I want you to turn in your Bibles
to the book of Ephesians chapter 4. Sigmund Freud thought for
some time that people who were suffering from anxiety and depression
and phobias had some kind of physical disorder that could
only be treated through medical intervention. And then he discovered
that symptoms of emotional distress could be relieved simply by talking
in certain ways to his patients. If he had studied the book of
Proverbs, he would have been less surprised to find out that
words can have a very strong impact on hearers. Be careful
how you talk to one another. Heaviness in the heart of a man
maketh it stoop. But a good word maketh it glad,
the writer of the book of Proverbs said. Death and life are in the
power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit
thereof. In Ephesians chapter 4, I want
to talk to you about edification. Now, we probably won't be jumping
too high today, because I want to be hopefully instructive.
I've been thinking a lot about the series that Darren is going
to be presenting on Wednesday evenings about the church. And
about church membership. And about being a member of the
church. And what does it mean to be a member of the church?
And what is the church? I think Ephesians 4 clearly tells
us how the church ought to operate. What's to be taking place in
the church. The purpose of the church. Let's
begin with verse 1. I therefore the prisoner of the
Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
ye are called. With all lowliness and meekness,
with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. This is
how the church is to operate. Forbearing one another. You know
why we have to forbear one another? Because we all have warts. We
all have issues. If you ever find a perfect church,
you will ruin it. Endeavoring to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and
one Spirit. even as ye are called in one
hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God,
and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you
all. But unto every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore,
he saith, when he ascended upon high, he led captivity captive,
gave gifts unto men, Now that He be ascended, what is it but
that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above
all heavens that He might fill all things. And He gave some
apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and
teachers for the maturing of the saints. For the maturing
of the saints. That's what these leaders are
for. To mature the saints. A pastor is to mature the saints. I want the saints of Grace Gospel
Fellowship to be matured through the preaching and teaching of
our elders. For the maturing of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, there is a work to do. This church
has a work to do. We have not been called to sit
to simply like sponges absorb information, for the working
of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, for building
up the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a mature
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of
men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive,
but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things,
which is the head, even Christ. From whom the whole body fitly
joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth,
Here's a body and every joint, you know what a joint is, don't
you? And every joint supplieth, not that kind of joint, compacted
by that which every joint supplieth according to the effectual working
in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto
the edifying of itself in love. In other words, that's such a
wonderful passage. Every member of the church is
supplying something to the other members, and the body is being
supplied. Actually, it's feeding off itself.
And the body becomes strong. The body of Christ. The church
becomes strong. We're a happy people in the house
of God, in the family of God, with the people of God. We are
a happy people because we're strengthening. We're edifying.
We're building one another up. And we become strong. And pretty
soon we're saying things like, I can do all things through Christ
that strengtheneth me. Pretty soon we really believe
that we can bless this city, that we can turn this city around.
Pretty soon we see that we're making a difference because we
are a healthy church. We are a strong church. We are
a thankful church. We are an appreciative church.
We are a serving church. Very, very true. This I say,
therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk
not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having
the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God
through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness
of their heart, who, being past feeling, have given themselves
over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanliness with greediness."
Now, these kind of folks are not part of the church. They're
just the opposite of what church members are. Just the opposite. They're self-centered. They're
greedy. They're filled with lust. Life
is all about themselves. But ye have not so learned Christ.
Let me tell you this. When a person comes to know Christ,
you have a better community. You have a better neighborhood.
You have a better county. You have a better state. You
have a better country. Christianity is not a threat
to the United States of America. I think the worst thing our President
has ever said And he probably, as far as I'm concerned, should
not have said it, even though it's true. The United States
of America is not a Christian nation. And we're proving it.
We're proving it. We're not a Christian nation.
But we ought to be. At least the church ought to
be influencing this nation enough where nobody's saying that. Somebody
ought to be suspect that this is a Christian nation. Somebody
ought to be suspicious. I don't think that's a feather
in any American's hat. when the leader of this country
says we are not a Christian nation. To me, that's condemnation. I
got a few amens on that. That was probably from Republicans.
But it doesn't make any difference if you're a Republican or a Democrat
or who you voted for. America used to be known for
at least its Christian principles. And we've lost those. If so,
be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the
truth is in Jesus." If you put off concerning the former conversation,
the old man, no more crack. You put it off. The conversation
there means manner of life. You've become a Christian now.
You've become a Christian now. You put off the old man. The old manner of life. You don't
serve the false god. You serve the true and living
God. And you know that there is no high like the Most High.
