"I Will Lead My Family to Be Healthy Church Members" Rev Reginald W Sharpe Jr Wednesday July 13 2022

1:41 What a powerful book this has been. I am a church member. not just somebody sitting in a pew sitting in a seat but I am literally a part of the body of Christ that word member in the King James version of the Bible whenever you see it in the New Testament it it usually meant a body part a body part so I'm a member I'm a part of the body and I'm significant I may just work the parking lot I may work in the kids ministry I may serve with the men's ministry. I may work as an ambassador and usher on the hospitality team or serve in the parking lot ministry or in the music ministry. I may be a minister and all I do is whisper one prayer maybe every now and then. I'm on the prayer team. Whatever you do, you help this ship. You help this church stay strong because you are a part of the body of Christ. And chapter five, the title of chapter five, which I love is I will lead my family to be healthy church members.

2:47 I will lead my family to be healthy church members. It's not just about you. It's about your entire family. You being an example for your children, you encouraging your, your husband or your wife to come and be a part of the church. I know people who go to church for years and their family never come well you know you you can't make a grown person come to church but you can be intentional about sharing with that person that it means something to me when we go worship together it means something to me when we are a part of a part of the body of Christ together and so the opening illustration that Tom Rainer talks about in this chapter he reads to he tells this story let me read it to you three pastors got together one day for coffee and found that all of their churches had problems and particularly there was a bat problem BAT they were a problem with bats and so one of the pastors says I got so mad one day I took a shotgun and fired at them I made holes in the ceilings but did it did nothing to the bats I another one said I tried trapping them alive and then I drove 50 miles before releasing them but they beat me back to the church and I and I haven't had any more problems because they were in the church and then the third one said well what the third guy was asked well what did you do the third pastor he said well I simply baptized them and let them join the church and I haven't seen them since and so the first two pastors the bats kept coming back kept coming back the third pastor jokingly said well I just baptized them and let them join and I haven't seen them since that's what happens a lot with people and they come they join they get excited on that day they give shake my hand give god their heart and we baptize them or welcome into into the family and we never see them again you don't want to be that kind of member and you don't just want to be the member who's only focused on what this church does for you what your walk with god does for you but it ought to be a psalm 23 my cup overflows huh you you you want everybody in your life to benefit because you are connected

4:56 to the church and specifically because you go to fellowship it ought to impact every other relationship when people see your excitement about church it makes them excited when people hear you speaking well of the church they speak well of the church even if they have that kind of side-eyeing moments because you're so positive because you are always sharing what God has done for you at your church it makes people want to come to church and that's what happens all the time your friends end up joining because you keep posting and you keep sharing and you keep going home talking about the message and you keep going home talking about worship I'm trying to tell you that it's not just about you it's about your entire family and what I love about this is in Ephesians chapter 5 Paul uses a lot of language about the family and Christ the family and the body of Christ I'm gonna read it out the version that Tom Rainer has and then I want to read it out of the message bible Ephesians chapter 5 verse 29 and 33 listen to the language of how family shows up in the body of Christ Ephesians 5 verse 29 reads like this for no one ever hates his own flesh but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it just as Christ does for the church verse 30 because we are members of his body for this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and be joined his wife and and the two will become one flesh this is great mystery but I am speaking about Christ and the church each of you however should love his wife as himself and a wife should respect her husband check this language Paul is using all this language that kind of interweaves between Christ loving the church how a husband should love his wife and Christ has given his life to care for the church is as if the the church is the bride of Christ or the wife quote unquote of Christ and be just like a husband takes care of his bride or supposed to and just

