THE CHURCH GOD ALWAYS WANTED (1 OF 4)
by Craig Smith
Scripture: Revelations 1:20
This content is part of a series.
The Church God Always Wanted (1 of 4)
Series: Imagine
Craig Smith
Revelations 1:20
I. Introduction/Background
Big weekend here at Mission Hills for two reasons. First, Mission Hills Dove Valley is coming on line this weekend, so we're going to need to give them a huge welcome in 3,2,1...
It's also a big weekend because today is the launch of our four-week Imagine series, where we're going to be looking at what God's Word has to say about our future as a church in terms of our local, regional and global ministry.
Today we're going to be asking the question: what is God's purpose for this thing that we call the local church? What's his heartbeat for it? What would it look like for us to be the church God always wanted?
And here's the honest truth: I believe a lot of churches in America don't know how to answer that question. In fact, I honestly believe that a lot of churches in America are in danger of losing, or have already lost, God's blessing because they have stopped being a church. They've become a social club or an educational institution, but they've stopped being the church.
If you have your Bible, why don't you go ahead and grab it, or grab one from the seats in front of you, and turn with me to Revelation 2. Revelation is pretty easy to find because it's the last book in the Bible, but it has the first word on God's purpose for the local church.
II. Main Body
A. Why Revelation?
Now, you might be thinking, ''but isn't Revelation the end-times book?'' And for sure, Revelation does have a lot of prophecy about the ''end times'', but that's not the purpose of the book. The purpose of the book isn't to tell us what's coming. Revelation tells us what's coming so the church can succeed in the future. That's the purpose of Revelation: to equip the church to succeed at being the church no matter what's coming. And that's the purpose of the end-times prophecies: to prepare the church to succeed at being the church. It's like teaching ...
Series: Imagine
Craig Smith
Revelations 1:20
I. Introduction/Background
Big weekend here at Mission Hills for two reasons. First, Mission Hills Dove Valley is coming on line this weekend, so we're going to need to give them a huge welcome in 3,2,1...
It's also a big weekend because today is the launch of our four-week Imagine series, where we're going to be looking at what God's Word has to say about our future as a church in terms of our local, regional and global ministry.
Today we're going to be asking the question: what is God's purpose for this thing that we call the local church? What's his heartbeat for it? What would it look like for us to be the church God always wanted?
And here's the honest truth: I believe a lot of churches in America don't know how to answer that question. In fact, I honestly believe that a lot of churches in America are in danger of losing, or have already lost, God's blessing because they have stopped being a church. They've become a social club or an educational institution, but they've stopped being the church.
If you have your Bible, why don't you go ahead and grab it, or grab one from the seats in front of you, and turn with me to Revelation 2. Revelation is pretty easy to find because it's the last book in the Bible, but it has the first word on God's purpose for the local church.
II. Main Body
A. Why Revelation?
Now, you might be thinking, ''but isn't Revelation the end-times book?'' And for sure, Revelation does have a lot of prophecy about the ''end times'', but that's not the purpose of the book. The purpose of the book isn't to tell us what's coming. Revelation tells us what's coming so the church can succeed in the future. That's the purpose of Revelation: to equip the church to succeed at being the church no matter what's coming. And that's the purpose of the end-times prophecies: to prepare the church to succeed at being the church. It's like teaching ...
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