The Church: Purpose, Profile & Priorities: Talk #'2: ‘the Wife Every Church Should Marry!’ Series

SERMON OUTLINE:

WIFE Acrostic for...

Worship.

Instruction.

Fellowship.

Evangelism.

"Making sense of the ministry", by Warren Wiersbe,

Statement #1: The foundation of ministry is character.

statement #2: The nature of ministry is service.

statement #3: The motive for ministry is love.

statement #4: The measure of ministry is sacrifice.

statement #5: The authority of ministry is submission.

statement #6: The purpose of ministry is to glorify God.

statement #7: The tools of the ministry are prayer and the word of God.

statement #8: The privilege of ministry is growth.

statement #9: The power of ministry is the Holy Spirit.

statement #10: The model for ministry is Jesus Christ.

SERMON BODY:

Ill:

• A military commander had a sign on his desk that read,

• "The secrecy of my job does not permit me to know what I am doing".

• TRANSITION: Now that might be, ‘tongue-in-cheek,’

• But it is important to know what we are doing and where we are heading.

Ill:

There is a great episode in the book, ‘Alice in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carol.

• Alice is unsure of the way and so asks a question to the cat,

• “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

• The unhelpful cat replies,

• “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,”

• Alise responds, “I don’t much care were.”

• So, the cat says, “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,”

• And as an added afterthought Alice responds

• “So long as I get somewhere,”.

• The cat says,

• “Oh, you’re sure to do that, if only you walk long enough!”

• TRANSITION: As a Church we are not meant to be just going ‘somewhere.’

• We should have a focus, a plan, a direction!

• So that we are moving closer to our destination.

• That will require rethinking and reevaluating,

• Both in an individual sense and also a collective (as a Church) sense,

• Rethinking and reevaluating the why, what and how of who we are and what we do.

• Will difficult, and even painful!

Note: In Acts chapter 2, we see the church in embryonic form,

• This is the first and only Church,

• At this moment in history there is no other Church than this one.

• The Church has just been born and the cradle is still rocking!

• This is what the original looked like.

Ill:

We are used to cover versions of pop songs.

• e.g. Pet Shop Boys – ‘Always on My Mind.’

• Was it better than Brenda Lee, or Elvis Presley, in my opinion no!

• e.g. Take That - 'Could It Be Magic'

• Was it better than Barry Manilow?

• The Gypsy Kings - ‘Hotel California.’

• Was it better than The Eagles?

• e.g. Jimi Hendrix – ‘All Along The Watchtower.’

• Was it better than Bob Dylan, in my opinion it came close!

• TRANSITION: Normally we say the original was better,

• But that might just be a sign of getting old,

• And the new version adds to the original and gives it new life again!

• (there might be a spiritual parallel there!)

Question: What did the very first church look like?

Answer: If we can answer that question, we can determine two things:

• FIRST:

• We will be able to see the model we are expected to follow as a church.

• SECOND:

• We will be able to see why we need the church,

Ill:

• I am not looking at the early Church through rose-coloured/rose-tinted glasses.

• That is only seeing the pleasant things about it.

• Theologian Walter Elwell says,

• “In the New Testament alone, the early Church had to be corrected some 150 times.”

• TRANSITION: So, no local Church has ever been perfect,

• But in my opinion, this here in Acts 2 is as good as it gets!

• Now before we look, ‘The WIFE every Church should marry!’

• I want to spend a bit of time on something from a Warren Wiersbe book.

Ill:

• Warren Wiersbe was a radio Bible teacher, conference speaker and prolific author.

• In his book, "Making sense of the ministry",

• He gives ten excellent pieces of practical advice.

• So, I appreciate that 10 points by way of an introduction, may seem long,

• But I believe the points he makes are worth us taking the time,

• To think these things through.

Question: What do we mean by the term, ‘ministry’?

Answer:

• Another word for ministry is service.

• Ministry/Service is what we do as the Church,

• We work/serve in the name of God to bless other people.

• Remember from last week,