Dear Church Family and Community,
In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul explains our current state as believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. We live by faith and not by sight. We live in our present bodies awaiting a heavenly one created by God with eternity in mind. We live with our goal of pleasing God. We live committed to our God-given ministry of reconciliation. God has reconciled us to himself and is reconciling the world to himself through Christ. We, the reconciled through Christ, are called to be God’s ambassadors to the world.
In our world, we who know and follow Jesus and are his representatives wherever we go. How we live, how we love, how we walk, how we talk, how we think, and how we act represents Christ to our world. This incredible responsibility reminds us of our great God’s amazing humility – that the all-powerful God of all there is and was and will be would empower us by the Holy Spirit to partner with Him to bring Christ to our world.
Our responsibility to take Christ to the world has always moved Christians locally and globally. Christ called His followers to be witnesses in their local city (Jerusalem), in their larger region (Judea and Samaria), and to their world (the ends of the earth). Early followers understood that Christ came for the world and that their task was to bring Christ to their world. So, from the beginning, followers of Jesus have embraced cities as a means of fulfilling their work for Christ.
Cities represented a multitude of peoples and cultures, transportation centers that reached out to the ends of the earth, and large spheres of influences that impacted their world in distinct and innumerable ways. The early followers of Jesus may be summed up with this simple statement: Win the city for Christ, and win your world. Therefore, they strategically started in Jerusalem, and found their way to Antioch. Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Thessalonica and more.
Thousands of years later, one can easily argue that not much has changed in our needing to win the city to win our world. Our cities today are more populous than ever, and they continue to grow, and at record rates. Our abilities to impact and be impacted by people the world over has never been so easy as it is today. In the midst of this reality, our congregational family stands committed to our city, because if we win Harrisburg, we do our part in Christ winning our world.
This week we will continue our DNA: Living Out Our Uniqueness, and into Our Call sermon series by looking at our call to our city and how God works through many of his faithful followers to help us do his work here. To prepare for this week’s service, please take some time to read and pray through Jeremiah 29:1-14. As you read, spend some time reflecting on the following questions: What does it mean to seek the peace and prosperity for our city? Why has God called you here among us? What is the work God is asking of you? What does winning our city for God look like to you?
Also, in this week’s services, we will be having a Ministry Moment by Mike Spellman, who will share about our partnership with Safe Haven and an opportunity for us to serve this winter. As always, if you missed last week’s service and want to catch up on our sermon, please be sure to check it out on our website, or through our sermon podcast at Soundcloud, Google Play, iTunes, or Stitcher. Our focus was on Acts 2:1-13 and how the day of Pentecost birthed Church and gifts us a DNA of being led, empowered, and transformed by the Holy Spirit as a multi-ethnic body of believers.
I hope this finds you well and living to shine for our God and King. God bless and take care.
Love in Christ,
Pastor Hank (2 Corinthians 5)
P: (717) 561-2170, ext. 104
E: pastorhank@harrisburgbic.org