Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Two Points:: Wednesday May 19
To restate the point of the frequency and content of this blog...Our series on the church will give us a compass for the purpose of our church. Our series Questioning the Church seeks to provide us with a biblical understanding of the church. This blog will reinforce those teachings.
Point 1- “You can be baptized in the church, raised in the church, confirmed in the church, serve in the church, marry in the church, die in the church, and have your funeral in the church, and still wake up in hell if you are merely in the church and not in Christ.” (Mark Driscoll)
Dave used this quote in the sermon last week and it really leads us well into some of the stuff that will talk about this week and it gets to the heart of the foundation of the church.
Scripture uses lots of metaphors and imagery to teach about the church. The principle that is taught by most of them is that Jesus Christ is the essence of what the church is built upon. This is the heart of the message that I will preach this week.
I think that Driscoll here is getting to that point, but he is also getting to a critique on the church and on church people. Church can become the end. Church is supposed to be a means to an end. That end is God. It can become the thing that is worshiped.
Point 2-Acts 2:36-47
In this passage verse 42 is a well known and frequently quoted verse in regard to the activities of a church. It says, "They devoted themselves to..." Dave summed up the passage with four calls for the church.
1. Gospel centered preaching
An Apostle was one who had been with Jesus and been given charge by Jesus to go and preach. A church should have at its core of preaching the gospel and Jesus.
2. Gospel centered, loving relationships
Dave used a phrase on Sunday that was great and I want us to think on it. He said, "The gospel informed how they lived their lives." These people in the church that Acts 2 is talking received their instruction, direction and motivation for their relationships from Jesus and his gospel. The gospel informed how they lived their lives. This is a natural outflow of a church that is on mission.
3. Baptism and the Lord’s supper
These are what are called sacraments or rites of the church. Scripture teaches that churches are to be administering these rites, helping to remind the church of what Jesus did to cleanse and feed the assembly of called out believers.
4. Pursuing relationship with God together (Acts 2:42, Acts 2:46)
Go back and reread those verses. Think deeply on them and understand that our privatized culture has made giving ourselves over to this kind of living very difficult. We are guarded and like to hide. But this early church was not. Ask yourself this question: What relationships do I have that could develop into this kind of relationship? Then pray that God would begin to prepare you and develop you for it.
Point 1- “You can be baptized in the church, raised in the church, confirmed in the church, serve in the church, marry in the church, die in the church, and have your funeral in the church, and still wake up in hell if you are merely in the church and not in Christ.” (Mark Driscoll)
Dave used this quote in the sermon last week and it really leads us well into some of the stuff that will talk about this week and it gets to the heart of the foundation of the church.
Scripture uses lots of metaphors and imagery to teach about the church. The principle that is taught by most of them is that Jesus Christ is the essence of what the church is built upon. This is the heart of the message that I will preach this week.
I think that Driscoll here is getting to that point, but he is also getting to a critique on the church and on church people. Church can become the end. Church is supposed to be a means to an end. That end is God. It can become the thing that is worshiped.
Point 2-Acts 2:36-47
In this passage verse 42 is a well known and frequently quoted verse in regard to the activities of a church. It says, "They devoted themselves to..." Dave summed up the passage with four calls for the church.
1. Gospel centered preaching
An Apostle was one who had been with Jesus and been given charge by Jesus to go and preach. A church should have at its core of preaching the gospel and Jesus.
2. Gospel centered, loving relationships
Dave used a phrase on Sunday that was great and I want us to think on it. He said, "The gospel informed how they lived their lives." These people in the church that Acts 2 is talking received their instruction, direction and motivation for their relationships from Jesus and his gospel. The gospel informed how they lived their lives. This is a natural outflow of a church that is on mission.
3. Baptism and the Lord’s supper
These are what are called sacraments or rites of the church. Scripture teaches that churches are to be administering these rites, helping to remind the church of what Jesus did to cleanse and feed the assembly of called out believers.
4. Pursuing relationship with God together (Acts 2:42, Acts 2:46)
Go back and reread those verses. Think deeply on them and understand that our privatized culture has made giving ourselves over to this kind of living very difficult. We are guarded and like to hide. But this early church was not. Ask yourself this question: What relationships do I have that could develop into this kind of relationship? Then pray that God would begin to prepare you and develop you for it.