You really do know that. Which is corrupt according to
the deceitful lusts. And be renewed in the spirit
of your mind. And that you put on the new man, which after God
is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, putting
away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor. For we are
members one of another. Be angry and sin not. Don't let
the sun go down up on your raft. Don't hold grudges. Some of you
are miserable as Christians because you got stuff stuck. You got
stuff stuck. Don't let the sun go down on
your raft. It'll become a cesspool and what's in the cesspool will
one day surface. Maybe in road rage. You're angry
and you've stuffed so much stuff. Don't let the sun. Keep it clean.
Every night before you go to bed, get that anger out of there.
Don't suppress it. Neither give place to the devil.
And that's what you do when you stuff your anger. You give place
to the devil. You need to deal with your anger. Whatever your
anger issues are, you need to deal with those. Uptruck them. Let him that stole, steal no
more. Stop stealing. Christians don't steal. Here's
what Christians do, but rather let in labor. All Christians
who are in the will of God are working. In fact, we have a little saying
around here, he who does not work, does not eat. Work is a
Christian principle. Work is of God. That's how you
kind of earn yourself work. And not only that, but this work
thing, When you go to work, you get paid. Work with your hands
the things which is good that you may have to give to him that
need it. That is in the church. You work
real hard, earn a living, so when a brother breaks his leg
and can't work, you can put more money in the plate so the church
can give to him to take care of him and his family while he's
off work. That's the way the church has
been ordained to do things. Not welfare, not big government
passing out checks, not entitlement programs, but the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, here at Grace Gospel, we
kind of go beyond even that. We not only take care of our
folks who are members of this church, but we feed people who
are not even Christians. You know, we're not commanded
to do that in the Bible. We are commanded to take care
of folks within this local body. Every member of this church ought
to have this blessed peace and assurance. I got my church. If
I get sick, they're going to be there. If I'm without a job
and can't work and I get cancer, they're going to be there. They're
going to take care of my family. I'm a part of that church. Let
no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. Stop your
gossiping. But that which is good to the use of edify. Whatever
comes out of your mouth ought to be building somebody else
up. It ought to be encouraging someone else. That it may minister
grace unto the hearers. Grace, isn't that a great word?
That it might minister unmerited favor. Unmerited favor. Undeserved favor. How comforting
it is when you've done something stupid and some Christian who's
a part of the church puts his or her arm around you and says,
you know, it's okay there, go I for the grace of God, we forgive
you, we're here to help you. That's ministering grace. And
don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God. whereby you are sealed
under the day of redemption. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit.
You have the Holy Spirit in you as a Christian. Don't grieve
Him by evil communication, by running somebody else down, by
gossiping. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit.
Be in a mode of constant edification. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor – that's yaggity, yag, yag, yag – and
evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Get rid
of all of it. If you've got some of it, you're
not happy. Right now, if you're sitting here, you've got something
against a brother or a sister, you're not right. You can be
right. Some of you have things against
people that are already dead. And there's no way you're going
to fix that. They're already somewhere else, either heaven
or hell. And if they're in heaven, they're enjoying life. You're
down here still holding malice and mess, still haven't forgiven
them, and you're miserable. That's not the way it should
be. Verse 32, "...and be ye kind one to another." I used to hear my mother say
that. Be kind one to another. I don't think that's talking
to children necessarily. I think that's talking to us
grown-ups. Be kind one to another, tender-hearted,
forgiving one another even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
you. Now listen, real quick here as
I move along. God has designed the local church
to respond to the needs of its members. This is simple, but I don't think
most church people get this. Church is not a big, fancy building
filled with all kinds of traditions, Halloween music, the preacher
has his collar turned around backwards and is wearing a long,
dark robe, and we go to church. We point at a building and say,
that's church. But that's not church at all.
This is not the church. This is the church. This is the
church. The deep wounds of hurting people
can, can, I want you to think about this, substantially be
healed in the church. This is to be a hospital. And great healings are to take
place right here. You know, your greatest problem
and the place where you most need healing is in your emotions. It's where people can't see.
Boy, what if we could open your head up today and see all of
the hurt that's in there. Hurting people are to be healed
right here. As we come together, hurting
people are healed. Do you know people need people?
