The Mountain Top prepares you for The Valley

Sometimes we forget to mention why we gather together. Maybe we just forget what we are about on Sunday mornings? We are not just a social club! We have a purpose for gathering. We believe that Sunday morning should be a mountain top experience that energizes you.
THE BATTLE
Your week has been difficult. You are working at your job or at home while being a living witness in that world, loving your families sacrificially, and no doubt, enduring abuse from people who do not work or think like you do. Yet, you are determined to follow Jesus each day and if that is your plan, you have been opposed all week. Even getting out of bed to come to worship on Sunday morning feels like misery sometimes. But you come with hope in your hearts.
HOPE FOR WHAT? Because you hope to experience what the first church experienced in the first few Sabbaths after Pentecost; the presence of God through the movement of the Holy Spirit in your soul. He promises to be with us always but sometimes we forget. The first church worshiped God and they were energized by His power for their mission to their world.
THE BIBLICAL PATTERN FOR US
However, please notice that worship did not come first. (Acts 2:42-47) Worship was the outgrowth of, and the result of hearing teaching from the Word of God combined with intimate relationships. Worship was also a response to prayer and the breaking of bread; a remembrance of Jesus' sacrifice. In keeping with that pattern, our worship comes after the teaching of the Word each Sunday; not before. Some will argue that prayer and studying the Word of God IS worship. I can accept that but still like the physical worship of Sunday morning to follow teaching.
TEACHING
As for teaching the Word, we began teaching the book of Genesis on April 1st of last year. We are currently making plans to teach Ruth and then John. Whatever we teach, teaching the scriptures will always be our plan and sometimes, but not often, we will divert from the steady teaching of a specific book of the Bible for a topical message.
PREPARATION FOR YOUR MISSION
You were designed specifically to be sent to your world in the power of Jesus Christ to a hurting world that is seeking life in all the wrong places. You were made by a loving God and redeemed by the Blood of Christ for this specific battle; to take Jesus Christ, the living water, to a dry and thirsty land. It will be the continual plan at Journey to prepare you for your mission.