alright thank you for that and thank you pastor Shelly for allowing me to come
down here and preach for you guys again it's a pleasure as always
and if you didn't know pastor Shelly right now he's at a camping trip with
stronghold Baptist Church so I hope he's having a lot of fun there make sure you're praying for his
family safe return back
and I also want to just go ahead and apologize in advance my voice has been kind of in
and out today so if I sound weird
just bear with me please
so we're here in Matthew chapter number sixteen
let's start reading in verse number eighteen
this is where Jesus said
and I say also unto thee
that thou art Peter
and upon this rock I will build my church
and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it the title of my sermon is why
you need to go to church
why you need to go to church and the goal of this sermon
is to explain to you number one why you need to go to church to exhort you that
and to remind you that church is a great place to be it's an important part of your life
and if you're here on a Thursday night
most of you probably already believe that
but it's also just to defend the institution of the local New Testament church
just as an entity
because there are always attacks against the
idea of even having church
and unfortunately this stupid idea
of not having church of church being unbiblical
has reared its head once again
and it's always rearing its head you go out soul winning you talk to people
and they'll tell you I'm at church right now
or church is unbiblical or things like that you hear all the time
it's constantly rearing its ugly head
so first
what is a church? Go ahead and get your place in Psalm chapter twenty two and Hebrews
chapter two
Psalm twenty two
and Hebrews chapter twenty two
we just read in Matthew sixteen
that Jesus said
that he's going to build his church
and the gates of hell will not prevail against it
what does that imply? Well that implies to me
that there's going to be a lot of opposition
against the church
the gates of hell are not going to prevail
the forces of darkness
the devil and his minions
they're not going to prevail against the New Testament church
but it goes to show
that there are people attacking
the New Testament church right?
so what is a church? Well you're there in Psalm chapter twenty two and Hebrews
chapter two
look at Psalm chapter twenty two
verse twenty two
the Bible says
I will declare thy name
unto my brethren
in the midst of the congregation
will I praise thee? I want you to remember that word
congregation
now go to Hebrews chapter number two
look at verse eleven it says
for both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one
for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren notice this
saying
I will declare thy name
unto my brethren
sounds very familiar right?
in the midst of the church
will I sing praise
unto thee?
so notice that in your King James Bible
the word congregation and the word church are used interchangeably
because a church is a congregation of believers
I think a really great definition of what a church is
is that it's an assembly
of saved believers under the authority of a pastor
coming together
to fulfill the great commission
that's what a church is
and even in your Bible
the word congregation and church is used interchangeably
a church is just a congregation of
believers
of course
there's a false doctrine that the Catholic Church teaches
called this universal church doctrine
where basically believing there's just one church
and it's all believers throughout all the world
and at all times we're all in church because we're all the universal church
but that's not true because the Bible actually talks about churches
the church at Pergamos
the church at Philadelphia
the church at Sardis at Thyatira
at Laodicea
there's a church here in Houston
there's another church in Fort Worth Texas
there's another church in Tempe Arizona
you know the only time
that the universal church doctrine will be true is when we're all in heaven
when we are all in heaven then there will truly be just one church
because we're all congregated together
but unless we're all congregated together then there's not just one church
there's church is
now notice that Jesus said
that the gates of hell will not prevail against his church
so that tells me that anyone that would attack the doctrine of church
or attack the local New Testament church
that they are of the devil
that they are being demonic
that they are saying something that is satanic
anyone that would attack the local New Testament church
is saying something that is demonic and satanic
because the gates of hell are constantly trying to come against
the New Testament church
so number one
I have six reasons tonight of why you need church
six reasons why you need church number one
you need balance
go to second Timothy chapter number four
second Timothy chapter number four
the first reason why you need church
why you need to go to church why I need to go to church
is every single one of us needs balance in our life
all day long all week long
we're out in the world and we're getting bombarded
by what the world wants us to think
what the world wants us to see
what the devil wants us to think and see
and when you come to church
you're gonna get a reality check
and you're gonna be brought back into balance
by hearing what the word of God has to say
second Timothy chapter number four look at verse one
this is Paul and he's giving a charge to a pastor
it says I charge thee therefore before God
and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick
and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom
preach the word be instant in season out of season
reprove rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine
so this set of instructions to the pastor
it has a couple of different aspects to it
the first aspect that Paul tells Timothy
is he needs to be preaching the word right
it's very important for a pastor
or anytime any preacher gets to fill the pulpit
to be preaching the word of God
not preaching their opinion
not preaching Fox News articles
not preaching poems and a bunch of stories
no the Bible says they're supposed to be preaching
the word of God okay not only that it says
but to be instant be instant means to be ready
to be ready it says be instant in season out of season
so you have to be ready to preach the word
when things are popular when things aren't popular
preaching things that people already agree with
preaching things that people don't agree with
just whatever the Bible says regardless
of what the world says what the world thinks about it
or what's popular today the charge is just to preach
the word of God notice this it says reprove
that's negative that's telling someone they're wrong
rebuke that's negative that's strongly telling someone
that they're wrong and then exhort that's positive
with all long-suffering and doctrine
so Paul's saying look Timothy I want you to preach
the word of God I want you to do it whether it's popular
or not I want you to do it whether it's something
that is accepted by the culture right now or not
and I want it to be two-thirds negative
and guess what if you read the word of God
it's about two-thirds negative and one-third positive
that's how the word of God is and that's the instruction
to the preacher and the question is why?
Why?
