A Strong Church – Dr. Charles Stanley — Transcript

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4. 0:18male announcer: "In Touch" with Dr. Charles Stanley,
5. 0:21celebrating 45 years of God's faithfulness
6. 0:24in sharing the gospel worldwide.
7. 0:26Next on "In Touch," "A Strong Church."
8. 0:32Dr. Charles Stanley: There are hundreds and thousands of
9. 0:34buildings all across this country and around
10. 0:36the world called churches.
11. 0:38And some of them are large, some of them are small,
12. 0:41some of them are weak, some of them are strong.
13. 0:45The truth is that these church buildings are not the Church.
14. 0:50The church building houses the Church.
15. 0:52For example, there was a time when we were downtown in a whole
16. 0:56different building, this church.
17. 0:59Then we had to come out this way because of traffic and so forth,
18. 1:03and still, we still have the same church.
19. 1:06And so, there are many, many churches of many, many different
20. 1:09kinds, and some of them are not all Christian churches.
21. 1:13Some of them belong to other religions,
22. 1:15they call them churches.
23. 1:17Some of them have other names for their churches,
24. 1:19but that's what they call them.
25. 1:22And so, when you think about that and you think about
26. 1:25millions of people belong to a church, some people are saved
27. 1:30and they don't belong to a church.
28. 1:33What is a church anyway?
29. 1:35And so, when you think about that, you think about,
30. 1:37well, what kind of church do I want to belong to?
31. 1:40Do I want to belong to a weak church or do I want to
32. 1:42belong to a strong church?
33. 1:45And so the title of this message is "A Strong Church."
34. 1:49You may say, "Well, you know what?
35. 1:51I came in here this morning and I don't even know that
36. 1:53I'm interested in church."
37. 1:55Well, you're getting ready to get interested for the simple
38. 1:58reason when Jesus said, "I will build My church."
39. 2:03Anything that He builds, I have to be interested in,
40. 2:07I would want to be interested in,
41. 2:09I must be interested in.
42. 2:10So I want us to read--watch this now,
43. 2:12I want us to read a passage of scripture that I want to give a
44. 2:15little explanation for in order that you won't be thinking about
45. 2:19it when I move from it.
46. 2:22Now, that sounds sort of odd.
47. 2:24Turn, if you will, to the sixteenth chapter of Matthew,
48. 2:26and I want us to begin reading in the thirteenth verse.
49. 2:29Read through the twentieth verses.
50. 2:32And then I want to talk about this whole issue of the
51. 2:34characteristics of a strong church.
52. 2:39In the thirteen verse of Matthew, sixteen, "Now when
53. 2:42Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking
54. 2:46His disciples 'Who do people say that the Son of Man is?'"
55. 2:50Speaking of that part of His life which is human,
56. 2:55"And they said, 'Some say John the Baptist; others,
57. 3:00Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah,
58. 3:03or one of the prophets.'
59. 3:04He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?'
60. 3:09Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Christ,
61. 3:12the Son of the living God.'
62. 3:16And Jesus said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Barjona,
63. 3:19because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you,
64. 3:21but My Father who is in heaven.
65. 3:23I also say to you that you are Peter,
66. 3:27and upon this rock I will build My church;
67. 3:31and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
68. 3:34I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;
69. 3:39and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven,
70. 3:46and whatever you loose on earth shall have been
71. 3:49loosed in heaven.'
72. 3:51Then He warned the disciples that they should tell
73. 3:53no one that He was the Christ."
74. 3:55Now, I want to explain what this says,
75. 3:57what it means, so you won't be wondering about this when I come
76. 4:01to the eleven characteristics of a strong church.
77. 4:04So, let's go back up when Jesus said to him,
78. 4:07"Who do people say that I am?"
79. 4:09He said, "You are Christ, the Son of the living God."
80. 4:12And so when Jesus said to him, "You are Peter,
81. 4:14and you didn't think this up.
82. 4:18God revealed this to you," and He said to him,
83. 4:21"I say to you you are Peter, and upon this
84. 4:24rock I will build My church."
85. 4:26Now, listen carefully.
