Sunday Rewind | 8.28.16
MUSIC & SCRIPTURE
Good Good Father (2 Thessalonians 2;16) – The EP by Zealand Worship
Come Thou Fount (Psalm 16:11) – Public Domain
Unending Love (Romans 8:39) – God is Able by Hillsong Worship
Jesus Is Better (Mark 9:24) – King of Love by Austin Stone Worship
Doxology (Romans 11:36) – Public Domain
TEACHING: Be the Church, Part 1
As followers of Christ, we don’t go to church. We are the church.
CLICK HERE FOR THE SERMON AUDIO & VIDEO
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR SHEPHERD GROUPS
- Prior to hearing this message, what came to mind when you heard the word “church”? Has that changed at all now?
- What passages of Scripture come to mind that describe the design, purpose, or mission of the Church?
- What does it mean that we, as followers of Christ, are the Church? Why is it so important to get these terms right?
- Have you, or anyone you know, left a local church for any of the reasons that Pastor Mike described? What are other reasons (right or wrong) that someone might leave?
- What does it look like for the truth to bring conviction rather than guilt?
- How would you respond to a friend who said he was leaving the church because he thought it was boring or irrelevant? What if he thought that the church was full of hypocrites?
- Read Romans 6:15-23. What is the difference between how the world defines “freedom” and how Scripture defines it? How does Jesus give freedom to His followers? What should our lives look like in light of that freedom? How should it affect our interactions with unbelievers?
- Spend some time praying that your group, and all the believers at RBC, would truly reflect and honor Christ, as His Body. Pray for the unbelievers in your lives, that they would put their faith in Christ and become members of the Church.
The tagline for today’s message that ‘salt sets the stage for the light’ was indeed a new insight to my understanding on being the salt of the earth and the light of the world. This will trigger off a new chain of meditations on these two truths. Thank you, Pastor Minter.
I have heard and read a number of sermons on this topic, where apart from being a preservative, the other properties and utilities of the common salt have been stressed upon.
This brings to my mind what Sadhu Sunder Singh (1889-1929), whose walk with Christ remains an inspiration to many Indian Christians, even today, wrote on being the salt of the earth:
“Salt, when dissolved in water, may disappear, but it does not cease to exist. We can be sure of its presence by tasting the water. Likewise, the indwelling Christ, though unseen, will be made evident to others from the love which he imparts to us.”
As a youngster, I had read somewhere that at a prayer meeting in Europe, while Sadhu Sunder Singh was speaking, a little girl, over awed by the radiance on his face, cried out to her mother ” Is he Jesus?”