two and in juice then we pray amen men okay we're in first corinthians chapter number 12 this morning
and the title of my sermon this morning is church membership church membership look down
at your bibles at first corinthians 12 verse 12 it says for us the body is one and as many members
and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is christ for by one spirit
are we all baptized into one body whether we be jews or gentiles whether we be bond or free
and have been all made to drink into one spirit now this morning i'm going to talk about the
subject of church membership and what it actually means what is church membership according to
the bible and you know this concept of membership is actually can be found in the word of god it's
found here in first corinthians chapter 12 and carries with it the idea that the church should
operate somewhat like an actual body and in fact the bible talks about the body of christ and so
when someone gets saved they're obviously immediately put in christ but that person has
to decide to join themselves to or assemble themselves together to a congregation and what
i'm referring to is a church and you know the bible uses congregation and church interchangeably
in fact psalm 22 talks about i will praise thee in the midst of the congregation and then in hebrew
chapter 2 it says i will praise thee in the midst of the church using church and congregation
interchangeably and essentially implying that a church is a group of people that congregate
together for a common cause for a common purpose that is what a church should do and as i mentioned
it often carries with it this idea that it operates somewhat like a body for example
you know you have the hands and the bible talks about that we ought to put our hands to the plow
right to labor for the kingdom of god in other words the church should be characterized by labor
okay you know a lot of times churches just kind of meet together it's kind of like a social club
but they don't really get any work done and the bible specifically tells us that we should maintain
good works that we should be characterized by labor and in fact when you study all the
seven churches which are addressed in uh revelation chapter two in revelation chapter three you see
that one of the main things that he keeps addressing is their labor their work and their
labor and so the hands signify the fact that a church should be working not only that but you
know a body has feet i don't know if you knew that okay and the feet are supposed to go out and what
preach the gospel get people saved evangelize okay you a body has eyes okay and the bible
jesus christ and the word of god in the new testament constantly emphasize the importance
of being vigilant watching thereunto with prayer and making sure that we have our eyes enlightened
by god's word and that we are essentially proving all things holding fast that which is good
and not you know have a spirit of slumber so to speak okay how about this you know the the church
or a body excuse me has a mouth right and the apostle paul said that uh that prayer should be
made for him that he would open his mouth boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel and a
church should be characterized by what by preaching god's word right by proclaiming the
word of god not just the gospel but how about preaching the entire council of god right you
know i find it funny when people say oh man you you're causing division with your preaching
just preach the gospel just preach the gospel but hold on a second the bible commands me
to preach the entire word of god so you're trying to tell me that god gave us 66 books but he only
wants us to preach the gospel i mean folks there's so much content in the word of god the bible tells
us that we are to preach the word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with
all long suffering and listen to this and doctrine in other words that we have to teach the bible
teach everything about the word of god and here's the thing we can't be a church that constantly
preaches the gospel indoors because the vast majority of people in here are saved that's why
we dedicate time after church miss angela i don't know if you want to take her out just for a little
bit you know that's why we dedicate a certain amount of time after church where people can get
together and actually preach the gospel and evangelize and do that but in here we ought to
be teaching the bible okay to mature people in the word of god to help them to understand the word of
god etcetera you know the bible also says that about you know a body also has ears okay and the
bible tells us that we ought to be swift to hear slow to speak in other words that one of the main
reasons why we come to church as i mentioned a fourth time is to hear the word of god you know
faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of god god wants us to understand and open our
ears and in fact you know the spirit saith unto the church is he that hath an ear let him hear
right to understand and hear and receive god's word and so you know a church is essentially
operating like a body and the bible talks about the body of christ now hold your place there in
first corinthians chapter 12 and turn with me if you would to colossians chapter number one
we're going to look at a lot of scripture this morning go to colossians chapter number one
i'm going to read you from ephesians chapter number five you're in colossians chapter one
ephesians chapter 5 verse 22 says this wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands
as unto the lord that's a lot of husbands life verse amen it says here for the husband is the
head of the wife listen to this even as christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the
body so the bible makes this comparison here and tells us that the husband is the authority of the
wife and it says even as christ is the authority of the church right now let me ask you something
