February 3, 2019

  Say Yes : Time to Follow (part 1)
February 3, 2019
Pastor Jonathan Falwell

 

Open:

How many times have you signed up for a class or seminar, only for the first week to come and you have a car problem; the second week, a virus has you down; the third week, a family member needs your help, and by the fourth week you barely give the night a second thought?

In reviewing our verse for this series, we are seeking God’s expectations when He said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” As we have seen in past weeks, loving God leaves a path as we go through our day: perhaps a smile, a word of praise or encouragement, an action for the good of a stranger, etc. These are examples of “fruit” when one seeks to do His will. Today we are going to look at the importance of the local church, and why we need to make our attend-ance, service and growth a priority that is never put on the shelf, never letting it become something to do “next week.” Great discipline and intentionality must be exercised in order to eventually grow where we are hungering and thirsting for the Living God.

Focal Passage: Matthew 4:18-22.

 

Discuss:

Go to church:

Background: Most unchurched people feel pastors can be stereotyped as always asking for money or pushing to add to their numbers. The truth is, God Himself instructed His people to worship Him through Old Testament temples and New Testament churches. Our study today is to show His will is for believers to serve and love Him and each other.

• Read Matt. 4:18-22. This small nucleus is the original “setting apart” of men who would eventually change the world. The same calling is for us today, as we answer His call on our lives. What would be symbolic of “leaving our nets”?
• Read Luke 4:16. How do you know that Jesus was always in “church” on the day of worship?
• Read Matt. 18:20. What are some of the reasons we worship together? What are the reasons many people are apathetic about their attendance? What promise does Jesus make in this verse?
• Read Heb. 10:25. What can Satan accomplish if he can get us isolated from other believers?
• Read Acts 2:41-47 for a picture of the first NT church. What were their customs? In Acts 5, the story of Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, is told. Can someone paraphrase what you know of it? What was so important about the early church’s purity? Why have we fallen away from that purity?

Grow in church:

Statistics: Statistics show an alarming trend among Christians today: only 36% attend church more than once a month. Those who consider themselves “faithful,” attend church 1.26-2.3 times per month. Less than 20% read their Bible daily, and only 1 out of 10 memorize 3 or more verses per year. The good news is that the church attendance among Gen Y and Gen Z is seeing a definite curve upward, perhaps due to the detached world of social media, leaving many needing real personal contact.

• Read Matt. 5:6. How much time do you spend preparing for a normal work week or quality family time? How does this compare with the amount of time you spend in God’s word? What are ways you can grow as a Christian? What promise does this verse end with?
• Read 2 Peter 1:5-8. What are the eight qualities a believer should strive to achieve? How does one succeed in acquiring them? What is the promise these verses end with? If you had these qualities, and saw the promised fruit, would you ever be satisfied to return to a life of mediocrity?
• Read John 15:5. What is the promise in 15a? What is the warning in 15b?

 

Close:

It is a misnomer to believe that worship in its truest form can be a “habit.” To keep this treasure—your relationship with God—safe and alive, you must discipline yourself to be a vibrant part of a local church body as long as it is possible. Eventually you will find that the weeks you have to miss the fellowship of meeting together leaves a hungering that you find is satisfied only by getting back with your “family” as soon as possible. There is true encouragement and a love that exists among believers who love God with all their hearts and love their neighbors as much as they love themselves. Their walk will bear fruit, as we read above in 2 Peter.

Have you ever sat down and listed the benefits of being part of a local church body? It is almost every Sunday that one will hear another person state, “I don’t think I would have made it through this past year had it not been for my church family!” What a beautiful statement, and a wonderful witness and testimony of that local church. If your church is very large, you probably already realize that unity, friends, and those who hold you up in prayer normally comes from a smaller group, like Sunday School (by whatever name) or small groups who meet in homes.

Knowing the local church was ordained by God, that it is continually being built by Him, and that Satan cannot defeat it (Matt. 16:18) is enough reason to give it the preeminence it deserves. We know that we cannot be accepted by God because our parents loved the Lord with all their hearts—each person must accept Jesus Christ for himself. Have you made Him your Lord? If so, worship and meeting in your local church should be “a given” as much as the unwritten law that you’re going to your job each day! Your God deserves your “utmost, for His highest!” (Oswald Chambers).

KEY VERSE: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15.