2024 Theme: Living Life Aligned with the Divine Design Sermon Series:
BE the Church, Part 3
John M. Wallace, Jr., PhD
July 21, 2024
Sermon in a Sentence: The Key BEhaviors of a Kingdom Church are Unity and Community Empowered by God
Psalm 133:1 How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
Genesis 11:5-6 5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
John 17:20-21 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Acts 2:42-47 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 4:32-35 32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
Application
1. Complete the Financial Freedom Course: Apply the truths of scripture, and the tools from Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace class, to wisely and effectively manage the resources God has given to me.
2. Join the BC Financial Freedom Facebook Group
3. Take the Three-Month Tithing Challenge: I will put God first in my finances and witness His
provision, protection, and blessings.
4. Will Creation Workshop: preserve the wealth that God gives me, pass it on to the people, organizations and causes I value.
2024 Theme: Living Life Aligned with the Divine Design Sermon Series:
BE the Church, Part 2
John M. Wallace, Jr., PhD
July 14, 2024
Sermon in a Sentence: When the Church BE Church-ing God’s Kingdom is advanced (i.e., His will being done on earth as it is in Heaven)
Our Vision
To make earth [here] more like heaven [there] (i.e., to BE a Kingdom Church)
#HereLikeThere
Matthew 6:9-10 9 “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Our Mission
We Love God.
Matthew 22:36-40 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
We Love People (including Ourselves).
Matthew 22:36-40 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
We Live Like Jesus.
John 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
1 John 2:3-6 3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
Matthew 9:35 Jesus continued going around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.
Acts 10:37-39 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
Key Truth
God’s Kingdom is advanced when the Church (individually and collectively) does good!
Jeremiah 29:4-7 4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”
Application
1. Complete the Financial Freedom Course: Apply the truths of scripture, and the tools from Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace class, to wisely and effectively manage the resources God has given to me.
2. Take the Three-Month Tithing Challenge: I will put God first in my finances and witness His provision, protection, and blessings
3. Will Creation Workshop: preserve the wealth that God gives me, pass it on to the people, organizations and causes I value.
2024 Theme: Living Life Aligned with the Divine Design
Sermon Series: BE the Church, Part 1
John M. Wallace, Jr., PhD
July 7, 2024
Key Kingdom Principle: The Church is God’s Family
1 John 3:1 3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
1 Timothy 3:15 if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
Ephesians 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God
1 Timothy 5:15 Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.
Key Kingdom Principle: In God’s Family (i.e., the Church), Obedience PRECEDES Understanding
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Psalm 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.
Psalm 119: 100 I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts.
What Happens When the Church be Churching?
Sermon in a Sentence: When the church be churching there will be no needs in the church
Acts 2:42-47 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 4:32-35 32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
1 Timothy 6:17-19 17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
Application
1. Complete the Financial Freedom Course: Apply the truths of scripture, and the tools from Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace class, to wisely and effectively manage the resources God has given to me.
2. Take the Three-Month Tithing Challenge: I will put God first in my finances and witness His provision, protection, and blessings.
3. Will Creation Workshop: preserve the wealth that God gives me, pass it on to the people, organizations, and causes I value.
Disclaimer: Everyone is entitled to their opinion. We believe and teach that the Bible is God’s Word — His opinion — and provides His instruction for how to live life under His rule (i.e., the Kingdom of God).