Two Points::Monday May 17
Today's two points come from the sermon from yesterday. You can listen to it here. We began a new series yesterday called "Questioning the Church" and this is a vital study for us and for Christians in general. We need to learn what scripture says about the church and what God intended the church to be and what God intended the church to do. So we will use this blog to go into detail with some topics that are touched on in the messages. Be sure to check the blog frequently and know that you are encouraged to interact here and connect with a Community Group for face to face interaction.
Point 1- Deuteronomy 4:10 (ESV)
10 how on the day that you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’
The word that is translated here as gather is translated elsewhere as assemble and it is the Hebrew word for church. The Hebrew church is a gathering or assembling of God' people. But the real information that is here is what follows because it lays out the purpose of the gathering or assembly or church. The author lays out three things as purposes for the church.
1. To teach the word- We gather together as the church for the purpose of being taught the word of God. The Bible is the word of God so the church exists to teach the Bible.
2. To learn to revere God and place Him in proper perspective- Deut 4:10 uses the language "Learn to fear". The is a commonly used phrase in Old Testament and it can be summarized as having a proper view of God and his power, glory, love and other attributes. It means to respect, revere, worship, see properly. The church exists to lead people to a proper view of God.
3. To disciple others- We have the word taught to us and we receive this proper view of God and then we teach it to our children or those who come after us. The church exists to create disciples.
There are so many places in scripture where the purposes of the church are spelled out, none of them are exhaustive. This one is no exception. These are not the only things that a church does, but they are what a church does. Every church should be doing these things, if it does not it is either not a good church or it is simply not a church.
Point 2 The church is more than just doing something spiritual. This is a point that Dave made in the message last night and it is spot on, especially for this current generation.
We live in a culture that rebels against organized religion. Many of the critiques on organized religion are valid and need to be challenged. But the pendulum has swung too far. Instead of reform to the church we have fake replicas of the church. We have three guys meeting at Starbucks and talking about spiritual things replacing the gathering. We have Christians living outside the gathering who have no one who has authority or discipline in their lives. This is not a church and this is not what Go has called His people to.
We have to KNOW that God has brought about this redemptive plan of Jesus and has impacted the world through this plan to reconcile man to Himself and He has created the church to accomplish this task. Living outside of a gathered expression of God's called people (another way to church) is living outside of the plan of God. This is important and heavy stuff that must be said to this generation of people who have been hurt or turned off by particular churches.
Mark Driscoll says this about this idea, "The postmodern world would have an entirely new definition of church, one in which church is understood as a community of Christians and non-Christians who love together without distinction, without leadership, or discipline or doctrine, trying to emulate the character of Jesus without stressing the gospel requirements of repentance of sin and faith in Jesus that enable the life of Jesus to be lived by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Get into and connect honestly with a church THIS WEEK!
Two Points::Thursday February 25
Point 1: I have quoted on several occasion the book "A Praying Life" by Paul Miller. It is one of the best reads I have found. Each page is filled with gospel centered thoughts about prayer and very practical. Life sped up for me for a while and I did not read it much, but I have picked it back up and found this gem today.
He is talking about the role of prayer in parenting when he says, "Until we become convinced we can't change our child's heart, we will not take prayer seriously." That is not a truth that is only applied to the area of parenting. Many time we do not pray because we are not yet convinced that we can not take of our problems and the problems of others.
I have learned this in my own life and as I pastor people. My first reaction is to apply my skill set to problems to "fix" them. It is only when I am unable to "fix" the problem that prayer becomes the option. I am focused in my own prayer life to pray first.
Point 2: I like to listen to sermons on my way to my new insurance job. I have 25 minutes or so in the car and I have found a good way to redeem that time is to listen to sermons on my iPod instead of wasting that time listening to sports radio. Today I listened to this sermon.
The manuscript of the sermon is here. I put in the manuscript so that you might be able to wrestle with the points more than just hearing it.
The reason that I post this on here is that I have been in contact with some people on places like facebook and in everyday life who are not involved in a church, but consider themselves to be Christians.
