[0:00] Greetings to all of you. It's good to be here this morning. It's good to be here this morning. It's too loud.
[0:31] Or at least for me it is. But amen. I want to talk this morning about the church. And.
[0:49] Try to just do a teaching on. The church. And we know that many times in the Bible.
[1:00] When it talks. The Bible refers to the church. Or the body of Christ. It's talking about the universal church. And this is a.
[1:12] You know. Maybe a rather simple. Teaching. But. I think it's something that's important. That we look at. And so.
[1:24] Jesus said. I will build my church. He also said that. That the gates of hell. Will not prevail against her. Against it. And so.
[1:36] Today. I want to talk about. The universal church. And also the local church. The local bodies. And just try to. Refresh us.
[1:46] In that. Refresh our minds. And. Our thoughts. Maybe even stretch us. A little. I know. At times. I'm very stretched. By these thoughts. But Jesus said.
[2:00] I will build. My church. He didn't say. I'm going to build. Your church. Or anyone else's church. But his church. Isn't that interesting? Simple thought.
[2:11] But. The church is not ours. It's not the pastor's. It's not. Some board. Or. Some denomination. It's his.
[2:23] It's his church. In Acts 20. Verse 28. Familiar scripture. It says that. Christ purchased. The church. With his own blood.
[2:37] That means. The church. Is. Precious. And it costs. The blood. Of his son. Of God's son. That's a very good. Verse to use.
[2:48] I've said this before. But it's a very good. Verse. To use. For. The. I'll just call it. The denomination. Of Jehovah's Witness.
[2:59] That. Don't believe. That. Jesus Christ. Is God. Because. The Bible says. In that. In that verse. Acts 20. Verse 28. In.
[3:10] With a capital G. That God. Purchased. The church. With his. Own blood. God. Jesus Christ.
[3:21] Being. God. Capital G. Now. I know. Their translation. They changed that. And they put a small g there. Isn't that interesting? But.
[3:32] God. Purchased. The church. We believe that. So. It is his. And I want to just establish that. Right. Right away. That the church. Be it. Local.
[3:42] Or. Universal. Is. The church. Belongs. To Christ. So. If the church. Belongs.
[3:52] To Christ. Then. He is. The head. We take. Direction. From him. Let's turn to Colossians. Chapter 1. Colossians.
[4:07] Is. A very. Very. Good book. When talking about the church. And the head of the church.
[4:24] Yeah. Verse 8. I think is. Where I wanted to look at. Oh. I'm sorry. Verse 18. It's a little dark up here.
[4:36] But. I can see my notes. I think. Verse 18. And he is the head of the body. The church. Who is the beginning. The firstborn from the dead.
[4:47] That all things. He might have. The preeminence. For it pleased the father. That in him. Should all fullness dwell. And having made peace.
[4:59] Through the blood of his cross. By him. To reconcile. All things unto himself. By him. I say. Whether they be things in earth. Or things in heaven. And. So.
[5:11] Christ. Is. To have the preeminence. In all things. To the church. We do not. Redefine it. To fit the culture.
[5:23] We submit. To his word. We don't. Redefine the church. Which. A lot of. Cultures are doing. You know.
[5:33] Today. Trying to redefine. What the church is. But we submit. To his word. This is. His word. We must believe that.
[5:46] The church. Has a mission. The church. Is not meant. To stay hidden. Inside. Four walls. Jesus gave. That great commandment. Go ye. Therefore.
[5:56] And make disciples. Of all nations. There in Matthew. Then in Acts. One. Verse. Eight. Eight. Which.
[6:08] Acts. One. Is. What we studied. Wednesday night. In our. Bible study. In our. Small group. Verse. Eight. In. I'm sorry. In Acts. One. Verse.
[6:18] Eight. Ye shall be witnesses. To the ends of the earth. And. You know. They were waiting there. In Acts. For the Holy Spirit. To come. And.
[6:30] We. Talked about that. A little bit. About. That we shall be. Witnesses. To the ends. Doesn't say. Go witness. It says. If you have the Holy Spirit.
[6:41] If you. Receive the Spirit of God. In your life. Then you will be. A witness. There's a difference. Between just. People going.
[6:51] And. Witnessing. And talking about Christ. Or. Becoming. A witness. Which do you think. God would rather have.
