I [HEART] CHURCH
Pastor Mark Warda
Woodland Church
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
When it comes to church…
we are more than recipients; we are participants.
We ARE the church.
Individually, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit
Collectively, we are the body of Christ
1. We are God’s Temple
(Ephesians 2:19-22, NLT) “So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.”
a. A holy temple
(Ephesians 2:21, NLT) “We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.”
(1 Corinthians 3:16, 17, NLT) “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? … For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”
b. A living temple
God’s church is not a building. It’s a group of people.
It’s not an organization. It’s an organism.
(1 Peter 2:5, NLT) “And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple.”
c. A residential temple
(1 Corinthians 6:19, NLT) “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?”
There’s nothing more than the love of Christ; there’s only more of the love of Christ.
(Ephesians 3:16-19, NLT) “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”
As we trust in Christ, He will make His home in our hearts
And just as roots draw nourishment from the soil, so too we draw from the abundance of God’s love to keep us strong
God first loved us and He chose us–not only to indwell within us, but to equip us for ministry.
(Acts 17:24, NLT) “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples.”
His Temple is not a building made by human hands
His Temple is a human made by God to be His hands
2. We are the Body of Christ
(Ephesians 4:2-6, 12-16, TLB) “Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Try always to be led along together by the Holy Spirit and so be at peace with one another.
We are all parts of one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future. For us there is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and we all have the same God and Father who is over us all and in us all, and living through every part of us.
Why is it that he gives us these special abilities to do certain things best? It is that God’s people will be equipped to do better work for him, building up the Church, the body of Christ, to a position of strength and maturity; until finally we all believe alike about our salvation and about our Savior, God’s Son, and all become full-grown in the Lord—yes, to the point of being filled full with Christ.
Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth. Instead, we will lovingly follow the truth at all times—speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly—and so become more and more in every way like Christ who is the Head of his body, the Church.”
a. The Body of Christ is built on convictions not opinions
(Deuteronomy 6:4-5, NLT) “The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
b. The Body of Christ is needs every member
- Self-protection.
- Self-preservation.
- Self-prevention.
(Ephesians 4:12, NLT) “Why is it that he gives us these special abilities to do certain things best? It is that God’s people will be equipped to do better work for him, building up the Church, the body of Christ, to a position of strength and maturity.”
It’s time to cast off the cast!
(Ephesians 3:16, NLT) God’s “glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit,”
FOMO: Fear Of Missing Out
Imagine you’re invited to go to a particular theater to watch a movie.
The person who told you about it said that when they want to see a movie, that’s the theater they go to.
Upon arriving, you can tell why it was suggested.
Everything looks modern and clean.
You notice other people who seem happy to be there.
You find your seat.
You discover the movie to be particularly meaningful.
You’re grateful for the recommendation.
Once you leave, however, you can’t help but notice:
- Though people looked friendly, no one spoke to you.
- Even the people seating near you didn’t even say hello.
- As much as you appreciated going to that theater, you figure that if you wanted to watch another movie like it, you could simply do so on your home TV.
- Granted, your TV is admittedly smaller than the big screen and sound system at the theatre, but it’s more convenient not to dress up and go out, especially if everyone attending the theater is only there to watch the movie and not interact with one another.
We can’t say we love Jesus but not what he loves (the church)
We need the church.
We are the church.
And we need each other.