We all want to be a part of a movement… Core Assumption…

The movement we are made to be a part of is God’s Gospel movement… Core Conviction…

The church is God’s bride: a purely prepared, faithfully devoted, & intimate lover for the glory of God.

Biblical Basis? Lamentations 1:2,8-10  Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies Jerusalem has sinned greatly and so has become unclean. All who honored her despise her, for they have all seen her naked; she herself groans and turns away. 9 Her filthiness clung to her skirts; she did not consider her future. Her fall was astounding; there was none to comfort her. “Look, Lord, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed.” 10 The enemy laid hands on all her treasures; she saw pagan nations enter her sanctuary — those you had forbidden to enter your assembly.

Biblical Basis? John 14:1-3  “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Biblical Basis? 2 Corinthians 11:2-4  2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

Biblical Basis? James 4:4-5  4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?

Biblical Basis? Revelations 19:9  Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.” Revelation 21:9ff  One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

The church IS purely prepared… 2 Corinthians 11:2  2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. Ephesians 5:25-27  25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

The church is to be faithfully devoted to her husband… 2 Corinthians 11:2-4  2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

The church is to be faithfully devoted to her husband… James 4:4-5  4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?

The church is to be faithfully devoted to her husband… The path toward adultery: 1.Problems in the relationship  Warning signs… The things of God are losing their fizz Spiritual events become burdensome & monotonous God’s ways start to feel too restrictive Drawn to other “believers” who reinforce your cynicism & half-heartedness Living outside the purposes of God sounds like the path to freedom

The church is to be faithfully devoted to her husband… The path toward adultery: 2.Mental adultery has become normative.  James 4:4  4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

The church is to be faithfully devoted to her husband… The path toward adultery: 2.Mental adultery has become normative.  Warning signs… Our thoughts become obsessed with the values of the world’s system Our deepest dreams have little to do with the Gospel and the advance of the kingdom of God We find ourselves working harder and harder to explain our lack of spiritual fruitfulness

The church is to be faithfully devoted to her husband… The path toward adultery: 3.Full-fledged adulterous obsession.

The church is to be faithfully devoted to her husband… “Today, we have accommodated the Christian gospel to western culture, so that materialism, career, personal comfort, and private living have crowded out any possibility of living according to the New Testament pattern... Western Christians, including pastors, are torn. They know the ‘one another’ passages are in the Bible, and should be obeyed in a community setting. But as so many pastors and home group leaders have said to me, ‘Our people are really busy!’ That’s supposed to explain why we, as modern people, can’t be expected to do what the Bible teaches. It’s true – there’s no way we can live a typical American lifestyle?

The church is to be faithfully devoted to her husband… with our kids’ multiple sports leagues, our large SUV payments, daycare bills, time for entertainment, the extra hours at work and the gym, and still obey the ‘one another’ passages. Something has to give... So, what’s the answer? Clearly, if we want to honor God, if we believe his will is best for our lives, if we believe the Bible is inspired and binding on all people, we will have to break ranks with American culture’s values system. We simply cannot follow God in areas like radical fellowship when our time commitments fill our lives with higher priorities. Surely, we must realize that we can’t take teaching like the one another passages

The church is to be faithfully devoted to her husband… seriously and still expect to match our neighbors in the world-system who have nothing to do but gain money and serve themselves.” -Dennis McCallum in Members of One Another

So what do we do?  List out our honest, true priorities in life  List out our preferred priorities  REPENT PASSIONATELY!!!

So what do we do?  List out our honest, true priorities in life  List out our preferred priorities  REPENT PASSIONATELY!!! James 4:4-10  4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up

So what do we do?  List out our honest, true priorities in life  List out our preferred priorities  REPENT PASSIONATELY!!!  Begin cutting things from the bottom up in order to pursue strategic simplification

So what do we do?  List out our honest, true priorities in life  List out our preferred priorities  REPENT PASSIONATELY!!!  Begin cutting things from the bottom up in order to pursue strategic simplification 2 Corinthians 11:2-3  2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere (simplicity) and pure devotion to Christ.

So what do we do?  List out our honest, true priorities in life  List out our preferred priorities  REPENT PASSIONATELY!!!  Begin cutting things from the bottom up in order to pursue strategic simplification  Be gracefully, but fervently interested in one another’s faithful devotion to Christ

The church is to be God’s intimate lover… James 4:4-10  4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

The church is to be God’s intimate lover… Hosea 2:14-15  14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.