We Don’t Go To Church, We Are the Church!

My friend Adam agrees. He states,

“I want to create a church where people do life together and intentionally live as the church. It’s not an event, it’s a state of being.”

 This is what we want to create as well.

 

Why We Are Planting a Church in Charlotte

Watch THIS excerpt from John Piper. This is why Enjoying God Fellowship exists. There aren’t enough churches with this as their vision.

 

Can You Plant a Church and Sustain it with Expositional Preaching?

Yes, you can and must! Here is an excellent post by Timmy Brister on the sad state of much of the “church planting advice” that is out there.

 

The Church is NOT for Religious People

Pastor Troy Maxwell of Freedom House Church writes the following on his blog, it is good advice to us as we are following God’s lead to plant a Christ exalting, Bible-saturated body of believers in the center of Charlotte:

Alright, i will have to be very honest about my frustration with Christians sometimes. Well, let me rephrase that, “religious” people would be a better description. I have come to the conclusion that religion is so ugly, so “all about me to the nth degree”, and the list goes on and on. Religious people when they don’t get their way, they just walk to the next place and try to get their way. They go from church to church and try to manipulate the leadership to try and get what they want, the music they like to hear, the preaching they really don’t need but make their own fears and religiousity feel better but never change. And when the pastor stands up to them they run. Religious people complain about everything. At least to your face they are all sweet and nice. But turn around and walk away, they pull out the knife and start stabbing you in the back. They are critical and judgmental about almost everything. They complain about the music, they complain about the children (even if they have some), they complain about leadership, they complain about the vision and they complain about money. OH they complain about money, and the funny thing is they never give any! Matter of fact they never give anything. Because it’s all about them! Religious people, church is not for you. Church is not about you. Church is about everyone but you. Church is about giving and serving. Church is about loving and sharing. Church is a community of believers in Jesus Christ who lay down their life for each other. They take up the cross of Jesus Christ and reach the world. If you are Religious you are so mad at me right now but what I am saying is so true! Can you get free from a religious spirit? Absolutely! Just ask God to help you and you can. There is hope.

The title of his blog is appropriate: Religious People Suck. If you read the gospels, it seems that Jesus thinks the same thing.

UPDATE/CORRECTION: A recent comment made me want to add: The church is for Truly-Religious people (those saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ). This was assumed, I just wanted to make it clear.

 

John Piper on Church Planting

Here is a quote from John Piper at a recent church planting seminar at his church in Minneapolis: 

Jesus never said, I will build my social service agency. He never said I will build my parachurch ministry. He never said I will build my university or my Christian college or my Christian school. He said, “I will build my church.” One institution in all the universe is given this promise. ‘I will build my church.’

So, brothers, be encouraged that you are about something extraordinarily important. Let me just give one last counsel or piece of advice. This comes right off of my devotions from this morning. I was reading in Mark 4 (vs. 26-27), where it says, ‘The kingdom of heaven is as if a man should sow seed on the ground. And then he sleeps and wakes, night and day. And the seed grows and sprouts. He knows not how.’

And my closing exhortation negatively is you don’t know how to grow the kingdom of God. Beware of conferences. Beware of books. Beware of seminars that tell you how to plant the church. You don’t know how to plant the church. The bible says you cannot know this. This is God’s doing. It is mysterious, it is deep, it is awesome. You go to bed at night. You get up in the morning. You sow your seed. And it sprouts. You know not how.Watch out for know-alls. They don’t know how to grow the church. If they think they know, it isn’t the church they’re growing. This is a work of the sovereign God. It is a profound and supernatural mystery to open the heart of Lydia (Acts 16:14), to liberate the servant girl (Acts 16:18), to shatter the prison and the heart of the jailer (Acts 16:32-33).

So, my counsel is, brothers, give your life to sowing. Take this glorious Word of God and preach it. Preach Christ. Preach the scriptures. Preach the cross. Most of the people in the world don’t know what is in this book. And faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. 

