Foundation
Week one of this series, we discussed the importance of
IGNITING the passion for Christ within ourselves!
- This is
the most important thing of all because without that FIRE for Jesus burning
inside of us…then it
won’t burn in the Church nor
will it catch our Community on fire as a Church being Jesus with Skin on!
In Part 2 of our series… we focused on what it looks like to
have a CHURCH ON FIRE and what it takes to
IGNITE the Church.
“We fail to get up much steam in many of our
endeavors because we do not have enough fire under the boilers.”
The 5 Key areas a church on fire will have
covered…
I. A Church On Fire Will Fast And Pray.
II. A Church On Fire Will Be Uncomfortable In
The World.
III. A Church On Fire Will Care For Souls.
IV. A Church On Fire Accomplishes Great
Things For God.
V. A Church On Fire Will Contend For All The
Blessings Of God.
Then I
left us last week with this thought…
When
the Church is stoking the coals and we are SELF IGNITING as well as BODY
IGNITING… then A FIRE starts to build and as Acts 2:47
states… “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were
being saved.”
Now in part 3 if this crazy good series we are in called
ignite, we are going to focus in on 6 key area that we can ignite a community.
We will stay in the same set of scriptures as last week…
Acts 2:42-47(NIV)
The Fellowship of the Believers
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching
and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone
was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All
the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They
sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every
day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in
their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising
God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their
number daily those who were being saved.
How do we get to this?
A Church On Fire
2
Corinthians 7:1-3 (NIV)
7 Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify
ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting
holiness out of reverence for God.
Paul’s Joy Over
the Church’s Repentance
2 Make room for us in your
hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no
one. 3 I
do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you have such a place
in our hearts that we would live or die with you.
When the church repents then…
Matthew
3:11 (NIV)
11 “I baptize you with[a] water for repentance. But
after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy
to carry. He will baptize you with[b] the Holy Spirit and fire.
The huge redwood trees in California are
amazing. They are the largest living things on earth and the tallest trees in
the world. Some of them are 300 feet high and more than 2,500 years old. You
would think that trees that large would have a tremendous root system, reaching
down hundreds of feet into the earth. But that is not the case. Redwoods have a
very shallow root system. The roots of these trees are, however, intertwined.
They are tied in with each other; interlocked. Thus, when the storms come and
the winds blow the redwoods still stand.
With an interlocking root system they support
and sustain each other. They need one another to survive. So do we!
Hence, God has given us His Church which is
the body of Christ on earth. When one is baptized into Christ, one is baptized
into the body of Christ. Through Christ we are bound together in a community of
faith. Belonging to Christ we belong to each other. Fellowship with Christ
means fellowship with each other. Through Christ God has made us a family, a
community of faith. This is our God-given support system. As such, it is
intended to meet some crucial needs in our lives.
A Place To
Serve
The
community is where we learn to strip away our self-interest in order to serve
others.
-
Show
your pride in what God is doing in our neck of the woods… tell people. Share it
on your social media. Wear it with your Faith Fellowship Logo…. If you don’t
have anything, let us know and we’ll make it available for you!
-
SERVE
your community! Volunteer with a Community Organization
-
Reach
Out AS OUR CHURCH to SERVE the COMMUNITY.
o
Take
a meal to the Fire Dept or the Police Dept.
o
GO
to Village Offices and Offer to do trash Pick up around town or on the Bike
Trail
A Witness
To The World
The
value of Christian community reaches even further than bringing the Body of
Christ to strength and maturity.
- We are to be models of what God
wants for all of humankind. Jesus' disciples are to be the light of the world (Mt. 5:13-16),
Ambassadors
Of God's Love
But
such communities go further still.
- They not only demonstrate God’s
love;
Ø
they
also mediate it.
Ø
They
carry "the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:18) to those around them,
Ø
bringing
God’s compassion and healing power into a broken world.
Function
Over Form
Some
Christians feel that they must follow the call to community in rigorous,
perhaps even radical, ways.
At
the same time, we need to know that the Bible doesn't require—or even give
special blessing to—certain forms of community.
- Structure is not the point;
relationships are.
Getting Small
Even
though forms may not matter much, size does.
- For community to be specific and
personal enough to reach its potential,
- We need groups small enough for
everyone to be directly involved.
The
practice of the earliest Christians suggests a small scale.
- They often met in each other’s homes
for meals and teaching,
A Call to
Community
The
practice of Christian community, quite simply, makes the gospel a lived
reality.
- It embodies a specific, personal way
of life together in Christ.
- It strengthens us to live the life
to which we are called;
- It conveys God’s life and power to
the world at large.
- And it is necessary.
So
let me leave you with this thought…
“The
chief danger of the church today is that it is trying to get on the same side
as the world, instead of turning the world upside down. Our Master expects us
to accomplish results, even if they bring opposition and conflict. Anything is
better than compromise, apathy, and paralysis. God give to us an intense cry
for the old-time power of the Gospel and the Holy Ghost!” – A. B. Simpson
