The Local Church Class 2

God had a plan

John 15:16
King James Version (KJV)
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go
and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the
Father in my name, he may give it you.
God has a plan
Where we were born (could have been any time, any place, any family, any culture)
Acts 17:26
New King James Version (NKJV)
And He has made from one blood[a] every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the
earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their
dwellings,
He has also planned things for us to do
Ephesians 2:10
New King James Version (NKJV)
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
__________
Our lives that God planned for us are so short
The Psalmist describes it so:
Psalm 144:4
Man is like a breath;
His days are like a passing shadow.
Psalm 90:9
For all our days have passed away in Your wrath;
We finish our years like a sigh.
AND James also describes it as quickly passing away.
James 4:14
whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a
vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
So eternity is so long and is actually unimaginable.
EXAMPLE: Long cable extending: our life a scratch on it with a ballpoint pen.
John 3:16 says God LOVED the world, and that we might have everlasting life if we
believe in what Jesus did for us. This is salvation. But it is not all there is? It is not just a
FIRE ESCAPE to make it into heaven. Thats not all there is to salvation. Othewise he

could have taken us the very moment we accepted Christ to heaven. Why keep us on
the earth any longer? His job would have been complete.
Salvation includes you, but it is
NOT all about you. It is what
God wants to do THROUGH you.
WE HAVE AN ASSIGNMENT IN LIFE
In his book, wayne cordiero gives a great example of this.
Term paper. Up all night, weeks of study. Well crafting.
Teachers comments: Great research. Excellent examples and illustrations. Wellsupported charts and graphs. Grade: F WRONG ASSIGNMENT.
We dont want to stand before God someday in heaven and have him look down and say
Yes youre here. Welcome to heaven. But then say, Nice life. Great house, nice salary,
nice car, nice boat! Grade: F wrong assignment.
Our assignment from Jesus himself when he was leaving this earth was so simple.
Matthew 28:18-22
New King James Version (NKJV)
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in
heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the
end of the age. Amen.
Heaven will be amazing!!! (describe heaven)
But I am sure God will not ask us a series of questions like:
What university did you attend and how many degrees do you have?
How big was your salary?
Was your house paid off? And did you leave debt behind for your kids / family to pay for?
How popular were you?
But we will just be asked one thing when we get there who did you bring with you?
Who did you tell about Jesus?
Gods plan is our responsibility
Story of a nurse (Christian) prayer for very sick man in his 60s.
Her last line: I didnt heal you, God did. And now it is your responsibility to find out why.
Mark 8:36
New King James Version (NKJV)
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
For a non Christian: this means their chance for salvation is important to seize and it
helps us share the Gospel with hem.
But for a Christian? Its application is not all cheery: what would it profit a person if he
gained everything: his prayers answered for a bigger house, happy kids, abundant

income, all kinds of blessings etc but he completely missed the very reason God
created him? What a waste that would be!
It is no more cheery or exciting when a applied to a local church:
What would it profit a local church if all its programs thrived: large kids and youth
ministry, a dynamic worship experience, and an every expanding building but it missed
the very reason for which God had called it in to being? what a colossal waste that
would be.
The harvest will not self-reap, but will in fact self-destruct if not reaped.
Example apples fallen off the tree.
So why did God put us here?? He makes no mistakes. So you and I and this church
were put here for a reason, and it is our job to find out what that reason is.

Dont forget who you are!

