SundaySermon
BELONGING TO A PLACE
by Bro. Leo Primero
May 28, 2006
Reference Verse: Ephesians 2:19

Magandang hapon sa inyong lahat. It’s a great pleasure and privilege to be here in front of you this afternoon to bring God’s word… Are you ready for it?

I want you to open up your Bibles to…

(Slide 1) - Blank

REFERENCE VERSE: 

(Slide 2) - Ephesians 2:19. So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God's holy people. You are members of God's family.

(Slide 3) - 1 Timothy 3:15b. …You will know how people must conduct themselves in the household of God. This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and support of the truth.

(Slide 4) - Blank

I. INTRODUCTION 

1. (Slide 5) - The title of my message this afternoon is Belonging To A Place.

2. In Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life" (Slide 6)…

3. He explains in depth the basic principles of why we are in this earth for. Today's message is taken in context from this book.

(Slide 7) - Blank

4. Everyone is called to belong, not only to believe. In the Garden of Eden, God said that it is not good for man to be alone that’s why He created Eve. Man is created to belong to a community.

5. Similarly, the body of a Christ is designed to be a unit. It is made up of many parts to form one body, put together, joined together, built together, and fitted together to become heirs forever.

6. While we are in relationship with God, He never intends us to be alone with Him, He wants us to share Him to others… This is the main message for this afternoon…

7. Following Christ includes belonging, not just believing. Being a member of the church meant also being a vital organ of the living body… This living body grows, is nurtured, expands and procreates…

II. BENEFITS OF BELONGING TO THE BODY OF CHRIST

A. A Church Family Identifies You As A Genuine Believer. (Slide 8)

(Slide 9) - Blank

1. One can not claim to be following Christ if he is not committed to any specific group of believers. If we can come together in love as a church family from different backgrounds, race, and social status, it will be a powerful witness to the world.

· John 13:35. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (Slide 10).

(Slide 11) - Blank

2. You are not the Body of Christ on your own. You need others to be able to express that. Again the body of Christ is composed of many parts…

· 1 Corinthians 12:27. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (Slide 12).

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B. A Church Family Moves You Out Of Self-Centered Isolation. (Slide 14).

1. Being alone is being empty… This is when that feeling of emptiness is replace with the feelings of being wanted and the feelings of belonging…

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2. The church is actually the classroom of learning as to how to get along in God’s family.

3. It is a laboratory for practicing unselfish and sympathetic love.

4. It is here that we learn how to understand the needs of others... and feel their needs… and learn how to apply the Jesus heart of compassion…

· 1 Corinthians 12: 26. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. (Slide 16).

· In one of the Bible Studies hosted by Wayne’s Assembly of God I attended last year, a sister had a significant struggle about a lump in her ovary.

(Slide 17) - Blank

· She sought help from the brethren…Been to doctors and found that the lump is growing at an alarming rate that may warrant a procedure to remove it. We prayed for her, and amazingly the Lord intervened, stunted the growth then surprised her doctors by shrinking…

5. Fellowship means being committed to each other as we are to Jesus Christ. God actually expects us to even give our lives for each other.

· 1 John 3:16. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. (Slide 18).

· I’d like to share something with you…

(Slide 19) - Blank

· In the current Home group that I lead in Evangel Church which is predominantly young white couples, my praise and worship leader is also a Filipino. I am actually privileged to have him as he is one of the more prominent praise and worship leaders of Evangel. Just like our Brother Joey here, his name is also Joey and his eldest son is also named Joshua – coincidence? Perhaps, but I just thank God for His provision in the ministry He entrusts me. Anyway we’ve become close. We play tennis together and I often visit him and do his computer tinkering for him. We also often discus the problems our teenage kids face… I sacrifice my time to help him of what he’s weak at, and in return he also assists me in activities that I am not good at… This is what members of the body do to each other - help each other build up…

C. A Church Family Helps You Develop Spiritual Muscle. (Slide 20).

1. A believer may never grow by just attending worship services and becoming a passive spectator.

(Slide 21) - Blank

2. Participation in the full life of a local church helps build the spiritual muscle. Wisdom if not put into action may become a faith that is dead…

· Ephesians 4:16. 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. (Slide 22).

· The knowledge that we get from reading the Bible is stored wisdom that needs to be exercised.

(Slide 23) - Blank

· Better retention of the wealth of God’s knowledge is easier fulfilled when performed and what a better way to do it but as a team, right? As a group, you can pull together stronger, weather storms together better, do many things that you alone will never be able to accomplish… Bottom line is, God’s work is God sized – it’s simply too big for one person.

· Romans 14:7. For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. (Slide 24).

· Being alone has its many disadvantages.

(Slide 25) - Blank

· First, you are an easy target for the devil… He is a roaring lion waiting for an opportunity to devour you…

· It is during these times that he can implant negative thoughts on you if you are not careful, talking you out of from continuing fellowship with the living God…

· This is dangerous. Bring yourself to the church…

D. The Body Of Christ Needs You. (Slide 26).

1. Each is called to a unique role in the body. As each is given special gifts different from the other, the purposes of these gifts become apparent as they are practiced…

(Slide 27) - Blank

2. This is called the “ministry”. God has gifted you and equipped you for this assignment with a purpose.

· 1 Corinthians 12:7. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. (Slide 28).

