If you will, stand with me as you take your Bible.
Take your Bible and stand with me. I'd like you
to turn over to the book of... Here we go, okay.
I need some young, strong whippersnappers. And
to move this, this will be a blessing. Take your
Bible, turn over with me to Matthew chapter number
16, if you will. Matthew chapter number 16. And
we're going to start by reading a verse in the
Bible. And Matthew chapter number 16. Oh, wonderful,
wonderful, wonderful. And church, wow. the children
of the church, learning the word of God, it is
a blessing. I want to just say thank you parents
very much for your investment in time and bringing
them faithfully and then allowing them to do
the devotions and being a part of that. It's
memories and your sowing seeds that will pay
dividends for the rest of their lives. Here in
Matthew chapter number 16, Jesus came to Caesarea
Philippi in verse number 13 and he began to ask
his disciples, whom do men say that I the son
of man am? And if you look at me before we read
this, Caesarea Philippi, been there, there is
actually in the side of a mountain was just a
sheer rock that they began to carve little pedestals,
and they would put their idols up there on those
pedestals. And he's sort of looking at Caesarea
Philippi, looking at that place of idols, place
of idols, and he begins to say to them, Whom
do men say that I, the son of men, am? And it's
amazing, if you look at verse number 14, and
they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist,
some Elias, and others Jeremiah, or one of the
prophets. He saith unto them, but whom say ye
that I am? Read verse 16 with me. And Simon Peter
answered and said, thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. Wow. Look at verse 17, and
Jesus answered and said, unto him, blessed art
thou, Saruman Bar -Jona, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father
which is in heaven. What he's saying is, you're
the Christ, you're the Messiah, you're the Lamb
of God which taketh away the sin of the world.
That's not the answer up there, but Jesus, you
are the answer. By the way, that's important.
Those idols. They have no power, no strength,
no ability, but Jesus, remember that Jesus was
prophesied being Emmanuel, which being interpreted
as God with us. You're Jesus, you're God in the
flesh. You're that lamb of God which take away
the sin of the world. Now look with me at verse
number 18. And I say also unto thee, that thou
art Peter, and upon this rock, what is this next
phrase says? I will build my church in the gates
of hell. shall not prevail against it. I will
build my church. Say that phrase with me, I will
build my church. Now that's interesting, I will
build, what's a church? And it's very interesting,
Sister Michelle Clark, she talked about one of
her sons asking, why do we go to church? And
she was sort of shocked that a young child would
ask that, why do we go to church? And she said,
well, if you think about it, if we built something
on sand by the ocean, it would come by and it'd
sweep away what we built. Well, we want to build
something on a rock, our lives on a foundation
that will last. And trying to explain what a
church is, and that's really a good question.
Why do we go to church? Jesus mentions the church.
But why do we go to the church? Before we go
any further, let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Dear Father in heaven, we love you. And Lord,
it's been a good night. My heart rejoiced in
seeing the children, Lord, and they're growing
up, memorizing scriptures, Lord, trying to live
for you. Thank you, Lord, for the children of
our church. But God, I pray that you help us
to answer that question tonight. Why do we go
to church? What is a church? And I pray that
you give us clarity of mind and help us. In Jesus'
name. Amen. You may be seated. Oh, why do we
go to church? That's really an important thought.
If you begin to turn the Bible over with me to
Acts chapter two, while you turn to Acts chapter
two, Jesus ascended up into heaven. and as Jesus
ascended up into heaven, the disciples were there
in Jerusalem, and it was the day of Pentecost.
It had fully come. It was 50 days after the Passover.
There's Jews from all over the world, and Peter
gets up in this crowd of people and begins to
preach and preach the mighty sermon. And if you
read Acts chapter two, a phenomenal sermon, and
it's a sermon that pointed people to Jesus. the
rock, Jesus, the one who started the church,
the founder of the church, and then he gets to
the verse number 42, after 3 ,000 people got
saved and baptized. In verse 42, it says this,
and they continued, do you see this? Steadfastly,
this is verse 42, Acts chapter two, verse 42,
and they continued steadfastly, and the apostles
what? Doctrine and fellowship. and in breaking
of bread and in prayers. And the disciples, they
didn't just get saved or lead those people to
salvation. People did get saved, they did get
baptized, but the Bible says they continued.
They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine
and fellowship and in breaking bread and in prayers.
