Membership

Qualifications

Commitment to Jesus Christ

Commitment to Life Church

Commitment to Jesus Christ

Christian - Acts 11:26; Acts 26:28; 1Pet 4:16

Follower of Christ

What does the world mean by follower?

Are there any "followers" today?

How do little children follow?

Saved (sqzw)- Rom 10:9-10

Meaning

Healing - Mat 9:22; Luke 7:50; Luke 8:48

Physical Rescue - Mat 14:30; Acts 17:20

Spiritual Rescue - Luke 19:20; John 3:17; John 5:34; John 10:9; John 12:47; Acts 4:12; Acts 11:14

References

He who stands firm to the end - Mat 10:22; Mat 24:13

Whoever believes and is baptized - Mark 16:16

Those who believe - Luke 8:12; Acts 16:31

Those who call on the name of the Lord - Acts 2:21; Rom 10:13

What are we saved from?

Sickness

This corrupt generation - Acts 2:4

God's wrath - Rom 5:9-10

Past, Present, and Future

We have been saved - Eph 2:8-9; Tit 3:4-5

from the power of sin - Rom 6:15-18

We are being saved - 1Cor 1:18; 2Cor 2:15

from the practice of sin - Rom 8:5-6

We will be saved - 1Cor 3:15; Phil 1:28

from the presence of sin

from God's wrath

Born Again - John 1:12-13; John 3:1-8; Tit 3:5; James 1:18; 1Pet 1:23

Meaning

Redeemed (exagorazw, lutrow) - Gal 3:10-14; 1Pet 1:18-19

from the curse of the law - Gal 3:10-14

from all wickedness - Tit 2:14

Past, Present, and Future

We have been redeemed - Gal 3:13

We are being redeemed

We will be redeemed - Rom 8:23; Eph 1:14

Believer - Acts 4:32; Acts 9:41; Acts 10:45; Acts 11:2; Acts 21:25; 1Cor 6:5; 1Cor 7:12-13; 1Cor 14:22; Gal 6:10; 1Thes 1:7; 1Tim 4:12; 1Tim 5:16; 1Tim 6:2; James 2:1; 1Pet 2:17

Believe (pisteuw) - Mark 16:16; John 1:12-13; John 3:14-18; John 5:24; John 6:24-29; John 6:40; John 11:25-26; John 12:44; John 20:31

Not just intellectual assent

"come to me" = "believe in me" - John 6:35 (Heb. par. Psalm 24)

Faith produces results - Heb 11; James 2:14-26

Saint (agios) - Acts 9:13; Acts 9:32; Acts 26:10; Rom 1:7; Rom 8:27; Rom 16:15; 1Cor 6:1-2; 2Cor 1:1; Eph 1:1; Phil 1:1; Phil 4:22

The set apart ones

Christianity is not

a verbal formula

"joining church"

just living a "moral" life

Christianity is

a love relationship with your Father in heaven

following him like a little child - Mat 18:1-4; Mark 10:13-16

being enthusiastic about his agenda

Phinehas - Num 25:1-16

Mark those who grieve and lament - Ezek 9:1-11

Jesus cleanses the temple - Mat 21:11-13; John 2:13-21

Marking th 144,000 - Rev 7:1-17

Living for God - Gal 2:20

Making the Father happy

find out what pleases the Lord - Eph 5:10

find out what the Lord's will is - Eph 5:17

Redemption - Psalm 107

Get the order right

Exodus / Red Sea; Moral Law; Tabernacle

Redemption; Righteousness; Worship

Repentance - pictures salvation with emphasis on transition

Faith in Christ - pictures salvation with emphasis on commitment

Testimony - faith in Christ expressed verbally - Rev 12:11

Baptism - faith in Christ expressed physically - Mat 28:18-20

Commitment to Life Church

Sunday Celebration

God wants to get the whole family together (e.g. Thanksgiving)

Life Group

Intimate fellowship, accountability, and team ministry

This what the early church did - Acts 2:41-47

This is how we can live out the "one another" scriptures

Love one another - John 13:34-35; Rom 13:8; (deeply, from the heart) 1Pet 1:22; 1John 3:11; 1John 3:23; 1John 4:7; 1John 4:11-12; 2John 1:5

Be devoted to one another - Rom 12:10

Live in harmony with one another - Rom 12:16; 1Pet 3:8

Accept one another - Rom 15:7

Agree with one another - 1Cor 1:10

Serve one another - Gal 5:13

Bear with one another - Eph 4:2

Be kind and compassionate to one another - Eph 4:32

Submit to one another - Eph 5:21

Teach and admonish one another - Col 3:16

Encourage one another - 1Thes 5:11; (daily) Heb 3:13; Heb 10:25

This is how we can build one another up

helping each other to apply God's Word to our lives

helping each other to pray

helping each other to worship

helping each other to make disciples

Resurrection Life

Eph 1:15-23

Note - Paul's observation of their faith in Christ and their love for all the saints motivated his prayer for them.

Enlightenment is for believers who love the saints - Eph 1:15

Life Groups and the Life Church Vision

Jesus at the center - Mat 16:15-18; Gal 2:20

Tree Of Life - Rev 22:1-2

Grows next to the River Of Life

Extreme fruitfulness

Healing

Gather on Sundays for worship and instruction

Gather in small groups weekly for fellowship, support, and evangelism - Acts 2:41-47; Eph 4:1-16

Church as cell and celebration - cell is building block

The cell is church

Each cell is a building block of the church (a cell church is only as good as its cells)

Take time to love and get to know God and each other

A sense of mutual accountability to obey the commands of Christ - to love God, love one another, and love the lost

Fulfill God's mission for our lives

Every member in ministry

Enabling and empowering every member of the body of Christ

Empowering people and encouraging them into a sense of destiny and purpose in what they do on a weekly basis

Live rich and balanced lives together

Community

Win people in our lives and in our communities to Christ

establish godly habits, skills, ministries

Life Groups and the Life Church Mission

Develop mature believers

Every member growing

Develop effective leaders

The training and support of cell leaders is crucial

Expand God's Kingdom

Evangelism

Each cell member taking responsibility to have a network of unchurched friends to whom they are reaching out, and seeking to evangelize and win.

