What is the Gospel? How Can I Be Saved?
Happy Five Year Anniversary Northwest Bible Fellowship! Thank you all for five great years of worship together! Here's the sermon from our celebration service....
How do you measure church success?
Selected scriptures
Five year anniversary service
Sept 25, 2022
Opening scripture: The Church belongs to God…1 Tim 3:14-16
Scripture Reading: Eph 2:11-22
-what is a church?
-what makes the church a success?
-what makes a church a church
-what do we measure the churches effectiveness by
is it how many people are here is it how compelling the preaching is or how nice a website we have
do we measure church by the way the building looks on the outside
do we measure church by how big the building is
or by how big the parent organization is that the church belongs to
I want certain said that Catholicism has to be right because there’s so many members
-How do we measure church success?
first we have to know what the church is
what it’s purpose
and then we have to know how to fulfill that purpose
we can then measure whether or not we are fulfilling the purpose that God has laid out for us as the church
-What is the church…what is its purpose….
if we’re going to fulfill our mission in the church… if we are going to be the church of Jesus Christ that he said he would build…
what is our task
what is the purpose
what does the scripture say about it
and what what was the church doing in the New Testament
and were they commended or reprimanded
…what is the positive example set for us to follow and the negative example for us to avoid
-we won’t go super deep into this today since we’ve spent a couple of sermons giving sort of an overview of this
and will give an overview of it again today
We’ll take a broad stroke, a bird's eye view of the scripture and the purpose of the church and just more of us kind of talking about this today rather than a real in-depth, expositional study as we put our feet up a little bit and celebrate our five years together
you can certainly dive deeper into the Scriptures on your own
we can get a really nice overall picture that we can remember and take with us as what the church really is supposed to be
-What did Jesus say about the church?
Jesus said that he would build his church (Matt 16:18)
Jesus said that the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18)
Jesus said that within his church the people should be one as he and the father are one (John 17:20-23)
that they should love one another (John 13:34-35)
Jesus said that his disciples who follow him should be fishers of men (Mark 1:17…Matt 28:19-20)
they should go and make disciples of all nations baptizing in the name of the father the son and the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19-20)
-What were the earliest followers of Jesus Christ, his immediate disciples who knew him doing while they were in the church? Acts 2:42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Through the book of Acts
-believer sharing the gospel
-believers praying fervently for one another (for example, when Peter or Paul imprisoned) -believers taking up collection for one another
-believers are the exercise their gifts in the church which differ purposes
Romans 12:3-8
1 Cor 12:12-31
R.A. Torrey digs into the scripture and gives us this insight about the church…
Belongs to God.
1 Timothy 3:15
The body of Christ.
Ephesians 1:23 Colossians 1:24
Christ, the foundation-stone of.
1 Corinthians 3:11 Ephesians 2:20 1 Peter 2:4-5
Christ, the head of.
Ephesians 1:22
Ephesians 5:23
Loved by Christ…(The Bride Of Christ)
Song of Solomon 7:10. Ephesians 5:25
Purchased by the blood of Christ.
Acts 20:28 Ephesians 5:25 Hebrews 9:12
Sanctified and cleansed by Christ.
1 Corinthians 6:11 Ephesians 5:26-27
Subject to Christ.
Romans 7:4 Ephesians 5:24
The object of the grace of God.
Isaiah 27:3 2 Corinthians 8:1
Displays the wisdom of God.
Ephesians 3:10
Shews forth the praises of God.
Isaiah 60:6
God defends.
Psalm 89:18 Isaiah 4:5 Isaiah 49:25 Matthew 16:18
God provides ministers for.
Jeremiah 3:15 Ephesians 4:11-12
Glory to be ascribed to God by.
Ephesians 3:21
Elect.
1 Peter 5:13
Glorious.
Psalm 45:13
Ephesians 5:27
Clothed in righteousness.
Revelation 19:8
Believers continually added to, by the Lord.
Acts 2:27. Acts 5:14 Acts 11:24
Unity of.