7:02 like a bride is supposed to respect her husband supposed to catch me right there that's the that's the kind of imagery that Christ has with the church it is something you nourish it is something that you spend time with and so because no church is perfect we've got to love this place like Christ loved this place let me read it again out another version 29 no one abuses his own body does he no he feeds and pampers it that's how Christ treats us the church since we are part of the body and this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife no longer two they become one flesh this is a huge mystery and I don't pretend to understand it this is a message Bible I like this it's a huge mystery I don't pretend to understand it what is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church and this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife loving himself and loving her and how each wife is to honor her own husband don't miss this now christ takes care of the church just the way a husband or wife takes care of their lover their boo their bae and so because we are a part of the body of christ we should be intentional about caring for the church speaking well of the church the same thing you do in a relationship to make sure it grows and it blossoms i hope y'all are catching me is the same thing you have to do with your relationship with the church so it doesn't just happen in bloom and you become excited about it by osmosis no no it happens because it's a relationship you're working on you are excited about being a church member you're looking to grow as a church member you're speaking life into the church your presence makes the church better so if christ loves the church and you are a follower of christ you too have to love the church the same way christ loves the church am i making sense am i coming through so you got to watch people who always got some negative to say about the church wait this is the lord's church he said upon the rock i upon this

9:08 rock i will build my church and so you got to watch folk always side eye in the church nothing's right at the church well it's probably a person that has not worked to develop a healthy relationship with a church because a church is never going to be perfect but we serve a perfect god and if watch this now if you fall in love with the body of christ the people at the church a community of faith i promise you it becomes electric it becomes electrifying and those who in your life will want to join you on this new faith walk that you're on so there's a couple things that Tom Rainer lifts for us in this chapter five and I and it seems simple but I promise you it's so divine here's how we grow as the family of God here's how we grow as a church here's how we make sure that everybody just keeps wanting to be a part of our church number one Pray together as a family for the church.

10:07 Pray together as a family for the church. And you got to pray for the leaders of the church, for the spiritual protection of the church, for protection from moral failure, for the preaching of the word. Pray for families. Pray for the encouragement of the people, the physical strength of the people, the courage of the people, the discernment of the people, the wisdom of the leaders. You ought to pray that the gospel changes lives at the church. You ought to pray for unity in the body of Christ. You ought to pray that this church is able to impact the community. You ought to pray that those who have strayed away. I preached on Sunday talking about those that walked away from the faith. You ought to pray that God reconciles people back. You ought to pray that sound doctrine is taught at the church. You ought to pray for the specific ministries of the church. Pray for the worship experiences that God moves in the church. All I'm trying to tell you is something that you've never heard before, and that is when is the last time you prayed with your family for the church?

11:10 Because if I pray with my family for the church specifically, I am planting a seed in my son, in my daughter, in my family, that this is the way Christians behave when it comes to the church of Jesus Christ. I'm not at home talking about what I don't like. I'm at home asking God In the presence of my children In the presence of my wife Or my boo God, hey, babe, hey, listen We're going to watch Netflix in a minute But can we just park for a second And pray for the church Pray for the pastor real quick What kind of message do you send To your children Hey, have you prayed for the church? Have you prayed for fellowship recently? Ask your children Well, no, dad, I ain't No, mama, I ain't praying for the church Yeah, you should pray for the church Anything going, everything all right? you know when you start asking for prayer people assume something's wrong no ain't nothing wrong we just want god to keep it right and so you send this reverberation of good vibes through your own family when you commit to praying for your pastor praying for the leaders and praying for the church in the in the presence of other people that you love because when they see that you love this place enough to pray it makes them have a higher respect for this place i know it's simple and i know you're like pastor that's all you got for us today i'm trying to tell you you want your whole family to come to church don't you well you have to plant seeds to make church significant or else they'll sweep it away and and you'll lose a whole generation behind you because you'll be the last one that actually cares here's another one here's another here's another one how i make sure my family becomes a part of church not just pray for the church as a family worship together as a family it's nothing like saying hey y'all we going to church today are y'all coming with me today i want you to be my special guest today i i know someone she wouldn't mind me sharing this but uh pj that's her nickname for me she is pastor jenkins oldest daughter and a few weeks ago a few weeks ago at this time, she and her family came to worship and when they showed up, her whole family,

