Keep sharing good news without ads.
Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/david-petterson/the-people-the-assembly-blesses/
I'd like to as well thank all the believers here for your kindness, for your care, and for even the invitation to be among you and to be a part of the weekend that we've shared together. Thank you very much.
It's been good to work with Lindsay again as well, and we have a lot of things in common and a lot of stories that could be told further. We'll save them for another kind of weekend. Let's turn, please, to 1 Corinthians again in chapter 14, 1 Corinthians 14.
The subject before us to conclude is the people the assembly blesses, the people the assembly blesses. I didn't get anything else from the Lord like Lindsay did to replace this with, so this is what we're going with, and I trust it is from the Lord.
1 Corinthians 14 and verse 3, thinking about the people that are blessed. This is a chapter where an assembly is functioning, is having a meeting, and we're going to learn what happens in this meeting, the kind of blessing that there is.
1 Corinthians 14 and 3, but he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort. Now look down at verse 16, else when thou shalt bless with the Spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?
Verse 24, if all prophesy and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all, and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest, and so falling down on his face he will worship God and report that God is in you of a truth.
That's just three short readings, but in this reading we have an assembly meeting that is functioning and we can see blessing to certain people in a number of ways. For sure we can say that God is being blessed because he says when you bless with the Spirit, when you bless with the Spirit, we spoke about that word bless means to speak well of, to speak well of.
I think they're speaking well of God, they're speaking well of Christ. And so there's blessing that God receives from the meeting, from what's taking place. And then certainly you could say that we are blessed, those that are within the fellowship are blessed.
And verse 3 speaks about receiving edification and exhortation and comfort. That's the minimum, but it's in the text. So that God is blessed, people are blessing, speaking well of him through the Spirit, we are blessed, receiving edification, exhortation, comfort, and then other people are blessed.
Here's somebody that's in the place of the unlearned, and at the end of that, of what he sees, he falls down, he worships God, and he says, God is in you of a truth. So that's three very simple groups to think about.
God is blessed, we are blessed, others are blessed. Now I think we can expand just those three into maybe a few more. I hope that we can prove these by text that we've already examined looking at in the past sessions.
And I admit, this will be less expositional, this is just going to be practical, and I hope that it will be profitable. But we're going to look at the people that are blessed by the assembly. Now first then, our God is blessed.
God is blessed. One thing we would say here is that he's certainly blessed by our presence. You know why? Because God wants to dwell with his people. That's why. He wants to be with his people. Otherwise, he wouldn't have planned a way whereby that could happen.
How long did it take after God made man to dwell with man? You think Adam was in the garden for a thousand years? Well, we know how long Adam lived after he sinned. I don't think it was very long at all.
God made man in his image, breathed into him the breath of life, and Eve was there, and God was dwelling with man from the very beginning. God wanted to dwell with his creation, with his creatures, and that's what he was doing in the garden.
And then, of course, sin took place, disobedience took place. They were removed from the presence of God, but God still wants that communion with his people. And so he devised a way whereby man could meet with God in the tabernacle, and whereby man could...
It was very limited, but God devised it, how man could meet with God in the tabernacle, how man could meet with God in the temple. And now here we are today. Every New Testament assembly is a temple of God.
Ye are the dwelling place of God. God dwells with his people. He wants to dwell with his people. In fact, that's God's ultimate desire when you look at the book of the Revelation, when you come to the very end of this book.
Revelation 21, in the eternal state, what is taking place? I will be a God to them. I will be a father to them, and I will dwell among God himself shall dwell with them. That's God's desire, and that is where we are headed.
Now, even in our day then, God's desire is to dwell with his people, and he is blessed by our presence. I wonder if we think about that sometimes, and do we really want to go? You know, there's a lot of things going on today.
It's been a very busy day. Can I tell you, God is blessed by your presence, because he wants to dwell with you. And I know we can enjoy communion with him individually, please don't, but God wants to dwell with his people as they're gathered together, because ye are the temple of God.
He's blessed by our presence. He is blessed by our worship. Being there is nice, but being there when we come together for the right reasons, that's what's the most important. Being there for the right reasons.
We've said it before that every meeting, because of who we're meeting, is a worship meeting. Sometimes we use phrases, and then I use them too. We'll talk about the morning meeting. Well, that doesn't really mean anything.
It happened in the morning. That's all that... The word of God doesn't call anything a morning meeting, or an evening meeting, or an... It just... It's the Lord's Supper, or it's the breaking of bread.
