01 Introduction

One of the most amazing things to me about church is that God chooses to partner with us, with ordinary men and women, to advance His kingdom. It's an absolute mind-blower to me that He would choose to do that, but He does. And His model, His blueprint, His plan for the church is that as men and women come together and partner together and labor together, that we can advance His kingdom.

You know, one of the hallmarks of the New Testament church we read about in Acts 2:42 is that they were devoted to fellowship. Luke there uses the word koinonia, which is a word that Paul often uses as well. But Paul doesn't just use it in the sense of individuals within the church having fellowship. He uses it for the relationship God has with us. He uses it of the relationship He has with the churches, and he uses it of the relationship the churches have with each other. And there's a sense there of a partnership, of co-laboring, of coming together in unity to really advance the kingdom.

And when we look at Four12, the very reason we're called Four12 and not Four11 is the focus isn't on the apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, teachers, but on every saint being part of the field and every saint partnering together to advance the kingdom.

Understanding Biblical Partnership and Four12

And so it's important for us to understand: What does partnership really mean? You may be listening to this considering partnering with Four12. You may be new to partnering with Four12, or you maybe have been partnering with us for some time, and the nature of that partnership may develop and grow as we get to know each other better. But I think it's important that we understand what partnership is and what partnership isn't.

You know, Four12 isn't a network. It's not a loose association. It's not a club. It is a movement and a partnership of churches giving into each other and being devoted to one another for the sake of Jesus Christ.

You know, if you look at a married couple who come together in partnership, if each of those parties insists on talking about, “What can I get out of it?” it's not going to be much of a marriage. But if both the husband and wife got into it saying, “What can I contribute? What can I lay down? What can I give for the benefit of my partner?” then that becomes a beautiful marriage in which both benefit.

Partnering Through Time, Talents, and Treasures

And so what we want to talk about over three short little messages is, how practically can we partner together effectively to glorify Jesus, extend the kingdom, and see His church built? And three main areas that we can focus on in terms of practical partnership is: How do we partner together with our time, with our talents, and with our treasures?