The Real Church

Challenges Every Believer Has to Overcome:

1. Life is too full of self.
2. Life is too complicated.
3. Life is too churchy.
4. Life is too unrelatable.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23 MSG
Even though I am free of the demands and
expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become
a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide
range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous
moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the
demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of
life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their
world and tried to experience things from their point
of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant
there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a
God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message.
I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in
on it!
“I didn’t just want to talk about it, I wanted to be in
on it!”
Real Church:

1. Relevant 2. Engaging 3. Authentic 4. Life Giving
   Real Church:
   RELEVANT: having direct bearing on the matter at
   hand
   1 Corinthians 9:21-22 MSG
   I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings
   in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to
   experience things from THEIR POINT OF VIEW.
   Real Church:
   ENGAGING: occupy, attract or involve someone’s
   interests or attention
   Matthew 9:10-13 MSG
   Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s
   house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable
   characters came and joined them. When the
   Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company,
   they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. “What
   kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting
   cozy with crooks and riffraff?” Jesus, overhearing,
   shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the
   sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m
   after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite
   outsiders, not coddle insiders.”
   Real Church:
   AUTHENTIC: real, genuine, not a copy or fake
   Matthew 23:25-27 NIV
   “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
   hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and
   dish, but inside they are full of greed and selfindulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of
   the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be
   clean. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and
   Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed
   tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on
   the inside are full of the bones of the dead and
   everything unclean.
   Real Church:
   LIFE GIVING

2 Kinds of People:

1. Life giving
2. Life taking

3 Attitudes in Life:

1. WORLD: What’s yours is mine and I’m going to
   take it
2. RELIGION: What’s mine is mine and I’m going to
   keep it
3. LIFE GIVING: What’s mine is yours and I’m going
   to share it
   Matthew 5:13-16 MSG
   “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be
   salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this
   earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people
   taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will
   end up in the garbage. “Here’s another way to put
   it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the Godcolors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept.
   We’re going public with this, as public as a city
   on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think
   I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m
   putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you
   there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep
   open house; be generous with your lives. By opening
   up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with
   God, this generous Father in heaven.
   Real Church
   Pastor Dennis Rouse