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Observations: Some Subjects Need to be Discussed Often. Because We Live In a World Filled With : Immorality -- We must often consider how God wants us to live, Titus 2:11-12. False Doctrine- - We must often talk about “sound doctrine,” Titus 2:1.
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Observations: Some Subjects Need to be Discussed Often • Because We Live In a World Filled With: • Immorality -- We must often consider how God wants us to live, Titus 2:11-12. • False Doctrine-- We must often talk about “sound doctrine,” Titus 2:1. • Divorce --We must often discuss the God-intended permanency of Marriage, Matt. 19:6. • Religious Division – We must often preach unity! • Weak Churches -- We must often discuss the need for, and how to be strong, Eph. 6:10 • Title: Seven Things Necessary For a Strong Church
Fact: The World Uses False Standards to Measure the Strength of a Local Church! • A Large Memberhip! • Numbers are important, Heb. 2:9; Acts 2:41,47 • But Numbers alone do not constitute strength! Matthew 7:13-14. • A Huge, Elegant meeting House! • The command to assemble infers a place to assemble, Heb. 1025; I Cor. 14:23. • The place might be someone’s home, I Corinthians 16:19. • Souls are more important than buildings!
False Standards – continued: • A Wealthy Membership. • Money is not wrong! I Timothy 6:10 • Laodicea (materially speaking) probably the wealthiest in Asia; yet Poor! Rev. 3:17. • Popularity within a Given Community. • Truth be known, it is probable that all of us would be glad if all in the community spoke well of us. • But this could be bad! Luke 6:26; John 3:19; John 16:2.
Seven Things Necessary for a Strong Church: • Knowledge for a Strong Foundation. • Ginosko, “signifies to be taken in knowledge, to come to know, recognize, understand, or to understand completely.” • Some Destroyed for lack of knowledge, Hos. 4:6. • John 8:32; 13:12; 17:3; I John 4:6; 2 Peter 1:5; 3:18; 2 Peter 1:12. • To obtain that knowledge, we must study privately, and take advantage of all the Bible study and worship Assemblies.
Zeal to Give It Life! • Zeal means to boil, have a passion for, figuratively to be on fire for God. John 2:19 • Knowledge without zeal is dead; zeal without knowledge is dangerous! Romans 10:1-2; Phil. 3:6; Galatians 1:14. • God wants us to know the truth, and be filled with zeal in spreading it, and in living it. He wants us to be passionate, to be involved, to be stirred up unto good works! 2 Cor. 7:7; 91-2; Titus 2:14
Love To Give It Feeling! • “Christian love, whether exercised toward the brethren, or toward men generally, is not an impulse from the feelings; it does not always run with natural inclination, nor does it spend itself only upon those for whom some affinity is discovered. Love seeks the welfare of all,” Vine, Romans 13:8,10. • Known by the action it prompts; I John 4:9-10; it had its perfect expression among men in the Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. 5:14; John 3:16; Rom. 5:8
Love to Give It Feeling (Con’t) • Love has God for its primary Object, and it expresses itself in implicit obedience to His commands, John 14:15,21,23; I John 2:5; I John 5:2. • We Should love one another as Christ loved His Disciples, John 13:24-35! • Note: Sometimes His Disciples were not very lovable! Matthew 20:20-24
Purity to Give it Beauty! • God is concerned with how we live our lives, I Timothy 5:22; James 1:27; I Peter 1:22; Matthew 5:8; I Timothy 3:9; 2 Tim. 2:22. • This means there are some movies we don’t need to watch, some books we don’t need to read, some activities we do not need to be involved in, such as dancing and mixed bathing, etc.
Loyalty to Give It Stability! • Loyal means “to be true and faithful to love, promise, duty, or other obligations.” We need loyal husbands, wives, employers, employees, members of the church. Members who can be depended upon regardless of the circumstances. • Another word for “loyal” is “faithful,” meaning trustworthy. I Cor. 1:9; Gal. 5:22; Daniel 6:4. • Is a husband loyal if he deserts his wife when she becomes impaired, or when the bills pile up? • We need to be loyal to God, to truth, family, to the local church and its work.
Unity To Give It Power! • Unity is so important! Psalm 133:1; John 17:20-21; I Corinthians 1:10; Eph. 6:3; Philippians 1:27. • Unity Must be based upon truth, I Cor. 1:10. • Unity also involves the proper attitude toward each other, Romans 15:1-2,6-7. • Note: In the latter reference, the people had disagreed (not over doctrinal matters), but upon matters which were neither commanded nor condemned, but concerning which they had scruples and strong disagreements. We can’t always have it the way we want it!
Prayer to Keep It Holy and Consecrated to God! • Prayer is so important! I Thess. 5:17; Luke 18:1. • Prayer has been called “the acid test of devotion.” • Pray for: • God’s blessings upon our individual and collective labors. • The sick, and for each other. James 5:13, 16. • For Forgiveness, Matthew 6:12; Luke 18:13
Conclusion: • The Time comes when all of us must take inventory of ourselves, 2 Corinthians 13:5. • I need to into a mirror and honestly ask myself: • Am I growing in knowledge? • Do I have the kind of zeal God wants me to have? • Do I have the proper love for God, for truth, and for my brethren in the Lord? • Am I living a pure life? • Am Iloyal to the work and worship of this congregation? • Am I contributing to the unity of the local church? • Do I spend sufficient time in fervent prayer unto God?