Ingredients Of A Great Church

A Sermon For You

A Ministry of Huckaby’s Evangelism

Ingredients of A Great Church

By Evangelist Gary Huckaby

Ephesians 5:24-25, "Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church; and he is the savior of the body."

Hebrews 12:23, "To the general assembly and Church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of his men made perfect."

Acts 2:37-38, "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

In this message, I am giving you a list of P’s.....

The Preacher

The most important part of a local New Testament Church is the Preacher.

In Matthew 7:20, the words, "Their fruit," refers to other Christians. Those who have found Christ through a soul winner. Every true man of God must be a soul winner.

If the Preacher doesn’t win lost souls, how can they expect their followers to do it?

Proverbs 11:30, says, "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise." Romans 1:13, refers to, "fruit among you."

The preacher is to be dedicated and separated unto God. God doesn’t bless a ministry, God blesses a man. Read about the great soul winners of the past, D.L.Moody, R.A.Torrey, Len G Broughton, John R Rice, Lee Robinson, Curtis Hudson, Lester Roloff, to name but a few. In my own life, and ministry I have seen what soul winning can do for the local Churches. God is more interested in building a great Church than you or I. God is more interested in souls saved, that we could ever be! It takes full surrender to build a great Church, and this starts with the Preacher.

Purpose

"Blessed is the man who aims at nothing, for he shall hit it."

It would be like getting in the car with my wife, Carolyn and just start going with no destination anywhere. Before long she would ask, where are we headed? Nowhere, in particular. Then, why are we riding to nowhere? she would certainly ask.

Find out where you are going. Plan to see someone.

Where are we headed as a Church one year ahead? How are we going to reach the unbelievers in our local areas? Make definite plans to reach everyone. Set goals for the members to reach each month or week. Spend time in prayer for your work. Because without a purpose for the work or Church that you are part of, there will be no greatness for God.

A Plan

Come together as a whole, an outline a plan. Use the local newspapers, radio adds, soul winning seminars, Bible Conferences, Revivals, door to door witnessing.

The telephone is also another good was to reach souls for the kingdom of heaven.

The best plan is spelled, W-O-R-K.. Some of the laziest people in the world are Christians at doing the Lords work.

We need to discipline our lives to work in the service of Jesus Christ.

Edison said, "Genius is one percent inspiration, and 99% perspiration."

Work for the night is coming, when man’s work is done.

Patience

I try to be a dignified type of fellow but, Sometimes I have been embarrassed.

One morning right in the middle of one of my services, a man and lady, got up and walked out, it kind of disrupted the atmosphere of the service, but we continued and souls were saved.

I have been embarrassed at weddings, when I have forgotten and left out some special song, or forgotten the couples names. But we went on and God still blessed the service. Boy have I had to learn patience, in these years.

I remember a little boy got the loud hiccups in one of my services, it seemed to tear the message to pieces, but I kept preaching, and God blessed in spite of the distraction.

Persistence

"Keep on keeping on."

One of my Church members told me of a client he wanted to reach to sell an insurance policy, it took him seven try’s to finally get the deal done.

I remember a preacher who pastored another local Church who was always telling me that he was going to start going soul winning, but he never did, he just sat in his study and grew roots. The last I heard he had never won a single soul to Christ, I pray that he will win someone soon.