What is the Church pt 2
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Recap
Recap
The foundation of the Church is Christ!
4 Pillars of the Church
4 Pillars of the Church
Evangelism
15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
Ways that we do this in our church:
Ways that we do this in our church:
Worship Service - gospel presentation
Support Missions Financially
Bible Camp
Programming - JAM, YG, SS, College, Sm. Groups
This morning, we are going to look at the next 3 pillars
The next on the list is:
Pillars
Evangelism
Discipleship
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
The Greek word for disciple here is:
Lexham Theological Wordbook μαθητής
μαθητής (mathētēs). n. masc. disciple, learner. Used of a person who follows after and seeks to learn from another.
So, the command of Jesus is to go and make students, or followers of Him! We baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and HS and we teach them to obey all that Jesus has commanded
You and I are here as a result of discipleship multiplication through the years!
I was talking with Pastor Tim Bonebright from Goodland Bible Church this week briefly about the great commission and he shared that when he teaches the great commission, he thinks of it similarly as the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier
During this Ceremony, the relief commander will say “pass on your orders”
while the current sentinel commands:
“Post and orders, remain as directed.”
when we look at the great commission, we can look at this as Jesus is passing on the orders to the church to remain as directed…
So, nothing has changed since Jesus ascended, we still have the orders to go and make disciples, there is never a command to stop!
So, how do we make disciples in FBC?
1. Preaching
1. Preaching
Paul’s letter to Timothy while pastoring in Ephesus is to:
2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
In our church we teach the Word. Particularly as part of our worship service on Sunday morning, but also in small groups and classes
The second way that we make disciples is through
2. Classes/Bible Studies
2. Classes/Bible Studies
Right now we have several opportunities including:
Men’s accountability group - Sunday Morning
Mens Bible Study - Monday Evenings
Family Bible Study - Tuesday Evenings
Home Bible Studies - vary
3. Personal Disciplines
3. Personal Disciplines
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,
How do we do this:
Richard Foster offers 12 disciples in celebration of discipline. I preached on these awhile back and you can check them out on the website.
The disciplines are:
Prayer
Fasting
Meditation
Study
Confession
Simplicity
Submission
Solitude
Service
Confession
Worship
Guidance
These aren’t the only ways, but a good way to build ourselves up in the faith
Though this is number 3 on the list, it is probably number 1 in importance.
It is out of our relationship with the Lord, that our faith grows!
It is out of our relationship with the Lord, that our faith grows!
Our relationship is built upon the disciplines!
Last week we talked about how sometimes we have the mindset that we are going to go to church to be fed, but we need to change our mindset to feed others when we are at church!
We can only do that as an overflow of what God is doing in us already!
The first 4 disciplines are how we are fed!
Prayer
Fasting
Study
Meditation
We are fed in these ways and then when we are fed, we go to church to feed others!
Now, when the preacher preaches, they should be preaching the Word of God being led by the Spirit and so there should be a level of feeding taking place….
But ultimately, that should be a challenge to grow and desire personal disciplines
The sermon should be the icing on the cake, not the cake itself!
So, as the Church we grow in discipleship by personal disciplines, we also have:
4. Programming
4. Programming
Sunday School
JAM
Youth Groups
College Ministry
During these times, we are teaching the Word of God and how to apply it to our lives
Also, for discipleship we have:
5. Church Camps
6. Bible Camp
So, in this pillar of the church, we make disciples of Jesus by making disciples...
Question: Who are you discipling?
Question: Who are you discipling?
Are you practicing the disciplines yourself, and are you serving the church by discipling someone else?
Pillars
1. Evangelism
2. Discipleship
3. Community
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.
45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
In the early church, we saw them coming together regularly for fellowship
The Greek word for fellowship is:
Lexham Theological Wordbook κοινωνία
κοινωνία (koinōnia). n. fem. fellowship, communion, sharing, participation. A term that conveys a sense of commonality, solidarity, and shared responsibility among households or individuals.
The early church had this idea of community, meeting together regularly sharing a meal, praying, singing, selling their possessions so no one was in need…
As I spoke a little about last week, we have prescriptive texts telling us to do things, primarily with evangelism and discipleship, but here we have a descriptive text, describing what they did
So, we are not commanded to meet daily, but we do see that God blessed what they did, so it may be a good idea of us!
There is some prescriptive texts about community though, such as:
Caring for Others
27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Caring for Others
Praying for One Another
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us.
Caring for Others
Praying for One Another
Serving One Another
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
Pillars
Evangelism
Discipleship
Community
Worship
What worship looks like for us:
Music
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,
What worship looks like for us:
Music
Preaching
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
What worship looks like for us:
Music
Preaching
Communion
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
What worship looks like for us:
Music
Preaching
Communion
Baptism
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
What worship looks like for us:
Music
Preaching
Communion
Baptism
Giving
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
What worship looks like for us:
Music
Preaching
Communion
Baptism
Giving
Prayer
6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
14 Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.
13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.
So, these 6 things are things that we do when we come together for worship!
These are the 4 pillars of the church.
So, how can you participate as a member of the body?
I did a little calculating and it turns out that we all have the same amount of hours in a week!
In fact, we all have 168 hours in one week
How many of those hours do you serve God by serving the body?
168
-56 sleep
-40 work
-16 sabbath/rest
_______
56 hours left
What if we served God by serving His body 10% of that time? I don’t have a scripture for it, but God liked that number for giving, so let’s apply it to time…
That means we serve the body for:
5.5 hours/week
-1.5 worship service
______________
4 hours to serve the body
How can you serve the body each week for 4 hours in one of these pillars?
How can you serve the body each week for 4 hours in one of these pillars?
If there are 100 of us here this morning, that is 400 hours this week that FBC is serving the community and this church!
If we each committed 4 hours, how much could we grow, reach the community and build each other up?
Maybe for you it is by serving in an official role in the church. Or maybe it’s calling a few people this week and praying for them.
Maybe it’s finding a need and filling it!
This week, I want you to pray about how you can use those 4 hours, and maybe more, to serve God by serving His body!
Communion