People need people. That's why when you go to the
crack house or you use your drug at home and get it out of the
bathroom cabinet and take some pills and calm down and this
and that, when it wears off, you still got the problem. You
still got the problem. Listen, pills only sedate pain
for a little while. Using drugs does not make you
high. It makes you low. Because after
you get through using, you still have the same problem. And that's
suburbanite using or inner city using, the problem is still there. Listen, this church will grow
in real growth as we together are used through edification
to heal each other. I, as a child of God in Christ,
have some power to heal you. God has ordained it. You need
healing elders. Somebody said, Pastor, do you
believe in healing? Absolutely. And all of us need
to be healed. Because we all have warts. We
all have issues. We all have mess. Am I right
about that? We all have fears. We all have
doubts. And we all need to be loved. My biggest problem and yours
outside of Christ is self-centeredness. Christianity is about becoming
a servant, a healer. When God saves you, He saves
you to heal somebody else. Amen. You become a healer if
you're like Jesus. If you're like the Lord Jesus. Listen, the central dynamic of
the local church must always be our living together in relationship
with God and one another. And one another. This shouldn't
be a drive-to church. Just about every member of this
church ought to know every other member. Well, we ought to know one another. Living together in relationship
with God and one another. We're not there yet here. We're
not there yet here. In fact, I think many of our
own membership bring their little cup to get it filled on Sunday
morning and then you're off and running with your little cup
to sustain you until next Sunday. But really what ought to be happening
is you get nourished here and there's a continual blessing
of one another going on. Amen. It's a rough world out
there, isn't it? When we are centered on better
facilities, expanded programs, more staff, then the enriching
and soul-stirring excitement of life in Christ is numb. In
other words, when our goal becomes like, you know, we need a bigger
building. Eventually people will kind of
stop coming because they have to hunt for a seat and it's too
warm in here and, you know, that sort of thing. But that cannot
become... building a fancy new building
cannot become central here. It cannot become central. We
can find a big warehouse. Set up some chairs. Amen. We don't have to be fancy here.
That's not central. It's just not central. We must
not reduce this church, what I call this church thing, to
a pep rally for Jesus or an irritating set of restrictions. In other
words, I often say, Are you a Christian? People say,
you know, I'm a Catholic. I go to Mass. Well, is that all
a Catholic does? Or, I'm a Baptist. We don't roller
skate. Play cards or whatever. Is that what the church is all
about? I told you Wednesday night, the reason I changed our name,
well, I think I said this on Ask the Pastor on television
the other day. I changed our name from Metropolitan Baptist
Church to Grace Gospel Fellowship because people would always say
to me, oh, you're a Baptist, you don't play cards, you don't
smoke, you don't drink, you don't go to the movies, you don't,
you don't, you don't, you don't. We should not be noted for what
we don't do. We ought to be noted for turning
Pontiac upside down. for changing this community.
We ought to be noted for what we do outside the walls of this
building. We come in here and get strong,
and then we go out there and serve. We nurture each other
here. That's really what ought to happen.
The muscles of relationship within the church have to be exercised. And when the muscles of relationship
become limp, the church is totally out of shape and will not endure
the race. We become a weak church. When
relationship breaks down within the walls of this congregation,
we become weak. It's true. Right now, Keith's in the hospital. I'm concerned about that. I call
him every day to encourage him. Really, what ought to happen
in a church like this, if somebody gets in the hospital, he ought
to be getting about 300 cards. Well, that's the pastor's job.
He ought to be over there. You go over there. Don't give me my job description.
You go. Attendance falls off. Volunteers
to teach Sunday school and serve on committees are hard to come
by. A strong mood of indifference spreads through the body of Christ.
We become a very weak church. The life of the church lies in
its worshipful relationship to God and to one another. Our fellowship
with one another. I went with Men of Grace. Was
that Friday? Friday evening to Kalamazoo. Man, we had a great time up there
with the Kalamazoo Rescue Mission there. Fellowship. When we're on these trips, We
have great times of fellowship. There are great times of encouragement
to me. That's what ought to go on in the church here. All kinds
of things ought to take place. Listen, when the church fails
in edification, cold orthodoxy. You know what I mean by orthodoxy?
We just get real strict. Ecclesiastical corpses is what
I call it. gusty problems raging inside
of people. Edification represents the unique
value of Christian fellowship. To edify, it means to instruct
or improve spiritually, to erect a house. Christians spending
time together can have an eternal significant impact on one another.
I love it when you on Seneca Street meet in the park and have
a picnic. Listen, I am absolutely convinced
that social ills in this country are not going to be solved by
big government. They're going to be solved by
people helping people. That's why volunteerism is so
important to me. It's just so important to me.
When we mess up here in some way as far as our volunteers,
I'm fidgety about that. Volunteerism is the way back.
