Ancient Church, Present Cross

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Ancient Church, Present Cross
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An Antiquated Church

• Roughly 100 million Americans are unchurched (if
  seen as its own country, this would be the 12th
  largest nation in the world)
• 13 to 15 million of these are born again adults
• 42 of residents in the West are unchurched (the
  highest of any region)
• 61 of young adults have been churched at one
  point, but they are now spiritually disengaged
  (not attending church, reading the Bible, praying
  etc.)
• 19 of young adults have never been involved in
  a church (thats a total of 79 unchurched young
  adults)
• Young adults were 70 more likely than their
  elders to substitute interaction with other
  believers for church attendance

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An Antiquated Church

• Only 3 of 16-29 year-old non-Christians express
  favorable views towards the evangelical church
• 87 of non-Christians believe Christianity is too
  judgmental
• 85 of non-Christians believe Christianity is
  too hypocritical
• 78 of non-Christians believe Christianity is
  old-fashioned
• 75 of non-Christians believe Christianity is
  too involved in politics
• 91 of young non-Christians and 80 of
  church-goers believe Christianity is
  anti-homosexual (this went beyond just the idea,
  but that Christians show excessive contempt and
  unloving attitudes towards gays and lesbians.)

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Ephesians 211-22
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles
in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what
is called the circumcision, which is made in the
flesh by hands 12 remember that you were at that
time separated from Christ, alienated from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the
covenants of promise, having no hope and without
God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you
who once were far off have been brought near by
the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our
peace, who has made us both one and has broken
down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
15 by abolishing the law of commandments
expressed in ordinances, that he might create in
himself one new man in place of the two, so
making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to
God in one body through the cross, thereby
killing the hostility. 17 And he came and
preached peace to you who were far off and peace
to those who were near. 18 For through him we
both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
19 So then you are no longer strangers and
aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the
saints and members of the household of God,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the
cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure,
being joined together, grows into a holy temple
in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built
together into a dwelling place for God by the
Spirit.
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The Renewed Church
Israel
Church
Gentiles
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People of God
Lev. 2612 I will also walk among you and be
your God, and you shall be My people. Hosea 19
And the LORD said, Name him Lo-ammi, for you
are not My people and I am not your God. I
Peter 29 But you are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own
possession, that you may proclaim the
excellencies of him who called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light.
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Body of Christ
Rom. 65-8 For if we have become united with
Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we
shall also be in the likeness of His
resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was
crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin
might be done away with, so that we would no
longer be slaves to sin for he who has died is
freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with Him
Rom. 124-6 For as in one body we have
many members, and the members do not all have the
same function, so we, though many, are one body
in Christ, and individually members one of
another. Having gifts that differ according to
the grace given to us, let us use them John
1721-23 That they may all be one, just as
you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they
also may be in us, so that the world may believe
that you have sent me. The glory that you have
given me I have given to them, that they may be
one even as we are one, I in them and you in me,
that they may become perfectly one, so that the
world may know that you sent me and loved them
even as you loved me.
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Temple of the Holy Spirit
I Peter 24-5 As you come to him, a living
stone rejected by men but in the sight of God
chosen and precious, you yourselves like living
stones are being built up as a spiritual house,
to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ. John 219-22 Jesus answered them,
Destroy this temple, and in three days I will
raise it up. 20 The Jews then said, It has
taken forty-six years to build this temple, and
will you raise it up in three days? 21 But he
was speaking about the temple of his body. 22
When therefore he was raised from the dead, his
disciples remembered that he had said this, and
they believed the Scripture and the word that
Jesus had spoken. I Cor. 316-17 Do you not
know that you are God's temple and that God's
Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's
temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is
holy, and you are that temple.
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The Church As Israel and the Nations
The Idolatrous People of God The Paralyzed Body
of Christ The Insubstantial Temple of the Holy
Spirit
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The Church as Renewed Israel and Blessed Nations
The Idolatrous People of God? Christ the
Covenant Keeper The Paralyzed Body of Christ ?
Christ the Resurrected Son The Insubstantial
Temple of the Holy Spirit ? Christ the Renewed
Temple