The Church—the Body Of Christ

The Church—The Body of Christ

Acts 2:4242 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Acts 4:33."And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all."

INTRODUCTION

You might be in a country church if:

The Call to Worship is ,"Y’all come on in!"

The Preacher says, "I’d like to ask Bubba to pray for the offering" - and five guys stand up.

Opening day of deer hunting season is recognized as an official church holiday.

A member requests to be buried in his truck because, "I ain’t never been in a hole it couldn’t get me out of".

A singing group is known as "The O.K. Chorale."

The church directory doesn’t have last names.

The only time people lock their cars in the parking lot is during the summer and only so no one leaves them another bag of tomatoes!

Baptism is referred to as "branding."

High notes on the organ set dogs in the parking lot to howling.

People wonder when Jesus fed the 5,000 whether the two fish were bass or catfish.

I have noticed that geese seem to be able to do something that we in the Church should want to do. Their flocks seem to get larger. These geese do this by reproduction, but they also must invite other geese to come join them.

I do not think that geese have a newspaper or radio to communicate with one another, but as I watch the geese, their flocks get larger and larger as the summer goes on.

In the Book “Are You A Goose?” by Johson tells us a few things that scientists have learned about geese regarding why they do what they do.

SERMON

I. GEESE ILLUSTRATE THE CONCEPT OF FELLOWSHIP

What is fellowship? Fellowship means “to have in common”, “to share”, “to participate for a common cause”.

1. ACT 2:42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

2. Why do the geese get together before they head south for the winter (God made them that way, they do not think about it)? The geese get

together because together, the journey is easier.

3. When you see geese heading south for the winter flying along in a "V" formation, you ight be interested in knowing that science has discovered

why they fly that way.

a. Re-search has revealed that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately behind it.

b. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.

4. People who share a common direction and sense of community get where they are going more quickly and easily because they are traveling on

one another’s thrust.

C. Part of being in fellowship with one another is making sure that we are going in the same direction and that we are flying in formation.

1. Have you seen a group of geese heading out in all directions as they try to head south

1. Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone.

2. It quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front.

3. When we fall out of formation with God, we also feel the resistance pull us down away from our goal of growing closer to Jesus.

3. If we will embark on our journey to heaven together, the journey becomes easier.

4. The geese because of their instinct given to them by God, get together and head south for the winter for their survival.

5. As Christians, we need to get together and walk together, we need to spend time together and grow together.

5. 1 John 1:6-7 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the

light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

6. The geese stay together and head south for their survival, we too must work together as one body for our survival.

7. As a church, each of us need to think of ways that we can grow together in Christ.

8. If we as people have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation and so will those who are headed the same way we are.

II. THEY HAD GREAT PURPOSE

A. Their purpose was to obey the Savior.