Justin Peters - Marks of a Healthy Church - 2 Corinthians 7:5-12

well this is emilia ramos preaching pastor of heritage grace community church we are so blessed that you've decided to join us watch our sermons and watch our content here at heritagegrace.com and on facebook uh just please remember our sermons are here to bless you but they are certainly not here to replace the preaching and the teaching from your local church uh with that if you've liked the the material the sermons and the preaching here be sure and like our facebook page share and join us again god bless you good morning can y'all there we go good morning hope everyone is doing well this morning it's a joy to be back with you i think most everybody here was here for sunday school so it is a joy to be with you this morning um yeah as i said this morning i really earlier this morning i really think the world of emilio and i appreciate his friendship so much his faithful service to christ i am an evangelist i'm not a pastor i have a pastor but i'm not a pastor i'm an evangelist and so i spent about 30 40 percent or so of the year on the road preaching and going to other places going to churches domestically internationally i use usually have three or four international trips a year not this year because of coven but but i usually do and there are certainly challenges with what i do in evangelism but i don't face the kind of challenges that a pastor faces i think being a good pastor is the hardest job in the world i really believe that certainly probably the most rewarding but the hardest as well and i tell people it can be it can be discouraging as you look at the broad visible spectrum of quote quote-unquote christianity today as you look at all of the doctrinal compromise the moral compromise the moral failings the uh the visible spectrum of christianity is is a mess it really is but there are good churches out there there are there are good churches out there there are good faithful shepherds out there and uh you have one of them right here with emilio ramos a good good brother and uh pray for him pray for his wife trish pray for their family and just be very grateful for who you have here as your pastor and lift them up in prayer and be very appreciative of them and i'm really encouraged you know i i guess god in his providence somehow has seen fit to to give me something of a of a platform never dreamed it would turn into what it did but you the the people at the front of the line one day on the other side of heaven uh i'm very grateful for the for the faithful pastors that do have a large platform the john macarthurs and the check check am i going to check check i ain't going in now it's a are we okay okay all right i'm very faithful for the john mcarthurs and artsy sprawls he's in heaven now of course and uh devotee balkans and the paul washers and all these all these guys that that have very large platforms but i am very very very grateful for all of our faithful shepherds out there that are not known that don't have a big platform they're known primarily only to their faithful i mean to their own flocks and known to the good shepherd himself and it's those guys that are going to be at the front of the line one day so anyway so encourage encourage you all in that very briefly before i get started i hate hesitate to even do this but i do have some resources available for you just want to make you aware of them that are on the table out there in the foyer or whatever you call that out there uh clouds without water have a dvd set this is kind of for which i'm most well known it's not my only interest but i'm kind of known for the work that i do with the word of faith new apostolic reformation movement the health and wealth prosperity gospel benny hinn kenneth copeland todd white joel osteen joyce meyer all those kind of health and wealth gospel preachers this is a biblical critique of that movement and it's about eight hours of teaching video clips of all of those individuals and more bill johnson and others and i'll let you see and hear for yourself uh what these folks are actually teaching and you see just the incredible unbiblical nature of the prosperity gospel that is available for you i've written one book thus far in english anyway i've written another book that's being translated into russian but at any rate that's another story do not hinder them a biblical examination of childhood conversion and this is a book that deals with the precautions that we need to take with children before we rush them off into the baptistry just because a child has made intellectual assent to a few basic gospel facts does not mean that that child is ready to be baptized so how can i tell when conversion has really taken place in the life of my child life of anyone really but how can i know when it's right and wise to baptize my child that's what this book deals with and then i have this little flash drive here with a little magnetic cap and this has got a lot of different of my a lot of series that i've done on various issues i've got a series on the attributes of god one on spiritual warfare one on jehovah's witnesses i've got a sermon on roman catholicism and so there's a lot there's about 150 individual messages on this flash drive so those resources are available for you on the table uh the prices i think are listed but if the cost is in any way prohibitive to you don't worry about it if you need these resources and money is tight that's fine you don't even have to ask me help yourself i want to be i want you to be equipped to speak the truth and love so all right now let's get to the meat of the matter let's go to the lord in order prayer and we'll begin father we are very very grateful for this time that you have given to us i thank you for i thank you for the bride of christ i thank you for the body of christ the church that you have instituted that you have created that you have preserved and that you have all around the world the good churches are not the ones in the spotlight more often than not with very few exceptions the ones that get the attention are the ones that are not true churches that you have nothing to do with but we thank you that there are good churches are faithful shepherds out there and we pray that as we go now to this time we pray that we would see from your word of what we should look for in a good church the things that should be there because christ has placed them there he preserves them so we pray these things lord in the name of our king jesus christ our savior amen amen okay sure sir readjust it here okay all right okay thank you brother i would invite you to take your copy of god's word and open to the book of first timothy chapter 3. first timothy chapter 3 verses 14 through 15. this is a message that i have entitled five marks of a healthy church five marks of a healthy church and maybe even as i say that you may be thinking well aren't there nine marks and and uh so uh yes and that's not to take away from that but i think you kind of kind of we can kind of boil them down to five marks of a healthy church that will encapsulate those other four as well but nine is just too many to go through in one sermon so uh five marks of a healthy church how can you tell a healthy church the things to look for in a healthy body of christ first timothy chapter 3 verses 14 through 15 paul writes i am writing these things to you timothy hoping to come to you before long but in case i am delayed i write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of god which is the church of the living god the pillar in support of the truth paul is writing this letter to a young timothy who is serving as pastor of the church in ephesus