We'll look at verse number three four meaning because
the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine
but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves
teachers having itching ears you know the Bible says
you want to know why the instruction to the preacher
is to preach the word of God whether it's popular or not
to rebuke them to reprove them to exhort them
the reason why is because people only want to listen to
what they want to listen to and people only want to put
into their ears things that tickle their ears
that satisfy their lusts that is why the preacher
has to preach everything no matter what people think
about it because guess what any false doctrine
that you want to find I will find you a preacher
that will preach it to you you want to find a preacher
that says it's okay to drink alcohol I could find
that preacher for you you want to find the preacher
that says it's okay to fornicate to get divorced
to be a fag I will find you the preacher that will say
it is okay that is why the instruction to the preacher
is to preach the word and to be instant in season out
of season because people don't want to endure sound doctrine
so you know what you need to get in church where you're
going to get the balance of the word of God actually
being preached now of course not every church is created
equal and not every pastor is obeying this command
to preach the word but you better find a church that is
because you need a reality check and you need balance
in your life look at verse four it says and they shall
turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned
unto fables if you do not listen to the word of God
if you do not read the word of God and you do not listen
to the word of God being preached you will believe
stupid things and you will believe things that are wrong
and you need the word of God to recalibrate your mind
to recalibrate your heart because if you're only out there
in the world and you're not in the house of God
you're going to believe stupid and wrong things
you need the balance of the word of God let me read for you
you could stay there actually go ahead and turn to
first Corinthians six I'll read for you Jeremiah 17 nine
the Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked who can know it the problem with
our country is so many Christians just want to follow
their heart today rather than actually reading what the
Bible says and when they hear something in the word of God
or they read something in the word of God that goes
against what they think they don't want to humble
themselves and submit to what God says they rather listen
to their own wicked heart and that is human nature
every single person in this room including myself
can fall prey to this mentality that's why we need to be
in church because you will be an idiot if you do not go
to church the nice thing about going to church because
you say well I could listen to all the sermons online
here's the thing though the people that listen to all
the sermons online you know what they do they pick and
choose the sermons that they want to listen to and so
guess what they're not going to hear the entire counsel
of God being preached they're not going to hear the whole
word of God being preached they're going to hear what
they want to hear because the Bible told us that men want
to heaps of themselves teachers having itching ears they
want to listen to what they want to listen to people want
to listen to the sermons against the reprobates people
want to listen to the sermons against the Jews you know
what a lot of people don't want to listen to a sermon
about how to fix your marriage or how to run your
finances or you know what the Bible says about salvation
there's people that literally listen to our type of
preaching online that aren't even safe but they just
want to hear all the cool and fancy sermons against
the sodomites guess what when you actually show up to
church you're going to hear all of it now I have this
article here I wrote I won't read the whole thing but this
is very sad this article says this is the title of it
US church membership falls below majority for first time
this is gallop this is what the article says Washington
DC Americans membership in houses of worship continued to
decline last year speaking of two thousand twenty dropping
below fifty percent for the first time in gallops eight
decade trend in two thousand twenty forty seven percent of
Americans said they belonged to a church synagogue or mosque
down from fifty percent in two thousand eighteen and seventy
percent in two thousand in nineteen ninety-nine US church
membership was at seventy-three percent when gallop first
measured it in nineteen thirty-seven so in nineteen
thirty-seven in the United States seventy-three percent of
people said that they belong to a church and of course they
have all sorts of things on here synagogues mosque false
religion as well but seventy-three percent of
Americans said that they went to church said that they were a
member of a church and now in two thousand twenty for the
first time in American history, the majority of our
country does not go to church. That is sad the majority of our
country does not go to church. This was in two thousand
twenty. I wonder if a two-year pandemic helped those numbers
or made those numbers worse. I can't even imagine what the
numbers are like right now if it was forty-seven percent in
two thousand twenty. What a sad article this is that the
majority of people in our country don't go to church and
you know I wonder if that has anything to do with the
craziness of the people in our country and the stupid and
idiotic things that people in our country believe. I wonder
if it's because they stopped going to church. Here's an
example. How about cross dressing? Let me read for you
this Deuteronomy 22 five says the woman shall not wear that
which pertaineth unto a man. Neither shall a man put on a
woman's garment for all that do so are abomination unto the
Lord thy God. You know in nineteen thirty-seven when
three quarters of Americans went to church, you didn't see
a bunch of women walking around in pants in our country and
right now, thank the Lord, we don't see a bunch of men
wearing dresses, but I'm telling you there will become a
day where you will see that and there are places in this
country where every once in a while you do see that sick
abomination. But what has changed? People stopped going
to church. People stopped listening to the word of God.
People stopped caring about what the Bible says and rather
they just keep teachers to themselves having itching ears
following their own lusts. I told you to go to 1st
Corinthians chapter six. Here's another example. How about
fornication? 1st Corinthians 6 15 the Bible says know you not
that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then
take the members of Christ and make them the members of
Inharlit? God forbid. What? Know ye not that he which is
joined to Inharlit is one body? For two, saith he, shall be one
flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the
body, but he that commiteth fornication sinneth against
his own body. You know it used to be in America that it was
taught by people that were saved and that people that
were unsaved that you should have the honor and the
integrity to wait to go to bed with someone until you put a
ring on her finger. It used to be that people in America
believed in having the decency and honor to do that and now
it's almost impossible to find a young man or young woman that
gets to the marriage altar pure. It almost does not exist
now. It does exist. Thank the Lord for that and I hope that
we can reverse that trend in churches like ours to where the
vast vast majority if not all of our young people go to the
altar pure, but let me tell you what that has been a big change
in America and guess what? Why is that changed? Because people
stopped going to church. That's why because they've lost their
balance. They were not given any balance to their beliefs.
All they did was listen to the public school. Tell them that
it's okay as long as you love each other that it's okay as
long as you use some sort of protection. That's not what the
Bible says. The Bible says to flee it and actually if you had
your butt in church and had a man of God yell at that to you,
then maybe you wouldn't have committed that sin and maybe
people who have done that would not have committed that sin and
now guess what our country has to pay the price for sinning
against God in this area because now there's a disease
STD pandemic of people with just STDs from all the rampant
fornication going on. You go and look up the statistics on
STDs. It's disgusting. You should be terrified to ever
step outside of the bounds of your marriage for that reason
alone. You are almost guaranteed to get some sort of
sick disease. How disease filled how fornication filled
our nation is and you know what else it's called is caused a
big issue with fatherless homes. There's all these
children that are result of fornication that are growing up
in fatherless homes and the statistics on people that grow
up in fatherless homes. They're way more likely to be behind
bars in their life. They're way more likely to commit serious
crimes. They're way more likely to be addicted to drugs and
addicted to alcohol and you know what else this fornication
problem has led to literally murdering babies. You want to
know why a bunch of abortion happens because of a bunch of
whores and a bunch of whoremongers committing
fornication. There'd be no abortion if it was a man and
his wife like the Bible says. It shouldn't be Roe versus
Wade. It should be Hoe versus Wade. A bunch of whores and
whoremongers. That's the problem and why is it? Because
people stop going to church. That's why it used to be in
America that people believed in the sixth commandment. Thou
shall not kill. Now, we're actually having a debate of
whether it's okay to murder a child. I'm not interested in
having that debate. If you believe that you wanna murder a
child, I'm not interested in winning you over to my side.
