IN THIS UPDATE:
WE’LL HAVE ONE WORSHIP SERVICE THIS SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, AT 10:00 AM. (Please make note that our regular Sunday morning service schedule will be suspended that day.)We’ll worship together at the church at 10:00 am and then go to the church picnic at 12:30-4:30 pm.
THIS SUNDAY we continue our series of messages on shocking statements made by Jesus as we look at one of his best-known and yet often misunderstood statements (by both Christians and Non-Christians alike). It’s recorded in a couple places in the gospels (Matthew 7 and Luke 6): “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” What does he mean by that? Is no one ever to judge anyone or anything? Bring your questions with you as we tackle this teaching together. I think we’re going to be both challenged and encouraged! Bring a friend along!
OUR ALL-CHURCH PICNIC IS THIS SUNDAY! After the worship service today, we’re meeting at Camarillo Grove Park (6968 E. Camarillo Springs Road). The picnic starts at12:30 PM. They’ll be food, fellowship, games, and FUN! (I understand there might even be some jamming going on.)
If you haven’t signed up yet, stop by the Welcome Desk in the lobby on Sunday.
ANNUAL OXNARD CHURCHES SERVE DAY, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13: The annual “ONE CITY- ONE CHURCH” Serve Day will take place from about 9 AM to noon that day. Gold Coast is joining other churches in our area to serve the people of Oxnard through the love of Jesus.
The following are areas you can serve in during that 3-hour time period: Neighborhood/Alley Cleanup, Beach Cleanup, Sack lunch distribution, Homeless Care Kit Distribution, Shelter Care Resources (Foster Kids Fest), Prayer Team (Levite Ministry), Structure Painting, Flower Distribution, Water Distribution, Beach Cleanup, Gabriel House Cleanup, Convalescent Home Visit, Coffee Outreach and Laundry Love. (If you usually serve at Buddy Break, please continue to serve as a Buddy or for setting up or resetting rooms.) As you can see, there’s a place for every Christ-follower to serve that day so please put it on your calendar and plan to take part in this important experience.
Last year’s first event of its kind proved to be a powerful experience and display of unity in the name of Jesus and this year’s event promises to be even greater!
I’m praying for 100% of our Gold Coast family to participate that day and here’s why. This is the best opportunity we have all year long to participate in seeing Jesus’ prayer for unity fulfilled among his people:“I pray for these followers, but I am also praying for all those who will believe in me because of their teaching. Father, I pray that they can be one. As you are in me and I am in you, I pray that they can also be one in us. Then the world will believe that you sent me” (John 17:20–21 NCV).
Max Lucado writes: How precious are these words. Jesus, knowing the end is near, prays one final time for his followers. Striking, isn’t it, that he prayed not for their success, their safety, or their happiness.
He prayed for their unity. He prayed that they would love each other. As he prayed for them, he also prayed for “those who will believe because of their teaching.” That means us! In his last prayer Jesus prayed that you and I be one.
Of all the lessons we can draw from this verse, don’t miss the most important: unity matters to God. Why? Because “all people will know that you are my followers if you love each other” (John 13:35 NCV). Unity creates belief. How will the world believe that Jesus was sent by God? Not if we agree with each other. Not if we solve every controversy. Not if we are unanimous on each vote. Not if we never make a doctrinal error. But if we love one another.
Unity creates belief. Disunity fosters disbelief. Who wants to board a ship of bickering sailors? Paul Billheimer may very well be right when he says: “The continuous and widespread fragmentation of the Church has been the scandal of the ages. It has been Satan’s master strategy. The sin of disunity probably has caused more souls to be lost than all other sins combined.”
Could it be that unity is the key to reaching the world for Christ? The world will be won for Christ when the church is one in Christ. If unity is the key to evangelism, shouldn’t it have precedence in our prayers? Shouldn’t we, as Paul said, “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3 NIV)?
Nowhere, by the way, are we told to build unity. We are told simply to keep unity. From God’s perspective there is but “one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16). Unity does not need to be created; it simply needs to be protected.
Where there is faith, repentance, and a new birth, there is a Christian. When I meet a person whose faith is in the cross and whose eyes are on the Savior, I meet a brother or a sister. Wasn’t that Paul’s approach? When he wrote the church in Corinth, he addressed a body of Christians guilty of every sin from abusing the Lord’s Supper to arguing over the Holy Spirit. But how does he address them? “I beg you, brothers and sisters” (1 Corinthians 1:10 NCV).
When the church in Rome was debating whether to eat meat offered to idols, did Paul tell them to start two churches? One for the meat-eaters and one for the non-meat-eaters? No, on the contrary, he urged, “Christ accepted you, so you should accept each other, which will bring glory to God” (Romans 15:7 NCV).
Is God asking us to do anything more than what he has already done? Hasn’t he gone a long way in accepting us? If God can tolerate my mistakes, can’t I tolerate the mistakes of others? If God allows me, with my foibles and failures, to call him Father, shouldn’t I extend the same grace to others? If God doesn’t demand perfection, should I? “They are God’s servants,” Paul reminds us, “not yours. They are responsible to him, not to you. Let him tell them whether they are right or wrong. And God is able to make them do as they should” (Romans 14:4 TLB).