13:19 all her cousins were in church, all of her friends who live around the Chicagoland area showed up to church and I said, isn't this nice that everybody came to church with you today? She said, I called them and I text them and I said, we're going to church today. I would love to see you there. she said that's all I did I called and I text and I said I'm going to church today we're in town I would love to see you there and rows of cousins rows of friends showed up because somebody invited them to come worship with her she invited her family and her friends to come worship with her what I'm saying to you is when is the last time that you got so excited about what God was doing at your church whether it's fellowship or another church that you just call somebody and said i really want you to worship with me today what you're doing for your birthday well first we're going to church then we're going to turn up at brunch but we're going to start the day with jesus huh you got to do it how you got to do it's a new day it's a new flow it's a new flavor but when's the last time you let your light shine so bright that people wanted to come hang out with you at church because of your love for God your love for Jesus your love for worship and you brought your family with you I know it's a little difficult but sometimes you have to just you know make a make a promise or something make use your creativity to get those members in your family that really don't like to come to church and you say hey if you come to church with me this day I'll do something with you whatever you want me to do we'll go do that you never know the bible says yeah that that one man got healed I believe it's John I believe it's Mark chapter 2 or Mark chapter 3 there was a man they had to tear the roof off y'all know this scripture I can't remember exactly it's either Mark 2 Mark 1 but there was a sick man and his friends brought him to church brought him to church Jesus was teaching in this house it was so packed that they had to cut the roof off they had to raise the roof literally and let down the man through the roof and when the Bible says watch this when

15:29 Jesus saw their faith he healed the man the man didn't even ask to be healed but Jesus was so moved by the faith of the man's friends that his healing became accelerated because his friends had faith that he could be healed and so what I'm trying to tell you on a deeper uh-huh more divine level some stuff shifts in your family because of your faith some relationships can be healed some people in your life can get what they need their transformation their miracle not because they actually walked in and gave their life and been faithful showing up every Sunday but because you never lost your faith you your faith in God can help somebody else have an experience with Jesus Christ. So don't give up on praying together as a family and friends for the church, worshiping together as family. And then here's the third one. Here's the third one. Here's the third one. I love this one. Love the church and encourage your family to do the same. I love my church. So I'm going to encourage my family to do the same. I know some of you all are looking at me saying, now this seems very, very simple. I want you to know something. Lean up. Death and life lies in the power of your tongue do you know how many people go home and bash pastors bash preachers and bash the ministry that they're a part of why would i be excited to go to your church that you ain't got nothing good to talk about you don't like the pastor you don't like how you dress you don't like first lady you don't like her hair you don't like the choir they sing too long you don't like to worship but church too long service and the people did and they did this and i did this your words have run more people away from the church than you know so switch it and speak well until you see it speak life until you see life i want you to make sure that you represent christ

17:35 even in how you talk about god's church are we perfect absolutely not do we have things to work on we absolutely do but as a church member i'm not merely i'm not merely interested in just coming to church myself serving doing what i got to do and falling deeply falling deeply in love with my church no no no no i want everybody around me to love jesus like i love jesus you you you love god you don't love god what's wrong with you i want you to be able to have that kind of experience i love God you don't love God what's wrong with you I want you to feel weird around me if you're not into the church and it's not because I think I'm better than you I want you to experience what I experience so I'm gonna keep inviting you and I'm gonna live it oh oh I'm gonna live it I am the 67th book of the Bible and some people are not gonna read any book in the Bible you're the only book they're going to read you are the 67th book so if they're watching you if they're listening to you do you make church a place where people want to grow and grow here's the pledge for the week it's coming up on the screen let's say it together let's say it together i will lead my family to be good members of this church as well we will pray together for our church we will worship together in our church we will serve together in our church and we will ask christ to help us fall deeper in love with this church because he gave his life for her. I pray that this becomes something real for you. I hope that you don't just love church, but be a little bothered when you're the only one in your house that's showing up to worship. And if honestly, if there's something at fellowship that we can do to make this church more appetizing, more welcoming, more hospitable for your family.

19:34 Maybe they're young people. Maybe they're teenagers. Maybe they're children. Whatever that is, come holler at us. Don't just talk about us. If you see something missing, your eyesight, maybe the pair of eyes that we need to correct what's not right.