is a husband the head of every wife no right he's the head of his own wife okay he's in charge of
his own wife he has authority over his own wife and so the the parallels that we see here the
comparison that the bible is making here is that just as a husband is the authority or the head of
his of his individual wife in like manner jesus christ is the head of individual churches okay
and so point number one here regarding church membership is that the body is nothing without
the head right now who's the head jesus christ you say well that's pretty obvious though you're
you're you're stating the obvious yeah but you'd be surprised how many churches out there have just
completely removed christ right you say well how so you know i see i know churches out there that
name the name of christ but hold on a second but what about the commandments of christ though you
know the bible tells us if you love me keep my commandments and that you'd be surprised how many
churches out there will name the name of christ but they teach a false gospel will name the name
of christ but they teach a bunch of false doctrine they name the name of christ but hold on a second
they teach everything contrary to what jesus christ taught that's essentially removing the
head from your church and you go to that person you go to that church you go to that pastor
you show them what the word of god says and they're like oh no but this is how we've always
done it okay then just simply say that you remove the head you're a decapitated church is what you
are because you remove the ultimate authority from your congregation let me give you some examples you
know lutherans methodists you know uh uh many protestants for example have essentially removed
the head from their congregation because they no longer teach what the bible says okay and we want
to keep the head of our church as being jesus christ look at what it says in verse 16 of
colossians chapter 1 for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth
visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things
were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist verse 18
and he is the head of the body the church who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead
then in all things he might have the preeminence so the bible is telling us that jesus christ
is the ultimate authority in a church right right well you know the catholic church doesn't believe
that they have the pope as their ultimate authority and even above that you know they have
uh mary as their ultimate authority you know she's like the head of the church there and you know
people in order to go to jesus christ you have to go to mary and pray to mary and pray to the
saints folks that is wrong that's false the head of every church should be jesus christ and his
teachings and what he said you know our church is a baptist church and uh the reason we call ourselves
a baptist church is because number one you know baptists are typically the most closest to the
bible okay if you you know obviously you have baptists out there that are kind of off on a lot
of things but in general baptists stick to the word of god they believe the bible they teach
the word of god in practice in faith and but another reason why is because we baptize our
converts we fully immerse them in water right just like john the baptist did and you know at our
church we continuously baptize people because people are always getting saved and we continuously
baptize them but you know i get a lot of comments for example online you know because we post our
baptisms and you know this is how i baptize i baptize you in the name of the father of the son
of the holy spirit buried in the life of his death raised to walk in the news of life and i will
constantly get people to tell me why are you baptizing in the name of the father and of the
son of the holy spirit you should be baptizing in the name of jesus you know because they're
quoting the book of acts so their template to church ministry or how you should baptize is the
book of acts but what people seem to forget is that the book of acts is a historical book that
records listen to this the actions of the apostles and i always respond by saying so i
guess we should just ignore what jesus said in matthew 28 verses 19 to 20 when he said go ye
therefore teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy
ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever i've commanded you and lo i'm with you
always even until the end of the world amen we should just completely remove those verses from
the bible because they keep saying you're doing it wrong no i'm doing it the way jesus said to do
it right you know stop trying to remove our head from our church right yeah but peter did this well
first of all i believe peter and all the apostles baptized exactly the way jesus told them to baptize
what the book of acts is doing is simply giving you a synopsis of what they've done
okay you know the bible is not always just going to clearly tell you exactly what people said
exactly what people did often it just gives you a concise version especially in books such
as the book of acts of what was done when the bible says that souls were added into the church
daily you know it's basically referring to the fact that people got saved it's not going to tell
you every single time this person got saved this person got saved right if it says that they were
added if it says that they received the word of god with all readiness of mind if it says that
they received the word of god and were baptized we automatically assume based upon the general
teaching that they got saved that they believed on the lord jesus christ you understand no it says
that they got baptized in the name of jesus they got baptized with the authority of christ yes
that's what that means it doesn't mean that they baptize them you know because what they're
referring to is this pentecostal movement which is called oneness modalism that rejects the eternal
