A Dedicated Church

Have you ever asked yourself the question, “What’s so special about my church?”

This is a very important question. We must all consider why we go to church and why we attend our current church. There are many reasons why people select to go to their present church. Some of these reasons may include:

• I have my social contacts here
• This location of this church is so convenience
• I have always gone here
• People would think less of me if I attended somewhere else
• I am comfortable at this church
• I don’t want to start over at a new church
• And the list goes on

I can list these reasons because they are things that have gone through my mind in the past. It’s always easier to stay put rather than allowing God to stretch me with new ministry opportunities.

Have you ever asked yourself the question, “What’s so special about my church?”

But today at Truth Fellowship Live, I experienced a worship service that convinced me that God is in this ministry and He wants to guide the ministry of this church. Today, we experienced at TFL exactly what a church is supposed to be.

The Dedication Service

Today was Dedication Sunday at TFL. This was a special service marking the beginning of our ministry in our new facility. This service called on the congregation to dedicate the facility and themselves to the work of the Lord. During the service, the congregants made several affirmations concerning what we believe:

• We believe that the Lord has led us to begin this ministry that we have called Truth Fellowship Live.
• We believe this ministry is for God’s Glory.
• We believe that God led us to this facility.
• We believe that He put it into our hearts to rent this space and to do the hard work of renovating it and preparing it to be this place of worship, prayer, fellowship, teaching of the Word of God, training in service for Him and the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus, The Christ.
• We believe that God, the Holy Spirit has guided our minds and strengthened our hands and provided the means for this body of Believers to come to this day.

I found it so refreshing that we then proceeded to do those things that we affirmed, that is, we participated in worship, prayer, fellowship, and teaching the Word of God. The Bible clearly teaches that these are the primary functions of the Church.

Prayer

One of the unique disciplines we practice at TFL is that we take time each week to participate in corporate prayer. Each week we take time to share praises and take specific prayer requests. We then pray over these items as a congregation. We did this a bit differently at our Dedication Service today but we prayed together none-the-less. Today, four of our leaders prayed specifically over TFL. They gave praise to God for this ministry and prayed for the proper use of this new facility, for God’s leading in our ministries and for His guidance as we move forward at TFL. What a wonderful time of prayer together as these men led the congregation.

Worship

Even on this special Sunday, the worship environment was evident during our service today. The music was solemn and drew us into our relationship with God. This is a mainstay at TFL. The music we select is intended to bring us a place of worshiping God. As we affirmed during our dedication service that we solemnly dedicated this facility:

• To the Everlasting God our Father, in whom we live and move and have our being; who gives to us every good and perfect gift; and who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…
• To Jesus, The Christ, our Lord and our Savior, who loved us and gave Himself for us in His sacrificial death on the Cross of Calvary; and rose again on the third day and lives forevermore, who is the way and the truth and the life, and who has promised that He will return again to this earth, collect His saints and establish His everlasting Kingdom of Righteousness, Justice and Peace…
• To the Holy Spirit, our Comforter and our Guide, who regenerates us and takes up His residence in us, who leads us to repentance and guides us into truth, who prompts us to love one another and who sets assurance of our eternal salvation deep within our hearts…

At TFL, we are interested praising, worshiping, and serving God. Our purpose in having this church is clear. We faithfully teach and preach the Word of God while all the time protecting and defending sound doctrine. We earnestly seek to provide comfort and encouragement to those in this ministry. And we seek to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.

This we all this as an act of worship to a loving and caring God.

Teaching the Word of God

The teaching at TFL is always “Bible-based.” By that, I mean we present the truth of God’s word in a systematic manner. We method at TFL is to preach through the Word. Since TFL infancy, we have studied the books of Ephesians and Daniel. We are now working through the Gospel of Luke. The messages from the pulpit are based on 1) examining the message as it would be understood by the people to whom the passage was intended, 2) determining how this message principles of the passage that God intended for the original audience and for us, and 3) developing living lessons from the passage.

At TFL, the congregation hears the lesson our speaker suggest from the passage, but they are always encouraged to seek out the application of the passage from their own life. This is the only way that we grow in the Word. We must seek to understand how the principles presented in the Word are to be applied to our individual lives.

Many people want the “preacher” to tell them how the Word applies to them. In order to do that, great generalizations must be made. This seems to protect people from the responsibility of applying the Word to their personal lives. General applications tend to be of the “feel-good” type. At TFL, our challenge is to seek out how God intends for each of us to take the principles from God’s Word and apply them to our lives.

Fellowship

We had about 50 people at our Dedication Service today. Praise God! After our very solemn and important worship/dedication service, we shared a meal together. I found it wonderful to see people work together to get the facility ready for eating together. Our room was set up so that that we sat in long rows of tables. Families were mixed with families.

What an exciting time this was! People who hardly knew one another were fellowshipping together—the conversations were continuous and everyone was drawn into the celebration. I can’t even put into words how wonderful it is to see people enjoying one-another and caring for one another.

I was also so very encouraged to see people serving one-another…people behaving the way Christ would have us behave.

By the end of the day, I was so encouraged with the direction of TFL. TFL is a church that praises God in all aspects of our ministry. We worship together—not to please men but to please God. We pray together in a variety of venues. We teach the Word of God—we don’t “dumb-down” the Scriptures; rather, we seek to discover the truth and apply it to our lives. Finally, we sincerely enjoy one-another—we enjoy God-centered fellowship.

TFL is a new ministry and I believe a great work of God in a time when most churches are allowing the prevalent culture of the world infiltrate their ministry. I praise God for TFL!

Are you ready for a new, unique, and refreshing ministry? Consider worshiping with us at our new location.