I preached that for 25 years. Not big government passing out
welfare checks. The reason you're not a drug
addict today, the reason you have been saved today is because
there was a preacher and a local church here that proclaimed the
gospel to you. You took your welfare check,
many of you, and went and bought drugs. You didn't buy groceries
for the kids and school clothes, eh? Don't be copping out on me here.
I know you. And where there's love, our meetings
become exciting. You're never going to find...
It's going to be very difficult to find another church like this. Because we are very conscious
of our works here. I mean, I often used to say to
you, just between us girls, aren't we a mess here? I mean, aren't
we a mess, but aren't we having fun? And aren't we enjoying our
fellowship with one another and with the Lord? And many of you
for the first time have said this to me, I feel I belong. That's what you ought to feel.
I belong to a family. This is my church. This is my
family. I belong. Some of you lived out
there 20, 30 years, disattached. I can tell you multimillionaires
that I know, right here in the Bloomfield Hills area, that are
totally loners. They spend their day in business
and their afternoons getting drunk. No fellowship. You cannot be a loner and be
happy. The truth is, you need somebody. Hebrews 10, 19 through 25 urges
us to think about three things. We are to approach God with a
conscious awareness of our absolute acceptance in Christ. I've been
accepted in Jesus Christ. The second thing is, because
God is faithful, we are to cling to the prospect of our eternal
acceptance in heaven. And the third thing is this,
We are to give serious thought to how we can encourage one another. I'm accepted. I know that beyond
any shadow of a doubt. I've been accepted in Jesus Christ
outside of myself. And once you know how God has
accepted you, there is no one that you cannot accept. When
you learn the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace, that
you were not good enough, that your goodness had nothing to
do with your acceptance, Or even how bad you were had nothing
to do with your rejection that God accepted you in Jesus Christ
outside of yourself, and that it was all by grace. Then the
Bible comes along and says, now, you forgive one another as God,
for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. When He talks about giving,
He says, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though
He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through
His poverty might be made rich. That's the way we're to live.
Hebrews 12-14 tells us that there are difficulties along the path
of obedience and that these difficulties can weaken our determination
to follow Christ. Therefore, we should encourage
one another. You know, I just bet there's
somebody here, the reason I'm preaching this message, I bet
there's some Christian here that's about ready to quit. And so I'm exhorting you Because
I may not meet that person after church, but you may run smack
dab into them and they may have a fake smile on their face. And
you say something rough to them a little bit, instead of giving them a sweet
smile and a handshake and say, I thought about you this week.
I'm praying for you. Is there anything I can do? You'll
give them the encouragement to carry on. Is that right or not? Now, look, I don't know about
you, but I'm going to stand back there today. Every one of you
better bless me. I need to be blessed. I want
you to say to me, love you, Pastor, even if you have to, you know,
mimic it. We're to motivate each other
to walk with the Lord more closely. encouraging one another to live
out the truth of our position in Christ by loving others and
doing good works. That's true. And do them quietly
so no one knows. Don't be blowing the trumpet
when you're about to do something good. The body of Christ, the
Ecclesia, must work on stimulating one another to love and Good
deeds. Not forsaking ourselves, assembling
together, but encouraging one another. By the way, one of the
ways to discourage me is when you're not here. And those of
you who have been around long enough, you know when I'm up
here and y'all are singing, I'm walking around here. I'm not
walking around to get exercise. I'm looking for somebody. And
if you're not here, when I get home on Sunday afternoon, I'm
going to find out why. Because you need to be here.
I'm going to encourage you to be here. It's important that
you're here. There's nothing more important
in life than the church coming together to encourage one another
and to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's in the local
church that troubled people's lives are restored to worship,
service through the process of edification. This is the building
of the church. Every member of this church must
be trained in the skill of encouragement. Well, you know, so-and-so has
the gift of speaking. Yeah, I know a lot of people
have the gift of speaking. How about trained in the gift
of encouraging somebody? Well, you know, they have their
MA in counseling. Every saved person ought to be
a counselor. Jesus was a great counselor,
you know. And I'm going to say this. And I'm going to boldly
say this. Folks don't need a shrink. Folks
need a friend. Most people don't need a shrink.
They need somebody to come alongside of them. You don't have to pay
$80 for somebody to tell you you're crazy. You already know
that, right? You just need somebody to come alongside of you and
give you a little encouragement. Give you a little encouragement.