Life Group Meetings

Welcome

Relax

Reconnect with each other

Trust others with mundane things first - important things later

Worship

Reconnect with the Father

Music not essential

Expressions of love and appreciation to God are essential

Inward reflection leading to outward expressions of worship

Word

Understand a relevant scripture passage - perhaps from Sunday

How does the passage apply to my life?

Who needs help to see this principle or idea at work in his/her own life?

Works / Witness

Pray for the expansion of God's Kingdom in the neighborhood(s) of the life group members.

Achieve common understanding of relational evangelism.

Strategize around each member developing at least three local non-Christian friends. What is a friend?

Hold each other accountable for developing these friendships.

Life Group Leaders

Delegated pastoral authority

The life group leaders represent the pastors

Submit to their authority - Heb 13:17

Eight Habits of Effective Small Group Leaders

Dream Big - set specific goals for growth and multiplication

Pray - pray for group members and multiplication daily

Invite - invite new people weekly

Contact - contact your members weekly

Prepare - set aside time to plan the meeting

Mentor - have and mentor apprentice leaders

Fellowship - plan and conduct group fellowship activities

Growth - be committed to personal growth

Vision

Life Church is a growing community of Christians who:

know God and love him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength,

fulfill God's mission for our lives,

know and love each other.

God has called us to be a tree of life to the communities that we touch:

rooted in Jesus the Son of God,

sustained by God's Spirit and walking in obedience to God's Word,

a source of fruitfulness and healing to the world around us.

Mission

To Develop Our Relationship With God and With One Another:

by meeting together on Sundays for worship and instruction.

by meeting weekly in small groups (life groups) for fellowship, support, growth, and evangelism.

by living rich and balanced lives together.

To Develop Mature Believers

by teaching godly habits

by transforming godly habits into skills

by developing skills into ministries

To Develop Effective Leaders

who serve their brothers and sisters in humility,

To Expand God's Kingdom

by winning people in our lives and in our communities to Jesus Christ.

Original 4 Spiritual Laws

God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.

Man is SINFUL and SEPARATED from God. Therefore, he cannot know and experience God's love and plan for his life.

Jesus Christ is God's ONLY provision for man's sin. Through Him you can know and experience God's love and plan for your life.

We must individually RECEIVE Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God's love and plan for our lives.

Simple Christianity - 4 Laws of Simple Christianity

God Exists.

Heb 11:6

God wants a relationship with you.

The relationship must be on his terms.

Have you ever had a relationship that was on someone else's terms?

Parent-child relationships are generally on the parents' terms

God's terms are this - follow Jesus!

The work of God is to believe in the one he has sent - John 6:25-29

His name is above every name - Phil 2:5-9

God has spoken through his Son - Heb 1:1-4

Fix your eyes on Jesus - Heb 12:1-9

Following Jesus establishes our relationship with God

Follow him like little children - Mat 11:25-30; Mat 18:1-4

Some people want rules.

Some use rules as a stepping-stone to a relationship with God

Some use rules to avoid a relationship with God

"I've met the qualifications - now leave me alone"

Pharisees

Walk with God like Enock and Noah - Gen 5:22-24; Gen 6:9

Your relationship with God should be apparent to those who know you

your relationship - not your "rule keeping"

The disciples were called Christians at Antioch by outsiders - Acts 11:26

Walk in unity with your brother and sisters - John 17:20-23

Relationships leave traces

Speak freely about your relationship with God.

Explain your lifestyle in terms of your relationship with God.

Always give a reason for the hope that you have - 1Pet 3:18

Dont's say:

I'm trying to be positive

at our church we believe . . .

it's the right thing to do (this is good, but not enough)

Do say:

God told me . . .

God showed me . . .

God wants me to . . .

After speaking with God about it I decided . . .

Allow the people around you to hear about what God is doing in your life.

Don't be afraid to be a spokesman for your Father.

You don't need to be a theological expert. - Acts 4:13; 1Cor 1:10 - 2:13

theological expertise does not lead to a relationship with God

theological expertise will grow out of a relationship with God

How is your relationship with God?

Are you giving him a chance to do something in your life?

Do you set aside enough time for him to speak to you?

What's he like?

Where does he hang out?

What are his hobbies?

How does God deal with you?

How are you approaching God?

like someone taking a theology final?

like a bank customer identifying himself to a customer service rep?

Mat 7:7-12 Ask, Seek, Knock - how much more will your Father . . .

Life Group Evangelism

Old Paradigm

Trying to bring your unsaved friends to church to get saved

Trying to win your unsaved friends by yourself

Tear down the strongholds that prop up the old paradigm

New Paradigm

Mic 2:12-13 - Poretz - one who breaks open the way

Mal 4:6-13 - Rise and thresh

Share your relationships

Expose your friends to treasure in jars of clay - 2Cor 4:7-12

Pray and ask God to show you the people in your life that he wants you to focus on.

List their names and give them to your life group leaders.

Your life group doesn't have to be perfect - just available.

Remember - the apostles had issues of their own.

Simple Christianity

Pastor Rocklyn E. Clarke - Sunday December 18, 2005