2026-1-4 God's Plan, Our Mission

Now as we talk about what God is doing and has been doing, it's helpful to look at two different concepts of time that are found in the bible. Kronos time and Kairos time. Kronos time is where we get the word chronograph from or chronology. That's calendar time, clock time. It's measured in minutes, in hours, in days, in weeks, in months, in years, decades, so forth. But then there's Kairos time. Kronos is is steady. It just keeps on going. You can't stop it. It's just a steady moving into the future. Kairos time, it means the opportune time or the right time for something. [00:25:41] (44 seconds)  #SeizeTheKairos

And also the work of the holy spirit. The Christ spirit dwells in us. Christ spirit speaks through the word. It's through Christ spirit that our character is formed. And so the word and the spirit provides the foundation of truth and character and transformation that we need to do the ministry god has called us to do. The ministry that we hope will be life changing for all who attend. [00:28:34] (26 seconds)  #SpiritFormsCharacter

My dad as a Presbyterian minister in the mid nineteen sixties experienced a mighty filling of the holy spirit that revolutionized his ministry. And so the the movement, the Presbyterian heritage combined with the Pentecostalism, a mighty move of the holy spirit that emerged in the early twentieth century, movement of the spirit that really recaptured the vibrancy and passion of the work of the spirit, but sometimes was lacking in biblical ballast. It could go astray a bit. And so my dad sought to combine both of these, the power of the spirit in Pentecostalism and the foundation of the word of God that was so deep in historic Presbyterianism. He liked to call himself a presbycostal. [00:29:56] (51 seconds)  #Presbycostal

We believe God is calling the covenant church Sheboygan to recapture the fullness of word and spirit, which is the historic foundation of the ECC. First, we wanna be people of the word. One of the things that is a marked characteristic of our denomination is what we call the six covenant affirmations. Today, I'll share two of these. The first of all the affirmations is this, we affirm the centrality of the word of God. [00:33:08] (34 seconds)  #CentralityOfTheWord

We believe God's word is powerful, and God is calling us to be a people of the word. We want to learn the word deeply and rightly understand it. But not just learn it with our minds, with our heads, but let it sink deep into our hearts and then form the way that we live. This is central to who we are. [00:34:12] (29 seconds)  #PeopleOfTheWord

About fifteen years ago or so, he saw a vision of the covenant church. He said it was like an aerial view, like a drone view even though that was before drones were out. And as he he saw this view, the parking lot was full. And there were it was so full that it was overflowing, and there were cars up and down Abrahamson Road, and people were flooding to the church. And those who couldn't get in were looking in the windows. The he says there was a revival that was happening, and it was even regional. [00:34:49] (38 seconds)  #OverflowingRevival

But we also know we need the power of the spirit. We wanna walk in the power of the spirit for life. We believe that the holy spirit can mightily provide the the power, the resources, the gifts that we need to minister effectively. And so we pray for people. On alpha retreats, we pray with people with on the lay with the laying out of hands. We we can pray for you any morning for the fullness of the spirit. This will be an ongoing and growing part of our ministry. [00:41:37] (28 seconds)  #PowerOfTheSpirit

And so our response, find places to intentionally grow and to lovingly give. Find places to intentionally grow and to lovingly give. We all need to be growing, we all need to be giving. Get involved in the life group. Attend Alpha. Bring a friend to Alpha. That's there you're reaching out to to bring other people into the closer walk with Jesus. Be involved in in bible studies. Whatever the lord is calling you to, find a place where you can grow. And in that place, give. And and beyond that, give. We wanna be involved. [00:56:38] (39 seconds)  #GrowGiveServe