Be outword focused

Ephesians 4:11 ESV

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

Ephesians 4:10 ESV

10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)

Ephesians 4:9 ESV

9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?

Ephesians 4:8 ESV

8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”

Mark 10 ESV

1 And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them. 2 And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” 5 And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 10 And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11 And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, 12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” 13 And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. 17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” 28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” 32 And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, 33 saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. 34 And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.” 35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” 41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 46 And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” 50 And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.

Ephesians 4:12–16 ESV

12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Romans 15:7–17 ESV

7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. 8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.” 10 And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” 11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.” 12 And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. 14 I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. 15 But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17 In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God.

Ephesians 4:17 ESV

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.

I. The Work V. 12

Ephesians 4:12 KJV 1900

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

A. Setting

Paul has just named the spiritual gifts and specifically in the prior verse he names pastors and teachers. and now he is addressing the purpose of this.

He is focusing here on the ministry of the Church

Ephesians 4:11 ESV

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

B. The purose of the Church

The ministry of the Church is to:

to equip the saints

However, this purpose of being equipped is not the end, the purpose of the equipping is for the work of the ministry

C. THe work of the ministery

a. What is the work of the ministry in this verse

Bringing the message to the Lost

Serving others

It is not the pastors sole job to share the gospel and to serve it is the job of the entire body of Christ.

The Bible does not say go into all the world and invite people to church. It says go into all the world and make disciples

It is the job of every believer to carry out the mission to make new and better disciples

D. What does it mean to make new and better disciples?

a. Making new

Making new disciples is simply sharing your faith. We ought to take opportunity to share our faith with others

b. Making better

Proverbs 24:17 ESV

17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,

Proverbs 27:17 ESV

17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Proverbs 24:7 ESV

7 Wisdom is too high for a fool; in the gate he does not open his mouth.

as we walk the Christian life, we should desire to help our Christian brothers and sisters become more like Christ and be stronger Christians. This is done on both a personal level and a church level.

Paul finishes this verse with the statement

“for the edifying of the body of Christ”

The idea here is that the Church is increased and Built up if these things are followed.

As each member of the church uses his or her gifts for the spreading of the message of Christ the church is built up.

Are you doing the work of the ministry today?

-The Job of the pastor is to

Equip the Saints for the work of the ministery

to edify the Body of Christ

II. The Goal V. 13

Ephesians 4:13 KJV 1900

13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Verse 12 focuses on what we ought to be doing, but verse 15 shifts the the reason we ought to be doing it.

verse 13 addresses how long the church will be doing this work of building up and why we need to build up.

This will continue until:

This will continue until

We all come to the unity of faith

We all come to the knowledge of the son

until we complete our proses of spiritual maturity.

A. We come in the unity of faith

People from all different backgrounds come into the understanding of one hope and have complete dependence on the Lord. and develop a great appreciation for the unity that is only found in the body of Christ.

Our goal should be unity in faith!

B. We all come to the knowledge of the son

The focus here is what must the above faith be in?

It must be in the knowledge if the son.

Alot of people have faith, but what is that faith in?

Any faith that is short of the cross will land you short of heaven!

Christianity is not just another religion it is a relationship, and that is key here, that relationship is with the son of God! the knowledge of the son involves the deepest fellowship with Christ.

C. We complete our proses of spiritual maturity

The verse says

“Unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of Christ “

This statement basically means full sanctification.

These three terms are used to describe the end of the journey of the church. The Church will not end until these things come to pass

Theese three terms are used to describe the end of the journy of the church. THe Church will not end until these things come to pass

The goals which are given here will not be fully reached until the end times

the church will always be moving toward complete spiritual maturity

Think of the Church and the Christian life as though you are walking up a down escalator, if at any point you stop you will rapidly digress.

III. The Resault V. 14

What are the goals?

Unity of faith

knowledge of Christ

Spiritual meturity

III. The Resault V. 14

Ephesians 4:14 ESV

14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

This verse figuratively describes us as immature in the faith. We are carried about from side to side.

The statement “every wind of doctrine by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” is talking about false teachers.

We must avoid false teachers as Christ himself warns us

Matthew 7:15 ESV

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

We must call out the wolves there are plenty of them in our society today and they come call themselves pastor’s and have many follows but in reality, they are sending people to hell!

My friends run from the wolves!

Signs of a wolf:

They add to the bible, make commandments that do not exist

They take from the bible (removing the commandments that do)

They preach prosperity (God wants you to be happy)

they refuse to call out sin

They say hell is made up

they believe there are many ways to heaven

They believe the Bible may contain errors

IV. The Method V. 15

Ephesians 4:15 ESV

15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

Paul moves from what we need to avoid, (the false prophet) to what we must do, which is speaking the truth in Love

it is the responsibility of Biblical preachers to preach the truth but do it in love.

We do not need pulpit banging preachers who are reigning down brimstone and fire on everyone that sins.

but rather preaches that preach the truth faithfully,

do it in love, and let the holy spirit do its job of convicting

This is why exegetical preaching is the only way to preach.

Exegetical preaching is taking a passage in the Bible and piecing it apart to thoroughly explain it to the listeners.

Some call it preaching if a pastor gets up and talks about a subject of importance, he may even be right but if he does not use the word of God to prove his point what authority does, He have?

preaching if a pastor gets up and talks about a subject of importance, he may be right but if he does not use the word of God to prove his point what authority does, He have?

Some call it preaching if a pastor gets up and talks about a subject of importence, he may be right but if he does not use the word of God to prove his point what authority does He have?

My authority or another pastor’s authority does not come from ourselves or our position.

It comes from the word of God and if we do not preach right out of the word of God, we are not preaching we are giving a speech and our authority is gone!

The last part of the verse state…:

“we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,”

This is key in every point of our lives we ought to be focusing on how to become more and more like Christ!

Question: What is the only need in life?

Answer: To be holy

1 Peter 1:16 KJV 1900

16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

Do we need food to be holy?

Do we need water to be holy?

Do we need anything but Christ to be holy?

V. The Power V. 16

Ephesians 4:16 ESV

16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

The final focus here is the unity of the Body!

The Church is one unified group who is directed by Christ to fulfil his purpose. Which is making new and better disciples.

However, there are many parts to the Church Paul uses this metaphor here how many people with different rolls and gifts can work together in unity to further Gods program.

Christ is the head of the Church

Ephesians 5:25 ESV

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Christ gave himself for the Church

it was never His plan for the church to be an inclusive social club, but sadly that has happened in many churches today.

They have become inclusive and have make no legitimate effort to reach the community around them.

The Church must be focused outwardly!

7 Habits of outwardly focused churches

1. The church takes time during each worship service to pray for the community.

2. A volunteer or staff person is accountable for the outreach ministry of the church.

3. A regular report is provided to church members about outreach and ministry efforts in the community.

4. Churches have regular “mystery” guests come to the worship services.

5. The church gives obsessive attention to their websites.

6. The churches are intentional about scheduling ministries, events, and activities for reaching the community.

7. Churches are intentional about connecting with their communities through social media.

Application

Are you doing the work of the ministry today?

are you focusing on how to grow the universal Church?

are you focusing on how to grow the universal Church?

are you working at reaching your community to grow your local church?