sonship of jesus christ and says that when you baptize someone you should baptize them in the
name of the father and the son of the holy spirit and that name is jesus no wrong yeah you know you
don't see anybody baptizing in the bible in that manner okay and so you know we're going to stick
to what jesus said and you know what we're also going to assume correctly that all the apostles
and everybody who baptized in the bible did it the way jesus did because the bible is not a divided
book it's not like people are just doing their own thing in the bible and god's just approving of it
okay but the point that i'm making is that a body a local body of believers
has jesus christ as its head he is the preeminent one we're not just going to reject anything that
he says we're not just going to you know bypass his commandments we're not just going to ignore
what he says we want to do things the way he told us to do it amen yeah and in fact you know here's
the thing folks is that when you choose not to do things the way jesus told you to do it according
to the bible he can actually remove your candlestick what the bible refers to as a
candlestick essentially referring to you being a legitimate church go to revelation chapter two if
you would revelation chapter two now you say what do you mean you know there's all kinds of churches
out there to call themselves a church folks people could call themselves whatever they want i mean
you got dudes out here calling themselves women doesn't mean it's true yeah you got women call
you got people calling themselves a cat you can call yourself whatever object you want doesn't
make it true and you know in like manner you can call yourself a church you can say you believe on
jesus christ but if it doesn't match up with what the bible says it's not true you can repeat it
all day long doesn't make it so and in fact there's certain things that a church can do
that can revoke their privilege of being a church look at revelation 2 verse 5 of course this is the
church at Ephesus that's being addressed by jesus christ himself they were essentially a church
that had forsaken the first love referring to the fact that they no longer love souls
you know a church's main objective should be aside from everything that the bible teaches us one of
the main objectives is to reach people for christ to get people saved you know we should have a
tender heart for the loss that we want to get them saved because we don't want people to go to hell
that is the heart of god so when a church becomes apathetic towards evangelism towards soul winning
they no longer want to get people saved you know essentially that church is dying look what it says
in verse 5 remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works
referring to soul winning or else i will come into thee quickly and i will remove thy candlestick out
of its place except thou repent he's telling them i'm going to remove your privilege of being a
church you're no longer a church if you no longer preach the gospel and get people saved and soul
winning is not a major factor in your church you're removed okay well i don't really believe
that well then you got to ask yourself is christ your head because the head here is saying that if
you don't do that then your candlestick is removed okay now another thing i want to point out
regarding this point here of jesus christ being the head is that this actually debunks listen to
this this actually debunks the universal invisible church doctrine okay that's often taught by
catholics protestants and even some baptists okay you say what is the universal church well often
when pastors preach and they talk about churches or a church they'll often say the church okay
and what they're referring to is that they think that every person who gets saved in this world
is automatically assimilated into this invisible church you guys ever heard something like that
okay and you'll hear it all the time you'll say you know oh the church is in trouble or the church
is going lukewarm or the church is this you know and they kind of lump every believer and every
congregation together and place them under this invisible canopy of the church okay but let me
tell you something folks that's false that's 100 false and let me prove it to you just right now
we're not invisible right can you see me yeah i see you you see me you see this building this
is called the church it's not invisible well i think you're exaggerating you know we're referring
to all believers all around the world well let me ask you you know is christ the head of every
church no i'm not saying that he shouldn't be but there's a lot of churches out there that don't
have him as the head right so how can he be you know how can we have an invisible church or
universal church if there are certain churches out there that are not adhering to the doctrines
of christ and making christ ahead right number one but how about this a church is a called out
assembly of baptized believers an assembly is a group of people that are joining together for
a common cause and a common purpose we're not assembled with all believers right i mean i don't
know if you notice here but we're not assembled with you know uh the christians in africa we're
not assembled with the christians in russia we're not assembled the christians in in korea
we're not assembled we're assembled together here now today okay go with me if you want to
ephesians chapter number four ephesians chapter number four now baptists will get caught up in
this doctrine because they'll teach what's known as the doctrine of church ages now you have to
excuse my hand here i can't do my quote so it's going to be a parentheses okay and then a quote
all right it's a typo okay so i'm gonna be i do this a lot but i can't move my hand right now i
got a fractured finger so church is a call that assembly of baptized believers but we're not
assembled with all believers around the world oh but what i was saying is that you know a lot of
