This past Sunday, I preached a message from 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. It was intended to a warning and challenge to the church to keep the main thing the main thing. I was also preaching to myself. Once again, I struggled to organize my thoughts for preaching. And I felt the weight of that struggle in presenting the message. If the Lord would have allowed me, I would have preached something else during the second service. But I had an assignment that I could not shake. So, with fear and trembling, I stood and admonished the church (and myself!!!) to be careful how you build. Here is the sermon skeleton:

Title: “Be Careful How You Build”

Text: 1 Corinthians 3:10-15

Theme: Divine accountability for Christian ministry in the local church

Point: The Lord Jesus Christ will judge the church growth strategy you practice.

Outline:

I. Build on the established foundation (3:11).

II. Build with quality materials (3:12).

A. Choose materials with spiritual excellence.

B. Choose materials with an eternal perspective.

III. Build to pass the inspection (3:13).

IV. Build to receive a reward (3:14-15).

A. Work that passes the inspection will be reward (v. 14).

B. Work that fails the inspection will be destroyed (v. 15).