[7:02] In his church. That we are his witness. Witnesses. We live a life. That. Speaks. According to our words.
[7:14] In other words. Doesn't mean we don't witness. Much more the opposite. But if our life isn't a witness. It doesn't really carry a lot of weight.
[7:28] And so we are to be witnesses. According to Acts 1 verse 8. There's some thoughts here. That I'd like to read. Or point out today.
[7:39] The church is not a cruise ship. That's built for comfort. But it is a battleship. Built for a mission. And everyone has a role.
[7:51] In the mission of God. We should ask ourselves. Am I contributing. To the mission of the church. Am I adding.
[8:01] Am I adding. To. Christ's plan. For his church. Am I praying. Am I. Giving. Witnessing.
[8:14] There's that word again. Discipling. Are we discipling somebody. Obviously. If we are parents. And have children. We're discipling our children.
[8:26] In the ways of God. Right. What about once we're older. Are we. Discipling. Somebody. Are we. Willing to be.
[8:36] Helping. Others. Maybe it's just our best friend. But we're discipling each other. We. We should be. I want to talk about.
[8:48] The universal church. In Ephesians. Chapter 4. Verse 4 and 6. It says. There is one body.
[9:00] And one spirit. Just as you were called. In one hope. For your. Of your calling. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One God.
[9:10] And father. Of all. Who is above all. And through all. And in you all. And in you all. Could I get somebody.
[9:21] To get me a drink of water. I think I'm going to need it. So here we read. In Ephesians. That there's one Lord. One faith.
[9:31] One baptism. One God. And father of all. Who is above all. And through all. And in you all. The question.
[9:42] When you hear the word. Church. What do you think of? What do we think of. When we hear the word. Church. I know we say.
[9:55] Incorrectly. We say we're going to go. To church. Thank you brother. Do we go.
[10:07] To church. Church. Some people think of. A steeple. Or a nice building.
[10:20] Others think of a home congregation. Place we congregate. Still others think of a global body of believers. Which is not.
[10:32] Inaccurate. Across the whole world. But. But the truth is. That in the Bible. The word church. Is used.
[10:43] Two different ways. And we'll look at some of those. Scriptures then. The universal church.
[10:53] The body of Christ. That Jesus is coming back for. We believe. And we know. That that is. All. True. Born again.
[11:04] Believers. Worldwide. In every time. And that. The local church.
[11:16] Is a specific. Congregation. Of believers. In one place. In one area. One group. One. Right. That's what we would say.
[11:27] Is the local church body. The. The part where we. Join. And we become part of. Right. But even in that. We better be part of. The big church.
[11:39] The worldwide church. Both. Are biblical. And both are essential. If we're going to live.
[11:51] Faithfully. As God's people. They are both essential. There's a thought. If a storm. Would take out. Every church.
[12:01] Building. In America. Or in the world. I guess you could say. Is there still a church? Where do you go to church?
[12:14] What if all the buildings. Were gone? I know. That sounds so simple. But. But really. You know. Do we think of it. Wrong. Sometimes.
[12:27] People. Are. The church. So don't just go to church. Be the church. We are the church. We're part of it.
[12:37] A very small part of it. But we are a part of it. For all that have been born again. And saved. Washed by the blood. The universal church.
[12:48] We want to look at that. First. Again. Where Jesus said in Matthew. I will build my church. And the gates of hell. Shall not. Prevail against it. That's in Matthew 16.
[12:59] Verse 18. And he was not talking about just one congregation. But the whole body. Of. Redeemed.
[13:10] People. Ephesians 1 verse 22 and 23. It calls. In that passage. It calls the church. The body of Christ.
[13:21] With Christ. As the head. And we also just read that in. There in Colossians. Colossians. First few chapters are. Wonderful.
[13:32] I won't read that today. But. That would be. Very applicable to this. Hebrews 12 verse 23. Calls it. The assembly of the firstborn.
[13:43] Who are enrolled in heaven. This means that the universal church. Is made up. Of every true believer. Past.
[13:54] Present. And future. Everybody that. Is ever going to come to Christ. Or ever has come to Christ. Surrendered their life to Christ.
[14:06] And made him their Lord and Savior. Is the church. I think that. When I think of eternity. I love these thoughts.
