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Part 3 - Laying Foundation of the New Testament Church

Submitted by jesuslover on Sun, 03/30/2008 - 23:12.
Part 3 - Laying Foundation of the New Testament Church
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  • Ephesians 2
    • Picture of Fallen Humanity
      • That you were at that time apart from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers of the promise of the covenant, having no hope and without God.
      • But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have become near in the blood of Christ.
  • Christ's Solution:
    • Makes us members of God's household
    • And fellow citizens with the saints (19)
    • Being built and fitted together on the foundation...Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone... into a dwelling place of God in spirit (20-22)
  • Abolition of Divisive Enmity
    • Differences lead to enmity
      • Laws and ordinances
      • Rituals & spiritual practices
      • Race & culture, age, gender, social class, political preference, ministry, music, books, bible versions, clothing style, preaching styles, praying styles, association or lack of, etc. etc.
  • Issue of Offenses (1)
    • Starting arguments.
    • Spreading gossip.
    • Creating cliques.
    • Carrying grudges.
    • Backstabbing.
    • Deliberately undermining those in authority.
    • Pitting one person off against another.
    • Lying.
  • Issue of Offenses (2)
    • Setting up rules in order to create social barriers.
    • Being a racist or sexist or elitist.
    • Giving orders and demanding obedience.
    • Using principles (or even 'righteous' anger) as an excuse to cut off contact.
    • Personalizing a political dispute.
    • Raising the stakes in disputes.
    • Having an 'I win, you lose' attitude.
    • Acting without concern about how it affects others.
  • Man's Solution - End Results
    • Avoidance
    • Accommodation
    • Competition
    • Compromise
  • God's Solution
    • Collaboration & Reconciliation
      • Lord's admonishing (Matt 5:22-24)
      • Paul's example
  • (I Cor 3 : 5-9 )
    • "To reconcile is to restore to friendship or harmony, to settle or resolve differences."
  • Two Natures
    • Our Evil Nature
      • Starting arguments
      • Spreading gossip
      • Creating cliques
      • Carrying grudges
      • Backstabbing
    • Our Aspiration to Do Good
      • Politics
      • Religious zeal
      • Insistence on practices
      • Division
      • Hatred
  • But We Have Died...
    • Our Evil Nature
      • Starting arguments
      • Spreading gossip
      • Creating cliques
      • Carrying grudges
      • Backstabbing
    • Our Aspiration to Do Good
      • Politics
      • Religious zeal
      • Insistence on practices
      • Division
      • Hatred
  • Moses Went UP
    • Moses was called into God's presence on Mt. Sinai
      • "Moses... and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. ...they saw God, and they ate and drank."
      • "Moses... stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights."
  • Blueprint Given on Mt. Sinai
    • Moses received blueprint for building tabernacle on mountain top.
      • Lord to Moses: "Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you."
  • Stephen Looked UP
    • "The Grecian Jews...complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food."
    • 7 were chosen for food service
    • No record of what Stephen did, but...
    • Stephen was "full of the Spirit and wisdom...full of grace & power"
  • Stephen Looked UP
    • "...being full of the Holy Spirit, he looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God."
  • We Need to Grow UP
    • "Out from whom all the body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love." (Eph 4:16)
    • "But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ." (4:15)
  • But to Go UP
  • We Must First Go DOWN
    • "If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him." (Rom 6:8)
    • When was the last time I knelt down to pray?
    • When was the last time I laid down my soul life according to the inner-anointing:
      • opinions,
      • "my-way-or-the-highway" insistence, and
      • evil as well as good intentions?
  • Know Christ & Know Ourselves
    • To build the church, our old man must die.
    • "And might reconcile both in one Body to God through the cross, having slain enmity by it." (Eph 2:16)
    • "In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit." (Eph 2:22)
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