What are we building that will last for eternity?

Ephesians 4:7-16

1. Are you a fighting church?

• These verses start out with a fighting metaphor and the western church often forget that we’re in a battle.
• Jesus gave churches gifts in order to win the battle. Many of us are fighting spiritual battles, it is normal and the one who can breakthrough for us is Jesus Christ. There is grace, there is kindness, there is healing from Christ.
• Are you fighting the fight of faith?

2. Foundations

• The roles of apostles, evangelists, teachers, prophets and pastors are gifts from Jesus to help lead the church and help us win the battle and live a Christ like life.
• These gifts are foundational for the church and often the church thinks we can just live on our own, but we need to receive gifts in to help lift our eyes.
• What gifts are you receiving in the church?

3. Are you a fishing church?

• Ephesians 4:12
• That word prepare is also found in Mark 1:19, they were mending their nets in order to go out fishing and as a church we are meant to be a fishing community.
• Jesus told the disciples that they wouldn’t be catching fish anymore but instead catching people. We’re to catch people in same way as fish, we’ll need to net and mesh our lives together in order to catch fish.
• Often we think it’s an evangelists job to fish, but the evangelist is here to teach us how to mesh our lives together so we can ‘catch’ others into the church.
• When the church all works together and uses their gifts then we’ll catch fish, it’s not just on one person, we work together.

4. Are you a farmer?

• We’re called to be farmers. Where are the fields that God wants us to sow, to reap?
• There are unploughed fields in Stratford that we’re to plough up, there’s seedling areas to grow. We need to prepare in order to see that harvest.
• Lift up your eyes, look at the harvest.
• The hope of the nation is the local church, operating like it describes in Ephesians 4.