Sermon Notes - Building a Foundation, Ministry - Rising Sun Baptist Church - May 10, 2026

 1.       As we continue to build our foundation I want to encourage you to remember what we have talked about so far.

a.       Pray to God depending on Him to work.

b.       Pray for things we cannot accomplish without Him carrying out His will in our lives.

c.       Dig into the Word, reading it, studying it, and coming to our Sun and Wed evening times of study.

d.       We need to build our foundation on the Bible in order to grow as Christ followers.

e.       We also need to be preparing ourselves for Christ Centered Worship.

f.         Spending time with God each day.

g.        Prioritizing Him.

h.       So that when we come together we are ready to go.

2.       The next piece of our foundation is Ministry.

a.       Which can take a lot of different forms.

b.       But ultimately they stem from one place.

3.       1 John 3:17-18

a.       If God’s love resides in us.

b.       Which it does, as Christ followers.

c.       We will love others with what we say.

d.       But it is to go beyond the words we say.

e.       Our love will be seen in how we live our lives in truth.

f.         Our actions will show that we love others.

4.       Our foundation piece of Ministry is an outcome of God’s love pouring through us.

a.       God’s love fills us.

b.       And it is meant to go beyond us.

c.       It is to drive us to do something.

d.       It moves us to Love Others as we would ourselves.

e.       This is not just an emotional love.

f.         But a love that is based in the truth that we are all made in God’s image.

g.        And a love that is manifested in action.

5.       Ministry is something that each of us are called to do as individuals as well as a church family.

6.       Galatians 6:10

a.       Christians are to work for the good of all.

b.       Especially for those who are fellow believers.

c.       Now Robert can go out and try to help someone and I am only going to get so far.

d.       Matt helps someone on his own and he too can only do so much.

e.       But combined we can do a lot more for a single person.

f.         As a church body, we can pool our resources of prayer, time, and money and have a much bigger impact than we ever could ever on our own.

7.       Think about our Cooperative Program.

a.       Southern Baptist Churches around the world give to the CP.

b.       Through our combined contributions for 1 year, the IMB planted > 21K churches and > 178K people accepted Jesus.

c.       As a church and as a group of churches the ministry we can do throughout this country and around the world is simply amazing.

d.       Ministry is accomplished when we, those in this room, and we, the Body of Christ work together in word and deed, in truth and in action.

e.       Loving people and giving of ourselves.

8.       Galatians 6:10 (re-read)

a.       This verses puts an emphasis on taking care of those within the family of God.

9.       Acts 2:42-47

a.       These verses could be a multiple point sermon on their own.

b.       But that will be for another day.

c.       Vs. 45 talks about how the proceeds were given to those with a need within the church.

d.       We are to help each other within the Body of Christ.

e.       Part of being in fellowship as a group of believers, is that we are united and connected.

f.         As we walk through life together, we are to help each other.

g.        Care for each other.

h.       Pray for each other.

i.          And helping each other stand back up when things knock us down.

j.          Being their for other Christ followers, is ministry.

10.  May not seem as exciting as being church planter with NAMB or traveling to another country with IMB.

a.       But caring for each other, praying and helping others stand, is just as important.

b.       Our love for others starts in our homes, then our home churches, and grows from there. 

11.  But we must be careful.

a.       I have known of churches that were so focused on the ‘especially for those who belong to the household of faith’, that they forgot about the rest.

b.       Churches that had food pantries that were hardly used but would not open it up to non-church members.

12.  As a church we are to care for those inside our four walls.

a.       At the same time, we must make sure we are always looking outside.

b.       Which can be overwhelming to think about.

c.       There is a lot of need in this world, here and out there.

d.       But we are not meant to do it all on our own.

e.       We cannot do enough ministry to reach the needs of the world, let alone our county.

f.         There are a lot of needs to be met.

g.        Which is why we are part of a local body of believers as well as the “C” church.

h.       Which is made up of all believers around the world.

13.  1 Corinthians 12:12-14

a.       We are one body.

b.       One body in Christ.

c.       But there are many different parts.

d.       If you look around the room, we can easily come to the conclusion that we are not all the same.

e.       Different backgrounds, different styles, simply different people.

f.         But we are united together in worship of the one and only God.

g.        And we are here to partner in ministry.

14.  1 Corinthians 12:15-17

a.       If we were all focused on a single need, it would be like we were all eyes.

b.       If we were all working to be international missionaries, we might all be ears.

c.       If that was the case, there would be a lot of ministry being done.

d.       A certain need would be fulfilled.

e.       But a lot of things, a lot of needs people have, a lot of ministry would be missed.

