“Effective ministry to people grows out of intimate experiences with God.” –Jerry Bridges
News and Announcements
Doctrine of the Church
Here are the completed notes from the evening service August 2, 2015
A Brief Survey of Church History
Why Study Church History?
- Our God is a God of history
- We can understand and know God better by seeing how He has worked in the past
- Church history covers doctrines and issues central to the faith
- To honor those who have faithfully gone before us
A. God’s Historical Record of the Early Church – Book of Acts (33AD – 64AD)
Luke was an early church historian
Acts 1:8 serves as an outline for the book of Acts
Events that occurred during this period:
- The Coming of the Holy Spirit and birth of the Church – Acts 2:1-5
- Persecution from the Jews (AD33-AD64)
- First Christian martyr – Stephen – Acts 6:1 thru 8:2 (AD35)
- Gospel taken to the Gentiles – Acts 10
- Apostle Paul’s First Missionary Journey – Acts 13 (Between AD46 and AD50)
- The Jerusalem Council – Acts 15 (AD49 or AD50)
B. From Acts to the 6th Century (AD64 – AD605)
Events that occurred during this period:
- Persecution from Rome (AD64-AD300)
- The fire in Rome (AD64) – Nero blamed Christians
- Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (AD70)
- Gnosticism (AD90-AD150)
- Gnosticism: The belief that the physical world is evil and that only secret, spiritual knowledge can free persons from the physical world.
- The Development of the New Testament Canon (Prior to AD190)
- Canon: measuring stick
- The word refers to the books that God inspired to form the church’s faith
- The Old Testament Canon was finalized around 300BC
- Persecution and Martyrdom
- The Council of Nicaea (AD325)
- The creed of Nicaea confessed the church’s belief in the Trinity and in the full deity of Jesus
- Rule of Faith – Creeds: a series of statements that tested a new believer’s understanding of essential Christian doctrines
- Emperor Constantine
- After conquering Rome, Emperor Constantine issues the Edict of Milan in 313 and Christianity became fully legal and equal with all religions
- The night before the battle with Rome, Constantine received a vision of a flaming cross, combined with the message “in this sign conquer”
- Freedom and Peace Results in Compromise
- Between AD400 and AD400, Christians gained earthly peace and power
- Churches grew rapidly (not all growth is good)
- Many joined the church to gain the good will of one more deity, other joined for social status
- Church members began to identify themselves with earthly institutions and the institutional aspects of the church became overly important
- The Gospel became diluted
- Some resisted the church’s new status and spent their lives in exile or fled to communities in the desert
Names to be familiar with from this period:
- Nero – AD37-AD68
- Roman emperor, persecuted Christians after the fire in Rome, had the Apostle Paul beheaded
- Ignatius – AD35-AD107
- Disciple of the Apostle John
- Apostolic church father
- Apostolic Fathers: Important First-Century Christians
- Thrown to the lions and eaten alive
- Polycarp – AD69-AD155
- Disciple of the Apostle John
- Apostolic church father
- Burned to death at the stake
- The last survivor of those who had talked with the eyewitnesses of Jesus
- Justin Martyr – AD100-AD165
- Christian philosopher and apologist
- Tertullian – AD160-AD220
- North African church planter
- Jerome – AD345-AD420
- Monk and scholar who translated the Bible into the Latin language of the day
*Some contents adapted from Dr. Harold Willmington’s notes on the church
As You Have Received…Walk
Quote of the Week: “Your talk talks, and your walk talks; but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.”
Here are the completed notes from the morning service August 2, 2015:
Scripture: Colossians 2:6
1. As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord
A. Personal reception of the Lord
- Point in time that you saw your self as a sinner unable to save yourself
- You believed the Gospel
- God loves you
- Christ shed His blood for us when He died on the cross
- Jesus resurrected
- You personally appropriated Christ for yourself
- Turning from sin – repentence
- Trusted Jesus for your forgiveness and eternal life in heaven
B. Confident of that decision being real based upon Biblical truth
- Since that time God has changed your life – II Corinthians 5:17
- No longer comfortable in your sin – John 16:7-8, Hebrews 12:5-8
- Desire to be with God’s people – I John 3:14
- Desire to obey the Word of God – I John 2:3-4
2. So walk ye in Him
To walk in Christ is to live a life that is patterned after His
A. Determine the Reality – Are you a fan of Christ or an authentic follower of Christ?
- It’s not that fans don’t want a relationship with Jesus; It’s that they want the relationship with Him on their own terms
- It’s not that fans don’t want a relationship with Jesus; It’s that they don’t want it to cost them too much.
- Fans are satisfied going through the motions – God wants your love and He longs for you to passionately pursue Him.