[14:20] To think of the multitudes. That will be there. Worshipping. And that we get. To be part of that. Is that not exciting? To think about eternity.
[14:31] In that way. You know. We have family reunions. We get together. We have.
[14:42] You know. Especially in our culture. We do that. Right. We have family reunions. And. You know. We know. We know. Some of our cousins. Maybe some of you know. All your cousins.
[14:53] I don't quite. But we for sure know. Our siblings. And family. And. But the family tree. Stretches. Far.
[15:06] If you go back. Generations. People. And things. That happened. That we never knew. Or probably never will know. Right Dan. You were. Researching your family tree.
[15:18] I imagine. Over there in Switzerland. I don't know. But. That would be very interesting. But. The universal church.
[15:31] Is God's family. From every nation. Tribe. And tongue. And only God. Knows who is in that church. Maybe.
[15:51] That universal church. Needs to stretch our mind. A little bit. And God wants to remind us. To. To not think too small. About.
[16:02] His church. You know. I wrote down here. God's people are not just. From your background. Or your denomination. And I would say that.
[16:14] To every. Denomination. In the world. But they are. God's people. Are worldwide. It humbles us. You and I.
[16:25] Are a very small part. Of something. Much bigger. So in case. We're proud. Of our. Upbringing.
[16:37] And our background. And you were. You know. We think. We really have this together. We kind of have. God. And church. All in a box. And. We know how it's all.
[16:48] Supposed to be. Sometimes. People. Become a little. Too proud of that. I fear. There's a difference.
[17:00] By the way. Between being grateful. And proud. I think. We're allowed. To be. To be. Grateful. For ways. That we were raised. And taught. That were good.
[17:11] There's nothing wrong. With that. But to be proud. Would lift ourselves. Above. Other believers. And there's a big difference. I believe.
[17:22] That God. Despises that. In fact. He resists. That. Right. James. God resists. The proud. But gives. Grace. To the humble.
[17:33] It unites us. To be part of this. Body. Whether someone is in Africa. India. Or across the street.
[17:44] From us. Or in prison. If they belong to Christ. They are our brother and sister. Now. Now. I'm not. Advocating.
[17:56] And saying. That. Oh. The way is actually broad. No. I'm not saying that at all. But. Think of these words. If they belong to Christ. Then they are our brother and sister.
[18:15] Through the new birth. We know that's the only way. Jesus said that's the only way. Is by being born again. Born of the spirit. This verse came to mind.
[18:27] This morning. In Romans 8. Where it says. Romans 8 verse 9. But ye are not in the flesh. But in the spirit. If so be. That the spirit of God.
[18:38] Dwell in you. Now. If any man have. Not the spirit of Christ. He is none of his. Did you get that?
[18:49] What a simple. One liner. With so much truth. Now. If any man have not.
[19:00] The spirit of Christ. He is none of his. And it doesn't matter. Who you are. Where you are. What your background is. If you don't have the spirit of Christ.
[19:13] You don't belong. In this church. You get what I'm saying. I'm not saying this church. I'm saying. You don't. You're not part of. The kingdom of God.
[19:24] You can't be. Because let's. Remember. The word of God is true. It's truth. All the way. It divides.
[19:39] It is. Sharper than a two-edged sword. And. This is a wonderful truth. Because the opposite of that verse is also true.
[19:51] That if you have the spirit of God. The spirit of Christ. You belong to him. That's the good news. That's the message. That we should. Also take to heart.
[20:03] And be encouraged. Now let's look at. The local church. The local church. While the universal church is.
[20:16] Great and glorious. God calls us to commit to a local. Body of believers. In Acts 2 verse 42. It describes the early church.
[20:29] It says they continued steadfastly. In the apostles doctrine and fellowship. In the breaking of bread. And in prayers. In the apostles. And also Paul wrote.
[20:45] To specific churches. The church at Corinth. The church at Philippi. At Galatia. And then also. Revelation. I was reading through Revelation recently.
[20:57] And. How Jesus. Spoke to John. And he said. Write to the church. At Ephesus. Write to the church. He was giving local. Localities.
[21:08] Locations. That he wanted. John. To say this. To that church. Laodicea. And so on. So there is.
[21:19] The local church. There is a body. Of believers. That. Meet together. Can you imagine. This morning. If that didn't exist. In your life.
