← ArchiveSunday, January 18, 2015DateJanuary 18, 2015Speaker—TextJohn 14Passages in this sermon1 Corinthians 120:19Ephesians 5:2526:18John 1427:28TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00amen if you brought your bibles and i hope you did turn with me to first corinthians first corinthians chapter 12 beginning with the 12th verse first corinthians chapter 12 beginning with the 12th verse through the 20th verse and i have entitled today's message the church what is it0:25we have so many misconceptions of what the new testament church is many of us have our conceptual conceptual ideas of what the new testament church is but in the message truth the message truth renders it so beautifully for us look what it says the new testament church is not an organization although we have now i'm going to add to the message truth although we try to have some0:50organizational skills although whether we operate organizationally we have structure and all of that kind of stuff that's good we need to have that if we just kind of showed up turn the lights on and did some whatever we'd be all frustrated but k because it would be chaotic would it not so we are organizationally yes an organization but the church is not just an organization it is an organism that means an organism has live mechanism it is a live and well it is not an event that we show up and do1:19although there are some churches who feel like that the event has to be an environment we have to create some kind of environment create some kind of event we do want to create environments to help people grow in the grace and knowledge of christ but the church is not an organization it is an organism it is not an event it is an expansion of the kingdom of god now how do you say that what do you mean by1:42that you see we are part of the kingdom each one of us are connected part of the kingdom of god why because we are the church we are the church this is the facilities this is where we have our worship gatherings this is where we have sunday school and as small groups and children's groups and youth groups and and the for the equipping of the saints to do the work of ministry we have a celebration time in here2:09we use this for multiple uses this is we call it the church we say we're going to go to the church and we're thinking we're going to go to the bethel location right but we are the church wherever we are we are the church why because we are an expansion of the kingdom of god because god lives in us the indwelling power of the holy spirit indwells in us so we are an expansion of the kingdom of god2:37but i want you to look at the first century church look what it says in first corinthians chapter 12 beginning with the 12th verse and i i want us to understand that the church the church does have when what is created for gives us this identity here verse 12 for just as the body has is one and has many members all and all of the members of the body though are one are many are one so it is3:06with christ for in one spirit we were all baptized into one body the jews are greeks slaves are free and all were made to drink of the of one spirit for the body does not consist of one member but of many if the foot should say because i'm not a hand i do not belong to the body that would not make it3:33any less a part of the body if the ear should say because i'm not an eye i do not belong to the body that would not make it any less of the part unless a part of the body verse 17 if the whole body were an eye where would be the sense of hearing if the whole body were an ear where would be the sense of smell3:58but as it is god arranged the members in the body each one of them as he chose if all were a single member where would the body be as it is there are many parts yet one body so as i began to think about4:17this series i wanted to remind us so to speak kind of remind us of who we are to the community remind us of who we are to the world i wanted to remind us what the church was indeed created for i was noticing an illustration recently when i was going through some old notes cleaning out i do this right through4:44christmas and december i kind of go through my office and go through my files and say man i got some stuff here that just needs to go away i may use this one again i might use this note one day i go through this stuff and try to clear out files and it's inevitably over 12 months period my we just keep gathering stuff and we keep sticking it in files and you know the you just kind of have to go through a cleaning process in fact the matter is we're doing that in the offices here and miss sharon is is so5:09efficient in this i'm afraid to you know to sit still long in any chair around here because i think she's going to throw me in the trash compactor i mean she will you know just zip us all out of here you know but but you know you go through all this kind of stuff and so i was going through when i read across this illustration dr charles sullivan he's a director of the florida baptist convention he said this of a young pastor who faithfully committed to take this new church and as it was his first church5:35he was excited about going in there and he had this real energy and he came in he wanted to reach this community for the cause of christ so he preached messages about jesus and he talked about the church going into all the world he established an outreach program and he established leadership conferences to train up the team for evangelism and he even went so far as that he found the verse of scripture6:00in proverbs and he put up on the wall in big huge letters taped them to the back of the church where where there is no vision the people perish that's what he put up there and he started preaching that he started leading in that area he started encouraging in that area and then there were some knuckleheads in the church you know there's not any here at bethel but there's the naysayers in6:26some of these fellowships out there there are some in certain churches they just uh inevitably i think they feel like their call is to be negative they have the spiritual gift of negativity that's what they are about they grow up with and you want to just ask him in prayer meeting brother would you lead us in a word of criticism because that's what you're good at you know you have those people when you see6:51the kingdom of god and the expansion taking place they don't like it because they like