TEXT: Selected Texts
*When it comes to God’s mission for the church there is no “Plan B”; “Plan B” is to enforce “Plan A”.
*The same God who shook the early church is the same God who is still at work in the lives of His people today!
*The pages of God’s Word not only remind us but reinforce the reality that the church of Jesus Christ is victorious!
I Corinthians 15:57, 58
“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
I. GENUINE FAITH
I Thessalonians 2:13
“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”
II. GATHERING FOR WORSHIP
Quote: “The gift of language combined with the gift of song was given to man so that he should proclaim the Word of God through music.” Martin Luther
Quote: “Worship has been misunderstood as something that arises from a feeling which comes upon you; but it is vital that we understand that it is rooted in a conscious act of the will, to serve and obey the Lord Jesus Christ.” Graham Kendrick
III. GENEROUS GIVING
*Generosity is not a percentage you give it’s the way that you live when your life has been changed by the Gospel.
IV. GROWING AND GOING
*Church attendance and community must always be connected!
Ephesians 2:18-22
“For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”
Quote: “A church that stays within the four walls is not a church at all!” Mark Batterson
*Evangelism and discipleship is not a destination it is to be the direction every believer is headed!
V. GODLY LEADERSHIP
Acts 20:28
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”
Hebrews 13:7
“Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.”
Hebrews 13:17
“Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”
VI. GUIDED BY PRAYER
*The whole idea of prayer in the Bible is not about a prayer time but a prayer life.
Quote: “A prayerful church is a powerful church.” Charles Spurgeon
VII. GOVERNED BY THE SPIRIT
*The early church is proof that with little money, minimally gifted people, uneducated leaders and limited building space the power of the Holy Spirit shook the world for the glory of God!
*A church that is continuing on is a church that will be growing!
GATHER
GIVE
GROW
GO