[21:31] Where you just. Yeah. You just get up. Sunday mornings. And you're like. Praise the Lord. I'm part of this church. But. I don't know where they are. I can't find any. I'm just by myself.
[21:43] Oh. Maybe I have a wife. And a child. So we say. Well. We're two or three. You know. People make those excuses. And they can't find a body.
[21:55] That they can agree with. Enough. To go to church. Now I said that. Go to church. But meet with the church. Maybe that's a better way to say. Meet with a local body.
[22:09] Somebody said to think of the universal church. As an entire army of God. But an army doesn't function as one giant mob. It has branches.
[22:22] Or what do they call them? They call them companies or units. Where you get to know your fellow soldiers. You train together.
[22:33] You fight side by side. In the spiritual war that we're in. We walk together. We carry each other's burdens. You can't really do that in the universal.
[22:44] See there's. There's the need for a local body. To actually live it out. So. We need that.
[22:59] Some say I'm part of the universal church. But. They never commit to any local church. But that's where. Your faith becomes visible. And practical.
[23:10] The place where discipleship happens. Like I said earlier. Where we disciple each other. Where we work together. We talk to each other. We. Rub shoulders if you will.
[23:26] In Hebrews 10 we know this verse. 10 verse 25. It tells us to not neglect meeting together. Because we need encouragement and accountability.
[23:38] And we are in a day when that is so needed. Don't we need encouragement? On a regular basis. Who in the.
[23:49] Global worldwide church is going to encourage and strengthen you? Who's going to show up and pray for you? When we really need it. Or who can we be accountable to? If we're just in that.
[24:03] So we need both. We're part of both. Some believers. Only focus on the universal church. I don't need to join a local church.
[24:14] I'm part of God's global body. That's not a biblical way of looking at it. Others only see the local church.
[24:25] And forget that we belong to something bigger. That's the other side. We are part of God's family worldwide.
[24:37] And by the way, I just had this thought. When we get to heaven. Once we get there. Which church will we be with?
[24:53] It'll just be the church, right? The bride of Christ. And it'll be. A big one. A big one. Multitudes. I'm not in any way advocating that.
[25:09] Most people will be there. Jesus did say. Few there be that find it. Compared to the. But I still believe there's going to be.
[25:20] The millions. And to think that we can be part of that. The local church reminds us.
[25:36] Of our present responsibilities. This is. Where we serve. Where we love. And where we grow. Spiritually grow. With real people.
[25:47] Brothers and sisters. Someone said it's like a. Forest and a tree. The forest representing the universal church. That's the whole picture.
[25:59] A big forest. But the tree that you're planted in. Represents. The local church. This is where you draw nutrients.
[26:09] You grow roots. You bear fruit. Are we a tree? In the forest? To love the body of Christ.
[26:25] Here I wrote this again. Don't be prideful of your denomination. Or congregation. Be grateful. But not proud. Or arrogant about it.
[26:36] And yes we are to be a peculiar people. Separated unto God. But sometimes we might.
[26:47] Allow that separation to make us proud. And think that we are better. Than someone else. What is our gospel life? Is it a sweet smelling savior.
[26:59] To those. To others around us. Or does it have the stench. Of self righteousness. Our life is supposed to be. A sweet smelling savor.
[27:13] Do we serve faithfully? Do I. Do you serve faithfully. In the local church? Someone once said.
[27:27] Where did we hear this recently? I think it was in the meetings. About. Going from one pond to the next.
[27:42] It's kind of coming back to me. I can't quite get the words. But. Didn't we hear that? Where people just jump from. They float from one group to another. Rather than planting themselves.
[27:53] And being committed and growing. A number of years ago. I did a board illustration. I'll do that again. This morning.
[28:05] I'll try to. Make a point. Or give a visual maybe. And we'll just call this. Big circle. If I can make one.
[28:16] If I can make one. The global church. And then. Whole bunch of little churches.
[28:30] I should have done this earlier. But. These are all the little churches. Maybe thousands and thousands. Worldwide.
[28:43] Churches everywhere. Churches everywhere. Now. Is every church that is called a church. A church. I didn't hear anything.
[28:59] Every church that is called a church. Is it a church of Jesus? Nope. Some are way off. And they're not the church at all.
