Every church should be make these 3 areas its primary focus. Every individual should prioritize three purposes. What are they? • Win people to Christ! • Build strong disciples! • Send people into mission in the market place and the world. These 3 purposes answer the question…why the church here. It answers the question what is the church supposed to be doing? It answers the question…”What am I supposed to be doing?” The answer is the same for the church and for us as individuals. • Win people to Christ! • Build strong disciples! • Send people into mission in the market place and the world. Last week we talked about how to win people to Christ. Today, I want to tell you how to build strong disciples!

Let me encourage you to set some goals…to make some resolutions. It is good for us to focus on an area in our life that we want to improve! Maybe it is being a better husband/wife/father/mother, maybe it is the perennial favorites of losing weight or saving money, maybe it is to develop your prayer life or spend more time reading God’s word…maybe it is reading God’s word as a family.

What is hope? Is it merely wishful thinking? People tend to hope for a lot of different things. Some people hope for a better job, some for more money, and some for someone to love or someone to love them. Is this what we mean by hope? You see…Biblical hope is different than the hope of the world. Biblical hope is not wishful thinking…biblical hope is based upon God! It is based on His unchanging character. Our hope is different because our hope has a source…it is not a wish! Our hope is based on God’s unbreakable promises!

This morning, I want to talk to you about our testimony of faith! YOU have a testimony of faith and WE have a testimony of faith. You have one that affects you personally…things that relate to you personally….and then…there is our testimony of faith. The situations that we face together as a church. The hardships we endure and the outreaches we attempt…like Christmas For the City and the changes we go through as a church. You see, we are always growing and moving. God is always doing something in HIS church. I do not believe that God has called the church to complacency…do you? We are to experience more of his nature in our lives…more of his love, mercy, grace and power! Sometimes God moves US (all of us) into places that ALL OF US do not understand…in order to teach US something about ourselves...and that together WE learn something about God himself. It is then that we have a new testimony of faith! Just like the children of Israel when they left Egypt and came face to face with the Red Sea!

A testimony is about faith, trust, action, and obedience! We have a testimony because we are facing an obstacle or a situation…something that is happening or has happened to us…