Being Equipped as The Church

Check this video OUT!

http://www.rightnowblog.org/are-you-a-trader/church/

(Sorry I couldn't get it to embed)

When I first watched this video I thought it was about how we should go out and serve people.  It is, but there is more...

In the context of the church, look at what is happening in the video.
Leaders in the church are equipping the saints for the ministry that the church has been called to.  Together members of the church are living out their calling to make disciples by pointing to Jesus through serving the poor.

Keep looking at our questions from Sunday night.  My guess is that the church has meant very little to you in your life.  That's sad, but I can totally relate.  The church has meant little to me as well.  Why give my time, money, energy to something that I don't identify with?  That's the question I came to and that the question of our generation.  If the church is irrelevant to me, then what's the point in investing my life there?  The point is found in the pages of the New Testament.  You are the church if you identify with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  You are responsible for the church as much as your pastor is.  When you take Communion, you are saying, "I will get under the arms of my brothers and sisters and help them along where they are weak."  And, "I will find those that can hold me up when I am weak and make the Jesus look like a phony."  We need each other to step up and fight for one another in the name of Jesus.  He has given us a life that is not meant to be lived individualistically, but rather in community with others who are in relationship with him.

Here are the questions from Sunday... THINK through the Word of God, FIND other passages that relate to the church, ACT according to what you have BELIEVED about Jesus.

Love you guys.

Loren

Living in the Church - Ephesians 4:1-16

1. Who is Paul talking to?  How does being a prisoner qualify Paul to speak?

2. What is the calling you have received?

3. Explain vs. 7-10 in the context of your own life.  What does it have to do with Communion and Baptism?

4. How are the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers equipping you for ministry?  Who are they?  Do you feel equipped?  Why or why not?

5. What is your responsibility as a Christian to the body of believers?

How are you executing that responsibility?  How should you execute that responsibility?

6. If you’ve ever spent much time in the ocean, you know the feeling of bobbing up and down in the water.  Paul’s talking about instability here.  Do your beliefs have firm grounding in the truth of Scripture?  Can you quickly explain why Jesus in the Way, the Truth and the Life?  Does your life (actions, words, attitudes) show your faith in Him in very tangible ways?  How so?

7. Where is the church on your list of life priorities?  Read vs. 15-16 carefully.  Can you see your part in the body of Christ?  How can you be used to build up the church by Christ’s love in you?