The Nature of the Church

Thanks for leading this team. Good morning, everyone. It's so good to be with you in the

presence of Christ. Hope you were near to him this weekend, that he was near to you. I am so

thrilled this morning to start this series for one main reason. And that main reason is that for

seven weeks or so I get to I get to talk freely about the one thing on earth that God loves more

than anything else on earth, and that's his church I mean, imagine that for seven weeks we get

to think about the thing that God loves the most that is on earth And that is his people, the

church. We're calling it God 's Household. In First Timothy 3:15, it says this. Paul 's writing to

Timothy, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, the

household of God, which is the Church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. I want

us to spend a few weeks here retracing some of the most important aspects of a theology

of the church . And the life of the church I want us to finish laying, if we can, by God 's will, the

foundation for a strong church theology and a strong church life. And here's why.

A strong church, a mature church, a growing church, a healthy church. Firstly, it magnifies the

Trinity. God is glorified as his church grows in number and His church grows in maturity. The

2nd is a strong, healthy church that helps you and me grow, mature. It helps us grow closer to

God. It helps us grow to maturity. And thirdly, a healthy, strong church leads to more people

being saved . Leads to more people being saved. The church is the one thing on earth that God

loves more than everything else.

Now let me just state the obvious upfront. There is no perfect church in this age. There is no

perfect church, no perfect local church. No matter what church you are a part of, no matter

which church you join, you will be disappointed at some point by flaws and sins and

weaknesses, both in the members and in the leaders. And in the organization of that church.

and I was reminded this morning of a Charles Spurgeon quote that I love. “It says the day we

find the perfect church It becomes imperfect the moment we join it.” It's really great. But there

are weaker churches and stronger churches, right? There are weaker ones. There are stronger

ones. And the stronger we are, the more stable we are, the more like Christ we are, the more

God is glorified, the more believers grow and the more people that are saved. There's nothing

more precious to God than His church. That's why we're doing this.

All three times we had children we never found out the gender until they were born. So we have

three boys. So we waited. We were surprised. And each time, you know, we were just so eager.

It was so surreal to tell, to look at Aaron as our son was born and say, what is it? What is it?

And she said it's a boy or she would say their name that we had chosen for the boy.

I have many times in public, even recently asked Aaron, is that baby a boy or a girl? Is that little

kid a boy or a girl. Nowadays when you look at a kid, it's hard to tell because there's neutral

clothing, there's neutral colors. And for me, it's a frequent social crisis. It just is. Like you don't

want to call a boy or girl or a girl a boy, especially in this culture. You just don't want to do it. The

other day we were at the bike park with our kids. It's something we're getting into because you

can actually go outside in Idaho in June, which is incredible. And we were at the bike park

and there was this really kind sweet hearted kid. He was probably seven or eight years old But

at first I didn't know it was a boy. And that wasn't on purpose. I wasn't trying to be mean, but he

had long hair.He had a pink shirt and pink shoes. But his frame and his voice and his face was,

was one of a boy. And so the only time I could really be sure of me and Aaron were debating

whether this is a boy or a girl because we wanted to call him a he. We didn't want to call him a

she. And I found out what he was when his dad came over and started talking about him, his

son.

And so the social crisis was over. The big questions of our day are existential questions. They

are identity questions, right? Those are the big questions of the day, identity questions. And the

same thing is true for the Church of Jesus Christ. I can test this morning that the modern church

is experiencing an identity crisis! What are we? What is our nature? And if you're a Christian, if

you confess that Jesus Christ is Lord God and Savior of your life. What are you a part of? What

is this? What are we? Because in the history of the world, we're a very peculiar organism. We're

a very peculiar thing in the history of humanity.

I want you to consider how difficult this question is to answer in a 35 or 40 minute sermon .

There are various questions and issues that the theology and doctrine of the Church raises. For

instance, is the church any casual gathering of believers?. Is the church something spiritual? Is

the church something physical? Is the church something spread throughout the world, or is it

merely gatherings of believers on Sundays? Is the church new? Is the church old? Is the church

something that has always existed since God started forming a people? Was God forced to start

the church? Did the church have a starting point? Is the church plan A? Is it Plan B? Is it plan

C? Is the church God 's backup plan, or was it His plan throughout all eternity? Is the church the

Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church? Only the Protestant churches? What is

it that makes the church, a church and are you part of the church? Am I part of the church and

how do I know? How do I define the church in real life, in real time? How do you spot a real

church?

