and the next year they went to the what was previous the Super Bowl I think it was called the ice bowl or something and they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles and so in the summer of 1961 Lombardi gathered his men in the locker room he said gentlemen he held up a football said gentlemen this is a football and Lombardi started at the first page of the Playbook and back to the basics he brought that team for the next year and I think that’s really appropriate for

us on the subject of the church because everybody has a concept of the church and it has two basic predominant Western World American phenomena the first when people when you say Church they think of a building sometimes that’s just because of a location but as often as not it’s because of the significance of the church how successful is it how big is the building the second thing that’s thought of about the church is the pastor and so the common question is well who’s the pastor and

the notoriety of the church the significance the success of the church is measured at times by the size of the building are by the reputation of the pastor and I’m here to tell you today that neither of those exist in the New Testament John what well we need a building to keep the rain off us okay that’s fine but the church is not a package that’s sold by a super salesman it is a church that is a family of men and women of brothers and sisters

of old and young who together make a commitment to growing in their faith and in the following of Jesus I get most often my conversations about the church in the club that I attend because I’m there three times a week and for some reason either in the locker room or in the classes usually it’s the men we’ll talk about church because we’ll we’ll talk about spiritual things and they’ll eventually say well do you go to church yeah where do you go to church I say Grace

Point and some say what that’s no that’s out in Tiger that’s near Elmer I know where that’s at and they say who’s the pastor there and I’m really really tempted though I’ve never said it to them but I’m going to say it today I feel like saying Jesus and I don’t mean that to be Upp or to be proud I mean it to say we get mixed up in this culture it’s like we’re fish in an aquarium tank and everything we have by way of values

that fish only knows that water and we really only know the culture around us unless we pop over to third world country for a brief period of time and that fish tank brings tacit expectations that frame our definitions and we want to acknowledge that culture is a phenomenon that we live in but it doesn’t shape the truth that we know and believe and so in talking about the church we talk about what the New Testament says about the church and for that we start in Acts

chapter 2 we gonna show you all right do you have your P your Bibles today let’s see them good see lots of them John and Nancy Brower were at the vineyard yesterday for a concert and they said they’re going to be gone today at a different church and I threaten them with losing their Sunday school pin but John said but next Sunday when I come I’m going to bring my Bible so I can hold it up when you say where who’s got their Bibles here good

for them Acts chapter 2 the book of Acts is an amazing book that starts off with disciples being taught by the Risen but not yet ascended Jesus and they don’t understand one of the verses that should jump out at you in Acts chapter 1 is they asked Jesus so when they met they asked him Lord are you at this time time going to restore the kingdom to Israel bam Jesus said what have I been teaching you for 3 years I’m risen I’m going back to the

father and the spirit who was with you will be in you but of course in Grace and love he continued to teach his disciples before he ascended and he promised the coming of the holy spirit in John chapter 14 that he would be in them and in Pentecost in chapter 2 you remember Peter came to grips I’ll do back on in a minute in Acts chapter 2 Peter came to grips with the message of the kingdom and spoke with power out of the gosp out of

the Old Testament and the writings of David and other prophets so that the spirit of God Came Upon the Believers and 3,000 were added to the church that day and in Acts chapter 2 now we can go back to it acts chapter 2 and verse 42 it reads that for this new and Beginning Church they devoted themselves to four things the apostles teaching to Fellowship to the breaking of bread and a prayer those are the Hallmarks of the early church the apostles teaching was essentially the

teaching of the scriptures Fellowship was the communion and relationships that were developing in the church the breaking of bread happened once a week and next Sunday we’re going to have communion and I’m going to take the whole Sunday to teach about the Lord’s table what it isn’t and what it is but every week for the New Testament Church they had communion and in fact the banner of the church was the breaking of the bread and fourth prayer and so the text reads everyone was filled with

awe and many wonders and miracles and signs were done by the apostles now the tongues came the speaking in tongues in this Pentecostal event and it was the ability of people to speak in other languages they didn’t know it wasn’t gibberish it was spoken so that the multilingual crowds could hear the message of the Gospel in their tongue and in their dialect and many many wonders and miracles signs were done to the apostles all the Believers were together and had everything in common selling their possessions

and goods they gave to anyone as he had need everyone every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere Hearts praising God enjoying the favor of all the people and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved the honeymoon in the church the Israel God had spoken through Israel in the Old Testament and the prophets and his primary manifestations was through that Nation continue to pray for Israel

