Preached by Chris Broom, 2/10/2008

Download audio

Kierre Tate is Restored to the Lord

Building a Great Church, part 3 - Tried and True - Outline

Acts Chapters 5-8

I have heard it said, “A faith that has not been tested, cannot be trusted!” When Jesus commissioned us to build a great church, He knew that our faith would be tested. I have also heard it said, “People are like tea bags … you don’t know what’s in them until you put them in hot water!” As we study the Bible today, we are going to see how our first century brothers handled the testing of their faith. God willing, it will prepare us to handle the testing of our faith!

1. Acts Chapter 5 … Great Fear:
Tin Acts 5, we see a couple in the church that lie about what they are giving financially. They immediately suffer the consequences of their sin as they both die. Great fear seized the church and everyone who even heard of these events. There’s got to be a great fear of God in his church. A respect for the power and authority of our Creator. In Revelation 2:20 Jesus rebukes the church in Thyatira for tolerating Jezebel who called herself a prophetess and yet by her teaching led people astray. The call of Jesus was and is … don’t tolerate sin! Yes, we must show each other a great deal of grace, but that does not mean that we are to tolerate willful sin or false teaching that leads people astray. When we talk to one another we need to be full of the grace and mercy of our God, but how about the discipline of God. We must be our brothers keeper. We have to ask each other, “Brother / Sister, how are you really doing?”

- Proverbs 1:1-7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
- Psalm 36:1-2 When there is no fear of God, we can’t even detect our sin.
- Psalm 27:1-4 When you fear God, you don’t have to fear anything else.
- 1 Corinthians 5:1-12 God’s serious about
- Matthew 18:15 God’s plan for resolving conflict in His church.

2. Acts Chapter 6 … Great Leadership:
There is no perfect church. I have heard it said that if you are looking for a perfect church, you need to go somewhere else because you are already making the one you’re in imperfect!

In Acts 6, we see a growing church with growing needs. In fact, there is a racial problem. The Hebraic Jews were overlooking the Grecian Jews in the daily distribution of food. The leaders came up with a great solution; they chose some spiritual brothers who just happened to be Greek to meet that need. Great Leadership finds a way to meet the needs in their church. It is very important to note that the Apostles didn’t fix the problem themselves. In fact, they had deep conviction that it would be wrong for them to neglect the word of God and prayer in order to wait on tables (Acts 6:2)!

- The leaders of the church need to be focused on prayer and ministry of word.
- It’s not that they are too good to serve, but simply that they must stay close to God and stay focused on the role God has given them in leading the church spiritually.
- We need great people to serve and meet the congregation’s material and physical needs such as Kid’s Kingdom, Chemical Recovery, helping the poor, administration, ushers, sound technicians and media, just to name a few.

You can’t join God’s church and then sit back and enjoy it all. Rather, we need to roll up our sleeves and find a place to help. When the leaders delegated responsibility and got focused on God and the ministry of His Word, God’s church grew rapidly (Acts 6:7). We have seen the importance of great leadership recently as Juan Carlos and Betty Garcia have arrived from Portland and immediately organized our Spanish ministry. Now, the Latinos are faithfully advancing.

By the time first Timothy is written, the office of a deacon has become more defined, and there are high standard that must be met before someone can be appointed to this role of service within God’s church. Today, we are excited to put four couples before the church to be tested (1 Timothy 3:10), and God willing appointed deacons in two weeks.
- Roger and Kama Parlour
- Pat and Pam Boea
- Jay and Barb Shelbrack
- Theo and Leslie Dawson

3. Acts Chapter 7 … Great Persecution:
Acts 7 is devoted entirely the sermon of a young man named Stephen. He rebukes the Jews so strongly and they became so furious that they stone him. After that, a great persecution broke out against the church.

The Apostles must have done an incredible job passing on the heart of Jesus to Stephen. That’s what discipling is supposed to do … pass on the heart of Jesus to someone else. We simply need to ask ourselves, “What’s the difference between Jesus and the people we disciple?” Then we need to help them. But that’s when you get persecuted! When you call others to the standard of God.

The apostles didn’t pray for God to take the persecution away, they just prayed for God to give them boldness (Acts 4:29), and then they went out and preached boldly! In John 15:18, Jesus teaches the disciples that if they are like Him, the world will hate them. There is no such thing as a great disciple of Jesus that does not get persecuted (1 Timothy 3:12), and there is no such thing as a great church that does not receive great persecution.

4. Acts Chapter 8 … Great Joy:
In Acts 8 Philip goes to Samaria and proclaims the gospel there. As a result, the Bible says that there was great joy in that city (Acts 8:8). We have been so encouraged to see the joy that has filled people’s lives as they have become Christians. Today, we were fired up to see Kierre restored to the body of Christ. Kierre shared powerfully before the church as he vowed to return to God with all his heart.

In James 1:2, the Bible directs us to consider it pure joy when we face trials in our lives. At first glance, this doesn’t seem right, but if you understand the rest of the chapter, you know that there is a bigger picture when we undergo trials. God is testing our faith so that He can bring us to maturity. If everything was handed to us on a silver platter, we would be nothing more than spoiled rotten brats that couldn’t even tie our own shoe laces! The next time you are being tried, will you prove true? The answer to that question begins with how you set your mind. Decide now to consider it pure joy because you know that God is working on the bigger picture of helping you become more like His son Jesus!

Answered Prayers
I asked for strength ~ and God gave me difficulties to make me strong.
I asked for wisdom ~ and God gave me problems to learn to solve.
I asked for prosperity ~ and God gave me the brain and brawn to work.
I asked for courage ~ and God gave me dangers to overcome.
I asked for love ~ and god gave me troubled people to help.
I asked for favors ~ and God gave me opportunities.
I Received nothing I wanted ~ I received everything I needed.
My prayers have been answered.
-Author Unknown

I hope you have a great week that is full of joy!
Chris Broom

Categories: Building a Great Church, Sermons