{"id":43479,"date":"2022-09-30T22:22:23","date_gmt":"2022-10-01T03:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/principles-of-church-growth-bible-outlines\/"},"modified":"2022-09-30T22:22:23","modified_gmt":"2022-10-01T03:22:23","slug":"principles-of-church-growth-bible-outlines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/principles-of-church-growth-bible-outlines\/","title":{"rendered":"Principles of Church Growth – Bible Outlines"},"content":{"rendered":"

INTRODUCTION:<\/strong>Acts 9:31<\/p>\n

A. The growth of the first century church was both spectacular and constant<\/p>\n

1. Acts 2:41, 47<\/p>\n

2. Acts 4:4<\/p>\n

3. Acts 5:14<\/p>\n

4. Acts 6:1, 7<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

B. What caused this tremendous growth?<\/p>\n

1. I am sure there were many factors, probably some that we have no way of knowing of today.<\/p>\n

2. But in the book of Acts there is a verse that speaks of growth, and factors are named there that helped this growth occur<\/p>\n

3. If we were to employ these same factors, we too, can have church growth.<\/p>\n

C. Persecution arose at Jerusalem, and the disciples had to leave for safety.<\/p>\n

1. Of them it was said – Acts 8:4<\/p>\n

2. As the gospel was scattered abroad where these disciples went, the church flourished<\/p>\n

3. Acts 9:31 speaks of the factors that helped this growth to occur<\/p>\n

4. If we are serious about church growth, we will pay close attention to these four principles of church growth<\/p>\n

DISCUSSION:<\/strong><\/p>\n

A. THE CHURCH HAD PEACE<\/p>\n

1. Through out all the church there was PEACE<\/p>\n

2. Of all people on this earth, the church of Jesus Christ should be at peace, for Jesus is the “Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6).<\/p>\n

a. Jews and Gentiles had always be at enmity with each other,so notice what Jesus did- Ephesians 2:13-15<\/p>\n

b. The message which Jesus gave to the early church to preach to the lost is called “the gospel of peace” (Acts 10:36)<\/p>\n

c. It is by this gospel of peace that men are led to salvation in Christ and in His church (Acts 2:38, 41, 47)<\/p>\n

3. It is because of sin that we are:<\/p>\n

a. Separated from God (Isa. 59:1-2)<\/p>\n

b. No longer in fellowship with God (1 Jn. 1:5-6)<\/p>\n

4. But notice what Christ did for us:<\/p>\n

a. Romans 5:1, 9-10<\/p>\n

b. Colossians 1:20-22<\/p>\n

5. As a result of having peace with God we must also have peach with each other<\/p>\n

a. 1 John 1:6-7<\/p>\n

b. Notice what the Lord prayer for – John 17:20-21<\/p>\n

c. John 13:34-35<\/p>\n

d. When brethren fight and bicker, the world will hear their message, but when the church has peace, hearts are opened to the gospel of peace”<\/p>\n

B. THE CHURCH WAS EDIFIED<\/p>\n

1. To “edify” means to build up, to strengthen and encourage<\/p>\n

a. Ephesians 4:11-12, 16<\/p>\n

b. 2 Peter 3:18 – edification must take place for this to occur<\/p>\n

c. 2 Thessalonians 1:3<\/p>\n

2. When the disciples grew in faith, in love, in dedication, and in commitment to the Lord – is it any wonder that the church grew?<\/p>\n

3. How can we accomplish the edifying of the church?<\/p>\n

a. Good Bible Classes<\/p>\n

1) 2 Timothy 2:2<\/p>\n

a) Good material … sound material<\/p>\n

b) The whole council of God must be taught<\/p>\n

2) James 3:1<\/p>\n

a) Prepared teachers<\/p>\n

b) Qualified teachers … knowledge … Example<\/p>\n

b. Sound preaching<\/p>\n

1) 2 Timothy 4:1-2<\/p>\n

2) Ephesians 4:15 … “truth” … “love”<\/p>\n

3) Acts 20:27<\/p>\n

c. Personal study and effort<\/p>\n

1) Hosea 4:6<\/p>\n

2) 2 Timothy 2:15<\/p>\n

3) Hebrews 5:12<\/p>\n

d. Encouragement<\/p>\n

1) Romans 14:19<\/p>\n

2) Ephesians 4:29<\/p>\n

C. THE CHURCH WALKED IN FEAR OF THE LORD<\/p>\n

1. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon is seen searching for the true meaning to life.<\/p>\n

a. Didn’t find it in pleasure, in material things, in work, or in worldly wisdom.<\/p>\n

b. Ecclesiastes 12:13<\/p>\n

2. To “walk in the fear of the Lord” means more than to just fear God<\/p>\n

a. It means having a changed life because of reverence for God<\/p>\n

b. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Pro. 1:7)<\/p>\n

c. “By fear of the Lord men depart from evil” (Pro. 16:6)<\/p>\n

d. The church of the first century grew because they were intent on serving God “with reverence and awe” (Heb. 12:28)<\/p>\n

3. The church of the first century was doing just what Paul wrote – Philippians 2:12<\/p>\n

a. The first century Christians were an active people, walking as God wanted in the work He gave them to do<\/p>\n

b. Even though they sought God’s kingdom first (Mt. 6:33), they realized that they could not do it alone – Philippians 2:13<\/p>\n

4. But notice that they walked in the “fear of the Lord” and in the “comfort of the Holy Spirit.”<\/p>\n

a. Ephesians 3:16<\/p>\n

b. Romans 8:11<\/p>\n

c. But how does the Spirit do this?<\/p>\n

1) Through the word of God – 2 Peter 1:3<\/p>\n

2) Men, inspired of the Spirit, wrote the words of God to comfort, strengthen, and instruct us in our endeavors as a Christian- 2 Timothy 3:16-17<\/p>\n

3) We will be victorious is we will rely on the comfort of the Holy Spirit<\/p>\n

D. THE CHURCH WAS MULTIPLIED<\/p>\n

1. Look again at the growth of the early church in Jerusalem:<\/p>\n

a. Acts 2:41, 47<\/p>\n

b. Acts 5:14<\/p>\n

c. Acts 6:1, 7<\/p>\n

d. When people live for God, as He wills, they accomplish His work according to His purpose.<\/p>\n

2. A simple fact of farm life is that before there can be a harvest the seed must be planted.<\/p>\n

a. “The seed is the word of God” (Lk. 8:11)<\/p>\n

b. Just as was true then, the gospel is still “the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16)<\/p>\n

c. Notice what the Christians of the first century did – Acts 8:4<\/p>\n

d. Andrew heard Jesus and was convinced He was the Christ, but notice what he did- John 1:41-42<\/p>\n

e. This was the pattern with all those believers; they were busy telling others about Jesus.<\/p>\n

f. It was natural that they speak of their Savior, just as natural as breathing- 2 Corinthians 4:13<\/p>\n

CONCLUSION:<\/strong><\/p>\n

A. Is the church at Avenue T growing as it should?<\/p>\n

B. If it isn’t, maybe we need to examine again the early church and pattern our lives after the lives of those people<\/p>\n

C. Acts 9:31<\/p>\n

D. It worked for them 1900 years ago, it will work today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

INTRODUCTION:Acts 9:31 A. The growth of the first century church was both spectacular and constant 1. Acts 2:41, 47 2. Acts 4:4 3. Acts 5:14 4. Acts 6:1, 7 B. What caused this tremendous growth? 1. I am sure there were many factors, probably some that we have no way of knowing of today. 2. … Continue reading “Principles of Church Growth – Bible Outlines”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43479\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}