We have an amazing opportunity to partner with Hope For New York via His Toy Store this Saturday! This is when churches and organizations get together to provide a unique shopping experience for families in need throughout the city. Families can come and shop at no cost. And specifically there will be a store hosted right here in Bushwick! So this Saturday you can volunteer to help setup the shop and serve the families of Bushwick. Here's the schedule for the day: 11:30AM-12PM - Volunteers Arrive 12:00-12:15PM - Volunteer Orientation 12:15-12:30PM - Divide and Assign Roles 12:30PM-2:00PM - Family Shopping Time! 2:30PM-3:00PM - Food, clean up, depart. So if you would like to take part in this awesome opportunity, all you have to do is visit this link to register and sign up. Now, spots are limited so make sure you act on it right away! Here's all the info you need to know about when and where: His Toy Store Saturday, December 5th 11:30 AM - 3 PM Living Waters Fellowship 265 Stanhope St. Brooklyn, NY 11237 As a church we are passionate about being the hands and feet of Jesus and seeking out opportunities to serve our community, Bushwick. What a great way to do just that!
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 The following is a summary of what we spoke about this Sunday. Last week we ended with a reading of Ephesians 4:15-16 which says
It gives us this picture of a body at which the head is Jesus. We all together form part of this body. The body is held together by “every supporting ligament” and it grows and is built up “in love”. It also paints this picture of each member of this body having a job to do and fulfilling work. THE BODY This will be our primary analogy. You especially see Paul use this example as he describes the church. It’s a good picture because as you can see we have many different appendages, limbs, and parts but they all contribute to being one body. Before we begin specifically talking about these gifts, what they are, etc., let’s talk about what exactly are these gifts for? WHAT ARE THE GIFTS FOR?
As we look at this passage, I want you to see the language that Peter uses here. Let’s try to highlight these attitudes:
What observation can you make from this passage and from the language used? Who are the gifts for? What do we do with these gifts? I think that the language here is pretty clear that one of the primary reasons we are gifted is for the service of one another. But Peter gives us an even greater purpose and use of our gifts. ...in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Ultimately, we are gifted to bring glory to Jesus. And when we use our gifts to show hospitality, love one another, and serve one another it all brings glory to Jesus. Before we get into specifics, let’s discuss why you are important to the church. We return to the body analogy. YOU ARE IMPORTANT For this next part I need us to take out our Bibles, or YouVersion Bible Apps to read along this passage since it’s pretty lengthy. {Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-31} Paul continues his analogy of the body representative of the church. In this passage in particular he uses a little sarcasm and humor to make his point. It seems like perhaps in the church of Corinth, and in anticipation of today, Paul writes to clarify more on spiritual gifts and the importance of each individual in the corporate body of Christ. I think that in this passage, Paul both elevates those who may see themselves as insignificant within the church while humbling those who think of themselves too highly. This thought, I believe, continues within many churches today. What do you think of yourself?
This Chapter is closed out with a set of rhetorical questions. “Are we all prophets, are we all teachers?” The answer is an unequivocal “no”. This means you are important! You have something to contribute! SOME GIFTS We’re going to continue to look at some gifts listed in this very chapter. This is by no means a comprehensive list. Let’s look at what it says, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11.
As you can see by this passage, there are many different types of gifts but the source of the gifts are all from the same place. It also confirms the fact that we use the gifts to help and serve each other. Being that the source of the gifts all come from the same person, I want you to also notice that He alone decides which gifts we each have. He personally assigns us gifts. This ought to come to the forefront of our minds when we look at someone else’s gifts and wish we had them ourselves. Would you like to learn what gifts you possess? Take this free test to help you discover your gifts. Visit giftstest.com. Now, in no way is this a super comprehensive or extensive test. But it does serve however to help us narrow down a few ways we may be uniquely gifted. Now that we know our gifts, next week we will discuss how we can use our gifts to serve the church. In many ways this is a continuation of what we spoke about today. In fact, much may even crossover. But this is what we have to look forward to in Servology. Swerve Church is a new church plant forming in the community of Bushwick in Brooklyn.
 Today we are going to focus on Churchology. As with the gospel, many times we have an unhealthy or false view of the church. What is the church and what is the mission of the church? Is the church limited to a building with a steeple and stained glass? Here are some common misconceptions of the church. The church is not…
So then what is the church? First we must begin at the top. JESUS IS CHIEF SHEPHERD Now may the God of peace-- who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood-- may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. {Hebrews 13:20-21} In this passage, who is the Shepherd? Who are the sheep? Jesus is our chief Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep (Gospelology). Many times we have these distinctions brought about mostly by tradition. But here we clearly see that the head of the church is not a pastor, bishop, pope, tele-evangelist, or prophet. Jesus is the head* and we are all part of the body (church). *Colossians 1:18 - He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. JESUS IS FOUNDING PASTOR When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. {Matthew 16:13-18} I love this passage! Jesus says that he is founding pastor and that no one, not even Satan and the gates of hell, can ever stop what he has founded! And hasn’t this stood the test of time? Look at all the persecution that has happened and continues to happen around the world. The church still continues strong. So ultimately Jesus is our chief shepherd, our lead pastor. Again, this speaks to what we spoke about last week, that we are a gospel-centered church. Our church is founded upon Jesus’ founding of the church. Without Jesus’ perfect life, his sacrifice, and resurrection, there is no church. JESUS SENDS OUT Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” {Matthew 28:18-20} After Jesus’ resurrection, he appears to his disciples and gives them this command. The command to make disciples of all nations. This passage is incredible because Jesus tells his disciples that he has all power and authority, and with that power and authority he commissions them to go. He also sends them to teach all his commands. What are some of these commands?