churches will teach this doctrine of church ages okay essentially teaching that you know the book
of revelation chapter two and three when it addresses the seven churches which are in asia
those aren't seven literal churches those are church ages okay in other words you know there's
a group of churches throughout a certain era that is characterized by that particular church
okay you have the church at ephesus church of smirnam church at pergamos you have thyatira
you have you know the laodicean church so you have all these churches that literally existed
at one point but the dispensationalists and their infiltration in churches have taught people that
this is actually referring to the churches of that era and how they're characterized by okay
so let me give you an example you know the church at ephesus because they left their first love
they're essentially saying there was an era there was a time where churches didn't go so many
but you know what that's false you said well how do you know because we're here
so obviously churches throughout history have preached the gospel faithfully
and that's why we're here today because someone gave them the gospel they gave them the gospel
they gave someone else the gospel they eventually gave us the gospel as well in this era today okay
but here's the funny thing about that doctrine the lamest church in the seven churches which
are in asia is which one the laodicean church era they're considered the what the lukewarm
church you know the ones that god said that i will spew thee out of my mouth
right because they were neither hot nor cold well you know for some reason
a lot of churches will say that we're in the laodicean church era
so by the way believe them when they say that because they're who are they referring to they're
referring to themselves that's what they're talking about so they look through all these
churches and say man which one's the lamest most lukewarm cold but not hot just kind of not doing
anything for god because that's basically us oh the laodicean church era this fits us perfectly
well speak for yourself our church is not a laodicean church what do you mean because we're
getting people saved we're getting people baptized there are teenagers in our church
that are on fire for god we love the bible here we preach the word of god we're constantly being
persecuted i mean this is not a laodicean church but it's funny when people like to say we're in
the laodicean church or they're essentially telling you that they're a laodicean type of
a christian okay so it's a false doctrine but another thing that debunks the universal invisible
church is the fact that we're taught doctrine in a local church look what it says in ephesians 4
verse 11 and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors
and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the
body of christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the son of god unto
a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ that we henceforth be no
more children tossed to and fro carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men in
cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive and when you compare this with other
scriptures you see that the job of the pastor is to teach doctrine and so if doctrine is supposed
to be taught in the local new testament church you know we're not going to accept every doctrine
that's out there right it's not a false doctrine out there false teaching about salvation false
teaching about the trinity false teaching about the deity of christ false teaching about the
bible there's all types of false doctrines in churches out there therefore we can't be a part
of the universal church because there's there's churches out there that teach a lot of bad stuff
okay but here's one of the main reasons why the bible rejects the universal church okay
it's because of the fact that you can't carry out church discipline
in a universal church go to first corinthians chapter five they say what do you mean by church
discipline you talk about just being having character and you know being consistent no
discipline as in punishment right now i'm not referring to like if you commit a crazy sin we're
going to spank you up here or something like that and you're on a timeout or something like that but
the bible specifically teaches that if there's specific sins that you are guilty of such as
drunkenness such as idolatry such as fornication such as railing these are actually sins that will
merit excommunication from a church you see you guys kick people out of church here if they're
guilty of these sins and are not willing to get those right yes like oh man that sounds cultish
no a cold try to keeps you tries to keep you in yeah a cold would say you can't leave lock the
doors you can't go to any other church our church says see ya you know if you don't want to if you
want to keep fornicating okay if you want to keep committing adultery and you don't want to get that
right then there's the door don't let the door hit you where the lord split you
that's what the bible teaches my friends and you know you say well i don't know that's not
that doesn't seem very appropriate to keep people out of church folks the bible tells us that a
little leaven leaven at the whole lump right you ever wonder why so many churches are just filled
with just it's just a cesspool of sin why there's so much pedophilia and and just sin and it just
seems as though churches are just filled with so much controversy filled with just iniquity
it's because no church discipline is being carried out in those churches right god specifically
instituted the local new testament church to make sure that sin doesn't go unfettered in the church
unrepentant sin because all of us are sinners we all make mistakes however there's specific sins
that if you're guilty of and you're unwilling to get right then you gotta go look what it says in
