THE MARKS OF A GROWING CHURCH

Intro: Ill. The Church at Sardis, Rev. 3:1-6. This is the unhappy portrait of what can take place to a church once they overlook wherein they have got come from, wherein they're going, and what their cause as a church is. What are 4 traits of dwelling matters? (1) Living matters are made from cells. (2) They want food. (3) They showcase grow. (4) They reproduce. The church at Sardis had a popularity for being alive, however they had been as properly as dead. The Lord didn`t provide us an instantaneous cause of His words "you're dead" in Revelation 3:1, however it's far affordable to agree with that those Christians had been vulnerable withinside the equal 4 regions which might be particular to a dwelling organism. 1. First, the cells of this church frame had been now no longer operating well. While a few contributors had been taking walks with the Lord (3:4), many others had ceased to characteristic properly. 2. Also, this church had stopped taking withinside the proper non secular food. The Lord admonished them to start paying attention to His Word and Spirit as soon as again (3:3,6). 3. Third, that they'd stopped developing as a frame. Although that they'd knowledge, their movements left a lot to be desired. 4. Finally, it might be secure to finish that a church in such horrific form became reproducing very little. When Christians get vulnerable and cold, they prevent multiplying. This is a much cry from what became obvious withinside the first nearby church there in Jerusalem. In the verses we've study today, we are able to see a church that became alive, developing and serving God with a red-warm fervency. This church became being utilized by the Lord to effect the international. Well, today, from those verses, I would love to percentage with you The Marks Of A Growing Church. These verses display sure marks that may pick out whether or not we're a dwelling church or a death church. Statistics display that despite the fact that the overall range of church buildings withinside the U.S. has multiplied in latest years, a median of 7 nearby congregations die each day. Now, I do now no longer need this church to come to be a statistic, and neither do you! However, if we succumb to a decline withinside the stage of our pleasure and of our dedication to outreach and in our burden for the lost, then what occurred at Sardis can take place proper right here at Calvary! I need this church to stay and those verses inform us how that may be a truth for us. Let's appearance collectively at this subject, The Marks Of A Growing Church. I. v. forty two-47a MARKED BY THE RIGHT KIND OF WORKS A. v. forty two They Were A Practicing People - These early Christians had been a human beings after God. They had been the actual deal and their truth is it appears that evidently visible withinside the matters that marked their Christian life. They had been marked with the aid of using: 1. The Truth - These human beings had been doctrinally sound. They upheld the truths they were taught and that they did now no longer waiver from them. (Ill. One trait of the godly, developing congregation is their strict adherence to the truths of the Scriptures. God's Word is for all time settled in Heaven, Psa. 119:89, and consequently it must be for all time settled in our hearts and practice. The Bible is to be the only general for the entirety this church does. Anything much less is heresy and is an abomination to the Lord. May this church ever be marked with the aid of using a strict adherence to the fact of God's Holy Bible, John 17:17.) (Ill. This international is full of folks who are trying to find the fact. If a church gives fact because the handiest dish on her menu, then it'll offend a few, however others will come to pay attention that fact and to present themselves to it. The fact is contagious! The early church knew this a prospered. Many contemporary-day congregations have forgotten this and feature drifted.) 2. The Tie - The Bible says they continued "in fellowship." These had been human beings from many ranging backgrounds. Yet in Christ, they're made one. (Ill. This is one trademark of God's church. When He is in control, there may be love and reputation of all and sundry who darkens the door of the church. This isn't to mention that we are able to condone the entirety all and sundry does, however we are able to love the man or woman honestly due to the fact Jesus loves him. While there may be love for the sinner, there can also be love for the saint, too. The proper church is marked with the aid of using a close, loving fellowship - 1 John 3:14. When a church starts offevolved to loosen the tie that binds, appearance out, for they're in deep problem on the very coronary heart in their lifestyles as a congregation. They are approximately to enjoy the elimination of God's hand of blessing.)

3. The Table - These early Christians additionally observed not unusualplace floor withinside the Lord's Supper. They had been brief to keep in mind and to commemorate God's splendid advantages on their lives. When those human beings gathered, they did so as to rejoice their Common Ground: The Person and paintings of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ill. Things have not changed! The equal issue that delivered those human beings collectively is the equal issue that binds us one to another. It is the death, resurrection and go back of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we come collectively on the Lord's Table, might also additionally we usually keep in mind that we're right here, we're saved, and we're own circle of relatives all due to what Jesus did for us at Calvary. We had been not anything while He observed us, and we're not anything other than Him today, John 15:5. Everything we've, the entirety we're, the entirety we ever desire to have or be, we owe to Jesus! When we overlook this and sense that