Romans 12:5 1 Corinthians 10:17 1 Corinthians 12:12 Galatians 3:28
Saints baptized into, by one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:13
Ministers commanded to feed.
Acts 20:28
Is edified by the word.
1 Corinthians 14:4 1 Corinthians 14:13
The wicked persecute.
Acts 8:1-3
1 Thessalonians 2:14-15
Not to be despised.
1 Corinthians 11:22
Defiling of, will be punished.
1 Corinthians 3:17
Extent of, predicted.
Isaiah 2:2 Ezekiel 17:22-24 Daniel 2:34-35 …………Torrey's Topical Textbook
Three purposes of the Church according to Scripture:
Glorify God-Ephesians 1:11-12 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
1 Corinthians 10:31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Edify One Another-Eph 4:11-13 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
Tell others about Jesus-Matt 28:19-20 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
…that’s the overview now let’s get into some of the depth
-Purpose of the church to glorify God
Are we first glorifying God in our personal lives and everything we do
scripture tells us any everything that we do we are to do as unto the Lord, to glorify him
are we in the church seeking to glorify God or to glorify our church or ourselves
are we interested in preaching good sermons to glorify man or God
Purpose of the church to edify the Saints
Edify means to instruct or improve morally or intellectually
are we being edified at the church each week
are we being exhorted from the word of God
are we being instructed in the Word of God
Being instructed with anything but the bible as the basis is useless to the church
the word of God is our ultimate authority
the Bible is ultimate authority on all things of life and faith and godliness
to be instructed in any other thing or with any other resource material that doesn’t agree with or have its roots in in biblical revelation is a fruitless endeavor
are we being instructed from the word of God…from God‘s instruction manual to all of us…God‘s book of directions for humankind
are we being instructed and reminded about how to have a relationship with God, both a forgiven once for all relationship and a close relationship of fellowship with him now that we are in his family and forgiven
Are we boeing instructed and reminded about how to have a relationship with one another
are we looking to that book and our God who wrote it and being instructed by the Lord
are we being improved morally and intellectually each week
are the saints (the believers) being edified
are we, the Saints/believers being equipped, being strengthened in our relationship with the Lord
being admonished, encouraged
Purpose of the church-(to evangelize the lost)
to go from the church and spread the gospel to those outside of it so that we might bring them into it relationship with Jesus Christ to be part of his church
how do you grow a Church
what’s the growth strategy of a church
if you build a big building will people come to it
if you have a nice façade will people come
If we do careful demographic studies and find out the ethnic diversity of the neighborhood and then speak to their felt needs, life coach them through their lives, will we build a church full of followers of Jesus Christ?
Many (so called) churches today are just moral social clubs their moral social clubs they’re a place to hang out
they are a place to make friends place to increase your portfolio and they’re not as morally corrupt like the country club or not as morally corrupt as the corner bar (or so we think)
so we fool ourselves into believing that because we build these social clubs that we think we are building the church
churches are increased in the wrong way because we lure in the people by means other than the gospel of Jesus Christ
the way that you build a church is… number one you don’t set out to build the Church, Jesus Christ builds HIS Church
but if you’re involved in a church, if you are a part of the church and really want to see the church grow,
when you truly want to see the church succeed and you truly love the Lord Jesus Christ
if you’re wondering how does the church grow
if you’re in leadership and you’re responsible for this local assembly of believers
how does a church grow
it grows by the gospel of Jesus Christ
it grows when people are equipped to share the gospel with other people and disciple other people in their relationship with Jesus Christ
the church grows that way-by believers telling unbelievers about Jesus Christ
Each one of us is called to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ
to share our faith with others
to influence those who are around us, those who we have contact with, with the gospel
and to be living that out in our daily lives
to be obedient to the gospel
and to be showing people a changed and transformed life and talking about what Jesus Christ has done for sinners.
that’s what we are all called to do as followers of Jesus Christ
that’s what evangelism is… spreading the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
-So what’s your role in the church? How is God using you in his church? To glorify him, edify others, and evangelize the lost?
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