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Welcome to the Neighborhood
"Sharing Our Lord, Our Love, Our Lives"
Where is home? If you are in the military, that
can be a difficult question to answer. In our Neighborhood, we
believe home is where God wants you to be. So we call this home -
a place where people like you and I can gather together and worship God
freely, grow by his grace and experience His love every day. In
our Neighborhood, there is a church family waiting to love you and
encourage you as you seek after God. We're not just a church,
we're a Family!
Countdown to Sunday Service! Are
you ready?
Services Times
Sunday Prayer 8:45 AM
Sunday School 9:30 AM
Sunday Service 10:30 AM
Monday Men's Ministry 7:00 PM
Tuesday Japanese Ladies Bible Study 10:00 AM
Wednesday Family Night; Bible Study, Missionettes,
Royal Rangers, Youth 7:00 PM
3rd Saturday Men's Breakfast
4th Sunday Holy Grounds Cafe 6:00 PM
Nursery Available for ALL services
Japanese simultaneous translation
Men's, Women's and Children's Ministries
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Weekly Devotion:
Intentional Discipleship
In the last two messages, we've seen how Barnabas was an encouragement
in the lives of Paul and Mark. We considered how Barnabas must
have seen the "Christ-potential" in others and discipled them at
critical seasons of their life.
Discipleship involves prayer, teaching, compassion, commitment, and the
ability to lead by a Godly example; but there is also an element of
discipleship which is extremely active and intentional. When
Barnabas saw how Paul was being rejected in Jerusalem, he "took him and
brought him to the apostles" (Acts 9:27). When he may have been
concerned that Paul was discouraged; "Barnabas went to Tarsus to look
for Paul" (Acts 11:25). And when Mark was facing rejection and
almost certain discouragement for future ministry; "Barnabas took Mark
and sailed for Cyprus" (Acts 15:39).
Each of these events involved much more than a kind word as Barnabas
continued on his own path. They involved evaluating the need, and
then making the necessary changes in his own path to help meet the need
- they involved being intentional.
There was certainly no better example of how to disciple others than
Jesus. During His ministry on earth He was an example to all who
saw or heard of Him. He taught large groups and ministered to
individuals at every opportunity. But with a specific group of
twelve, Jesus gave an extra measure of His time and energy to help them
grow closer to God and equip them for future ministry.
Luke 6:12-13
"Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying
to God. When morning came, He called His disciples to Him and chose
twelve of them, whom He also designated apostles."
We ought to do more than encourage when it's convenient; more than live
a Godly life and hope others will follow. In Jesus, we are given a
wonderful example of choosing, through prayer, individuals whom we
intentionally lead closer to God. This is clearly His command when
Jesus says, "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19).
I wish I could say it's easy to "go and make disciples," but it's not.
And I wish I could say I'm good at it, but I'm definitely not!
Getting schedules and desires to match up seems to get harder all the
time, and can often become discouraging. And yet, we must not give
up. Jesus showed us the way and commanded us to follow - this is
the only true plan for discipleship!
Let's continue to lead through the example of a devoted and holy life
and encourage those in need at every opportunity. But let's also
take the next step and prayerfully identify those who will receive our
special attention for an extended period of time. Let's pour
ourselves into others and help them grow closer to Jesus through
intentional discipleship.
Have a Christ Centered Day!
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