15.  1 Corinthians 12:18-28

a.       God has brought us together to make up Rising Sun Baptist Church.

b.       He brings together local church bodies to make larger bodies that work together.

c.       The HMBA, MBC, and SBC for example.

d.       We are all part of The Body of Christ.

e.       We all have different gifts.

16.  Some of us in this room are gifted to meet certain needs within our local church.

a.       Others are gifted to support the next generation at the camp.

b.       Others have been led to short-term missions in other parts of the world.

c.       None of us could do all that ministry on our own.

d.       When we partner together to do ministry, lives are changed.

e.       As a local church we may never visit China.

f.         But another church in our Association, State, or the SBC may have that calling and be the foot that will go there.

g.        We as individuals and church bodies are all called to do ministry.

17.  Ministry is accomplished when the church, local and universal, work together.

a.       Lives are changed.

b.       Theirs and ours.

18.  Ephesians 2:10

a.       There is something we are meant to do.

b.       As we see in verses 8 and 9 (read them).

c.       We are saved by grace through faith, not by any work or anything we can do on our own.

d.       Salvation is a gift.

e.       But there are things we are meant to accomplish while we walk on this side of eternity.

f.         God has prepared a path for each of us.

g.        A path that we are to follow.

h.       It includes our sanctification process, which is part of how we grow closer to Jesus.

i.          Pursuing righteousness.

j.          But it also includes things that we are meant to do.

k.       People we are to share with.

l.          Needs we can meet.

m.    Lives we can impact.

n.       Seeds that can be planted and watered.

o.       Sharing of the Gospel message with those in our lives.  

p.       Things that or God has prepared for us to do.

19.  Now, if Our God never makes mistakes.

a.       If He has us exactly where He wants us.

b.       If He has prepared things for us to do.

c.       Then we can trust that He will carry out His will through us.

d.       Giving us the strength, knowledge, wisdom, or whatever else we need to accomplish what He has laid before us.

20.  Our foundational piece, Ministry is to be seen in our daily lives.

a.       As we draw near to our Jesus.

b.       As our faith grows.

c.       We should be stepping out in faith.

d.       Doesn’t mean we are all signing up to go to Turkey next month.

e.       But it does mean that we should be asking the Holy Spirit to guide us to who has a need we were created to meet.

f.         We as individual believers.

g.        As well as a church family that partners together.

h.       And as we partner with other like-minded ministries.

21.  Are you familiar with the sheep and goats in Matthew 25?

22.  Matthew 25:31-40

a.       Christ followers are the sheep.

b.       There is no limiter, no restriction, on who the sheep helped, they simply did.

c.       As part of the church, we are to minister to all.

d.       Sharing the love of Christ with all.

e.       Building up fellow believers when they are down.

f.         And showing Jesus’ love to those who do not know Him in hope that they will hear the Gospel and believe.

23.  That is a calling placed on each of our lives.

24.  A calling that unfolds as we follow our Great Shepherd.

25.  Acts 13:1-3

a.       Barnabas and Saul, aka Paul, were set apart and sent out to do the ministry that they were called to do.

b.       The church recognized God’s calling, prayed over them, and sent them out.

c.       This is common when someone responds to the call of pastoral, mission’s, or deacon ministry.

d.       That is how the local church confirms they see God working in the person that way.

26.  But this really does apply to each and every Christ follower.

a.       No matter what is going on in your life, this applies to you.

b.       The Word of God tells us that we are all meant to be witnesses.

c.       We are to make disciples.

d.       As we saw earlier, we have each been created to carry out ministry that we were uniquely created to do.

e.       Every believer is called to do ministry.

f.         We have been set apart to do the work that God has laid along the path we are meant to walk.

27.  We are to recognize when we see the calling on people’s lives.

a.       The calling to do ministry.

b.       A calling placed on everyone in this room.

28.  If you do not know Jesus this morning.

a.       Jesus loves you more than you can imagine.

b.       He loves you enough to have died to pay your sin debt.

c.       To forgive you.

d.       But it is better than that, He defeated death.

e.       Offering you a new everlasting life as a child of God.

f.         If you are ready to give your life to Jesus and repent of your sins.

g.        I would love to pray with you during our final song.

29.  If everyone could please stand.

a.       As we have read in the Word today, we have been created by God to do good works that God prepared for us to do.

b.       As we stand here today, I am going to pray that God move us to do the ministry He has created for us to do.

30.  Prayer

a.       God use us to do more than we have ever imagined.

b.       Impower us to carry forth your love and message to people in our lives.

c.       Equip us to have the wisdom and knowledge we need each day.

d.       Give us the boldness we need to stand on your Truth in the world we live in.

e.       Produce fruit in us.

f.         Help us to do your ministry.

g.        Amen and Amen.