Encouragement is the kind of expression that helps someone
want to be a better Christian, even when life is rough. And
by the way, life is rough. You think you become a Christian,
everything gets easy? I don't think so. Think about how the grace of
God, you can affect my life and I can affect yours. Think about
that. We must apply our mental energies
to the job of understanding precisely how we can perform this important
work for each other. And I think it's so important
that we get to know each other. You know, you ought to get to
know somebody. Often I have said this, I'm going
to get to know him because I think I can help him. I'm going to get to know him
because I think I can help him. This is a must. Church life involves
people getting together People in contact with other people,
whether in small groups or huge sanctuaries or praise meetings
or teaching classes. The church is people. God's people. People helping people. We say that over at Grace Centers.
That's our little saying. People helping people. You know
where that came from? That actually came a long time
ago. When I learned this, that community
is vital. Community is vital. And the church
is God's community. It's God's community. Seneca
Street would be nothing unless you were here. Without this church,
that place will become the hood again. Moreland, we're after Moreland.
If you know anybody on Moreland, give them notice. We're coming
after them. We're coming after that street. And what happens
is when Christians are Christians, when people are helping people,
neighborhoods change. You know when you're using, you
don't clean yourself, you don't shower, you don't mow the grass
in your yard, you smoke it. You know that. You know what you do. You jack
the car up, take the tire off and forget where you put the
tire and go get high. You know that doesn't work. So, our church must not become
like the wealthy man whose family starves to death emotionally
while he's working hard to better provide for them materially.
You know, we can work real hard and do a lot of things and not
help people. People all around us are troubled
and restless and angry and desperate and empty and worried. It's true
all around us. They need to know God and to
learn what it means to live in relationship with Him and with
His people. That's where happiness is. Our churches have untapped
resources for responding to that need. Seneca Street and Little
Grace Village is not simply about buying houses. It's about people
living in community. Amen. That's what it's about.
Living in community. We truly have the opportunity
and responsibility to restore troubled people to peaceful,
purposeful lives that can bear testimony to God's redeeming
power before a watching world. The world's watching. And I want
to tell you this. Pontiac's watching. Pontiac's
watching us. Like never before. Like never
before. I'm in those meetings with business
folks every Thursday. To me, I walk in there in this
sense with fear and trembling. What I promise, I must deliver. They're watching us. And that's
alright. For the first time in 25 years,
they have come to us. And I'm going to tell you this,
beyond any shadow of a doubt, we have the answer. Let's bring the city back. Yeah,
let's clean the graffiti to the glory of God, to make a better
city. For years, for years, Pontiac
has been called the armpit of Oakland County. For years. They have said Pontiac rescue
mission was the cause of all the problems in the downtown
area. The whole thing's reversed now. The city's bankrupt. They have no place to turn. God
has strategically put us here. Strategically put us here. I
believe that we have come to the kingdom for such an hour
as this. I do. No two things. People are hurting
more deeply than we know. And there's some of you hurting
more deeply than even you know. Yourself. I just bet there's
some hurting people in here. You hurt so bad that you do the
craziest things. Look at me. Heroin is not the
real problem. You know it. Alcohol is not the
real problem. Crack cocaine is not the real
problem. You know what the real problem is. You don't want to
go there. You don't want to go there. In
fact, you are so afraid to go there that you'll use an artificial
substance to sedate the hurt. And I want to tell you that the
blood of Christ will go deeper than that stain and that hurt,
whatever it is. I know that many of you in here
have dug a hole and feel like there's no way out. In fact,
because of that hole that you're in, you keep shoveling. You're
digging the hole deeper and deeper. And now years have passed. And
there you are in that hole. And those issues that caused
you to start digging the hole are still there. And you're still
sedating the pain. You know, this is a church where
if you were molested when you were 8 years old to the time
you were 15 years old, this is a church where you can upchuck
it and deal with it. You know, you might be surprised
how many people... You know, sexual abuse didn't
start 20 years ago. This thing's been going on a
while. And we've been so religious that
we've kept it hid. We haven't dealt with those issues.
There's so many issues. that hasn't been dealt with,
because the gospel has not been preached. If you know that there
is a power, that the blood of Christ goes deeper than the stain
is gone, that there is the absolute possibility of forgiveness for
you, that there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from
Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose
all their guilty stains, Do you know that the God of heaven will
remove your sins as far as the East is from the West? That you
don't have to be good enough. That you don't have to be a perfect
person. In fact, the Gospel is for sinners.
