How a Real Church Proclaims Christ

FULL SERVICE: See SERMON ONLY below

SERMON ONLY:

Please click on link below to download and print Lifegroup questions.

1. “Real” means something existing as a thing or occurring in fact; not imagined or supposed. When something is not imitation or artificial, we call it genuine, or real. As far as you can perceive, do you think our community would see us this way? Would the people who know you, say this about you?
2. In the best way that you can, what would be the characteristics of authenticity?
3. I list a few reasons why being authentic is a non-negotiable priority. (1) Christ die to build something that reflects His intention. (2) The world is in desperate need for us to be Real. (3) Because we fight against the twin enemies of a Real Church – cultural Christianity, and churchiness (4) Because of my conviction that we would love to dispense with mediocrity, as it is powerless, empty, blandly acceptable and void of purpose. Is my assessment on target? Would you disagree with this?
4. I want us to really think about faith-sharing. I am convinced that the caricature of what we call “evangelism” has now lost its biblical description, and has, itself, become an expectation and an element in discipleship. Do you ever feel guilty about sharing your faith? Why? Where does it come from? Do you get that from expectations, or from the Scriptures themselves?
5. I believe that two things are more important than the methods in sharing our faith (1) the reasons for sharing our faith at all. (2) and the motivation behind faith sharing. First the reasons. I said that if Christ is Lord, He is your greatest passion. How does that true? (Phil. 3:1)
6. “The Bible’s singular claim is that the gospel is the power of God to save lives, and nothing else can. That’s a bold claim, isn’t it? Has that been your actual experience? In what ways?
7. I list a few of the reasons (1) You are forgiven of all sin! (2) You have a righteousness before God through believing the finished work of the Cross. (3) In the courtroom of God, you have been declared not guilty before the righteous Judge of all humanity. You have been acquitted. (4) The law can no longer condemn you before God. (5) He has accredited your sins to Christ, and has accredited His righteousness to you. Because salvation is a gift, there is nothing Christ can’t ask of us because it is a total gift. There is nothing I can contribute to my salvation because it is totally by grace. Think about that. Why is that true that on that basis, there is nothing He can’t command of us?
8. Being declared righteous is a legal status before God. I am not righteous in my actual practice. The Spirit of God transforms me through the gospel. What does those twin elements (declared to be in a righteous standing before God, and the Spirit transforming me daily through the gospel) look like?
9. Paul uses the word joy or rejoicing, 15 times in these 4 chapters! The Greek words “chara (joy) and charo (rejoicing)” means cheerfulness, delighting, and gladness. Now look up the following verses, and fill out what Paul means for our lives of rejoicing, and then summarize both the reasons and the motivation to share our faith:

1. Philippians 1:4 –
2. Philippians 1:18 –
3. Philippians 1:25 –
4. Philippians 2:2 –
5. Philippians 2:17 –
6. Philippians 2:18 –
7. Philippians 2:29 –
8. Philippians 3:1 –
9. Philippians 4:4 –