And we sometimes will call it a worship meeting, which I think it is. And so it's every time when we meet with God ought to be a worship meeting. How could we meet with God and there not be worship? The very nature of what it is demands our worship.
And here in 1 Corinthians 14, we read about people that are blessing. Paul says, when you bless with the Spirit, speaking well of God, speaking well of Christ, and we ought to be giving Him our worship.
But even in public preaching, we should be speaking well of Christ. Our meetings for teaching, our meetings for the preaching of the gospel, speaking well of Christ. And in that, it is a form of our worship to Him, and God is blessed by it.
He's blessed by our presence. He's blessed by our worship. As Lindsay's already told us, He's blessed by our obedience. And if He has said, this is how I want you to meet with me. And we meet with Him that way, then it's obedience, and it pleases God's heart.
I was going to say a little bit more about Samuel and Saul. What a story. What lessons there are from 1 Samuel chapter 15, right? And Saul is told what to do with the Amalekites, right? And everything is under the ban.
It's all devoted to the Lord. And then Samuel comes and Saul says, I have performed the commandment of the Lord. Right? I imagine it was just about like that. Because that's the very first thing Samuel says.
I hear bleeding of sheep. You haven't performed the commandment of the Lord. But I can take these animals and offer them as sacrifices to the Lord. Surely that will please God's heart. That I'm offering these as sacrifices.
You think God wants those? God doesn't want sacrifices that come from disobedience. And in some sense, it wasn't even really a sacrifice. Because they weren't Saul's to begin with. He took them from the Amalekites.
It didn't cost him a thing. But he's going to present it as the Lord to a sacrifice. And we remember what that text says. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. And to hearken than the fat of rams.
God is blessed by our obedience. So if we're seeking to obey what God's word says. In the way that we gather together. It's an opportunity to bless God. And to honor Him. He's blessed by our obedience.
Now speaking of sacrifices. Even though it says, behold, to obey is better than sacrifices. What I think that means is to obey is better than the kinds of sacrifices that you were about to bring me. Because God does want our sacrifices.
He absolutely does. And He is honored by them. He is still blessed by our sacrifices. Samuel didn't say that God doesn't want them. But sacrifices coming from loving, obedient hearts will please Him. In fact, we read from Hebrews 13 yesterday.
Tells us that with such sacrifices, God is well pleased. What sacrifices does he mention there? Well, we went over the kinds of priestly offerings that there were. He speaks about the sacrifice of praise.
The fruit of our lips. Giving thanks to His name. And he speaks about doing good and communicating. Or giving. He says with such sacrifices, God is well pleased. So we bless Him by the very sacrifices that we offer to Him.
It's been said in the meetings already. And it's hard not to say it repeatedly. But really the primary purpose of an assembly is that we are gathering together for God's glory. And not for man's. We're gathering together to please Him.
And not to please ourselves. Now in so doing, it goes without saying. That when we gather. When our primary motivation is to obey God and to honor Him. We're going to be blessed. You know why? Because God is better at blessing us than we are at blessing Him.
He's very good at it. He is a God that is rich in blessing. So our God is blessed. We are blessed. I'll say it this way though. Our members are blessed. The members of the body are blessed. By coming together.
How? How are the members of the local body here in Marion. And any local assembly. How are the members blessed? By coming together. Well one way is by the gifts of the assembly. By the gifts of those that are using them within the assembly.
Right? You come and you benefit from those that have the gift of teaching. Right? You come and you benefit from the preaching of the gospel. You will come and benefit from those showing mercy. You would be benefiting from those that would give words of exhortation.
Or encouragement. Et cetera, et cetera. Now how can you benefit from those gifts. If you're not in that body. It's a lot more difficult. We're going to show how you can still gain some benefit from it.
But the maximum benefit is by those that are part of that local body. They benefit from the gifts of those within the assembly. Our members are blessed by not only the gifts of the assembly. But by the government of the assembly.
By the governing body. You now are under the shepherd care of those whom God has raised up to be those shepherds. You're now under their care. The assembly is spoken of in Acts chapter 20 as the flock.
Right? I think some people say the little flock. I don't know if there's support to say that. But it is a flock. And sometimes it is pretty little. That's okay. You might have a little flock. You might have a pretty large flock.
But you're under the care of shepherds that the Holy Spirit has raised up to guide and to feed and to lead the Lord's people. If you are outside of that local body, then those men are not responsible for you.
And so you will not receive as much benefit and care from those men. That's just the way it is. If a shepherd has sheep and he sees sheep way over there that are not his, he's not really going to do much to help them.