I'm not interested in having a conversation. I'm interested
in destroying you. I'm interested in destroying your
wicked ideology of murdering babies and guess what?
Christians need to get their voice back and preach against
this wickedness and stop being quiet about it. No, it's not
just, oh, you know, you just made a mistake. No, you're a
murderer if you get an abortion. That's what it is.
Stop sugarcoating it. Stop saying it's not that big of a
deal. It's a big deal and you wanna know why a bunch of
idiots in our country think it's okay to rip a baby apart
in the womb cuz they stopped going to church. That's why
cuz they listen to their atheist science teacher that
hates God. That's probably a faggot himself. Tell them that
it's not a life until it's out of the womb. I don't give a
**** what that guy says. What does the Bible say? That's what
I care about. People stop listening to God. They'd rather
listen to that guy. Go to Leviticus chapter number twenty.
Leviticus chapter number twenty. You know, if you look
online at these videos of these satanic, disgusting women
shouting their abortion, praising the fact that they're
getting an abortion, abortion doctors, blaspheming Christ,
saying all sorts of nasty things about how they're proud
of the abortions that they do. Let me tell you what's going
on in our country right now is literal child sacrifice to the
devil. You read about that in the Bible and guess what? It's
happening right now in our own nation. Look at Leviticus
chapter number twenty verse one. And the Lord spake unto
Moses saying, again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel,
whosoever he be of the children of Israel or of the strangers
that sojourn in Israel that giveth any of his seed unto
Molech talking about children. He shall surely be put to death.
The people of the land shall stone him with stones. Let me
tell you what our nation should do to every single woman and
every single abortion doctor that performs an abortion. They
should be lawfully convicted in a court of law and given the
state sanctioned death penalty after a due process of law and
guess what? I believe that all the people that have done it in
the past should be forgiven if a new law was passed on the
books but after that, there should be no mercy on this
heinous disgusting abomination crime that is happening in our
nation and someone should bring the wheel over these wicked
people that are sacrificing children and this problem will
stop real fast when you start putting people to death for
this disgusting crime and why should we do that? Why should
we do that? Look at verse three and I will set my face against
that man and will cut him off from among his people because
he hath given of his seed unto Molech to defile my sanctuary
and to profane my holy name. Here's one reason we should do
it. Abortion is blaspheming God abortion is blaspheming and
profaning profaning the name of Christ. Look at verse four and
this and if the people of the land that's you and me do any
wise hide their eyes from the man when he giveth of his seed
unto Molech and kill him not. So this is people that don't
want to acknowledge the problem of abortion. They don't want to
talk about it. They want to sweep it under the rug. They
want to pretend like it's not happening. Look at what the
Bible says God's going to do to that person. Then I will set my
face against that man and against his family and will cut
him off and all that go a whoring after him to commit
whoredom with Molech from among their people. Let me tell you
this. God is not only angry at the women and at the abortion
doctors that are committing these murders. He's angry at
every single Christian that will not open up their mouth
and say that it's murder. People that are too afraid to
say what it is. God, his face is against you. If you want to
hide your eyes from this sick evil, God himself is against
you and what why is that? Why is this happening in our
country? Because people stop going to church. That's why
people stop listening to the word of God being preached.
They don't have any balance in their beliefs because all the
they're getting is what is from the public school and from the
media and so they have no balance. Since we're in
Leviticus chapter number twenty, look at verse thirteen. If a
man also lie with mankind as he lieth with a woman, both of
them have committed an abomination. They shall surely
be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. Look, if
you watch the documentary, The Sodomite Deception, which is
right on the back shelf right there. You need to watch it if
you haven't yet. That documentary proves that people
in America used to believe right on this. That popular
opinion used to believe like us on this issue of sodomites
that they're pedophiles, that they're predators, that they're
an abomination, and God said that they should be put to
death. That's what the Bible says. But you want to know why
people stop believing that? Because they stopped going to
church. That's why. Because you allowed yourself to be
brainwashed by the news and brainwashed by the public
schools and brainwashed by your queer uncle into not
believing what the Bible says right in front of your
face. And isn't it funny that the more and more we see the
LGBT having more and more freedoms in our society and the
more and more they're exalted and lifted up. Isn't it a funny
coincidence how pedophilia is increasing in our society and
how open pedophilia is being portrayed and shown in our
culture and in our society? You think that's a coincidence?
Absolutely not. This has been their agenda the entire time.
If you actually had read your Bible or if you had actually
been in church with a man of God to actually tell you what
the Bible says, you would have known that. You would have
stopped letting your queer cousins come over to your house
so that they can molest your kids. You would have stopped
sending your kids to the public fool system with a queer
teacher that's going to tell them that Jesus isn't real, that
they're an evolved primate, that they're just going to lie
to them over and over again. That's what happens when you
don't go to church. How about this in Leviticus chapter
number 20? Look at verse 10. And the man that committed
adultery with another man's wife, even he that committed
adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the
adulterous shall surely be put to death. You know, our
nation used to be a godly nation and people used to
believe in being faithful to their spouse. And if a person
committed the act of adultery, it would just be an unspeakable
shame. There was times in the colonies in the early United
States where you would have a scarlet A attached to your
clothing at all time being publicly shamed that you were
an adulterer. Now, that's not a punishment that the Bible
prescribes. The Bible actually prescribes the death penalty
for someone that would do that. But it just goes to show that
that used to be a shame. There used to be a heinous crime in
our nation and now there's literal billboards everywhere
everywhere you go where with just the click of a button, you
can be on some adultery website and find someone to hook up
with. It's wicked as hell and you want to know why adultery
is running rampant in our country because people stopped
going to church and this is why people have so many stupid
beliefs and stupid ideologies is because they stop going to
church. Go to Romans chapter number seven. Romans chapter
number seven.
