THE CHURCH

The Church, what is the church of God. Is it a building, a denomination or is it a group of people, Today as we turn to God’s word, I pray that you will have answers to these and other questions before we end this message. “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying whom do men say that I the son of man is, and they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist some, Elias; and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said unto them, but whom say ye say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Bless art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my father which is in heaven. 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. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever ever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven! This passage, (Matt 16:13-19), is one of the most informative passages regarding the New Testament Church. I want each one of you to notice several important things in this passage : (1) “I will build my church” this could be better translated “ I will be building and building and building my church.” Friends Jesus is the builder and He will continue building His church until the last person is saved and the “bride” which is the church, is called out to heaven (2) Jesus says it is “my church”, The church is the bride of Christ ”And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues and talked with me, saying come hither, I will show thee the bride the Lamb’s wife” (Rev 21:9) (3). Hell shall not  prevail against Jesus’ Church Satan will not be able to stop or overcome His church. (4). Faith in Christ is the key to becoming a part of this  church. (5). Jesus gave all the authority to the church in spiritual matters (v19) this means that the church is to be seeking baptizing teaching, discipline, people for His Church until He returns. We can read the things which are very obvious, Jesus did not build His church upon Peter, upon the temple or upon that group of disciples! They, my dear friend were simply the first group to recognize Jesus as Messiah and they went everywhere starting other churches. Christ's Church is built on what Peter confessed. 

Today friends we will be examining the bride of Christ or the church. I think a good definition of the church is, it’s a local church of called out believers, called out from the world, sit aside for the work of the carrying out of the Lord. It assembles on a scriptural basic for the carrying out of God’s commands and commission to provide for the fellowship strength, encouragement, edification, and Christian growth to God’s people. It is vital that every Christian joins himself to a church to help in carrying out the great commission.

         The Church is also the body of Christ ”FOR AS THE BODY IS ONE, AND HATH MANY MEMBERS, AND ALL THE MEMBERS OF THAT ONE BODY BEING MANY, ARE ONE BODY: SO ALSO IS CHRIST. FOR BY ONE SPIRIT ARE WE ALL BAPTIZED INTO ONE SPIRIT” (I Cor 12:12,13). Christ is the head and believers are the body of Christ.  A person can only become a part of the body by being born-again. To be born again a person must repent of their sins,  (turn from them) and believe that Jesus died for their sins and arose the third day, after this step of confession by faith in Jesus, all one needs to do is ask Jesus to forgive them their sins and according to God’s Holy Word He will forgive them. From that point on that person must trust in Jesus and allow him to be Lord and Savior of their lives. Anyone doing these simple steps, by faith can become a part of the body of Christ. Friends, a person may be a member of some church and may even meet in some church building but he cannot become a member of the body of Christ without being born again. It is very important that we understand that the church is not a building but people who have committed their life to Christ. Not to do good works but to live for Him." For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God; Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph 2:8,9). Friends a person is saved not by works but by faith in Jesus, I repeat a person is not saved because of doing good things but because of their faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ making atonement for their sins. Now the church has three meanings in the New Testament First, it means the universal church. ”Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. "(Phil 3:6), secondly and most frequently, it means a particular local church.  ”I commend unto Phebe our sister; which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea.”(Rom 16:1) Here Paul is talking about  a certain church in a certain town, and thirdly, it means the actual assembly of believers in any place, meeting together for the purpose of worshipping God. FOR FIRST OF ALL, WHEN YE COME TOGETHER IN THE CHURCH, ”(I Cor 11:18). Here Paul is talking to a group of people meeting to worship God. Now that we know all three meaning of church in the Bible we should also know that each one of us can be apart of all three forms of this word. When you become a born-again believer you become a part of the Universal church. (the body of Christ). You can join a local church in your community and become a part of the local church, and when you exercise your privilege as a believer by going to church worshiping God you become a part of all three forms of the word. ”church”. The word church is used in the New Testament 109 times. The vast majority of these times, perhaps 90 times, or more it refers to a local congregation of Christians. Friends, there is coming a time when all of the saved of Christ shall be one body in heaven, praising God. Every born-again believer is today a part of the universal church. However, each Christian should belong to a local congregation of believers who are committed to carrying out the great commission in their city. Furthermore every born again church member should be faithful to his church when they are assembled for worship ”Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the day approaching” (Heb 10:25).remember friends we are told to go to church we are not merely ask to go. God say don’t forget to go to church.

