Dear fellow disciples of
Jesus,
As we start the final 7 days of fasting and prayer leading up to our celebration of Pentecost, we witness to God’s faithfulness to speak to those who will listen. Fasting means we are setting aside things to more cl
early hear from God. Our prayer is for the grace to be in agreement with God. Check out the reports from these days on our website. Provocative and promising are these tokens of entering into what God is doing next in and through us.
As we gather from our homes and work, from our home groups and Bible studies we come to not only to worship and praise the Lord but rehearse and edify the church with testimonies and reports of what God is doing in our midst. God is forming us to be a church for the sake of others. Beyond just our own edification and comfort, we are being blessed to be a blessing. The Great Commission is still our marching orders. We are committed to go and make disciples of Jesus Christ. Of course we first must be engaged in that assignment before we can help others to enter in to Kingdom life and work. The challenge is to clean up, grow up, and tool up so we must be learners if we are to be disciples.
Heartland Church values learning, growing and being fruitful in the Spirit. We believe that to say yes to God is to say yes to the ongoing teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Holy Spirit leads us to Jesus and teaches us the things of God (John 14:26). As we listen and obey we are transformed in character and conduct to be like Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18). As we obey, we mature and demonstrate the fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Growing this way not only as individuals but as a family at Heartland requires continual instruction and application. We value small groups and classes as one way to reach this value of maturing disciples.
To learn is to grow. To learn is to change. As we commit to see life from the perspective of the Bible and the Bible from the perspective of life we are challenged to repent and change old ways of thinking and embrace the truth of God’s Word. We highly value the Word of God and in our life together we find ways to get into the Word until the Word gets into us. We don’t want to just study Scripture for information, but for revelation and transformation. As we receive revelation and embrace change, we become more like Jesus.
As we study and apply the Word of God we endeavor to be raised up to the standard of Scripture in our experience, not lower Scripture to our limited experiences. We don’t want our lives as Christ’s disciples to be defined by culture or political correctness, but with God’s help we desire to allow the Bible to define all of life including our culture.
We value the message of the Kingdom of God and are progressing in living out our lives as a member of the Kingdom of God. The message of the Kingdom is good news and a radical invitation to change not only our own lives, but the lives over which each of us have influence. Living in the ThroneZone (where God rules and reigns) enables us to share what we receive from the Holy Spirit with others. We realize we are just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.
If you would like to be in a group or would like to start a group we will help you. Ron teaches a class frequently on how to lead a group with an inductive approach to Bible study and sharing that is easily learned and highly effective. We invite you to come grow up in Christ, be a maturing disciple, with the Heartland family.
Thank you for your partnership. God has created the church because He intends for us to do together what we cannot do alone. We are having an impact as we work together.
Blessings,
Ron Allen for the ministry support team