So honestly, I don't even really know what I'm doing in writing this series. This is kind of maybe

a mistake to try to answer these questions in seven weeks, but we'll do our very best by God 's

will this morning.

What I want to do to answer this question is I want to start in the book of Acts chapter 2.

I want to start there, and I say start there because we're going to be all over the place in this

series guys . And also what I want to do before we look at Chapter 2 is I want to go ahead and I

don't normally do this, but I want to go ahead and lay out a very human definition of the Church

that synthesizes That synthesizes what I believe. At bare minimum, the church is OK Here it is

on the screen. The Church is the global community of believers in Jesus Christ who have the

Holy Spirit and gather locally. To do God's will, the global community of believers in Jesus who

have the Holy Spirit and gather locally to do God 's will. So let's take this one at a time.

First, the global community of believers and Jesus Christ. This is the most fundamental, basic

element of what the church even is. We are a Jesus Christ people. We are from Jesus. We are

through Jesus. We are for Jesus Christ. What binds you and I together. And with all believers

globally and all believers locally and believers throughout the Treasure Valley is that we all

confess faith, true, genuine, saving faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. This is so central and

so important to the church 's life that we should be very careful in speaking about the church as

a location or a building or a campus. The church is a people, a people united by their faith And

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, it's so important to us that with our kids, we actually tell them, hey,

we are going to gather with the church today, the people of God and we will say we are going to

drive to the church building. We try from a young age with our kids right now to tell them that the

church is a people made alive with Jesus Christ, united to Jesus Christ, submissive to Jesus

Christ, trusting in Jesus Christ.

We see the message about Christ here in Acts 2:22. “Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of

Nazareth, a man attested to you by God, with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did

through him in your midst, as you yourselves know, 23 this Jesus delivered up according to the

definite plan and foreknowledge of God. You were crucified and killed by the hands of lawless

men. 24 God raised him up, losing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be

held by it. 25 For David says concerning him, “I saw the Lord always before me, for He's at my

right hand, that I may not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced.

My flesh also will dwell in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your holy

One see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life. You will make me full of

gladness with your presence.”

29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and

was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being there for profit, and knowing that God

had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne. 31 He

foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor

did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up And of that we all are witnesses.

33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the

promise of the Holy Spirit, he, Jesus, has poured out this, that you yourselves are seeing and

hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, The Lord said to My

Lord, sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool. 36 Let all the House of

Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ. This Jesus whom

you crucified.”

This is what we believe, Church. This is whom we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the

Son of the Father, the one anointed by the Holy Spirit, The One who kept God 's law, The One

who did mighty works and signs and wonders. The one who inaugurated and ushered in his

glorious Kingdom on earth, King Jesus, the Savior of all men, women and children. The Savior

of all nations, who was crucified as a sacrifice for your sin, who was raised on the third day, who

is exalted to heaven 40 days later, who poured out the gift and promise of the Holy Spirit on

those who believe. This is the Savior we trust in. This is what unites us together as a church.

We are born through, born again through faith in Jesus Christ. John 3:16,’For God so loved the

world, He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have

eternal life.” The Church is the global international community of those who believe in this great

Lord, Christ, God and Savior.

You know, the Christian faith is always Trinitarian. That if you believe in Jesus truly and

genuinely, you automatically believe in a triune God. I love that we sang that song. It was so

fitting. And Brian had no idea this is where I was going. But I love that we sang about the

Trinity and then it would say I believe in Jesus Christ.

Think about it. John 20:31 at the end of John's gospel. “These things have been written so that

you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that believing you may have life in his

name.”

You see that Trinitarian statement of faith. Jesus, he says, is the Christ Jesus is the One, the

Christ, the anointed One, the one anointed by the Holy Spirit. Christ means anointed one. He's

Messiah Jesus, the one anointed by the Holy Spirit, the one conceived by the Holy Spirit, the

one who was empowered by the Holy Spirit. He offered his life up on the cross by the Spirit of

holiness. He was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He ascended into

heaven and poured out the Spirit on his people. Jesus is the one who is the Christ The Spirit

anointed king and Savior.

