A Biblical Church Member

Our Sufferings

You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit,and joy.

Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Our sufferings and persecutions stand as a testimony to others around us

Thessaloniki was a major commerce city and news of how they were acting as Christians in the face of the pressures of the culture was far reaching () so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything.

How is Emmanuel doing at being an example with a for reaching testimony. The real question we have to ask is how does our testimony as a church living for God look here in our own community

When Rome conquered Greece, it divided Greece into two provinces, a northern; Macedonia, and a southern, Achaia, and Paul was telling the Thessalonians that their testimony [sounded forth from you (v.8a)] had gone beyond those regions.

So we see an example of a church doing as a church should and being a testimony for God, but what of the individual church member of this body

Three Questions

As a Biblical Church Member, Who Are You

You have been saved by grace through faith in Christ

It means that Christ’s redemptive work of the cross has transformed our minds and that we are no longer dead in our sins but now, a part of the community of the Messiah, or the body of Christ, and alive eternally in Christ

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Our works cannot save us, however, our salvation does produce in us a visible evidence of works () For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

This is not the works that we ourselves do ()For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

We no longer have control over how we choose to live our lives. We were purchased with His blood on the cross. This is the Lordship part of our salvation. Jesus is both savior and Lord and cannot be divided into two part

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;

It is ultimately God working through us through His indwelling Holy Spirit

We don't get to choose how we live our lives after our redemption. We are purchased with the blood of Christ, and therefore His.

Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Those of us who identify ourselves as part of the community of the Messiah, the body of Christ are to walk, act, and speak as the Holy Spirit leads us

walk

It is not with our own intention to do so as we are corrupt sinners by nature, but by the fact as a believer in Christ filled with the Holy Spirit, we have no choice because we are now led by something other then ourselves and our own desires For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

tells us something different for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

act

Not only do you die in the physical body but are also dead spiritually.

We are saved by grace alone through faith alone, in Christ alone

speak

As a Biblical Church Member, Why Are You Here, What is your purpose

so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews,

In our walk, we are called to evangelize the lost And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Go is to evangelize,making disciples, or followers of Christ

Ephesians 2:10a NASB95

10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10a NASB95

10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Many Christians think conversion is the only important experience and that nothing else follows

Christ finished His redemptive work of the cross, rose from the dead and ascended to Heaven where He continues perfecting His church through us.

Christ equips us for our walk with Him and our work here on earth with three special tools

The Word of God

and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Equip for every good work. The Word of God does just that

we are equipped through Prayer

Prayer is how we find out from God what it is He is needing us to do.

You may as soon find a living man that does not breath as a living Christian who does not pray.” Matthew Henry

Prayer is a way that we as Christians tap into the unlimited resource of God’s wisdom

Prayer is an expression of our powerlessness, simultaneously recognizing the unlimited power of God, and it is an intimate conversation between the Father and His child

pray without ceasing

In that part of Scripture in my Bible is subtitled Christian conduct, and in that, among other things, Paul addresses what our prayer life should look like by simply saying “pray without ceasing.”This Scripture does not imply that audible prayers are to be heard coming from us 24/7, but that we should remain in state of constant communication with the Father

This Scripture does not imply that audible prayers are to be heard coming from us 24/7, but that we should remain in a state of constant communication with the Father

We as Christians have daily responsibilities to fulfill, and therefore it is essential that we remain constantly in the of the presence of the Father

As a Biblical church member, Where are you Going

As a Christian, were are either moving forward or backwards in our walk with Christ, but never in the same place, so are we moving forward and if not, what is in our way