How about divorce? Romans chapter number seven. Look at
verse two. For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the
law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if the husband
be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if
while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she
shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she
is free from that law so that she is no adulteress though
she be married to another man. You know, it used to be in
America that people honored their vows and it used to be in
America that people took marriage very seriously and
when they said till death do us part, they actually meant that
and you know the Bible says that the woman is bound by the
law to her husband. Not only is that true of the word of God,
the law of God, but it used to be the law of our land as well.
It used to be illegal to get a divorce and then it used to be
very difficult to get a divorce and now anyone can get a divorce
for any reason or no reason whatsoever. That's not God's
will. It doesn't matter how normal it is in our society. It
doesn't matter how many people you know that have had a divorce
and have gotten remarried. God says no. God says that if you
do that, you're an adulteress. You're an adulterer. If you do
that, that's what God says. But why don't people believe that
anymore? Why are so many Christian preachers even
teaching that it's okay because they want to believe what they
want to believe. They want to hear what they want to hear.
They want to follow their heart. They want to follow
their lusts. They don't want to submit themselves to the word
of God and they stop going to church and it's funny how the
modern Bible versions say that it's okay to get a divorce for
the cause of sexual immorality. You know, that's probably a big
reason why people want to heap their ears to that false Bible
version because it actually just okays their sin and it's
weird how no one ever wants to own up to their sin anymore.
It's like no one can ever just be like David and say, you know
what? I have sinned. Yeah, I know that divorce and remarriage
is unbiblical and I'm a sinner and I'm doing it anyways and
I'm sorry. No one can even have that much integrity.
Everyone has to justify their sin. Everyone has to just say,
oh no, it's not a sin. Why don't you just listen to what
the Bible says? Why don't you just submit yourself? No, but
you say we don't need to go to church. You're so prideful.
You're so smart that you don't need to go to church. Yet, why
do you have all these stupid ideas if you don't need to go
to church? If church isn't unbiblical, why don't you
believe anything right? Why do you believe so many stupid
things? Go to Titus chapter number two. Titus chapter
number two.
The Bible says, the aged women likewise that they be in
behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given
to much wine, teachers of good things that they may teach the
young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love
their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good,
obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not
blasphemed. It used to be in America that people believe
that the mother should stay home and raise the kids and
that used to be looked at as a great honor and a great
responsibility to raise these little human beings into
functioning, God-fearing adults. That used to be seen as
something that was great, but now we've, I mean, we've
murdered babies in the womb, so why not, after they're born,
just toss them to the government to raise them, toss
them to the wolves to raise them. It's no surprise
whatsoever, but you want to know why women today have
traded in their own children for some stupid, worthless job
is because they stopped going to church and men stopped
going to church and men stopped hearing about how it's their
job to provide. It's their job to go out and bring home the
bacon and it's a woman's job to love her children enough to
raise them and now, instead of that, people are just what?
Loving themselves, loving their own lust, and listening
to their own heart. Why? Because they stopped going to
church. Go to 1st Corinthians chapter number five, 1st
Corinthians chapter number five.
1st Corinthians chapter number five. Look at verse eleven. It
says, but now I have written unto you not to keep company.
This is someone you should not be around. If anyone, if any
man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or
an adulterer or a railer and I want to focus on this one or a
drunkard. You know, it used to be that you were publicly
shamed if you were the town drunkard. I mean, cops, if they
hear your address coming on the thing, they're like, oh, we know
who this guy is. It's Tom the town drunkard, right? And he
used to be ashamed. He used to be an embarrassment and now
America's lost their shame. There's beer churches, literal
beer churches. There's pastors that preach that it's okay to
drink hard liquor, beer, wine. People have totally given
themselves over to drunkenness in our nation. The CDC estimates
that over two-thirds of Americans drink last year. So,
less than half of Americans go to church, but two-thirds of
them drink alcohol. That's where we're at as a nation. Sad.
God bless America. Where we murder babies and exalt fags
and drink alcohol and commit fornication and don't raise
our kids and don't go to church and don't honor the Lord. What
a joke. What a joke our nation is. How did our nation get to
this point from where we were? Let me tell you why. They stopped
going to church. That's why. Whenever someone wants to tell
you that church is unbiblical, why don't you just do an audit
of the things they believe? Because I will bet you that a
lot of the things we talked about, they believe wrong on.
Why is that? Because they don't have any balance. They're not
getting God's word to balance them from the world that they've
been having going into their ears and into their hearts. And
you know, a lot of people would be offended at some of the
things that I've said so far in this sermon, but let me tell
you what. If you're offended by anything I've said so far,
you're the extreme one. You're the one that's lost your mind.
You're the one that's not balanced because everything I
just read was from the word of God. So, we're looked at as
extreme. No, you got extreme when women started putting on a
pair of pants and cross dressing. No, you got extreme
when you thought it was okay to murder a child. You're extreme,
not us. You got extreme when you said it was a good idea to
bring a pedophile in to a public library to read to your
children. You got extreme. Why are Christians always cowering
to what the Bible says? Why don't we just point out the
obvious fact that they're the ones that are extreme? Point
it out. I said I have six points. The other five will go
by quicker, okay? So, why do you need church? Okay, you need
balance. You need church because without church, you're
gonna believe a lot of stupid things. You're gonna believe a
lot of wicked things without church. Number two, you need a
pastor. You need a pastor and these idiots that believe
that church is not a biblical doctrine. You know what they
always say? Well, it's just a man. You shouldn't follow a
man. I wanna read for you the names of some men, okay? Maybe
you'll be familiar with some of these. If you believe that
church is not a biblical doctrine, then you're probably
not familiar with any of these. But let me read for you some
men's names. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph,
Moses, Samson, David, Gideon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum,
Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. Hey, did you
know that a bunch of the names of the literal books in your
Bible are named after men? Have you really read the Bible so
little that you never saw the title of the book? Really? But
you're gonna sit here and tell me that church is not biblical.
