Multiply - The Local Church

Last week recap

Necessity of being there for each other

To do so, we have to be relational

Vulnerable & Real

Example: You can’t love someone if you don’t know them. You don’t really know someone until there is a relationship! Hollyn & Colton

Only when we truly love each other in the church will we really be able to be the church on mission for God

Tonight we are going to dive deeper into this idea, and look at the local church and the importance of love and unity

When we say local church - we mean Cornerstone

Global church - All of God’s churches together under Christ

“God’s plan of redemption involves the church working in unity to reach the people around them.”

We talked about this last week

This is why it is so important that we love each other inside of the church.....inside of Strive

When we have people walk into our youth group, what should be noticeable to them from the very start is the fact that we genuinely love each other

What does this look like?

It means we aren’t sitting by ourselves not talking to anybody, and it means if we see someone sitting by themselves not talking to someone we fix it

It means we are hanging out, playing games.....together

It means we act like we actually want to be here!

It means we are being real with each other

Asking each other how life is, and responding honestly

Example: Think of your best friend, and how you interact with them. That relationship is built on:

Trust

Purpose

Communication

Remember last week we talked about the church being like a body, and how we need to work together to fully live on mission for Christ

And to be a healthy body, or a healthy church, we have to support each other, we have to work together

This is why unity inside of a local church is so important.

I’ve been involved in toxic churches before, where everybody is looking out for number one

And do you know what you never hear anyone say about those types of churches

“What a great church”

“Man I really want to go there, they love each other”

“I can’t wait to go back to that church, they are a picture of Christ”

The focus has to shift in our minds and our hearts, and we have to love each other, and be relational, and vulnerable with each other

Why? Because the local church depends on it

Turn with me to

, “ 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

So why is it important that we are known this way?

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Because we as a local church were meant to be the light of the world

We weren’t meant to be hidden

We were designed to shine before others so God receives the glory

Not meant to be a bomb shelter

The church wasn’t meant to be a hideout from the world

The church wasn’t meant to be a bomb shelter

Anderson bomb shelters

3.6 million installed in 1938 before World War II

The idea was during air raids, when the siren would go off, people would go out back and get into the bomb shelter

But what happened with most families, is they practically started living in them.

Every night they’d sleep in them

They’d eat in them

They’d have Christmas inside of them

This is what we’ve turned our churches into

Permanent hideouts from the world

and

Hideouts from each other

And both are dead wrong!

We’ve lost so much ground in our world because of hiding out in our churches

The church was meant to be a place of encouragement, rest, instruction, teaching, correction....while being together (Acts 2)

And then we were to go out and shine as lights....together

But what we’ve done is we’ve turned church into where we hide out from the world, we shut down, we do the Jesus thing here, we don’t build relationships so we don’t have accountability, and then we go back out into the world and hide our light

The local church was designed to be a lighthouse, not a bomb shelter

A city on a hill

You’re probably thinking, okay, but what does loving one another have to do with being a light. Why does it matter if I have relationships with people inside the church. Aren’t I supposed to focus on having relationships with people outside the church?

And the answer is yes, we are to be relational with people outside of the church

But turn to

“ 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The world should notice a love in us as a local church, as a local youth group, that they cant find anywhere else.

Jesus says they will know that we follow Jesus by our love for each other

See, we are to draw attention, again, we aren’t to hide out.

Dispelling the myth that I just do church on Sundays (or Wednesdays) and go back to live as part of the world.

Our biggest sense of community should happen right here....and that happens by spending time here, spending time as a group

We shouldn’t find it in sports

Or school

The love we have amongst our group here should be deafening to people who aren’t part of it

Remember the clanging cymbal?

, Jesus says this, “ 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

How are we known by love as a group?

So how do we do with this, do you think? How are we as Strive known by love in our communities?

Answer......WE AREN’T

And that’s sort of on me, it’s so easy to just do group things inside of here

Example: Ruby Tuesdays girl’s night

W

When we don’t do life together we won’t be known to our local community, our local mission field

And I want to change this

Halloween -

Leaf Raking -

Walmart Hot Chocolate Day -

I’ve got all of these ideas where we as a youth group are going to start being seen in our local community doing life together

It’s vital to our mission because it fulfills the mission

However, this only works if we truly love each other to start with inside of these walls

We have to be real with each other

We have to love each other

And then, when we start doing life together outside of these walls

We need you to buy in

We need to show this love off

That’s the design of the local church, that’s the design of how God’s love is going to spread throughout our local mission field