INTRODUCTION:
Mission Statement:
The Redeeming River Church is a family of believers committed to preaching the cross with conviction, reaching the lost with compassion, and equipping the saints with the Word!
Three results of not understanding the Mission.
1. Plateaued Growth - growth seems to reach a certain level and then drop back down
2. Internal Conflict - constant infighting caused by an ignorance of what should be happening
3. Low Moral - leaders become discouraged when structure or bureaucracy stymies their vision for growth
I. THE BODY HAS DIFFERENT MEMBERS
A. MEMBERS ARE NEEDED IN THE BODY
1. Can you imagine having 4 eyes instead of 2 ears and 2 eyes?
2. You need to be able to see, but you also need to be able to hear
3. You need an arm to lift a hand to pick something up
4. You need a foot on the end of a leg or you might as well not have the leg
5. Without a heart your blood couldn’t get to your other members
6. Without a head the parts of the body that have blood flow would not be able to move
7. The problem in many churches today is that they have a
o head without the heart
o heart without the head
o leg without the foot
o arm without the hand
8. I Corinthians 12:15-19
15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?
B. SOME MEMBERS THINK THAT THEY ARE THE ONLY BODY MEMBER
1. I Corinthians 12:21-23
20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.
21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
2. It’s like a big toe who wants to be painted up real pretty, but how dare the whole body take a shower
3. Some folks think that because they have a vision, a dream, an idea, that all other parts of the body should immediatly drop there dreams and jump on the new one
4. No matter how much the hand wants to pick up that big piece of chocolate
5. The head has to tell the arm and the arm has to tell the hand and the hand must pick it up and then take it to the mouth
6. Illustration: An organs point of view
Have you ever thought about what it would be like if the members of our physical bodies behaved like the members of the spiritual body sometimes do?
o HEART: "You know, I’m just stuck in a rut. For the last 45 years all I do is beat and beat. Lub, dub... lub, dub... lub, dub... I’m tired of it. It’s time for someone else to step up and do this job. Okay, feet, it’s up to you. You pump the blood.
o LUNGS: We are so under-appreciated around here. I don’t think the other organs realize that they couldn’t do their jobs without us. If we quit doing our job for a few minutes, everyone will finally see how valuable we are to this place. The brain thinks he’s big stuff. Humph! Let him do without some oxygen for a while and we’ll see how important he is!
o LIVER: "Why do I get all the dirty work? You think it’s fun making bile? I’ve been in this body for 45 years now and do you think anyone has ever asked me to make any decisions, pump any blood, or perform any functions that are noticeable outside the body? Sometimes I wonder why I bother."
o APPENDIX - "Ha! Just watch the rest of those organs work. Day after day, hour after hour, they work themselves do death. I’m just along for the ride. Why contribute when I can just sit here and get the same nutrients and oxygen that they get? Why get involved?"
C. SOME MEMBERS GET JEALOUS WHEN SOMEONE ELSE DEMONSTRATES A SIMILAR GIFTING TO THEIR OWN
1. When you love to sing and someone comes into the body who can sing....Where does your mind go?
2. When you play an instrument and someone else comes into the body who plays better...What is your reaction?
3. When you are use to being the life of the party and someone else comes and takes part of the spotlight....How do you feel?
4. Illustration: God’s voice or the devil’s
o Satan can only use your fears, doubts and weaknesses to speak to you
o Go uses faith, Scripture and purpose to speak to you
o Satan’s voice sounds like a temporary solution
o God’s voice has eternal value and destiny attached to it
o Satan’s voice will always lead the the sins of lust, pride, and greed
o God’s voice leads to purpose, value and making a difference in the world
o Satan’s voice will leave you in doubt
o God’s voice will give you guidance and truth
o Satan tells you that if you do what he wants, you will get the applause of men
o God tells you that if you do what He wants, you will hear Him say, "Well Done."
