When the church had new believers the pastor would send them over to Ivah to let her talk to them about how to pray. The church then commenced a ministry to the local university campus and Ivah didn't know how to function in the body concerning this ministry. Who was going to equip her to function in the body in this new ministry? Well, the minister for the campus ministry equipped Ivah on how she could pray regarding the campus and its students. She didn't change her role in the body - she just learned how to be the 'knee' (pray-er) for the campus ministry. So the students were told that whenever they were going to witness to somebody they should go to Ivah and tell her about it - she would then pray.

A student went to Ivah telling her he was going to witness to a student named Doug over the Thursday lunch break. That Thursday Ivah stopped everything she was doing and prayed for that meeting for the duration of the meeting. This is what she did every time a prayer request came in. Three months later a young man came down the isle in church to commit his life to the Lord - it was Doug. The pastor said, "I looked over at Ivah and she was deeply moved and weeping. She had never met Doug, but she had prayed for him for three months."

I want to ask you - who was it who won Doug to the Lord? (the Body did)

(expand upon what we will be looking at over the next several weeks)

1. WHAT IS THE CHURCH?

One of the greatest challenges for Christianity in our society today is for churches to walk with God in a way that the world comes to know Him through our witness. When a church allows God's presence and activity to be expressed, then a community that is watching will be drawn to Him.

How can our church be that kind of church?

Well, to answer that question we first need to come to understand who we are in relationship with God and with each other.

I think a mistake many churches make is that they slide into being human-centred rather than being God-centred. I'm going to read out a few statements and I want your feedback as to whether the statement is human-centred or God-centred.

1.a) An effective church is built on strong leadership, active participation of the laity, and good organization.

2. Christ builds his church through the Holy-Spirit-empowered service of the pastor, other spiritual leaders, and members of His body.

2 a) Jesus Christ gives life to the church, which is His living body.

2. A church is a group of people who have been effectively organised into an institution in a local community.

3 a) Every church needs a CEO and Executive Board

2. Christ is Head of the Church.

4. a) When the church gathers together, members experience God at work in the body through the lives of other members.

2. Church attendance is important to show our support for the organisation.

5. a) A church watches to see where God is at work and joins Him in His redemptive mission.

2. A church sets worthy and achievable goals and members give their best to achieve them.

Do you see how some of these statements, though good, are human stated?

1. Being More Important than Doing

Sadly we allow ourselves to slide into the trap of viewing what we 'do' for God as being more important them 'who we are' in our relationship with Him. Pleasing God is far more important than doing something 'for' God.

Now you might say, "Isn't doing something for God going to please Him?" Well, yes and no. It depends upon our attitude and motive. God does want the church to obey Him by doing what He asks. But He's not interested in a church who goes against His principles and ethics in order to get the job done. You see, a number of Christians often think that a work for God can be done by whatever means are necessary. So, they amy go against God's written laws found in the Bible in order to achieve a work they think is His will.

An example is the gay issue. Although God makes clear in His Word that sexual relations with the same sex is an abomination to Him, an increasing number of Christians are believing that homosexual and lesbian relationships are quite acceptable. They go further by saying Churches who stand against gay rights do not exemplify the love of Christ.

But the fact is, God wants His people, us, being holy, clean and pure. He wants us to display unity and love. But this unity and love must be based upon the principles laid down in Scripture which is based upon God's moral and ethical principles. You see holiness and purity are essential in our maintaining a right relationship with God.

2. Holiness & Purity Essential

Let's look at the following passages to highlight what I am saying here.

Philip. 2:14-16

So the call is here that we live in holiness, purity, love, and unity in Christ. Over the past 3 months we have been looking at these things in depth. These then serve to provide the foundation and basis from where we can then function effectively as a church together. Not only that, but it also serves to help us come to know and do God's will as a church which is our main focus today.

1. KNOWING AND DOING GOD'S WILL AS A CHURCH

Now, just for a moment I want to tell you a story about train tracks.

You're walking down a dirt road one day with scrub all around you. Up ahead your eyes see a train track - they say to your body "Hey let's walk down those train tracks. There's no trains in sight so it should be safe."

Next thing your ears say to the body, "Hang on a second, I heard a train horn coming from the other direction."

The eye then starts to argue, "As far as I can see there is no train on the track. Let's keep walking." So your body only listens to the eye and keeps on walking.

Soon the ears say, "That horn is getting louder and closer." Then your feet speak up and say, "I can feel a rumbling motion of a train coming. We better get our body off the track."

Now, I want to ask you a question. If this was your physical body, what would you do?

Would you,

1. Get off the track as soon as possible.
2. Take a vote of all your body members and let the majority rule.
3. Try to ignore the conflict and hope it passed away.
4. Trust the eye and keep on walking saying, "my eye has never let me down yet."

Now, this may seem a silly illustration, because we know that God has given the various parts of our body with its different senses to help us out in life. We find that when each part of our body does its job properly then our body works the way it should. But when there is an illness or injury in part of our body, then the whole body suffers for it.

So in our physical body we don't take votes based upon majority rules, we don't ignore conflicting senses, nor do we choose to listen to only one sense and ignore the others, we would be foolish if we did.

The same is for the Church. Because the Church is the Body of Christ, it functions at its best when spiritual leaders and members share what they sense God wants the church to be and do. A church needs to hear the whole counsel of God. It is when we do this that we can forge ahead in unity and confidence to do God's will.

You see, this is how we function together as a Body, disharmony and disagreement needn't be the issue. You see, God gives some of us a visionary gift. He places a picture in front of us of what could be or what should be. He does this to give a church vision, direction and purpose. Now, being one of those people I also know our faults. We can be impatient and tend to bite off more than we can chew. That is why the Lord also gives the people who say, "hang on a second, let's work this one through first of all." I call these people the thinkers and processors. These people act as the rudder of a ship while the visionaries act as the bow of the ship breaker new ground. We all need one another.

Now sometimes, as I've pointed out, the visionaries drive to hard and too fast, but equally, sometimes the thinkers drive to slow. This is why God's timing is imperative.

So we come back to the point of knowing and doing God's will as a church. Well, over the next several weeks we'll see more of the answer to this question unravel. But where does this start for us?

It starts with prayer.

The only way for us to know God's will as a church isn't having a vote on issues, neither is it based upon opinion and personal viewpoints. It is based upon us as a church getting on our knees, getting our lives right with God, and seeking Him together as a church. The Lord led us towards the end of last term to commit both Tuesday and Thursday evenings as evening of prayer here at the church. To allow for that we have closed our home groups for the whole term. The nights will go from 7.30 to 8.30 or when the Lord allows us to go home. I encourage everyone in the church to participate in this time. You don't have to have been in a home group to participate as this is for the whole church. If you want to me both nights, come along, if you want to alternate nights each week, then by all means - most importantly I urge everyone to be a part of this season of prayer and reflection as we seek the Lord together in repentance and seeking for His direction. Please seriously commit this time for corporate prayer.

This sermon has been created and adapted from the book 'Experiencing God' by H.T.Blackaby and C.V.King by Pastor Scott Douglas for teaching in the Burdekin Baptist Church on 11^th July, 1999.