[29:09] Some are maybe kind of close to the line. Anyway. That's just the picture. The picture. That. That. I had one day. Years ago. That. You know.
[29:22] If. If you're part of this. Church. You're inside of God's. What God says is his body. Then you're part of his church.
[29:32] Church. But if you're part. If you've joined up a church group. A local church. But you're not part of this. Then.
[29:45] What's. What's the point? In other words. If you haven't been saved or redeemed. Just joining up with a local. Group of people somewhere.
[29:56] Local church. Does not make you. The church that's going to heaven. And. While. Some churches that are maybe kind of on the fence.
[30:09] Or we don't know for sure. Whatever. There's. Organizations. Huge. Mega. Denominations.
[30:21] And we want to be careful. To say that. Well. If you're part of that church. You can't be. What if they're born again? What if there's some ignorance. In their life.
[30:32] And they're part of a. Church that doesn't really preach. The new birth. Say. Catholic. But. Somebody in that church.
[30:43] May be saved. Maybe they haven't. Seen everything. You see what I'm saying. Like they could still be part of. And only God knows. Who those people are.
[30:53] You and I don't. Only God knows. Who the global church. Is. And. You could be. In this church. In this body.
[31:04] You could meet here every Sunday. And not be in the global. Body. Christ. Coming to. Coming does not put you in there. We read the verse.
[31:18] He that hath. Not the spirit of Christ. Is none of his. Is. That's what puts you in there. I'm looking forward.
[31:30] To where it'll all be clear. And there'll be one big church. And I hope we'll all be there. Couple more practical differences.
[31:44] Some comparisons. Being. Being committed. When you. When you. Come to faith in Christ.
[31:57] You are automatically. Part of. This church. As soon as you come to Jesus. You're born again.
[32:08] You are part of God's body. But when it comes to local. It's an intentional choice. For you to commit. To a local church body.
[32:21] It's kind of hard to commit. To something that you can't see. Right. As far as. To the. Universal church. It's hard to be accountable there.
[32:32] Leadership. Leadership. The universal. Jesus is the shepherd. He's the. He is the head of the church.
[32:44] And he is also head. He's supposed to be the head of a local church. He is if we allow him. But the local church does have. Elders and pastors.
[32:54] And so on. To guide and to serve. The universal church. It shows the big picture.
[33:07] Of God's people. But locally. It carries out ministries. Missions. Discipleship and fellowship. Visibility.
[33:20] Like I said. The global church. The universal church. Only God sees. The whole.
[33:31] And knows. Who belongs. Where the local church. Is more. Tangible. You see.
[33:41] And you interact with people. We get to know each other. Right. We know our hearts. We know that. You got saved. We know each other's testimony. Right. So what is the difference?
[33:59] The universal church. And the local body. Again. The universal church. Is all true believers. Everywhere. Of all times.
[34:12] The big. Family. Of God. The local church. Is smaller. Visible. Gathering. Where you grow. Where you serve. And live out your faith. And.
[34:24] You commit to loving. The saints. Let's not forget that. That we are committed to loving each other. In a local body.
[34:35] Don't be that Christian that says. I love Jesus. But I don't need a church. Here's a thought too. If Christ. Loved the church enough.
[34:46] To die for it. For her. In Ephesians 5. 25. How can we treat it lightly? In Corinthians.
[34:57] Paul said. Now you are the body of Christ. And members individually. Here's some. Some final.
[35:07] Thoughts I have. As to what is the church. According to the Bible. The church.
[35:18] Again. Belongs to Christ. The church. Is the people. Not the building. Not a. Meeting place. I know we're thinking of.
[35:30] Building a building soon. But that's not the church. Churches. I mean that building. Can be 100% done. And look nice. And everything. But if we don't go there.
[35:41] There's no church there. It's not a church. Right? If people don't show up. The church. Is the body of Christ.
[35:51] The church. Is the family of God. And it is a people. On a mission. Don't just go to church. Be a church. Don't just sit in a pew.
[36:03] Or chairs. But. Use your gifts. Don't just love the idea.
[36:14] Of being part of the church. But love the people. Christ loved the church. So much. That he gave himself. For her. So if Christ gave his life.
[36:26] For the church. Should we not also give ourselves. In service. And devotion. And love. For him. And for his people.
