“HOME CHURCH-Part 2”
TEXT: Isaiah 40:3-5
COVID-19 has provided families with additional time to play and pray together. This pause has reminded us that the church is not a building. However, the value of Spirit-filled corporate worship cannot be overstated.
So often the American church thinks that we go to church, and then take God home.
POINT: There must be a viable process in the home for worshipping separate and different than Sunday.
If God’s church will be a lighthouse to the community then we want to give Jesus a place in OUR HEART, OUR HOME, OUR CHURCH, AND IN OUR COMMUNITY.
We desire that our home will have a “HIGHWAY FOR OUR GOD.”
Isaiah 40:3 – “PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD.”
- How do we make room for God?
- How do we create an opportunity for God to work in our homes?
- In our Church? In our family?
- We want to make a path for PREPARING THE WAY OF GOD IN OUR HOMES.
POINT: God’s presence must be responded to, it must be entertained, and invited in the home.
Matthew 3:1-3
- I have always believed that a massive move of God would come to the world prior to the coming of Jesus.
POINT: The application of God’s Rhema word at HOME, is what helps you maintain God’s presence.
When God speaks to us about our life; we must respond.
- We feel His conviction when we are at church, we know what God speaks to us, but once we get some fresh air, get out of Church, and go home, it seems like we no longer feel “the need.”
1. REMOVE SELF CONDEMNATION FROM THE HOME.
People struggle with BEING DOWN, BURNED-OUT, and DEPRESSION.
You must remember who you are in Christ Jesus.
Revelation 12:10; Philippians 1:6
A. Shut the door when Satan comes knocking. James 1:17
Many suffer from self-condemnation.
God desires to restore the emotional part too.
- What makes you tick? What makes you ticked off?
- I believe God wants every boy and girl to be equal with the ground around them.
- We will continue condemning ourselves even if satan is not around.
B. Recognize the assurance of God. I John 3:19-22
Declare This: “I am the righteousness of God in Christ. I am a new creature, created in God’s image for His good pleasure. I am a child of God and an heir of all the promises through Christ Jesus. Greater is He that is in me, than He that is in the world! Now there is no condemnation against me because I am in Christ Jesus, and I walk after the Spirit, and not after the flesh.”
- When people have a problem with themselves, they usually have a problem with others.
- SELF-CONDEMNATION will make you pull away from others.
- LET’S FIND OUR INDIVIDUALITY! Who we are in Christ Jesus!
2. REMOVE PRIDE FROM THE HOME.
“Judgment of others” will dilute the force of the prayers intended to break through the brassy heavens.
Matthew 7:1-5; Romans 14:13
JUDGEMENT-Is to form a decision based on objective fact.
JUDGEMENTAL- Is to form a decision based on error/ incomplete information
A. People love to judge; it’s the American way.
- We compare others to ourselves the best example of Godliness that we know.
- We compare the doctrines of others to the best doctrine we know: OUR OWN.
- We delight in judging other’s children, careers, & spouses, hoping to find that they are far inferior to ours. Proverbs 16:18
B. Pride is a horrible thing. –Let’s not draw attention to ourselves.
John 12:32
POINT: Bitterness, unforgiveness and prejudice can be manifested as judgmentalism – it wrongfully excludes people.
- It is a good bet that it is not wise to assume that we know better than others.
II Corinthians 10:12
- If you are continually critical of people, with critical comments, and critical accusations. You probably have a critical spirit.
III. THROW AWAY IGNORING OTHERS.
Proverbs 21:13
A. The most stinging accusation leveled at the Church: She has abandoned the poor & needy to the government.
- No matter what the federal government has done in the past or plans to do in the future, God has not revoked our obligation to care for the poor.
- There is a reason that we feel touched when we meet a needy person.
- The Spirit of God within us arouses our sleepy senses and urges us to action.
B. Jesus expects us to heed the cries of the poor that He brings into our path.
There were times that Jesus prayed for specific people, and there were other times that He ministered to everyone. Luke 4:40
This is the message of John the Baptist: PREPARE YE THE WAY OF THE LORD!
POINT: GET RID OF SELF CONDEMNATION, PRIDE, AND IGNORING OTHERS IN THE HOME.
- Can I challenge you to commit to these changes?