Adding to God’s Church
Acts 9:10-19
February 24, 2008
The church compared to a military operation
What is your part in the war effort?
How does God intervene to forward his plan?
What was Saul thinking about for these 3 days?
God and Ananias
Who was Ananias?
What was he ready for?
God’s command
Go, minister to Saul of Tarsus.
What two reasons does God give?
Ananias’ objection
He has done bad things, and is planning on doing bad things here.
God’s explanation
A gracious explanation
He is my chosen vessel
He will suffer for my sake (2 Timothy 2:10)
What are you willing to sacrifice, to suffer, so that the kingdom of God can advance?
Ananias obeys
How does Ananias restore Saul?
Application:
God can save the worst of sinners. (1 Timothy 1:15-16)
God can greatly use the worst of sinners. (1 Corinthians 15:9-10; Phil 3:12-14)
God has foreordained your service and suffering for his name’s sake. (Eph 2:10)
God has promised his people suffering. (2 Tim 3:12; Phil 1:29; 1 Pet 4:13; 5:10; Col 1:24
God has a calling for you and a purpose in life.
Being the Church
"Mutual edification contributes to the health of the church, and this relates to the important first area of service in that an unhealthy church can hardly minister to the world properly. What is it that keeps the church from being the kind of godly influence Christ obviously intended it to be? Disunity is one thing. A church expending all its energies fighting within itself can hardly be of much use elsewhere. Ignorance is another cause of failure. If the church does not understand the issues of the day or the solutions provided by the gospel, it cannot help the world even though it is not divided internally and is anxious to help. The church can also be hindered by immaturity. It can be weakened by sin. Each of these faults can ruin the church’s effectiveness, and that is why Paul speaks of "unity in the faith . . . knowledge of the Son of God . . . maturity [manhood] . . . the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."
How are we to get to that point? The answer is that each Christian is to help others. Each! It is not the job of the minister alone. His job is to equip the saints to do the work of building up the body of the church and minister to the world."
-JM Boice