follower conjures up an event where all of his friends (oikos), might hear the Good News and become followers of Jesus. Matthew’s idea for engaging his friends was not a Bible study or reading evangelistic tracts – his plan was to host an Evangelistic Mixer! 

 





The Easter narrative is pregnant with examples of Jesus’ closest followers cascading into unbelief. How does God get us back on track? What methods does He employ? What role, if any, do we play in the process? Today’s teaching will answers to these questions. 

When was the last time you shared your testimony with someone? Do you have one? Is it written down? It doesn’t have to be sensational, but is it compelling? In today’s narrative, Jesus delivers a man from demonic destruction and then sends him to evangelize his family & friend and then ten cities; armed with no apologetics, no biblical background, no theology, no evangelistic training – just the power of a personal testimony! 

Today’s message will probably reveal that we’ve been on both sides of this particular equation. Ever been thrust into a circumstance where you found yourself doubting what you once believed to be true of God? On the flipside, have you ever had a believing friend seek consolation from you because they just didn’t think they could put their trust in God the way they had in the past? Is it possible that you were at a lost for how to encourage them? In today’s teaching, Jesus is going to demonstrate how to “Be Contagious” with a doubting, believing friend.