and he wrote to him to help him navigate various issues and in first timothy you see a lot of issues that paul addresses false teachers false doctrine prayer the roles of men and women qualifications for elders and deacons disciplining elders general instructions for ministers honoring widows so there's a lot of issues that paul deals with here in first timothy and i say young timothy it's kind of interesting in first timothy chapter 4 verse 12 you probably know it's a rather well-known reference paul says let no one despise you for your youth and when we read that we think of oh timothy was a teenager well as best we can tell timothy was saved was converted about the age 17 16 17 18 somewhere in that neck of the woods and paul is writing this to timothy 15 years after his conversion so when paul says let no one despise you for your youth timothy was in his early 30s so kind of gives a little bit different perspective does it not the church scene in america is not a happy one as i said when you look at the broad visible spectrum of christianity today you see it is an absolute mess you've got roman catholicism you've got word of faith new apostolic reformation now we've got the winds of social justice blowing around and causing all kinds of disruption and confusion you see the seeker sensitive approach to doing church and we're going to talk about that some more it's a mess it really is a mess so what are the things that we should be looking for in a healthy church what are the things that a healthy church has and i'm going to list these for you and then we'll go back through each one of them so if you're taking notes you can't write this as quickly as i'm saying it's okay because we're going to go back through one by one so five marks of a healthy church number one a sheep centered ecclesiology a sheep-centered ecclesiology number two word centered preaching word centered preaching number three biblical leadership structure number four sound doctrine and then number five church discipline so all of these things should be in a healthy church number one a sheep-centered ecclesiology ecclesiology that's the study of the church church should be about the sheep everything that a church does should be centered around the sheep not the goats if you get this wrong if you get number one wrong then almost guarantee you're going to get all the rest of the things wrong too a church must be about the sheep a sheep-centered ecclesiology church is not for lost people church is not for the goats if you will it's not for the goats it is for the sheep and yet that is in direct contrast to what we see today in the vast majority of christian quote unquote churches if a church is not roman catholic if it's not full-blown word of faith it is almost certainly following after what is known as the seeker-sensitive model of doing church in a seeker according to the definition of the term as it's most commonly used is someone who is not yet a christian but is seeking to be a christian or is seeking god in some kind of way we'll talk about that in just a second but the seeker sensitive model began with a guy named robert schuller robert shuler is now dead but back in the 1960s robert schuller looked around and he saw drive-in movies were becoming very popular and he thought well if they can do that with movies i can do that with the church and so he literally invented a drive-in church at its heyday they had about 500 cars that would come in and would go to church and robert schuler would be at the front they had this magnet the uh auto what do you call it auditory system magnification whatever what am i looking for what's the right term amplification thank you amplification system so robert schuler would sit up in the front and you had this masses of cars people would literally just drive in like you do a drive-in movie they would drive in they would sit in their car and listen to robert shuler as he quote unquote preached and they never left their cars they they were doing social distancing before social distancing was a thing a drive-in church is seeker-sensitive he's the one that began this model of doing church i later built the crystal cathedral and he was known for saying this quote jesus met needs before touting creeds jesus met needs before touting creed so in other words he thought church was about meeting people's felt needs not about doctrine not about theology not about creeds you just need to meet people's needs whatever people think their needs are so you cater to lost people his seminal book was entitled self-esteem the new reformation self-esteem the new reformation he believed that the greatest need that people have is to have a healthy self-esteem that's what he thought people's greatest needs were need was to have a healthy self-esteem i'll never forget a number of years ago i guess it's probably been close to 17 18 years ago now i was watching robert schuller preach at his crystal cathedral and uh he said something i'll never forget it's emblazoned in my mind he said jesus died on the cross to forgive you of the greatest sin of all not believing in yourself the greatest sin not believing in yourself and then later in the same sermon he said when jesus was on the cross he lost his self-esteem i just about threw my crutch through the tv that is absolutely unbelievable but this is the father of the modern seeker sensitive movement the model that the vast majority of churches today follow the seeker sensitive movement is not the model is not built around sheep it's built around goats it's built around lost people schuler would go around to the neighborhood and he would ask people just at random he would ask them do you go to church if they said no then he would say well why don't you go to church number one why don't you go to church and number two what do you want in a church if you were to go to church what would you want to have in a church he would literally ask lost people what they want in a church that was his model for doing church he came up with the church growth institute it was a school that he had to train other pastors how to follow his model the church growth institute follow these steps follow my model and your church will grow and one of his standout students was a young man named rick warren rick warren and his wife kay rick warren his star student later wrote the purpose-driven life in the purpose-driven church rick warren in fairness i'll say he did not share all of robert schuller's theology but he did adopt his model and he developed that further and from that form the purpose-driven life and the purpose-driven church and according to rick warren who i'd say now is kind of like he along with bill hybels who is no longer pastor now but rick warren especially is kind of at the pinnacle he's kind of like the the poster boy of the seeker-sensitive approach to doing church he says that we should study our community and we should target our audience according to geography demographics culture and spirituality so we cater our church we target our the audience and we make our church look like the audience that we are trying to reach warren says that our evangelism should make the gospel quote as easy and attractive as possible make the gospel easy make it attractive to people and he said of seeker sensitive services he says this quote create a service in your church create a service that is intentionally designed for your members to bring their friends to make the service so attractive so appealing and relevant to the unchurched that your members are eager to share it with the lost people they care about end quote so create a service that is intentionally designed for lost people rick warren in his book the