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The Amish Voice 9
got most of my training for ministry.
What I didn't do is spend four years
sitting in a college class room, but rather,
I sat under 15 years of great Bible
teaching.
During those 15 years of church life, the
Lord showed me where I was gifted, and
soon I began to realize something. Every
time I found myself teaching, preaching,
mentoring and discipling someone, I felt
good about myself. The more I
understood my God-given gifts, the more
I found myself wanting to be involved in
my church and the community; and let
me just point out, that hardly ever did I
look for or expect the church to serve
me; rather, I looked for ways that I could
serve the church and our community.
Listen! I believe that Jesus set the
example by coming to our world and
serving us. His whole duty and calling
was to sacrifice and give His life for us.
Can we do any less?
With those things said, I now have
a few questions for you to
consider before we get into the
heart of our study.
Have you figured
out what your God
-given gifts are?
If so, are you
operating
in
those
gifts?
Does the church
you belong to
allow you to
operate in your
God-given gifts?
Are you serving in
your
local church and community? If so,
are you doing so because you have
to, or because you want to?
When you compare the church you
attend with what the scriptures
teach about the local church, are
you on track? Are you mostly
inward focused, or do you also
reach out to our lost and dying
world?
Jesus said:
Go ye into all the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature.
Mark 16:15
Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations…
Matthew 28:19
...ye shall be witnesses unto me both
in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea,
and in Samaria, and unto the
uttermost part of the earth.
Acts 1:8
A local church that focuses only on self
is outside God’s will. It is also a dead
church.
Universal and Local Church
I believe the Bible teaches of a:
(1) Universal church, and a
(2) Local church
First, let me explain what I mean by
universal church
and then we’ll conclude
our study by looking at the
local church
.
Note:
By the way,
universal
simply
means
worldwide
.
Universal Church
A. The Universal Church Was
Founded by Jesus Christ
Matthew 16:18 says:
And I
(Jesus) say also unto thee, That
thou art Peter, and upon this
rock
(1)
I will build
(2)
my church;
and
(3)
the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it.
Fact 1:
"
My church
." The church
belongs to Christ—not man.
The universal church does not
belong
to
a
certain
denomination,
such
as
Baptist, Amish, Methodist,
Mennonite, etc. Nor does
it belong to a certain
culture or minister.
The
universal church
belongs to Jesus
Christ.
Fact 2:
"I will build." Christ
builds the church.
Regardless
of
anyone’s
opinion, the
universal church
is
growing and thriving in our
world today. No one
but Jesus Christ can take
credit for it. You and I
can’t! The preachers
can’t!
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