86. 4:28Jesus was not saying that He was going to build His
87. 4:31church upon the Apostle Peter.
88. 4:34The Apostle Peter was far from being perfect.
89. 4:37In fact, he was one of the most ornery of the disciples.
90. 4:40In fact, Jesus said to him one time,
91. 4:42"You're just like the devil," and said, "Get behind me."
92. 4:47When he was in the church later on,
93. 4:50Paul had to bring him to a realization,
94. 4:52and he said to him, "Peter, you're compromising your
95. 4:55conviction because you don't want these folks to think that
96. 4:59you're fraternizing with the Gentiles."
97. 5:03And so, Jesus would never have founded His church
98. 5:06on an imperfect apostle.
99. 5:09So, what did he mean?
100. 5:10He said, "This is the foundation of the church, this: that Jesus
101. 5:15Christ is the Son of the living God."
102. 5:18That's what the church is all about.
103. 5:20That's what the church is founded upon.
104. 5:22Listen, if you take any building,
105. 5:24cathedral, whatever it may be, and whatever's going on in
106. 5:27there, if you remove that truth, that Jesus Christ is the Son of
107. 5:33the living God, it is no longer a church.
108. 5:36It may be an institution.
109. 5:38It may be a beautiful building or cathedral,
110. 5:40but it's not a church.
111. 5:41The church is built on the truth,
112. 5:44the fact, the principle that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
113. 5:49and that's how it is to be built.
114. 5:52So, let's talk about what is it, what are the characteristics
115. 5:55that make for a strong church, wherever you may go and
116. 5:59whatever your church may be.
117. 6:01And the first thing is this: Spirit-filled leadership.
118. 6:05If you have leadership in a church that is not filled with
119. 6:08the Spirit of God, you're starting out
120. 6:10already with weakness.
121. 6:11Because, if you'll recall, Jesus said to His disciples,
122. 6:15"You're not ready to do what I called you to do."
123. 6:18He gave them the Great Commission,
124. 6:19but He says, "I want you to stay in the city of Jerusalem until
125. 6:23you be filled with the Holy Spirit."
126. 6:26For the Holy Spirit comes upon you because He knew that they
127. 6:29could not do what He called them to do unless the Spirit of God
128. 6:33was in them, empowering them, enabling them,
129. 6:36energizing them, giving them direction and guidance to do
130. 6:39what He called them to do.
131. 6:41Because think about this, he gave twelve men, one of
132. 6:43them had to lay--be laid aside, Judas, and then another one
133. 6:47took his place, Matthias.
134. 6:48And then the hundred and twenty, He gave them the challenge to
135. 6:52get His truth to the entire world.
136. 6:55Can you imagine how absolutely ridiculous
137. 6:57that may have sounded in His day?
138. 6:59Today we can say we have radio, we have TV,
139. 7:03we have iPhones, we've got everything.
140. 7:06In that day, it was word of mouth.
141. 7:08And He said, "But you're not ready.
142. 7:10You're not ready till you be filled with the Spirit."
143. 7:13And the truth is the same today.
144. 7:15No staff of a church is adequate to do the work that God calls
145. 7:19them to do unless they be filled with the Holy Spirit.
146. 7:23That is, not only the pastors, but the members of the staff.
147. 7:26And so, if you're going to have a strong church,
148. 7:28then the leadership of the staff must be filled with the Holy
149. 7:31Spirit, listening to Him, and depending upon Him for direction
150. 7:36and for guidance and for the power and the energy and the
151. 7:38know-how to carry out the work of a church.
152. 7:41Churches and what we attempt to do does not just happen.
153. 7:45There's a lot that goes on in the midst of it all.
154. 7:47So, first of all, you have to have Spirit-filled leadership,
155. 7:51and in their lives, out of their life, there should be the
156. 7:54evidence that they're filled with the Spirit,
157. 7:56which Paul gives us in Galatians chapter five,
158. 7:59of love and joy and peace and all the rest he mentions.
159. 8:03So, that's number one.
160. 8:05That's the beginning. That's first.
161. 8:08Strong church, pastoral leadership,
162. 8:10all the staff are people who are filled with the Spirit.
