Provision & Revision

Elevation Church is 7 weeks into an 8 week series of discussions on the "one another" statements found in the New Testament.  This past week we started with Galatians 5:13 which says we are to "serve one another humbly in love".  Our discussion took off from there as we sought to find how Jesus went about serving others during his 3 years of ministry. Here are the high points:

We found that Jesus served in many ways, but we were able to classify some of his major acts of service into 2 categories - provision and revision.  Jesus serves through provision when he provided something physical that a person needed.  He serves through revision when he revises the stories of our lives through supernatural or spiritual acts of service.

Jesus' provisionary acts of service come in many forms, but the majors are feeding (Matthew 14 & 15), healing (Matthew 4:23-25, Mark 10:36-52), and leading (Matthew 4:18-22).  His revision acts of service are less tangible but even more powerful.  They are manifest in grace, which is when Jesus gives us what we don't deserve (Romans 3:21-24); mercy, which is when Jesus does not give us what we DO deserve (Romans 6:19-23), and forgiveness which we find in Luke 22:32-34. 

Since the word Christian means 'little Christ' and since Christians are supposed to follow Jesus' examples, we concluded that the church - those who call ourselves followers of Jesus - are supposed to be engaged in acts of feeding, healing, and leading as well as extending grace, mercy, and forgiveness.  When we compare what the church is doing today we found that we, the church, fall short.  We've forgotten to practice, the 'one anothers'.  We are quick to point people to a building, a program or a denomination and say that's the church...they will help.  We have lost touch with the fact that we, as individuals, are the church in its simplest and sometimes most effective form. 

Elevation Church is a body of believers in Jesus whose association is founded on the principle of the responsibility of all believers to do the ministry of Jesus.  And we are committed to preparing one another, challenging one another and holding one another accountable for practicing this principle daily.  We pray you will join us in this quest to be the church, the people, Jesus has called us to be!