their fore and they want no more you know they're kind of that way they are they should be part of the first church of the frozen chosen because that's who they really are they're frozen and stuck back in time well they started on this guy they started hammering him they started in they started uh uh calling him out they7:15started getting on and they started just kind of hounding him sending him ugly notes sending him ugly emails they were not supporting the works holding their tithes and offerings back they were really really discouraging this brother and finally they started a campaign and they they finally got together and got just enough people to say this guy's not who we need to be and so they went to him and they asked him to leave they asked him to step down as pastor and this young man he didn't want to7:44cause a riff in that congregation he said okay i want to preach one final sermon and that i will resign and he got up and he preached his final sermon and he encouraged those people where the people where the there there is no vision the people will perish and he constantly just preached that and finally he gave the gospel invitation at the end at the end he began to walk out the aisle down to the back of the church for8:14his last day on that church campus and as he walked down the w of the where fell off the wall leaving this phrase here no vision the people will perish i was asked two weeks ago by some pastor advisory council that my8:34pastor advisory council of our ministry and i was having lunch with these brothers and i i was in they asked me one of them asked me and he knew the answer but i think he just wanted to ask me to remind me of my calling he said dan during transition as the transitional pastor at bethel baptist church do you8:56really believe that you have a vision do you really believe that the church can have a real vision without a senior pastor i did not hesitate i said absolutely you see we are part of the kingdom of god we can have a real vision for reaching this community we don't just have to have a senior pastor9:22now when the new senior comes on board there may be some tweaks and some changes and i'm sure there will be an insertion of what god's leading him to do and we'll get on board behind that but when it really comes down to it when we're going to be the people of god we need to say god we have vision and that one vision is a heart for the next one how many more people can we have one more just one more yes we can9:48have a real vision we can understand who god is in our lives and we can make him known to the world once we do that we will be the church that god wants i believe i personally honestly believe that god will send us the man of god he wants to be this senior pastor to lead us in the next generation when we decide we're going to be the people of god and doing what god says do in every aspect of our10:17life paul sought to transfuse in a vision into the hearts of the corinthian church he did not seek to brutalize them with heavy burdens instead he sought to energize the church to be what the church called it to be i think you look in this passage today you see two portraits of envision of what the church was created to be first of all the church was created to be the body of christ the church was10:42created to be the body of christ look what it says in verse one for as the body is one it has many members and all the members that has one body being are many being many are one body as so it is to christ let me explain that to you we are part of the body of christ god is so interested in the church knowing who we are he began to explain this in the mysterious caution uh creation that he wanted to11:08provide the metaphors of what the church is we are the body the greek term is saloma we are the body of the living god the church is a body because it is a place of home it is home to the holy spirit the indwelling power the holy spirit indwells in us now if you look around this room all of us have got body features you know most of us all have hands and legs and feet knives and hair we some of us got gray hair11:34some of us got no hair but we used to have hair and some of us got you know new color hair some of you get your hair done every day or week change the color that's okay if you want to have it that way that's fine it doesn't matter to me mine's changing naturally amen but we all have by parts of the body when some are easily recognizable right it's easily recognized that this body that you're looking at is a buffed is strong and it's you know i mean a swelled up look at these guns i mean are you coming12:03to the gunship you know we can notice these kinds of things right but then there's those parts of the body that are not as easily recognizable right i mean you know we've seen the pictures and if you're not in medicine you you don't see these pictures and you know the heart doesn't look like the heart that we draw it's got a different shape to it the lungs don't look just like what we think they ought to look like you know the the kidneys the livers those things are they're not easily recognizable but they're just12:33as much a part of the body as the eyes and the beautiful hair and the features and the nails and and and the guns and all of that you know they wait they're just as part it's all part of one you know there's going to be one day that i'm going to pass away and maybe say you we all will we all die there this body is not built to last forever there'll be a day that god calls us home12:56he says i've got an eternal body for you and yes we'll come by and maybe some of y'all come by and if somebody forgets and they open my lid and you walk by like i said in the first sunday of this old uncle oscar and you walk by and say don't he look so natural please shut the lid as you go by because i don't want anybody else look at this face anymore you didn't like it when it was here you shouldn't want to look like it when it was there right so we are all going to naturally decay13:25at some point right we are we're falling apart but let me tell you something church we are the body of the living god the temple of the living god you see i believe beyond a shadow of doubt that the bible is a home it is a home it is a home not only is it a home it is a temporary home it is a temporary home we13:47will not be here forever death will come to us all every one of us some sooner than later some older