Greg Lancaster

What is the church, and what is its purpose? The church began when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost. Jesus lived, died, rose, and told His disciples to wait for power from on high. Acts shows a people filled with the Spirit, devoted to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer, meeting in homes and seeing the Lord add to their number daily.

God's original intent includes staying in a place of perpetual church planting. Honor God and honor one another, and you will see Him do awesome things. When the church stays on mission to make disciples and plant new life in Christ, more souls are won into the kingdom of God. That is purpose: be the church Jesus launched, not a monument to what once was.

Takeaway: The church began at Pentecost with Spirit-filled people on mission. Stay in perpetual church planting and honor God together.

Scripture (NIV)

- Acts 2:42-47: They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

The church is not a compilation of specialties. It is family. When we forget family and turn the gathering into an organization, people can sit among hundreds and leave as lonely as they arrived. What holds a people together is not only the bricks of programs and gifts. It is the mortar.

Colossians 3:12-14 calls God's chosen people to clothe themselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, and over all these virtues to put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Love is the mortar. Social support, loyalty, and trust make people fruitful. Welcome into the family of God is not a slogan. It is something we learn and walk out together because our Father is committed to His family.

Takeaway: Love is the mortar of the church. Be family, not a lonely crowd of specialties.

Scripture (NIV)

In Jerusalem Christianity became a religion. In Greece it became a philosophy. In Rome an institution. In Britain a tradition. In America an enterprise. When the first thought about church is incorporation, business cards, and boards that overrule what God said, we have drifted from the pure expression of the gospel.

The purest form of Christianity is family. The Father gave His Son. We pray Our Father. We are sons and daughters who treat one another as mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters. Do not dump everything America has done. Get to the purest form of the gospel and the purest form of Christianity: family under the Father.

Takeaway: The pure expression of the church is family under the Father, not religion, philosophy, tradition, or enterprise.

Scripture (NIV)

Family is an oddity in a culture that uses the word lightly. Jesus defined family in Matthew 12 when His mother and brothers stood outside. He pointed to His disciples and said whoever does the will of His Father in heaven is His brother and sister and mother. The structure of the church is family, not enterprise, religion, philosophy, or tradition.

People crave what Jesus was doing in the house. They crave fathers, mentors, and real belonging. Compassion for the least, invitation to those who cannot repay you, and love that lays down its life mark the kingdom. Return from enterprise to family. Let the Father's business be raising sons and daughters who do His will together.

Takeaway: Jesus defines family as those who do the Father's will. The church is that family. Live it in the house, not as an enterprise.

Scripture (NIV)

Rethinking church means dropping us and them. There is one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. Ephesians 4 calls us to unity as the organism of Christ, not competing organizations. When selfish ambition and rivalry rule, the body cannot function as it was designed.

Jesus is the head of the church and the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Getting along under His Lordship is how His body works. Fight the mindsets and accusations that divide, and give honor to each part as it does its work. We are for you, the believer who wants to know God, hear His voice, and walk with Him in marriage, family, and fruitfulness. Not us and them. Just us, the body of Christ.

Takeaway: The church is one body under one Lord. Drop us and them. Honor every part and walk in unity.

Scripture (NIV)

God is a God of order, but His name is not Robert. Families have function and structure without Robert's Rules of Order. The church is the body of Christ, not a corporation run by motions, seconds, and votes. Colossians 2:8 warns us not to be taken captive by hollow philosophy that depends on human tradition rather than on Christ.

Order in the family of God flows from relationship, love, and the gifts Jesus gave the church. You do not need a parliamentary procedure to ask for Parmesan cheese at the table. Father says go get it. When we operate in love, people know we are His disciples. Pull out every practice that makes us look like church when there is no love there. God is a God of order, and His order looks like family.

Takeaway: God's order is family love, not Robert's Rules. Live as the body of Christ under Jesus, not as a corporation.

Scripture (NIV)

So many people are looking for something to stand on. Maybe a degree, a job, a marriage, a house. But God said through Isaiah, if you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. In this message we look at the promise God gave Judah: stand firm in faith and I will deliver you from your enemies. God is not a man that He should lie. Everything He says He will do, He will do. But a double-minded person, going back and forth between fear and faith, should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

Then we walk through Ephesians 6 piece by piece. Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power, not your own. Put on the full armor of God so you can stand when the day of evil comes. Our struggle is not against people but against spiritual forces of evil. I share what my bulletproof vest and rifle plate meant to me as a deputy, and how the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit, and prayer in the Spirit let you stand firm no matter what comes against you.

Takeaway: Stop standing on things that shake. Put on the full armor of God, stand firm in your faith, and after you have done everything, stand.

Scripture (NIV)

- Numbers 23:19: God is not human, that He should lie, not a human being, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?

- Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

- Malachi 3:10: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

- James 1:6-8: But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

- James 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.

- Ephesians 6:10-13: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

- Ephesians 6:14-18: Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

- Hebrews 11:6: And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

Nobody likes to wait. But waiting on God does something nothing else can do. It brings our motives to the surface. In this message we look at three kinds of motives that waiting reveals: the self-exalting motives the enemy feeds, the self-protecting motives of the flesh, and the willing, surrendered heart that is led by the Spirit of God.

We walk through Abraham, Moses, Israel in the wilderness, and the believers who waited for the Holy Spirit as Jesus commanded. God is not in a hurry, and He is not looking for golden vessels. He is looking for willing vessels. If you are not willing yet, you have not waited long enough.

Takeaway: Let the waiting do its work in you. Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

Scripture (NIV)

- Deuteronomy 8:2: Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands.

- Romans 8:14: For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

- Acts 1:4: On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about.

- John 6:67-68: “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

So many people are trying to get stronger so that God can use them. But the Lord told Paul, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. It makes no logical sense, and yet it is the secret of a life of faith. In this message we look at 2 Corinthians 12:9, why Paul could boast gladly about his weaknesses, and why staying in tune with your total dependence on God keeps you right in the ranks of His grace.

Then I share a personal testimony. God stirred my heart with Malachi 4 to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children. I had no money, no team, and no idea how it would happen, only a word from God. The enemy attacked me day and night, but God provided every step of the way and showed up powerfully as thousands of fathers, sons, and mentors gathered in the wilderness. We have this treasure in jars of clay, hard pressed on every side but not crushed, to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

Takeaway: Stop waiting to get strong enough. Step out in faith, set a due date, and let God's power be made perfect in your weakness.

Scripture (NIV)

- Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

- Hebrews 11:6: And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

- Malachi 4:5-6: “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

- 2 Corinthians 4:7-11: But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that His life may also be revealed in our mortal body.

- Philippians 3:8-10: What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ, yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death...

- Philippians 4:13: I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.

Are you tired, worn out, done in? Jesus never said, get yourself together first and then come to Me. He said, come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. In this message we walk through Matthew 11:28-30 line by line. We look at what it really means to be weary, what it means to carry a burden, and why Jesus is the answer to both.

Then we look at the yoke. A yoke is never worn alone. When you yoke yourself to Jesus, He walks right beside you, He leads, and He is gentle and humble in heart. We talk about becoming His disciple, holding to His teaching, and letting Him lead you beside quiet waters. His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Takeaway: Stop pulling against the yoke. Come to Jesus today, let Him lead, and find rest for your soul.

Scripture (NIV)

- John 8:31-32: To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

- 2 Corinthians 6:14: Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

- Psalm 23:2-3: He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake.