Protect the Bride of Christ

Kids Words: Protect – Bride - Unity – Christ

TITLE: PROTECT THE BRIDE OF CHRIST

Points:

1. Cultivate Unity(1-2a)

2. Keep Christ at The Center(2b-4)

3. Stay Spiritually Connected(5)

Main Idea: The urgent need for each and every Christian is to be grounded in the knowledge that is in Christ so that we will not be deceived by false teachings.

1. Cultivate Unity(1-2a)

Quotes:

“Enlarged hearts always know the agony. They have sleepless nights; they empathize; they struggle in prayer. But these big hearts also know the most joy. It is this kind of heart to which all of us are called, whether we are missionaries or merchants: a heart that is willing to agonize not only over our own little circle, but the Church Universal.” -Hughes 

“The emotions respond to what goes on in the heart, to what the mind perceives. The way to control the emotions, then, is through the mind. When the mind is filled with biblical truth, the emotions respond properly.” – MacArthur

And F. F. Bruce adds to that…“Paul emphasizes that the revelation of God cannot be properly known apart from the cultivation of brotherly love within the Christian community.”

In his book, The Mark of the Christian, Francis Schaffer, writes… “In John 13 the point was that, if an individual Christian does not show love toward other true Christians, the world has a right to judge that he is not a Christian. Here [in John 17:21] Jesus is stating something else which is much more cutting, much more profound: We cannot expect the world to believe that the Father sent the Son, that Jesus’ claims are true, and that Christianity is true, unless the world sees some reality of the oneness of true Christians.”

2. Keep Christ at The Center(2b-4)

Quote:

Regarding this Biblical truth, Alexander Maclaren states:

In Christ, as in a great storehouse, lie all the riches of spiritual wisdom, the massive ingots of solid gold which when coined into creeds and doctrines are the wealth of the Church.

All which we can know concerning God and man, concerning sin and righteousness and duty, concerning another life, is in Him Who is the home and deep mine where truth is stored.… The central fact of the universe and the perfect encyclopedia of all moral and spiritual truth is Christ, the Incarnate Word, the Lamb slain, the ascended King.

3. Stay Spiritually Connected(5)