Stronger Together (Part 3)
Sermon Outline for Sunday, January 17, 2021
As we continue our look at STRONGER TOGETHER 2021, we look last week at an overview of several reasons the Word of God gives use to show we are STRONGER TOGETHER as a Church Family, and now we want to take a closer look at those reasons.
Ephesians 1:22–23 ESV
And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Believers are to experience the power of God – the same power that made Jesus Christ the head of the church. Jesus paid the supreme price to start and build the church: He died for it. Therefore, God has given Him the supreme position over the church. Note:
1. The gathered church is called the BODY of Christ. Christ is the Head of this body.
2. The church is called to be the Body of Christ. Christ needs the church and the church needs Christ.
John 20:21 ESV
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
a. The head cannot function without the body, nor can the body function without the head.
b. Christ came to bring the dream and plan of peace and reconciliation to a world of lost men, those who were alienated from God and from one another.
c. Now the body, the Church, must carry this plan, this dream, the message of peace, in the power of Christ, to the rest of the church and the world.
d. If God had the power to create the church and to make Christ the head of the church, then He has the power to make the body function and work for Christ.
e. The power is then given to the Church, the body of Christ, to stir us to proclaim the message of reconciliation and to minister to the desperate needs of a world lost and reeling under the weight of sin, darkness, starvation, disease and suffering (both physical and spiritual).
Acts 1:8 ESV
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
f. The church is used by God through the power of the Holy Spirit to carry out the plan that Christ brought unto mankind.
g. Just think – the church is the body upon the earth that God is using to work out human history!
Matthew 28:19–20 ESV
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
3. Christ needs the church to do the Will and Work of the Father; if some in the Body of Christ are not going to do the Will and Work of the Father, God will find someone who will and place them in that part of the Body of Christ.
Matthew 13:30 ESV
Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”
Isaiah 6:8 ESV
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
4. We are all part of the Body of Christ, part of the Church, and we have a function; what are you going to do in 2021 to fulfill that function.
Ephesians 4:1–7 ESV
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Ephesians 4:11–14 ESV
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
a. Every believer’s gift has a purpose and we have read verses that show us five gifts that involve speech or proclamation. They are very specialized gifts, gifts that usually looked upon as being the official or professional gifts of the church. they are not given in full measure to every believer although every believer …
i. should be as an apostle in that he is serving Christ in a very special ministry and faithfully using the gift God has given him
ii. should be as a prophet in that he is daily proclaiming God’s Word
iii. should be as an evangelist in that he is bearing witness to the lost
iv. should be as a pastor in that he is shepherding and caring for people at all times
v. should be as a teacher in that he is teaching the truths of God’s Word to all whom he knows.
What are you doing in 2021 to spread the good news of Jesus Christ and His Church?
Pastor Andy Lambert