Let me be clear about two things. First, your salvation is not tied to your being engaged at church. Church involvement or membership is vital to the Christian life. The sermon details the reasons for that well. Second, I am not saying this to get you to come to North Church. I want you to be involved in any church where Christ is preached and the gospel and scripture are honored.
Many who are Christians and are not involved in churches are in the place they are in because of past involvement with churches or because they reject their own need to be involved. If this is you I want to ask you to read the sermon I linked on here with an open mind. We are all in need of authority in our lives. The church is an organism that God created for that purpose.
He is talking about the role of prayer in parenting when he says, "Until we become convinced we can't change our child's heart, we will not take prayer seriously." That is not a truth that is only applied to the area of parenting. Many time we do not pray because we are not yet convinced that we can not take of our problems and the problems of others.
I have learned this in my own life and as I pastor people. My first reaction is to apply my skill set to problems to "fix" them. It is only when I am unable to "fix" the problem that prayer becomes the option. I am focused in my own prayer life to pray first.
Point 2: I like to listen to sermons on my way to my new insurance job. I have 25 minutes or so in the car and I have found a good way to redeem that time is to listen to sermons on my iPod instead of wasting that time listening to sports radio. Today I listened to this sermon.
The manuscript of the sermon is here. I put in the manuscript so that you might be able to wrestle with the points more than just hearing it.
The reason that I post this on here is that I have been in contact with some people on places like facebook and in everyday life who are not involved in a church, but consider themselves to be Christians.
Let me be clear about two things. First, your salvation is not tied to your being engaged at church. Church involvement or membership is vital to the Christian life. The sermon details the reasons for that well. Second, I am not saying this to get you to come to North Church. I want you to be involved in any church where Christ is preached and the gospel and scripture are honored.
Many who are Christians and are not involved in churches are in the place they are in because of past involvement with churches or because they reject their own need to be involved. If this is you I want to ask you to read the sermon I linked on here with an open mind. We are all in need of authority in our lives. The church is an organism that God created for that purpose.
Silos
Imagine several silos. Imagine that each silo is representative of subcultures or interests. You may imagine a silo for politics, one for sports, one for entertainment or one for music. You may get more specific and imagine one for fottbal and another for basketbal and baseball or one for movies and another for theatre and another for television.
The point is to imagine silos. Some are filled all the way up some are partly filled up. Did you imagine a silo for church or religion? I hope that we are never church centric, that the end is people at North Church. I hope that we are not about trying to get people to come to us but instead we would go into the world. I hope that we would climb from the church silo and go get into the basketball silo or the music silo.
There is a single mom in the church of a friend of mine. This mom just had quints. That is right, she had five babies and is single. A lady in the church is coordinating ministry to this single mom. The single mom is not a Christian and does not go to the church. Someone came to the woman who was coordinating the effort to reach out to this single mom and told her that she would like to go and pick this mom up once a week and take her to lunch and disciple her. A great concept. But the coordinator said, why don't you skip the lunch and the discipleship and go and fold diapers and do housework with her. Go to where she is and live life with this woman and physically help her, engage her in real life conversations.
In short why don't you get out of your church silo and go get into her raise 5 kids by yourself silo.
The point is to imagine silos. Some are filled all the way up some are partly filled up. Did you imagine a silo for church or religion? I hope that we are never church centric, that the end is people at North Church. I hope that we are not about trying to get people to come to us but instead we would go into the world. I hope that we would climb from the church silo and go get into the basketball silo or the music silo.
There is a single mom in the church of a friend of mine. This mom just had quints. That is right, she had five babies and is single. A lady in the church is coordinating ministry to this single mom. The single mom is not a Christian and does not go to the church. Someone came to the woman who was coordinating the effort to reach out to this single mom and told her that she would like to go and pick this mom up once a week and take her to lunch and disciple her. A great concept. But the coordinator said, why don't you skip the lunch and the discipleship and go and fold diapers and do housework with her. Go to where she is and live life with this woman and physically help her, engage her in real life conversations.
In short why don't you get out of your church silo and go get into her raise 5 kids by yourself silo.
