Collective Church

In this episode of the Collective Church podcast, Pastor PJ Noland and Collective member Joe Dunn discuss The Blessed Sacrifice. Learn how your faithfulness to what you have now determines how you will be entrusted with more in the future. The faithful servants were given greater responsibilities and invited to share in their master's joy. (Matthew 25:20-23 ESV)

Key Thought: The Blessed Church is made up of many members who surrender time, talents, and treasures so that the body of Christ may be built up and God’s kingdom can advance.

Blessed Unity
John 17:20-21, Acts 2:42, 44, & 47

Key Point: Unity is vital to the health of the church. 

On this episode of the Collective Church podcast, PJ Noland, Lead Pastor, discusses how, on the Day of Pentecost, the church was unified in their awe of who God was and was devoted to meeting the needs of those in the fellowship. Listen in and learn what you can do to be a unifier in the Church.

Do you ever wonder how the church at Ephesus went from being known by Paul as having a "love incorruptible" (Ephesians 6:23-24) to 30 years later being called out by John as having "abandoned the love you had at first" (Revelation 2:1-3)? Listen to PJ Noland as he shares with us how this happened and how we, as the church of today, can recover the love we had at first.

Listen in as Justin Harrell, Collective Church Elder, shares with us what happened soon after the day of Pentecost, when 3,000 souls were added to the church, and how the first church members devoted themselves to four specific practices: the apostles’ teachings, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. Take a moment to remember what the early church looked like in scripture and compare it to what it looks like today. 

In scripture, we read that the Lord refers to his church as a body and, at other times, as a family, house, or city.  The Psalmist says, "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain." (Psalm 127:1 ESV). This underscores the importance of God's presence in our church.  As God continues to bless and build our church, we want to make sure that He is our foundation and that we do not labor in vain.  So, what will it take for Collective church to remain vibrant, exciting, alive, and blessed?
God has gifted his church with power, and that power is available to us: the power of God's Holy Spirit. In Acts chapter 2, we're given a close-up look at the power of the Holy Spirit.

Key Thought: The blessed church needs the power of God's Holy Spirit.

Part 4

Our time in Psalm 1 comes to a close today.  We'll recap the series thus far and take a look at what it looks like to be situated by the waters.  What does that even mean?  How does one become situated by the waters, and what does life look like when you are?

Key Passage: Psalm 1:1-6

Key Thought: The livelihood of a tree will always be dependent upon the source from which it draws life.
 

Part 3:   

As we delve into part 3 of our series, we discover that the person God blesses is not only separated from the world but also saturated in the Word of God. As followers of Christ, how do we live separated from the world while still obeying Jesus' commands to be salt of the world?  As we get into verses two and three, we find that the answer to the question above hinges upon us being saturated in the Word of God.

Key Thought: The deeper your roots, the wider your reach.

Key Passage: Psalm 1:1-3

Part 2
Last week, we laid the foundation for this series by discussing the people God blesses and the type of life they lead. Today, we're going deeper into the topic of living a life separated from the world.  This doesn't mean we isolate ourselves and not share the good news, but there are steps we can take to keep ourselves in alignment with God's Word and his will for our lives.

Key Passage:  Psalm 1:1

Key Thought: You can't expect to live a life that is blessed if you're walking with the wrong people.

Part 1
Psalm chapter one is a passage that very plainly helps us filter what may be wrong in our lives while simultaneously showing us the right things we need to pursue.   
This week, we'll examine the two types of people described in Psalm 1: the faithful (the blessed) and the faithless (the perishing).

Key Passage: Psalm 1:1

Key Thought: God enjoys blessing your life, but you must be "blessable."

A pillar of our church was taken away from us last week. Matt Gipson has been promoted to heaven.  We have been celebrating his gain, but we are still at a loss. We are truly in it together and want to begin to take the appropriate steps to grieve this loss and continue to minister to one another. 

Larry Barker joins us in this time to minister to us on “How to Grieve with One Another.” Proverbs 17 says, “a brother is born for adversity,” and we are thankful our brother has come to minister to us in our adversity. 

Encourage: to pour courage into one another

Thought processes to be cautious of:

1.     Horizontal Viewpoint vs Vertical Viewpoint

•   A horizontal viewpoint is when we stop praying, looking up, and listening to God. 
• Psalms 73:16-17

2.     Pessimistic Reasoning

• Assuming evil has won.
• Disappointment -> Discouragement -> Depression
• Lamentations 3:22-23
•  Invest in Hopefulness

3.     Rationalistic Logic

• Psalms 9:7-11

4. Relational Sabotage

• Proverbs 28: 26

 Who and What to Lean on:

1.     Lean on Jesus

2.     Lean on Truth

3.     Lean on Family