purpose-driven life the very first sentence in that book is rather well known he opens his book and it says this it's not about you that's the first sentence in his book purpose-driven life it's not about you and then after that first sentence the entire rest of the book is all about what you it's all about you what do you want what do you think you need how do you want church he says that the music style should be that style that is preferred by the target audience so whatever community that you're in whatever the predominant genre of music that they like to listen to in the secular realm make your music like that we all saw that a few years ago perry noble who was a pastor in south carolina and he rather famously had a church service and they sang highway to hell by ac dc as part of their worship service unbelievable how worldly can you get a few years ago i was i went to a service at fellowship church pastored by by ed young jr you know here in the dfw area up there by the airport and uh my wife kathy and i went to it and we were absolutely appalled it was it was absolutely worldly their primary worship song for this particular service i kid you not was let's get it on by marvin gaye that's what they call worship kathy and i were so righteously indignant when we left there my wife literally said she said that's not a church that's a goat farm and it is rick warren says quote it doesn't matter why people initially come to jesus what matters is is that they come it is my deep conviction that anybody can be one to christ if you discover the key to his or her heart the most likely place to start is with the person's felt needs think about that statement he says it doesn't matter why people initially come to jesus just that they come and you can you can win anybody to christ as long as you know the key to their heart as if there are different ways to win someone to christ as if they have each person has a different key that fits their specific heart you know what the problem with people's heart is is that it's desperately wicked above all things that's what jeremiah says everyone is one to christ in the same way through the gospel not with meeting their supposed felt needs but this is what the secret sensitive model of approach to church does you know so if people say if you're a single lady and you we're gonna we're gonna teach you how to have you know fulfillment in relationships or if you're a businessman you know what does the bible have to say about running a business or or good finances and so you you take these topics and you just try to you use a bible verse here and there and try to meet people's felt needs try to rick warren says that we need to make jesus attractive to people so make people think that if you come to christ if you just quote unquote ask jesus into your heart then jesus will give you a fulfilled life he will meet whatever need that you feel that you have he'll make your life fulfilling he'll give you the purpose driven life but this is completely antithetical to what scripture teaches dear friends church is not for the goats church is not for lost people church is for the sheep we must have a sheep-centered ecclesiology the church is not a social group it's not a political group the church by definition the greek word for church ecclesia and it comes from the suffix ek which means out and derived from the word kaleo verb kaleo which means to call literally the church is the called out ones the ones who have been called out and that call is a strong word it's a summons the one the ones that god has called out that he has summoned out of the world out of the world into the body of christ out from darkness into the light out from sin into holiness we have been called out dear friends we're not supposed to look like the world the church is supposed to be different it's not supposed to look worldly it's not supposed to look secular we're supposed to look different the seeker sensitive model literally turns the biblical model of church on its head the church is to worship god and by definition the only people who can worship god are christians the ones who have been called out and as christians when we gather for worship we are to honor god we are to glorify god we are to equip the saints ephesians chapter 4 verse 12 equip the saints for the work of the ministry and people hear that and think oh well you're you're rejecting evangelism you know the church is you know you're supposed to bring lost people into the church and you evangelize them that's really what you're supposed to do in church i am not against evangelism i do even i am an evangelist i do evangelism all the time but the primary function and purpose for a church service is not in and of itself evangelism though we should preach the gospel it is perfectly fine for us to invite lost people to come but know that the service is not for them yes we are to preach the gospel and by god's grace lost people do filter into the church and they'll come and they'll sit there and by god's grace when they hear the gospel they will be converted but that's not the primary function of a church service we're to be worshipping god and only christians can worship god we're to equip the saints for the work of the ministry and the saints you and i here all of us who are in christ then when the service is over we go out into the world and we do evangelism we preach the gospel but the church when we gather for worship the church is not for lost people it's not to be modeled around and centered around lost people to have a church for the unchurched is like steven furticus said is a contradiction in terms to have a church for the unchurched you've got to keep your teaching shallow you've got to water down the doctrine water down theology keep the teaching very shallow avoid things like wrath repentance sin because the world doesn't want to hear about those things and you know what the world doesn't want to hear about those things but if your goal is to attract lost people and to gather them in and make the service look worldly and entertain them then in order whatever you draw people with you're going to have to use to keep them and so if you draw people with worldly techniques you're going to have to continue to use worldly techniques to keep them in the church but they're not being converted so don't talk about the wrath of god don't talk about repentance don't talk about denial of self as jesus did but you see denial of self is the exact opposite of the secret sensitive movement the seeker sensitive movement is about self-fulfillment not self-denial avoid talking about sin rick warren i remember watching him on uh the fox news channel this was a number of years ago 10 or so back when hannity sean hannity the program was hannity and combs you remember that when alan combs was his co-host and alan combs is now dead but alan and sean hannity were interviewing rick warren and alan combs was a jew kind of an agnostic kind of jew not a christian at all and alan combs asked rick warren rick warren is called america's pastor and alan combs asked rick warren on national television this question he said allen excuse me he said rick i'm a jew i don't believe in jesus what about me what do you have to say to me and this is what rick warren said i kid you not it is burned in my brain he said alan try jesus for 60 days and see if he won't change your life try jesus for 60 days like he's a weight loss program and if he doesn't work he won't you get your money back try to this is america's pastor this is the guy who wrote purpose-driven life which is the second best best-selling book of all time next to the bible itself which is a horrific commentary and he has asked