But when they come under their care, now he is responsible. And he will do. He will do what a shepherd does. And that's care for the sheep. Paul spoke about those that are in ruling authority. He spoke about those that rule well in 1 Timothy.
So thankfully there are those. And I know many of them. Many men in various assemblies. There are those that rule well. Those in leadership ruling well. And therefore their ruling is a blessing. You can be blessed by the government of the assembly.
Now it's very easy. It's very easy to be critical of elders when you're not one. Very easy. Why don't you just stop and think about the work of an elder in an assembly and what they do. How much do they get paid?
Leave the functioning of a New Testament assembly and go anywhere else. How much do they get paid in other places? Know what? It is a job. It's a thankless job sometimes. It's a work that is often criticized.
And yet men raised up by the Lord are just giving of themselves sacrificially for the benefit of other people. We can be thankful that God raises up such men and uses such men in the assembly. But our members are blessed by the government of the assembly.
By the gifts of those in the assembly. By really the goodness of those that are in the assembly. Some things are just, they're not spiritual gifts. It's just that God's people are good people and do good things.
There's the blessing of hospitality. We've enjoyed some of that this weekend. Sitting in someone else's home and coming under their kindness and graciousness and sacrifice. Many lifelong Christian friendships begin through hospitality.
You say, well, you know, hospitality, I really don't. It's just not my thing. Or I'm not really that good of a cook. You know, there's some good restaurants you can get catered food from and bring it in.
And I don't think anybody's going to be real upset if you were to do that. But cooking ability is not important as the spiritual environment that is created there. Getting to know young people. Getting to know families.
And getting to know their children. It's not going to happen five minutes in the hall. It's just not going to happen. Very, very little can be learned about God's people just inside these walls. But when you have people over and when you show hospitality and kindness to people.
It's amazing the effect that that has. There's a family back home. A younger couple back home. And every Monday they have the young believers over in their home. They do spiritual activities with them.
But they have them together and they spend hours there together. And you know what? Young people love them. They can just about tell them to do anything and they do it. And why do you think that is? Because they know them.
And they know that they love them. Sometimes we, the work of hospitality accomplishes so much. And sometimes we're not even thinking about what it's accomplishing. The relationships that are being established.
The needs that are being understood. Ways of knowing how we can help one another. Even getting to know the little children that are theirs. That are growing up and now will look to you. Because they'll always remember that you did that with them.
Or you took them somewhere. And now they need to be saved. You can come along and talk to them about the Lord Jesus. And they'll listen to you. And you can open the Bible with them. They'll listen to you.
Just the great work of hospitality. That is a great blessing when it's used properly in the assembly. And if you go to Indiana, Pennsylvania. You will enjoy the hospitality of Lindsay and Diane. Which will even include sitting down and enjoying a Southern Gospel concert.
Because the last time I was there that's exactly what happened. And I just sat on the couch, closed my eyes and enjoyed it. There's a lot of good things that come from hospitality. And just the general care of the Lord's people.
And not just the Lord's people, but those within a local body. 1 Corinthians 12 speaks about the members having the same care for one another. And you see that care expressed as others seek to meet one another's needs.
The body is working together. The hand cares for the foot. The foot cares for the hand. There's that same care for one another. Because everyone is blessed by it. Our members are blessed. There's the bearing of one another's burdens, right?
Galatians 6 and 2 tells us that. Paul says, bear ye one another's burdens. And so fulfill the law of Christ. And that happens in the assembly. It does. I know it happens everywhere. But it does happen in the assembly.
And you bear one another's burdens. You come and you pray for each other. Isn't it great when you come to prayer meeting? And it's not just Africa and Indonesia. It's the needs of God's people here too.
Because you know each other. And you know that so and so has this schedule. And so and so is not able to get out as much as they used to be able to. And you begin to pray for one another. And to bear up one another's burdens in the presence of the Lord.
There might be believers that are in great financial need. Or great spiritual need. Or great emotional need. And the assembly is a place where we can come along and bear one another's burdens. There's accountability.
I think that you might be able to say that the greatest accountability group a believer could have is the local assembly. Now that's definitely true for brothers in the assembly. Prayer meeting won't work if you don't come and if you don't pray.
Bible study will not be good if you don't come and you don't participate. And Bible study won't be good if you didn't prepare for it. One of the things that strikes me over and over again. Something about the assembly.
You see things in the raw. You see it in the raw. You know if people don't prepare, it's going to be obvious. If people don't pray, it's going to be quiet. If people didn't study and they get up to speak, the food isn't going to be real rich.