Look at verse 47. It says this, praising God
and having favor with all the people and the
Lord added to the. church daily such as should
be saved. A church is not a building. A church
is God's people gathered together. Churches is
a group of saved baptized believers who gather
to worship God. They gather to hear the word
of God preach. They gather to pray together.
They gather to encourage one another. And they
want to reach other people with the gospel. And
the church is God's people meeting together,
you might say, for God's purpose. And church
is God's idea. But really, if you could think
about it in a simplistic way, the church is simply
God's people gathered together. It's good to
be a part of the family of God. and it's good
for God's people to gather together, and praise
the Lord. I got gloriously saved on a Saturday,
and I went to church on a Sunday. I was baptized
in that church, and then all of a sudden I realized,
wow, this is, a lot of people, this is a great
place to be. First of all, I get to be around
other believers, and it's sort of like a little
bit of heaven on Earth, and I lived in a, we
live in a sin -sick world, and I was in the Navy
at that particular time going to electronic school,
and sin was very, common with the people around,
the foul language was very common, but you go
to church and people are interested in God, people
are interested in the Word of God, people are
interested in the things of God, and it just
was exciting being around people who are interested
in the great God that we have. So church is God's
people gathered together. Church is God's people
gathered together. Church is God's people gathered
together. It's good for God's people to gather
together. It's good to be able to gather together.
It's good to have a building, but church is God's
people gathered together. Now look at this if
you will. Look at this in Ephesians chapter number
five. You turn over to Ephesians chapter number
five. Oh yeah, Ephesians chapter number five.
Churches, God's people gathered together. This
is really, really, really interesting, and Ephesians
chapter five is a chapter about the family, and
it's about music, it's about living for the Lord.
You go into chapter six, it talks about children
obey your parents, but in the midst of this,
in chapter number five, verse 25, it says, husbands,
love your. wives, even as Christ also, Christ
also loved the, Christ also loved the church,
Christ also loved the church, and gave himself
for it, okay? Now, but it doesn't stop there.
Christ loved the church. Love is giving yourself
for the good of someone else. So Christ loved
the church. He was giving himself to help the
people. A church is God's people gathered together.
but Jesus loved the church and gave him, verse
26, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, the
church, with a washing of water by the word.
And so when you begin to think about it, the
Lord's giving himself, loving the church, and
he's helping sanctify and clean the church. not
clean the actual building, Sister Hancock, but
cleaning our lives up. And in church is a place
where God loves the church and he begins to work
in the lives of God's people and he begins to
clean your lives, he begins to mold you, he begins
to form you, he begins to fashion you. We're
not to be conformed to this world, we're to be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, but
church is a place, then look at this, verse 27,
that he might present to it, the church, It's
a glorious church, a glorious church, a glorious
church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such
thing, but that it should be holy and without
blemish right here. The Lord loves the church,
and then it speaks about a glorious church right
there. Church is not mainly about us, it's about
the Lord. And we go to church, we go to church,
and Jesus loved the church, and we love Jesus.
And this is sort of a thought process. Jesus
loves the church, which is us. Okay. It's hard
to go after Patch the Pirate Club, okay? We gathered
together as a church. A church is God's people
gathered together. God loved the church. God
loves us. And coming to church, it's a way to
express our love for Him. You think about it,
we sing songs, singing songs, songs, singing
Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
and making melody for our entertainment. No,
singing your heart. to the Lord. So when you
come to church in a way, we're saying, God, we
love you. Jesus, we love you. We're singing to
you. We want to learn about you. We want to be
molded closer. We want to be that glorious church
where you're sanctifying us and molding us and
transforming us and building us up. And it's
so interesting. A church gathers together. God's
people gather together. God loves us. And he
has a plan for each and every one of us. Now,
think about that. God has a plan for you. God
has a desire for you. How many of you ever struggle
with your own plans? Okay, we all do. But if
we, church, when you go to church and we hear
the preaching of God's word, remember that God
loves us, God's got a plan for us, he's trying
to point us in a certain direction, he's trying
to sanctify us, and boy, if we remember, church
is about us not only receiving God's love, but
it's about us loving him back. Okay, I want you
to go to this next one, if you will, and go to
First Timothy, or Second Timothy chapter number
three, Second Timothy chapter number three. Oh,
why do we go to church? Well, we go to church.
