Series: Made To _____
Sermon: Meet Together / Move Together
Scripture: Acts 10, Acts 15
ICE BREAKER: What is the first really brave thing you remember doing?
REVIEW: This week we looked at the beginning of the church to understand Jesus' original intention for His movement that we are a part of. After Jesus ascended back to Heaven, the next couple of decades saw very little geographic movement from Jesus followers. Largely, it was a Jewish movement that still practiced much of the Israelite laws and customs.
This flew in the face of what Jesus had commanded when he said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel..." In Acts chapter 10, Jesus creates a divine appointment between Peter and a non-Jewish soldier named Cornelius. Peter is called to break the Jewish law by going into the home of Cornelius and preach the good news of Jesus.
This moment of Peter crossing the threshold into a gentile home changed the trajectory of the church forever! Cornelius was saved and the Holy Spirit brought affirmation that the movement was now going to go all around the world.
Other believers began traveling as missionaries and reaching new nations. All of this led to the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. It was here they had to decide whether this was going to be a movement focused on PEOPLE or on a specific PLACE (Israel).
The Apostles concluded that we are all saved the same way and we should make it as easy as possible for people to come to Christ!
This shift back to reaching people, instead of hoarding religious power, set the stage for Christianity to span the globe. The Church was not meant to just be a meeting with rules and policies, it was created to be a radical movement that changes the world!
APPLY:
To close the message, we looked at two models of "Church" - A Vacuum, and a Leaf Blower. Both utilize air and pressure, but for very different purposes! A Vacuum seeks to fill ITSELF up and contain whatever it catches. This is the model of the modern church. It uses its power to try and capture people and hold them inside. The Leaf Blower on the other hand takes stagnant air and turns it into a powerful movement of wind!
The Leaf Blower is a MUCH better picture of what Jesus created the church to be. This movement exists to take ordinary people who are stuck and stagnant, and turn them into powerful, purposeful followers of Jesus! The Vacuum version of church is just focused on MEETING TOGETHER. The Leaf Blower Meets Together in order to MOVE TOGETHER!
How does a correct view of church change how you see YOUR role at Meta?
What is ONE WAY you can "be the church" in your world this week?
PRAY:
Spend time praying for the church and specifically for your local movement at MetaChurch.