on worldwide television how can i be said what about me i don't believe in jesus and his answer is trying for 60 days unbelievable rick warren is a false teacher it's a false prophet and besides this dear ones the seeker sensitive approach to church here's the bottom line there is no such thing as a seeker there are no seekers romans chapter 3 10-11 the apostle paul says there is none righteous no not one there is none who understands there is none who seeks after god none who seek after god now there's a lot of people out there that are they intrinsically know that their souls will live forever and they know that they're sinners and eternity is written on their hearts so they have this awareness and they may be seeking some kind of a higher power some kind of fulfillment some kind of purpose for their life but they are not seeking christ they may be seeking after a quote-unquote god little g and they may even be seeking after a jesus that they feel want to fit to their own mold but they are not seeking after the god of the bible they are not seeking after the jesus of the bible they are not seeking after the true gospel they are not seeking for a message that says repent and deny yourself because that is not what they want they love their sin they love the darkness they just want to have a message that they can adapt to their own sinful lifestyle and still scratch their religious itch but they are not seeking after god the true god mark chapter 10 look with me there mark chapter 10 verses 17 through 21 i suppose if you want to find a quote unquote seeker then you could probably go to this guy mark chapter 10 the rich young ruler he was seeking after something to scratch his religious itch but he was not seeking the god of the bible lots of religious people out there but he was not seeking the god of the bible verse 17. as he was setting out on a journey a man ran up to him knelt before him and asked him good teacher what must i do to inherit eternal life so i guess you know if you want to call a seeker this guy would be it you know he he runs up to jesus he kneels before him gives him a formal address good teacher shows him some respect what must i do to have eternal life so i guess if you want to find a seeker this guy would probably kind of be it but again he's not seeking after the real truth he's just seeking after something to scratch his religious itch to soothe his own guilty conscience but look at how jesus handled him why do you call me good no one is good except god alone now jesus is not correcting him understand he is affirming him there is only one who is good and that is god so it's like jesus saying okay you call me good but do you know why do you know why you call me good do you call me good because you think i'm a good teacher i spend some good yarns i do some good things for people or do you call me good because you understand who i am that i am good because i am god he was leading him no one is good except god alone you know the commandments do not murder do not commit adultery do not steal do not bear false witness do not defraud honor your father and mother and he said to him teacher i kept all these things from my youth up one thing you lack go and sell all you possess and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me this is how jesus handled a quote unquote seeker he didn't say hey what can i do for you how can i fulfill your purpose in life he gave him the law he helped him to understand that he is he is not good because he has broken all of god's laws even though he thought that he had kept him oh i've kept all these things no he hadn't he hadn't kept them all and he knew he hadn't he said sell everything you have get rid of it that thing your wealth that is keeping you from god that this is the god in your life get rid of it give it to the poor get rid of it he didn't tell him how to have a more fulfilled life he said get rid of your stuff and then come follow me and when jesus said follow me that wasn't just a um you know have a loose affiliation with me mark chapter 8 jesus says if anyone wishes to come after me to follow me he must deny himself take up his cross and follow me following christ in the biblical sense means taking up the cross and friends we have really lost sight of the impact of those words taking up the cross nowadays when we think of taking up the cross we just think of making it through some tough times you know pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps and muscling through some tough times and that's what it means to take up the cross i've had a few people over the years come up and they have said to me variations of this justin you bear your cross well referring to my handicap my cerebral palsy friends my cerebral palsy is not a cross your cancer is not a cross your arthritis is not a cross losing your job is not a cross when jesus said take up the cross 2000 years ago people knew what he meant they had seen crosses in action a cross was a place of death a cross was an instrument of execution he was saying you must be willing to die for the gospel that's how jesus handled a seeker complete opposite of what we see today modeled in the secret sensitive approach to doing church 180 degrees opposite in john chapter 21 jesus speaking to peter he said to peter truly truly i say to you when you were younger you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished but when you grow old peter you will stretch out your hands you'll stretch out your hands and someone else is going to gird you and they're going to take you where you don't want to go now this jesus said signifying by what kind of death he would glorify god by what kind of death he would glorify god jesus that's that's not very seeker friendly jesus haven't you attended the church growth institute you're not going to win any converts telling people that if they follow you they may have to die and they're going to be persecuted jesus that's not going to work jesus haven't you read the purpose-driven church you know what that kind of message won't work with goats that's the last thing people want to hear but that is exactly what makes the gospel so powerful because it is only god's sheep that will respond to that kind of a message because it's the polar opposite of what sinful man wants this is what makes the gospel so powerful and this is what makes the church so unique and people object oh that you're gonna you're gonna turn people away if you talk about sin and wrath and denial of self and repentance and taking up the cross that's that's going to turn people away no it's not it's not going to turn his sheep away it's going to draw his sheep several years ago five years ago or so when kathy and i were living in idaho we built a house in this neighborhood and i rode my scooter around on the neighborhood getting to know people and sharing the gospel with people one of our neighbors was a lady named or is still but sherry skeen s-k-e-e-n sheri skeen and her husband jim and met them and and shared the gospel with them we kind of became friends with them and i shared the gospel with them i don't even know how many times over and over and over and about three or so years ago a couple years into this sherry got saved god converted her but before her conversion she started coming to church she came to church with us and the very first church service he was when i met sherry honestly i don't know that i've ever talked to anyone in the united states that had less bible knowledge than sherry did she didn't even when i first met her she didn't even know there was an old and new testament i mean she knew nothing about the bible and she came to church kootenai community church and the sermon