God's Design for the Church

MP4 (Sermon Recording)
One of the challenges for the church is people's wrong mindsets about it when they come to see men rather than Jesus. 
The Church is NOT ...
1) A fuel station - just to get filled on Sundays, while that must be our daily life, not just our Sunday life.
We cannot be fruitful through we do the right thing but have a wrong mindset. It is wrong if some people lead the church as a business. The church is not a place you go to, but a family you belong to.
2) A movie theatre - where you come to be entertained.
3) A hospital - where you come just to be healed and stop at that point, thinking that only the pastor has to be committed. My ministry began as a congregation. 

Acts 1:1-3 The risen Lord convinced them that He is alive, waiting on us, because God cannot move if we have the wrong mindset. After the resurrection Jesus taught His disciples concerning the church - "speaking of the Kingdom of God" - for 40 days. 
The ministry of the church is not just about 'start a church' (bring in people) but more about 'grow as a church' (disciple them to be mature). Having been born again, we all need to change our mindsets. Some of us might love God with our own traditional way of love, based on service and sacrifice like Cain. Sacrifice is not always obedience. Gifts can operate outside of relationship and lose the power to transform lives. 

The Church IS ...
1) Ephesians 2:19 Church is a family. We come to church not to perform but to enjoy the family fellowship. So, Sunday is a family day.
2) 1 Peter 2:5 a 'spiritual house made of living stones' - there is a challenge for everyone as a 'living stone' has a free will to choose, if with a wrong mindset. In fact, we need each other, because one stone by itself is very cheap, but put together the house/building has manifold great value.
3) 1 Corinthians 12:12-18 "many members of one body." God set His people in the body as it has pleased Him (v.18). Every member should stick to its own place so it can function well.

Two Things about the Church:
1) Commitment - not abut the pastor but about all of us. Companies need it, the church surely needs it. A Christian life is how you fulfill your calling. To have a fulfilled life we need to go back to God's original design of our life. God gives us money and things as a tool/help to fulfill His call, not a purpose. 
Without commitment there is no vision, no trust, no character. 
Without trust we cannot keep on moving or grow. Trust is very expensive; it is not for many (just the 12 for Jesus). 
2) Family - Confrontation or conflict never separates us. Worst of all, people may leave the church because they have no relationship, they are not people that love God and love each other. 


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