Sermon Tone Analysis

The Way You Learned Christ

We have spent two weeks talking about aspects of unity.

We talked about how we need to be unified in spite of our differences.

We talked about how our differences can actually create unity when we each play our part, fulfill our role.

We talked about how we are all connected through Christ.

I want us to begin to transition now to actually walking this out as a church.

First, I want us to be solid on two quick important things.

Doctrine Matters

Doctrine exists in lots of genres.

Political doctrine exists in the platforms of the parties.

Social doctrine exists in the society arounsd us.

That what it means to be blown around by every wind of doctrine.

Should we be aware and concerned about what happens in those areas?

Of course we should.

However, those cannot be our guide.

The guardrails on our road need to be firmly established by the Lord.

What does God have to say on the subject?

That should be the first and most important question we can ask.

I do not want anyone to go to hell.

I wantt o tell everyone they can go to heaven.

But God has said that we are wicked sinful people who need to repent of our sins and trust in the finished work of Christ.

Therefore, it does not matter what I want Him to say, it matters what he did say.

That is the doctrine we need to agree to live out together.

How can we live out together the things we do not believe together?

We believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.

That Jesus, along with the Father and Holy Spirit make up the triune God.

We believe Jesus took our sin on himself on the cross.

This payment for our sins turned away the wrath of God and allows us to be adopted as sons and daughters of God.

Read Church Covenant

Members Covenant for First Baptist Church Princeton, WV

With the understanding that we are all sinners and by believing and accepting the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, then celebrating that occasion by being baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we do now prayerfully enter into a covenant relationship with each other as the body of Christ named First Baptist Church of Princeton, WV.

We covenant to work and pray for unity and the Spirit of peace to flow through the body as we watch over one another in the love of God, forgiving as we have been forgiven, working to bring about reconciliation and to secure it without delay, as much as it depends on each of us.

We covenant to set aside a portion of our income to fund the ministries, missions and spreading of the Gospel since Scripture teaches that each of us should give in accordance with our income and as we have purposed in our heart because God loves a cheerful giver.

We covenant to grow in the knowledge of the Lord through corporate worship, personal devotions, and corporate and family Bible Study, living under the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every area of our lives.

We covenant, by God’s guidance and the Holy Spirit’s wisdom, to live in the world but to not be of the world.

We covenant to abstain from using, or influencing others to use, anything harmful to our bodies, the temples of God.

We accept the Word of God to be our authority in faith and everyday living.

We covenant to discover our Spiritual gifts which have been given to us when we accepted God’s forgiveness and grace.

And we covenant to find those places in the body to put them to use under the Spirit’s direction.

We covenant to pray for our church, its leaders, and the church family.

We covenant to watch over one another in brotherly love, to aid each other in sickness and distress, to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy in speech, and to be slow to take offense.

Finally, we covenant that when we leave this location or this church, we will, as soon as possible, unite with another body of Believers where we can continue to carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God’s Word.

When we join together, we are saying we agree with the commonly held beliefs of this church.

Therefore, the elmentary doctrines are what we affirm and move forward united.

Doctrine - a principle or position or the body of principles in a branch of knowledge or system of beliefs

If the Bible is not our basis of doctrine, concensus will be not be possible to build.

The bible must be our guide.

We need to tell others about Jesus and what Jesus has taught us.

Truth in Love

This means we tell the truth even when it hurts, but we do it with a heart for the person not a vendetta against them.

Walk without futility

Hard hearts and tough shells

It means that we have a heart for people not a heart against people

Hard hearts and tough shells are not to be the defining characteristics of a believer.

Knowledge, discernment, love and humility

We did not learn Christ as a self seeking, preference fulfilling culture of elitist.

I hear more about the preferences in music here than I do about our approach to the lostness of our city.

The primary concerns expressed on a regular basis have far more to do with our personal benefit than they do with the cause of Christ.

In the doctrine of personal preference we will see rough seas and terrible waves.

The world should see us as the most humble people not the most self righteous people.

Our doctrine must be that laid out by the word not the world.

The world seeks its own way.

The world loves the sound of its own voice.

Let us be different than that!

This is not the way you learned Christ!

We seek the way of the Lord.

If your light shines int he face of men brighter than the Lord Jesus Christ, he is decreasing, not increasing in your life.

One major problem we have today in our walk with the Lord, is an over valued opinion of our own thoughts.

God must be the most authoritative voice in this room, in any room of this church.

For the Gospel, For the City

Not for ourselves.

If too many of our conversations start with “we like”, “we want” “we need” we are too us focused.

Let us be transformed by our encounter and engagement with Christ.

Let us begin to be a humble people, loving one another, unified in our doctrines of the Bible, committed to the furtherance of His Kingdom.

Let us collectively echo the words of John the Baptist

Let us be a people

For the Gospel, For the City