You fool! What is wrong with you? God uses men to perform
his will. How are you gonna literally see the names of the
books of the Bible are written after men? It's like, oh, we
should never follow men. Never listen to what men have to say.
Okay, cuz you're better than Jesus. You're better than all
of these prophets that I just listed. Maybe we should just
follow you, wise guy. Fool. These people are fools that
wanna attack the doctrine of church saying that there should
be no church. Well, guess what? You need a pastor. You need to
follow a man. And if you, after the verses that I'm about to
show you, do not understand this doctrine, I would question
if you're even saved. Go to Jeremiah chapter number three.
Jeremiah chapter number three. You could also get your place
in Ephesians chapter four. It's like, tell me you need a pastor
without telling me you need a pastor. By telling me you don't
need a pastor. That's how I know you really need a pastor.
Jeremiah 3 14. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the
Lord, for I am married unto you and I will take you one of a
city and two of a family and I will bring you to Zion. This is
God speaking and I will give you pastors according to mine
heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
Okay, you know, God's promising to give you pastors but we
shouldn't have pastors and pastors on biblical and the
church is on biblical. Okay, how about Ephesians chapter
number four? And he, Ephesians four eleven. And he, that he
there is talking about the Lord and he gave some apostles and
some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors
and teachers. So, these are all people that God gave to us but
we don't need them. God just gave them to us and we don't
need them. It's just waste of time. It's pointless. It's
useless. What kind of idiot believes something like that?
Why do we have them? And here's the thing. Like I said, people
don't wanna just admit to their sin. People just wanna say
like, yes, you know, I'm getting divorced and it's a sin
and I'm sorry. People don't wanna just say like, look, I
just don't believe the Bible. People just don't wanna be
honest and say, look, I don't believe the Bible. I don't
believe we should go to church. You know what they wanna do?
They wanna hide and act like they're real spiritual. Of
course, I believe the Bible. Of course, I'm spiritual but
church is on biblical. No, just say it. Just let it come out
of your mouth. I don't believe the Bible. Because if you are
reading the verses that I'm reading and you're telling me
that we should not have pastors, you're not even safe
because you can't even understand a lick of God's
word. Look at twelve. Look at verse twelve. What are why do
we have these people? For the perfecting of the saints, for
the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of
Christ. Now, here's the thing. Of course, anyone with the
spirit of God can open up their King James Bible, read what
God's word says, and learn everything that a pastor can
learn. But here's the difference is that if someone
just got saved two years ago and a pastor got saved 40
years ago, the pastor probably has read his Bible cover to
cover 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 times and he may know a thing or two
that can help you. And the thing is a pastor can often
help someone get help people get further faster, right? And
of course, you can learn all those same things but if
someone's been studying the Bible for decades and I just
got saved, I want them to help me because the Bible says the
reason God gave us these people is for the perfecting of the
saints to make us more complete, to make us more whole,
to make us more balanced, right? And for the work of the
ministry, we need someone leading what? The church
because the church is a biblical institution for the
edifying of the body of Christ. And of course, I know there's a
bunch of frauds out there. There's a bunch of fake pastors
out there. I'm not saying go and follow those people. I'm
saying find a real man of God and follow him and even if you
for some reason ever leave this church, you move for a job or
something like that, make sure that you go to a church with a
real man of God. Make sure that it's a biblical church that has
a real pastor that's actually going to preach you the full
counsel of God and it's great that you've had such a great
example from Pastor Shelley so that you know what to look for
if that ever happens to you. If you ever do, go to another
church. Verse thirteen, till we all come in the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the son of God unto a perfect
man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ. Why? That we henceforth be no more children tossed to
and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the
sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in
wait to deceive. Notice, why do we need these pastors, deacons,
teachers, evangelists? It's so that we're not like kids like
children that are just tossed to and fro with every wind of
doctrine like believing that church is unbiblical like
believing that we shouldn't have pastors. This is a perfect
example of someone who is a spiritual babe, someone who is
a child in their beliefs and it just goes to show how badly
they really do need a pastor. They really do need a deacon.
They really do need an evangelist. They really do need
a teacher if you think such a stupid and foolish thought. Go
to first Corinthians chapter number four. First Corinthians
chapter number four. It should be fairly close there. First
Corinthians chapter number four, look at verse fifteen. The
Bible says, For though you have ten thousand instructors in
Christ, yet have ye not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I
have begotten you through the gospel. So Paul's saying, look,
you guys may have a lot of instructors, but I'm your
father in Christ because I actually got you people saved.
And so in verse sixteen, he says, Wherefore I beseech you,
be ye followers of me. So hey, the apostle Paul said under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit that these people were supposed
to follow him. And who is he? A man. And you can apply this
just as easily to a pastor. Well, how do you know that?
Well, he's about to tell us about a pastor. For this cause,
have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is a pastor, who is my
beloved son and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into
remembrance of my ways. Sounds like Timothy's following Paul
too. Which be in Christ. Sounds like Paul and Timothy are
following Christ. As I teach everywhere in everywhere
church. Sounds like Paul was in churches. So it looked like
Paul believed that church was a biblical doctrine. It looks
like Paul believed that he thought it was right for you to
follow a man. Looks like Timothy thought that way, but
we're going to let listen to some loser tell us that church
isn't biblical. I don't think so. Not going to stand for that
garbage, for that false doctrine, for that lie. Go to
Hebrews. I'm sorry. Go to first Timothy chapter number three.
First Timothy chapter number three and I'll just read a
couple of these. This is the qualifications of a pastor and
my whole point of even showing you any of this is why would
there be a chapter in the Bible listing the qualifications for
a job that shouldn't exist. Makes no sense or if you're
going to say, well, everyone's a pastor. Well, then why are
there qualifications for it? If everyone's a pastor. Oh, I have
a church in my house. Okay. Who's the pastor? Do you meet
these qualifications? Let's see if this is a true saying if a
man desire the office of a bishop, that's a pastor. He
desires the good work. A bishop then must be blameless. The
husband of one wife. Sorry, Joyce Meyer. You're out. You're
not a pastor. Vigilant. Sober. You know, sorry, Bourbon
Church. Jeff Bourbon. You're out. You're not a biblical
pastor of good behavior. Given to hospitality. Apt to teach.