but now the Gentiles are being joined in to the Jews as a church and this is the beginning of the church in Acts chapter 2 and it was a time of great enthusiasm and comfort and those who had much gave to those who had little so that there was satisfactory needs met for all a great start to the church and as you go through the book of act you’ll see that this new fledgling entity that had been predicted in the Old Testament and now was in

place had Growing Pains up and down you read not far in the book of Acts to ananas and Safara where they lied about how much they gave to the church and God struck them both down you get to Acts chapter 7 and you see step as one of the first Martyrs of the church the amazing testimony and Faith of that man as he was stoned to death you get to Acts chapter 9 and there’s a time of brief reprieve and by verse 31 it says and

the Lord and this church had peace and tranquil quility for a time and we think that was probably within three or four years after the death and burial and resurrection of Christ you then get to acts 15 where the Jerusalem Council comes together with a great controversy how do you match the Old Testament to the new the tradition of the Jews to this new church and they came together and they understood the nature of the Old Testament and that it climaxed and finalized in Jesus and

in the church and they sent out Paul and Barnabas and others with that message that now we are a New Covenant and next week we’ll talk about the old Covenant and the New Covenant you get to Acts chapter 20 and you find there that not only is the church maturing and has leadership in place and we’re going to talk about leadership in a minute but it also says in verse 7 they came together weekly for the breaking of bread so the church grew up in the

book of Acts and we find that it was a time of of gain and loss a time of safety and preservation a time of persecution and they began as local assemblies to understand what it meant to be the body of Christ key one key component of the church is leadership and in leadership we find that the Bible speaks with some Force as to what is to be happening among leaders in the church we find for example in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 the text reads on verse

in verse 12 and 13 now we ask you Brothers to respect those who work hard among you who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you hold them in the highest Regard in love because of their work live in peace with each other and we urge you Brothers warn those who are Idol encourage the timid help the weak so the New Testament Church had as part of its group leaders and it was not one man it was a group of men and a group

of women for the deacons and deaconesses and they were given basically four tasks they were to teach the church they were to protect the church and guard them they were to provide nurture and encouragement to them and they ultimately were to Shepherd them they were called Shepherds and every time shepherds in the New Testament is given and it’s not talking about the chief Shepherd which is Jesus it’s always in the plurality it’s always a group and so my last comment to those I talk to about

Grace Point is I don’t say that our sh she Shepherd is Jesus because that would put them off but I say we actually have in a time of interim between Steve’s res stem’s Steve’s retirement and moving forward we have about eight shepherds in the church unders Shepherds who have taken on the shepherding responsibility for our body and we’ll talk about that more in a minute 1 Thessalonians 5 talks about it acts 20 and: 28 talks again about instructions that are given to leaders in the church

and it says there be on your guard remember those who for three years I never stopped warning them and said and it says keep watch verse 28 over yourselves and over the flock of which the holy spirit is made you overseers be Shepherds of the Church of God which is bought with his own blood now you’re going to see within the culture the fish tank that we’re in that the biggest attention is given to the largest assemblies and this is an area you know we’ve talked

about two moral categories in the New Testament one is black and white you do it or you don’t do it if you don’t do it if you do it wrong it’s sin if you don’t do it it can be sin for James 4:18 but there’s another whole moral category that has to do with wisdom and in the areas of wisdom God has blessed the American Church in a variety of ways and sometimes it’s blessed with a notable Pastor a large building and each church has to

make their own determination as to how they’re going to minister I remember early on after leaving the Seminary and coming to the Bible College to teach I at that time had been involved in starting a couple of churches just kind of as an intern and I’d written a book and some articles for Moody press on the church and so when I came to mola to teach a young man and his father-in-law made an appointment with me and they were going to start a church and they

wanted to know how and I guess because I’d had that background in in Dallas they met with me and so Dale and his father-in-law we talked for a couple hours and they went out and started a church and it became known as Rolling Hills and Rolling Hills now when you drive out I 205 is this huge complex and I’ve kind of lost track of the history of Rolling Hills I think Dale is gone now but that’s one version of a church that were measured by our