[36:37] I think sometimes that. You know. You hear things like. Church is overrated. I've heard that. I don't know. For 30 years.
[36:48] Off and on. I hear somebody say that. I heard a preacher say that once. Ask Jesus about that.
[37:01] Church is overrated. In other words. The importance of church. Is just overrated. And yet. That's what put Jesus on the cross. He died for her.
[37:13] He loved. It's his bride. Should we not also have. Honor. And respect. For the body of Christ. And not make statements like that.
[37:26] I don't know about you. But I detest those kind of statements. Do we love and respect. The body of Christ. Like we should.
[37:38] Do we honor Christ. By how we honor his body. Maybe it's because. People don't believe. That the church is his body. Maybe that's the problem. We don't.
[37:51] We have like an indifferent attitude. Against the church. Because we don't see it. Clearly. As the body of Christ. Think about that.
[38:04] Next time we hear a statement. Let's correct it. Let's. Maybe push back a little bit. I have to think of Charlie Kirk. You know. Maybe just.
[38:15] Have that debate. Why do you say that? Why do you say church is overrated? I mean. Explain yourself. Do we.
[38:31] Here's my last question here. But do we reject Christ. By how we reject those that he redeemed. That's a deep question. It's a very.
[38:43] I mean that to be deep. Do I reject Christ. By how I reject those. That Christ redeemed. And.
[38:55] Just a couple experiences lately. Actually yesterday. At. Costco. We met a lady. That.
[39:06] Some of you know. And. We haven't seen them for a long long time. And. Just reconnecting. My wife and I there. And.
[39:17] We shared some of our church experience here. And. Just. Caught up a little bit. And. She just so rejoiced. I just. I was so challenged by that.
[39:29] The way that she rejoiced. When we shared about. Different things. Even our daughter getting baptized. Or about.
[39:40] Some of you all from Michigan. We shared a little bit about that. She just got so excited about the gospel. And I thought wow. Isn't. That's how it should be. They don't know you.
[39:52] They don't. You know. They don't. We're not back and forth. But can we rejoice in other people's victories. In other churches experiences.
[40:03] Like that. When people get set free. And come to Christ. There was a. Man at my office. About a week ago. That.
[40:13] I've known for a lot of years. And he's leaving town. And. Just stopped in for anyhow. And.
[40:24] I forget what religion he is with. I'm not sure. But. I do know that he's a Sabbath keeper. And. He just sat there. And we were talking. And he.
[40:35] Shared about. I don't know what all. But just. Things that he can't eat. And. And I just asked him. You know. We're just having a very friendly. Open conversation.
[40:46] And. I asked him if. That bothers him. You know. You go in somewhere. And you smell bacon. And you just can't have it. You know. And we were just having that kind of. He kind of chuckled.
[40:57] And said. Yeah. That's really. Really hard. Because it does smell really. Really good. Anyway. We were just having that. And I didn't condemn him. For what he believed. But just. In the end of it all.
[41:10] He believes that. He knows Jesus Christ. As his savior. And can I rejoice in that. Or does he have to come to the place.
[41:23] Where he believes. Just like I do. About. Keeping the sabbath. And not eating pork. So I just blessed him for.
[41:34] And I shared with him. About what I believe. About the sabbath. And that. Jesus. It's actually all fulfilled in him. In Christ. He is our rest today. It's not about. To us.
[41:45] That's how we see it. You know. And he seemed open to that. Like it was an open dialogue. And so. We even talked about the sheet.
[41:55] That came down to Peter. And. God said. Rise up and eat. Peter tried to tell God. What was clean and unclean. You know. Like he was educating God. God. But anyway.
[42:11] That's a thought. I wanted to leave with you. And then also. How many of you know. Or heard of Zach Poonin. That name. Something that I heard him preach.
[42:24] I was at a meeting. Where he was speaking. Years ago. It was probably. 25 years ago. At least. Maybe more.
[42:37] And I just. Something that he shared. This thing about. Fellowshiping. And. And you know. I know that. What I'm sharing. Can be. Misunderstood.
[42:48] And picked apart. That's okay. I'm certainly not a believer. Of the. Ecumenical. Movement.
[42:59] And. Trying to bring all. Denominations. Into one thing. We're all God's family. Not at all. You must have the spirit of Christ. You must be born of the spirit. But something he shared one time.
