Back To Church: Because Of Who He Is

BECAUSE OF WHO HE IS

Colossians 1:15-20 (NLT)

For a video of this sermon and others, go to www.thecreekmonroe.com

(Opening Illustration idea from Bruce Lee, "Out Of Peanut Butter" sermon central)

Intro: Were going to start the sermon this morning a little differently than we usually do. This first part is an interactive part of the sermon.

. How many have seen the game show Family Feud. The producers survey 100 people on a particular question and place the top five answers on a board and cover them up. Then five members from a family go against another family and try to guess the answers.

Whoever does the best gets the points.

. Were going to do a modified version of this today. I need five volunteers to play the game. (pick 5 people). Now in the game the people buzz in, today I am going to call on you. You five stand up and come to the front please.

. We want the top five answers to this Question.

. What excuse do most people use for not showing up for church?

1.Weather, too hot or cold or rainy.

2.Overslept

3. I don’t like those songs they are singing these days.

4. It’s hunting or fishing season somewhere.

5. I really don’t like that preacher.

. I have spent all week praying and studying and meditating about today’s sermon. If you are here for “Back To Church Sunday” I don’t want you to think that I am picking on you or singling you out. That’s God’s job, not mine. I just thank God that all of you are here this morning to worship God and hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.

. What I do want us all to look at this morning and have some self examination is why do we come to church. Not why we don’t.

. There are all kinds of reasons that we don’t come to church.

. Statistics tell us that around 80% of people claim Christianity while only about 20 % attend a worship service regularly.

. Much of it is due to the way we do church.

. Three pastors got together for coffee one day and found all their churches had bat-infestation problems. "I got so mad," said one, "I took a shotgun and fired at them. I missed and it made holes in the ceiling. The trustees are still upset with me."

Another pastor said, "Well, I tried trapping them alive. Then I drove 50 miles before releasing them, but they beat me back to the church."

The third pastor said, "I haven't had any more problems since I took action." "What did you do?" the others asked, amazed. "I simply baptized and received into the church and I haven't seen them since!"

. We love to look at numbers and measure our success by how many people we baptize and how many members we have verses how many are or become committed to the Lord in our churches.

. We fuss and fight and get mad when we don’t get our way because we forget about who is supposed to get their way. In case you don’t know, that would be Jesus Christ, the head of the church.

. This morning, I want to look at some scripture that tells us why we come to church. Why we come on a regular basis and worship God.

Hebrews 10:19-25 tells us:

19And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.

20By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.

21And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house,

22let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

23Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

24Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.

25And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

. We could stay right here this morning and look at how being part of the local church helps us stay strong in our faith and how the fellowship that we have in the local church is God ordained. We are told very plainly here that we should not neglect meeting together to worship corporately. This is what God’s word tells.

. Verse 24 tells us to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. That part of church.