United In Christ · Growing In Grace · Reaching Out In Love

Sunday Morning Sermon Summary
 

Pastor Paul Lundberg

Note to the visitor:  These are Pastor Paul’s sermon notes from Sunday Morning.  They probably won’t make much sense if you weren’t in the service.  Feel free to contact Pastor Paul if you’d like more detailed information.
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Self-Portraits: (Part 2) “BUILT TO LAST”

1 Corinthians 12:27

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Three “bodies”:

      The human body

      The local church

      The “universal” church 

EACH BODY IS UNIQUE

12:27 - Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

      Human Body

            DNA, fingerprints, personality, tone of voice, handwriting,  

      Local Church (not just any body, the Body of Christ)

            County Bank Slogan:  “You’re not just anybody, you’re somebody here!”

            DNA, fingerprints, personality, tone of voice, way of communicating 

      Universal church (Christian, Baptist, Denominational, Non-denominational, etc.)

            The larger the image, the harder it becomes to stay focused (picture of our family – small, medium, large) 

EACH BODY WAS CREATED IN THE “IMAGE OF GOD”

A SHATTERED, FALLEN, BROKEN IMAGE; BUT STILL HIS IMAGE

12:18 - God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be

      Genesis 1:26, 27 - Divine design, child of God, role to rule

      Matthew 16:18 -  “I will build my church”

      John 17:26 “…that I myself may be in them”

      I am the light of the world –You are the light of the world 

EACH BODY IS MADE UP OF INTERDEPENDENT PARTS

1 Cor 12:12 -  The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body

Parts have no value or function separately

Imagine arms refusing to cooperate, legs headed in different directions

Think about bodies disconnected from the nervous system

What happens when heart and lungs don’t work together?           

Ephesians 5:21 - Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.     

EACH BODY IS DESIGNED FOR A PURPOSE

Imagine an aimless, purposeless individual with no goals, no focus, nothing to do and nothing and no one to care about…

Think about churches with no passion for the countless individuals all around them facing a Christ-less eternity, church members who couldn’t care less about the spiritual struggles of the person in the pew right next to them.

Think of 15 or 20 churches in a little town like Atwater, all trying to do the whole job by themselves. 

Can I say this? Think of 2 churches sharing the same building, determined to go it alone and stay out of each other’s way. 

Ecclesiastes 3:11 - He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

     Craving for intimacy, meaning, and destiny

      Reproduction

EACH BODY IS EXPECTED TO GROW

        24 But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

      Get larger, Get wiser, produce “fruit”,

Eph 4:15-16 - Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.  From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.  

WHEN THE BODY WORKS…

      it gets tired - it needs nourishment and rest;

      it gets dirty – it needs cleansing

      it gets wounded, - it needs soothing and healing

ONE FINAL THOUGHT: Funeral Directors can make a dead body look comfortable, at peace, and (almost) alive!

The church is BUILT TO LAST! (Matt. 16:18)

      “Here, making disciples, when Jesus comes! 

2 Cor 4:16-18 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Green: Mission and Vision
Blue: Illustrations and quotes
Red: Scripture

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