| The
Imperfect Churches of the Perfect Christ
– Make Your Choice: • Congregation #1 has an outspoken portion
of members who are legalistically binding things on others that God has not
bound, leading to serious controversy (__________________ – Acts 15:1,
5) • Congregation #2 is struggling
with the tendency to quarrel with each other over matters of opinion
(_________ – Rom 14:1-4, 10-13) •
Congregation #3 is arrogantly allowing sexual immorality that would make the
most worldly unbeliever blush to go on unchecked among their membership
(_______________ – 1 Cor 5:1-2) •
Congregation #4 is on the brink of deserting Jesus and the call of God’s
grace by turning to a different gospel (______________ – Gal 1:6-7) • Congregation #5 has more than one
overseer on the pathway to departure from the truth and leading the church
into division (_________________ – Acts 20:28-30)• Congregation #6 has two
female members whose struggle to get along has gotten so bad that they’re
being called out by name (______________ – Phil 4:2-3) • Congregation #7 has members whose
unwillingness to let go of human teachings is leading to what the apostle
Paul would describe as “self-made religion” (______________ – Col 2:20-23) • Congregation #8 contains a number of
brethren who would rather consistently mooch off the other members of the
congregation than work (_______________________ – 2 Thes 3:6-11) • Congregation #9 has members who do not
understand the things about which they are confidently speaking and are
swerving away from sound doctrine (_________________ – 1 Tim 1:3-7) • Congregation #10 has empty talkers and
deceivers who need to be silenced because they are capsizing the faith of
entire families in the church (___________ – Tit 1:10-14) • Congregation #11 has a bully who is so
fixated on “it’s my way or the highway” that he has become a local church
tyrant (_________________ – 3 John 9-10)
Important Observations: 1. Not
one of these churches _____________ represented the will of the perfect
Christ .2. Churches are messy because
they are made up of __________. 3.
Every church—ancient and modern—is a ________ in progress. 4. The perfect Christ specializes in
working with people who realize their ongoing __________ for him. 5. When I realize my ongoing need for him,
I will persistently “draw near to ________ him. ”6. When we properly recognize who he is
and who we are, we will _______ to him.
7. We don’t have to ___________ what submission sounds like, looks
like, or acts like. 8. Our standard is
not ourselves or other local churches, but _________ revealed will. 9. If we will listen, trust, submit, and
follow the lead of our perfect King, he will lead us to _________ ! |
