Local Churches is God's plan for The Church
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Intro
Intro
Jesus was a local church guy -
Jesus was a local church guy -
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.
He didn’t mind acting and speaking out against Jewish customs that were not good
He did not simply worship God at home, or on some mountain
He read and taught as a Rabbi, as a proto-pastor
Jesus is in His Churches -
Jesus is in His Churches -
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
The entirety of the rest of the book is to be an encouragement for the churches
Jesus’s presence among the churches assures us His closeness and familiarity of our plights
Jesus’s presence among the churches also serves as a warning that we do nothing apart from His knowledge
The Local Church is God’s Plan for Families
The Local Church is God’s Plan for Families
Household Baptisms
Household Baptisms
The House of Cornelius
The House of Cornelius
And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.
acts 10:
While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.
“Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.
The Philippian Jailer’s Family
The Philippian Jailer’s Family
Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.
Stephanas’s Family
Stephanas’s Family
(I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)
Mixed Faith Families
Mixed Faith Families
For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
1cor 7:16
Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.
When I do marriage counseling it is largely taken from and . Both texts written to and for churches. God was not hesitant in His New Testament authors to be unabashedly local church focused and so neither should we be.
If you are a believer concerned about or for your family, but you are not a faithful member of one of God’s local churches, you are inconsistent at best, or simply disobedient.
The Local Church is God’s Plan for teaching Scripture
The Local Church is God’s Plan for teaching Scripture
, Paul lays out qualifications for pastors and deacons OF CHURCHES and then says this:
if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
1tim3:
The Church is founded on the truth, not the other way around. This can be clearly seen biblically as well as historically
These are terms of foundation and support, meaning that the lives of the church are what supports the message to the community
ONLY the local church is said to be pillar and buttress; not lone wolf believers or para-church organizations:
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 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, 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.
eph 4:11-
He is talking about a local church context
And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
If you long for true unity (not just polite going-along): press into the LOCAL CHURCH
If you don’t want to be tossed to and fro: the local church is THE solution
Many Christians feel like they don’t know enough about scripture even though the Bible is more available to us than any past generation. When the local church is functioning as she should, there is no excuse for believers to be scripturally ignorant or illiterate.
THIS church is God’s Plan for us
THIS church is God’s Plan for us
10 years
Doc will be 15
Axel, Jackson, and Wesley will be preteen
my SS class will be graduated or graduating HS
NC will be pushing 30
All the Deacons will be ~ 70
Youth and general Participation
2018 low attendance
VBS changes due to low participation
Music
Keep HOM program
Use screen
Piano, Guitars, Other, Percussion
Traditions
But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Not only do I believe that the scriptures clearly teach the local church as God’s plan for all who are saved, I believe THIS church is God’s plan for us. I pray He stirs us with a passion for our church, for His church, for local churches everywhere.