need illustrations
Posted by: chapmanjimmy <chapmanjimmy@...>
FIVE MARKS OF A GREAT CHURCH
Acts 2:41-47
The book of Acts is the inspired history book of the early church. Everything about the early church could be characterized in one word - GREAT. We read it had great power, great fear, great affliction, great persecution, and great joy.
What was it that made the church in its infancy GREAT? What we discover should help us get back to the basics or the fundamentals.
The church today is drifting from the wisdom, Word, and worship of God to fun, food and the frivolous. There are several things that are essentials for a great church. These things are not accidental, incidental, but fundamental to a great church. The early church had none of the things that we so often think are so essential for success - buildings, money, political influence and social status, yet the church won multitudes to Christ .
Let us examine the church in its infancy and observe the marks of a great church.
I. The early church was great because it was CONTROLLED BY A POWER (Acts 1:8,14,15).
Here is a company which in ten days would change the course of history forever. They were waiting on the Lord to fulfill His promise and send the Holy Spirit. NO CHRISTIAN SHOULD PERFORM THE SLIGHTEST ACT IN THE SERVICE OF CHRIST UNTIL THEY ARE EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY GHOST.
When the Holy Spirit came, the power of God was manifested (Micah 3:8). The deacons, elders, pastors were all filled with the power of the Holy Spirit in the early church. When in the early church, there was need of men to handle the mundane matters - such as managing finances and looking after the needy - only Spirit -filled men were chosen for the work.
Today the church has learned how to sing songs, teach lessons, and preach sermons without the Holy Spirits power. With the absence of Holy Spirits ministry we have seen churches turned to everything from fanatical fanaticism to frigid fundamentalism.
D. L. Moody once said, Pentecost is simply a specimen case of what God can do when people are controlled with the Holy Spirit.
See Acts 4:31,33.
A. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can convict of sin
B. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can convert a sinner
C. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can conduct the services
Men have tried their plans, programs, and promotions, but nothing can take the place of the Holy Spirit can conduct the services.
D. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can comfort the saints
E. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can conquer Satan
The Holy Spirit is present in every believer, prominent in some believers, but He was pre-eminent in the early believers of the church.
The might of the Holy Spirit is not a luxury for the church; it is an absolute necessity.
II. The early church was great because it was CONFIDENT IN PRAYER
Every problem the early church encountered they had but one response -PRAYER. They were confident in the ability of prayer. See Acts 4:17,18, 23, 24 and Acts 12:1-5, 6,7. They were aware that Satan might wall them up, but He could not roof them in. All our perils are nothing as long as we have prayer.
New black preacher closed out the services of the Lords day pleading with God of the things that he thought the Lord should grant. After the services a deacon approached the janitor and asked him what he thought of that prayer.
Why that man asked de Laud for things that the other preacher did not even know de Laud had.
All too often we pray when we there is nothing else to we can do, but Jesus want us to pray before we don anything at all. Prayer does not fit us for the greater works: prayer is the greater work.
If there is one thing I think the church needs to learn, it is that God means prayer to have an answer, and that it has not entered into the heart of man to conceive what God will do for His church who is confident that their prayer will be heard.
No matter where you look in the book of Acts, you find the early church praying. The early church was confident they could pray themselves out of their situations. When we do not pray, we limit what God might do in our lives.
The church rises or falls with it praying. The first church meeting in the book of Acts was a prayer meeting. Churches now are depending on so many other resources and neglecting the one resource God has given to us - the marvelous resource of prayer.
Prayer is a shield to the soul and a scourge to Satan. Prayer is not an escape from responsibility, but rather it is our response to Gods ability.
A. The early church brought to God their frustrations in prayer
B. The early church brought to God their feelings in prayer
C. The early church brought to God their foes in prayer
D. The early church brought to God their friends in prayer
E. The early church brought to God their families in prayer
F. The early church brought to God their failures in prayer
G. The early church brought to God their future in prayer
Prayer is both the thermometer and thermostat of the local church; for the spiritual temperature either goes up or down, depending on if Gods people pray.
III. The early church was great because it was COMMITTED TO PURITY
In Acts 5 we find the church dealing with two of its members who are guilty. A recent Gallup poll reported that there is very little difference in the behavior of the churched and the unchurched in a wide range of times including such things as lying, cheating and stealing. The early church was feared and respected.
To make a difference you have to be different. The church in a community has so little impact today because they are no different from those in the community.
A Canadian paper once reported the effects of a recent storm which had swept over their town with the following words, We are glad to announce that the wind storm which blew down the congregation church did no serious damage to the town. Here was a church of such little consequences that its destruction was not a loss.
A. Our attire ought to manifest a commitment to purity
B. Our actions ought to manifest a commitment to purity
C. Our affections ought to manifest a commitment to purity
D. Our attitudes ought to manifest a commitment to purity.
E. Our appetites ought to manifest a commitment to purity
No commitment to purity today in the church simply because there is no fear of God (II Corinthians 7:1).
IV. The early church was great because it was CAPTIVATED WITH A PERSON
(Acts 4:10-12)
The person of the cross had captured their affection. Jesus had
captivated their hearts. Jesus was everything, and everything was Jesus. Jesus was all in all to them.
Their all consuming desire was to introduce others to the Jesus Christ of
the cross. They were absolutely unconcerned about everything in the
world but one thing, and that was teaching and preaching Jesus Christ.
A. They expounded the person of the cross
B. They expounded the purchase of the cross
C. They expounded the power of the cross
D. They expounded the pardon of the cross
A little girl was once lost in the city. A policeman found her in tears. He asked her where did she live. The little girl replied, I dont know the street, but if you show me the church with a cross, and I will find my way home.
Getting the message of the cross out is the TRUST of the church, the TASK of the church, and the TEST of the church.
V. The early church was great because it was CLOTHED WITH PRAISE
Acts 2:47
The early church was a happy church. No wonder their numbers grew. There was no complaining, no criticizing ,no envy, no strife. What an attractive company of people the early church was.
A miserable Christian broadcast to the world that something has gone wrong with Christianity. Shadows on the face suggest a cloud is on the sun. The charm of gospel is in the joy it brings to its recipients. It is good for the ungodly when the they see Christians glad, for then the unbelievers long to be believers themselves.
Paul and Silas praying at midnight in a jail. A lot of people pray at the darkest hour of their life, but praising God in the darkest hour. I submit to you it was their praising that convinced the jailor of the reality of salvation.
See Philippians 4:4. If we are joyful, others will be blessed by our lives. They greatest contradiction in the world is an unhappy Christian. Joy is a chief characteristic of the Christian life.
A. Joy of ACCEPTANCE (Acts 8:38,39)
B Joy of ASSURANCE (Luke 10:17-20)
C. Joy of ASSEMBLING (Psalm 122:1)
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable.
Conclusion:
Though there is no perfect church, there are certain things that are apparent in any great church. Every great church will have the five attributes that I gave you this morning.
These five traits will be manifested in the lives of the individuals of great church. If your church was just like you, what kind of a church would your church be? Do you want your church to be a great church? If so what do you need to allow the Lord to work in your life?
VBC June 02
Yours because HIS
Bro. Jimmy Chapman
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