first corinthians chapter 5 verse 12 for what have i to do to judge them also that are without
do not you judge them that are within then that are without god judgeth therefore put away from
among yourselves that wicked person now let me ask you a question how do you do that in a universal
church you know you got a person committing fornication they don't want to get it right
they're sleeping around they're committing you know uh the sin you're like you're out of here
they get out there like ah suck i'm still part of the universal church though can't get me out
i'm still part of the church well you know what you can only do that in a local new testament
church in the universal church you can't do that because once you kick them out they're still in
church according to that doctrine okay now turn with me if you would to go back to first corinthians
chapter 12 so that debunks this universal church teaching my friends okay this invisible universal
church that essentially does not exist okay and you know i know there's a lot of people out there
you know baptists even who will talk about the church but you know the bible specifically talks
about churches okay it talks about the church at ephesus the churches which are in galatia the
church at corinth these are specific known churches and never mentions the church he said
well what about ephesians you know chapter five we're talking about glory in the church
well who's the letter being written to the ephesians right so he's talking to that church
at ephesus that's what he's doing okay not an invisible one so point number one is that the
body has a head that head being jesus christ point number two is that people join a church listen to
this to fulfill a specific function okay you see every limb in our body serves a function right
and i'm learning this the hard way okay i i fractured my middle finger and you'd be
surprised how often you actually use your middle finger i know i don't use it the way some of you
use it though you know someone cuts you off on the freeway or something like that and you know you
you know you do that one thing okay but you'd be surprised how often you actually use it and in
fact even when you're not using it specifically because it's attached the tendons are attached
to the other fingers when you move your other fingers you know it moves that finger as well
and you know if it's fractured it creates a lot of pain okay but every limb has you know even
that ugly little pinky toe you got going on there that barely has a nail or whatever
that has a function believe it or not okay you know the the most uncommon part that you think
is the most ugliest part of your body has a function god gave it to you for a reason
there's a purpose with for your nose okay there's a purpose for your mouth there's a purpose for
your limbs every single appendage has a job and you know what the same goes for a church
every single member of the body of christ in the local new testament church
has a function look at first corinthians 12 verse 4 it says now there are diversities of gifts but
the same spirit there are differences of administration but the same lord
and there are diversities of operations but it is the same god which worketh all in all
but the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit with all so what is the
same you know in church or even churches there's all types of differences right you know this
church functions different than other churches out there has a different administration than
other churches and even people within our church here they serve different functions
but at the end of the day it's what to profit with all in other words it's so you can profit
the church don't ask what your church can do for you ask what you can do for your church it's like
what does this church have to offer me you know what kind of gifts you guys give out here what
kind of programs you got and by the way we have all kinds of stuff but at the end of the day you
should ask what can i how can i be a blessing to this church because i am a finger i am a foot i
am a limb i'm an appendage god's created me in such a way to function in this church in a specific
manner to be a blessing to profit with all okay look skip down to verse 14 you say well you know
i'm a pinky toe i don't know how much i can be of a service here i'm just a pinky toe or you know
i'm i'm i'm that middle finger you're talking about or i'm that pinky finger i'm the whatever
you know i'm the eyelid or something what good will i do look at verse 14 for the body is not
one member but many if the foot shall say because i am not the hand i am not of the body is it
therefore not of the body you know just because you're not the pastor just because you're not the
deacon just because you're not the evangelist does that mean that you don't serve a function
in the church does that mean you're not part of the body of christ says in verse 16 and if the
ear shall say because i am not the eye i am not of the body is it therefore not of the body what
is he trying to emphasize here he's trying to explain the fact that doesn't matter how big of
an appendage you are or how small you still have a purpose in this church and God has gifted you
with certain talents abilities uh you know experiences even in your life you know we have
people in our church from different walks of life people who have experienced traumatic experiences
others who have not others who have been successful in business others who have not
we have people from different walks of life that can benefit the church members here I don't like
how that sounds what do you mean benefit yeah God allowed you to go through that or God allowed you
to have that experience so that you can profit the people in our church not just profit yourself
profit the people in your church and you can't say well you know I'm not the ear or I'm not the eye
not important folks it's important that we understand that a church is not just a social club
