Sermons on Building a Church

9. Preparing To Be The Bride Of Christ

Dave Pym Petersham Baptist Church Associate Pastor

2 Corinthians 12:14 – 13:14

Introduction – Are we ready for Jesus’ return?
1. Paul’s concern for the Corinthians’ good (12:14-19)
2. The Corinthians’ love of the ways of the world (12:20-21)
3. Paul’s plan for dealing with unrepentance (13:1-4)
4. The Corinthians’ opportunity for self-correction (13:5-12)

3. Being Jesus Witnesses Beyond the Familiar and Comfortable

Dave Pym Petersham Baptist Church Associate Pastor

Unfortunately the recording of the sermon is of poor quality so is not included here.

John 4:1-42

  • Who are our Samaritans?
  • Jesus and the Samaritan woman
  1. Choosing to move beyond the comfortable (4:1-4)
  2. Positioning ourselves to encounter the unfamiliar (4:5-6)
  3. Establishing connections across social and cultural barriers (4:7-9)
  4. Using the tangible to direct attention to the spiritual (4:10-15)
  5. Conversing with compassion rather than condemnation (4:16-18)
  6. Downplaying religious differences to focus on common spiritual aspirations (4:19-24)
  7. Presenting Jesus as the ultimate answer to every spiritual longing (4:25-26)

1. Preparing to be Jesus’ Witnesses

Dave Pym Petersham Baptist Church Associate Pastor

Matthew 9:9-13, 35-38

  1. Our fear of ‘Evangelism’ and ‘Mission’
  2. Ordinary believers are Jesus’ method of building His Church
  3. Becoming an Acts 1:8 church
  4. The Importance of preparing  
  5. We are witnesses for Jesus when we tell His story

Are we:

  • too focused on ourselves
  • too empty – have nothing to share
  • too respectable – don’t want to damage our reputation
  • too similar to those who don’t know Christ
  • too ignorant of the Good News
  • too apathetic to consider the needy and the lost
  • too terrified of what others might think
  • too insulated within our own Christian ghetto

As Witnesses for Christ, let’s note:

  1. Jesus calls us to follow Him (Matt 9:9)
  2. Jesus affirms our existing relationships, in that he wants us to share His love with our friends (Matt 9:10-11)
  3. We should be focused on people who know they have a need. We should show mercy as Jesus did (Matt 9:11-13)
  4. Be speaking the Truth about Him, and be loving in our actions like Him (Matt 9:35)
  5. He wants a deep community passion to motivate us into loving and telling action (Matt 9:36)
  6. “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few”. Let’s be aware of the need and act for His glory (Matt 9:37-38).