It's not going to be good. And the Lord's people are in need of it. You could go maybe to some other places. And the program is scheduled. And people are paid to do what they're going to do. And the show will go on.
But in the assembly you'll see failure. You'll see lack of preparation. And you'll see weakness. But if we all do what we're called to do and play the part that we're supposed to play, then it will bring great blessing to all the members of the body.
And it's not just evident with the brothers. The sisters too. We all need to be here. There's the accountability of being at the meetings. Hebrews 10, what does he say? Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together.
I heard that a lot growing up. Maybe you've heard it a lot too. You know what? It's in the Bible. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. We had some people leave not too long ago. And they left because they believe that God is calling them to move to a home church.
To have a home church. Because they believe that we're living in the very last days. The last generation was 1967 with the Six Day War. And now we're in the last generation. You know, I said, how about Hebrews 10?
Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. And all the more as you see the day approaching. The closer we get to his return, how much more it is needed for us to be together. And so there's the accountability to one another to be here.
You know, you could go to a place and there's a thousand people. And the accountability is just not the same. But in a little flock, in a local body, where you're needed, the accountability is there. So if you want a good accountability group and partner, be in the assembly.
I think we're also blessed by the growth of the assembly. I'm not thinking now about how many are in the local assembly. Although increase in numbers is certainly a good thing. But seeing spiritual growth in the lives of other people is indeed a great blessing, isn't it?
Because if one member is growing, if one member is developing, it means that the whole body is being positively affected and impacted. It benefits the whole. Conversations about certain believers take place.
And you say, isn't it great to see them doing this? Isn't it great to see her involved in that? Isn't it great to listen to him participate? And it's wonderful to see the development of those in the assembly.
So God is blessed by the gatherings of his people. We are blessed by coming together as God's people. Third, our fellow believers are blessed. I'm thinking of those that are not maybe in this assembly, but those that are in other assemblies, like Lindsay, like me.
We've been blessed by coming together here. Now, that blessing can be seen in a number of ways. Yes, by the fellowship that we share, and we've been able to share that, it's great to connect with people in different places and hear about things that are more local here, or the needs of God's people, and just to speak about the things of God together, and to speak about the Word of God together, and to enjoy Christ together.
We are certainly blessed by the fellowship that we can share. And there are some believers that will be blessed by the funds that are shared. Your assembly here probably does this. I imagine that most do.
In the practice of giving to those that are in need, that are maybe in other local assemblies. They might be missionaries. They might be evangelists. They might be widows. You might hear of some that are having a financial need, or in the midst of some sort of financial crisis, and your assembly would give to them, and so they are blessed.
Fellow believers in other assemblies are blessed by an assembly. Fellow believers that are not in an assembly are blessed by an assembly. How is that? Well, one thing, one way this can happen, if they come, they see obedience to the Word of God.
They should. I hope they do see obedience to the Word of God. Visitors may come, and I've seen this happen more than one time, seeking a place that follows New Testament principles, New Testament teaching.
There was a couple that we got to know. My wife was the contact for them, and we got to know them well, and had them over a few times for dinner, and they wanted to know about the assembly. They had been in certain places, and they didn't agree with certain things, and so we started to tell them about the assembly, and they said, could you tell us more?
So we went through the whole thing. We went through everything that would certainly be different than what they would have been used to seeing, and none of it scared them, thankfully, because they said, we see that from Scripture as well.
We talked about the plurality of elders, and we talked about not having one person do all of the teaching, and then we talked about headship, and head coverings, and all of these things, they were saying yes.
Now, I don't think anything has been said about head coverings, but you know what? As I'm standing here right now, you know what head coverings practically accomplishes? The head of man is Christ. The head of the woman is the man, and so the symbol of an uncovered head, the men's heads are uncovered.
Christ is to be on display, right? Christ is to be on display, so the man's head who is Christ, his head is uncovered, because it's all about Christ. The woman's head is covered. Her head is the man. Man's glory is to be covered.
It's not about man. So as I'm preaching here right now, and I'm looking out, I have all these visible reminders that it's, you know what, David? It's not about man. It's not about you. It's not about man's glory, and assembly is a place where it's all about Christ, and all that is done is for his glory.
Now, we were talking to this couple, and we see this. We agree with this. Eventually, they came in to assembly fellowship because they saw what they agreed with. They saw what they would say was obedience to the Word of God.
So fellow believers that are not in an assembly can be blessed, and they can be blessed as they listen to our preaching, as they listen to the preaching taking place. Now, a very practical thing here.