This is a Trinitarian gospel And Jesus, he says, is the Son of God The Son of the Father,

If you read the Gospel of John, it is so saturated with Trinitarian belief and Trinitarian theology.

He says if you believe in me, you believe in the Father who sent me. I'm from the Father. I have

the words of the Father. I share with you the glory of the Father and the message of the Father

and the works of the Father. Jesus is one with the Father. He is one with the Spirit. He is Jesus

the anointed one, the Son of God the Father to believe truly in Jesus Is to believe in the Jesus

who is Christ and Son of God if you want to be saved. You must believe in Jesus, the one from

the Father. You must believe in Jesus, the one conceived by the Spirit. You must believe in

Jesus, the one anointed, empowered, and raised by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This may be why one of my favorite texts is Ephesians 1 lays out salvation from eternity past to

eternity future . Salvation for our souls is from God the Father, through God the Son and by God

the Spirit. That the Father chose us and predestined us, that the Son died for us and redeemed

us, that the Spirit fills us and seals us. Salvation from beginning to end, eternity past to eternity

future, is from the Father, through Jesus the Son, and by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit

To believe in Jesus Is not to believe in an isolated Jesus or a or a Jesus out there on his own. It

is to believe in the eternal Godfather, Son and Spirit. This is amazing. What binds you and I

together, that what makes us the church, is that we believe in this very Jesus Christ, the Son of

God The Spirit anointed Savior, and that makes us God 's church Faith in Christ makes us his

people, makes us his church. This means the Church is the new humanity, the new covenant

community of Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus Christ. This is an international,

multinational, multilingual, global community of all believers in Jesus Christ This means the

Church is not Plan B This church is not the church is not God 's backup plan. God didn't make a

mistake. God wasn't depending on Israel. When Israel broke the Mosaic Covenant, when they

broke the Old covenant, when Israel prostituted herself with the gods of the nations, God wasn't

scrambling like, what do I do now? My plan has failed. No, the church has always been God 's

eternal plan. I was reflecting again today on Ephesians chapter three. Man, Ephesians chapter

3 is so underestimated . He says in Ephesians chapter 3. That the formation of the church, Jews

and Gentiles, believers in Jesus, the formation of a multinational church, is the mystery from the

ages past that is now revealed He says that the formation of the church is God 's eternal

purpose Now realized through Jesus Christ Romans chapter 11:33 to 36 says that God has

consigned all people, all nations to disobedience so that he can have mercy on all people

through Jesus Christ. And then he declares the wisdom of God, the knowledge of God, how he's

unsearchable and wisdom and judgment . The Church, this multinational, global, multilingual,

multi ethnic group of believers in Jesus Christ, is God 's eternal plan. We are the new humanity.

We are the people of the new creation who believe in a new atom and a great high Priest.

And this should not be surprising to us at all. Isaiah long ago said that salvation through the

servant of God would reach the ends of the earth. Salvation would come to the ends of the earth

to all nations, Jesus tells us in the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations.

Acts 1:8, Jesus says , you will receive the Spirit who will make you my witnesses to the ends of

the earth . Throughout the book of Acts we see the gospel starts in Israel. It starts with the Jews

to the Jew first And the gospel quickly explodes among the nations. We see in Ephesians 3:2,

as I mentioned, that believing Jews and Gentiles are one new humanity, one new people, God 's

heirs and God 's family and God 's household, the body of Christ.

What an amazing savior. What a merciful God. Surprising grace that this God, man Jesus

Christ, is not merely the Savior of the Jews, but the Savior of the nations, and that anyone, no

matter how poor or rich, whether black or white, young or old, male or female, slave or free,

anyone can come to God through Jesus Christ and find salvation, This is what makes us a

church In Genesis chapter 12, if you remember the famous story of God calling Abram,

choosing him, he, he says, I'm going to bless you Abram, and then through you and through

your offspring, I'll bless the world . She's gonna bless you and then I'm gonna use you as a

vehicle of blessing. Specifically, I'm gonna use your offspring as a blessing. Now check this out.

The Apostle Paul picks this up in Galatians 3:16 and he tells us that Jesus Christ is the true

offspring of Abraham. Jesus Christ in Galatians 3 is the true offspring of Abraham that blesses

the nations. He blesses the nations with forgiveness. He blesses the nations with salvation, He

blesses people with mercy and grace through his death and his resurrection. That Jesus Christ

is the offspring of Abraham who blesses the world with mercy.