         Now that we have the meaning of the word church let us  take a look at the structure. “Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons (Phil 1:1). As we take a look at this verse we can see there are three groups mentioned in the church structures; saints, pastors, and deacons. This is what we want to take a look at now . These three words refer to the various structures of the church. The word bishops refers to Pastor. There are three tittles given to pastors in the New Testament (Shepherd) which means to watch-care over the flock. He is to be an example to the flock.2. (Bishop) ”which means overseer, he is to be overseer of the entire church program. This does not mean that he is to be a dictator, but it means to guide the over all ministries of the church. Last the  pastor is called an( elder) this points to wisdom, council, and advice which every faithful pastor owes to his people.

         The deacons of the church are servants who were chosen because of the heavy load that a pastor carry They are his helpers to assist him with the responsibilities for deacons (I Tim 3:8-11). Unfortunately in our modern day world most deacons think they are to run the church, but that is not Biblical, the deacons are to be servants they are to serve the people in the church if you read (Acts 6:1-8) you will see they were elected to serve the people so the pastors could preach the word.

         Looking at the ministries of the church  we can see a six fold function. The first duty of any local church is two evangelize the unsaved. If the church you are in, is not doing that friends they are missing the mark of the high calling. GO YE THEREFORE AND TEACH ALL NATIONS, BAPTIZING THEM IN THE NAME OF THE HOLY GHOST” (Matt 28:19) Friends, I don’t think one person should belong to a church which does not evangelize the lost. The country we live in needs to be reached for Christ. The church is not a social organization it is not a place for people to do business in. And dear Christian friends the church is not , nor has it ever been a place to speak on politics. The point of business for every local church is evangelism. Second the church is a place to teach the word of God to those who are saved. ”And they continued steadfastly in the  opstles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42) Friends, it is very important that the church exercise this gift to protect members. Also we can see the church is a place to have fellowship with other believers just like yourself. You aren’t going to find Christians in the world. This is a good time for fellowship with people who you have things in common with. The church is the place where God’s servants can administer the ordnances, the Lords supper and baptism looking (Acts 2:42) we also see the church is a place of prayer. When Jesus entered the temple, and ran out everyone that was doing business there, He says “ IT IS WRITTEN MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED THE HOUSE OF PRAYER.” Let us remember this when we gather in the church. And the last ministry of the church we will discuss is the ministering to the saints. It is the responsibility of the church to help it’s people when they are in need.

         Now that we have looked at some of the functions of the church I think we need to look at the Christian obligations to the church. Faithfulness in attendance. Why should a person be faithful in attending the church? We always hear people say I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. Friends I have traveled half way around the world and never meet a soul winner, spirit filled, growing Christian who has not been baptized and faithfully attending a local church. Here are some more reasons why we should be faithful to the church.(1) Obedience to Christ (Heb 10:25, John 14:21;23;24, Exodus 20:8-11) tells us that Sunday is to be a day of rest and a day of worship. We are to follow Christ example and He went to church (Lk 4:14-16) if you really love Jesus you will want to go to church “FOR THIS IS THE LOVE OF GOD THAT WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS ; (I John 5:3) Friends it’s a command to go to church and if you love God you will keep his commandments. We need to go to church to grow in faith and knowledge of our Lord. You cannot grow if you don’t attend a local church. You need to attend church to be an example to others. A study once disclosed that if both mom and Dad attended church regularly, 72% of their children remained faithful to church. It also showed that if only Dad attended regular 55% of the children remain faithful if only mother attends regularly only 15% of the children remains faithful. If neither mom or Dad attend regularly, only 6% of the children remain faithful. Friends, I think these statistics speak for themselves. The example of parents and adults are more important that all the efforts of church.

In conclusion

We need to enter the house of God with a proper attitude, we need to support the church with our tithes (Mal 3:8-10) and we need to be faithful in serving in the church plus praying for the leadership of our pastors. In closing friends I want to ask you what kind of church member are you? 

Some church members are like wheelbarrows, there are no good unless pushed. 

Some are like kites, if you don’t  keep a string on them they fly away, 

Some are like kittens, they are  more contended when petted. 

Some are like balloons, full of wind and likely to blow up unless pulled. 

Some are 100% members in regular attendance and very cooperative. 

What  about you friend. Let’s all go to church this Sunday and worship God and if you aren’t saved, then give your heart to Jesus today and you will become a part of the body of Christ.

 

 
HOME  PAGE  

SERMONS

 
 
   
HOME  PAGE   SERMONS