163. 8:13Secondly, their doctrinally sound message that they have
164. 8:17that meets the needs of the people.
165. 8:19Now, I think about how many people go to church week after
166. 8:23week after week, never carry a Bible.
167. 8:25So think about this. They go to church.
168. 8:27They sit and listen, usually for twenty minutes
169. 8:30or twenty-five, thirty.
170. 8:31But I think about people who just go to church and don't
171. 8:33carry a Bible,
172. 8:36how do you know if what he said is the truth or not?
173. 8:40And you have a right, it's your privilege, it's your
174. 8:43responsibility to question: Have I heard the truth or have I not?
175. 8:48So to be doctrinally sound means that we have doctrines,
176. 8:52that is, we have beliefs that are fastened to the Word of God.
177. 8:57They are born from the Word of God.
178. 8:59They're taught in the Word of God,
179. 9:01and that we're to teach others the same.
180. 9:04And so, to be doctrinally sound means that we believe the truth.
181. 9:07The truth is taught by God's Word.
182. 9:09Somebody says, "Well now, wait about--what about
183. 9:11people who don't agree with us?"
184. 9:12There'll be people who don't agree with you
185. 9:14about what you believe.
186. 9:15For example, there are some people who believe that you can
187. 9:17be saved and be lost, and no matter what you tell them,
188. 9:19they'd still think they're going to be lost.
189. 9:21And of course, we don't believe that because
190. 9:23the Bible doesn't teach it, period.
191. 9:26It doesn't teach it, but they still believe it and, from their
192. 9:29interpretation, that's what they believe.
193. 9:31And so you should have a personal doctrine: here's what I
194. 9:34believe about Jesus Christ.
195. 9:36Here's what I believe about Heaven.
196. 9:37Here's what I believe about sanctification, justification.
197. 9:40Here's what I believe about the church.
198. 9:43Here's what I believe about the devil.
199. 9:44Here's what I believe about all of these things.
200. 9:46You should have your own personal doctrine
201. 9:49based on the Word of God.
202. 9:51If you don't, somebody will come along and teach you something
203. 9:53that is absolutely false.
204. 9:56And there are lots of false teaching going on,
205. 9:58no question about that.
206. 10:00And so, when somebody says, "What do you believe?"
207. 10:02Well, ask them why do they believe it.
208. 10:03If they pull out some pamphlet or something
209. 10:05somebody's written, mm-mm-mm.
210. 10:07You say, "Let's see, what does the Word of God say?"
211. 10:10And so, you should know what you believe and why you believe it.
212. 10:14And not only that, you have a responsibility to teach your
213. 10:17children what you believe about the Word of God.
214. 10:20When they grow up, they should grow up believing as you
215. 10:22believe, if you believe the Word of God.
216. 10:24Their doctrine should become a part of their life early in life
217. 10:29because it's what you believe.
218. 10:31Now, there's going to come a time when
219. 10:33they're going to test that.
220. 10:35And they're going to say, "Well, I know that's what you believe,
221. 10:38but I'm not sure that's what I believe."
222. 10:40You know what, that's okay, they can test it.
223. 10:42If you have taught them the truth,
224. 10:44the truth will not only survive, but it'll conquer.
225. 10:48And then of course, uncompromising
226. 10:50in their convictions.
227. 10:51If a strong church is a strong church,
228. 10:54it's because people have convictions.
229. 10:57They don't lie--they don't lay aside and they stand by them.
230. 11:00For example, if you have a conviction that you should not
231. 11:04drink alcoholic beverage, and somebody comes along and says,
232. 11:07"Well, I mean, a little bit's not going to hurt you, and the
233. 11:10Bible, mm-mm-mm," on and on they go.
234. 11:12And you say, "Well, I--you know, I believe that,
235. 11:15but I don't guess it'll hurt me too much," or,
236. 11:17"I don't want to be an oddball," so forth.
237. 11:19Now you just compromised your conviction.
238. 11:20When you compromise your conviction,
239. 11:22what you do is you lay aside what you believe in order to
240. 11:26please somebody else or please yourself,
241. 11:28knowing that you're doing the wrong thing.