If people come, if visitors come in, are you wincing because you know who's speaking? I'm just being real honest and practical. Oh, why this week? Why couldn't it have been last week or the week before?
Listen, we have to be honest. It's very easy to get up and say, one man shouldn't be doing all the teaching and get on our high horse about it. And then we got sometimes every man teaching, and that's not what God has gifted them to do.
And then we might have visitors and we're all a little bit nervous. And our visitors should benefit from teaching that is given, that's whole, wholesome, that's healthful, and that can be a blessing to them.
You might find there are some brothers that are speaking. This probably doesn't happen to you. There might be brothers that are asked to speak. And if you said, you know what, I really don't think that...
They probably sigh with relief that you're not going to ask them anymore. And there might be those that won't be too happy, but that doesn't mean that they should still be speaking. Because God has given gifts to the body.
Everyone has their part to play. Not everybody's a hand. Not everybody's a foot. Sometimes we think that everybody should be doing everything. That's not right either, brethren. I know you agree with all these things.
But fellow believers ought to be blessed as they come, they see obedience, they listen to the preaching that is taking place, and hopefully they can be blessed as they feel our love for one another and for them.
They should witness that. We should show visitors our love by speaking to them, by expressing a deep interest in them. And that actually may speak louder than anything else that we do. That shows that we know Christ, that we love Him, and that we want to carry out His Word.
Our God is blessed. The members are blessed. Believers in other bodies are blessed. Other local bodies. Believers that are not in other local assemblies are blessed. Our sister assemblies can be blessed.
Other assemblies. Not just the people in them, but the assemblies themselves. How is that possible? Well, one way is we share with them. We share with them. Sometimes we may share public gift. Maybe there's an assembly that has a lot of gifted brethren.
And there are other assemblies around that could benefit from their public gift. In fact, there are examples of that happening in the New Testament. There's a list of those men in 2 Timothy 4 that were doing that.
And there's Epaphroditus of the Philippian assembly. There's Epaphras, who was in the Colossian assembly. And these were men that God used and that Paul took with him to help other local assemblies too.
Now, Iowa does have a lot of assemblies. You can be thankful for that. There's a lot of places. Like in the south, we're in great need. We don't have hardly any. And you can benefit from the gift of men that are also in these other assemblies.
This is, I think, what God intended. How God intended to use men that are gifted is to be used in local assemblies and maybe not just in their own assembly. So, our sister assemblies can be blessed as we share with them the gift that we have, as we support them in gospel outreach activities or conferences like this.
That's what's happening right now. Isn't it true that other assemblies are being blessed by the gatherings that you plan maybe every year? Or the gospel outreaches that you initiate. And then other assemblies come along and they say, we want to be here.
And maybe they bring people to the meetings that need to be saved. And God can use sister assemblies in this way. So, they're blessed as we share with them, as we support them, as we supplicate for them, as we pray for them.
God hears our prayers for one another. I happen to be in an assembly that used to be, we were made up largely of people that were in another assembly back in Hickory, North Carolina. And we were there most of our lives.
And God has now raised up an assembly in Denver where most of us now live, that used to be in Hickory. And you know what's wonderful? Even still, that was almost 10 years ago, but even still, the believers in Denver have a love and a care for the believers in Hickory.
And so when you come on a prayer meeting night, you'll hear people in Hickory being prayed for. People in other assemblies being prayed for. And that probably happens here too. And sometimes people that are in sister assemblies that are further away are being prayed for because we can't help but bring the needs of God's people into God's presence.
So, there's many. Now, I'll add another. I've got two left. Five minutes. Doing better this time. Our community. Our community should be blessed by your assembly. Is it? Is it? By the gospel going out.
Not just gospel meeting here in the hall. The gospel is to go out from us. Are we reaching people outside? Are we reaching people in the local community who need the Lord Jesus? That's the work of the evangelist.
God gives evangelists, yes, for the blessing of the church, but obviously for the salvation of souls. That's the work of an evangelist. To reach out. And so to use that gift in the local body to reach the surrounding community, the local community, can be blessed by the gospel going out.
Not only going out in word, but by going out in deed. By seeking to help those that we're going to reach with the gospel. So, our community around us should be blessed. One more thing. Our children. Our children are blessed by the assembly.
You know what? They grow up to learn that God's assembly is precious. And I know that because I'm one of those children. And maybe you are too. My parents were there. I knew it was important. I knew it was very important.
