For a few weeks we are going to look at the order and structure of the Church. How we see it and how God views it and how He has engaged us for His purpose as His Church in this world.
We will use a simple to follow set of descriptive words that are each a part of the Worship experience. When they are put together, we will better understand God’s collective Church here in this world.
We will call them the The C’s of Christianity – Confession, Contrition, Covenant, Community, Connection, Church
You will notice in this order that Church is last. That is not a slight on Church or a random listing of these tenants. Each are results from a very thorough review of how God empowers our lives for Him. We will discuss the importance of that order as we go through them. I hope this discussion will be of value for you in your daily life.
C #1 – CONFESSION
Think with me on the make of automobile you own, the shoes you are wearing, the appliances in your home, the type of coffee you drink, your favorite authors or any of the popular things in your life that have meaning for you.
With each of these you can freely express why you are loyal to a certain brand, make or model. You share over coffee, visits and in casual conversation what these things mean to you and how you support them. You make a “confession of faith” in them to others because you have experienced enough with them to know they are of value to you and may therefore also help others, so you don’t think twice about recommending them.
Our faith is no different but for some reason it is so much more difficult to share. We find ourselves in awkward feeling places when thinking of sharing our faith.
One of the areas where we could use some help would be in the “hands on” part of our faith. When we share our confession of support in a car, house appliance, tool …. we have faith in them because we have used them, we are familiar with them, and we can communicate that support by our experience.
Sadly, in most of our lives our personal relationship with Jesus Christ is not as strong as we would like for it to be so we just are not comfortable to share our faith with others. Jesus said if we cannot do that ( Confess Him before Men ) then we do not have a relationship with him – Then if we think of why we don’t have a relationship with him the heart of the matter comes to light for us – “where your treasure is there will your heart be also” Luke 12:34 – where do we spend our valuable resources ( Time, Energy and Talent ) that God has blessed us with?
In the study of His word and talking “ prayer “ with Him we build a relationship with Him. That experience over time allows us to share His presence in our lives with others. Our confession becomes a real and active faith not just a verbal commitment that we cannot support.
When faith is present in our lives, and we are open and willing to tell others about our faith then our confession, like Peter’s, becomes a foundation for God to continue to build His Church in our daily lives because we are sharing that confession with the world around us.
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” 15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Peter’s Declaration about Jesus – Matthew 16:13-20 New Living Translation (NLT)

PRAYER
Please visit our How Can We Pray For You page if you want prayer.
LEARN MORE
Would you like to learn more about Beulah Hill Christian Church? Please check out the Who We Are Page. You can meet our Pastor and find out what the symbol of the Disciples of Christ is and its history.
Find us and connect with us on Facebook.
As part of our faith, are we expected to include our confession in our conversations with others? When is it appropriate, how do we respond to negative comments when we insert Christianity in discussions?