It is so important for us to know who we are in Christ, and what he has done for us on
the cross.
Russian Rabbi walking aimless through the streets. Thinking about why he is here, life,
purpose for ministry. Encounters a soldier, HEY! Who are you; and what are you doing
here?!
So Who are you? And what are you doing here?? Sometimes we forget.
The children of Israel often suffered from forgetfulness as well! But sometimes God told
them to build a memorial of stones so it could act as a way to remember what god had
done for them. That way when generations would go one and pass away, the story of the
memorial could be told and the reality of their gods promises and the past victories
could be reminded to them over and over. Because, remember, THEY HAD BEEN
WANDERING IN THE WILDERNESS FOR 40 YEARS, and so they could not afford to
forget;
Joshua 4:20-24
New King James Version (NKJV)
And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.
Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: When your children ask their fathers in
time to come, saying, What are these stones? then you shall let your children know,
saying, Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land; for the LORD your God dried up the
waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did
to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the
peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear
the LORD your God forever.
Forgetting: story of Stephanie Rawn hitting her head in Florida.
Forgot who she was.
Was so scared for weeks!
Her memory came back to her, and she was so overjoyed.
Now we are blessed because the HOLY SPIRIT is our great witness, andhelps us
remember who we are. It is his 24/7 job to remind us of who we are through our
conscience with regards to our works lining up with the reality of what our real nature is.
If we do something out of line with our nature (i.e. sin) the H.S. will remind us of who we
really are and how we are acting out of sorts as to our real nature.
We all have a part to play
Story of Esther:
Read Esther 3-4
One questions stands: For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and
deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place,
For us lives will be transformed, and help will be given to widows and orphans, people
will be saved and redeemed, and marriages restored, and lives without direction will
reeive a purpose from God BUT WILL WE BE INVOLVED? The degree to which we
are able to influence our world is completely up to us and our willingness to get involved.

The was the church was really designed to function, is the way that we were designed to
deliver this message of the Gospel to the world. AS A TEAM.
Ephesians 4:11-12
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and
some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for
the edifying of the body of Christ,
The saints are to be doing the work of the ministry, and not just a few select
professionals. We are all called as full time ministers. Yes ALL OF US.
We so easily forget who we are and what God has called us to be: ministers of
reconciliation. Reconciling man to God.
we might have different roles and not actually work n a church. But before we are:
Nurse you are first a minister of the gospel.
Housewife ministry first
CEO minister first
Peter in 2:peter 2:9 calls us a ROYAL Priesthood.
The ministry of reconciliation: 2 Corinthians 5: whole chapter.
We can see our role here: this is not just for a select few. This is for all of us.
God loves all people and desires that all men be saved. He paid for the WHOLE
WORLD already. Not just Christians. He doesnt just pay for your salvation once you say
yes to Jesus. It is already paid, and we are just replaying that good news to people.
Now do you believe.
God loves policemen, and teachers and construction workers??
So what is the best way to reach them? A pastor?
A pastor could reach them, but there may be a more ideal way.
Teachers at a school might find it intimidating for a pastor to walk in and on the lunch
break in the cafateria start preaching a gospel message to all the people from up at the
the front of the room. NOW I HAVE LITERALLY heard stories of this, but it is rare, and
would produce limited results.
So if it is true that god has called us all as a royal priesthood - Or a minister of
reconciliation - then wouldnt it make sense for him to use us to share that gospel?
SO, WHAT IS THE BEST WAY to reach a teacher? Would that not be with a teacher?
What would be bthe best way tot reach a nurse through another nurse?
Illustration: My mothers desire to be a nurse.
So what god does in his GENIUS, is he takes a full time minister of reconciliation and a
royal priest of his royal priesthood directly commissioned by Jesus himself from the
foundations of the world, and DISGUISES him as a teacher.

He gives us gifts and talents and strong desires to be different things and a passion for
different jobs. Then he sends us into the school every day on a secret, grassroots
operative mission to let their lives be an epistle to the other teachers.
2 Corinthians 3:2-6
Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of
commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in
our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by
us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on
tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of
ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,
who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the
Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Illustration: My mothers desire to be a nurse.
So REMEMBER:
Acts 17:26
New King James Version (NKJV)
And He has made from one blood[a] every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the
earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their
dwellings,
LIKE SALT from a salt shaker, God shakes us all over the earth to season it WHERE it
should be. What good is salt in your gas tank? Or salt added to salty sea water??
When salt is sprinkled where is should, makes things takes good! So our gift and talent
is our salt.
Jesus said:
Matthew 5:13
New King James Version (NKJV)
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is
then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
How do you lose your saltiness? By forgetting what God made you. And if you do a
certain tastelessness and (ineffectiveness) soon ensues.
So dont forget who you are REMEMBER!!! And then do something about it.