Sorry, Robert Breaker. You're out. Not apt to teach. Not
given to wine. No striker. Not greedy of filthy lucre. But
patient. Not a brawler. Not covetous. One that ruleth well
his own house. Having his children in subjection with all
gravity. Hey, sorry, pastors that have no kids. Not
qualified. For if a man know not how to rule his own house,
how shall he take care of the church of God? Sounds to me
like there's some qualifications for a pastor so that what? They
can rule the church of God. That is what God said. Why
would he give us qualifications for a position that shouldn't
exist? And this house church movement or this no church
movement that wants to attack the local church. You know what
they are lacking? A pastor. They have no pastor to lead
them. I'll read for you Hebrews thirteen seventeen. The Bible
says, obey them that have the rule over you and submit
yourselves for they watch for your souls. You know, not only
do you need a pastor just so that he can lead the church and
preach all the right doctrines but the Bible says that they
watch for your souls. You know, a pastor is a great thing
because the pastor actually cares about you. The pastor
actually loves you. The pastor actually prays for your
individual specific needs and you're not gonna get that if
you're not a member of a New Testament local church. And so,
you know, the Bible says that they're the ones that watch for
your souls as they that must give account that they may do
it with joy and not with grief but that is unprofitable for
you. The pastors are the ones that are gonna have to give an
account before God of their flock, how they stewarded their
flock. You know, you and I, we don't have to have that much
pressure on us. So, we should follow the man of God. We
should follow the pastor like the Bible teaches to do. And of
course, like I said, these people when they teach these
lies, these false doctrines, what do they always hide behind?
Spirituality. Oh, you know, he's just a man. I follow Jesus.
Okay, let me read for you a verse in first Corinthians
1437. This is Paul. He said, if any man think himself to be a
prophet or spiritual, so if someone wants to think that
they're a spiritual person, then let him acknowledge that
the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the
Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
You wanna say that you're so spiritual yet you reject all
the teachings of Paul. You reject the idea of a local New
Testament church. You reject the idea of following a man of
God. Well, you're not spiritual because you're not
acknowledging that the things that Paul are writing are the
words of God. And guess what it says? If anyone wants to be
ignorant, let him be ignorant. Hey, if you just wanna be a
fool, if you just wanna be ignorant, if you just wanna be
stupid and say all these dumb false doctrines, then I'm just
gonna let you do that. But don't you dare start teaching
people I love that false doctrine. Don't you dare come
into the house of God and start teaching these false doctrines
that we shouldn't have a church, that we shouldn't have a
pastor. I'm not gonna stand up for that for one second and
neither should any person in this room. Allow someone to
tell them this damnable stupid lie. It's wicked. Number three
why you need church. Go to Titus chapter number two. Titus
chapter number two. Number three why you need church is
you need godly examples in your life. You need godly examples
in your life and of course, we're talking about a pastor.
That's a great place to start of course but you know the the
local New Testament church is not a just one man show. We're
a whole body here. We've got a foot. We've got a hand. We've
got legs. We've got arms. We've got eyes. There's lots of great
examples in the New Testament church that you should and
could be looking to especially if you're going to church your
whole life, you're gonna be exposed to a lot of different
people. Look at Titus chapter number two verse one says, but
speak of the things which become sound doctrine that the
aged men be sober. You know, it's a great testimony when you
can come to church and you can see some aged men. I believe
that aged is probably talking about sixty plus. When you can
see some older guys that aren't drinking, that aren't out
boozing, that are sober, not only from an alcohol and drugs
perspective but are also just serious people that are just
serious about life. That's a great example to see an older
man that is serious. That's grave. Again, that's another
synonym for serious, temperate, able to control
himself. He's sound in faith. He knows what he believes. He's
gonna be able to help you teach you the Bible. He's gonna be
able to show you how to go soul winning. This old man, he's
sound in the faith, in charity, in patience. It's important to
be in church because you're gonna get that type of example
of the older guys as something to look to. You're not gonna
get that if you're out in the world. You know, you're gonna
see a bunch of sixty plus year old dudes that are still
smoking pot. You're gonna go to Portland and see a bunch of
sixty plus year old dudes that have a man bun. That's not what
you wanna be looking at as your example. You wanna know where
you wanna find your example for old men? The church. The
church. And would to God that we would get some more old men
in this church. I don't see anyone that's sixty plus in
here. Hey, you know, stick around. You'll turn sixty
someday. Stick around. If you can't, if we can't drag them in,
we'll just wait till you turn sixty. The aged women likewise
that they be in behavior has become a holiness. Not false
accusers. Not these women that run around blowing their mouth
off and gossiping and railing against people. Not given to
much wine. This here I believe is talking about luxury because
you have wine in the Bible that's alcohol and you have
wine that's representative of luxury and living a very
luxurious lifestyle. You know, this woman isn't going and
blowing all of her husband's money on just stupid pointless
luxurious item. She's not given to much wine. She's a content
woman. She's a teacher of good things and she's teaching these
things by her behavior. What is she teaching? That they may
teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands,
to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at
home. All these things that we talked about that are very
important for young women to know that, hey, they should be
at home. They should be loving their children. They should be
loving their husband. They should be being discreet. All
of these things you can get from a great example of a
godly older woman. You're not gonna get that out at your job.
You're not gonna get that at the public school. You know
where you're gonna get that? In church. In church. Look at
verse six, young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. So
again, young men should also be serious. They should also not
be drunk, of course. In all things, showing thyself a
pattern of good works. In doctrine, showing uncorruptness,
gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned.
So again, even with young men, you should be able to come to
church and you should see a plethora of young men that are
serious about their lives, that take the Bible seriously. You
know, their doctrine isn't corrupted. They're not just
speaking foolishly, right? There should be good examples
of young men in the church. That way, when we go get other
young men saved and they come to church, now, they have a
good example to look to. Now, they have someone that they
can come alongside with and see as a good example. Again,
you're not gonna really see that out on the job course.
You're not really gonna see that out at the public school.
