Today’s message summary of April 8, 2018 from Pastor Gus Brown:
In Scripture, there is not a lot mentioned about the church. What is referenced is the call for believers to act in such a way that their behaviors are to glorify God.
In this area, many of us are still learning how to do this. We still have to learn how to die to ourselves and live for Jesus Christ.
Each and every one of us makes up the church. It’s not just the physical buildings. We are the church, and Jesus Christ is the head of it.
The church is a place of worship and education about God, His Word and your relationship with Jesus Christ.
Myths about the church:
- If the church does not match up to the people’s expectation, it simply cannot grow.
- If the church doesn’t entertain and allow for excitement within the worship service, the church will not grow.
- People will not come to a boring church.
Is it that the church is boring or the person’s life is boring? Are they looking for excitement?
In the experience-only church, the experience has to keep bringing new forms of excitement Sunday after Sunday. People want to experience something new each week.
If it is the experience only, then the pastor becomes more of a showman rather than a pastor-teacher-shepherd. Church is a place of learning about the Christian life. If you’re not interested in the Christian life, then church is not the place for you.
Does one desire entertainment-worship or life-learning worship?
In Exodus 31:6, Moses was told that God has given skills to all the craftsmen to make everything He had commanded. This was for the Tent of Meeting.
In building the temple, God made additional provisions for its construction:
1 Chronicles 22:2-9
So David gave orders to gather the resident aliens that were in the land of Israel, and he appointed stonecutters to cut finished stones for building God’s house. David supplied a great deal of iron to make the nails for the doors of the gates and for the fittings, together with an immeasurable quantity of bronze, and innumerable cedar logs because the Sidonians and Tyrians had brought a large quantity of cedar logs to David. David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly great and famous and glorious in all the lands. Therefore, I will make provision for it.” So David made lavish preparations for it before his death.
Then he summoned his son Solomon and charged him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel. “My son,” David said to Solomon, “It was in my heart to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, but the word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and waged great wars. You are not to build a house for my name because you have shed so much blood on the ground before me. But a son will be born to you; he will be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies, for his name will be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel during his reign.
The temple was being built that all nations could look to (v. 14).
David’s heart was in the right place. He wanted to build the temple, but God had other plans.
Sometimes, it is not what one desires to do for the Lord. The flesh cannot glorify God. It is ultimately what God’s will is for your life in what will be done. Some people are chosen by God to do the things according to His will and His glory.
A lot of pastors need to know if they are truly called into ministry as pastors. Many pastors wind up leaving within one to two years of serving as they don’t realize the burdens that come from being a pastor. If they are truly called as pastors, God will enable them to withstand the heavy burdens that come.
Matthew 16:18
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
This is the first mention about “church” in Scripture. The people would ultimately determine the structure of the church under its head, Jesus Christ.
Does man build the church, or does Jesus build it?
Jesus builds the church. It belongs to Him. We belong to Him.
Acts 5:39 NIV
“But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
It is not given to man to build his church, but we are designed to be helpers.
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
For my part, brothers and sisters, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, since you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready, because you are still worldly. For since there is envy and strife among you, are you not worldly and behaving like mere humans? For whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not acting like mere humans?
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
There is a fine line between man doing it or Jesus doing it. Jesus must give the direction, and man has to listen to Him. It is a matter of obedience and truly living in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus has all authority.
Matthew 28:18
Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.”
The battle is not yours—it’s God’s battle.
2 Chronicles 20:14-15
In the middle of the congregation, the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel (son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite from Asaph’s descendants), and he said, “Listen carefully, all Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat. This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast number, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
Romans 8:31
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
Christ is the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4).
Jesus is the head of all things in the church (Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:22-23).
Within the church, God has appointed people to function (1 Corinthians 12:28).
Christ feeds and cares for the church (Ephesians 5:29).
The church is made up of people and is not just a building (Ecclesiastes 4:12; Hebrews 10:25).
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