bigness we have a wonderful Ministry going on in our community in ay Creek it’s a monster Ministry and to their credit they’re St in to start out talk about spinning out alternative churches satellite churches which is great my family who is part of them is in the military often rely on ay Creek’s video ministry for their fam’s instruction as they move from Community to community great ministry but again it’s one of these large assemblies where if you don’t watch it you’re measured by size and reputation

rather than the things of the New Testament considering leadership the scriptures also teach in 1 Timothy excuse me 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse verse 12 now we ask you brethren in respect to those who work hard among you who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you hold them in the highest Regard in love because of their work live in peace with each other again the leaders were a plural group were a multiple group of men where being equal in stand in the

church they weren’t the same that doesn’t mean they’re the same but they were taking the task of unherd to guard the flock and we talked a few weeks ago about 1 Timothy 5:17 instruct Elders who labor among you that they’re worthy of double honor especially those who work in teaching and in the word 1 Timothy 5:17 three groups of Elders in that one verse those Elders who had single honor they were men who worked in the community and supported their families but they’d also taken on

shepherding responsibilities they were qualified according to 1 Timothy 3 and they were unders Shepherds guarding and teaching the local Believers that they were among second group in that verse are those worthy of double honor but they don’t need or want compensation they have continued to work in their own tasks as well as they took on greater responsibility ities spiritual responsibilities in the church but without compensation but then that verse says a labor is worthy of his hire and you’re going to have some men in the

church who buckle down and take on more work in the church both in the word and in teaching and they’re worthy of double honor they’re worthy of compensation so those three stages of leadership developed in the early Church in the New Testament and again they were working together as unders sheeper for the work of the church where does that leave us as a church we are find ourselves in Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians 4 is really a picture of the mature Christian church and what should be

going on Among Us beginning in verse 11 it was he who gave some Paul writes to be Apostles some to be Prophets some to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers so in the New Testament Church not only were the apostles and Peter the foundation for the early church but there was a period a season where there were signs and miracles and wonders which contributed to the affirmation and validity of the Christian Church those signs and miracles and wonders did not continue any more

than the apostle OST Les continued but the foundation was laid in the first century and Paul writes here some were evangelists and some pastors and teachers the purpose being to prepare God’s people for works of service so if you ask yourself what is the mission statement of the church I always kind of get amused about the mission because people get excited about that and you know we do what we do but the mission statement of the church is to prepare people for works of service it’s

like we T about a few weeks ago out of First Timothy instruct those who are rich to be rich in Good Works to encourage each other and to P persevere in things of following Jesus for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up so you should see in a local assembly a maturing process until we all attain or reach reach or attain in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature attending to the whole measure

of the fullness of Christ there is the blueprint for the New Testament Church despite the pressures of our culture to Define it in ways that are defined by bigness or public reputation that’s not the case if you as a Believer as a man or woman in the faith have become a part of a a church of a people of God find that in your lives and the lives of those around you you can offer a word of encouragement about their growth in the faith you can

receive a word of encouragement you can receive some instruction about that that’s the kind of maturing and growing process that should be the vital part of every local church and it is rightly called the family of God so where does that leave us we find ourselves as a church at Grace Point in an interim place we are between staff pastors for lack of a better term but we’re not without direction we’re not without care and nurture by those who are lead us and we are waiting

for God’s purposes to be accomplished Among Us two people come to mind in that regard the first is Ed our own beloved Ed a few weeks before the Unexpected death of his wonderful wife Judy in one of our Saturday morning meetings and by the way we’re going to cap this meeting this morning off with an encouraging of you to be part of a local group and that’s really I think a part of getting to know and being known as a church family for many of us

it’s Saturday morning on the men but Ed said you know I’m really not concerned that we haven’t got a new pastor yet a new in my vernacular staff Pastor because said it what it really will do is stretch us out as a church body to learn more about ministering to each other than just deferring to the staff to the paid staff Pastor little didn’t you know that that was happening in the next weeks in this church with the death of Judy with her service with the

encouragement that’s come and the learning that’s come from the homegoing of one of our own as well the second person that comes to mind on this subject for Grace Point is our own beloved Steve McCracken and he mentioned a phrase in his resignation announcement that caught my mind it’s never really I’ve forgotten it and I’m quoting Stephen part here said I’d been a rancher in a very large church that taught me so much for years but I longed for the sweet and personal things of shepherding

