Do I Really Need the Church? (7/16/2023)

Let's open to the book of 1st Timothy chapter 3, 1st Timothy chapter 3.

For the most part on Sunday mornings, I've been preaching through the gospel of Matthew and will likely go back to that very soon, a couple weeks, but I always try to preach through a book of the

Bible, but when I feel led of the Lord to preach a topical message, then I'll do that.

So this is one of those times, one of those topical messages. So the title of this sermon is, do

I really need the church? Or you could ask it this way, do I really need the local church?

The growing attitude among professing Christians is no, I don't need the church.

And just in the past 20 years, you can think of all the people who used to be regular church attenders who are not anymore.

So that's the growing attitude. And why is that? Are they right? You probably know what my opinion is about that, but we're going to look at what the scripture says.

And listen, I realize there are some people who have a unique situation and I'll cover that as well.

But when I was younger, you know, I thought the way many people do that going to church was good.

It's probably what I should do. But then came all the reasons or really the excuses of why

I didn't go. And I realized people don't go to church for a variety of different reasons.

So I don't want to just dismiss everything as an excuse. So whoever you are, whoever's listening, wherever you are on your faith journey, and I sort of hate those terms, like wherever you are in this season of life, but really wherever you are in your faith journey or season of life,

I'm glad you're here, or I'm glad you're listening, whether it be on radio or the internet, because I'm not just preaching to the choir.

You know, there's a lot of people here. You're already, you are already convinced many of you, but a lot of people are not. So I just want to take an honest look at what the scripture says, ask people to consider it, and then do what you feel the

Holy Spirit would lead you to do. So let's read 1 Timothy 3, 14, and 15.

The Apostle Paul writing to the young Pastor Timothy, he says, These things

I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly. But if I am delayed,

I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living

God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Let's pray.

Our Father, as we look to your word this morning, I ask that your son would be honored and glorified, and that your people would be edified, that they would be strengthened.

So teach us, I pray, Lord, and encourage us on the way that we should go. I know that you want what's best for us.

As it is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which

God hath prepared for them that love him. And we pray it all in Jesus' name,

Amen. Okay, so let's look at this passage again. I'm going to try to lay a scriptural foundation of what the

Bible teaches, and then I'll get into some of the questions and even some of really the misconceptions that people have about the church.

Just one thing right off the bat, some people will say, well, I am the church. I don't need to go to church because I am the church.

Have you heard this one? Now, there's a little truth in that. The church is the people, right?

So you might be part of the church, but you're not a congregation. So the word church means congregation, but we'll get into that.

First Timothy 3, 14, Paul says, these things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly.

So Paul is an apostle of Jesus Christ, and he's writing to Timothy, who is a pastor of a local church.

Timothy, it is believed, is the pastor of the church at Ephesus. So really, if you think about it, built into this statement is the fact that the church, number one, is organized.

So if you take notes, write it down. Number one, point number one, the church is organized.

Earlier in chapter three, Paul gives the qualifications for bishops and deacons.

Now, today we call bishops pastors, but clearly there is structure, right?

Timothy is what? He's a pastor. Paul is what? An apostle. Timothy is the pastor of a local church in a place, and Paul knows about them, and they're organized.

There's even a hierarchy, if you want to put it that way. I know some people kind of bristle at that word, but really, if you think about it,

Jesus is on top. He's the head of the church, amen? Anyone who professes to be a

Christian would affirm that Jesus is the head of the church. Then below Jesus are his apostles.

Paul ruled, and the apostles ruled in Jesus's place after he went to heaven, and then below the apostles, you had the pastors of the local churches, and then the men who assisted the pastors were called what?

Deacons, and all these men ministered, and collectively, okay, collectively, they made up the church, and of course, the church members are supposed to minister to one another.

So the word church, as I referenced a moment ago, the Greek word is ekklesia, and it means congregation or a called -out assembly.

So among the people of this world, the seven or eight billion people of this world,

Jesus has called out a people for his own namesake.

Those of us who are called Christians are part of the household of faith, the

Lord's assembly, the church. The first time the word church is mentioned in the

Bible is Matthew chapter 16. You know this statement. Jesus said, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and the word hell can also be translated, or it is the

Greek word, Hades. So that also includes the idea of death or the grave.

So not only is the church going to triumph over the kingdom of darkness, the church is even going to triumph over death itself, which is why

Jesus says those who believe in him receive the gift of eternal life.

