What Builds a body of believers, and what destroys it.
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Intro and Engage
Intro and Engage
Question; If I asked you right now, What’s stopping you from giving yourself completely over to the Body? | Committing? | What would you say?
We are told; Life is not our own | that we Belong to Each other | and part of a the Body.
In fact the word says;
from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
CLearly states, better together | Why hard to commit? Let go of ‘me’ and become ‘we’
Not only hard to commit | When we do, why fall away? Why don’t we feel commited? A bit of pressure, rockiness, then it falls apart.
Sermon Series: Come Together | Book of Acts | Earch Church Live togehter | face challenges | apply today | We have been through how the early Church Lived | Our Role | Last week Boldness
Today: Look at THING that MAY STOP you from giving yourself to Body | What makes us strong?
Title: What Builds a body of believers, and what destroys it. - Strong words, but something that needs to be spoken about
My Hope: You will realise why you have been called here | You will be able to be watchful for what might rock us | And you might find a reason to why you’re not fully committing and aware for what might destroy us.
**Pray**
What I want to do today | Go through Acts | Jump around | Pay close attention to Motivations, actions results
balotelli illustration
i’ll argue, we start at wanting the result, controlling outcome, rather than starting with motivation
2 things | 1. Builds boody of strong | Resiliant | Loving | 2nd may destroy | Bring us down | Hurt us | ultimately isolate
What do we know? Real Enemy | Steal, Kill and Destroy | Enemy wants to isolate you | Then things of flesh can rise up - hurt you - Let’s talk about it.
Truth 1
Truth 1
Where are we - We went through some of acts 4 last week | Believers had just prayed for Boldness | Skip what happened and come back to it | Prayed for Boldness | Annananias and Sapphira just got striked down | Many signs nad wonders where done AGAIN - Pick it up in Acts 5:17 -
But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.
Saducees - Same people that Killed Jesus | that yelled out at “This mans blood is on us” | Saducees had such hard time with Jesus | Peter | John | The Good News | Because it wasn’t them that bought the good news | Not a Jew | None where disciples | What did it say? Riddled with Jelousy |
Story in numbers | Isreal in wilderness = challegnes and issues | God moved upon elders | Spirit fell on them | Begun to Prophesy | Blessing from God | Josh came to moses | said stop it - Moses: “Are you jealous ofr my sake” - I wish the spirit fall on everyone
Moses not envy or jealous - Why different for moses? He had the antidote, the antidote for jelousy and envy
Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.
You can’t give yourself as a living sacrafice unless you are humble | Humility is antifote for jelousy | What fuels jelousy? Humility is antidote- Pride stirs it all up - Opposite of Humility is Pride | Pride = Original Sin - Satan filled with Pride | Fell from Heaven | We all struggle.
David rose in popularity | Leading armies when Saul King | Song “Saul has killed thousands, david has killed tens of thousands” | Saul heard = life mission to kill david, couldn’t let it go. overtaken by Jealousy - Sent Him INsane - See gravity of what we are dealing with.
Jesus - Humbled himself
As believers in body - Can’t even begin to toy with it | Can’t ignore | It will corrupt us.
In Acts, Saducees, jealous - Their Jealousy kiled Jesus = Victory = They had messiah
What do we do? When we feel jealous - We pray for Humility
Why? Live together humbly - Value each other above ourselves, think of ourselves as we ought- Glorified peices of Dust - Paul says;
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
There is no place for Pride, in the Body of Christ - It’s something that we all wrestle with, it’s something we all need each others help with, but it’s something that can destroy a healthy body.
Truth 2
Truth 2
IF that destroys - Want to hear what builds?
What do we know? Disciples going through MASSIVE pressure | Who here likes to go through pressure? What about competing for olympics? Massive Pressure | People can endure pressure, if, there is purpose | there IS purpose in becoming body of believers | in Coming together | Let’s Look at acts
Massive Pressure | Stood Firm | Prayed for Boldness | Holy Spirit just descended on them | then What?
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
Might say “Sounds like acts 4:32-33” - No before, together, after pressure = one heart, one mind
What else? | Great Power | GREAT GRACE upon them | Everytime, when pressure builds in acts - Stand firm - God moves - in a big way.
Kicker = There was purpose in their pressure - And that Purpose held them tighter together
Similar to Crisis Connection | Sometimes, take pressure and don’t stand firm | We forget | God has purpose | I believe God has purpose for us here
one verse disturbed me, can I say that?
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat,
And then Jesus said “I’ll kick him in the teeth” - No
but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
I will pray | Devil wants permission | But I’ll be praying | Jesus, stop that, lightning fingers and let’s get this done | Jesus didn’t cause it, but allowed the pressure, why?
Do you feel under pressure? State of world? When end?
When it feels like Devil Attacking | Rememebr, God’s Preperations comes packaged as human pressure |
Pressure that you are enduring | when you’re at the end | God may be about to do something | Something in you, before for you
So Peter, Peter keeps messing up | stuffs up all the time, best sort of friend - They make you look good |
Matthew 16 - Jesus Predicts his death | Peter what? Rebukes him, noo, If Jesus calls you satan, it’s not good
Garden of Gethsemene, tells peter to stay awake - found napping
John 18 - Jesus arrested, Peter swings at soldiers head, couldn’t even get that right - cuts ear - Jesus - “Go find the ear” (How funny)
Big One - “You’ll deny me” Peter , no, i won’t - What happened, 3 times - Peter said no,
And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.”
Where was God in the middle of failures? Maybe you feel like Peter? God’s prep comes as pressure | Maybe telling you what you CANT handle and what GOD CAN handle | Don’t look at it from “I am under so much pressure” Perspective - See pressure through a perspective of Purpose
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
He is preparing, for a time such as this
What Did Jesus say?
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
When Turn Back | After Sifting | Be Stronger/Different + Prepared | Look back and say, actually that was prep - Might not always see it | but by FAITH - We are going to choose to believe it
What will make body stronger? Build the Body? Is if when: Handle Pressure together | Stand Firm | Together | Realise, there is Purpose in the Pressure | Bible Study Thursday Night - Continue to meet | Continue to spur each other on
Continue to pray for one anohter in time sof need
Continue to be in connection | Turning up | Loving | being a blessing
What happened to peter? Filled with Holy Spirit | First Sermon on Repentence and forgiveness | 3,000 was saved | Same Peter | Felt Pressure | Felt Pain- Let down Jesus | Then, felt forgiveness | Felt it |
What ever you have, God can turn it for good.
What did Peter stand up and say? After jail, then let go, then jail
But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
There is Power here for us to grab, if we come together | If you feeled called here, if you feel loved here, we stand firm here, through any pressure | Through any Trials | We stand Firm
Inspo and close
Inspo and close
Listen - We are told to give our Bodies over as living sacrafice | There is humility in it | It’s like “Here, use it for what ever is required” | It’s not elevating, it’s humbling |
Humility is the antidote for Jealousy | Pride is the undercurrent | We need to strip it away | We need Jesus to just wipe it clean | Pride created the whole fall, it can bring down a church | What do we do? When we are jealous? We Pray to God for Humility - to think of us as we ought |
We build our community by standing firm TOGETHER | Through the Pressure | So we, as a body, can fulfill God’s Purpose | You have been called
There is no greater mission than the Gospel
No greater purpose than the one God gives you
There is not a more important time than Now - To be the Church that God wants
There is no greater Lord that is Jesus
And he is calling on you to join His Body - Will you answer the call?
**Prayer**
**Altar Call**