You're gonna see it at church and of course, you know, it's
great if you grow up in a Christian home and it's a
blessing if you grow up in a Christian home and you were
taught these things by your mom and dad and you have these
examples from your mom and dad and you know, children that
grow up in a Christian home don't realize what a blessing
and privilege it is but hey, even if you are a first
generation Christian like myself, you can at least come
to church and have these great godly examples, right? That's
why it's important to go to church. Go to First Thessalonians
chapter number one. First Thessalonians. Get there myself.
First Thessalonians chapter number one. Paul talks about a
church that is a great example. First Thessalonians chapter
number one. Look at verse six. It says, and he became
followers of us and of the lord having received the word in
much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost so that ye were in
samples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. So, Paul
is specifically stating here saying, hey, church at Thessalonica,
you guys are a great example and that's the testimony that
we should strive to have at Pure Words Baptist Church and at
Steadfast Baptist Church is that, you know, if the apostle
Paul were to come visit our church, he'd say, hey, you guys
are a great example. That's what we should strive for and
you need church because you need to see godly examples in
your life and you're not seeing it on the television. You're
not seeing it watching sports. You're not seeing it at work.
You're not seeing it in any of these ungodly places. You're
seeing it at church. Here's another reason. Go to Psalm
chapter seventy-three. Why you need to go to church is you
need encouragement. You need encouragement. Every single
person regardless how strong you are as a Christian, no
matter how strong you are emotionally, every single
person gets discouraged and goes through times of
discouragement. We're going to read about a person named Asaph
who was going through one of these times in Psalm seventy-
three. Let's start reading verse one. He says, truly God is
good to Israel even to such as our of a clean heart but as for
me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well-nigh slipped.
So, you know, he's contrasting that god's good to these people
but he's like, but for me, not so much the case. He's being
very discouraged. Verse three, for I was envious at the
foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. There
are no bands in their death but their strength is firm. They
are not in trouble as other men. Neither are they plagued
like other men. You know, Asaph, he's getting discouraged.
You know, he's saying that he's trying to live a godly life but
he's looking at all these wicked people and he's saying,
it looks like nothing bad is happening to them. It looks
like they're prospering. It looks like they have everything
they ever want. How is Klaus Schwab even alive still? How is
Joe Biden still living? How is Henry Kissinger still living?
Why do these people make it to their old age? Why is Bill
Clinton, you know, still living? It's just like, how are
they just making it to their old age? Nothing bad is
happening to them and they're getting away with all the evil
stuff that they're doing. He's discouraged, isn't he? He's
very discouraged. Look at verse number twelve. It says, behold,
these are the ungodly who prosper in the world. They
increase in riches. Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain
and washed my hands in innocency. He's saying, you
know, I'm basically serving god for no reason. I'm living a
righteous life for no reason at all. Verse fourteen. For all
the day long, I have been plagued and chastened every
morning. If I say, I will speak thus, behold, I should offend
against the generation of thy children. When I thought to know
this, it was too painful for me. You know, he's going through
an extreme emotional crisis here where he is doubting every
aspect of his life. He's doubting his purpose. He's
doubting his works but notice when that changes. Verse
seventeen. Until I went into the sanctuary of god, then
understood I their end. Notice how discouraged he was. Notice
how his perspective on life was so out of whack. He was not
remembering the truth that the fact is even though these
people are prospering right now, their end is destruction.
Their end is hell and when he actually came into church, you
know what happened to him? He got his balance back. He got
his perspective back. He was reminded. His mind was renewed
and saying, okay, you know, I shouldn't be envying these
wicked people even if they're prospering right now in the
world. I shouldn't be envying this people because oh yeah, I
forgot. Their end is destruction and so he was
discouraged until he came into the house of god and people
never know what god has in store for you for a sermon that
the preacher has prepared. God has something that he wants to
encourage you with. God has something that he wants to
teach you out of his word and when you're not going to church,
you're missing it. You're missing out on the opportunity
to be encouraged. I can't tell you how many times I was just
having a bad week and then just coming into church just fixes
everything and you sing a couple of songs where you're
out in the you know world and you're listening to their
horrible music and you're dealing with all sorts of sin
and you just sing a couple of great godly hymns praising the
lord and you hear the powerful two-edged sword being read into
your ears and you hear the word of god being preached and it
recalibrates you and it encourages you and that's why
you need to go to church is to get that encouragement. You're
not going to get that anywhere else. You know the the self
help people. It's all temporary. It's all fraud. You
know, Jordan Peterson is not going to help your life because
first step of wisdom is believing in god and until
you've believed in god, you're a fool and none of the self
help people are going to help you. You know it's going to
help you. The word of god being preached. You say, well, the
pastor's just a man. Yeah, he is just a man but hold on. It's
the word of god that we're preaching. Hold on. Why don't we
open up and read the titles of the books? Okay? God uses men
to preach his word. Really quickly, what's another reason?
Go to Matthew chapter number eighteen. These are just some
bonuses. You know, people that want to say that church is not
biblical. Well, you have a little bit of a problem
because here's another reason why church is biblical is
sometimes you need help resolving conflict. Sometimes
you need help resolving conflict. You say, what are you
talking about? Go to Matthew chapter eighteen. Look at verse
number fifteen. This is Jesus speaking and he said this,
moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and
tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear
thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not
hear thee, then take with thee one or two more that in the
mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be
established. And if he shall neglect to hear him, to hear
them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the
church, let him be unto thee as an even man and a publican.
Why is this in the sermon? Well, remember, we're kind of
attacking this stupid idea that says church isn't biblical.
Okay, if church isn't biblical, why is the Lord Jesus Christ
giving me a blueprint of how to resolve conflict between
brothers and sisters in Christ? He says, here's what you do.
