For the last 1 ½ years there has been a team of people in this church working on a new church governance structure, which we will vote on in November. One of the pieces of the puzzle was to have a very clear and concise mission statement. Here is the mission statement; Riverside exists to create life-changing encounters with Jesus. Encounters through worship gatherings. Our priority will be to create an atmosphere of freedom where the Holy Spirit is welcomed and working, the good news is proclaimed and where Jesus is at the center of everything. (Hebrews 10:25. Matthew 18:20). Encounters through discipleship. Our priority will be to grow believers into the fullness of who God called them to be. (Ephesians 4:13). Encounters through outreach. Our priority will be to reach our world by being a light to our community and beyond. We will seek ways to penetrate the darkness and invite the lost to experience the love of Jesus. (Matthew 28:16 – 20) Encounters through service. Our priority will be to raise up believers with the heart of service to the church and to the world. (Matthew 23:11). We are here to create life-changing encounters with Jesus. 1 Corinthians 2:1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. We are resolved here at Riverside – like Paul – that it has to be Jesus who is front and center. Jesus is the draw. Jesus is the main thing. Our confidence is not in our presentation or performance – our confidence is that when we lift up Jesus people will be drawn to him. We know that there is power in the name of Jesus. When we talk about encountering Jesus, what are we saying? We are saying what John said; John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. People encountered three things in Jesus – Glory. Grace. Truth. Glory. When you encounter Jesus, you will encounter glory. We also want people to encounter his grace. Grace is essentially a God who gives you everything when you deserve nothing. He exchanges his gifts for your rags. Grace is God’s complete acceptance in favor even though he’s not obligated to give it to you. There’s one more word in that verse; glory, grace and truth. When you encounter Jesus, just like when John encountered Jesus, he didn’t find more laws and more religion, he found the son of God, Jesus. And he found truth. Truth is reality. Truth is what is real. Jesus is real. Everything about Jesus is real. Everything Jesus says is real. Jesus is the truth. And who he is and what he says is unalterable. An encounter with Jesus is a decisive, orbit shifting moment of life. For some people they walk away resistant, hard, unyielding. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; God gave us the ministry of reconciling people with himself. Our business as a church is to create encounters where people can be reconciled with God. 1 Corinthians 2:1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Our prayer and our passion must be; “Jesus, do something more than what we can see. Show up. Let loose your power. Do the unexpected. Go beyond our music. Go beyond the sermon. Go beyond what we have studied. Pour out the spirit that can’t be stopped. The spirit that convicts of sin. The spirit that convicts that there is a new life in Christ. The spirit that convicts that Satan has been judged.” Four points from our mission statement - four ways that encounters can happen. We want to encounter Jesus when we gather together in worship. We want to encounter Jesus when we gather together in smaller groups. Where two or three gather in the name of Jesus he is happy to attend. We want to those who don’t know Jesus to encounter him through our outreach efforts. We hope to create moments where the spirit can break through. We want to encounter Jesus by serving. When we serve we encounter Jesus because we need his enabling power. But we are also creating moments of encounter for those we are serving.