Temple + Temptation
The shape of the church has dramatically changed. It feels like everything we thought about life, spirituality, and church has been altered or brought into question. And in the west, the Gospel of Jesus has often been replaced for an “American Gospel” fashioned in the form of one’s political allegiance rendering the church irrelevant. What is the future of the church? How do we return to God’s design for His Church? If we are going to answer these questions we must go back to the first followers of Jesus and rediscover what the church was intended to be? And how this mostly Jewish Jerusalem-based community became a multi-ethnic international movement that changed the world as we know it. Join us for our series out of the Book of Acts as we look back at how the church began to discover what it really means for us to be the church today.
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Part 4 of Future Church
Part 5 of Future Church
Teaching Notes
What is a momentum stopper for the church? What has the power to quench the move of the Spirit in the church?
TWO MOMENTUM STOPPERS: Acts 4:32-5:11
1.A House DIVIDED ("All the believers were one in heart and mind. Acts 4:32)
Practicing Unity:
- Elevate JESUS above EVERYTHING else.
- Be a DISPENSER of GENEROSITY.
- Agree to DISAGREE for CHRIST’S sake.
2. Sin in the CAMP (The story of Achan – Joshua 7)
The Truth about Sin:
- Sin is SERIOUS. (Romans 6:23)
- There’s no SLIDING SCALE. (Matthew 5)
- It QUENCHES the Spirits. (1 Thessalonians 5:19)
Breaking Free: Embrace a daily habit of CONFESSION.
- Vertically: GOD
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
- Horizontally: OTHERS
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. James 5:16