So, you know, but here's the thing.
Old IFB churches and other churches get weird with their roll call stuff.
You know what I'm talking about, right? Are you a member of the church?
Are you, did you sign some kind of document that said, you know, I believe this,
I believe the pre-Trib rapture. I've been to a church that they tried to get me to sign something like that
and I said, hey, I can't sign this, you know. I can't, because I don't believe this one right here.
And they're like, well, you know, it's like, well, do I have to believe everything that's non-essential to come to this church?
Do I have to believe that Jesus is coming before the tribulation, even though that's not what the Bible says?
Why don't you give me some proof text there, buddy? But they get weird with the membership thing.
And we don't have like a membership role at this church. If you're saved and you're baptized and you come to this church,
you're a member. That's what I believe.
Now what if you get saved, like we get people saved all the time and they don't come to church.
They don't get baptized. So if they don't get baptized, they're saved. Are they a member of this church?
No. Why aren't they a member of this church? Because they don't come and assemble together.
See, it's not just being saved, it's not just being baptized, but it's also about continuing together.
So it's following the doctrine. It's following up with the things that God commands us to do.
But I do believe churches get weird about this, but I also think it is biblical to say,
if someone comes to this church and they refuse to get baptized, I really don't think that they're a member of the church.
I might not say, hey, you're not a member of the church. They're coming, they're congregating with us.
But what does the Bible teach? You get saved, then you get baptized.
It's not like an optional doctrine. It's like, well, I don't know about getting baptized.
But God said to get baptized. We tell people all the time when we get them saved,
hey, come to our church, get baptized. How often does it really happen, though?
Back in the Acts of the Apostles, it was happening every time someone got saved.
It's almost like they were just dragging them to the water or something. I don't know.
We've got a nice baptism here. You can get baptized. But just people don't care about the things of God anymore.
They don't care about doing things decently and in order. Maybe they just don't care enough to even just come to church.
That's happened to Jesus, too. So we shouldn't be so offended that when we get someone saved, they don't show up for church.
Don't take it to heart. They did it to Jesus, too. Because on the day of Pentecost, there's only 120 people there.
120 people that were meeting after Jesus died, was buried, rose again.
He showed himself to 500 brethren at once. Well, where were they at when it was time for Sunday church?
His mom was there. It mentions all the people that were there. Well, not all the people, but it mentions a lot of the people that were there.
But was it all the people? If he showed himself to 500 brethren at once, why weren't they at church that Sunday?
You know what I mean? So not everybody that gets saved is the church.
You have to be assembled. Because otherwise you could say, well, someone that just watches online is part of that church.
That's not true. Are they part of the family of God? Absolutely. But they're not part of that church.
I'm not going old IFB and saying, hey, if you haven't been saved and baptized, and you don't come to every single church service, you're not part of the church.
Here's the list that you're on, and if you miss for more than six months in a row, then you're off the roll.
I don't have time to do that. Well, I guess I do kind of have time now, but I don't want to do that. It's weird.
There's verses to back that up, too. But it's pretty clear that we're supposed to assemble.
And if you don't continue in what God says, then you're not part of the church. If you're not here, you're not part of the church.
Because what does church mean? Congregation. What else does it mean? Assembly.
You know what happens when you assemble? You come together and hang out together. That's what it's for.
We're here for the furtherance of the gospel. Look at Acts 2.41. I'll prove it to you.
That this is biblical, but not biblical to be all weird and Baptist brighter about it.
One time 100 years ago, at this church building, someone used wine for communion, so everything else that was done after that was null and void.
It's like, what? I mean, that is culty. I was serious. I was at a missionary Baptist. That's what missionary Baptists believe.
A lot of them, a lot of the missionary Baptists are Briters. And they believe, like there was one and he said,
I was talking to one of the pastors and he was like, yeah there's a church that gets real weird and they do history on that building and that church that met.
And if they find one thing wrong, then they just say, you're not really part of the bride of Christ.
And one thing was, it was literally 100 years ago, one pastor came there and he used wine for communion, like alcoholic wine.
And so they said, your church is not biblical. I mean, that's how far the church roll can get crazy, right?
We don't want to get to that point. But look what the Bible says. Acts 2.41, the Bible says this,
Then they that gladly received his word, that means get saved, right? Were baptized, that means they got submerged under water in the name of the Lord Jesus, the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost.
And the same day, they were added unto them. Added unto who? Yeah, about 3,000 souls. It doesn't say the church right there, but they were added to the church.
And they continued. See that? They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and breaking in bread and prayers. Isn't that what we do?
You know, you get saved, you get baptized, you start going to a church. You know, if someone gets baptized at this church, they automatically become a member of this church if they're saved.
Obviously we don't baptize unsaved people, so I take it that they're saved, I question them. If it's children, they get questioned. We just want to make sure that we're not baptizing unconverted people.
And they get baptized, they're added to the church. But if they don't come, then they're not part of the church. So it says that they continued steadfastly.
You got to continue. It's not just something that you just, all I got saved and baptized, I'm a member of such and such Baptist church. No, you're not a member.
Because members assemble. You know, my fingers are all in my hand. It's attached to my arm and everything else, right?
So we're all, you know, a body is something, a body is a group of members. We have all these different members as part of our body.
But if that member gets cut off and is staying at home in an ice pack or something, it's not assembling with your body. Does that make sense?
Okay, so you're not part of the church if you're not here as a member. You have to be in fellowship with us and continue.
And I'm not saying you're a second class citizen or something, but look, God wants us to be in church. Why? To exhort each other.
And so that we will be motivated to do good works and to rub off on each other the goodness that we have.
And so if people say, hey, so and so started missing Sunday night, it's bad. It's bad.
I'm not saying, look, if you missed Sunday night because you're sick or because you had to work or something, you know, I'm not talking about that.
I'm just talking about people that willingly miss just because they don't feel like going to church.
And you know what message that sends to your kids? That it's not that important to you.
And you know what your kids will do when you do that? Aren't we going to church? Why aren't we going to church?
That's what they do. And it makes you feel like about this tall, six foot eight, this tall.
So, you know, and I'm sure everybody's gotten to that point. They're just like, man, I'm so tired. I just can't go to church tonight.
Well, do it for your kids. Be an example.