Don't Go It Alone (Acts 15:41-16:5)
Gary McManus, 10/16/2022Part of the Life With Jesus is Better series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
October 16, 2022 Acts 15:41-Acts 16:1-5
October, 2022 = MinistrieS / MinisterS appreciation month.
The Lead Pastor is minister to the ministers—that is all of you.
American Christianity has overemphasized the individual
believer / Jesus follower. The Bible is not focused on you or me
as an individual apart from others.
Example: The Billy Graham Association Evangelism Crusades.
But at the end of the 20th Century those claiming to be Jesus
followers would say with a sense of pride.
“I don’t need a church to be a Christian.”
What kind of Christian you want to be?
Many hospitals were founded by churches.
One American hospital was founded by an individual:
Oral Robert’s City of Faith Hospital, Tulsa, OK.
The hospital closed in debt within ten years.
Mother Teresa, now Saint Teresa, won the Nobel Peace
Prize, but she didn’t work alone. She founded the
Missionaries! of Charity.
Jesus’ himself did not go it alone. He had twelve disciples
and at some points took three disciples with him.
(Matthew 17:1, Mark 5:37, Mark 14:33)
The Apostles did not establish churches of just one person.
And yet that is what thousands of Christians act like
they are doing.
Worship alone, on their own? Charity work all alone?
“What kind of Christian do you aspire to be?”
“What kind of Christian are you INSPIRED to be?”
Name any Jesus follower in the New Testament who
was not part of a church.
Do we think ourselves smarter than the Disciples?
Dr. Gary Chapman. . . was born in North Carolina.
Maybe he has always known that the Apostles
words were PLURA:
1 Thessalonians 1:2:
“We (plural)
give thanks to God always for ALL OF Y’ALL.
See 1 Thessalonians 1:3.
In today’s God’s Word, we read twice of the Apostles
“building them up” /building up the church(es)
Translated the same, there are two different words:
“building up the church”
--“to cause to lean on, to rest on” and
--"to make solid.”
Can either that be done in isolation?
OR, maybe the churches in America are not making
Christians solid?
Are churches not places a Christian can lean on or
rest in?
Cry in church? I hope we can!
Where else but the churches should you find
acceptance of your pain or loss and those who would
support you in your pain and loss?
If the church isn’t a place you can lean on. . .
it is time to find another church.
The Apostles gave thanks for the solidifying going
on in the churches—giving thanks.
This October, 2022, have gratitude, give thanks,
and appreciate the ministers and the ministries of
the church .Don’t expect anyone to “go it alone”.
See 1 Corinthians:12: 4-7
Give thanks to the giver, Jesus Christ.
Give thanks for the gifts and those who share their
gifts, their service, and their work. . .for the common good.
Amen.
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