01-02-2022 - Sermon - Living Stones

OPENING

Well, we have made it to 2022. 2021 is officially behind us. Some of us are probably glad to see 2021 in the rear view mirror with the anticipation and expectation that 2022 is going to bring greater things.

I went back and looked and my first sermon in 2021 was on January 3rd titled, “As the Sparks Fly Upward.” It was from Job Chapter 5 and was a reminder that we are going to face trouble and hardships in our lives, as certain as the sparks fly upward. Who knew, and I certainly didn’t know, all the hardships we would have to face in 2021.

But, despite all the obstacles, I am excited about where God has brought us from, and where He has brought us to at the close of 2021. At the beginning of last year, I never thought I would be standing here today as pastor of Farm Hill Church. I never imagined that I would have the opportunity to meet a great group of people who have become, not only our friends, but our family.

As we come to the close of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, I have been reflecting on where we started as a church back in April and where God has brought us to today. And I am so proud to be a part of this church. And I am so excited for what God has in store for us in 2022!

It is time to Expect the Unexpected! I believe that God is wanting to do great things through Farm Hill Church! I believe that God has strategically placed each one of us here as a core group that He can use to build this church into a body of Christ that can turn this community right-side up with the Gospel! I believe that God is Fitting the Pieces Together!

As we begin 2022, we are going to kick off a series of messages titled, “Fitting the Pieces Together” that are aimed at setting our trajectory for spiritual, evangelistic, and numerical growth in 2022! We are going to answer some important questions. What is our mission? What is our vision? How are we going to ensure, as a church, that we fulfill our mission and vision in 2022? I hope you will be able to be here over the next several weeks, and if not, will listen to the podcasts. Because what we are talk about over the next couple of weeks is going to set the stage for what we are going to do the rest of the year.

This morning, the title of our message is “Living Stones.” This message is all about how we all fit into God’s plan for the church. Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Peter Chapter 2.

SCRIPTURE

1 Peter 2:1–5 NKJV

1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

MESSAGE

Jesus is the Ultimate Living Stone

He is the Chief Cornerstone.

Acts 4:11 NKJV

11 This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’

He is chosen by God.

He is precious.

We are also Living Stones

We are being built into a Spiritual House.

We are a holy priesthood.

We are to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God

Romans 12:1–2 NKJV

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

We are all part of a building, a Spiritual House, that Jesus calls the Church

Individually, we are the Temples of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 3:16 NKJV

16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

But it takes all of us being fitted together to build the Church.

Ephesians 2:19–22 NKJV

19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

We are all unique.

That’s why Paul describes us as living stones and not as bricks.

Bricks are manmade and are typically all the same shape and size. As you leave service today, notice the bricks on the outside of our church building. They are laid with perfectly strait lines and one is hardly distinguishable from the other except maybe for a slight difference in color.

But we are described as Living Stones.

We are not man-made. We owe everything to God as our Creator and Giver of Life.

We are all different. We all come in different shapes and sizes. We all have been blessed with different talents, abilities, and gifts from God.

A building or a house is not built with one stone.

But when a group of stones are brought together, and each one is fitted in its proper place, even though they are all different, they can be built into a strong building.

That is why it is vitally important for you and I to be part of a local church in addition to being part of the Global Church. As believers in Christ, we are all part of the Global Church. But individually we can never accomplish what we can accomplish through God corporately. In other words, WE ARE BETTER TOGETHER!

When we all come together with our own unique talents, abilities, and gifts that God has blessed us with and we are willing to offer them up to God and the local church as a spiritual sacrifice to God, The Holy Spirit will fit us all together in the proper place so that the Church is alive, healthy, and functioning in the way God intended and so that the Kingdom of God is glorified.

CLOSING

Are you part of the Global Church? Have you been born again?

Are you filling your place in the Local Church? Are you bringing all of your talents, abilities, and gifts and offering them to God as spiritual sacrifices?

Do you desire to do more for the Kingdom of God?

Do you feel like you haven’t found where you fit into God’s building program yet?

Do you want to do more for God in 2022?

Are you ready for what’s next?