- The things that excite you – The things that excite you can also point to something or someone that is in competition with Jesus
- Spiritual apathy screams – I don’t care
B. Is your life characterized by practicing the presence of Jesus Christ on a daily basis?
- Ongoing examination of your life before God
- Immediately confessing sin
- Striving to be right with others when problems arise
- Asking yourself, what would Jesus do in a given situation
- Prioritize your relationship with Christ above all else
C. Consider the Following – Is your relationship with Christ best described as coasting or costly?
D. Commit to the change God wants in your life
- Radical: Extreme change
- Consistency: Faithfulness over time
- Commitment: Putting yourself on the spot
Quote of the Day – July 31, 2015
“The cross is proof of both the immense love of God and the profound wickedness of sin.” –John MacArthur
Quote of the Day – July 30, 2015
“Jesus calls us to his rest, and meekness is His method. The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort.” –A. W. Tozer
Quote of the Day – July 29, 2015
“A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.” –Charles Spurgeon
Quote of the Day – July 28, 2015
“The evangelization of the world depends first upon a revival of prayer. Deeper than the need for workers; deeper far than the need for money; deep down at the bottom of our spiritual lives is the need for the forgotten secret of prevailing, worldwide prayer.” Robert Speer
Quote of the Day – July 27, 2015
“The key is to understand that our children don’t belong to us—they belong to God. Our goal as parents must not be limited by our own vision. I am a finite, sinful, selfish man. Why would I want to plan out my children’s future when I can entrust them to the infinite, omnipotent, immutable, sovereign Lord of the universe? I don’t want to tell God what to do with my children—I want Him to tell me!” –Voddie Baucham
Doctrine of the Church
Announcements:
-Please continue to lift up the youth of our church as well as their parents and families. Praise God for what He did during this week’s Corner Stone Camp week, and please pray that the commitments made will carry over into the upcoming Word of Life year starting in just a few short weeks.
Here are the completed notes from the evening service July 26, 2015
The Destiny of the Church
The Glorious Destiny of the Church is as follows:
- To be caught up by the Bridegroom at the rapture (I Corinthians 15:51-53, I Thessalonians 4:15-17, Revelation 4:1)
- To be examined and rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ (Romans 14:10-12, I Corinthians 3:13, II Corinthians 5:10)
- To be united with Christ at the marriage service of the Lamb (II Corinthians, Ephesians 5:22-32, Revelation 19:7-8)
- To be seated with Christ at the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9)
- To reign with Christ during the millennium (Revelation 1:6, 3:21, 20:6)
- To share in the New Jerusalem with Christ throughout all eternity (Revelation 21:1, 2, 9-27)
- To illustrate the glory of Christ throughout all eternity (Ephesians 1:6, 1:12, 2:1-7, 3:10)
*Some contents adapted from Dr. Harold Willmington’s notes on the church
Two Coming Events That Should Alter the Way We Live Today
Announcements:
-This coming Sunday, August 2nd, is Baby Dedication Sunday. Please contact Pastor Peyton if you are interested in participating!
The Law of Desire: “We do what we do because we want what we want.”
Here are the completed notes from the morning service July 26, 2015
Scripture: I Thessalonians 4:13-18
The First Event – The Rapture – The Coming of Christ for His Own
1. The promise of the Rapture – John 14:3
2. Scripture teaches a pre-tribulation rapture:
- The church is not mentioned on earth from chapter 6 of Revelation to chapter 19 (The period of the tribulation)
- I Thessalonians 1:10
- Revelation 3:10 (see vs 13)
- Believers are ambassadors for Christ (II Corinthians 5:20). What do countries do with their ambassadors before going to war? They call them home.
3. The Description of the Rapture – I Thessalonians 4:13-18
- Definition of Rapture: To catch up or snatch away (I Thessalonians 4:17)
- Those taken
- Believers (the church) – I Thessalonians 4:13-17
- Those dead in Christ (vs 13-16)
- Those alive (vs 17)
- The quickness – I Corinthians 15:51, 52 (vs 51-58)
- The transformation – I Corinthians 15:51-53
- Instantaneous change/transformation
- Bodies changed from perishable to the imperishable
- Changed into the image of Christ – I John 3:2 “We shall be like Him“
- The hope of this event – I Thessalonians 4:13-17
- Hope for those who have died (vs 13-16)
- Hope of possible not dying (vs 17)
- Hope of seeing departed loved ones (vs 17a)
- Hope of sharing eternity with the Lord (vs 17b)
4. In View of the Rapture
- Believers are not to forsake assembling together – Hebrews 10:25
- Believers are to live a separated, Godly life – I John 3:2-3, Titus 2:12-13
- The knowledge that Jesus could come at any moment should motivate us to holy living – I John 2:28
- Life in order every moment of the day
- The Delay – II Peter 3:3-4, 9 – God is not willing that any should perish
The Second Event – The Judgment Seat of Christ
The Christian’s face to face encounter with Jesus Christ
Scripture: II Corinthians 5:10, I Corinthians 3:12-15, Romans 14:10-12
1. This is the first major event in heaven following the rapture
2. The issue at the Judgment Seat of Christ is not whether we are saved or not, or whether we will enter Heaven or not. The fact is whoever appears before the Judgment Seat of Christ is already in heaven.
The Purpose: To determine the worthiness or worthlessness of the believer’s works. Character and motivation of the believer’s works will be examined.
The believers deepest motivation and highest aim in pleasing God – the realization that every Christian is inevitably and ultimately accountable to Him.