Today’s message summary of July 2, 2017 from Pastor Gus Brown:
The church gets criticized in many different ways. People who attend will often say that it can be boring. Please understand that, when you love someone, it is not boring.
Other criticisms include that the church is old-fashioned or not modern enough. Note that the world who never go to church will offer their own critiques of church that people who do attend church will agree with. Church is not just for Christians–it is for anyone who desires to know more about Jesus Christ.
The church experience should be one where Christians really love the church.
Ephesians 5:23
…for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church. He is the Savior of the body.
One of the biggest issues about loving the church is missing the fact that Jesus Christ is the head of the church. We serve a sovereign God. We have to believe it along with simply stating it.
Ephesians 1:22
And He put everything under His feet and appointed Him as head over everything for the church.
Colossians 1:18
He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything.
You are to love the church because Jesus Christ leads it. It is a place to come to learn and grow, and yes, to be sharpened.
Ephesians 5:25-27
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ love the church and gave Himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless.
The church’s purpose is to help the people of God holy. It is done through the work of the Holy Spirit, and He is the Teacher within the church about holiness.
If the church does not get involved with you, the relationship between you and the church is only superficial. Your participation in church allows you to hear the wisdom of others through God’s guidance.
Ephesians 5:29-30
For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, since we are members of His body.
Another reason to love the church is that Jesus Christ and the church are one.
Ephesians 5:32
This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church.
The church is the bride of Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:2
For I am jealous over you with a godly jealously, because I have promised you in marriage to one husband–to present a pure virgin to Christ.
The church is like Eve–Adam’s bride. Eve came out of Adam (Genesis 2:22).
Romans 11:36
For from Him and through Him
and to Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
John 6:44
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
2 Corinthians 11:3
But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a complete and pure devotion to Christ.
When it comes to The Trinity, we have to learn to dance with God. The Church was designed by God to be a dance studio to teach us to stay in step with Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Father. We are dancing with all three.
Dancing and relating to Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Father is no simple thing. No one gets the hang of it quickly or permanently. Why? Because there is always a new step you have to learn and another turn added within the dance. With all of this, you still will have to follow His leading.
It seems difficult, if not impossible, but the Holy Spirit is a great teacher.
John 14:17
He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive Him because it doesn’t see Him or know Him. But you do know Him, because He remains with you and will be in you.
Without God, it seems wrong, or even foolish, and even sometimes downright stupid to dance with Jesus. But you know better because you know Him and trust in Him.
Do you really know the Holy Spirit and understanding His voice? His presence?
The church carries us through the pain and darkness of our lives. It is there to be the light when there is no light. It is there to provide encouragement. It is there for us until we learn to dance smoothly with Jesus, and become actively involved in church life.
Once you become more active in church life, then you really will begin to grow. Not just within the four walls of the building, but when you are living for Christ everywhere you go.
The church is a partial fulfillment of the kingdom of God here on earth. It serves as a primary agent of the kingdom.
Colossians 1:13
He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.
It is in the church the inward disciplines with outward expressions of spiritual maturity take place. The church is where you learn to be sharpened.
Acts 17:11
The people here were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Proverbs 27:17
Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up.
We begin to grow in the church:
Because one is able to excise the fruit of the Spirit. It does not mean one is mature, but it is a lifelong process.
Galatians 5:22-23a
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control.
True transformation determines our growth, but our desire is to look more like Jesus Christ in our everyday actions.
Akron Alliance Fellowship 