If you're newer to us, we've been developing messages to unfold the meaning of our mission statement,

page one, to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things to the joy of all peoples,

and our spiritual dynamic, page 2, five messages there, and then we turn in the last three weeks

to the fresh initiatives on page three and will focus this morning

on number five. Good news to the poor. But before I jump in there, I want to say something more about spreading a passion for the

supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples.

We used to say it, Bethlehem, a year ago and then for the five years before that or so I'm not sure how far back this

particular wording of our identity and our mission goes but we used to say

Bethlehem is a vision of God and we exist to savor that vision in worship, strengthen that vision in

nurture and spread that vision through personal evangelism and world missions.

Now we have a new mission statement and it's shorter and simpler and as you study it in relationship

to the old one, something becomes interesting to ask about.

If I were you, I would ask this.

I see you have at the very beginning the word spreading or on the front page here to spread.

I don't see the word savor anywhere or nurture, strengthen, where is the old word savor in the new way of saying the mission.

And the answer to that question is it's in the word passion.

The supremacy of God is the vision of God that is Bethlehem.

The supremacy of God in all of his manifold excellencies and perfection.

And we have seen him and there has been called up out of us by the Holy Spirit, call it different things, call it a savoring, call it faith,

which is a being satisfied with all that he is for us in Jesus or call it a passion.

But that's what it is. It's the old savoring.

The old savoring of God and the vision of God is right there in the word passion.

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