you know a lot of churches today they're social clubs right they just go there to to you know
to hang out to gossip a little bit or a lot of it right to you know create their little factions
in church the little cliques to criticize the leadership or I don't like her because of x y and
they create these little posses in the church and they miss the entire point of the church which is
get to work and by the way why do people get involved in gossip and railings in church
because they're busy bodies they're busy doing gossiping instead of busy doing the work of the
Lord right yeah if you invested all that time in gossiping as you would in like soul winning
you get a lot of people saved if you'd invest you know all that time in railing you know into
actually being a blessing to someone in our church you know you'd get a lot of rewards from
Christ but you know a lot of times churches become simply a social club now let me say this is that
our church is a social club I'll be honest it is people I mean this hour and a half or whatever
however long we're here pales in comparison to how long people hang out after church
okay we have to like turn off the lights and long you know just like all right everybody
you guys got homes you guys gotta go too yeah people like hanging out with each other here
and that's good amen but here's the thing it's not only a social club right there's a purpose behind
us being here it's not just so we can hang out and just kind of shoot the breeze or whatever
you know it's also to get the work of the Lord done okay and in fact the Bible says in Titus
three verse eight this is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly
that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works these things are
good and profitable unto men verse 14 says let ours also learn to maintain good works for
necessary uses that they be not unfruitful you see in order for you to gain rewards in heaven
there's got to be a centralized location where you can kind of manifest that out
it's got to be a place where you can do that we get rewards by winning people to Christ
but where are you going to be sent out to win people to Christ here you say well you know I
kind of already know how to win people to Christ well you know we always need to refine our
abilities to win people to Christ and you could always become a better soul winner especially when
you join the local new testament church and let's be let's be honest the vast majority of churches
out there don't necessarily do soul-winning I'm talking about confrontational soul-winning
where you're going door to door preaching the gospel getting people saved you know our church
does that and our church has experienced soul winners they can train you they can show you
and obviously that can be intimidating for a lot of people they're just like oh man you just tell
complete strangers they're gonna go burn in hell or something like that well not in those words
exactly but something to that extent okay obviously we go through the gospel obviously it's
with meekness and fear and look when a person is new to soul-winning in our church it's not like
all right figure it out knock that door hey you're on your own buddy you know you know they open the
door and they just they just look at you and you're just like I don't know what to tell you
man you got to do it on your own no you become a silent partner right and you see how it's done
for a certain amount of months until you build up the confidence to do it yourself okay and look
preaching the gospel should be important to every christian yeah right shouldn't preaching the
gospel and getting people say be important to everyone you said why well because of the fact
that don't we all have family members who are dying or who are going to go to hell don't we all
have friends and family members that we love that we care for don't we have co-workers don't we have
people out there that we think about that are potentially going to die and go to hell well guess
whose job it is to give them the gospel yours and i know a lot of people don't like to hear that but
folks jesus said go therefore and teach all nations and he's referring to all christians
to do so this is not just the job of the pastor or the job of the full-time christian service
leader in the church the employee this is for everyone okay and so people are to assemble
themselves together into a local new testament church to serve a function okay that's important
now along with that listen to this okay members can become worthless oh man that sounds a little
mean well go to matthew chapter five i'm just kind of repeating what jesus said he said that's
that sounds mean well you know what mean means average and this is not an average church and so
and let me just say this you know i'm going to give you the word of god i'm not going to
sugarcoat things i'm not going to put you know uh whipped cream on the message i'm just going
to give it to you as is okay members can become worthless you say how in the world could you say
something like that well think about this you know my finger is worthless right now
this thing is worthless i gotta wear this weird thing on my hand and everything it's like
i can't use it okay and you know sometimes there are limbs in our body that if you don't use
there's muscles in your body that if you're not constantly using can atrophy right they can go
into atrophy and i know this personally because of the fact that my father-in-law you know he had
an avm and um in his brain and there's bleeding in his brain about 10 years ago and you know he's
essentially just uh bedridden okay and they constantly have to move him they constantly
have to help him to kind of be mobile because if he doesn't he can essentially just destroy
his body by just laying there i mean there's people who are in these recovery type places
that will will develop bed source because they're not being moved and they can get infected because
our bodies are meant to be moved they're meant to do something okay so if you don't use it you