some it doesn't it it's gonna happen it's part of the natural progression of life so the body is temporary the body is a home and the body the it's a church body because it has a head now you've heard the saying14:14two heads makes a freak right two heads make a freak and so to be quite honest with you christ is the head of the church amen the bible says that christ is the head of the church for as the body is one hath many and all members of that one body being many are one body so as also is christ the greatest14:43joy of being part of a local new testament church is that that body yet all has different members different skill sets it has one head and jesus christ is the head of the church i have been to italy several times and inevitably when i take some teams to italy we have a partnership with the imb missionaries there and when i take teams to italy that's always a great trip that's the one debbie15:12always signs up for she loves going to rome and so we go to italy my cousin's the imb missionary debbie and janet grays they've been there 30 years as church planners for imb and they're doing a wonderful work there and so when we're there we always always have a tour you can't go to rome italy without going through the tours you got to see some of the sights i mean you got to go to the coliseum and you got to go to the catacombs and you got to go to paul's prison15:38and you know there's some people who like it and i like it because of the beauty beautiful art you always want to go to the vatican and see the head of the catholic church and i was there on a trip i was there on a speaking assignment and and so i had a day by myself and i just toured this city by myself some of the sites i'd seen before so i went back to the vatican because it's massive building it's nothing more than a facility it's a church building it hosts the catholic church and that's where their16:04headquarters is at the vatican city it's its own country inside the city of rome inside the country of italy and so you go to the vatican and you walk through and all the art is fantastic the 16 chapels there that's where they call out the new pope and all that kind of stuff it's a lot of history to study there and so you walk through and there's these little offshoot worship gathering areas these little worship centers off shoot in the vatican in the main vatican you see on television with the big16:30altar and all that kind of stuff you go through all of that but there's this one offshoot that i stumbled onto my last time over there this is the first time i'd ever seen it it's called the hall of popes and i walked over there and peter it said the church at the top and it said peter was the first pope and then it went down all the guys had been called the pope the head of the church all the way down and i noticed that peter was at top well folks i want to tell you that that's not16:59biblically right because christ is head of the church and then peter would be the under shepherd and dan is the under shepherd transitionally right now and the next senior pastor is the under shepherd folks let me tell you something we have a head and that's king jesus and when we keep our eyes fixed upon him the author perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross despising17:25the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of god we don't have a moving target we have a fixed point in space to look at the person of jesus christ is the head the church is a body because it has a head one of the inetfellable proofs of the validity of the church is the fact that it's alive it's vibrant it's growing folks do you know since january 1st we've had new members every sunday17:52during transition even old brad my buddy brad i love that knucklehead i love brad old brad was talking to one of his mentors and he said i can't believe we got people joining is that supposed to happen the guy said no it's not supposed to happen during transition you don't have a senior pastor what's going on down there who is that hack y'all got for interim down there leading y'all right18:17well it's not me it's you inviting people to come to be a part of this faith family they're not joining because of dan thank god they're joining because of christ thank god they're joining because this is a live mechanism live organism for as the body is one and hath many members all the members of that one body18:38have been being many are one body so also is quiet christ our job is not to seek our will but to seek that for the church but his will for the church i'll be honest with you i've served some church instead of the right-handed christian fellowship they want to give the right fist of christian fellowship i believe that we need to be a church that says whosoever will may come why because that's exactly19:07who jesus is he says if i be lifted up i shall draw men unto myself and folks if we lift high the banner of jesus christ he will draw men to himself i pray our prayer meetings become a theology meeting i pray a we're calling upon the name of the lord we don't need a democracy we need a theocracy in the new19:32testament church amen so the church is a body because it has a head and finally the church is a body because it is harmonious it means we are harmonious that's the word where we get harmony you know we need to learn to get together and love one another amen and one of the beauty parts that i19:57shared testimony about this church if you're a guest here i want you to know quit seeking you found it you found it if i was living in this area you'd have another member or two actually deb and i we this is a great congregation of believers to be with it's not a great church yet but we're seeking to serve a great savior but one of the things that i have found about this fellowship20:27is that we have a lot of harmony we love one another a church that is alive loves each other we can have our differences you have a right to be wrong every now and then that's okay but that's one thing about being a new testament church we're not being dictated by some bishop or board we're uh we are an autonomous20:50body of believers and we can be harmonious with each other or we can fight with one another and that's not where we are the beauty is the church there's no me mr big or miss big no boss jesus is the boss amen the picture of this is found in verse 27 not you are the body of christ now we are the body of christ and21:17members are in particular if you look what it says now you are the body of christ and uh individual members member meaning particularly individual every one of us have different skill sets in spiritual giftedness and we can utilize those for the god for the gospel but if we keep the main thing obviously the old phrase the main thing the main thing the main thing reaching the next one plugging them into the local new21:47testament church so they can grow and they go reach the next one it's quite simple to be done every one of us utilizing our own giftedness the church is a body because it is harmonious the second picture not only do you see the church being a bobby body but you see the church being a bride a bride there's nothing more special than see a beautiful bride i've never seen an ugly bride22:17i've seen some ugly corpse before but i've never seen an ugly bride i've seen some ugly grooms before but i've never seen an ugly bride every one of them are beautiful there's just some something radiant about brides they're just beautiful look what it says in verse 18 verse 18 gives us that portrait but as as it is god arranged the members in the body each one of them as he chose the bride is we are22:46chosen to be the bride of christ because he chose us before the foundation of the world he reached down the halls of heaven we had to say yes he drew us to him but he chose us but now hath god set many members every one of them in the body as it pleased or as it desired him i have a friend of mine who just23:12retired as a professor of history at sanford university she's a neat lady she's in our small group and she's a sweet sweet lady and every year every other year she would go to the middle east she loved studying western civilization and she would go study and she would come back and tell us different stories about that and we would have dinner and then she'd talk about what she's doing over the middle and she just loved the middle east and studying that that cultural there and so she was over there23:41one time and there was a wedding now in in the middle east a lot of weddings are pre-arranged they are they're hand-picked i mean you and you're stuck with that person because your family that's part of the culture there and so they hand-picked those weddings and she said of this one they uh this time that they're they're they're they're so terrified some of them are scared because they're gonna get stuck because that's the way it's done and so uh the the young girl she although the bride as a bride was24:09beautiful but she really was not as attractive but the groom was extremely handsome and so she was there and she was gonna be married and there she stood and she's not seen her groom ever until he24:29walks in the door now those of you to rate were married raise your hand right now uh now girls i want you to answer this how many of y'all would have been at the altar waiting on your husband not knowing what he looked like or anything about him how many of y'all do that does see one no just no none all right guys24:55let me ask you let's reverse that how many of y'all guys would have stood at the altar waiting on your bride to come have not seen her or met her or courted her or done that raise your hand bill raise did you raise your hand bill no you didn't raise your hand as pretty as she is and you got one back there bless your heart brother but in the middle eastern culture that's the way they did it and she was sitting there and all of a25:27sudden this pre-arranged marriage this she said she was there and this handsome guy and her face lit up because this kind of homely looking girl standing there and she said there she was and mr cool comes walking down the aisle and they are going to be married for all of eternity well folks let me tell you something god reached down from the halls of heaven knew and knowing exactly what you look like25:52because he created you and then he chose you he chose us he is the bride he is the bride because he chose us not only did he choose us but he cares for us you know i love what god does so much in our lives but the one thing that i love is that he cares for us ephesians chapter 5 verse 25 husbands love your wives26:18even as christ also loved the church and he loved us so much he did what he gave himself for us he chose us he cares for us it's been said that we can know the value of something by the price it was that was paid for when god appraised the value of mankind he put onto us his highest valuable asset26:42his only begotten son when he chose the church when he chose us and gave us the gift of eternal life he sent his only begotten son to stand and die for the sins of the world and die for our sins my goodness gracious how could we ever refuse his love or return to love him and do what he's called us to do27:10you see he cares for us because he chose us and not only that we are his bride because he's coming for us turn back with me to john chapter 14 quickly i want you to look at this passage and we're about done john chapter 14 beautiful passage of scripture the apostle john was writing he said let not your27:34heart be troubled believe in god believe also in me and my father's house are many rooms if it were not so i would have not i would have told you that i go to prepare a place for you and if i go to prepare a place for you i will come again and will take you to myself that where i am you may be also and you do not you do and you know the way to where i am going thomas said lord we do not know where you're28:02going how can we know the way and jesus said i'm the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me you see he is coming for us he said i will return for the new testament church that means he will come not for bethel facilities he will come for each and every one of us that has the indwelling power of the holy spirit indwelled in us jewish weddings understand that berthrothal28:30period they understand of receiving the their bride they understand that i love this john 14 verse 1 through 6 passage because it tells us that we don't have to trouble we don't have to worry we don't have to have fearful hearts just believe in god believe also in me and he says in my father's house are many rooms folks let me tell you something when don friday night drew his last breath on this28:57planet his next breath was in heaven with jesus his next breath was in heaven with jesus and there was