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SERIES: ALIGNING WITH GOD
SUBSERIES: FOUNDATIONS
THIRD FOUNDATION: SPIRITUAL FAMILY AND DISCIPLESHIP
MESSAGE TITLE: "WALK IN LOVE, LIGHT AND LOVE"

MAIN MESSAGE: “WALK IN LOVE, LIGHT & WISDOM”

We’ve come to the last two foundations of our foundations series: Spiritual Family and Discipleship

The two foundations go hand in hand therefore I am going to discuss them together and what they really mean together is local church.

Our title comes from Ephesians 5 where Paul instructs the church 3 important things: that we are to Walk in Love, Walk in the light of God and Walk in the wisdom of God.

We will look at Eph 4 and 5 more closely and we will also look at what Romans 12 says about how the local church should function.

The local church is Jesus plan for mankind. It is the strategy to bring the good news to the whole earth. There is no other plan. It is through the local church.

Jesus is the King, the head of the body of the church and we are many members that make up the body of Christ.

Jesus is also called the groom and the church is the bride. Think about that intimacy!

Jesus is the King, the head, the groom

The church is the servant, the body, the bride

At the end of Eph 5 Paul says this is a great mystery - that means that it is something we will always explore, learn more about and grow in as we mature as Christians - do not suppose you will ever total grasp this beautiful mystery

Ok, so Jesus is the head of the now global church. Then the global church is made up of hundreds of thousands, probably millions of local churches who all look quite different depending on denomination and country and local culture.

And then each local church is made up of individual people - the ultimate reason for the existence of the church - reaching people with the good news of Jesus and helping them to get to know Jesus and make Him known to others.

Individuals come from and/or have families. Families are the nucleus of society and each local church, and each marriage is the cornerstone of each family, and each man is the head of each home with his wife as his helper.

JESUS - CHURCH - MARRIAGES - FAMILIES - INDIVIDUALS

You have heard me say this many times - the local church exists to:
1. Get lost people saved - evangelize
2. Get saved people healed - teach and pastor (counsel)
3. Help healed people discover their callings - apostolic, prophetic, pastor
4. Send those people out in their callings in the local church and in their vocation - apostolic, prophetic

The way we say it at LoveKey Church, a local expression of the body of Christ with a specific focus and calling in the broader church of Jesus, is We want to create a place, opportunity, and atmosphere where people can, through worship and word and fellowship,
1. Encounter God
2. Align with His purposes
3. Reign in life
4. Help others do the same

Encounter - Align - Reign - spells EAR
Add the Help other and you get HEAR…

The local church, and in our case, LoveKey Church, is your spiritual family when you commit to be a member and get involved in serving the local church.

When you are part of the spiritual family, an important dimension of the connection to the spiritual family is discipleship.
Your spiritual family should ideally include or originate from your natural family who is part of a life-giving local church, ie spiritual family.
Part of this ideal is that the husband and father understands and fullfills his role as king, priest and prophet of the home by loving and leading well his wife and kids - he is therefore the first stop and main influence in his wife and children’s lives - he disciples them.
Alongside the husband and father the local church leaders, his peers and the younger leaders will all in some way also lead, impact and influence his wife and children, but his role remains central as it is by God’s design.
However, we know that for many people this ideal is not their reality, unfortunately.
Extreme examples can include an unsafe home environment for many different reasons, but in some way there will be physical or emotional fatherlessness
It could also be that the family does go to a church, but it is not a life-giving church, it is more like a life-sucking church that no one wants to go to but are forced to go to out of religious tradition rather than salvation, healthy conviction and relationships with people in a healthy spiritual family.
Or, the situation is fairly good, but can be better
Depending on your situation, finding a life-giving church and healthy spiritual family can look very different for different people with different backgrounds or experiences.
In my case I grew up in the Dutch Reformed tradition, thought I was a Christian, only to discover that I knew facts about Jesus, but I didn’t know him personally - but that all changed at a camp when I was 16 and I had a life changing encounter with the living God. After that I was so hungry for more of God and his Holy Spirit. I started looking outside the local church I was in, but it was a long process to finally find a life giving local church where I could be part of real spiritual family and be discipled properly
And that is the next point I want to make - that within the life-giving environment of a healthy spiritual family there should be a discipleship culture.

Discipleship should function according to Jesus’ example and the example set by Paul with Timothy.
“And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” - 2 Tim 2:2

Paul discipled Timothy, Timothy must commit it to faithful men, who will also teach others - four “generations” or levels -
Paul, Timothy, faithful men, others

Jesus sent his disciples into the world to make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them.
All of this happens in the context of local church

Ok, so let’s look at Eph 5 and Romans 12 and look at why a local spiritual family should “WALK IN LOVE, LIGHT AND WISDOM” and how the main thing we should see in a life-giving church is constant transformation of people who then help others to transform as well.
Then we’ll look at 7 things a local church should always be doing:
Love God, Love People
Always evangelize
Always teach the word of God (rightly divide the word of truth)
Pastor the flock, the people
Always train up leaders
Pursue, establish and maintain unity
Reach and impact the local community - first priority are the members of the local church, then also those outside who need to be helped physically and reached with the gospel
and how it all should happen through leadership in:
1. Sunday services
2. Connect groups
3. Fellowship
4. One on one discipleship

WALK IN LOVE, LIGHT AND WISDOM

What kind of word is the word “walk” - it is a verb, right? A DOING word. If we are told to walk in something, it requires action, it is something that should be seen on our lives, there should be fruit.

You know the saying, “walk the talk” - it is actually a call to integrity - do what you say, then I know you really believe it.

So in Eph 5 Paul is calling the church to walk, to function, to move in, to be known by: love, light and wisdom.

Now I know, at first glance this title seems a little ‘new-agey’ or secular - we all know people in the world who would say things like “I’m sending you love and light”... Have you heard that?

But in this context we see that it is so important for us as saved, born-again, Holy Spirit-filled, Jesus following Christians to understand that we are called and commanded to walk in love, light and wisdom.

Why?

Love - if we truly love God and love our neighbour, we would have an urgency to: get lost people saved and saved people healed, discover their callings and step into them. We woul passionately pursue spreading the good news and helping people to encounter God so they can align with His purposes and reign in life. That is what true love looks like.
True love God’s way also means we sacrificially lay our lives down to serve, we are humble and we pursue unity in church despite our own feelings and opinions.

Light - The call to walk in light is a call to not entertain sin, to recognize darkness for what it is and to expose it
It links with love in the way that if you love someone and you see sin in their lives, or darkness pulling them in, you will reach out and bring the light of Jesus into that person’s life.
It confirmed by 1 John 7 - we should walk in the light as Jesus is in the light and have no fellowship with darkness

Wisdom - To walk in wisdom, from these scriptures, means to understand and know the will of God.
So, if these scriptures says we can then we can know it’s possible and it is something we need to pursue earnestly.
It is confirmed in James 1 - if we desire wisdom we should ask, but ask without doubt then we will receive it.
Wisdom helps us to walk in the way of God, and to also give wise counsel, teach and preach the word of God in an accurate way and help people to transform and not conform to this world.

Leadership should embody and lead in these ways and raise up more leaders that help to reach more leaders.

Our local church should be a place where all people, whether unsaved or walking in their calling or anywhere in between, feel loved, experiences the light of God and grow in wisdom.

This love, light and wisdom should be what marks our spiritual family and the way we do discipleship.

Today I’m not just preaching a message on these subjects, I’m doing some vision casting for LoveKey Church as well and I’m inviting you all to be part of it, to walk in love, to walk in light and to walk in the wisdom of God - yes on Sundays and in connect groups and when you have a one on one session with someone, but also in your marriage, parenting and family.

Let’s be a people who turn the tide of fatherlessness and be a real house of transformation of individuals that transform their marriages and families
Why? Because healthy families build a healthy nation and a healthy family is build upon Jesus and are part of the church of Christ.

Remember, the local church is God’s plan for this earth. There is no other plan. This is it. We all need to be plugged in and submit under a local church ordained by God serving a specific purpose in the broader body of Christ.

When you do align yourself with this family, I can promise you you become part of something amazing and supernatural that God is doing and you will see the fruit of it on your life.

But, it will cost you. It requires sacrifice and service, humility and a focus on being constantly transformed by the love, light and wisdom of God.
It also means we all need to show love toward one another, and do the things we read in these scriptures - weep with those who weep, rejoice with those who rejoice, take care of people in need, etc.
Let’s choose today to be this kind of church

Reflect and Respond.