242. 11:31So, if you have convictions, for example,
243. 11:33if you have convictions about what you watch.
244. 11:36If you have convictions about who you associate with,
245. 11:39who your friends are, places you go,
246. 11:41things that you do, how you spend your money.
247. 11:43You should have convictions about all these things that you
248. 11:46absolutely will not compromise.
249. 11:48A church in which the pastor compromises the Word of God is a
250. 11:53weak church, where the people compromise their convictions,
251. 11:56it's a weak church.
252. 11:58God wants a strong church, based and built on the solid,
253. 12:02unwavering truth of the Word of the living God.
254. 12:06Then, of course, there is the strong emphasis
255. 12:08on faith and prayer.
256. 12:10If a church is going to be strong,
257. 12:12you've got to be strong about prayer and about faith.
258. 12:15If you don't pray, you're not going to live a godly life.
259. 12:19And you hear--heard--you've heard me say it week after week
260. 12:22after week, you ought to begin the day on your knees.
261. 12:25If you can't get on your knees, sit in a chair,
262. 12:27whatever, but talking to God, not just talking
263. 12:30to Him, reading His Word.
264. 12:31Listen, if you don't read the Word of God,
265. 12:33you can drift into all kind of things.
266. 12:36If you will read the Word of God daily and you'll,
267. 12:39listen, start the day-- here's what you're saying.
268. 12:41You're saying, "God, I acknowledge that I need
269. 12:44You this day, Lord.
270. 12:45I want You to speak to my heart.
271. 12:47I want You to give me guidance and direction
272. 12:48for this day all day long.
273. 12:50I want to walk in Your will."
274. 12:51When you start the day like that,
275. 12:53you think God's not going to answer that prayer?
276. 12:55Yes, He will. And here's what'll happen.
277. 12:57You'll find there'll be times when you read a passage of
278. 13:00scripture, you'll think, "What does that mean?
279. 13:02What does that mean?" but somehow it struck your heart.
280. 13:04Before the day is over, something will happen,
281. 13:06you'll think, "Oh God, You gave me a warning and I ignored it."
282. 13:10God is a personal God. He's intimate.
283. 13:13He wants to work in your life in such a fashion that the two of
284. 13:16you have an intimate relationship.
285. 13:18That intimate relationship is only going to come through the
286. 13:21reading of the Word of God and
287. 13:22absorbing it in your mind and heart.
288. 13:24You say, "Well, some things about it I don't understand."
289. 13:27You know what, you just keep reading, you'll understand.
290. 13:29You just keep reading the Word of God and God
291. 13:31will show you the truth.
292. 13:33He will show you the truth.
293. 13:34Listen, He's going to show you the truth,
294. 13:36especially things that you need in your life,
295. 13:40He's going to show you how to accomplish that.
296. 13:42He's going to show you where to go,
297. 13:44when to go, who to avoid, what to avoid,
298. 13:46how to spend your money.
299. 13:48That is, God is an awesome, listen,
300. 13:50He's the best friend you can possibly have.
301. 13:54And you can't lose being obedient to Almighty God.
302. 13:57No way.
303. 14:01So, faith and prayer are absolutely essential
304. 14:04in a strong church.
305. 14:06Where it's lacking, you're not going to have strength,
306. 14:10because that--the power of the Holy Spirit flows through people
307. 14:14of prayer and faith.
308. 14:17Then of course, the worship service.
309. 14:19The worship service would provide the atmosphere in which
310. 14:24the people experience the presence of God and leave
311. 14:28renewed in their commitment to obey God and serve Him.
312. 14:32That's what should happen in every strong church.
313. 14:35That's the kind of worship service.
314. 14:37Now, this is why I have a problem with the people who
315. 14:40have twenty-minute sermons.
316. 14:42Listen, you can hardly get the world out of your
317. 14:44mind in twenty minutes.
318. 14:46And so a worship service is where we focus our attention
319. 14:50upon God; not upon the preacher, but upon God;
320. 14:53upon His Word, upon what God wants to do in our life.
321. 14:57We open our heart and ask God: speak to my heart.