You have a problem with a brother in Christ. Let's use a
random example. Let's say, you know, you gave $5,000 to a
brother in Christ. They asked to borrow money and then you
just didn't pay them back whatsoever. The Bible says that,
hey, you can go to your brother alone. You can confront him
with that issue and if he says, oh, hey, sorry, I just forgot
to pay you back. Here's your money. Great. Conflicts
resolve. You've gained your brother, right? But if it's a
serious issue like that and he doesn't want to hear you, Jesus
says, okay, step two, you need to get two or three witnesses
and if this is something that has to happen, this is
probably where you need to involve Pastor Shelley when
you need to grab the two or three witnesses. Don't just
grab two or three random people. This is probably where
you need to involve Pastor Shelley. Then, you talk about
it there. Then, if that person is just like, yeah, I know I
told you that I'd pay you $5,000 back but I'm just not
going to anyways. Then, it's brought before where? The
church. So, if the church is an unbiblical institution, then
why would Jesus give us this instruction? What a stupid
thing to believe and if you want to say, well, you know,
it's just the universal church. Just we're all the church. Okay,
so we're just supposed to air out all problems to the entire
world. Attention all Christians of planet Earth. I have a
dispute that I need to. It's like, what? That's what you
would have to believe if you believe in the universal
church. Bring it before the church. It's ridiculous, right?
But you know what? We should laugh at people that want to
have such a stupid idea to tell us that church isn't biblical.
It's ridiculous. Jesus is just wasting his breath in
Matthew 18 telling us how to resolve conflict. What a joke.
Go to 1st Corinthians chapter number six. Well, let me tell
you what these people do when they want to resolve conflict.
They don't go to the local church. They don't hear the
word of God being preached. They don't believe that the
church is a biblical institution. Here's how they
solve their conflict. It's called lawsuits. It's called
going before the world to law. What does the Bible say? 1st
Corinthians 6. Look at verse number one. It says, Dare any
of you having a matter against another go to law before the
unjust and not before the saints? Paul's saying, How dare
you do this? Didn't Jesus tell you how to deal with issues
between brothers and sisters in Christ in Matthew 18? How
dare you do this? Verse two. Do you not know that the saints
shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by
you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know you
not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that
pertain to this life? If you then have judgments of things
pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are the least
esteemed in the church. He says, Hey, you'd be way better
off finding the guy that just got saved, finding the first
time visitor of our church and grabbing him to judge in a
conflict than to go before the world because you want to know
what happens when you go before the world for judgment.
It's like, okay, hey, we have a First Amendment. Church is
preaching the Bible and yeah, let's evict them. That's the
world's judgment. No righteousness. No judgment.
That's why the Bible says, How dare you go to law before your
brother? How dare you try to evict a brother in Christ? And
of course, I don't believe the person that evicted us is a
brother in Christ whatsoever. I believe he's a devil. I believe
he's a false prophet. It's going to split hell wide open
but this just goes to show this idea of, oh, we shouldn't have
church. Okay, why did Paul tell us to find the least esteem in
the church to judge? Why did Jesus say to bring it before
the church? Ridiculous. My last point, go to Romans chapter
number ten, Romans chapter number ten. My last point of
why you need to go to church is because you need to be put to
work. You need to be put to work. Look at verse thirteen.
It says, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. Praise God for that verse. Verse fourteen, How
then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not
heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? The Bible's
kind of giving us like a reverse process of how someone
gets saved. You got a preacher. The preacher preaches them the
word of God. They hear the word of God. They believe the word
of God. And they call upon the name of the Lord to be saved.
This is how people get saved. It's called soul winning. This
is how people are getting saved every single day in this world
through soul winning. And how does this process of soul
winning happen exactly? Look at verse fifteen. And how shall
they preach? Except they be sent. As it is written, How
beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace
and bring glad tidings of good things. You know what I've
noticed? I've noticed something very interesting about
these people that want to tell you that church is not
biblical. They don't go soul winning. They don't preach the
gospel to people. They're not getting people saved. You know
what's interesting is Steadfast Baptist Church in Fort Worth
had 2,111 salvations last year by the glory of God, by the
mercy of God. We were able to get that done but you want to
know why it was done is because someone sent us. Someone said
here's your bulletin. Here's your soul winning times. Here's
your captain. Here's where you show up. Here's your invites.
Oh, you've never done this before. No problem. You're a
silent partner. Here's your map. It's all done for you.
You just show up and you preach the gospel or you just show up
and you're a silent partner but you want to know what's not
happening. People that believe that church is not biblical.
People believe that we shouldn't have pastors. People
believe that the church is just worthless and made up man-made
institution. You know what they're not doing? They're not
getting 2,111 people saved. That's not what they're doing.
You know who's doing that? Churches like Steadfast Baptist
Church and it's not because we're anything special. It's
not because of anything that's great about us in our flesh.
It's just simply because this is how God ordained the gospel
to go out and if we're obeying what God said to do, then it's
going to be successful. It's going to be victorious and so
let me tell you one of the biggest reasons why this stupid
false doctrine makes me mad is because people that get
infected with this lie will not be a soul winner and if you
are not a soul winner, people will go to hell. So, I have no
interest whatsoever in putting up with someone that would come
in here or come into our lives, our families or anything like
that and teach this stupid lie that says church is not
biblical. Why don't you just say, I don't believe the Bible?
Why don't you just say that? And I'll say, okay, you want to
be ignorant? I'll do what Paul said. I'll let you be ignorant.
That's fine. Just keep your mouth shut about it. Don't come
in here teaching that church is unbiblical. Every single person
in here needs church, including myself and look, there's so much
more Bible on this that we can go into about the local New
Testament church and the structure of authority of a local
New Testament church and examples in the Bible of
churches. We've barely scratched the surface on why you need to
go to church. Look, the whole New Testament is about the local
New Testament church fulfilling the great commission that God
gave us. The truth is, every single person is sent because
God gave us, Jesus Christ gave us that great commission, go you
in all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That,
of course, is to all of us. But let me tell you the reality of
how that mission is getting done. It's through the local New
Testament church. And praise God, Jesus said that the gates
of hell will not prevail against his church. It will not happen.
But that doesn't mean that when we hear people attacking it, we
should just stay silent. No, we need to rebuke it. We need to
call it out and we need to not put up with that false doctrine.
Let's close in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you so
much for sending your son Jesus Christ, who the Bible says gave
himself for the church. I pray that every single person in
here would realize the importance of the local New
Testament church, that they would devote their lives to the
church, and that even if someday they would go to a
different church, that they would just get plugged in at a
good church and spend their lives serving you, fulfilling
the Great Commission through the means of a local New
Testament church. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.