a group of people through life’s highs and lows there’s nothing morally wrong about participating in a large church ministry but it will limit your ability to know and be known it just will because of the numbers because of the logistics and so while some folks choose a church as a ranch and they they rely on a Rancher to lead them others like us for me we choose a flock and we rely on Shepherds who can come alongside us to know and being known in terms of

her own walk in the faith and I think that’s consistent with the New Testament I had my own experiences in that area as I both taught and participated in local Ministries and in one of them I found myself thinking through my own ranching and farming experiences which always are a bit suspect because I’m usually entering them as a novice and as I was raising my children out in the East County area we decided we were going to raise some cows and so the way to do

that was to go to the local Dairy which we did and to buy some male Holstein newborn calves and bring them home and raise them well the problem is newborn calvs have not yet had their colostrum and so it became quite a challenge to even keep them alive but in keeping them alive I taught my children now remember this is going to be food someday so make sure you don’t get overly attached to them and so my kids named our two cows brown hamburger and black

hamburger and I’m not sure it helped that much because there were still a disappointment when those cows transferred away from us but part of the way we kept here’s the point John you’re on a rabbit Trail the the here’s the point we kept those cows in with an electric fence you didn’t need to put up a whole fence you put up three or four wires and you run electricity through it and those cows learned pretty quick that whether that wires up or down that’s not an

opening they want to go through and that’s really where we are as a Christian Church in this culture the electric wires have framed many of our expectations but now they’re down and we have to decide individually as a church are we going to go through that opening I’ve got certain fears certain apprehensions certain expectations that may not be met if I go through that opening but I want to encourage you that if that’s the way the New Testament directs you as it has me and you

decide these are my people this is my family and I’m going to ride the wave for the leadership that God provides here staff and non-staff in his timing then I encourage you to go through that opening there are three principles that come out of the New Testament in terms of the local church the first is the church’s people and not programs that doesn’t mean programs are wrong in fact there’s a certain structure and administration and organization that’s needed but you have to always watch your expectations

one of the churches I started here in Portland when I was teaching in Moma was a little church that we call Community Bible Fellowship and we started meeting in a in a local school and much to our surprise it grew to about 200 people and after about a year a church contacted us and said we’d like you to join us we said what what do you mean well we have a Congregation of about 40 and we’d like to join with you oh by the way we

have a building we have a parsonage paid for and we have ,000 in the bank we okay we’ll show you and if you went to 32nd in southeast Taylor today you see a big multi-story church building with beautiful stained glass windows and that became Community Bible Fellowship for the next few years but an interesting thing happened the direction of the leaders began to be drawn down some and distracted some by the building by the repair by the maintenance by the costs by the security and other

kinds of things going on well happily here we have Jim Wilson but it is true that you have to guard your expectations with what you’re dealing with as a church and with the house that you’re in and the physical structure that has to be maintained keeping in mind the church is people not program secondly the church is not professionalism it is promotion of the purposes of God in our life it’s participation and not professionalism I love the definition of the church given by Bud Wilkinson a

number of my illustrations come out of sports Bud Wilkinson was a coach at the University of Oklahoma and then the Cowboys sad although he got a Super Bowl and Wilkinson when always to find the church like a football game he says it’s 80 people in the sand 880,000 people in the Sands sorely in need of exercise and 24 people on the field sorely need rest and that’s part of what the church is it’s participation it’s not professionalism instead of maybe asking who in the church can

do what I see in front of me you ask yourself how can I do that how can I participate and participation I’ll again say comes in knowing and being known and that comes not just in our own assembly of a couple hundred people here or whatever it is but in the small groups the women’s ministry that happens on Wednesday the Men’s Ministry and other kinds of groups and life groups that you can take advantage of third the church is to Proclaim Christ and not to promote

itself so it’s a fair answer to say do you have a pastor and our answer is carefully and respectfully it is Jesus because as Rob has instructed in the last three weeks through the book of Romans and I I found his illustration about about the being bound to the Flesh and then and then released and yet with I found that be really excellent that in our job our job is to ultimately in our lives lift up Jesus so does Grace Point’s reputation expand probably not but

that’s not the issue the issue is are we faithful to what God has called us to do you know Jesus predicted this and while he was in his lifetime of ministry among the disciples at one point in the context of the soon to be denial of the Apostle Peter he said to Peter by way of prediction Peter you are Peter and upon this rocks and Upon This Rock the Gates of Hell will not overcome it we are bottom line in a spiritual battle where we’re committed

to f

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 4,592 words.