Date: Sunday, August 19, 2018
Series Description:
The message series "How God has SHAPED Us for Ministry" is something that has been presented three other times in the past. We must give credit where credit is due, so it needs to be said up front that much of what will be presented in the messages over these 7 weeks will be taken from Pastor Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Church. Most of the key ideas that will be shared on this subject can be found in chapter 19 titled "Turning Members into Ministers". SHAPE is an acronym that Rick Warren developed to explain five elements (spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experiences) that determine what a person’s ministry should be. Each of us is uniquely designed, or shaped, by God to do certain things, and we will look at and hopefully discover together how God has shaped each of us for the ministry that He has prepared for us to do.
Sermon Description:
What should define us is what is at the core of us; what is in our heart; our passion for living. Last Sunday, we looked at the S that makes up our SHAPE, our Spiritual Gifts. This morning, we will be talking about the H in our SHAPE, which is our heart; our passion. There are nearly 800 verses in the Bible that refer to the heart. The Bible uses the term heart to represent the center of your motivation, desires, interests, and inclinations. We instinctively feel deeply about some things and not about others. Your heart serves as an integral guidance system for your life. God had a purpose in giving you your inborn interests. God gave you your heart, but it is your choice to use it for good or evil, for selfish reasons or to serve God and others.