Matt 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it....
The 1st time that the word Church is used is found here in this Scripture.......
2 Tim 2:15.... Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth...
This Morning we’ve entitled our Message The CHurch
What is the Church?,
How does God Look at The Church?
What does God expect of The Church?
We are The Church Those of Us sitting here right now although the church is comprised of Denominations ; The Church is not A Denomination by Denomination i mean Baptist, Protestant, Adventist, Catholic or seventh day Adventist , No my Friend The Church is what Jesus was referring to in
Matt 16:16.... the Church are those People that Declare And Stand on The truth That Jesus is the Son of God The Savior , Messiah and soon coming King and Jesus Calls The Group of People The Church....
What i would like to do this Morning is Take the Word Church and define The Church by using The word Church as an Acronym are you ready..
C. Called out Ones , the word church That Jesus uses is the Greek word G1577 ekklesia .. ek-kla-se'-ä and it Means Called out or Called Forth ... Called out or Called forth,
The Church are Those who have responded to the Invitation to Salvation, Called out of A Life of Unholiness,Darkness and Called to reach a lost and Dying World... as the Called Out Ones ; we have a responsibility to Live Holy Lives separated from Sin, abstain from every appearance of Evil, and not give the Enemy an opportunity to Mock God
1 Peter 1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;Be ye Holy for I am Holy,
Rom 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Eph 5:8-12 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret..
Called forth , we are called to go Forward; Forward and do What? Soul Snatching “ Win Souls” proclaim The Good News of Salvation to whosoever will
Jesus Said Mk 16:15... Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. And add to the Church those who will say Yes to Gods Amazing Gracious call To Salvation...The Church we Gods People are Ambassadors
2 Cor 5:20... Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. As The Church we should be Leading People to The Lord.. Evangelism is everyone’s Calling ( Turn and tell your Neighbor “ You’re An Evangelist”
Its one of our Victory Outreach Int. Core Values
Its our CAUSE Its what We Were Born For... The Cause is the army of the Lord. We are an army with a mission that God has given us to reach the world. We are a mighty army set aside to do battle against the powers of darkness through obedience and loyalty.
Called to Worship.... Rom 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
H. Holy Ghost Hospital ... The Churches Mission Statement is found in Lk 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised....
The Church is A Place where where we can find Healing and where others can come to receive Healing from their Broken Hearts , How many came to God with A Broken Heart “ I Did” tried to drown it with drugs, Alcohol, Anger, Promiscuity ...
The church is A Place where People that want to be healed and delivered can “Stretch out Their Withered Hand” To begin to move in The Impossible to begin to operate in The Supernatural..
What about the Homeless we’ve been accused of not feeding The Homeless my response was “were not a Homeless Ministry where we feed them once a week.... No we go a step further and and take them into our Recovery Homes and Feed Them every Day, House Them, Clothe and Counsel them and watch God restore Them”
Unity .. unity The church should be a place where people can experience A Peace which is the fruit of Unity no Schisms or Divisions “ No drama” in Pauls letter to The Corinthians he writes about The House of Chole he writes :
My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. Chole was a young woman who’s name meant Tender Sprout ,Paul was telling them that There division and disunity was hurting A new comer a Baby just sprouting to new Life...
When People come to our Churches their looking for a safe Haven a Place where they can Find a Unified group of People A family That Gets Along where they can sense the Presence of God....
James 3:16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. ( Aint nobody got time for That)
Col 3:15... And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
R. Restoration/ Reconciliation .. A place where Families are restored and Where Sinners are Reconciled with God Their Maker 2 Cor 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; Reconciliation Means That Jesus Paid The Price of our sins , That he bought us Back He exchanged His Life for Ours...
The church Should be a Place where People Understand That they Can find Forgiveness that They have Been forgiven As Preachers we dont preach Condemnation we Preach Forgiveness, Mercy, Mercies That are new every Morning As well we Preach Transformation We Preach That Jesus Died because he wants A Relationship with Us
He loves you He's not Mad at You , No My friend He's Madly In Love With You .... There is Therefore now no Condemnation to Those who are in Christ Jesus .... This is How People should feel when they walk in to our Churches , They should feel like they have A Hope and A Future .... That its not over , That God can restore Their Marriages, their Families, their Dignity ... They should feel accepted and Like Family.........