a special home built for him there a special place for him there and he will spend all of eternity worshiping at the feet of his jesus in scotland queen victoria was much loved by29:25the people of scotland they loved her deeply because she loved the people of scotland and because of her love for the farm people especially she would go and travel out into the village areas often oftentimes she would go out and and without even notice she would get her carriage and she would go out in village the village people to see those people in their villages in the farming communities29:53knowing that the possibility of royalties could arrive at any moment the scots they came up they they often kept their houses spotless and they always set a special chair in their home for her if she arrived in their home so they wouldn't have to scurry around to find a special chair they kept their homes spotless and they had a special chair for her arrival in expectation expectation the scots would30:19would have a saying and every day they would pass each other by in their communities and they would say this today just might be a royal day when i read that phrase i thought i was thinking about it my goodness gracious we don't know when jesus is coming back we have no idea when the lord jesus will come back and return for his church today might be that royal day throughout the countryside they would say that phrase30:49often often to each other meaning that today might be that special day today might be that royal day when the queen of scotland will come and arrive and sit in their home well today just might be that day church i want to tell you something today this just might be your royal day31:14we do not know when he's coming but we will know that one day john 14 that passage will be fulfilled because when he says it he does it where there is vision where there is vision where there's no vision31:33that people perish the people perish where there is vision there's that royal opportunity folks let me tell you something god's called us to a special time today just might be that royal day let me ask you this question in closing as the church is your house spotless is there areas in your life that need to be adjusted32:03are there things in your life that need to be purified and cleansed are there areas in your life that you need to surrender to his lordship does he have complete control of your life you see we don't know when he's coming but we know that he is coming and today just might be that royal day in christ if christ died for the32:32church then let us take up the cross of the lord jesus christ and be an exciting alive expansion of his kingdom to this community and communities around the world let's pray with heads bowed and eyes closed and i'm asking you today do you in this room are you certain if you died33:02today you would spend eternity in heaven with the lord jesus christ you see today is the day of salvation for some of you some of you some of you in this room you may not have ever you may not your name may be on this church role maybe on this organizational role but you've never truly invited jesus christ as your personal savior lord today might just be that royal day for you today just might be that day of salvation for33:30you today might be the day of salvation today i'm going to ask you if you died today would you spend eternity in heaven with the lord jesus if that be your testimony would you quietly just slip your hand up and say pastor dan i know beyond a shadow of doubt if i died today i would spend in heaven with the lord jesus christ just slip your hand up right where you are and write back down god bless you33:57god bless you you know that you know that you know that you're saved what an enjoy what a what a testimony across this room maybe in this room you could not raise your hand maybe today christ is speaking to your heart to surrender to him maybe right here in this room is that moment will you transfer your faith and trust of yourself into the person of jesus christ and invite him34:26to indwell in your life just simply transfer your faith and trust in him simply do that by repeating these words they're nothing more than words unless you mean it your heart today lord jesus repeat these words today lord jesus i surrender my life to you today lord jesus i die to self and i invite you into my life thank you for hearing my prayer i confess my sin to you and i receive you now into as my savior and my lord34:57if you're here today and you transferred your faith and trust of christ christ into your life today in a moment we're going to stand we're going to sing and matt's going to lead us and we'll have a time of singing where you can come and and speak to me or grab one of our trained counselors that will sit down and talk with you about your decision today but maybe you're here today and you know christ as your savior but you know that there's some35:23there's some blemishes and some areas in your life that you've not confessed your sin to maybe you're here today and you say dan i'm just like you i got some areas in my life i want to surrender today maybe you're you you want that royal day today that be that royal day in your life would you just go to the lord right now to him you'll confess with your mouth he's faithful and just to cleanse you of all unrighteousness right35:54here in this room if you're here and you've done that or doing it now when we stand to sing i invite you to come and and slip out and grab one of our pastors going to our chat our counselors or our deacons will be here at the front you pray with them you may not need to speak to me or any of them just come to this altar but you do business with god right now father god we thank you for what you're about to do in this36:21place thank you lord jesus for all what you're doing in this great congregation i'm so honored to serve them during this transition time and god i pray that we will be like the scots of old they'll be ready for that royal day god i pray that we'll be found faithful faithful to your calling and focus to the task at hand and we give you all the glory in advance36:51thank you jesus for hearing our prayer and we give you the glory in jesus name we pray we stand we sing a great old hymn matt leads us you come the altar's open right now you come37:05sing a great old hymn matt leads us you come the altar's open right now you come37:28youMore sermons on John →