that she heard our very first time in church was was on the wrath of god and and we had communion the lord's supper that service and sherry was sitting next to my wife kathy and uh sherry said now do i do i do this and kathy said no she said this no i'll explain later and so the elements passed by sherry you know she didn't partake and when the service was over they walked out in the parking lot and sherry said what was that you know what why couldn't i take part of that and you just have to know my wife my wife is black and white i mean she she's never been to bible college or seminary but i tell you what shortly after her conversion she started listening to john mcarthur and she just started soaking up truth like a sponge and i would put my wife up just about against just about anybody in in her theology and doctrine she knows her stuff but she's very black and white she doesn't beat around the bush and she says sherry the reason you can't take part of that is because you're lost and if you were to die right now you would go to hell i mean she heard a sermon on the wrath of god and kathy told her right after the service was over if you were to die right now you'd go to hell i mean if anything's going to push somebody away that would be it right sherry came back the next sunday and the next sunday and the next sunday and the next sunday and somewhere along in that time somewhere probably we can best we can tell about two years after she first came god saved her god saved her and now sherry is um i think she's 75 76 years old and sherry is dying of cancer right now doesn't have long left to live if sherry just wanted to scratch her religious itch there's any number of happy clappy churches she could have gone to in fact there's a happy clappy church like three blocks away from our church seeker-sensitive purpose-driven everything she could have gone there and scratched a religious hitch but she didn't something kept drawing her back to kootenay and god saved her the truth did not drive her away the truth draw drew her in it's just not true that doctrine and theology and wrath and all these things will drive seekers away the truth calls the sheep in so number one a sheep centered ecclesiology number two word centered preaching word centered preaching let's look at second timothy chapter four ii timothy chapter four verses one through five word centered preaching paul writes i solemnly charge you in the presence of god and of christ jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing in his kingdom preach the word be ready in season and out of season reprove rebuke exhort with great patience and instruction for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but wanting to have their ears tickled they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to fables paul tells timothy to preach the word preach the word expository preaching expository preaching is not necessarily a style it's not about being animated or being stationary you've probably noticed in my in my preaching i don't move around a whole lot so it's not about how theatrical you are how animated you are it's not about your uh your whether or not you're monotone or anything like this expository preaching is is preaching the word of god verse by verse getting the meaning of the text in expository preaching the text is king the text of scripture determines the content of the sermon the direction of the sermon expository preaching exposition it literally means to expose the text to expose the meaning of the text what does the text say what does it mean you let god speak for himself by exposing the meaning of scripture every verse in the bible has but one meaning and you and i are not at liberty to read our own preconceived theology our own preconceived ideas into the text of scripture we are not at liberty to take the word of god and say that it means something that it does not mean you may have been in a bible study class of some sort and maybe you've heard the preacher say something or the leader say something like this well what does this verse mean to you it doesn't matter what the verse means to you it doesn't matter what the verse means to me what matters is is what does it mean we are to expose the meaning of the text as you've heard john mcarthur say preaching god's word one verse at a time you expose the meaning of the text you work your way through the text and god speaks through the text of scripture the text is king the text determines the content of the sermon the direction of the sermon it determines appropriate illustrations and applications of the text let me give you an example expository preaching versus topical preaching that's what most preachers do is topical preaching they'll take a topic and they'll try to find some verse cherry pick the scriptures bounce from one place to another to try to find some verse to support their topic let me give you an example of the difference between exposition and topical preaching philippians chapter 4 verse 13. a well-known text ephesians chapter 4 verse 13. it says this i can do all things through christ who strengthens me i can do all things through christ who strengthens me a very well-known verse now a topical preacher a topical sermon will take that verse i can do all things through christ who strengthens me you can do all things as long as christ strengthens you that is the gospel will help you to do that you can accomplish great things and if no matter how big the challenge may be it's not insurmountable through christ you can do all things but that's not what the verse means let's look in the context look up a couple of verses look at verse 11 paul says not that i speak from want for i have learned to be content in whatever circumstances i am i know how to get along with humble means i also know how to live in prosperity in any and every circumstance i have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry both of having abundance and suffering need i can do all things through him christ who strengthens me nevertheless you have done well to share with me in my affliction this is not about using the gospel to help you swim the english channel you know i cannot claim philippians 4 13 and i can do all things through christ who strengthens me and so i'm going to be the next quarterback of the new england patriots that's not what that's talking about it's being it's talking about being content and whether you're in times of abundance or poverty health or sickness comfort or affliction persecution whatever your circumstance you can be content knowing that god is sovereign he is in control he never acts towards us in any way that's outside of his character in his nature i can do all things through christ who strengthens me exposition gets to the meaning of the text topical preaching more often than not misses it expositional preaching rightly robs the preacher of his own personal agenda his own preconceived theologies it robs him of these things and it lets the text direct the sermon it lets god speak have you ever heard it said that there's a phrase of saying his texts are many in his sermons one his texts are many in his sermons one talking about preachers who may use a lot of scripture texts are many but a sermon is one have you ever listened to a preacher for a while and you begin to think you know i've heard this before he's saying the same thing as a great example of that joel osteen his texter mini i mean he'll he'll reference bible verses he uses a lot of them his texts are many but his sermons are one in other words all of his sermons are just alike if you've heard one of joel osteen's sermons you've heard them all i mean his whole theology is based basically this god