Church is God's people gathered together. We
go to church and remind ourselves Jesus loved
the church and we love Jesus. And then in Second
Timothy chapter three, verse 16, and look at
this, read verse 16 with me if you're there.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, throughly
furnished unto all good works. We go to church
to hear from God. And you know, we are a Bible
-believing church. And what hopefully you should
expect every time you come to church is to hear
from God. not Matt and Etta's sign, but here,
thus saith the Lord, the word of God. We open
up the Bible, what does the Bible say? And the
Bible is an absolute amazing book. And we go
to church to hear the Bible or hear from God.
And I remember going to church and I'd just gotten
saved and the preacher got up and man alive began
to say, thus saith the Lord. And at first I said,
does the Bible really say that? Or is he making
these things up? And then it challenged me to
read the Bible. And then all of a sudden I said,
wow, I never knew that was in the Bible. I never
knew God wanted me to do this. I never understood
that. And then I began to all of a sudden see
life clearly. I saw where I was at. I began to
see where I was going. And the Bible is an absolute,
and somebody say amen to that. Bible's an amazing
book. We oughta read the Bible, study the Bible.
We oughta come faithfully to hear the preaching
of God's word. And God uses his word to teach.
to correct us, to strengthen us. We go to church
so the Bible can shape our hearts and our lives.
Have you ever been around somebody who watches
maybe the news too much? or somebody who watch
reads too many things on the internet right there,
and sometimes they're there, but they're not
quite there, and you as a Christian, a Bible
-leaving Christian, when you saturate your heart
and your mind in the word of God, all of a sudden
it begins to change your thinking. Let this mind
be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, and
you see the world differently. You see the future
differently. You see your family differently.
You see life differently. The Bible is a glorious
book. It's a wonderful book. We go to church
to hear the Bible. So as we go through this,
church is God's people gathered together. We
go to church and remember Jesus loved the church
and we love Jesus. We go to church to hear the
Bible. Go to Hebrews chapter 10. Go to Hebrews
chapter 10. A very famous scripture right here
and I want to speak about this a little bit and
talk about this a little bit and notice this
a little bit. And Hebrews chapter number 10.
All right, I'm gonna switch over this man Here
we go let us consider one another Here we read
it with me and let us consider one another to
provoke unto love and to good works Okay, stop
again verse 24 and let us what consider one another.
What does consider one another? Think about one
another notice one another, set our hearts and
our minds on one another. And so when we begin
to think about church, church is a place to hear
the Bible, but church is a place to encourage
one another. Look at verse 25. Not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together as the manner
of some is, but what? Exhorting one another.
and so much the more as ye see the day approaching,
exhorting one. When you consider one another,
the Bible then says that we are to exhort one
another. Okay, first of all, you consider one
another. You think about somebody else. Church
is a place where we're to think about other people.
Now, very important, we go to church. Church
is God's people gathering together. The Lord
loves us, has a plan for us. We go to church
to love him back right there. We sing songs to
him. We listen to the word of God. But then church
is a place where we consider one another. We
think about one another. We consider. And then
it mentions the word exhort. What does the word
exhort mean? Okay, what does the word exhort
mean? The word exhort means more than just saying
nice things. We consider one another, but it's
more than just saying something nice to somebody.
It means that we are to encourage, we're to sometimes
urge, we're sometimes warned, we're to strengthen,
we're to stir, we're to help people keep following
the Lord. We are to consider one another, to
provoke one another, to encourage one another,
to urge one another to help each other on the
journey to live for God. Church, I need help.
You need help. And when we come to... together
with church, church is God's people gathered
together, and we take time out and realize, man,
I'm gonna consider one another. I'm gonna think
about other people around me. And boy, I wanna,
you know, when you come in and I see you back
there, Brother Scott, Grinnells, and Miss Rhonda,
I know the battles you go to with your health.
and you get here and boy, I shook your hand and
it made me smile seeing that you were here. Brother
Jeff, brother Jeff back there. Raise your hand,
brother Jeff, you there? He's in the hospital
last week. Do you realize he had a stroke? And
all of a sudden he's here, he's going through
a battle. And right there, I went back there
and I gave him a big hug and he started tears
in his eyes. But just being here in church tonight,
it's a miracle Jeff's here. And I'm thankful
for that. I needed that hug, but he needed that
hug too. Brother Thomas Ashton, you're here,
man alive. But what a blessing to have you back.
