1. Church membership: Overcoming the Crippling Tunnel Vision of "It's a Personal Relationship"
2. Thesis: It's a personal relationship mantra has shrunken what Christianity is. While it was a good correction, and still needed, in our day and age, it has produced a version of faith that puts us at the center, with churches, others, and even God serving us. Church Membership helps us push back against that, and to say that the perosnalness of our faith is aimed at intentional caring for the broader picture/people of our faith.
3. 2017
3.1. oct 15
3.1.1. Church membership: Displaying Love Clearly Through Intentional Declaration
3.1.1.1. thesis: Meaningful love is always declared love. A big part of God's covenants in scripture was to make clear his relationship with his people so they had a firm foundation to stand upon in relating with him. In our culture we have similiar things like a wedding ceremony. Church membership is an opportunity to let intentioned love towards one another be declared and known.
3.1.1.2. sermon
3.1.2. S1R1 - Week 1
3.2. oct 22
3.2.1. Off from dischipleship
3.3. oct 29
3.3.1. S1R1 - Week 2
3.4. Church membership: A Taste Of The Kingdom So we Can invite others In
3.4.1. Church membership: Fighting Sin With The Weapon of Community
3.4.1.1. Thesis: Our fight for holiness is intricately tied to our community. But more than that, community itself is how we fight for holiness, it is a massively important weapon that God uses to destroy our sins. What church membership does then is helps us define that community, and commit to that commuinty, and in essence, pick up that weapon and allow God to do his work of sanctifying us.
3.4.1.2. Church membership: Assurance for the doubter, Clarity for the decieved
3.4.1.2.1. Thesis: The church is in fact the keeper of the keys of the gates of heaven, in that the church is what God uses to give assurance that we are truly His, and give clarity when we are decieved in thinking we are truly his. What church membership does then is provide a clear defined mechanism to making this happen.
3.5. nov 5
3.5.1. S2R2 - Week 1
3.5.1.1. Church Membership: When we become one (John 17:22-23)
3.6. nov 12
3.6.1. S2R2 - Week 2
3.7. nov 19
3.7.1. S2R3 - Week 1
3.7.2. Thesis: THe church has always been an outpost of God's kingdom, planted in various locations as a recruitment tool "Come see what life in the kingdom is like." Church membership is an invitation to being ambassadors in the outpost called For His Glory Community Church, thus our intentionality and committment to the local body is part and parcel of the missionary work God calls us to. What church membership does is it helps to clarify, for the individual, and for the congregation, who has been assigned to this outpost. It thus brings order and purpose, vision and motivation.
3.8. nov 26
3.8.1. Church membership: Forcing The Good of Sabbath Upon My Soul
3.8.1.1. Thesis: We need rest and all that it rest stands for in scripture. And while we are not confined to obey teh Sabbath for righteouness, we are fools to think a sabbath is not good for our souls. Church Membership has the effect of keeping us to a forced sabbath :)
3.8.2. S2R3 - Week 2