"Who We Are"

​Who Is Epicenter Church?  What things is God calling us to?  What makes us unique?

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Mandate of Epicenter Church:  To be a church of God’s Supernatural Love and Supernatural Power.”

Mission Statement = “a formal summary of the aims and values of a company, organization, or individual.”

Quote: “If you aim at nothing…you’re sure to hit it.”

 

For many, the Great Commission is the Mission Statement for “The Church”

• Matthew 28:18-20 (TPT) - “Then Jesus came close to them and said, “All the authority of the universe (or “over the universe”) has been given to me.  Now go in my authority and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  And teach them to faithfully follow all that I have commanded you.  And never forget that I AM with you every day, even to the completion of this age.”

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Mission Statement - “Epicenter Church is an apostolic revival center building a community in Gurnee that will impact the region with the supernatural love and power of God.”

• Mission Statement is for the Church…not those outside the church.

• Intention is to bring us into unity of purpose

• I Corinthians 1:10  (TPT) - ‘I urge you, my brothers and sisters, for the sake of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree to live in unity with one another and put to rest any division that attempts to tear you apart.  Be restored as one united body living in perfect harmony. Form a consistent choreography among yourselves, having a common perspective with shared values.”

  • Most church problems come from a lack of unity and singleness of purpose.

  • Also demand for uniformity.

  • We all get to look different and function different.

  • A Mission Statement brings us into unity in our purpose, reason for being, and lays the grid for all our decisions.

 

Apostolic

Apostolic comes from Apostles (sent ones)

Apostle = “sent one” also clearly had to do with authority and Kingdom building!

11 Disciples became Apostles + Mathias (Acts 1)

• James, the half brother of Jesus and leader of the Jerusalem church—Galatians 1:19

• Barnabas–Acts 14:14

• Paul–Acts 14:14 and many other references

• Apollos– Corinthians 4:6-9

• Timothy and Silvanus– I Thessalonians 1:1 and 2:6

• Epaphroditus–Philippians 2:25.

• 2 unnamed apostles–II Cor.  8:23. Brother of fame & brother tested among churches

• Andronicus and Junia–Romans 16:7

Clearly it is not meant just for the past

 

People are often afraid of things…

• They are unfamiliar with.  (7 last words of church… “We’ve never done…)

• They can’t control (religious spirit)

• They have experienced negatively (or heard about a negative and ran w/ it)

God has not given us a spirit of fear!

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Government - 5-Fold  “How did God set it up?”

5-fold leadership:

• Ephesians 4:11-12  (NASB) - “And He (Christ) gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;”

  • Who gave?  Christ gave this leadership model to the church!

  • Why?  To equip and build up the saints (you and I) for ministry!

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• I Corinthians 12:27-31  (TPT) - “You are the body of the Anointed One, and each of you is a unique and vital part of it. 28 God has placed in the church the following: First apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then those with gifts of miracles, gifts of divine healing, gifts of revelation knowledge, gifts of leadership, and gifts of different kinds of tongues. 29 Not everyone is an apostle or a prophet or a teacher. Not everyone performs miracles 30 or has gifts of healing or speaks in tongues or interprets tongues. 31 But you should all constantly boil over with passion in seeking the higher gifts.”

• Pastor is title we give to every church leader in America.  But at best it’s 4th on the list!

 

• Ephesians 2:20  (TPT) -  “19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 (being) built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

  • Fellow citizens/members of his house

  • Foundation = apostles/prophets (being built - active and present not past)

  • Cornerstone = Jesus

  • WE - joined together, rises together; built together - dwelling in which God spirit lives!

 

• Church was never intended to look like “natural” organizations all over the world.

• We have a different model!  

• Quit trying to make the church look like something it was never intended to be!

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• Vision for more than just us. (get to this more - “regional revival center”)

• Apostolic gets us looking outward and upward!

• Great frontier!  Areas to be conquered!  

• Kingdom advanced!

• Lives to be saved, healed and delivered!

 

• Supernatural/Prophetic

• Apostol - “ic” - to function in the power of the supernatural

• Supernatural Culture

• Ex.  Small groups - one of our primary focus is on prophesy.

• Quote: ”Culture is the repeated practice of core values." - Unknown

• Kingdom = demonstration of God’s love and power.

 

• Apostles are Fathers

• Great Article by Bill Johnson on Apostles/Apostolic communities - http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word/7083

• How the church is really supposed to function

• Apostles/Fathers - Bill Johnson, Randy Clark, Ian Carroll

• We are choosing to align with these Apostles in a network of apostolic (supernatural/revival) churches.

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• Revival Center

• Raging fires all start with a spark.

• Raging fires in CA other states.

• Ex.  Arlington - wet stack of wood/stuff - couldn’t get it going.  Aha!  Gas!

 

• Supernatural lifestyle/way of life vs. supernatural events/seasons

 

• What if we are truly called “To spark the flames of revival in Lake County and this region.” - (Membership class)

 

• Definition of Revival = "Finite man experiencing the presence of an infinite God.”

• Revival = Normal Christianity

• Quote: “The revival we need is simply a return to normal NT Christianity, where the churches are full of prayer, full of power, full of people, full of praise, full of divine happenings all the time.  We want something normal, not just ‘special.’  God’s normal, that is.  God’s normal is greater than most of our specials put together.” – Dr. Armin Gesswein

• Book of Acts isn’t a history book but a manual for the Church today!

• “That was just to get the church established”

• No scriptures to back that up - must be twisted beyond recognition to match their powerless theology!  

• Why not just do it God’s way!

• Acts is revival from one end to the other!

• NORMAL Church

Ephesians 1:19-20 - (TPT) “My prayer for you is that every moment you will experience the measureless power of God made available to you through faith. Then your lives will be an advertisement of this immense power as it works through you! 20 This is the explosive and mighty resurrection power that was released when God raised Christ from the dead and exalted him to the place of highest honor and supreme authority (theres that word again = permission)  in the heavenly realm!” 

 

Quote: - British revivalist Henry Varley once said to a young Dwight L. Moody. “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to Him.” - To which Moody later said, “I aim to be that man.”

I believe that this region has never really seen true and lasting revival/move of God.

 

What if we changed it and said…“This region has yet to see what God can do with a group of people fully consecrated to Him.” 

And then declared… “We aim to be that people.”