On This Rock (Part Four) Series

On This Rock (Part Four)

Text: Acts 2:42 – 47

So… we’ve been looking at the Church that Jesus builds over the last few Sunday’s… and today will be our last sermon on that… next Sunday, Lord willing, we’ll be back to our study on Romans. Unless He leads us a different way.

But for now… we’re going to be going back to the Book of Acts, and we’re going to look at the exact same verses we looked at last week. Acts chapter two, verses 42 through 47 (READ TEXT).

So if someone asked you to describe Church, just using the Bible… you’re not allowed to use any of your experiences, just use the Bible and explain Church to them, what would you say? We have to start with God’s word, otherwise we’ll create all sorts of things that we like, and that we want, and we’ll be saying “I want this in a church, and I want this kind of experience, and this kind of thing.” And we can spend our whole lives doing that. We can spend our whole lives doing things and adding things, and spending money on things, and giving our time and effort to things, but they aren’t even the things that make a church the Church at all. I mean, it would be kind of like if Jesus came to your house, and said I’m going to eat supper with you every night, and He said, “I want grilled fish, and potatoes.” And every night you made fried chicken and Brussel sprouts. And you spent your whole life making that, and then finally it was your time to go to heaven and Jesus looked at you and said, “I ordered grilled fish, and potatoes.” And you saying, “But Lord, I like the chicken.”

I mean; that’s kind of how it is when we do that.

So what does the Word of God say about the Church?

That’s what we’ve been looking at over these last few weeks. Not what you say, or I say, or our congregation says, or our association says, or our denomination says… but what does the Bible say?

Just the Bible?

And what we’ve seen is four main things that have come up. Let’s look at the text one more time and we’ll see if we can spot them (READ TEXT AGAIN).

So one of the things I see right off the bat is love. Look at it

This is a group of people, they’re like a family, they love one another, they care for one another, they meet one another’s needs, what’s mine is yours, they’re so in love with one another, if you hurt I hurt, and if you’re rejoicing over something or celebrating something I’m going to celebrate it with you. It’s just this body of people who really do love one another.

Second thing: it seems like this is a group of people that just had to get this message out. They were on a mission. There are people who don’t know about Jesus and who are going to hell and so this group assembled to get the message out about Jesus.

The third thing: It seems like they gathered in one place, at one time, all as one, and they were focused on the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Communion was a big deal, and they were devoted to praying for one another, fellowshipping with one another, and learning this book

The fourth thing: There was a training or equipping that took place. Leaders were raised up, and they trained others to be leaders. And as all of this was happening, people were being saved. They were being rescued from an eternal hell.

That’s what the Bible shows us.

So then we have to ask ourselves, are we experiencing this? Are churches today like a loving family? Would an unbeliever walk in to First Baptist Church Sharon and be totally shocked when they saw how much we really love one another? Would they be amazed at how much we care for one another?

And as far as urgency and mission… How serious do we take this mission to reach all these people who are lost? Does it really concern us that something like 6.1 billion people are going to hell… if the statistics are right? 6.1 billion people…

OR what about right here in our own neck of the woods… the U.S. Census bureau says that there are 21,559 people in Woodward County… there are about 38 churches in Woodward County.

Nearly 75% of Woodward County’s adult population identifies themselves as “religious” but only about 55% attend services more than twice a month. But let’s say that 75% are all Christians. That would still mean that 5,390 people in Woodward County are lost.