January 1, 2021
From: The desk of the Christian Education Director
To: The Christian Education Ministry Team and Church Members
There are few professions on earth that wholly impact society. Educating God’s people in the Christian faith is one of those professions. The opportunity is there to change lives, bring hope to the hopeless, and reflect the light of Christ to the world. Christian Education is an important tool in this Ministry.
The purpose of the Christian Education Ministry is to equip the Saints for the Work of the Ministry through the building up of the body until we attain the unity of faith, the supreme knowledge of the Son of God, and Christ-like maturity – Ephesians 4:12-16.
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” – Ephesians 4: 12-16.
The embarking of a new year has begun, and Christians have a responsibility to stop and evaluate their standing in Christ. This gives us opportunity to see our standing in Him. What does it mean to be “in Christ”? It means that you were born “in Adam”. You have an innate sinful nature. And in order to get back in the right standing with God, you must be Born-Again. When you are Born-Again, you are “In Christ”. You are Forgiven. You are Justified. You are made near to God; you are Accepted by God. You are made Holy. You are Sealed by the Holy Spirit. You are Complete. Your Standing, as far as God is concerned, is PERFECT. Your Standing in Christ is the way God sees you “in Christ”. Our Standing “in Christ” is always Perfect. It is based on what God has done for us in Christ.
Our STATE is different. Our state is our Walk, or the way we live on earth. We are sinful. In Christ, we are always perfect in God’s Sight; in ourselves, we are sinful. We can’t be satisfied with that because God wants our STATE to come up to our STANDING IN CHRIST. We are Holy in Christ. God wants us to be Holy in our everyday living.
Are we standing on the Foundation that the Apostles and Prophets laid? What got us here? When you look back, do we see one set of footprints that could not possibly be your own because they’re too big, or do we see Jesus’ footprints that carried you to this point in life? We cannot dwell in the past. God said, “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.19Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert” – Isaiah 43: 18,19. The opportunity is also here to show us where we are to go from here; stalling out here is not an option. When Christ brought us, He obviously taught us. What He taught us collectively, He taught us individually. For one thing, He certainly taught us that He is coming again! Preparation is so instrumental in our being fit to live in the next world.
For the Christian, the next world will not be lived on earth until Christ has ridded it of all its impurities. Therefore, the earth is being prepared for His prepared people and even in our darkest moments in time, He is preparing us for this wonderful, prepared place. His teaching is key to living in this sinless, tearless, deathless, sick-free, but joyful and praise-full atmosphere.
His expectation is that we go to the world, help them to come to the realization that God is real, and He loves them and wants them to come to Him through Jesus Christ. They are to be nurtured by us, the faithful, in the Faith so they in turn can go out and bring others into the faith and nurture them. This is the only plan that God has devised for building the Church. In this Present Age, He gave gifts of Apostles and Prophets to the Church (they’ve all passed away; their purpose was to lay the foundation of the Christian Faith (Church). Jesus Christ is the cornerstone – see Ephesians 2: 19-22). But He also gave Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers. Their purpose is to build on the foundation that was laid by the Apostles and Prophets with gold, silver, and precious metals, in other words, the pure, unadulterated Word of God (I Corinthians 3:11-15), and on Judgment Day, our works (Teaching and Preaching) will be tested by fire. We cannot get so busy with earthly concerns that we neglect our Heavenly duties.
Christ stated His Mission on earth in Luke 4: 18,19, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
We are to carry out Christ’s Mission while He is gone away because He’s coming back, and when He returns, we must give an account of our Stewardship. His Mission is our Mission. And as faithful Stewards, when we lead others to Christ, He heals their broken hearts; He delivers them from whatever has their hearts captured that is not pleasing to God. He opens their Spiritual eyes and they’re no longer spiritually blind. He preached the Day of Salvation (the acceptable year of the Lord. When He returns, it will be the Day of Vengeance of our God). Our job as Believers in Christ is to carry on His Mission until He returns. [God has not made a 2-year contract with anyone; you work until He returns]. See Matthew 25 for illustrations of what the Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto.
May God be the driving force of His Ministry Team for as His Director of Christian Education, I have surrendered the Team into His hands.
Our Prayer of Dedication
Dear Lord, we want to learn to trust You with our lives and the adversity that we right now face and will face. We choose to embrace this difficulty and to make the most out of it so that not one day will be wasted. We say, not our will, but Yours. We want to learn to trust you right now. We give you this difficult situation and lay it before You. [Establishing the Christian Education Ministry Team.] We trust You to break through in Your way and in Your timing. We thank You that we are unique and that You carefully fashioned us in a special way. Help us to learn what you want us to learn and to go the way you want us to go during this trial. Take the striving out of our lives and the self-sufficiency in our hearts. Help us not to make our own plans and then ask you to bless them. Teach us to listen to You and then do Your Will wholeheartedly. Show us Your plan for this day and help us to live it out joyfully.
Forgive us for all the times in our lives where we have forced our own plans and wills and Lord change us to be the ones who will lay everything at your feet. Lord, we want to give you our time and our devotion. We give you our hours of solitude, and we make it our choice to be in Your presence and to practice hour by hour dependence on You. Convict us whenever we go our own way. We choose to do it Your way now. Help us Lord. We acknowledge our total dependence on You at this moment. All that we have is Yours and all we have belong to You. All our rights of ownership are Yours because You have purchased us with a great price. You are what we need, and You are the one we desire. We are under Your leadership. You are ours and what is Yours becomes ours. We are Your children. Take our weaknesses and sustain us. We thank You that we are under Your protection. We thank You that You are our security. You are our rock and refuge. Thank You that You know how to manage our lives perfectly. We are so blessed because of You. This is our prayer in Jesus name. Amen.
*Director of Christian Education