1. Welcome! www.SunsetChurchofChrist.net
Bibles and copies of sermons are available Please silence your cell phones
Sunday Bible Classes 9:30 AM Worship 10:30 AM 5:30 PM Wednesday Bible Classes 7:00 PM

2. Covenants Covenant Party Law/ Command Promise/ Reward What Ended It
ADAM
Genesis 2:16
Do not eat of the tree
Eternal life in paradise
Romans 7:4
NOAH
Genesis 9:9
Noahide Law
Never again flood the earth
ABRAHAM
Genesis 17:2
Leave home, Sacrifice
Land Promise
Seed Promise
MOSES
Exodus 19:5
Law of Moses
Promised Land
CHRIST
Hebrews 8:6-8
Law of Christ
I Corinthians 15:24
Covenants

3. Galatians 3:19-26
Covenant of Adam – Gen 2 (Hosea 6:7) Covenant of Noah – Gen 6 Covenant of Abraham – Gen 17 Covenant of Moses Ex 19 Covenant of Phinehas - Num 25 Covenant of David – 2 Sam 7 Covenant of Christ – Mat 26:26

4. Galatians 3:19-26
Purpose of the Old Testament (Moses) Necessary because of transgressions Romans 7:13 Admission to the New Covenant The concept of unity vs. division Racial, Gender, Social

5. Welcome!
Bibles and copies of sermons are available Please silence your cell phones
Sunday Bible Classes 9:30 AM Worship 10:30 AM 5:30 PM Wednesday Bible Classes 7:00 PM

6. Psalm 107:11 Let them also offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, And tell of His works with joyful singing.
Hymns
Invitation
Red Songbook -
Supplemental

7. An Approved Church

8. A Seven Church Review
Revelation 2-3 Many see Revelation inaccurately (as a book of future prophecy). They miss the purpose – that seven churches were getting a report card

9. A Seven Church Review Ephesus Smyrna Pergamum Thyatira Sardis
Philadelphia
Laodicea
Seven churches that claimed to belong to Christ

10. A Seven Church Review Ephesus Smyrna Pergamum Thyatira Sardis
Philadelphia
Laodicea
If any were asked if they were approved, they would all probably say yes

11. A Seven Church Review
Ephesus
Smyrna
Pergamum
Thyatira
Sardis
Philadelphia
Laodicea
Revelation 2:9 'I know your tribulation and your poverty …..do not fear what you are about to suffer.…...be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Revelation 3:8 'I know your deeds… I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
Revelation 2-3 – only two churches actually are approved

12. But I have this against you…… therefore repent
A Seven Church Review
Ephesus
Smyrna
Pergamum
Thyatira
Sardis
Philadelphia
Laodicea
Revelation 2:4, 14, 20
But I have this against you…… therefore repent
Three churches are losing their approval

13. you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked
A Seven Church Review
Ephesus
Smyrna
Pergamum
Thyatira
Sardis
Philadelphia
Laodicea
Revelation 3:1, 17
you are dead….
you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked
Two churches have failed and are unapproved

14. Missing the Mark
Missing what is important What is important = the purpose of a church Purpose: Why are we here? For what reason?

15. What Is The Church’s Purpose
Is it up to a church to determine its purpose? - Making itself larger (fiscal and numeric) - Merging a social and spiritual need - Solving social problems Churches with self-determined purposes: Sardis and Laodicea (DEAD!)
Dead churches have chosen their own purposes. They are dead!

16. What Is The Church’s Purpose
Should a church determine purpose priority? Making a purpose the sole priority Danger – focus on one to the neglect of others Churches with mis-focused purposes: Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira (SICK!)
Churches that get the proper purposes but have the wrong priority - sick

17. What Is The Church’s Purpose
A healthy church: 1) Functions for divine purposes 2) Focuses attention on ALL purposes
From these points we should conclude that a church needs (1) to have the divine purposes and (2) to have them accurately prioritized

18. SIX Purposes of a Church
6. Evangelism Necessary inference of the Great Commission Necessary inference of support of evangelists
"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church.  Worship is.  Missions exists because worship doesn’t.  Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man.  When this age is over and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more.  It is a temporary necessity.  But worship abides forever” (Let the Nations Be Glad, p. 11).

19. SIX Purposes of a Church
6. Evangelism 5. Organization 1 Tim. 3:1-15, Titus 1:5-9, Heb. 13:7-17
1Ti 3:15 but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.
Tit 1:5 ¶ For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you,

20. SIX Purposes of a Church
6. Evangelism 5. Organization 4. Worship Acts 20:17, 1 Cor. 16:2, 1 Cor
"

21. SIX Purposes of a Church
6. Evangelism 5. Organization 4. Worship 3. Edification Eph. 4: “one another” passages
Eph 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ-- 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

22. SIX Purposes of a Church
6. Evangelism 5. Organization 4. Worship 3. Edification 2. Benevolence Acts 2, 5, 12, 1 Cor. 16, 2 Cor. 7-8, etc. Fulfilling the promises of Christ from Matthew 6
Benevolence – fulfilling Jesus promise that Christians will not lack for “What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (MATTHEW 6:31-33)

23. SIX Purposes of a Church
6. Evangelism 5. Organization 4. Worship 3. Edification 2. Benevolence 1. Purity
“endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”
Ephesians 4:3
The great condemnation of two of the churches was their acceptance of impurity. This is the focus of 1 Corinthians, Galatians, 2 Thessalonians and 2 John.

24. “These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone”
Prioritized Purposes
6. Evangelism 5. Organization 4. Worship 3. Edification 2. Benevolence 1. Purity
“These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone”
A church that focuses on one purpose and excludes another is unapproved
As an example – a church that is all about evangelism, but is unorganized, does not take care of its members, or unsound
Mt 23:15 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

25. Are We An Approved Church
6. Evangelism 5. Organization 4. Worship 3. Edification 2. Benevolence 1. Purity
A church that focuses on one purpose and excludes another is unapproved

26. Benefits of Approval
1) Need not fear the future "Do not fear any of those things” Rev. 2:10 “God who causes the growth” 1 Cor. 3:7 “An open door which no one can shut” Rev. 3:8

27. Benefits of Approval
1) Need not fear the future 2) Confidence of the members “I will write on him the name of My God” Rev. 3:12

28. Seeking His Approval
We need to constantly seek His approval We need to pursue His purposes in our works We need to know we are His by deed