22/03/2020
EXCHANGE OF PULPIT FOR THE FIRST QUARTER ASSOCIATIONAL MEETING.
THEME:
MOVING FORWARD BUILDING A MORE DISCIPLINED CHURCH.
TEXT: HEBREW 12:5-11.
PREACHER: Pst. KIRI
INTRODUCTION
In the book of Hebrew 11 we see a roll call of fathers/ heroes of our faith, those who ran the race before us, who kept the faith and finished the race.
In Hebrew 12, these heroes are referred to as a great cloud of witness. They are part of the invisible eye watching us, to whom the baton has been handled over to, to complete the race, Hebrew 11:39-40. Now for us to succeed we need to know they succeeded, and Hebrew 12 gives he clue, perseverance and discipline and nothing can be done without discipline, even if we increase in numbers, we can't build a healthy church if discipline is neglected.
DEFINITION. In the new testament, we find the word "discipline " used in two different senses. Sometimes we read of God discipling His children. In that sense, he word "discipline" means 'chastisement' or 'spanking'.
However at other times, the Bible speaks about Christians' discipling themselves, in this sense, the word discipline refer to believers forming godly habit pattern. In 1 Tim4:7. The word "discipline" means to exercise or put oneself through training. The word discipline is a word with the smell if the gym in it, the sweat of a good workout, it's an unabashed call to spiritual sweat, discipling ourselves in the Christian life is just like that, won't be easy fun or convenient, but it will be profitable.
In Corinthians 9:27; discipline and self-control are very closely related in verse 27, Paul gives us the meaning of "discipline". It is to subordinate our fleshly desires to the will of God. It's to control your body so that you make it do what it ought to do, rather than what it wants to do. To sum it up discipline is training yourself to do the right thing when you don't feel like it.
In Hebrew 12:4-11 " Discipline here means training. The writer of Hebrew is saying that God lovely disciplines His children to train them to become spiritual champions, it's God's effort in our lives to realign our will to his will.
TYPES DISCIPLINE.
PREVENTIVE DISCIPLINE: It is the measure taken to avert misbehavior by keeping individual engaged, the goal is to promote constructive behavior.
SUPPORTIVE DISCIPLINE: Supportive discipline occurs when you see an individual on the cusy of misbehavior or committing a minor disciplinary in fracture and you act quickly to keep the behavior from escalating.
CORRECTIVE DISCIPLINE: It refer to implimentating the established consequences for breaking rules.
BASES FOR DISCIPLINE:
On what bases, or authority are we discipline by God.
We are son's and daughters of God (Heb 12:5-6)
By Chrurch: its God's command to the church (Matthew 28:29)
Membership Convenant (Gal 6:1-2)
By the Pastors: He is your earthly shepherd and you are His sheep. He has an oversight function over you and will give account of you. ( Hebrew 13:17)
IMPORTANCE OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLINE
A failure to practice church discipline undermines the preaching, discipling and the evangelism ministry of the church, when the pastors say Christ will change you and give you a new life, but he is surrounded by uncorrected church members who lives just like the world, the pastor's words rings hollow.
- Christian discipline promote church health
- Discipline exposes sin. Sin like cancer loves to hide, discipline exposes the cancer so that it might be cut out quickly.
- Discipline is a means of salvation and restoration (1cor5).
- Discipline is a means of protection, just as cancer spreads from one person the other, so is sin (1 Cor 5:6-7)
CONCLUSION: Our goals as an association is to drive this message into our heart, reflect it in our lives, at home, in the market and in our communities, that our neighbors may see what will make them say " this one's has been with Christ".
