1. Matthew 19:30; Luke 9:48; Matthew 10:39.
2. In the fall of 2010, I taught a doctrinal study on the body of Christ at Brook Hills during our Secret Church experience. This five-hour teaching covers basic ecclesiology, and it is available at www.secretchurch.org. In the back of the listening guide for this study (which you can download from the Secret Church Web site), I provide a bibliography of resources for further study on the doctrine of the church. In addition, I highly recommend Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2004) and the resources available at www.9marks.org.
3. Leviticus 26:12; Romans 12:5; 1 Peter 2:9; Ephesians 3:10.
1. Luke 14:33; 9:23.
2. Mark 7:8.
3. James 2:14–17.
4. “Giving Research,” Empty Tomb, www.emptytomb.org/fig1_07.html; John Ronsvalle and Sylvia Ronsvalle, The State of Church Giving Through 2003, 15th ed. (Champaign, IL: Empty Tomb, 2005), 104.
1. Ephesians 2:8–10; James 2; 1 John 3:16–18.
2. Romans 4; Galatians 3.
3. Ephesians 2:8–9.
4. 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 2 Thessalonians 1:11; Galatians 5:6.
5. Matthew 7:15–20; Genesis 15:1–6; 22:1–9; James 2:20–24; Joshua 2; James 2:25–26; 1 Corinthians 15:10; Colossians 1:27–29.
6. James 2:23; John 3:1–21; 15:1–17.
7. 1 Corinthians 15:1–11; Ephesians 2:1–10.
8. James 1:27.
1. Matthew 28:20; 1 Timothy 3:2.
2. John 15:5, 7–8.
3. I am grateful to John Piper for encouraging me to pray this prayer in light of Brainerd’s example. John Piper, “Making a Difference by Fire,” Desiring God, October 2, 1989, www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/taste-see-articles/making-a-difference-by-fire.
4. 1 Kings 3:7.
5. 2 Timothy 3:10–4:5.
6. Walter C. Kaiser Jr., “The Crisis in Expository Preaching Today,” Preaching (September–October 1995): 6, www.preaching.com/resources/articles/11565532/page-2/.
7. Genesis 19:30–38; Numbers 25:1–9; Ruth 1–4; Matthew 1:1–17.
8. 1 Corinthians 10:31.
9. Job 42:2; Isaiah 46:9–11; 55:10–11.
10. John 15:18.
11. Isaiah 55:10–11.
1. David Platt, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream (Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2010), 48–50.
2. Hebrews 10:24–25.
3. Acts 4:32–35; 2 Corinthians 8–9.
4. Acts 7:48.
5. Matthew 27:51.
6. 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:18–20.
7. 1 Corinthians 7:32–34.
8. Acts 1:8; 2:17–18; Joel 2:28–29.
9. John 14:12.
10. 1 Timothy 5:17–18; 1 Corinthians 9:8–18; 1 Timothy 3:2–3, 8.
11. Ephesians 4:12.
12. Ephesians 4:16.
13. You can find a template for our new member disciple-making plans on our church’s Web site, www.brookhills.org/new/impact.html. Click on “Get Homework Assignment #3.”
14. Quoted in Paul Hattaway, Brother Yun, Peter Xu Yongze, and Enoch Wang, Back to Jerusalem: Three Chinese House Church Leaders Share Their Vision to Complete the Great Commission (Waynesboro, GA: Gabriel Publishing, 2003), 64, 108, 133–34.
15. Matthew 24:14; Revelation 7:9–10; Romans 10:13–15.
1. George Eldon Ladd, The Gospel of the Kingdom: Scriptural Studies in the Kingdom of God (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959), 123.
2. Matthew 28:19.
3. Blessing on Israel (Genesis 12:1–3; 28:14); out of slavery (Deuteronomy 4:5–6; 1 Kings 4:34); exile (Ezekiel 36:22–23; Daniel 3:29; 6:26); Jesus’ command to preach (Luke 24:47; see also Acts 1:8); story of the church (Acts 26:16–18; 28:28); consuming ambitions (Romans 15:20).
4. Revelation 7:9–10; see also 5:9–10.
5. Revelation 22:20.
6. Matthew 24:36.
7. Ladd, The Gospel of the Kingdom, 137.
8. Matthew 24:9.
9. Revelation 12:11.
10. Acts 17:6, KJV.
1. Free to spend our lives however he pleases (Matthew 10:37–39; Luke 9:57–62; 14:25–33); declares his own glory (Isaiah 40; Psalm 96); displays his own glory (Psalm 19:1–4; 148–150); worthy of all exaltation (Revelation 19:1–10); worthy of all praise from all peoples (Ezekiel 36:22–23).
2. KJV.
3. Romans 3:11.
4. John 4:23.
5. 1 Corinthians 14:24–25.
6. Quoted in Courtney Anderson, To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson (Valley Forge, PA: Judson, 1987), 83.
7. Acts 1:14; 2:42; 6:4.
8. Acts 2 as a result of Acts 1; 4:4 as a result of 3:1; 4:31 as a result of 4:29; 6:7 as a result of 6:3–4; 8:1–4 as a result of 7:59–60; 9:18 as a result of 9:13; 10:47–48 as a result of 10:9; 16:33 as a result of 16:25.
9. Acts 4:33.
10. Acts 6:8; 11:23; 13:43; 14:3, 26; 15:11, 40; 18:27; 20:24, 32.
11. Isaiah 62:6–7.
12. A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God; Their Meaning in the Christian Life (New York: Harper, 1961), 34.