[43:12] That really stuck with me. And that was. How that. The church. Has. You know. Each denomination group.
[43:22] Has its own doctrines. Right. The Baptists have theirs. You know. The Mennonites. And Amish. Have theirs. And. He went down through a list. Even the non-denominational.
[43:32] They have theirs. So we all have our doctrine. Right. And so we. Make our doctrine. Some of our doctrines. We maybe make so big. That we can never fellowship.
[43:45] With other believers. Because they're too big. He's. And he used this illustration. He said. Your fingers. Let's say your fingers. Are your doctrines. Some of your. Are ten feet long.
[43:57] You know. You just make it so unhandy. You can't even fellowship. With others. Because your fingers. Are all ten feet long. I know. That's a funny picture. And so.
[44:09] We get challenged. About that. And so. He also brought out. The other side. Where you come. And. So. Do you think the answer. Then. Is to cut the finger off. Now you just lost.
[44:21] That doctrine. People do that. All the time. So. What is the answer. He asked. And it's obvious. Just keep it.
[44:31] The right size. Don't throw your doctrine away. Just don't make it. Bigger than the Bible does. Don't make it. Smaller than the Bible does. Don't take away.
[44:42] Don't add. Just have your doctrines. The right size. Yes. And that has always. When I think of. People.
[44:53] The church. If churches would do that. Would actually believe. What the Bible teaches. And just stay with that. Not make it bigger.
[45:04] Not make it smaller. Maybe the church. Could actually be more united. The church. Instead of so divided.
[45:15] How does God see it. What am I advocating for.
[45:28] Anything new or different. I don't think so. I just want to say. What God says. I think that's our heart. That we just say. What God says. And if he doesn't say it.
[45:38] We don't say it. But let's open our hearts. And our minds to. What does Jesus see. When he sees his bride.
[45:52] What does he see. When he sees us. He is the head. He is the owner. Of the church. Would you stand with me.
[46:03] If you can. Maybe. We've just had. Somewhat of a.
[46:16] Wrong view. Of the church. I don't know. I know that I don't have. The right view. Fully. But can we pursue that.
[46:28] Can we pursue what God. God's heart is. His view. God. Maybe we have. Felt like.
[46:40] We're so. Insignificant. Like we don't matter. Even in this church. And that's not true either. You do matter. Every. The Bible makes that very clear.
[46:51] That every part. Matters. In the body. Every part. So let's not just be. Holding down a. Pew.
[47:02] Or a chair. In church. But let's use our gifts. Let's share our testimony. Somebody. Just shared.
[47:15] Just heard this last night. That. Somebody was on the verge. Of committing suicide. They just felt like. They didn't matter. And they were so discouraged.
[47:26] And so depressed. Depression. And. A friend. I guess. Invited them. To. This person. To. A singing group.
[47:37] A singing group. That we listen to. And. And. And through those songs. That person. Committed his life. To Christ. And that was the evening.
[47:49] He was going to take his life. And. So let's use our gifts. Whatever that is. We never know. Who we are going to touch. So. Let's pray. Father. We just ask you to.
[48:02] Speak to our hearts. Lord. At this time. Speak to me. Lord. Speak to all of us. In how you could use us. In a greater way. In a further way.
[48:13] In your kingdom. Lord. I believe. There are. Many. Right here. Right here. At this place. That. You would love. To use.
[48:24] To grow your kingdom. To see. What you see. And to not be hindered. Or bogged down. With. With things. That are a hindrance.
[48:35] To that Lord. But that you could just. Truly use us. For your honor. And glory. That we would be a vessel. To you. A vessel of honor. Of pure. Of purity. And of holiness. I pray Lord.
[48:47] That. Anyone here. That. Somehow thought. They were part of your kingdom. But. They've never experienced. Salvation. Or never. Had your spirit.
[48:58] Within them. I pray that they could. Find that Lord. That you could find that person. And draw them out. Lord. And just help us God.
[49:08] To go deeper with you. To be willing. To allow you. To make us. Into your image. Lord Jesus. For your glory. For your kingdom. We pray this in Jesus name.
[49:21] Amen. You may be seated. And. If anyone has any. Thoughts. Or questions. Or. Corrections. Anything I shared today.
[49:33] Then. I want to be open to that. God bless you all. Thank you.