loves you he wants to bless you you're a victor not a victim you just got to stay in faith that's really about the entirety of his theology he'll bounce around scripture a lot his texts are many but his sermons are one it's because he doesn't do exposition joel furthest thing from it joel osteen is a wolf he's a false teacher it is only the word of god that can change people it is only the gospel that can change them that can take someone who is dead in trespasses and sins and raise them to newness of life in christ flip over with me in luke chapter 16. now ironically this sermon that i'm preaching right now is a topical sermon i'm not doing pure exposition here uh but even topical sermons do have their appropriate place and they can be done in an expositional kind of way but the steady diet of a church the steady diet that people get in their preaching needs to be exposition but luke chapter 16 verses 19 through 31 i'm not going to read all this is the story of the rich man and lazarus you remember this story the rich man very very wealthy lazarus had absolutely nothing the rich man died lazarus also died the rich man went to the lake of fire lazarus went to abraham's bosom and i would point out the rich man did not go to the lake of fire because he was rich lazarus didn't go to abraham's bosom because he was poor each man went where he was spiritually prepared to go but when the rich man woke up in the lake of fire he had this ability to see across this great chasm he cried out he said father abraham send lazarus so they may dip the tip of a singer and water and cool off my tongue for him in agony this flame still treating lazarus as his aaron boy but look in uh look at verse 26 abraham's speaking to the rich man he says and besides all this between us and you there's a great chasm fix so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able that none may cross over from there to us and then the rich man said then i beg you father abraham you send lazarus to my father's house for i have five brothers in order that he may warn them so that they will not also come to this place of torment but abraham said they have moses and the prophets let them hear them moses and the prophets moses and the prophets had been dead for centuries how could the rich man's five brothers back on earth hear moses and the prophets this is how this is how they hear moses and the prophets the rich man said no father abraham but if someone goes to them from the dead then they will repent if they could just see a miracle if they could just see a sign and wonder then they'll repent abraham said if they will not hear moses if they will not hear the prophets neither will they believe even if someone were to come back from the dead there is an inherent power in this book that is found nowhere else not in miracles not in signs and wonders it is the gospel paul says in romans 1 16 for i am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of god unto salvation for everyone who believes for the jew first and also to the greek what is the power of god the gospel is that is the power of god this is where god's power is it is in his word as it is read and as it is preached as the meaning of this book is exposed to the people this is the power and nothing else and the secret sensitive movement gets it exactly wrong sheep centered ecclesiology word centered preaching and number three a biblical leadership structure a biblical leadership structure every church should have elders what is an elder or elder boy here's the definition of eldership and every word in this definition is important a biblically qualified council of men who jointly pastor the local church a biblically qualified council of men who jointly pastor the local church dear friends god has not left it up to our own imagination as to how to do church the church is his institution he created it he died for it acts 20 verse 28 luke writes be on guard for yourselves and for all of the flock among which the holy spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of god which he purchased with his own blood the church is his creation it is for his glory it is to accomplish his purposes it is his body it is his bride it is his temple he owns it and we are not at liberty to just decide for ourselves how we want to do church we are not at liberty to decide how we want to organize the church god has given us instructions in his word and the church is to be structured in such a way that it is led by biblically qualified men who jointly pastor the local church why would he leave church up to however we want to do it it's his possession he bought it he died for it but you go to most churches today most evangelical churches today and they are organized in a very worldly way and a lot of churches have even organized their structure after the united states government the federal government and what we read in the constitution well we've got three branches of government we've got legislative judicial and executive and so so the executive you know we're going to model our i mean the u.s constitution is good so it should work for the church and so the pastor he's kind of in the executive branch and and then you've got deacons and elders and they're the judicial and the legislative and so we're going to kind of work it like like that that is completely worldly nothing against the u.s constitution i'm grateful for it but it's not a divine document we're not to model our church after the constitution or after a business or some market-driven approach to doing church the church is different it is unique it is divine and god is instructed that it is to be led by biblically qualified men god establishes the purpose the function and the structure and the structure of the church is led by a biblical counsel qualified council of men who jointly pastor the church a plurality of elders acts chapter 14 you might want to jot these verses down acts 14 verse 23 when they appointed elders noticed the plural for them in every church having prayed with fasting they committed them to the lord in whom they had believed acts 20 verse 17 from militis he sent to ephesus and called him called to him the elders of the church we see in every church their plurality of elders philippians chapter 1 verse 1. paul and timothy bond servants of christ jesus to all the saints in christ jesus who are in philippi including the overseers and the deacons plurality scripture gives us a description of elders for the local church every local church is to be led by a plurality more than one elder and the descriptions are thus there are three different terms here that the bible uses one elder in the greek is the word presbyteros we see in titus chapter 1 verse 5. paul writes for this reason i left you in crete that you would set an order what remains and appoint elders president buddha rosh presbyteroy and the greek in the plural in every city as i directed you elder then you see the word overseer in some verses like first timothy chapter 3 verses 1 through 2 it is a trustworthy statement if any man aspires to the city to the office excuse me of overseer it is a fine work he desires to do an overseer then must be above reproach elder overseer and the other word is pastor poi manos or poi main ephesians chapter 4 verse 11. he gave some as apostles some as prophets some is evangelists some as pastors poi main and teachers so the bible describes the work of these positions elder overseer and pastor and these terms are used interchangeably in the new testament when you see elder you can think overseer when you see overseer you can think pastor pastor overseer pastor is an elder an elder as an overseer an overseer as a pastor these terms are