Only people who belong to the church overcome the grave, according to Jesus.

So in this, we see that the church is the people, and the church is organized.

There is what theologians call the universal church, right? You've heard this phrase, universal church.

This is made up of every true Christian throughout history, but really the universal church,

I'm not really focused on the universal church, because let's face it, we're not going to all be assembled together until we're in heaven.

So in this age right now, it's about the local churches, so churches, plural.

So there is the church, the assembly. It's what? The building? Is this the church, this building?

Like Christ loves the church. Christ died for this carpet, and this wood, and this paint, and these lights, and chandelier.

Is that what Jesus died for? It's not the building, and I realize there's people, I get it.

Listen, if anyone should be committed to this building, I was born here, you know. I've been coming here since I was an infant, and now

I'm the pastor. Both sides of my family attended this church. If anyone should be connected to this building, it should be me, but honestly,

I don't really care so much about the building, because the church is the people. So that's a whole other issue of people that are more loyal to the building than to the people, but another sermon for another day.

But what's the church? You tell me, what is the church? You are, right, collectively, right?

You're not the church, I'm not the church on my own, it's we, the group, the assembly.

So the church is the people. So this leads to a common misconception, which

I'll address later, because some want to make a big thing about that, that the church is not the building, right?

Yeah, but people need to assemble somewhere, right? So where are you going to assemble? You assemble in a building.

So we'll touch on that more after. So the church has structure, it has a hierarchy, different levels of leadership from Christ on down to the apostles, pastors, deacons, and then church members.

One common thing you'll hear of why people are down on the church, they don't like the church, or they don't want to go to church, here's what they say,

I don't like organized religion. You've heard this, I'm not really into organized religion.

Well, are you into disorganized religion? That's what I want to know. Listen, there's some organized religions that I don't like either.

But usually when people say that, when I'm saying

I don't like organized religion, usually they're talking about I don't like the local church. That's typically what people mean by that.

So before someone adopts that attitude, and maybe there's someone sitting here listening who has that attitude, and again,

I'm glad you're here, I'm glad you're listening, but just consider what the Bible says. Look at verse 15, 1st

Timothy 3 .15, Paul tells Timothy, but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in what?

What's the church called? Yeah, and Paul's not talking about the universal church of all believers.

Paul is writing to the pastor of a local church. Paul's talking about the local church, and he calls the local church what?

The house of God, which is the church of the living

God, the pillar and ground of the truth. So my point is, someone who says, well,

I just don't like organized religion, you would have to say, well, I don't like what's written in the Bible. I don't like the church that Christ died for, because the reality is the church of Jesus Christ is organized.

It is organized. Why would that be a bad thing? And I'm doing a little apologetics here and responding to the common arguments.

Why do people think it's a bad thing that the church is organized? Have you noticed that everything in the world is organized?

Your kid's little league team is organized. Do you have a problem with that? You know, the government's organized.

Your job, there's organization at your job. Your home, there's organization and structure in your home.

And you probably know some people who have a home that's totally disorganized and you realize it's not good. So why is it bad for the church to be organized?

Not only is the church organized, not only should it be, it has a code of conduct.

The church has rules. Notice what Paul tells Timothy. This is how to run the local church.

This is how you ought to conduct yourself in the church, which is the house of God.

Okay. Flip ahead to chapter four, but you're seeing the same thing I am, right? Like I'm not just making this up.

You're reading these verses here. This isn't a rule necessarily, but here

I highly recommend this. When you walk into church, carry one of these and when

I'm preaching, have this thing open, right? And if you use the cell phone, that's okay too, right?

But follow along with what I'm reading. So the church is organized, it has a leadership, it has a code of conduct.

So what are we supposed to be doing in the church? First Timothy 4 .11, Paul says, these things, what?

Command and teach. Sounds like there's some sort of rules or commands.

We don't have time to cover everything that is said, but in every chapter, just about every verse, there's some sort of instruction, what to do or what not to do.

Again, just like in your home, you have rules. At your job, you have responsibilities, you have standards, schools have it, hospitals have it, government has it, the military has it, sports has, everything has structure, organization, a code of conduct.

But somehow religion is like the one thing that's not supposed to be organized or have rules.

Honestly, I don't know why people are making, well, I think I know why people are making the argument. Again, I'll touch on that later, but these are the common responses, right?