322. 15:00And when you come into church, I think one of the first things
323. 15:03you should do when you come, and you should say,
324. 15:05"Lord, You've brought me here this morning.
325. 15:07I want You to speak to my heart.
326. 15:09I want You to show me what I need to hear.
327. 15:12Help me to hear it, to believe it,
328. 15:14and to accept it and to apply it to my heart."
329. 15:17Because listen, you don't--this is not a theatrical place,
330. 15:22this is a place of worship.
331. 15:23This is a place where we meet God together.
332. 15:26I can meet Him every morning, every day,
333. 15:28any time of day or night.
334. 15:29But I'm meeting Him with fellow believers.
335. 15:32And there's something about meeting Him with fellow
336. 15:33believers, and the songs we sang a few moments ago,
337. 15:37all of these lift our spirit and cause us to have joy in our
338. 15:41heart when we think about what we sing and we pray
339. 15:45and we give, worship.
340. 15:48And then of course, when I think about the--all of these
341. 15:50characteristics, faithful and generous in their giving.
342. 15:54You don't hear me begging for money.
343. 15:56You don't hear me pleading--putting pressure on
344. 15:58anybody because here's what I believe.
345. 16:00I believe if you obey God and you walk in His will and His way
346. 16:05and you choose to follow Him, you will give,
347. 16:08because the Spirit of God will motivate you.
348. 16:10And He's going to motivate you, listen, for this reason.
349. 16:13He wants us to learn to do what?
350. 16:16To worship Him with our tithes and our offerings.
351. 16:19And very seldom do I mention it.
352. 16:21And people once in a while say, "Well,
353. 16:23why don't you preach on money?"
354. 16:25Well, I don't think that's what God wants me to do at
355. 16:27times, most of the time.
356. 16:29But sometimes I will make those explanations and challenges
357. 16:33if there's a reason.
358. 16:34But my belief is simply this: if you are listening to the Word of
359. 16:38God and you're obeying Him and you're believing Him and you're
360. 16:41trusting Him and you want to have a strong family,
361. 16:43be a part of a strong church, you will give.
362. 16:45It's the privilege of not just talking to God but saying,
363. 16:50"Lord, I mean what I say when I say I'm thankful,
364. 16:54I'm grateful for the wonderful privilege."
365. 16:56I know that You say we're to bring our tithes and our
366. 16:58offerings into the storehouse of God so that the work
367. 17:01can be carried on.
368. 17:02I thank You for the privilege of giving.
369. 17:04Listen, do you realize how blessed we are and
370. 17:07privileged to live in this country?
371. 17:09You've got a job, you've got income.
372. 17:11You've got a family, you're taking care of your children.
373. 17:13Times are tough, they're going to get tougher.
374. 17:16And you know what?
375. 17:17And we're going to be faithful right through the tough times to
376. 17:20prove that, listen, to allow God to prove that taxes and
377. 17:24government does not change His gifts,
378. 17:27His love, His grace to us.
379. 17:29It does not do it.
380. 17:34And then, listen, a strong church is strategically
381. 17:37organized to reach their God-given goals.
382. 17:40We have preschool, we have school-age children,
383. 17:42we have teenagers and so forth, we have adults.
384. 17:45We have programs for each age group.
385. 17:48We have Bible studies for each group.
386. 17:50We have our Wednesday night prayer meeting,
387. 17:52and we have a wonderful dinner on Wednesday night.
388. 17:55We're organized for everything imaginable.
389. 17:57You say, "Well, the first church didn't get organized."
390. 17:59Oh yes, they did.
391. 18:01Because if you'll notice, for example,
392. 18:03in Acts, early in Acts, here's what happens.
393. 18:05The Bible says nobody was in need.
394. 18:07Listen, if you had three thousand people get saved and
395. 18:10nobody's in need, somebody got that crowd organized.
396. 18:13It could have been Peter, whoever it might have been.
397. 18:16And, for example, Jesus was organized.
398. 18:19He said, "I want to feed five thousand,
399. 18:21set them in groups and we'll get them all fed
400. 18:24and we had some left over."
401. 18:25Church is organized.