C. Community .. We are Family, A Community of Believers when one is Blessed we all Celebrate and when one Mourns we all mourn.... and When someone is in The hospital or a Baby is Born they have to Put The Mother in a Bigger room to Accommodate all The Visitors and when A Family Member Goes to be with The Lord we Gather around them take them Food and we Just encourage them by The Ministry of Presence and just being there shows That we care and That were Family WE ARE A COMMUNITY ... Community is one of our Core Values as A Movement ...
The church is a community; we are a family. This is why we call each other brother, sister, spiritual mom and dad. We can express and receive love, security and a sense of belonging in a family. Usually it is the weakest person in a family that receives the most attention.
Victory Outreach has been instilling the concept of family into its members since the beginning. God has raised up a people that were no people.
Many of the people working in the ministry of Victory Outreach today would not normally qualify as a pastor or licensed minister in other denominations or movements.
We have a sense of dignity and belonging because we are a family that God Himself raised up to become a unique ministry that works with the hurting people from inner-cities worldwide.
As a Community We Love to Fellowship to Brake Bread to encourage and exhort one another Life Groups, Bar b Qs food sales after Church
in Reno we Love SUSHI we get so loud and Laugh and Thats without Saki its just The Joy of The Lord and The fruit of Community ( Turn and tell your Neigbor Were Family)
H. Holy Spirit... The Church is Where The Holy Spirit is allowed to Move Freely and where People Learn about The Gifts of The Spirit and The Fruit of The Spirit Because we are not Human beings living in A Spiritual world, We are Spiritual Being living in a Human World .....
The world calls it Energy or vibes or Karma “ i feel Good Energy here” Or im getting Bad Vibes from This Place” No My Friend it’s Either the Holy Spirit or The Spirit of The World ... But in Our Churches ItsThe Holy Spirit thats why Prayer and the Study of Gods Word is Encouraged because it Fosters and Promotes The Ministry of The Holy Spirit which is Comforter, Counselor revealer of The Truth of Gods Word empowers us so that we wont Quit , gives us understanding and Discernment and boldness To Preach The Gospel ... For God has notGiven us a Spirit of Fear but of Power Love and A Sound mind
A Church that doesnt Reach out to its City is Just a Country Club.... The Church is Not a Country Club it Gods Army, Gods People
1Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
The Church is not A religion we Are A Movement; Religion Kills and Condemns ; we are not an Organization we are A Living Powerful Organism The Church Produces life the church is where once dead People can come alive and Find Purpose and Vision thats why we encourage Getting involved In Ministry Because it Grows You .....
Ministry isn’t our way of Getting things done Its Gods way of turning Spiritual Babes into Mighty Men of Valor and Women into Deborahs Women of War Men and women That Their Pastors can Feed to The Overall Movement and Vision of Victory Outreach ....
Were not Playing Church, we cant afford to Play Church Peoples Lives are in The Balance and were running out of Time .... Jesus Is Coming ! Jesus is Coming and we have been chosen to be a Part of This Last Day Harvest
( call up Musicians)
Jer.8:20-22 “The harvest is past, the summer has ended,and we are not saved.” Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me.
Is there no Balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?
20 “The harvest is past, The summer is ended, And we are not saved!” For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning; Astonishment has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead,Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no recovery For the health of the daughter of my people? Victory Outreach we Have The Balm It is The Good News of Salvation and The Testimony of Transformed spirit Filled lives ....
We were Saved to Build Gods Church and not just sit in The pews and work 9 to 5 Jobs only our Jobs are supposed to Help us do our Work and our is to do will of God ....
i Thank God for our Pastor , This Ministry and This Church because thats what you all do it , But there may be some Here This morning that have Just got Here or Have not understood why God brought you Here .... Now You know its Time to Do Gods Bidding .. and Lets take our cities for Jesus...