Galatians 3:25, “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. 26 For in

Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into

Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.

For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham 's offspring,

heirs according to promise.”

Do you believe in Jesus Christ as Lord, God and Savior? Is your faith, your hope, your trust

completely in Him? For He is the offspring of Abraham who brings blessing to you, who brings

salvation to you and me, who forgives sins, who gives us his Holy Spirit, who makes us his

people and makes us a beautiful bride, the Church. We are a global community of believers in

Jesus Christ.

Secondly We are a global community of believers in Jesus Christ who have the Holy Spirit. Who

has the Holy Spirit? We are indwelt. In other words, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit This is

what John chapter 3 says. This is what Jesus calls being born of the Spirit . He says you

must be born again to enter God 's Kingdom You must be born again by the Power, or by the

Presence, or by the Person of the Holy Spirit. If you want to be saved, in other words, you have

to be born of the Spirit. In First Corinthians 12:3 it says, “Therefore I want you to understand that

no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit, faith and the Spirit..

We are a people who believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and we are a people who believe

in Him by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are a community of believers who are indwelt by the

Holy Spirit. Ephesians tells us we are God 's holy temple, that God dwells in us. That God fills

us, that we are a spirit filled, spirit indwelt, spirit sealed and spirit empowered people

In John 1:12 and 13. He connects belief and the spirit. He says this all who believed Were

born of God all who received Jesus Receive Jesus because they are born of God, Not born of

flesh, but born of the Holy Spirit. This is an amazing thing. Think about this. We usually think

about the Holy Spirit as an impersonal force like Star Wars or something. The Holy Spirit is the

very God of the universe, and the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you. And to dwell inside of

us and to indwell us as a church, we become the temple of the living God. We're born again by

the power of the living God. We're drawn to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. We're led to

faith in Christ by the inner working of the Holy Spirit. When we are dead in sins, God raises us

up with Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. What a gift? Could there be any

greater gift than that

Through the Holy Spirit we are united to Christ. Through the Holy Spirit we have direct personal

fellowship with God. You know, in the Old Testament, The Holy Spirit, he was present and He

was active. He was empowering prophets and kings and judges and leaders. But the Holy Spirit

didn't dwell personally in each person of the community. Something new has happened in the

church. Something new has happened in Acts chapter 2 when the Spirit is poured out on

the church. Every single believer in Jesus Christ has personal, direct, intimate fellowship and

knowledge of God. That was not true in the old covenant, but it is true in the new covenant that

we are the new covenant community. We are the new humanity, both Jew and Gentile, slave

and free, male and female. God has led us to faith in Jesus and He has poured out His Spirit on

His people .

As the greatest blessing of all, His very presence in us. This is what the Church is and how

easy it is. I lookout in this room and I just think how easy it would be to walk in this room each

Sunday and forget that how easy it would be to park on the street outside or be rushing with

your kids to find a parking spot or get them to kids ministry or and how easy would it be to forget

that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, that you have personal direct access to God in the

fellowship of the Holy Spirit. That right now, because the Spirit lives in you and because the

Spirit lives in me, we have direct union with Jesus Christ and nothing can separate us from Him.

This is what the Church is. So the church is a people who believes in the Lord Jesus by the

power of God. And is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We both believe in Jesus by the power of the

Spirit and we are indwelt by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. I want to read one

powerful testimony. I had many others, but I'm not going to do that.

One powerful testimony of how this works Acts 10:44, “While Peter was still saying these

things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. He was preaching the gospel. He's

preaching Christ. While he's saying this, while he's preaching the message, the Holy Spirit

fell. I love that he fell on all who heard the word. And the believers were among the circumcised

who would come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out

even on the Gentiles, for they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God.

Then Peter declared can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have received

the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus

Christ.”