· Each of us has many spiritual gifts. They often manifest in different callings depending in the situation…

(Slide 29) - Blank

· You can be a prayer intercessor now, a Bible Study leader at another or a care giver next week. You see this is how God may use you; He calls you into a ministry to become His hands, legs, eyes, heart here on earth… He will evolve his calling upon your situation depending where you are, the people’s needs around you, your situation, etc… as long as you have a servant’s heart He will never let you go dry… He will provide for you as you work for Him…

· I’d like to share with you a personal experience on this…

· Last year, we were told that our company would not be able to meet our projected quota for the year – this means that we would not receive our annual bonus. So my manager told me since my work performance had been excellent that year, he will instead give me the more done enough salary increase to cover up for the ungiven bonus. He said I deserved it (praise be to God!). As the new pay month came, good news came to the company. The corporate headquarters based in Atlanta has decided to share their profits with our company in Jersey City. It meant that we will have our bonus after all!

· Matthew 6:33. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and everything, yes, everything will be added unto you…

E. A Church Family Will Keep You From Backsliding. (Slide 30).

1. Nobody is immune from temptation… Unfortunately as we continue to live here on earth, the flesh in us will continue to be subjected to the assault of the devil…

(Slide 31) - Blank

2. God knows this so He has assigned us other people in the church the responsibility of keeping us on track.

· Hebrews 3:13. You must warn each other every day, as long as it is called "today," so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. (Slide 32).

· As I mentioned earlier, Satan is always waiting to pounce on unsuspecting victims…

(Slide 33) - Blank

· Who are these victims? Members who have gone astray… Thos who have stumbled…

3. Minding your own business is not a Christian phrase. We are called and commanded to be involved in each other’s lives. If one wavers in the faith, we need to go after him with love and bring him back to fellowship.

· James 5:19. My dear brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back again… (Slide 34).

· James 5:20. …You can be sure that the one who brings that person back will save that sinner from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins. (Slide 35).

· A person who has back slid needs to be understood how he came to be in that situation in the first place…

(Slide 36) - Blank

· Care and compassion should be given not judgment… Often times what these people only need is a pair of listening ears and an understanding heart…Next, just let the Holy Spirit do His part…

· But what if that person doesn’t want to come back... God’s Spirit often times doesn’t reveal to us why this happens and sometimes the wisdom takes weeks and even years to dawn… But if it does one thing that you should be assured of is that God has His agenda written already…

· I’d like to take you to the shore scene right now… I know, summer is just around to corner…

(Slide 37).

· All of you who have been to the beach bring their sunglasses, a sunscreen but I want you to also notice something in here… a starfish…

· One unique feature of starfishes is their regeneration power.

(Slide 38).

· If an arm is detached, a star can easily regenerate the missing limb.

· In fact many species can mutilate themselves abandoning an arm to the predator but saving life.

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· God’s way of regeneration can be similar. He often allows the vacancy to regenerate newer and stronger arms for the divine purpose of His ministry.

(Slide 40).

· Here’s the starfish again… I want you to notice the top arm? That was the arm that was lost. It has regenerated to become bigger, longer, and stronger. It is now the arm that is used by the starfish to anchor itself…

(Slide 41) - Blank

· How many times have we seen children break a leg playing sports? I did and I had a few broken ones to show too. In the Physical Therapy school I was in before, we were taught that when a bone gets fractured,

(Slide 42).

· When that bone recuperates, it becomes even stronger than the original because the bone will become thicker due to the calcification that would envelope the fracture site.

(Slide 43) - Blank

That’s the same with God’s way of healing. As long as He senses that a part of His body is weak, broken or needs healing, He will as part of His divine nature do it… He will never forsake for His name’s sake…

III. CONCLUSION

1. In conclusion, when we were born again, we automatically become part of God’s family.

2. Likewise, we now know that this includes the responsibilities of becoming His expression in the local body.

3. We need to allow Him to use us as His hands, feet, mouth, eyes and ears – all our capacities for His glory...

4. I pray that we do not become complacent and simply be contented of where we are right now… Wherever we are, in the office, at home, in the streets… Let us allow him to do His work through us…

5. Let us not be contented to be only a spectator or maybe just an attender… With this, let me share to you now a few differences between an attender and a member…

· The difference between a church attender and a church member is commitment. (Slide 44) & (Slide 45).

· Another one…

· Attenders are spectators. Members get involved in the ministry. (Slide 46) & (Slide 47).

· And another …

· Attenders are consumers. Members are contributors. (Slide 48) & (Slide 49).

· Lastly…

· Attenders want the benefits of a church without sharing responsibilities. The members share responsibilities. (Slide 50) & (Slide 51).

6. I believe that Jesus wants us to become the latter…

(Slide 52) - Blank

7. Again, Christian life is more than just a commitment to Christ. We are reminded today that it includes commitments with other Christians…

· 2 Corinthians 8:5. …But they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will. (Slide 53).

· I want you to notice this…

· 2 Corinthians 8:5. …But they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will. (Slide 54).

· Yes, to us… That means to the person beside you, to your left… the person to your right, to your back… and to the person in front…

(Slide 55) - Blank

· I believe He wants us to continue to connect, be more patient with one another’s weakness, and to leverage whatever strength one of us has to the glory of His kingdom… That my friend is His message…

8. Finally, I’d like to share to you one of Randy Frazee’s story in his book called "The Connecting Church."

(Slide 56).

· In there he writes that he has a son who was born without a left hand.

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· One day in Sunday school the teacher was talking to the children about the church. To illustrate her point she folded her hands together and said, “Here’s the church, here’s the steeple; open the doors and see all the people.”

· She asked the class to do this along with her. She was obviously not thinking about Randy’s son’s inability to pull this exercise off. Then it dawned on her that the boy wouldn’t be able to join in.

· But before she could do anything about it, the little boy next to his son, who is a friend of his from the time they were babies, reached out his own left hand and said, “Let’s do it together.” The two boys proceeded to join their hands together to make the church and the steeple.

(Slide 58).

· Randy says, "This hand exercise should never be done again by an individual because the church is not a collection of individuals, but the one body of Christ."

· Let’s pray…