interchangeable but they do have a little bit of nuance and meaning an elder is the jewish term that stresses dignity maturity honor and wisdom first timothy 3 6 paul says that an elder must not be a new convert there should be some wisdom there there should be some maturity there so an elder in a church must not be a new convert and i think when we see a new convert when paul means there is not so much don't so much look for a date on the calendar because you know what there are some men out there that had been saved two years and they're far more mature in their faith than some other men that have been saved 10 years so don't so much look for a date on the calendar look for maturity in christ wisdom overseer this is the greek term that stresses the work of oversight and administration of the church shepherd poi main is the term stressing the function work of shepherding you're to care for the flock you're to feed the flock you're to guard against wolves so all of these qualities should be in an elder an overseer a pastor all of these things scripture uses these terms synonymous synonymously for the same office for example acts chapter 20 verse 17 and verse 28 from elitists he sent to ephesus and called to him the elders of the church be on guard for yourselves for all the flock amongst among which the holy spirit has made you overseers episcopas to shepherd poi main the church of god that he purchased with his own blood so you see these three terms used interchangeably first peter chapter five one through two peter says therefore i exalt exhort the elders the press buddha ice among you as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of christ a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed shepherd poi main shepherd the flock of god among you exercising oversight not under episode but voluntarily according to the will of god and not for sordid gain but with eagerness so these terms are used interchangeably now different elders may have different giftings but they should all meet some basic criteria and we read this in first timothy chapter three so let's look at that first timothy chapter three the qualifications of being an elder first timothy chapter 3 verses 1-7 paul writes it is a trustworthy statement if any man aspires to the office of overseer episode it is a fine work he desires to do an overseer then must be above reproach the husband of one wife temperate prudent respectable hospitable able to teach not addicted to wine or pugnacious but gentle peaceable free from the love of money he must be one who manages his own household well keeping his children under control with all dignity but if a man does not know how to manage his own house how will he take care of the church of god not a new convert so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil and he must have a good reputation with those outside of the church so that he will not fall under approach and the snare of the devil these are the qualifications for being an elder and if a man does not meet these qualifications he should not be an elder this does not mean he meets every single one of those qualifications in absolute perfection all of the time it does not mean that if an elder you know in a moment of frustration loses his temper then he's no longer qualified to be an elder but his life needs to be marked a habitual consistent pattern of displaying these qualities and if a man meets all of those if his life is marked by these qualities and he wants to be an elder desires to be an elder then he can be an elder all right number four sound doctrine sheep centered ecclesiology word centered preaching biblically qualified eldership and number four sound doctrine sound doctrine scripture emphasizes truth it emphasizes truth notice the importance of doctrine in god's word first timothy chapter 4 verse 6 in pointing out these things to the brethren you will be a good servant of christ jesus constantly nourished on the words of the faith and the sound doctrine which you have been following first timothy 6 3 if anyone advocates a different doctrine does not agree with sound words those of our lord jesus christ and with the doctrine conforming the godliness he is conceited and understands nothing titus 2 1 but as for you speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine first timothy chapter 4 verse 16. paul writes pay close attention to yourself and to your doctrine persevere in these things we are living in a day and age in which the vast majority of people who profess to be christians do not care about doctrine do not care about theology and yet the bible cares about these things deeply and you may have heard someone say something like this well well i don't need doctrine i don't need theology i just i just love jesus that is a foolish statement dear friends if we love jesus as much as we profess to love him then don't you think we should want to get to know him and the only way to get to know him is by knowing him in his word it is sound doctrine it is right theology that deepens our knowledge of god and when our knowledge of god is deepened that enables our love for god to be deepened the bible never separates knowledge of god and love for god the bible always combines these things in fact paul says in philippians chapter 1 verse 9 he says in this i pray that your love would abound still more and more in all knowledge and real discernment the bible never separates knowledge of god and love for god the bible praises places a tremendous importance on right doctrine and right theology if our doctrine is wrong if our theology is wrong what that means is is that we understand god wrongly because it is sound doctrine is right theology that helps us and enables us to know who god is the scriptures emphasize sound doctrine and the scriptures also warn very starkly about false doctrine did you know that 26 of the 27 books in the new testament directly warn about false doctrine and or false teachers 26 of the 27 books only the book of philemon has nothing to say about false doctrine false doctrine is a threat to the church and one of the pastor's greatest roles is to protect the flock his sheep from wolves so when you're looking for a good church look for a church with sound doctrine look for a church with a detailed doctrinal statement a detailed doctrinal statement you can get some run-of-the-mill doctrinal statement and copy and paste it onto your website which a lot of churches do you look at a lot of churches websites look at their doctrinal statements a lot of them are word for word identical because you just get them off the internet copy and paste stick it on there in fact you can go to joel osteen's church and not to pick on joel osteen this morning but but to pick on joel osteen this morning you can go to his website and you can find a a fairly decent doctrinal statement that will pass a basic smell test orthodox smell test but they don't teach those things you know you just copy and paste it on there slap it up look for a church that has a detailed doctrinal statement i want to know what a church believes so look for that all right as we wrap up sound doctrine let me say this you can have sound doctrine and not have a holy life you can have a head full of knowledge you can know all your doctrine theology up here and still not live a holy life that does happen tragically but you cannot live a holy life apart from sound doctrine you cannot live a life that glorifies christ apart from sound doctrine look for a church with sound doctrine and the fifth and our final mark of a healthy church is church discipline church discipline what in the world is church discipline well let's look over at matthew chapter 18. matthew