This Sunday, September 12, marks the official beginning of our academic year. We are launching the teaching series for the year—“Building His Church,” the focus of study that will take us through Easter 2022. The series is constructed on the foundation of last year’s series, “The Book of Jesus” (September 2020 – May 2021).
How are we going to do this? Well, we are going walk through the building process together.
Let me illustrate: If you were building a new, custom home, you would work closely with the architect, the designer, the construction foreman. In response to their plans, you would spend lots of time going to carpet stores, paint stores, furniture stores, fireplace shops, kitchen showrooms—all because you wanted to make sure that you physically built those four walls in a way that were perfectly suited your desires. This would be your home—a custom home just for you.
The Church is built and established by Jesus. The Church is Jesus’ Body.
1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the Body of Christ, and each one of you is part of it.
This verse was taught in the series prelude last Sunday. It is the keynote memory verse for the whole academic year.
If you are reading this article, it is highly likely that you would call yourself a “disciple” and a “Christ follower.” If so, you need to understand that it is your responsibility to thoroughly wrap your head and heart around what Jesus was declaring about his Church.
Our focus story for this Sunday is found in Matthew 16:13-20, and Jesus’ words to Peter:
Matthew 16:18 ...[O]n this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
This was Jesus’ declaration! In this statement and in the amazing words in this story, we find the building owner (Jesus Christ) laying out the framework for his Church.
Through this whole year, we are going to construct four walls, each with a specific design to fulfill the purpose of Jesus’ Church. It is his. HE is the HEAD of it. WE— as his people, his BODY—must work at knowing and building the walls that fit the design of the owner of this Church, Jesus Christ. Over the many weeks ahead, we will look at God’s design for his Church as we build the four walls of his Church:
- The Kingdom Wall — Βασίλειο
- The Community Wall — κοινωνία
- The “Called Out Ones” Wall — Εκκλησία
- The Witness Wall — μάρτυρας
Steps for growth
- Memorize 1 Corinthians 12:27 for the whole year. Make this verse part of your common vocabulary.
- Read the story found in Matthew 16:13-20 before Sunday morning.
- Take notes during the sermon.
- Printed notes are available for you at the church on Sundays.
- Sermon notes can also be found on this page, which is updated weekly. You can either download them to print at home, or follow along on the web page.
- If you miss a Sunday or need to review, you can find past sermons, along with links to the sermon notes, in the sermon archive. You’ll also find a link to the previous week’s sermon in each weekly InnerView newsletter.
- Explore the “Digging Deeper” questions (included with the sermon notes) with your small group—either a Church in the Lobby group immediately after the service, or a LifeGroup sometime during the week. Digging deeper will challenge you to understand and apply the sermon to your life.
- If you do not have a small group, please contact Alvin Lin at alin@lifewayconnect.com in order to find a group.
- If you do not have a small group, please contact Alvin Lin at alin@lifewayconnect.com in order to find a group.
- Take it all home, ruminate on it again—then put it into practice!
A Final Word
It is common for a preacher to talk about how important the sermon is. But I am not exaggerating one bit by saying that, as his disciple, you MUST get a handle on this study. This is not just for seminarians or Bible college students. The Church (us, his Body) MUST get ahold of this critical teaching and its eternal significance. Do NOT miss this. There is NO EXCUSE to not walk through this together. In this modern world, if you are gone one weekend, it is so very simple to find the teaching online. Stay with us. During the academic year of 2021-2022, we have the God-given opportunity to BUILD HIS CHURCH. Let’s do it together.
See you Sunday morning.
