on April 12, 2008
Last time we talked about our identity – Who Am I?
Today we want to look at our past – Where Did I Come From?
Most people do not take enough time to consider the importance of the past.
History is an oft neglected study.
History
A wise man once said, "Those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat its mistakes."
If you want to predict a person’s future you need only check the direction of their past steps.
Where Did I Come From?
4 Things I want to call to your remembrance today:
Remember what you were when God formed you.
Remember what you were when God called you.
Remember where Good News came from.
Remember when God called you to Good News.
Remember what you were
when God formed you.
You were DUST!
Genesis 2:7 – the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Psalm 103:14
– for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
Ecclesiastes 12:1,6,7
– Remember your Creator in the days of your youth… Remember him–before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Remember What You Were
When God Called You
1 Corinthians 1:26 – Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
Not many wise by human standards
Not many influential
Not many of noble birth
Once you were darkness…
Ephesians 5:8 – For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
1 Peter 2:9
– But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Once you were not a people…
1 Peter 2:10a – Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God…
God has always had a "people" and there was a time when you and I were not one of them!
We were individuals, alone – "a man without a country."
Once you had not received mercy…
1 Peter 2:10b – once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
There was a time when we were receiving exactly what we deserved, but God, in His mercy intervened!
Once you were lost…
Isaiah 53:6 – We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way…
Luke 15:23,24
– Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
Once you were dead…
Luke 15:23,24 – For this son of mine was dead and is alive again…
Ephesians 2:1,2
– As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world…
Once you were separated from God
Ephesians 2:12 – remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
Excluded from (God’s people)
Foreigners to the (promises of God)
Without hope & without God in the world.
At one time you had
no interest in pleasing God…
Colossians 1:21 – Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
Ephesians 5:8-10
– For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.
At one time we were foolish, disobedient, deceived & enslaved…
Titus 3:3-5 – At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
Remember
Where Good News Came From
It is the right of God, working through people by His Holy Spirit, to call believers to institute New Communities of Faith, founded on principles and organized in such a manner that it is affirmed by the Spirit and Scriptures The purpose of this faith community is to establish and preserve an environment where seekers may find salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and where believers may grow in grace and goodness.
We believe that God has purposed in His will that a new work begin – for Him, by Him, and in Him – that He would receive all the praise, glory and honor. Being moved by the Holy Spirit, and being of like mind and in one accord, a certain group of believers were compelled to put their hands to this work. In obedience to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ, our Lord, we believe it is our duty to go into all the world to preach the Good News, that through the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, people might find forgiveness from sin and have fellowship with God, both now and eternally.
Therefore, we the representatives of the Good News Community Church, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do in the Name, and by the Authority of the People of this Body, solemnly publish and declare the establishment of Good News Community Church as a free and independent church.
As free and independent, Good News Community Church has the full power to administer the Sacraments of the Christian Church, appoint overseers and spiritual leaders, contract alliances, establish ministries, and to do all other Acts and things which Churches may of a right do. For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Faith, our Eternal Hope, and our Holy Love.
This Statement of Call & Establishment is hereby adopted by the charter membership on the date of Sunday, January 15th, in the year of our Lord 1995.
Pastor: David W. George, Sr.
Secretary: Laura M. Mohr
Elder: Daniel W. Burrell
Treasurer: Sue Ellen Sherer
Trustee: Thomas A Beich
And signed by 22 other charter members.
Remember when
God called you to Good News
What were the circumstances, people, etc. that influenced you to come?
How did you come to be a part of Good News?
Did you believe that God was in it?
WHERE DID YOU COME FROM ANYWAY?
Ephesians 2
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
All of us also lived among them at one time
, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved.
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)– remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Conclusion:
4 questions that have a lot to do with our identity:
Who am I?
Where did I come from?
Why am I here?
Where am I going?
WHAT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU HEARD TODAY?