You've heard all this and maybe some of you have said it and maybe some of you, this is still your opinion and I want to change that.

So some people are against organized religion. Well, I'll tell you what it is.

Most of the time, and there might be exceptions, most of the time, people who say that, they just don't want

God telling them what to do. That's really the bottom line. And they know if they come into a house of God like this, then the pastor is going to remind them of what

God wants them to do and they're not interested in that. They want to live life their way.

And let's face it, there's a little bit of that in all of us. There's a little bit of that in me.

I want to do things the way I want to do it, right? I want to do things my way. And some of the things that God says in his words, my flesh reacts against that.

That's true with every human being, but I think that's a large reason why people don't like the local church.

They want to kind of create their own version of morality, like a buffet. I'll take a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and hold off on this and this and this.

So if you're still listening, are you still on board with me? Are you still listening? Amen. Some of you aren't saying amen, that's okay.

I'll get you by the end, hopefully. Try to convince you. But when

God gives us rules, and some people don't even like the word rules, but God has rules.

They're called like the Ten Commandments. Ever heard of those, right? They are for our own good, right?

They're for your own good. And what Paul says to Timothy here, it is for his own good and for the church's own good.

Look at what else is supposed to be happening in the church. Verse 13, 1 Timothy 4, 13.

Paul says, till I come, Timothy, this is what you should be doing in your church. Give attention to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine.

Notice the thing that's missing. There's no rock concert going on. Give attention to reading, exhortation, and to doctrine.

This is what all New Testament churches do. We read the scripture.

We exhort one another. What does that mean? We encourage each other. You know, we're trying to make each other better, calling one another to keep fighting the good fight of faith.

We stir each other up to live right. Hopefully, you're persuaded by the preaching, because that's also exhortation.

But this is what we're supposed to do. And then the doctrine. He specifically mentions doctrine.

What you hear today is doctrine divides, love unifies, get rid of the doctrine, don't pay attention to doctrine.

Well, again, that's totally unbiblical. If somebody has that point of view, what is doctrine?

We are told what is right and what is wrong. And you might think, well, I already know what's right and what's wrong to a degree, but we all need instruction from the word of God.

What was that verse in the scripture reading? They shall all be taught by God. You realize you're being taught every day by social media, by television and the schools and just every, you are being taught every moment of every day, whether you realize it or not.

I want to be taught by God. And if you're a Christian and you believe in Jesus, you want to be taught by God.

And let's face it, the local church is where you are taught by God. Acts 2 .42,

another thing you can make a note of. Acts 2 .42 in the first church in Jerusalem, what did they do?

It says they continued steadfastly in the apostles, what? Doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers.

But in some places today, and I just made reference to this, I make reference to this a lot because I actually think that Christianity churches have been replaced.

50 years ago, 70 years ago, a local church was probably a local church. Of course, there were bad local churches back then.

There's always, it's always been that way. But today, Christianity churches are being replaced with like what?

Fun centers, entertainment centers. It really is a rock concert followed by a motivational speaker.

My friends, that's not church. I don't know what that is, but it is not church.

The church is a place where you come to worship the Lord because in those places, who's the center?

Jesus, they'll mention Jesus. Jesus is not the center. Who's the center?

You are because the motivational speech is all about you and what you can get out of life.

Your best life now, right? This is sort of the biggest motivational fun center in the country that's called a church.

Your purpose driven life, all sorts of churches brought that bad doctrine into the church 20 years ago.

And if you had said that 20 years ago, a lot of people would have been offended. I'm still probably offending somebody, but we see the fruit of that.

Like these people are not following the scriptures. So the rock concert followed by the pep talk, motivational speech, it's simply not church.

True churches come together and we put Jesus first. I used to work with a guy and he said, you know,

I was trying to lead them to Christ and he wasn't really convinced. He said, my grandmother goes to church, but she doesn't like the new pastor.

She doesn't like the new pastor of her church. You know why? It's been a while since I've told this story.

She says, I don't, I don't like the new pastor of my church. He's always talking about Jesus all the time.

I'm like, what in the world is going on? It's more common than you think though. But we come together, we break bread, we observe the

Lord's supper, we have fellowship, you know, in the local church, you make friends, you're encouraged, you learn.

I really am strengthened when I get together with the church, but we keep

Christ at the center. Christ who handed down his doctrine to his apostles, wrote it on the pages of the new

Testament. And that's what we open up and we look at every week. Look at first Timothy four 16, first Timothy four 16, take heed to yourselves and to the doctrine, continue in them for in doing this, you will save both yourselves and those who hear you.