402. 18:28The organization, listen, the organization
403. 18:30is beneath the surface.
404. 18:32We're organized, why?
405. 18:33So when you want to come on Sunday morning,
406. 18:36we're going to start at the time we say we're going to start.
407. 18:38That's organization.
408. 18:39We're going to have a service that lasts so long,
409. 18:42that's organization.
410. 18:43We're going to have singing, we're going to have preaching,
411. 18:46we're going to have offerings, we're going to have invitation,
412. 18:48we have a conclusion, all that's organization.
413. 18:51Then of course, a strong church, the people serve in the
414. 18:55strengths of their spiritual gifts.
415. 18:57Now, you say, "Well," some people would say,
416. 18:59"Well, I don't know what a spiritual gift is."
417. 19:00So let me just give you a little briefing here.
418. 19:03In the twelfth chapter of Romans,
419. 19:05you might look there for a moment.
420. 19:07He says in verse six of Romans twelve,
421. 19:10"Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to
422. 19:13us," that is, according to God's grace and what He wants to do in
423. 19:16and through your life, He gives you certain gifts.
424. 19:18So listen.
425. 19:19He says, "Since we have gifts that differ according to the
426. 19:24grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly."
427. 19:29Now, watch this.
428. 19:31So, he names them: the gift of prophecy,
429. 19:34the gift of service, the gift of teaching,
430. 19:37the gift of exhortation, the gift of giving,
431. 19:41the gift of leading or administration,
432. 19:44and the gift of mercy.
433. 19:46Now, you say, "Well, how does that work?"
434. 19:48Okay, watch this.
435. 19:51When you operate out of your gift,
436. 19:53you are the most efficient.
437. 19:54And secondly, when you operate out of your gift,
438. 19:56you're the, listen, you're the happiest, because you
439. 20:00sense your ability and talents and skills, for example.
440. 20:05And people have all different kind of gifts.
441. 20:07People who are very creative in their spiritual gifts.
442. 20:11So, that's the work of the Holy Spirit.
443. 20:14Now, you put that into the church, and this is why we have
444. 20:16people who teach, people who are head of the organization,
445. 20:19people who, for example, who exhort.
446. 20:23And you have all the different gifts in the church.
447. 20:27And God has given us different people who
448. 20:29do different things better.
449. 20:31There are some people who can do many things better than I can.
450. 20:34And if somebody says, "What have you ever done besides preach?"
451. 20:37Well, I delivered newspaper and washed cars,
452. 20:40and maybe a few other things, but this is what
453. 20:42God created me for.
454. 20:44I'm the happiest doing this.
455. 20:46I do my best when I'm doing this.
456. 20:47If I had to teach in a classroom of about twenty people and
457. 20:51teaching calculus, I'd be a total flop because
458. 20:54that's not who I am.
459. 20:56You are who you are.
460. 20:58And you need to find out what your spiritual gift is.
461. 21:00You say, "Well, I never heard of it before."
462. 21:02Well, I'll tell you what.
463. 21:04It is a powerful lesson to learn,
464. 21:07and a freeing, liberating lesson to realize what your spiritual
465. 21:10gift is, that when somebody expects you to do something God
466. 21:13hasn't gifted you to do, you won't be frustrated.
467. 21:16A very strong church is a church where the people are
468. 21:19operating out of their gifts.
469. 21:23So then of course, united in spirit.
470. 21:28A strong church, people are united in spirit.
471. 21:30I think, for example, of several large,
472. 21:33very large churches, split, that's always destructive.
473. 21:38It's always destructive when the people of God,
474. 21:40something comes along that divides them.
475. 21:43But you just think about what people get upset about.
476. 21:47And so, I'm simply saying this.
477. 21:49The fact that you and I are together,
478. 21:52we have people from all the different countries in the world
479. 21:56and we have people from every race,
480. 21:58every nation, every nationality, all kind of languages.
481. 22:02We've got people here from about fifty-five different languages
482. 22:05that belong to our church.
483. 22:07Well, I think that's fantastic.
484. 22:09And so, because we are the Body of Christ.
