In Case You Missed It . . .

Here's what I had the pleasure of preaching on Sunday morning - a big "Thank You!" to the Big Man upstairs. This is only a general outline of what I talked about, because God has His own agenda when I speak.

One Heart

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Unity

     Many parts make up one body, but as the saying goes, "You are only as strong as your weakest link." My question to you is what is our weakest link? (I showed the audience a big chain, donated from one of our deacons) I don't wanna sound too harsh, but sometimes to really finish that statement . . .we have to take a good, hard look in the mirror; Me included.

     The thing about this whole "unity" thing is that we cannot be divided - not on creed, distinction, age, prejudice, intentions, and most importantly mission. Now what is our mission? (Listed in stair-step form, starting with the first step here.)

1. Believing in Christ (Acts 16:31) 

• Worship --> Loving God with our heart(s), NOT just our words.

     This is the process of understanding Christ, and what He has done for us! Matthew 22:37

      2. Growing in Christ (2 Timothy 3:16)

• Small Group(s) --> Learning, Relating, Ministry in Group(s), Outreach, Growth, Caring, Praying, Fellowship, Discipleship

     This is the part of belonging to a group larger than yourself, because we CANNOT "do the Christian thing" on our own. We MUST belong to a gropu of believers that will encourage us, have faith in us, lift us up in prayer and accountability, as well as correct us when we are doing things that are not so good for us. We all long to belong to something, so this is the next step where we must become involved in the lives of others to really grasp our faith, take hold of it, own it, and live it out in our daily lives.  Matthew 22:38     Matthew 28:20

     I asked, "Who here do you know well enough to ask them really personal questions, like: How are you doing this week in your spiritual growth? How can I pray for you, specifically? How is your struggle with ___________ going?" "Seriously, take a look around right now and answer that question for yourself." "If Jesus saw it as a priority to say as His last words, 'As you are going, make Disciples . . .' then we have to take that commandment seriously, and get involved in the lives of believers sitting around us."

      3. Sharing Christ (Acts 1:8)

• Evangelism/Missions --> Reaching the Lost 

     It's not that people aren't hearing the Gospel enough, but that the people that have never heard about Jesus at all- they are the ones that aren't even getting to hear about Him . . .because of the way that WE act! We are spreading the "Good News" to the pople that have heard about it for years, and years . . .AND YEARS!
     This is when I described a hogs' wallow, or a muddy pit in which hogs wallow around in a mixture of their own filth, mud, and water. I asked, "If we are supposed to be 'filling our cup' with the Good News - or the Living Water - of Jesus Christ, but we were really filling it with the mud and filth from our own lives (just like a hogs' wallow) . . .who would want anything to do with us? It's like we are asking them to drink from the same cup of mud that we drink from in our own lives. We are filling this cup with mud and filth, and saying 'Go ahead, take a big swig of that good stuff!' Like really? Who would want anything to do with a church like that?"

      4. Serving Christ (Matthew 25:40)

• Serving Others --> Bringing glory to God & Using our Gifts! 

1 Peter 4:10-11      1 Corinthians 12:4-7     Galatians 5:13

     This is the practical, hands-on approach to the Gospel; Going out, meeting the needs of people with our time, talents, effort, and good, "old-fashioned" hard work. It is so crucial in the day that we live in, that we reach out as the hands and feet of Jesus, going into the places that we have not been before- especially when it comes to our own town of St. Clair. We must not only be hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word! There is nothing more frustrating than when a "Christian" says something, and acts completely different than what they just said. 


"It really breaks my heart when people act like this, and profane the name of God by what they do in the public eye(s). People are looking for a reason to discredit Christ, and to never look upon the cross. We have to be more than this!"

      5. Becoming more like Christ (John 8:12)

• The ultimate example of sacrifice, service, love, and grace.

     If we really understood what He has done for us, we would never argue about useless junk, waste our time on things that don't matter, and we would spend every moment making sure more and more people understood His free gift, started growing in His likeness, and started sharing their faith with others.



Now there is flip side to this topic of Unity . . . 
Chaos & Division

1. Me-Centered Attitudes

• Selfishness abounds

      2. Stagnant or Negative Growth

• Having little to do or share with others. No connection to a growing body of Believers. No time for "feelings" or deep issues.
• "Why grow to be like Christ, when everybody likes 'Me' just the way 'I am?'"

      3. "Hoarding All the Brownies" (Mentality)

•  Everybody learns to share in Kindergarten, but these type of "Christians" don't share to save their lives . . .or anybody else's for that matter.
• "These people are so consumed with keeping it all to themselves, that they end up looking like a small child that has wrapped his/her arms around a giant pan of brownies - trying to keep the goodness to themselves."

      4. Pew-Sittin' Preacher(s) 

•  They care more about "their pew/seat" in church than going out and showing the love of Christ to others around them. They are usually characterized by a few behaviors:
• NO smiling allowed!
• They usually have an opinion about what the church"should be doing"
• Bad attitudes
• Little involvement in church activities/events

     We then proceeded to list a host of reasons that people wouldn't have anything to do with a church/local body of believers, as well as listing sins that people don't want anything to have to do with.
     After we listed these things, I turned back around and said, "If we don't want anything to do with this kind of stuff . . .but we have them as a part of our own lives we are . . ." (And I wrote this in big letters across the front of our list) "FRAUDS!" WE ARE FRAUDS & LIARS IF WE DO THIS STUFF!" 
"We can NOT spend out time acting like something other than what we say we are. Our words and actions MUST match."

I proceed to tell the group that I didn't know what the Lord was saying to their heart(s), but I do know that "We don't need to forget what we've heard here today, and I've got a little something for each of you that want a physical reminder that we are all in this together."


As I pulled out a large popcorn tin, then I had them all try to guess what was in the tin.  When I opened it, and pulled out a small army man, I explained that: "Just like a member of an army is just one of many soldiers, and any soldier that thinks he can win a war all by himself is pretty delusional about his job. There are no Rambo(s) in a body of believers, except for Jesus, and we all have to learn that we must trust and depend on each other more and more."




. . . .and this is what we talked about on Sunday.