If you joined us for the last edition of Summons Pastor Terry began tearing down the walls between the staff of the church and those who attend church. God never intended for there to be a hierarchy in His Body. Each person has a specific gift to serve God with. There is no one greater and no one lesser. God has called and gifted everyone to serve Him. Today Pastor Terry continues to exhort us to be seeking God for the gifts He's given us and then plug in and serve Him in that capacity.

Hardness of heart is actually quite common among those who have not placed their faith in Jesus Christ. Time passes and they become accustomed to their lifestyle outside of Christ. Today Pastor Terry will ask a sobering question. Is your heart hard Christian? It's one thing for those in the world to have hard hearts, it's something altogether different when a believer's heart becomes hard. We need to guard ourselves against the hard heartedness that can set in. And how can we guard ourselves?...by constantly spending time in God's Word.

We've all heard the phrase before, “That guy has a mouth like a sailor!” People use this phrase to describe someone who uses explicative words regularly in their speech. As believer's, many of us can remember a time in our lives where we spoke in the very same way. Today Pastor Terry exhorts us to NOT speak this way anymore! As Christians, our words should be pure and wholesome. The amazing thing that God has spoken to us in His Word is that the mouth is a mirror of the heart...what comes out is what's inside.

What distinguishes believers from unbelievers? How can we know what is fitting… or UNFITTING for our lives as followers of Christ? With so many differences from person to person, it’s good to know that we’ve received our standard from the Word of God. The Bible teaches that the one distinguishing factor in the life of every born-again Christian is love. The suitable, proper, appropriate way for us to live is to love God and one-another. In today’s teaching with Pastor Terry, we’ll be encouraged to seek to become imitators of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Christians are strongly warned to abstain from various kinds of sinful practices. The Bible is very, very clear. Believers are not to involve themselves in unclean acts or indulge in impure thoughts and conversations. As Pastor Terry exhorts us to become imitators of God, we are ALSO warned NOT to partake in the kinds of things the Bible describes as unclean or unfitting for us as believers. God’s warnings are meant for our good. Obeying God in these areas will protect us from deception designed to rob us of our inheritance in the Kingdom of God.

We live in a culture that is obsessed with outward appearance and physical fitness. However, today we will learn from Scripture that our inward health and fitness is much more important. In Ephesians chapter 3, we get a glimpse into the Apostle Paul’s inner prayer life. As we read his powerful and goose-bump raising prayer for the church in Ephesus today, we immediately understand that Paul’s primary concern for people was their inner spiritual health and vitality. Pastor Terry asks us to examine our prayer life today to see if we are focused on eternal things as Paul was.

In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Paul fervently prays that the people would come to know the love of Christ. Pastor Terry teaches us that Paul desired that all of God’s people would have an intimate, firsthand, experiential knowledge of the love of God. This love is beyond our comprehension. It is higher than high, deeper than deep, and wider than wide. However, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we can know what it is to be loved by our Creator, adored by the One Who died for us, and established by the Father who desires intimate fellowship His children.

It's easy to fall into the thinking that your life is insignificant and that the small things you do don't matter. That's exactly what the enemy wants you to believe. When you believe that, you'll end up not doing anything. Today Pastor Terry reminds us that it's in the every day simple ways that we serve God and one another that we begin to see God's will done. As you listen today, hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit prompting you to serve God in ANY way possible...even the small, seemingly insignificant ways.

In the Greek culture meekness was something that was completely frowned upon. Those that were meek were considered weak and were, many times, slaves in the culture. Sound familiar? Our culture is very similar. We celebrate the brash and powerful while ignoring those that are quietly living their lives. Today Pastor Terry will give us a Biblical definition of what meekness is. We'll learn that meekness is not weakness. In fact, it's the exact opposite...it's strength under control.

Sadly, there's a notion in the Body of Christ that it's the job of the paid professional staff of the church to do all the work of God's kingdom. Many believe that it's the pastor's job to tell people about Jesus. Today Pastor Terry shatters this concept by sharing with us that each and every person who has accepted Jesus as their LORD and Savior is IN the ministry! That's right! It doesn't matter if you're a school teacher, an engineer, a stay at mom, or a college student...God has called and gifted you to do something to further His kingdom here on earth.