485. 22:13We're not this kind of body, that kind of body,
486. 22:15this kind of body; we're just the Body of Christ.
487. 22:18Unity, oneness, loving each other,
488. 22:21helping each other, undergirding one another,
489. 22:25and finding out who is in need and being one.
490. 22:27That's what the New Testament church did.
491. 22:29That's why they were so strong.
492. 22:30They revolutionized their day and conquered Rome,
493. 22:34and because they stuck together and believed the Word of God.
494. 22:38Then of course, a genuine love for one another,
495. 22:41and that's part of that being united.
496. 22:43And love is what holds, it's like glue that
497. 22:45holds a church together.
498. 22:47You see, if you sit in church and look across the aisle and
499. 22:50you saw somebody that you just can't stand,
500. 22:53you need to get right with God.
501. 22:55In other words, if somebody doesn't love me,
502. 22:56you know what it does for me?
503. 22:58I just think, "Okay, God, what You got in mind?"
504. 23:00I start praying for them.
505. 23:01Next thing you know, whatever it was gets all settled.
506. 23:06Loving one another was what Jesus was all about.
507. 23:08And when He said, "I'll build My church,"
508. 23:10what'd He build it on?
509. 23:12He built it upon the recognition of who He was,
510. 23:15the Son of God, and loving Him and loving one another.
511. 23:19That's what He said.
512. 23:21Then of course, the last one that I'll mention is a vision
513. 23:24for a lost world that would result in the going of some and
514. 23:28the giving of others.
515. 23:29A church that doesn't have a vision for the world is not
516. 23:32going to be a strong church.
517. 23:34If we're expecting God to honor us and bless this church and
518. 23:37bless the members and the families of this church,
519. 23:39one of our responsibilities is to get the message of this
520. 23:42church to the world.
521. 23:44We want to get the message in every language we can so that
522. 23:47anybody and everybody who wants the truth,
523. 23:49loves the truth, desires the truth,
524. 23:51are ignorant about the truth, will be able to hear it and be
525. 23:54saved by the grace of God.
526. 23:57That New Testament church was a--had a vision for the world.
527. 24:01And the reason I know that is that I'm sitting here
528. 24:03as a child of God.
529. 24:04And that's thousands of miles away.
530. 24:07They never stopped. They were persecuted.
531. 24:09Rome tried to destroy them.
532. 24:11And the gospel is strong today and getting stronger
533. 24:14all over the world.
534. 24:16So what you have to ask is this: What is a strong church?
535. 24:19Well, I've given you what I do believe with all of my heart
536. 24:22are eleven very, very important characteristics
537. 24:26of a strong church.
538. 24:28Now, here's a question I want to ask you.
539. 24:29Are you listening? Say amen.
540. 24:33What are you doing to contribute to the strength of your church?
541. 24:38Members of this church, visitors this morning,
542. 24:41and all of you who are watching, all of you who are listening,
543. 24:46what are you doing to help strengthen,
544. 24:52contribute to the strength of your church?
545. 24:59Second question: If others in your church follow your pattern,
546. 25:07will the church continue to be strong and fruitful
547. 25:11for the Kingdom of God?
548. 25:14Now, would you agree you've heard the truth this morning?
549. 25:17Okay, all right, here's what I want to ask you.
550. 25:24You've heard of what a church is like.
551. 25:26Many of you belong to this church,
552. 25:27some of you have your own church,
553. 25:29and many of you out there have your church.
554. 25:32But I want to talk to you right this moment.
555. 25:35You believe what you've heard: the gospel of truth.
556. 25:40If you're willing to say to God today,
557. 25:42"Lord, I want to make a commitment today,
558. 25:47that I want to make whatever contribution I can make,
559. 25:51whatever it may be, to the strength
560. 25:53of my church, this church."
561. 25:57If you're willing to tell Him that today with me,
562. 26:00as I stand, would you stand?
563. 26:12Well, here's what we're saying, we're saying, Lord, we want
564. 26:14this to be a strong church, based on the Word of God, and
565. 26:19committed to reaching as many people as we possibly can.
566. 26:23Amen?
567. 26:27♪♪♪