Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Introduce myself

Pose a Question:

What is the “church”?

Is church a specific place you go to?

Is church where that really good speaker talks?

Is church just something you do on Sunday mornings?

Is church the place you go to where you are forced to dress up?

Is church....a variety of other things?

Why is church important?

Because my parents told me so?

Because that’s what Christians do?

Because

Your what will define your why

If you don’t understand what church is, you will never understand why church matters!!!

Need an illustration here - school maybe?

soccer?

could use a student coming up and me explaining something to them that they care nothing about

What is the church?

The Bible refers to the church as a: well, church (that one should be obvious)…but also as body (), as a bride (), as a family ( - children of God), as a fellowship ( - Andy devotions)

But let’s define it so we have a launching point for our discussion:

In the NT, the word church never refers to a building or a place…so we can check off that one

But…it always refers to people....more specifically, a group of people

The definition of church is this: The total number of believers throughout the world who profess Christ as Lord and Savior.

That means, if you are a believer, you are part of God’s church

While you may go to a building, the building itself does not constitute a church…the believers inside of it are the church

God designed the church to be THE WAY He accomplishes His mission in the world

And as His mission spread from the book of Acts onward....local churches were planted

A local church would be defined as: a local body of baptized believers who meet together under leadership to regularly to make much of God through the worship of Jesus, by being taught from the Word of God, and who observe the Lord’s table”

Need verses

Now, as obviously evident here this weekend…we don’t all go to the same church do we?

And some of us are thinking, man, my church is so much better than their church!

But God designed it so we are all a part of His global church, while we take part in the local church

And the church you came with this weekend, that’s your local church…a body of believers in this part of the world who profess Christ as Lord and Savior

God loves the church.

Christ died so the church could exist (Eph 5:25)

What is the goal/role of the church?

To glorify God and promote the supremacy of Christ among all people

In fact, it’s the same goal we are supposed to do as individual believers

The church exists so that as tells us, “the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known...”

But the church fulfills this through:

Carrying out the Great Commission

Teaching of God’s Word

That’s when that guy gets up and speaks

Praise and worship of Him

- “12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”

Fellowship

Community, believers coming together

We see that all through Acts and the New Testament

Acts 2:42

Whether it be in houses, or small gatherings..they’re coming together under the authority of a pastor

Prayer

- “ 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

Encouragement

- “44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common.”

Sacraments

Baptism

Communion

A healthy church will make much of God

The Problem

In our overly connected and internet saturated world....students, young people, people just like you, are leaving the church in droves.

They don’t find the church to be important or necessary in their lives

Which is amazing to me because God literally designed the church…this was His plan, not some man-made function that Peter and Paul decided would be a good idea

- “ 13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah!

For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Did you see it?

Peter, a believer - You are Christ, the son of the living God!

Making much of Christ to the glory of God

And Christ responds - upon your belief in me, I will build my church

This was always God’s design for us to meet together, and fast forward to Acts, you see Peter carrying this out

And as you read through Acts and Paul’s letters, you see the church growing…local church after local church after local church popping up.

It’s estimated that by the end of the first century, there were over 1 million believers in the known world, did you know that?

Why?

Because churches were glorifying God and making much of Jesus and they would grow to big and they’d go plant another one

But today, we can’t even get “believers” to come to church.....

So why are people leaving the church.

Why is church not viewed as important anymore.

Why do we believe we, as believers, can function without the God-ordained church in our lives

I think there are a few reasons, one being....this

Pull out iphone - Because of this, well, not this exact phone, but the mentality that comes along with it

Not only are we living in an overly connected and internet saturated world, but its causing use to replace real relationships with fake relationships, real interaction with fake interaction, and real communication with fake communication

We live in a world where we can have anything we want almost instantly

We live in a world that has become totally, ME CENTERED

And what has happened, what Christians have done with the church is left it and tried, and failed, to mimic it in a virtual world

we’ve to replaced real community with (I)community

real relationships with (I)relationships

and real church with (I)church

We want church that will fit in our pockets

It’s almost like our viewpoint is: if you give me snapchat, instagram, and youtube - I can find/do/be the church on my own.

I can listen to the latest hippest pastor preach from my bedroom

And if he’s boring that week, I can find someone else that gives me what....I WANT TO HEAR

I can share a spiritual post or post something that God revealed to me from my own personal study, or I can like a post that someone else shared

And at the same time, people will think that…I AM SUPER SPIRITUAL

I can listen to praise and worship music and that will replace singing in an actual church

Music that appeals to what I WANT TO HEAR

OR, maybe some of us don’t go that far, but.....

We are always looking for a new church experience.

So we church hop, and maybe you guys don’t do that so much as teenagers…but as you move out, if your understanding of the church isn’t grounded in truth…you’ll be susceptible to this