And I even had a clue or two why it was important. Because my parents would say, we're going to meet the Lord. We're going to meeting? Yes, we're going to meeting. Because we're meeting. You know why it's called meeting, David?
You know why it's called meeting? Why? We're meeting the Lord. We're meeting God. That's pretty important. Very important. What could be more important? Listen, I love God's assembly. And I want you to know that when we speak about God's assembly, I'm talking about what I see in the Word of God when I say I love God's assembly.
What sometimes we call God's assembly has its fair share of blemishes. And we have to be honest enough to admit it. Because sometimes we don't know history too well or we forget it. But God's assembly as laid out in His Word, I love it.
And it is precious. And we can obey it. And I think to a large extent we are. And when things are pointed out that we could do better, generally the Lord's people respond. And they try to make things right.
And they get before God and cry to the Lord that things might be repaired and that we might be able to do things in a way that will honor Him more. Some people have very heavy baggage from unhealthy assemblies of the past.
And they may not say the same thing that we would say. They may not say I love the assembly. I love the assembly as it's found in the Word of God. If there's been an unhealthy past, may God help us to make changes so that we can have a healthy future.
Our children grow up to learn that God's assembly is precious. Our children will also grow up to learn that God's Word is precious. They come here. They come to this assembly, right? And they learn Bible verses.
And they come and they hear the Bible read to them. And they come and sit in Sunday school and they listen to the Bible being taught. And they listen to the Bible being opened in gospel preaching. And their Sunday school teacher will pour into them the Word of God.
Everything is permeated by the Word, by the Scriptures. They're taught what we're doing. Every practice that we tell them it's regulated by the Word of God. They learn even in the songs that they sing.
Verses from the Word of God. I remember when the dear believers there from Crandon were a part of the Denver assembly before they started on their own. And you know what they loved the most? They loved singing with the children in the Sunday school.
All those songs. And they were just thrilled that one of the songs that we sang was Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua. On all the way through. They said, this is great. They're going to know.
They're going to know the books of the Bible. Have you ever realized? I mean, you have a sword drill and our kids, you know, John 8 and 6. Five seconds later one of the kids, how do they already know how to find that?
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus. That's where it comes from. I won't sing the New Testament version. But our children grow up to learn that God's Word is precious. And we ought to have a Scripture saturated environment for our children.
They will not only grow up to know God's Word is precious, they will know God's Word. Period. And hopefully they will love it and live it out in their lives. Finally, they grow up to learn that God's people are precious.
They should because they are. They won't, if we criticize the Lord's dear people at the dinner table every night. They won't. And you know what? They probably won't stay either. They probably won't stay.
But being around God's dear people, living as we should, gathering as we should, functioning as we should, our children by and large will come to learn that God's people are indeed precious. They're the excellent of the earth.
And how nice to see so many of the excellent of all the earth here today. There's hardly a person there's hardly a person that cannot be blessed in the local community where a New Testament assembly is found if we're doing what God says an assembly should do.
Hardly a person. And that's God's intention to have small local bodies everywhere to bless that community to bless that community to bless this area to bless this region. That's God's intention. May he raise up more of them.
And may he use us to raise up more of them for his glory and for the glory of his son the Lord Jesus. Let's pray. Father, we're thankful for these sessions we've been able to look at together. We thank you for God's assembly.
We're thankful for every believer in the Lord Jesus. And we love every believer in the Lord Jesus. We're so thankful for those that gather together in fellowship with an understanding of what the New Testament teaches and a real desire to carry out these principles.
And we pray, Lord, that they might be preserved to us. And that people that love the assembly will be preserved to us. And that our children will be preserved to us. And that they'll carry on assembly testimony after we do if the Lord has not come.
Help us, Lord, to obey what we've heard. We recognize that we've heard a lot. We've said a lot. And we look to the Lord to help us to be submissive to the word of God. Bless thy people here in Marion.
They've sacrificed so much to put this weekend together. And we pray that this will prove to be a profitable weekend, especially for them. But yet, others have made sacrifices in traveling of their time.
We pray that every assembly represented here will receive and experience blessing from God as a result of coming together this weekend. We would pray, Lord, we pray that the Lord of the harvest will send forth more laborers into his harvest.
That souls will be saved. And that other local bodies will be raised up for the glory of our Savior. We look to thee for these things, giving thanks for our coming together in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Amen. Now just before Alex comes up to make an announcement or two, we'll sing number 43. Number 43, come thou fount of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing thy praise. Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
We'll sing the whole hymn. I think you repeat verse 2 as the chorus, but hymn number 43.