So what's the title of the message? Do I really need the church or do we really need the local church?

Of course you knew the answer was yes. The answer is yes. People need it.

One reason is because generally speaking, people get saved through the ministry of the church.

We're saved by Jesus. We get it, right? There are some churches where they say the salvation comes through the church.

It's through the sacraments. And no, we're saved by Christ, but it's through the ministries of the church.

The Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Who are, where are the places preaching the word of God?

It's the churches. Uh, people who evangelize. These are typically people from the local churches, missionaries.

How did they do their work all over the world? Well, missionaries get their support from where the local churches.

So we're saved by Jesus, but here's the thing. Jesus is not here on this earth except through his body, which is the assembly, the church of God indwelt by the

Holy ghost. Okay. Go back to first Timothy three 15 back a page or two first Timothy three 15 to that initial verse that we read.

Paul says again, but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living

God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Let me make this appeal to some people now more than ever that were truth.

It has so much significance, so much meaning. Uh, this world is just filled with lies.

I think 10 years ago, people knew the lies were out there, but they didn't think it was this bad.

Even three years ago. I mean, a lot of people, their eyes were open to, wow, we are just being lied to from every direction.

How valuable is the truth? Well, where do you hear the truth? According to scripture, what does

Paul say? What is the pillar and ground of the truth? It's the local church.

Again, there are local churches that are bad, that are teaching lies. I mean, that's again, that's always been true, but the true churches that teach

God's doctrine, this is where you hear the truth. So I just love that word truth more and more because this is where we get the truth, the church.

And you say, well, what about seminary seminaries are teaching people the truth? Are you paying attention to most of the seminaries?

And some people have, this has been going on for a long time. They call, they have a nickname for seminaries and they call them what?

Yeah. Cemeteries because 95 % of the seminaries in this country are just liberal and unbelieving.

And they, that's where a lot of people go and they lose their faith in God's word through the seminaries, but there's still many that are good, but the majority is bad, unfortunately.

So you want to get, and again, this is the person watching online, or maybe if you're a visitor and you're going back home, this is what you want to do.

Someone listening on radio, find a good local church where the whole council of God is preached, both old

Testament and new Testament. According to Paul here, the church is the house of God.

Now, what was the house of God in the old Testament? What was it? It was an actual house or like a building.

So in the old Testament, the house of God was the temple, right? And you had to travel to a place.

You had to travel to Jerusalem and that's where the house of God was, or maybe the tabernacle in time past.

God's spirit originally was present in the temple, the temple that Solomon built, the spirit of God actually dwelt in that temple.

And then the second temple that was built, God inhabited that temple as well, because after all,

Jesus Christ walked into that temple. So God was in the temple, but there's a lot of things in the old

Testament that change when you get to the new Testament. For example, in the old

Testament, when they talked about the word anointing, if something was anointed in the old

Testament, what did that mean? It means you took oil and you poured it on and that's anointing.

In the new Testament, the anointing is empowerment from the Holy Spirit. Likewise, in the old

Testament, the house of God was a building, brick and stone and wood. In the new

Testament, what's the building of God? What's the house of God now? We are. Your body is indwelt by what?

The Holy Spirit. So Christians collectively, your body is a temple and collectively we make up the house of God.

So the church is the house of God. Paul says it is the house or church of what? Not just God, it's the house of the living

God. It's really interesting that he uses that phrase, the living God. Why?

Because the church is alive. It's not a building made of wood and brick and stone.

The church is the body of believers, alive and active. Are you active this morning?

You're active. Okay. And what we hear and what you're taught, we want, and I always try to stress this, we want to apply what we are taught.

Whatever you read in the Bible, make application. So you get taught and instructed and encouraged today in the church and then you take what you've learned and you bring it home, you bring it out into the community, into the workplace and you make application to what the word says.

And that's how Christianity spreads. And if we're all doing that, it will spread. But the church is the house of the living

God, alive and active. One commentator says this about the use of the term, a pillar and ground.

Does anyone have anything else other than pillar and ground? See, this is how I know who's using the new

King James and who's not, which is okay. What is it? Foundation, right?

The pillar and foundation. Mainstay. Okay. Mainstay, different ways it can be described.

