The Church will mature before the second coming. The best days of the Church are ahead of us!

August 30 – The Church will become spiritually mature in history before the return of Messiah.  – Ephesians 4:11-17

Key Memory Verse:  Ephesians 4:13 NASB - "13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Messiah."

Application:  We should strive to be mature and bring the church to maturity with optimism that our efforts will eventually substantially succeed.

Ephesians 4:11-20 NASB - "11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Messiah; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Messiah.

I.  There is a specific prophesy that the Church will be matured through the ministry of the gifted men provided by the Messiah.

14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Messiah, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

II.  The Church will be united In true doctrine and true love.

17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20 But you did not learn Messiah in this way,"

III.  Since we believe this let us today reject the false teaching and lifestyle of the unbelieving culture around us.