chapter 18. verse 15 through 20. jesus says if your brother sins go and show him his fault in private if he listens to you you have won your brother but if he does not listen to you take one or two more with you so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed if he refuses to listen to them tell it to the church and if he refuses to listen even to the church let him be to you as a gentile and a tax collector truly i say to you whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven again i say to you that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask it shall be done for them by my father who is in heaven for where two or three have gathered together in my name i am there in their midst do you know this is the very first command that jesus gave to the church very first command and this is just as much a command as is the lord's supper and believer's baptism church discipline jesus gives to the church as a way to bring a sinning believer to genuine repentance and a genuine christian can be in a place of sin serious sin and when you know about that if you're aware of it then you go to that brother you go to that sister privately confront him or her and if he listens to you jesus says you have won your brother wonderful praise the lord if that person repents you have won your brother don't talk about it anymore it's over done don't talk about it anymore it's over but if he doesn't then you take one or two more with you and you go back to that person and if he listens to you if he repents wonderful praise the lord you have won your brother don't talk about it anymore it's over but if he doesn't then you tell it to the church oh you you mean you get up on sunday morning and you tell the whole church what this person is doing that's right that's what you do the very first command that jesus gave to the church right here and hardly any churches do this hardly any do every evangelical church will say oh we believe the bible is the word of god it's our authority if you want to get an idea of just how seriously a church really takes god's word ask the leadership what do you do with matthew chapter 18 because you know what this is hard it is hard but it is designed to bring a genuine christian to repentance but if that person does not repent then you're to put him outside of the church treat him as a gentile and a tax collector you treat him as an outsider as an unbeliever because a genuine christian will repent may not be instantly may not be right there on the spot that's why there's two more steps but a genuine christian will repent and if he refuses to repent then you're dealing with a false christian someone who professes to be a christian but really is not put him outside the church it's designed to bring a genuine christian sinning to repentance or if that does not happen it is designed to protect the body to protect the body and hardly any churches do this so dear ones these are the things that you should look for in a healthy church don't look for a perfect church it almost sounds cliche to say it but it's true there is no such thing as a perfect church and some churches will be stronger in some areas than others but if it's a healthy church if it is a church that is truly seeking after christ and seeking to honor him then you're going to find all of these things some may be more so than others some churches may be stronger than others but all of these things will be there not in perfection but they will be there and i know that most everyone here probably goes to this church and that's wonderful that's good this is a good church this is a good sound church and it has all of these things that we've just talked about but maybe if you're a visitor and you're this is not your home church or maybe you're watching on the internet or something like that live stream or whatever i get emails all the time from people almost on a daily basis justin i'm i'm in a church and i realize it's not a good church i realize that there's some glaring weaknesses here but i i know the truth and i'm wondering should i stay in this church because i want to be a source of light you know i want to be a source of truth in a church so should i stay or should i look for another church when i get emails like that or i have conversations like that with people here's what i always tell them leave don't stay you're not going to change the church see what happens even in bad churches somewhere along the way a person may hear the gospel and will get converted and they actually do get saved and then they start off as we all do we all start off as baby christians but here's what the thing is with babies the funny thing about babies babies don't stay babies babies grow up and as they begin to grow and they're reading the word of god on their own they're growing in the grace and knowledge of the lord jesus christ and they begin to see that what they're seeing in their church is not matching up with scripture and if these are serious areas then a true sheep starts getting nervous starts starts getting antsy and then they have these questions so i stay or should i go go you're not going to change the church generally speaking a church a congregation is not going to rise to a level of spiritual maturity above the leadership it's just not going to happen you're not going to change the church you need to leave the church if you're in a bad church you need to leave it and find a good church and some people have a hard time finding a good church near them here's what i would say to that person if you absolutely cannot find a good healthy church close to you then you find the closest one there is even if it's so far to drive you can only go once or twice a month it's better to go to a good church once or twice a month than a bad one every week having a healthy church is that important kathy and i when we lived in oklahoma we used to drive 105 miles one way to church every sunday you find a good church and you go to it even if you can't go every week go as much as you can watch the services online talk to the elders say hey this is my situation you know i live whatever 100 miles away i can't be here every sunday i'm sure they will work with you find a good healthy church that has these things it's that important let's close the word of prayer father thank you for the body of christ we thank you that you have instituted the church you have not left us uninformed about how it should be led organized the things that we should look for in a healthy church you preserve the church for us it is it is your bride what a privilege an honor to be a part of it father we i pray for everyone that may be watching does not have a healthy church i pray that you would give them the hunger and desire to find one and join themselves to it we thank you for all the faithful shepherds out there many of them unknown to anyone but you but your church is there it's all over the world and it is safe because you are her head these things we ask and pray in christ's name amen well this is emilia ramos preaching pastor of heritage grace community church we are so blessed that you've decided to join us watch our sermons and watch our content here at heritagegrace.com and on facebook just please remember our sermons are here to bless you but they are certainly not here to replace the preaching and the teaching from your local church uh with that if you've liked the the material the sermons and the preaching here be sure and like our facebook page share and join us again god bless you

Channel: Heritage Grace Community Church

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Length: 74min 33sec (4473 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 18 2020