D. THE DEVIL WANTS SCHISMS IN THE BODY
1. I Corinthians 12:24-27
24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:
25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
So the church, which is the body of Christ, is made up of many, having different gifts
27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
2. Schism - (Schisma) division, dissension, disunity
3. He distorts the truth
4. Illustration: Sincerely Wrong
They remind me of a story told by Lee Strobel. When he was still a writer for the Chicago Tribune he received a phone call from a father desperate to find his missing 19 year old daughter. She was a good girl, never in any trouble, not much more than an innocent child-and now she was gone. The police weren’t helping, would he alert the city to her disappearance?
Moved by his anguish, Strobel began to pursue the story. But when he interviewed his daughter’s friends and the police, a much different story emerged. Tragically, it turned out she had been a drug addict, a petty criminal, the girlfriend of a gang member, and a part-time prostitute. When the police found her body a few days later, they determined she had been the victim of a heroin overdoes.
He didn’t have the heart to tell her father all the details he had learned about her lifestyle. He sincerely believed she was an innocent child, but he had been wrong. His love for his daughter had blinded him. He had seen what he wanted to see, overlooking obvious clues that pointed in another direction.
5. You can be sincerely wrong
6. John 8:44b
Speaking of the devil - "He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."
II. THE MEMBERS OF THE BODY HAVE NEEDS
A. THE MEMBERS OF THE BODY NEED EACH OTHER
1. The hand needs the arm
2. The finger needs the hand
3. Look at the person next to you and tell them, "The church needs you"
4. Better yet, "I need you"
5. I Thessalonians 5:11-14
11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
B. THE MEMBERS OF THE BODY NEED TO BE USED
1. What happens when you don’t use your legs?
2. If you are a part of this body you must be used
3. If you are a part of the body you must stay strong to support the area of the body you have been called to support
C. THE MEMBERS OF THE BODY NEED TO BE CONNECTED TO THE LIFELINE
1. What is the difference between an amputated arm and one that is connected to the body?
2. To be a part of the body you must be connected to the lifeline
3. You have to be connected to the blood line
4. The bloodline comes from the heart
5. Illustration: The heart of God
The heart of God says I will love inspite of whether I feel love back
The heart of God says I will sacrifice inspite of whether I get recognition
The heart of God says I will endure inspite of whether I feel the strength to go on
III. WHEN THE NEEDS ARE MET THE BODY IS HEALTHY
A. HEALTHY BODIES FEEL BETTER
1. Would you rather be healthy or sickly?
2. James 5:14-15
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
3. Would you rather feel good or be in pain?
4. When there is change it is easy to look at the change and say that it caused the schism or the discomfort
5. Really it is our unwillingness to follow after what God is calling a body to do that causes the schism
6. Illustration: When members...
o When members are leaning on each other, allowing themselves to be used, and are connected to the lifeline the body is healthy
o When members are leaning on each other, allowing themselves to be used, and are connected to the lifeline the atmosphere feels good
o When members are leaning on each other, allowing themselves to be used, and are connected to the lifeline there is excitement in the air
o When members are leaning on each other, allowing themselves to be used, and are connected to the lifeline healings begin to take place
o When members are leaning on each other, allowing themselves to be used, and are connected to the lifeline ministries begin to arise
o When members are leaning on each other, allowing themselves to be used, and are connected to the lifeline people are drawn in and get saved
B. HEALTHY BODIES DIGEST FOOD BETTER
1. When a body is healthy it can use the nutrients that are in food better
2. A healthy body expels junk and receives nutrients
3. A healthy church can understand the meat of the Word
4. A healthy church desires the meat of the Word
5. The baby bottle wont do any more
6. I Corinthians 3:2-3
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
C. HEALTHY BODIES WORK MORE EFFICIENTLY
1. Healthy bodies aren’t sluggish
2. Healthy bodies can get more done in a shorter amount of time
3. When the blood is flowing and all of the members are fortified within the body and have made up their minds that they are in it for the long hall
4. The body will start to flow when it works
5. The body will be able to work longer and endure through trials
D. HEALTHY BODIES ARE NATURAL REPRODUCERS
1. When the body is healthy and feels good, when the body is healthy and is digesting all of the Word, when the body is healthy and is working and enduring,
2. ...then the BODY WILL REPRODUCE!
3. Healthy churches reproduce healthy Christians who reproduce new healthy Christians!
