Sunday Service 19th October 2008

 

 Mark Smith - Belonging: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

People like to belong!

Statistics show that people are generally poor at committing to something… they get scared of being involved, yet there is something in us that causes us to want to “belong”.
e.g. Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and the whole social messaging phenomenon.

1 Peter 2 v 9
A people belonging to God.
The Church – Gr. Ekklesia – assembly of called ones
It’s more than just the gathering together of God’s people for a meeting…. there are bonds that hold us together… bonds of belonging to the Church!

We belong first to Jesus, then to one another.

Ephesians 1: 22
The Body… which is the fullness of Him
Jesus is the head of the body, which is the Church; therefore He has ownership of it.
Never can the Church not belong to Jesus! – it is under His ownership and instruction. If we don’t acknowledge the headship of Jesus, we can call the organisation a Church, but it isn’t - the definition of a Church is that He is Lord of the assembly.

We lock our doors and look after the things we own… the Church belongs to Him and we can be secure in belonging to Him. He has our welfare at stake!

Ephesians 5:23
Husbands are told to love their wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for her. Jesus is jealous over his church in the way a husband should be jealous and protective of his wife’s affections.

Colossians 1:17-18 Acts 20:28
The Church has been bought with the blood of Jesus.
We need to all care for the body of Christ – each other.

Matthew 16:18
I will build MY Church….

Key Concepts of Church:
1. We belong to God.
2. He entrusts it to us to enjoy and build with Him… comes out of a relationship with the Creator, not just knowing about Him. We must let His Spirit come in to enable us to build together with Him.
3. “Church” works when He is in the Centre of it, just as our lives work better when He is Lord and centre of our life.

Isaiah 61: 1-3
We need the Church to be full of His vibrancy because it is the cause of Christ… so we each need that in us to work together

We see the Church… it is people – always on God’s heart- and the aspects we see of the Church in Scripture are all “people areas”
- A family
- A body
- A house/building for God – living stones!
- An Army
- A bride/wife.

The Church is not an institution or a club, but it is people in relationship with God and each other

Things that strengthen the bonds of Church:
A Find your “niche” – your place on a team… get involved!
B Giving – in offerings, time, self – take ownership of the cause.
C Feeding in – take care of one another.
D Express appreciation, work through “issues” with an appreciative heart in order to build up.
E Boast about the Church – Your Church! – LOVE YOUR CHURCH!

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