One commentator says this, Paul's imagery may have referred to the magnificent temple of Diana or Artemis in Ephesus, which was supported by 127 gold plated marble pillars.

So remember Timothy is the pastor of the church at what? Ephesus. So in that city, it was the center of Diana worship and they had this magnificent temple, gold and marble.

I mean, that was the place to be if you were in Ephesus, not for the Christians, obviously. So he might've had that in mind and he's saying, no, that's not where you want to go.

The truth is not there. There's this, this graven image of Diana. What can

Diana do? First of all, Diana isn't real. If she's real in any sense, the idol represents a demon.

I mean, that's what Paul said. Those aren't, that's not my opinion. Well, what can that stone statue do for you?

And you think of all the people in this world, they go and they bow and they pray to a hunk of porcelain.

We want to be searching after and seeking the living God. Amen. So he might've had this temple to Diana or Artemis in mind.

The word translated ground appears only here in the New Testament and denotes the foundation on which the building rests.

So the church upholds the truth of God's revealed word.

So this is what the church does in the world today. We uphold the truth. When you go to the schools, what do they say about mankind?

You're a mistake. You're, you're a glorified animal. There's no meaning to life. You evolved from the slime.

And then you wonder why so many people despair or they take their own life.

They figure, Hey, if I'm an animal, put myself down and it'll all end. People are being lied to everywhere.

But the church is the one place that upholds the truth that you, no matter who you are, you were created in the image of God.

You have value in the world. It's just not giving that message.

So the truth, the content of the Christian faith recorded in scripture is summed up in verse 16, which says, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.

So this is one thing that every Christian can agree on. Paul's giving something like an early Christian creed.

Let's see if we can all agree with this. And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.

God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the

Gentiles, believed on in the world and received up in to glory.

The part that stands out to me is that God was manifest in the flesh.

If that is true, that God himself came to this earth in the form of a man,

Jesus Christ, and established the church as his vehicle to spread his message and his truth all over the world, then this question is really a no -brainer.

Do we need the church? It's an unequivocal yes. Not only do

I need the church, not only do you need the church, every single human being on earth needs the church, whether they realize it or not.

So that's the foundation. Okay, now let's get into the message. What time you got? Do we have enough time?

That was just the introduction. Do you think I'm kidding? We'll see, we'll see.

So why is the church so neglected then? And I realize, like I said this last week, people are a product of their environment to some degree and they're a product of what they've been taught.

So I get it, there's some people out there have been taught the opposite and that's why they think that way. But I'm just talking about amongst professing

Christians. Here's the stats. 70 % of Americans claim to be

Christian. Only 20 % go to church, at least on a consistent basis.

You realize what that means? Compare that to what the Bible says, you know, every pastor's favorite verse,

Hebrews 10 25, do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another so much the more as we see the day approaching.

And what's the day that's approaching? Do you realize that Jesus is coming back? That day of Christ's return is getting closer and closer and closer and because of that we need to assemble more and more and more, not less and less, but you know how the devil is, he convinces people that you don't need the church, you're fine on your own, stay home, watch

Netflix, do something else. Now listen, I realize there are some people who can't make it to church every week.

So I don't want to place a heavy burden on people who really cannot go due to age.

Remember Winnie? Winnie was here every week up until age, what, 96? She can't come anymore.

I mean in theory you could, but I mean let's be fair, but she attended right up until she just couldn't do it anymore.

So there's some people who can't do it because of age or illness. Some people are providentially hindered.

Some people live in an area where there is no church. Other people live in an area, and this is a real thing, there are some people who live in an area where there are churches around but there's no good churches.

You say well a bad church is better than no church. Not really. Some people have that attitude and that's not necessarily the case.

So if there's somebody listening online and you're not part of a local church because there's just no good church around you or if that's your situation, it's not your situation if you live in Western Mass, okay?

But just make sure, this is what you would want to do, make sure you're getting some Christian fellowship. Make sure you're being fed spiritually and then pray and God eventually may give a solution to that.

But there are many reasons why people don't go. So just a few of these and then we'll close, okay?

So one thing you hear, and this is one of the top three reasons why people don't go to church, and I'm not going to say what you think

I'm going to say, maybe. People say they don't go to church because the church is full of hypocrites and that's what you think,

I know what he's going to say next. Or they'll say the church is just filled with a bunch of judgmental people.

I don't know where they're going. I mean that hasn't been my experience. But okay, let me respond to that.

