Church Planters Build Up Faith To Produce Holiness

 

Hello my brother, hello my sister, my name is Dean Davis and this is Multiply, a

podcast that provides a word of encouragement for village church planters.

The world we live in is broken. All around us people are giving themselves to

more and more sin. Our countries are filled with terrorism, rebellion and war.

Husband don’t love their wives and wives despise their husbands. Selfishness

and pride are on display almost everywhere we look.

As we observe the world around us, it would be easy to believe that no one can

live a holy life. A holy life is a life devoted to God. A holy life is a life that is

good and kind, a life that reflects the love of God. A holy life is a life lived in

humility trusting in the goodness of God and believing in the power of God.

The apostle Paul lived in a world much like our world today. When he looked

around he saw warfare, abusive governments, and men and women given to all

sorts of sensual perversions. Power was wielded at the tip of a spear or the

blade of a sword. Even so, Paul had the audacity to believe that God could

make people holy. And because he believed that God could change sinful

people and make them good and kind and devoted to God, Paul gave his life to

work with God to see the people of his day transformed.

That’s amazing. I want to have a faith like that. I want to believe that the

goodness of God is greater than the power of sin. I want to believe that we are

not all condemned to live a horrible, destructive, selfish lives. I want to have a

faith like Paul’s. I think you do too. Listen as Paul describes God sanctifying

work, and his, as I read from Colossians 1:21-23:

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because

of your evil behavior.  But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical

body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free

from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do

not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you

heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of

which I, Paul, have become a servant.

What gave church planter Paul the confidence to work so that his people could

truly live holy lives? He believed the death of Christ on the cross paid the

penalty for all sin. He believed the Good News that in his resurrection Jesus

released grace that frees us from the power of sin. Paul believed that there is

sanctifying power in the blood of the Lamb of God. And he believe that we can

all experience that power to live a good and holy life if we will continue to

walk by faith putting our hope in Christ. Because he had experienced this

power from God, he devoted his life to proclaim it and to help people live in

this hope.

You are a church planter. You have devoted yourself to proclaiming the Gospel.

As you plant churches, be sure that you, like Paul, tell the whole story. Jesus

did not die just so our sins could be forgiven. He died and rose again so that

even in an evil world, we can live a life of goodness and kindness, devoted to

God. Paul was a servant of the Gospel message that transforms lives. We can

be as well. In the world in which we live, having a hope like that is amazing!

This is Multiply.

If you have found this podcast to be helpful, please forward it to fellow church

planters and disciple-makers who may need encouragement.

Be encouraged, God is with us!

#EncouragementforVillageChurchPlanters #Colossians #HolyLives

www.vcpencouragement.org