Romans 8:1 & 2 says, “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus . For the law

of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death The law of the

Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” God is working

through the Spirit to draw you to Jesus, to give you faith in Jesus and to unite you to Jesus. We

are a people of the Spirit. We are a people who are the temple of the living God. You know, it's

amazing that the Holy Spirit is working to point us to Jesus Christ. I told you we're a people who

believe in Jesus. But the Holy Spirit is not trying to draw attention to himself. The Holy Spirit is

working in your heart through the message about Jesus. To glorify Jesus, to draw you to Jesus,

to cause you to love Jesus and trust in Jesus and submit to Jesus and follow Jesus, that the

Holy Spirit Is working through the Word about Christ to transform your life and bring you to

Christ the Son of God.

You know, probably the greatest preacher arguably in the 20th century was Martin Lloyd Jones.

And in one of his biographies, it's very fascinating to me. Early in his ministry, Martin Lloyd

Jones, the dominant message he preached was you must be born again, be born again. You

need to be reborn by the Holy Spirit. And he would say that you need to be born again, you

need to be born again, you need to be born again. And everybody 's like, yeah, I need to be

born again, but how. And he had an older pastor, I believe it was in this biography. Tell him,

Martin, you were, you were telling people they must be born again, but you're not telling them

where to go to be born again. You're telling them what must happen to them, but they don't

know what they need in order for that to happen. He says you don't need to preach constantly.

You must be born again. You must be born again. You need to preach Jesus Christ. And if you

preach Jesus Christ and him crucified, people will be born again. Because the Holy Spirit takes

the message about Jesus preached. Like when Jesus Christ is proclaimed to you, the Holy

Spirit loves to work through that message, and the Holy Spirit loves to transform human souls

and give them new birth. Something new has happened. We are the new covenant people. We

are the new humanity who trust in the new Adam God has done something beautiful. God has

done something new. He has poured out His Holy Spirit on you, his people.

I'm so bad at noticing new stuff in my house. Husbands in the room, you ever go home and

your wife 's done something nice with the house or put up some new decorations and she's

anxiously waiting for you to notice and you never notice? That's me! I'm that guy. And finally she

says, did you notice what's new? I said, no, I don't. I didn't notice what's new. And then

I see it and it's a beautiful thing. It looks lovely. It's important this week that we notice what is

new. We notice that we are the new covenant people, that we have been filled with the Holy

Spirit. We've been made right with God through Jesus Christ. The Church is the global

community of believers who have the Holy Spirit and who gather locally to do God 's will. We

would be wrong to stop at the global church. We would be remiss to say that the Church is

merely this global organism. That's why I said the church gathers locally to do God 's will.

In fact, when the New Testament speaks about the church It almost always,not always, but

almost always speaks about the church as a local thing. The church in Ephesus, the church in

Philippi, the church in Rome, the church in Antioch, the church in Boise, the church in Meridian,

the church in the Treasure Valley. That the New Testament 's vision for the church is that the

church is this global community of believers in Jesus who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but that

that church regularly gathers to do God 's will together

We don't we look back at Acts chapter 2? Peter preaches this incredible sermon about Jesus

And the Holy Spirit convicts people of their sin and convicts people of the truth of the message.

And they say, what should we do? What do we do? We believe this message about Jesus and,

and he says, repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sin. You'll receive the gift of the Holy

Spirit. And then look at verse 41. “So those who received his word were baptized And they were

added that day to about 3000 souls.”

I have a question about this verse. Added to what? So they believed they were baptized and

they were added to what They weren't just added to the global church, that's true They were

added to the local church in Jerusalem. They were added to a literal gathering of Christians

They were added to the church, gathered to worship and pray and baptize and participate in

communion and witness the gospel and care for the poor and love one another.They were

gathered through faith and baptism into an actual, living, breathing local gathering of Christians.

That through belief and baptism, you're added to the church. You're added to the local gathering

of believers in Jesus Christ. It's amazing to me as well. To know that Baptism is a church thing.

Think about this with me. Think about how you can't even baptize yourself. You can't baptize

yourself Baptism is a church thing because other believers have to hear your profession of faith

and then other believers have to take you down in the water and back out Baptism itself shows

that even your physical, visible entrance into the community of the church is a community thing

Those who received His word were baptized and they were added that day. 3000 souls . They

were learning the word of God, they were praying, they were baptizing, they were taking

communion. They were praising God, they were caring for the poor, they were preaching

the gospel to their community. This was a spirit filled, Jesus centered, physical local gathering of

Christians and you and I have the privilege through faith and baptism of being added to that

community What's going on here this morning in this church and in churches throughout the

world and in churches throughout the valley is a supernatural thing It's a new covenant thing To

be part of the church is the most amazing privilege To be filled with his spirit To be in personal

relationship with Jesus Christ To allow a church to let me praise Jesus, to confess Jesus, and

then for the church, other Christians, my brothers and sisters, to baptize me into his people.