So somebody says, you know, I don't go to church because the church is hypocrites and judgmental people.

Might I suggest that if you're calling them hypocrites and they're so judgmental, aren't you kind of judging them?

So even if you were right, which you're not, you'd be in good company. Okay, so I did sort of say what you thought

I was going to say. But the church, again, you're not going to, if there is a church where a visitor comes in and they are judged, hey, go somewhere else.

There's good churches around. We do not do that. And if somebody does that to you as a visitor, come and tell me because that's not okay.

But church is where we receive encouragement. We need each other. It's not good for a person to be alone.

Remember during COVID where everyone was at home sheltering in place for like a year? I mean, depression, anxiety, suicide, it all skyrocketed.

It's not good for people to be alone. We need one another. We need the teaching.

Here's another thing. Well, you guys meet in this building. Well, don't you live in a building? Why don't you have a problem with that?

When you go to work, do you go to work in a building? Yeah. So why is it a problem for the church to have a building?

I mean, there are downsides. That's true. Really what it boils down to, people have double standards.

That if other people do this, it's totally fine. If I do, it's totally fine. But if the church does it, it's just terrible.

Here's another one. They'll say, you know, churches only care about money.

Churches only care about getting my money. You know, they take up offerings. How terrible is that?

Well, do you use money? I bet you go to this place you called work and you earn money.

Well, the church is all about money. Are there churches that are all about money? Yeah. I wouldn't attend one of those places either.

So yeah. Avoid the prosperity gospel mega churches or that church. There's one church in Greenfield years ago.

They told their people, hey, give everything you got. Give some more. Give until it hurts.

Max out your credit cards so we can build this building and pay for all this stuff. I mean, I would have been out of there so fast.

Maxing your credit cards to pay for. That's an ungodly thing to ask. So yeah, there's a lot of churches that are all about the money.

Find a good church that isn't like that. But again, people go to this place they called work, or if you work for a business, that business is all about making money.

Why is that not a problem? But you know, it's just a reality in this world. You need money to function.

And then last, this is really it. Okay. And then I'll let you go. This is turned into more of a rant.

I realized that, Hey, that's okay. As long as it's biblical, I think it's okay.

Hey, if you want to see some rants, open up to the prophets and see what they had to say. I think this is bad, but there are people who have had a bad church experience and that's why they don't go.

And you know, that's real. And I do feel, I never had that. Uh, but I do feel for people who had a bad church experience, but let me appeal to those people.

Don't be soured on the church because of a few bad apples. Like with everything else, there are bad jobs.

You still probably work. There are bad businesses, but you still probably go shopping.

People have been in bad marriages where they've been abused. Some people have been in bad family situations.

We don't throw out the institution of marriage and the family because of some bad apples, do we? And if we did, things would just get that much worse.

That's what will happen if we just disregard the church. So don't throw away the baby.

That's my appeal to you. Don't throw away the baby with the bath water. Let's turn to acts 20 and we'll just close with this first because it really highlights how important the church is because everything we do, we want to center around the gospel.

And the gospel is that Jesus, God so loved the world. He loved it so much. He sent

Jesus into the world to die on the cross for our sins, to rise again the third day, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

This is where you hear the message of eternal life. It's from the church. Look at Acts 20 verse 27.

Paul says, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.

So you see that a pastor preacher should be preaching the whole counsel of God, but he says, therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the

Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Speaking to the Ephesian elders. And here's what

I want you to focus on. To shepherd the church of God, which he, that is

God, purchased with his own blood. How important is the local church?

God purchased the church with his own blood. That's how much the

Lord loves the church. He sent Christ to die. And I love the church too. Do you love the church?

Do you need the local church? You do. We all do. So I just ask that if somebody isn't quite convinced, you consider this.

And again, follow what the Holy Spirit would have you to do. Let's pray. And heavenly father, we thank you that we do have a local church where we can put you first.

And we have people here who truly love the Lord. They love you. They love your word.

And Lord, I just pray your blessing upon this assembly. And for those watching online later on,

Lord, we just ask that you would be with them and lead them and guide them. Lord, we need encouragement.

We need to be strengthened. And most of all, we need Christ. And this is his body, the local church, which he died for.

So if there's anyone who has never placed their faith in Jesus, I ask that they would do it today.

Lord, change their heart so that they would be saved. And father, we ask all these things in Christ's holy name.