This is how we come into the picture. Because people took this command seriously, today we know the truth and have the hope of the gospel. WE ARE THE CHURCH And so because of this, we too are commissioned to do the same. We are commissioned to make disciples, to love God, love people, to baptize and teach. When we make that decision to follow Jesus, we are adopted into the family of God. We are new creations, purchased by the blood of Jesus. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. {Ephesians 4:15-16} This passage speaks to the fact that we each play an important role in the body as a church. This means that the church is not a building or place. Rather is a people redeemed by Jesus, sent out on mission to make disciples and make Jesus’ name great. This leads us to what we will be talking about next week, Giftology. If we are the church and we play such an important role collectively as the body of Christ, then where do I specifically fit and how do I function? Swerve Church is a new church plant forming in the community of Bushwick in Brooklyn.  Enjoy these notes from "The Time Is Now" week 3: THE PROBLEM: CONDITIONAL OBEDIENCE TO GOD "I'll do what you tell me to do as long as it's not inconvenient, makes me uncomfortable or I don't see what I want to see." Many times we tell God this very thing. Our obedience to God is determined by our comfort level. If what He's asking us to do does not line up with we want it to be, then our obedience is conditional and we choose not to do it. What is God asking of you that you are putting a condition on? Forgive that person that has hurt you? Find accountability and confess that secret sin so that you can be restored? THE CORRUPTIVE POWER OF SIN
When your heart isn't right with God, everything you do will be wrong. Attitude matters. We do not obey God so that he will bless us. We obey God because we love him.
If we're honest, we don't like what it says in verse 17. But as we continue reading we see the reason. He was not trying to punish his people. Instead He was simply trying to restore them. Sometimes God will not change your negative situation because God is trying to change your heart. We're not saying that you deserve what is happening to you. But there are times that God may allow what is happening to catch your attention and bring your heart back to Him. If this seems unloving even for a moment, remember that if you're a parent, you would do the exact same thing as a loving parent to a rebellious child. God is saying here, more than anything else I want you heart. This is why corporate worship is so important. It helps us align our hearts to God's. This is why it's so important to gather in life groups. There is so much pulling our hearts away from God. Our affections are constantly challenged. We need each other to realign our hearts back to God. The beauty of this story is that God had their hearts. Because their hearts came back to God, so did the blessings of God. Not simply because the obeyed, but because their hearts changed.
Perhaps you are obeying outwardly but are rebellious and discontented inwardly. God is after your heart today. Swerve Church is a new church plant forming in the community of Bushwick in Brooklyn.
 The heart behind Ology is to root who we are as a church and what we do in Scripture. Our desire is to plant a life giving, gospel centered church in Bushwick, but can we ground that in Scripture? The answer is absolutely yes! So through Ology we are developing the Swerve DNA. We kicked off Ology with Bibleology. If we are going to base who we are and what we do on Scripture, we need to answer three questions to make sure that the Bible is a reliable place to get that info from. Here's the three questions we asked:
Is the Bible our ultimate authority?To answer this question we looked at 1 Thessalonians 2:13 which says, "And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers." The answer to this questions is yes because the Bible has the very words of God therefore it makes it our final authority. This means we can ground who we are and what we do as a church based on the Bible. Beyond that, personally we can base our lives on the Bible. But in order for this to be true, we must answer... Was the Bible divinely inspired by God?Again we look into Scripture to answer this question. We find the answer to this question at 2 Timothy 3:16, All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. In this passage, Paul describes the scriptures as "God-breathed". We see the picture of God exhaling on the words of Scripture. These are his very words. As a result, Paul says that it is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. But none of this truly makes sense if the Bible isn't trustworthy. In order to help us answer the last question, we looked at the historicity and accuracy of the Bibles that we have in our homes. Craig Groeschel helps us answer this question. Is the Bible trustworthy?Swerve Church is a new church plant forming in the community of Bushwick in Brooklyn. We'd love for you to be a part of what God is doing in Bushwick!
As we continue to plan and prepare for our launch next Easter, we've begun a series that will serve to lay down some solid foundational truths as to who we are and what we do as a church. The series is Ology. The definition of Ology is "the knowledge of." We titled it this because we are focusing on the most essential parts of the church. But we are not simply pulling our "ology" out of thin air. Rather we are focusing on these truths from a Biblical perspective. If we truly want to be a "life giving, gospel centered church", then we have to know what that truly mean and it has to be based off of Scripture. Here's a look into the topics we will be discussing:
Join us as we explore through these important topics and develop the Swerve DNA.
I hope that everyone had a fun and safe Halloween weekend. I wanted to share the above video. We had a great time this past weekend out and about serving our community in very practical ways. We often get asked why we do what we do. Especially on a day like Halloween. My question to you is, what other day in the year do you have all your neighbors out with their family accepting candy from strangers? Growing up we were taught to fear the day and stay home locked away. Now, to be fair, growing up in Bushwick, there were definitely safety concerns. I remember when I was in High School there were always rumors that X gang would be fight Y gang in the park after school. Or I remember in Middle School that the seniors would be egging all the freshman that day. There were definite concerns. Today, I see it as an opportunity to interact with as much of my neighbors as possible. So we head to the park and give candy out to trick or treaters and take free family photos. This year we even added some games that children could play to win some prizes. All this is an excuse to do two things:
I hope this helps explain a little of why we do what we do. I'd love to give you ann opportunity to join us next time. Help us love the people of our neighborhood in practical ways. Help us connect with more of our neighbors. We truly believe that this will lead to opportunities to share the hope we have in Jesus. |
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