What a blessing to have you back. And one of
the things when we come in here, we should think
about one another, notice one another. And then
we ought to try to basically provoke, as you
think about it, it's exhort one another. We ought
to try our best to help people. Brother Ricardo,
you brought your friend back again. And I'm so
glad he's here again. And it's a blessing to
have you. And so, but this church is a place
where you belong and we want you. But when you
come to church, you ought to not be pushed down
your lifted up and strengthened and encouraged
and that's what we're here for. We're here to
help one another, exhort one another, encourage
one another. It's one of the greatest parts of
church. Exhorting one another means lovingly
helping other believers stay close to the Lord
and help them to do right. All right, 1 Corinthians
chapter number one. 1 Corinthians chapter number
one. 1 Corinthians chapter number one. Did I
say first Corinthians chapter number one? Okay.
Look at verse number 17. Oh, one of my absolute
favorite verses in the Bible. If you're there,
read it with me. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of
words, lest the cross of Christ should be made
of none effect. We go to church, but part of
church is reaching people with the gospel. Part
of church is trying to reach people with the
gospel. And the preaching of the cross is to
them that perish foolishness, but unto us. That's
the church, that's the body of believers, that's
the gathering together. We have an opportunity
to reach people with the gospel, reach people
with the gospel. I remember Brother Bob Beeman,
and Bob and Barbara Beeman, they came, they got
saved at a revival many years ago, and baptized
the both of them, and then Brother Bob Beeman,
you know, they were in their 60s at that time,
but Brother Bob Beeman came and he says, hey
pastor, I like this soul saving church thing.
And he always called about soul saving. He never,
he was like, soul saving. This soul saving is
great. And he would smile with that twinkle in
his eye, soul saving. Souls being saved is great.
I wanna say a soul being saved from dying and
going to hell and going to heaven for all of
eternity is great. It's great. It is great. You
know, when we think about people getting saved,
people getting saved from hell, and they get
to go to heaven when we die, there is nothing,
that's why it's the power of God. It's life -changing,
it makes a difference for all of eternity. You
think about Sunday, people at Saturday, we had
close to 100 people go out, soul -winning, soul
-saving on Saturday. We had visitors on church
on Sunday, and God worked in a great way, great
way. Brother Geron, we spent some time together,
you and Michelle yesterday, my family, and I've
forgotten. Miss Michelle came here and Miss Michelle
Clark got saved here at our church. And then
you know how it is, something that she'll never
forget, we forgot to put the heater on in the
baptistery, she got baptized in freezing cold
water. Those are the ones that stick. I think
we oughta just turn it off right there. But Miss
Michelle, you got gloriously saved. And we think
about that. Boy, people get gloriously saved.
And one of the great things we do, great things
we do, is tell people about Jesus. I read this
every once in a while and I wanted to read it
tonight. The life -saving station. On a dangerous
sea coast where shipwrecks often occur, there
was once a crude life -saving station. The building
was just a hut and there was only one boat. but
the few devoted members kept a constant watch
over the sea with no thought for themselves.
They went out day or night tirelessly searching
for the lost. Many lives were saved by this wonderful
little life -saving station so that it became
famous. Some of those who were saved and various
others in the surrounding area wanted to associate
and give their time and money so new boats were
bought in new crews were trained, the little
life -saving station grew. Some of the new members
of the life -saving station were unhappy that
the building was so crude and so poorly equipped.
They felt that it should be a more comfortable
place, should be provided as a first refuge for
those saved from the sea. So they replaced the
emergency cots with beds and put better furniture
in an enlarged building. Now the life -saving
station became a popular gathering place for
its members, and they redecorated it beautifully
and furnished it exquisitely. Fewer members were
now interested in going on life -saving missions.
So... They hired lifeboat crews. The life -saving
motive still prevailed in the club decoration,
and there was a liturgical life -saving boat
in the meeting room. About this time, a large
ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired
crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet, and
half -drowned people. They were dirty and sick,
and some of them had yellow skin. The beautiful
new club was considerably messed up, so the property
committee immediately had a shower built, a house
built outside the club where victims of shipwreck
could be cleaned up before coming inside. At
the next meeting, there was a split in the club
membership. Most of the members wanted to stop
the club's life -saving activities as being unpleasant
and an hindrance to normal social life of the
club. Some members insisted upon life -saving
as the primary purpose and pointed out that they
were still called a life -saving station. But
they were finally voted down and told that if
they wanted to save lives of all the various
kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those
waters, they could begin their own life -saving
station down the coast. They did. As the years
went by, the new station experienced the same
changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved
into a club, and yet another life -saving station
was founded. History continued to repeat itself,
and today you will find a number of exclusive
clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are still
frequent in those waters. but most people drown.