 -John Piper 

HT: Ed Stetzer

 

Why I Love Enjoying God Fellowship: Reason #236

I absolutely love stopping what I am doing while working at Target to pray because of a text message I received while “zoning” in HBA. What was the text message? Who was it from? It was from one of the members of this community of faith asking me to pray for her because she was talking to a Christian friend who was having serious doubts. She was having a conversation with her to attempt to strengthen her faith in Jesus Christ. This is so awesome! I love it! It costs me $.05 to receive a text message. That may have been the best nickel that I’ve ever spent! I can’t wait to hear how everything turned out. I wouldn’t trade this group of believers in Jesus for anything, and I mean that! God is already doing things in our group that are of eternal significance. Soli Deo Gloria!

 

Guest Blogger: Rev. J. Theodore Helms

When Christ is Head of the Local Church 

At this point in history it would be rather difficult to provide convincing evidence that Jesus Christ is head of His church. Evidence for a church submitted to His headship would not come from the songs they sing, where the body of Christ chooses to meet, the size and number of church facilities and congregation, or the charisma of the pastor(s). A local church whose members submit to Christ’s headship would be:

1. Founded on the gospel of Jesus Christ-I Cor.3:11
2. Committed to the preaching of God’s Word-Acts 6:4; II Tim.3:16-4:5
3. Governed by Spirit-filled men-Acts 6:1-7; I Tim.3:1-13; Tit.1:5-9; Gal.6:1
4. Committed to “the praise of the glory of His grace”-I Cor.1:30-31; Eph.1:6, 12, 14
5. Defenders of sound doctrine-I Tim.1:3-11; 4:1-11, 13, 16; 6:3; II Tim.1:13; Tit.1:10-14
6. United in the Spirit-Eph.4:1-3 ; I Cor.1:10ff
7. Equipped for ministry and active in it-Eph.4:11-12; I Cor.12-14
8. Suffering for Christ’s sake-Rom.8:18-39; I Pet.1:6-8; 4:12 (in persecution and inner turmoil)
9. Walking in a manner worthy of their calling-Eph.4:1; I Thess.2:12
10. Characterized by and committed to prayer-I Thess.5:17; Acts 6:4
11. Excercised in church discipline-I Cor.5; Mt.18
12. Seeking God’s wisdom in all decisions, major and trivial-Acts 6:1-7
13. Rejoicing in God their Savior-I Thess.5:16
14. And keeping Christ preeminent in all things-Col.1:18

These are just thoughts I have had recently as I have reflected on the condition of many local churches I am personally acquainted with. What will it take for the local church to return to Jesus Christ as its Head?

 -Rev. J. Theodore Helms

 -originally posted at Our Sovereign Joy

 

Worship at the New Location

Except for a little goof up with the street address, everything went very well at our first service at our new location. If you are in the Charlotte area, come and check us out next Sunday. I am also working on a page that will give some pretty detailed sermon outlines if you are the note-taking type. Hopefully this will be up within a couple of days. Here are a couple of pictures from this morning:

            

 

New Meeting Place

Praise the Lord! He answered our prayers today and provided a place for us to meet for worship. We will begin meeting on Sunday mornings for worship on the second floor of the office building at Morningstar Mini-Storage at 1001 North Tryon Street; Charlotte, NC 28206. There are three rooms and two bathrooms that are completely empty and not being used at all. I looked at the facilities today and they are just right for our needs right now. I’ll keep you posted when our first worship at the North Tryon location will begin!

 UPDATE:  We will begin meeting in our new facility this Sunday (7-22-07)!

 

The Gospel and the Unbeliever

One cannot have a discussion about the gospel without discussing the relationship of the unbeliever to the gospel. The Bible is clear about the nature of mankind. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The reason for our sin is given as well, “And you (that’s me and you) were dead in our trespasses and sins…and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Ephesians 2:1,3). What relationship to the gospel can a bunch of corpses possibly have? The answer is found at the end of Peter’s Pentecost sermon. After Peter’s conclusion, the people cry out, “Brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). The answer 2000 years ago is the same answer today, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). The good news to the unbeliever is a command to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. It is a call for them to trust in the only one who can ever pay the penalty for their sins (except they pay it in hell for eternity). Are you a follower of Jesus Christ? If not, repent of your sins and trust in Christ. Place your affection and love in the Savior and not your transgressions.