It's not for good people. I was visiting with my chiropractor
yesterday, Dr. Pasolaco, that I've known for
years. And his boy was in there and
I trusted. will be alright with him for
me to tell the story. I think it will. He said, you
know Ben, Ben's saved. He's 12 years old. And he's here
in the office. He's having doubts about his
conversion. Would you mind talking to Ben
for a few minutes, Pastor? So Ben came in and the doctor
left. And Ben and I had a little talk. Can you imagine what a
12-year-old boy is going through? Huh! Have you ever heard of hormones? He's beginning to realize his
sexuality. He's supposed to be a saved little
boy now. He's having all kinds of sexual
thoughts. All messed up. And now he's beginning to doubt
that he's even converted. Did I have a witness in there? Been there, done that. There
ought to be a church somewhere where a 12-year-old doesn't have
to cover up that he's a human being. Where things can be talked about
with that kind of church. We must be more that kind of
church where we deal with one another's issues through the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. A place where hurting people
are healed. Every Christian is called upon to encourage his
brothers and sisters. Let me tell you this. When we
go through these church classes, don't join this church if you're
not going to be an edifier. Don't say, I want to be on the
church rolls, if you're not going to be a kind, considerate, tender
person that's going to help other people. Don't join up. Just be
a loosey-goosey Christian out there, but don't join up. Don't
join up. until you're ready to be in the
king's army and help somebody. Listen, if I can just help somebody
a long life's way, then my living will not be in vain. We must
say things and do things that stimulate others to a deeper
appreciation of Christ. I said to Ben yesterday, Ben,
are you doubting? He said, yes. I said, you can't
doubt what you don't have. Anybody in here ever doubt whether
they're the Lord's or not? The rest of you are lying. You've got enough proof inside
of your fleshly self to know that that's not the will of God.
That's all flesh. Well, why should I be a member
of the church? Many of us have been raised in
denominational churches. But I really wonder how many
of us were members of one of these churches out of conviction.
I mean, we were really joined to one of these congregations. I mean, we were like the little
fingers, a part of my body joined that way. My church. My church
where I serve the Lord through that church. Where I bring my
tithes and offerings and I give of myself When the flower bed
needs weeding, I'm there. Little hint. What really is involved in church
membership? Is it a man thing or is it really
a God thing? I think it's a God thing. In
fact, I believe with all my heart it's a God thing. To belong to
a local body. The church at Ephesus. The church
at Corinth. A local church is a part of God's
plan for abundant living. You'll never have abundant living
until you are a part of the local church, the body of Christ. I
guarantee it. And you know the church is Ecclesia,
the Greek word, assembly. Gathered for deliberation, Gathered
for worship, not entertainment. The fitting together of manufactured
parts into a complete machine. That's what the church is. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus. And the Bible says this, the
Lord added to the church daily such as should be added. In fact,
if God hasn't put it on your heart to be a part of this body,
don't do it. Really, this is what ought to
happen. People ought to come forward and say this. After you
learn what church membership means, people ought to come forward
and say, I want to be a part of this body. I want to come
under the authority of this church and these elders. I want to do
that. I publicly want to do that. This
is my church. Jesus said, upon this rock I
will build my church. His assembly where everybody
is nobody and Christ is all. Parts, members of this body,
this assembly, this church. People who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. People whose lives have been
changed forever. Have you been born again? I guarantee you this, if God
has born you again, He's going to put you in a local church.
And you're going to publicly say, this is my church. You will
publicly confess that. You won't be ashamed of this
church. So they say, well, what church
do you belong to? Well, actually, I'm a part of
an inner city church. Is that okay? No. I am a member of Grace Gospel
Fellowship. The greatest church in all the
world. If I didn't believe that, I'd go
somewhere else. The day I began to think this is not where I
ought to be and that this is the greatest church in all the
world, I'm out of here. I'm out of here. I'm here because
I believe. I believe. The church has elders. who rule over the church. And the church members are to
submit to the elders because they have to give an account
to God. You see, I have to give an account to God for Dwayne. Lord, have mercy. I'm always
like this with Dwayne. Lord, here I come again. Not
really. The local church is to be a haven.
I'm almost through now. The local church is to be a haven.
It's to be a home. It's to be a place of security.
It's to be a feeding house. It's to be a shelter from the
storm. When you come in here, it ought to be like this. A place
where we find comfort, not grief. A place where one may find love
in a time of desertion. A time where one may counsel
in time of confusion. A place where one is held accountable
and responsible. A place where one has a shepherd
who watches over the flock. There's security in a shepherd.
or elders. There's security in that.