Boy, we as a church were to reach people with
the gospel. And so, go over this, I'm not trying
to park there too much, but a church is God's
people gathered together. God loved the church.
He's a plan for each and every one of us as individuals.
We're to love him back. We're to grow through
his word. Boy, as a church, the people gathered
together. We're to be Bible believers. We're
to study the word, look at the word. Then we're
supposed to reach people with the gospel. And
then this is the next one in 1 Corinthians chapter
12. If you want to turn there, I'll just begin
to read it. For the body is not one member, but
many. This is 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse
14. For the body is not one member, but many.
If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand,
I am not of the body, is it therefore not of
the body? And if the ear shall say, because I
am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore
not of the body? If the whole body were an eye,
where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing,
where were the smelling? But now hath God set
the members, every one of them, in the body as
it hath pleased him. And this is interesting.
This is speaking of the different types of church
member. Everybody in our church has different
gifts. Every one of our church has different
abilities. Not everybody's an ear. Not everybody's
a nose. Not everybody's an eyeball. Not everybody's
hair. Amen. And we begin to think about that.
God created us all differently and everybody
here is needed. God's got a plan for every one
of us. of us in 1 Peter chapter four, as every
man hath received the gift, and this I think
is the problem, and write this verse down, 1
Peter chapter four verse 10, as every man hath
received the gift, every man has received a gift,
everybody has a gift, everybody has an ability.
And we go back to not forsaking the assembly
of ourselves together. We go to serve. We consider
one another. We think about one another. We're
to exhort. We're to strengthen. We're to encourage.
We're to help one another when we go to church,
the body right there. But it says, as every man
hath received the gift, even so, minister the
same one to another. In other words, sometimes
we don't get busy with what God has given us
and use that gift to help people. And it's saying,
hey, don't worry. If you're not an eye, don't
worry about it. If God made you a nose, be a
nose. If God made you a hand, be a hand. If God
made you a foot, be a foot. But be a foot, if
you're a foot, be a foot that use that gift to
help somebody. If you're that hand, be a hand
that helps somebody. If you're that eye, be an
eye that helps somebody take whatever. God has
given you and be a blessing to somebody right
there. We go to church to serve the Lord together.
God gives every believer something to do. And
I tell you what, inside this church, there's
something to do. There's always things to do.
There's so many things that we can do and we
need to do. And I wanna say, volunteer, say,
Pastor, do you have a job for me? And I'll say,
absolutely, got a job for you. And we'll find
that job. And by the way, this is an intro. Hello,
everybody over there. Wow, this is good. Hi,
Ms. Ducky, good to see you over there. Praise
the Lord. Everybody has a gift. I was gonna say
that sometimes here's the problem is everybody
has a gift, but we're sometimes, and if I use,
that's a negative way to say it, but sometimes
we're too lazy or selfish to use our gift. to
help others. And so I wanna encourage you, don't
be lazy and don't be selfish. Use that gift for
the Lord. We're at the very end, so why do we
go to church? Church is a great place, God's
invention, and the church is God's people gathered
together. We go to church, and church is a place
where Jesus loved the church and we love Jesus
back. We wanna learn the Bible. We wanna learn
the Bible. We hear the word of God. We go to
church to encourage one another. We consider
one another. We help one another. We go to church
to gather together and make a rally and cry.
to reach the gospel or reach the world with the
gospel, planting a church, Brother Barry, is
exciting. And then we go to church to serve the
Lord together. Church is a wonderful place. Let's
pray. Dear Father in heaven, we love you. It's
been a good night. Simple reminder about church,
Lord, and I love church. I love coming to church
on Wednesday night. I love coming to church on
Sunday mornings and I love coming back on Sunday
night. And Lord, this church is filled with faithful
families, faithful children, Lord. And Lord,
thank you for that. Thank you for loving us.
Thank you for giving us the gift of a church.
Thank you for a place that we can go where there's
so many people that consider one another. And
Lord, I know so many people consider me and my
family and they encourage me and my family. Thank
you, Lord, for that encouragement. I need it,
Lord. And Lord, I pray that you help us as a
church to never forget giving the gospel out.
Help us to somehow, some way, remember that we
live in a world that needs you desperately. Help
us to, on purpose, tell people about you. Lord,
I pray that you help even tonight some people
with some gifts really step up and find a way
to be used of you in a great way. We sure do.