What an amazing privilege

To be part of this community and this people The church is so often viewed as an optional extra,

isn't it a place where I go to consume spiritual goods. A place where I go when my personal

schedule and my personal desires align with the meetings of the Church. This is why during

COVID, FCBC gathered shortly after that began. Because a church that never gathers is no

church at all, This is why our live stream service online is not meant to replace the gathering of

Christians. This is why an online church is not a church. Churches have online campuses, but

that's not church. Now there are extreme exceptions to this. People are bound to their beds, are

bound to their homes, or they can't leave their home or they can't be present.

I understand that God is so merciful and patient and He loves His people. He understands those

situations. There's no such thing as Lone Ranger Christianity or individual Christianity. You

know, I love a good western, I love a good Ranger, Texas Ranger or a Lone Ranger hero in

those movies. But that is not what Christianity is like at all. Christianity is a gathered people filled

with the spirit and worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ where people gather to do his will to exalt

him among the nations. And to build up the body of Christ. This morning what I want to

encourage you with is to love the Church of Jesus Christ. I want to encourage you to build up

the body of Christ. I want to encourage you to do everything you can to inject health into the

church.

You know, I was thinking about how I love fried food. Does anybody love fried food here? And

it's like the one food, man. I just, I love fried food, but fried food destroys my body. It's not

healthy for me in any single way. What's healthy for me and you is greens and veggies and

healthy meats and healthy fats and all the experts say. You know, when I participate in the local

church I want to be a part of injecting health into the body of Christ. Not ripping it apart. I want to

be more like greens and healthy fats and healthy meats rather than fried food. And So what I

would encourage you to do is to see the miracle of the church, to love the church, to value the

church, to treasure the church, Devote yourself to the church and to do everything you can to

build up and bless the church. Whether that's in prayer or in service or in giving, or in how you

treat other people in the church. Don't be someone who rips the body of Christ apart, who

dismembers the body and tears it apart. Be someone who injects health and blessing in life into

the body of Christ. Let's pray together that God would help us do this this morning. Father, we

bow before you. We put our faith in you and our trust in you. We thank you that Jesus Christ is a

great and mighty Savior. We thank you that through faith, we're united to Him. We praise you

that God the Holy Spirit lives in us and has given us a new birth. We thank you that we have

direct and personal access. We thank you for how much you love us. And the lengths to which

you've gone to redeem and save us. Thank you God, that you love us so much that you bought

us with the precious blood of Christ. Thank you that Jesus lives as our High Priest. Thank you

that Jesus loves. Thank you that Jesus reigns And thank you for allowing us the privilege of

being part of His church.

Thank you that we can gather locally Thank you that we can baptize

others and take communion and pray and praise And learn your word and care for one another,

and build up the body with our gifts. Lord, please make us a people. Make us a people that is

living in such a way and treating the church in such a way that we're injecting health and life into

the body rather than ripping it apart Father. We pray that if we are a spirit filled people that we

will be filled with the fruit of the Holy Spirit. That you would make us so much like Jesus. That

you would make us strong and healthy. That we would be a church that magnifies God. That we

would be a church that grows to maturity. That we would be a church that declares the hope of

the gospel to unbelievers all around us. That we would see day by day, people being saved.

That we'd see children being saved and students being saved and the young being saved and

the old being saved. That we would see Massive renewal and revival and awakening through

your Word and Spirit. Thank you so much God. That we get to be part of this new work that

you're doing, the eternal purpose of the church that you have realized in Jesus Christ. Thank

you for my brothers and sisters this morning who are here. We pray. We pray that whoever is

suffering in our church, that you'd heal them, whoever is grieving, that you'd comfort them. If

there is any sin that we are walking in personally or collectively, we pray. You show us what that

is and grant us repentance. That you'd help us to love each other with brotherly affection. And I'll

do one another in showing honor. God make us the kind of church that you long for us to be. We

love you in Jesus name, Amen