Clifton Park Community Church

The sermon centers on the church in Antioch as a model for what a biblical local church should embody, highlighting its origins in the scattering of believers due to persecution, its cross-cultural evangelism among Jews and Hellenists, and its growth through faithful proclamation of Jesus as Lord rather than through miracles, celebrity, or proximity to Jerusalem. It emphasizes that the church's identity as 'Christians' emerged from the city's observation of their devotion to Christ, and its significance as a launching point for missions, exemplified by the sending of Paul and Barnabas. From this example, the preacher distills five essential characteristics of a healthy church: biblical authority, Christ-centered worship, proper leadership with servant-hearted elders and deacons, genuine love among believers, and active outreach to the lost. The message calls believers to seek and join churches that reflect these marks, not as perfect institutions but as communities striving to honor God through truth, love, a