PRESENTER'S NOTES

God designed us and purposed us to have dominion over the earth. Our job was to maintain what God had created.

Genesis 1: 26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creepers creeping on the earth.
27 And God created man in His image; in the image of God, He created him. He created them male and female.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it. And have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the heavens, and all animals that move upon the earth.

A very well reasoned explanation as to what actually happened was given us in the latest webcast Bible Study from the Home Office in the “Six Steps to Passover” series. As Gary Petty explained in part 2, what actually happened was that we relinquished our authority over to the god of this world. Even though we did not intend to, we almost immediately became slaves to what God defines as “evil works”; simply meaning any work we labor to produce is inherently based upon a mixture of the knowledge of good and evil.

Nevertheless, we were designed to labor to produce fruit as it were, labor to produce a work, or a product. Our design was to produce only good works not mixing with or being replaced by bad works.

Turn to Ephesians 2…
Ephesians 2: 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.

Something our President, Mr. Kubik, has been trying to emphasize since coming into office is that we are intended by God to be members of one body fitly (or appropriately as designed) joined together, each member contributing to the well-being of that body, the Body of Christ. He, of course, is emphasizing a biblical mandate found in Ephesians 4.

Ephesians 4:16 from whom the whole body, fitted together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of each part, producing the growth of the body to the edifying of itself in love.

When we become converted, we take on the mantle of good works, and opportunity for doing good works abounds for each of us. As Solomon concluded in Ecclesiastes, the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep His commandments.

And, of course, we know by now that everything we think and do hangs on that law. We have the opportunity to do a good work by blessing the man who cuts us off in traffic or who works to destroy our reputation. We do a good work when we give to the needy. We do a good work when whatever our hand finds to do we do it with all our might. The list goes on and on.

However, as members of the body, we can struggle trying to figure out our place in the body, itself. We know to do good works in our life. We work to love God and our neighbor, but we aren’t sure where our talents lie in service to the body of Christ, specifically. You see, the church is designed to be more than just a support system in overcoming via instruction. It has two other important functions.

It must, one, prepare its people to become leaders by the power of the Spirit of God. This means that the church must be a proving ground for the instruction provided. It provides opportunities within the body to practice doing good works toward one another. And, two, the church, the body of Christ, must preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God to the world as a witness. These are functions of the entire body, not just the mouth or the writing fingers of the body. It’s not just the feet that carry the gospel from place to place.

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I want to use the remainder of my time to show you some potential opportunity for doing a good work in the body as related to the second commission, to preach the gospel.

TALK ABOUT COMMUNICATING THE GOSPEL IN HISTORY AND THROUGH INTERNET

1. Preaching where sound carries & house to house
2. Publication of the Bible and literature to support it
3. Radio
4. TV
5. Telephony and Internet

REQUEST HANDOUT

WORLD INTERNET USAGE AND POPULATION STATISTICS June 30, 2012
World Regions	Population (2012 Est.)	Internet Users 12/31/2000	Internet Users Latest Data	Penetra- tion (% Pop.)	Growth 2000-12	Users % of Table
Africa	1,073,...,...	4,514,...	167,...,...	15.6 %	3,606.7 %	7.0 %
Asia	3,922,...,...	114,304,...	1,076,...,...	27.5 %	841.9 %	44.8 %
Europe	820,...,...	105,096,...	518,...,...	63.2 %	393.4 %	21.5 %
Middle East	223,...,...	3,284,...	90,...,...	40.2 %	2,639.9 %	3.7 %
N. America	348,...,...	108,096,...	273,...,...	78.6 %	153.3 %	11.4 %
L. America / Caribbean	593,...,...	18,068,...	254,...,...	42.9 %	1,310.8 %	10.6 %
Oceania / Aus.	35,...,...	7,620,...	24,...,...	67.6 %	218.7 %	1.0 %
WORLD TOTAL	7,017,...,...	360,985,...	2,405,...,...	34.3 %	566.4 %	100.0 %
NOTES: (1) Internet Usage and World Population Statistics are for June 30, 2012. (2) CLICK on each world region name for detailed regional usage information. (3) Demographic (Population) numbers are based on data from the US Census Bureau and local census agencies. (4) Internet usage information comes from data published by Nielsen Online, by the International Telecommunications Union, by GfK, local ICT Regulators and other reliable sources. (5) For definitions, disclaimers, navigation help and methodology, please refer to the Site Surfing Guide. (6) Information in this site may be cited, giving the due credit to www.internetworldstats.com. Copyright © 2001 - 2013, Miniwatts Marketing Group. All rights reserved worldwide.

EXPLAIN HANDOUT

Local area UCG websites are important. Make them the best that they can be.

Front page: Warm personal greeting with picture of pastor and wife. All info on the front page should be up to date. 

About page: Something personal to help describe your local church area. Add a picture or several. You can link to the booklet This is the United Church of God.  We need to powwow about how to present our local congregation to the public. Pictures? Potlucks? Something else?

Announcements: Please remove old announcements that are no longer relevant.  Add content that is relevant.  We could use somebody to religiously keep announcements up-to-date.

Calendar: The IT department has added some good ideas for this area. Fill in every Sabbath with the words Sabbath Service plus the time and date.  Add the date to the title of the event so that on the front page in the upper right-hand corner each item has a date attached.  The same goes for calendar events.

Add additional information of things to come, such as sermon title and a short description of the upcoming sermon plus additional calendar activities.

Connect us to Beyond Today on WGN and ION by listing it on Sundays along with time and the title of the program for the week. Add local Bible Studies, including Bible Study subject and/or link to home office studies. Add any additional information in the area below the calendar.

ONE NEVER KNOWS WHAT SOMEONE MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN. Content is good! Yes, we do have new people searching our local sites. More about that another time.

Sermon page: Post sermons regularly.  Transcription is a critical need. TEAM EFFORT?

Sabbath Service information:  Building and location, service times and map.  Please add the disclaimer in italics.  Note: the United Church of God is not affiliated with the ____________   We rent a hall from them to conduct Sabbath services. Many of our local congregations rent a hall to meet in. The reason: the majority of the tithes and offerings we collect are used to preach the gospel via the ministry, TV, the Internet and the printed word.

Blogs: Update as possible with locally relevant information. We need writers!

Think of what new people might be looking for. The 7-second rule says that we have 7 seconds to make that first impression. Will it be meaningful? Will they want to look further?

HANDOUT COMPLETE

Let’s turn to Romans 12 for a final scripture…

Romans 12: 5 so we the many are one body in Christ and each one members of one another.
6 Then having gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, if prophecy, according to the proportion of faith;
7 or ministry, in the ministry; or he who teaches, in the teaching;
8 or he who exhorts, in the encouragement; or he who shares, in simplicity; or he who takes the lead, in diligence; or he who shows mercy, in cheerfulness.

Please continue to consider and evaluate your role in the body. I had thought about presenting this topic to you in respect to dealing with fear or worry or feelings of inadequacy related to service in the body, but we are a tight-knit group, and we can work through those struggles together as we move along.

God designed and created us to be in the image of God. God worked and still works in creating and preparing man to enter His family. By design, God created us for good works. And as His saints, He has equipped us with His Spirit to achieve those works resulting in lasting value.