Seasons Part 2
Notes
Transcript
Last week we talked about seasons of life.
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
No one is immune to them, not even the church.
When it comes to Cornerstone we are in a season of a relaunch.
We have a fresh vision, a fresh mission, a fresh slate and foundation on which to launch from.
We talked about the life of Peter last week
We saw Peter go from a fishermen to a fisher of men.
He was one of the foundational members of the very first church. He was the one who preached the very first message where over 3,000 people got saved. But what happened after that?
Well the gospel spread and the church began
As a staff and elder team we have taken the last couple of years and really dug into the question why does the church exist? And more specifically why does Cornerstone exist?
The text that we always used as foundational for us was the picture of the very first church. We wanted to answer the questions like: why did the church explode so much and so quickly? What were they doing that was so effective? How did the kingdom of God advance so rapidly with such a small group of people? What was the heart of the first church? What was their vision and mission? And so to see what our vision is we will look at what their’s was
Now we must be careful not to view the first church as the perfect church because they were not. (Casting lots for disciple, quarrels and divisions)
And you must understand there is no such thing as the perfect church because the church is not a building but a people and all people are imperfect making the church imperfect
But what we can probably say is, although the first church was not perfect, it was probably most pure.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.
44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.
45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.
46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
The gospel was preached and received and this is what happened.
They devoted themselves: Christianity was not merely something they added to their busy schedule.
When we see this church it was not a hobby.
It was not an effort to achieve a specific social status
It was a lifestyle. Because of all they had witnessed Jesus and the disciples do they knew that Christ was Lord so they spent their lives, often giving them up, to become who Christ had called them to be, to obey all that He commanded, and to spread the good news to all people of every nation, tribe, and tongue.
And here is how they accomplished it. By being:
A learning church
They were not satisfied with where they were but were always striving for more and so will we.
They were devoted to the apostles teaching
They were learning the Scriptures, theology, kingdom that Christ had preached.
A loving church:
They were devoted to fellowship
Table fellowship during this time denoted intimacy and discussions or even lectures/messages were common at meals.
These early Christian fellowships undoubtedly centered more on intimate worship, sharing, and learning the Scriptures.
They were together a lot! And they truly loved one another.
They were devoted to the church
Not a building but a people
They had everything in common and sold property and possessions to give to all who were in need
Christianity didn’t dissolve all their needs it solved all their needs
There were still needs in the church. They didn’t go away. They just now had a solution.
Because they had this radical shift
They began valuing people over their own possessions.
When we can step in and help each other in need we must!
It’s not always financial.
But emotional and most definitely spiritual
We must be a people who will sacrifice for one another
A worshipping church:
The church was filled with awe.
They couldn’t help but marvel at all that God was doing.
Their natural response to who God is and all that He had done should be the same response we have today and that is worship
They prayed. Knowing that God was the source.
And they praise Him knowing that He held supremacy over all.
An evangelistic church:
Because of who they were they gained the favor of all people
the Lord added to their number daily. Their DNA was attractive.
And Because of all of this the people on the outside came up with this word to describe them.
It was originally meant to be kind of a jab.
The perception of outsiders was that when they saw the people of the first church what they saw were people impersonating Christ. This was how people viewed the church in Acts.
And so they came up with this term that meant “little Christ” or Christian.
And in the same way that the Acts church was viewed as little Christ’s, this is how we want to be viewed.
That when people run into you at sporting events, the store, at work, in the neighborhood, that what they see is no longer you or I but little Christ’s
Take away: Intentionally equipping each other to be more like Christ
Take away: Intentionally equipping each other to be more like Christ
This is what we are after.
intentionally: Just sitting in the seats isn’t enough. Just giving here and there. Just serving. No we are devoted and we are intentional.
Each individual is intentional in their life
We aren’t passive Christians. We don’t wait for the problems or the fight to come to us but we do what Scripture calls us to do
We put on the full armor of God and we go to war for each other and for the advancement of the kingdom of God
equipping
Giving each other all the necessary tools to continue in our journey after Christ
As a church we want to give you whatever you need to grow in Christ. No matter where you are in your journey
each other
It is the job of the church to build up the church
I want to do this for everyone but the reality is I can’t possibly do this to the measure required for our church to be healthy.
Husbands you are pastoring your family
Parents you are pastoring your kids
Group leaders you are pastoring your group
Believer you are pastoring the people around you
To Be:
a. This isn’t some religious game
b. This isn’t a role we play on Sunday mornings
c. It’s who we are
More like Christ:
Everything we do is in an effort to be more like Jesus.
It’s the goal for all of us, no matter where we are in our journey
So we must know His word to know who He is
Then we must obey. We must live it out.
And we do that because we know that He is greater.
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.