Christ And His Church Series

Opening illustration: The job of the church is not to impact the church, but to impact the world. It’s like a huddle in a football game. 67,000 people don’t pay $25.00 a ticket to watch the Titans huddle. What if you went to a Titans game and for 2½ hours you watched 11 men stand in a circle and talk? That’s not what you pay for!! 67,000 people pay $25 a ticket to see what difference the huddle makes. What they want to know is, having called the play in secret, does it work in public?

The challenge for the church is not what we do when we call our Sunday morning huddle, but what we do when we break our huddle and head to our Sunday morning and weekly God given assignments. When Satan lines up against us, what difference does it make that we are Christians?

Let us turn to Matthew 4 & 9 and see what Jesus did and expects the body of Christ to do …

Introduction: Our relationship to Christ is defined as those who -

• confess that Jesus is the Son of God (Rom 1:4) and is Lord (Rom 10:9)

• It is through his sacrifice that their sins are forgiven (cf. Rom 3:24f; 1 Cor. 15:3)

• “…and through him that they receive the Spirit (cf. Gal 4:4f; Rom 8:2f)

• Christians live in Christ and he lives in them

• “…the activity of the Spirit is the activity of the Risen Christ”

• are baptized into Christ

• put on Christ

• are his property

• must love, serve, please and imitate him

• move and walk in the power of the anointing

• exhibit the fruit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit

What does Christ expect from the church?

1. More than just preach a message [Tri-prong Ministry] … (Matthew 4: 23; 9: 35)

(a) Teaching (for the spiritual growth of the ‘Body of Christ’)

• Spend enough time in prayer, studying the scriptures, pursuing holiness and purity and having a daily intimate walk with God

• Line up with scripture (OT & NT)

• Open to the leading of the Holy Spirit (John 14: 26; 16: 13)

• Stay away from heresy and non-biblical material

• Glorifies the Triune God

• Stay silent where the Bible is silent (don’t draw your own conclusions) and be explicit where it is explicit

• Does your understanding of a Bible passage harmonize with the rest of Scripture? Remember, the Bible DOES NOT contradict itself!

• Study the original language (Hebrew or Greek) words and their meaning(s) behind a Bible verse

• Do not form conclusions based on partial facts or insufficient information, or the opinions and speculations of others

(b) Preaching (for seekers, those who are new in Christ and also for the mature …)

• Spend enough time in prayer, studying the scriptures, pursuing holiness and purity and having a daily intimate walk with God

• Line up with the Old & New Testament

• Open to the leading of the Holy Spirit (John 14: 26; 16: 13)

• Stay away from heresy and secular material

• Glorifies the Triune God

• Try to keep the scripture passage short and articulate God’s Word in a very simple form with illustrations

• Stay silent where the Bible is silent (don’t draw your own conclusions) and be explicit where it is explicit

• Seek to understand the general context of a particular Bible verse by reading the verses and chapters just before and after it.

• If possible study the original language (Hebrew or Greek) passages and their meaning(s) behind the Biblical passage

• Do not draw your own conclusions based on partial facts or insufficient information, or the opinions and speculations of others

• Do not bring your own personal assumptions and preconceived notions into your understanding or conclusions

• Application of God’s Word in today’s context

© Healing (spiritual & physical)

• When Jesus walked the earth, people believed that sickness was from the devil, and that healing was from God. Things have dramatically changed in two thousand years. Now, many think affliction is allowed and sometimes sent by God to build character, and those who pursue the ministry of healing are deceived by the devil. While the thinking of the church has changed, God hasn’t. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus healed every person who came to Him asking to be made well. There were no exceptions. It didn’t seem to matter if they had great or weak faith, or even sin issues. They all left His presence with their miracle.

• "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself ..." Jesus was unable to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils, or cleanse the lepers, unless God worked through Him. When He commanded His disciples to do these things, He was requiring them to do what was impossible without God’s help.