lose it if you don't use that body it becomes worthless right look what the bible says
in verse 13 of matthew chapter 5 ye are the salt of the earth but if the salt hath lost its savor
wherewith shall it be salted listen to this it is thenceforth good for nothing now what's another
way of saying worthless you good for nothing that's basically what it means right it is
thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trotted under the foot of men the bible
says so what jesus is saying is that when christians who are supposed to be salt refuse
or revoke their responsibility of being the salt of the earth they basically become good for
nothing there's no use for them now go to go to john 15 if you would john chapter 15
now the point that i'm trying to make is don't get to this point don't get to the point in your
christian life or in your service in a church where you become a worthless christian because
it can happen my friends where all you do is you come and you just want to take and take but you
don't want to give you want to take bible preaching but you don't want to get people saved you want
to take you know entertainment but you don't want to give out discipleship you don't want to give
out to your wife you don't want to give out to your husband you don't want to give out to your
children you don't want to give out by serving and then you become a good for nothing type of
a christian it happens folks now in our church if you become a good for nothing christian so to
speak this doesn't mean that you get kicked out of church or something it's just like hey you're
taking up space not doing anything mori someone else can be doing exactly what you're doing right
here let's get let's get you moving okay you got to go to a different church we're not going to do
that and mori is not a good for nothing christian okay he's he's a laboring christian but what does
this do this actually destroys your life spiritually though right destroys your life because then you
become a gluttonous christian where you're just taken and taken and taken but you're not burning
those calories right those spiritual calories and then you just get spiritually fat okay you get
become spiritually obese now here's the thing is that when you become spiritually obese you know
that meat of the word that you once took that you actually like now it's just like whatever to you
because you're not burning those spiritual calories well in our church you know don't
become a worthless christian burn those spiritual calories but actually investing in someone else
amen burn those spiritual calories but actually i mean physically and spiritually by going out
so many burn those spiritual calories but actually put it into action the teachings that you're
getting so how do i burn the spiritual calories well you know the you know when you learn things
about marriage husbands go love your wisest christ love the church go actually take your
wife out to eat and tell her you love her and buy her roses and do things that she likes you know
put those things into practice my friends you know oh how do i you know put those how do i burn
those spiritual calories well how about you actually reverencing your husband as the bible
tells you to do reverence him respect him love him make him a sandwich when he wants him make him
pancakes for dinner if that's what he wants you say oh come on let's let's talk about the bible
here this is the bible my friends right the bible gives us the parameters of what we're supposed to
be doing and then he gives us a mind of woody inventions on how to carry that out amen right
so when the bible tells us to love our wives as christ also loved the church okay there's the
command but now we have to practically put that into practice and you know what making pancakes
is not in the bible so therefore we have to come up with that right i like pancakes amen
who doesn't like pancakes okay and so you know put these things into practice hey when you hear
a sermon about child rearing and about winning the hearts of your children go burn those calories
and actually go do it amen take your kids out spend time with them turn off the tv
turn off the tablet turn off the social media turn off facebook and why don't you go take a
walk with your family one day you know we don't have enough money then just go to the park or
something right these are hard truths are they not amen but we're talking about the importance
of not becoming a work you can become a worthless husband you can become a worthless wife you can
become a worthless employee hey you know what we teach in this in this in this church to be a
valuable employee at your job amen right to be the hard to make your boss a successful boss
amen right to be a valuable employee to work hard to go the extra mile not be a burden on your boss
to be a good worker you say why because the bible teaches us to go the extra mile that's why
ask christians you know if your boss if your boss asks you to go one mile you go with him twain
so go burn those calories and work extra hours and do overtime and don't complain about it oh
what about my break skip your break yeah amen get the job done right yeah but i'm supposed
to clock out at this time but is the job done though you understand you see that's where the
calories need to be burned this is we want to be valuable employees not worthless employees
we want to be valuable families and valuable husbands and valuable wives and valuable church
members not vestigial members of the body or just like we have no need for this anymore
look at look at john 15 let me give you an example here it says in verse 4 abide in me
this is jesus speaking and i in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself excepted abide in the
vine no more can he accept the abide in me i am the vine ye are the branches he that abideth in
me and i in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me you can do nothing verse 6
if a man abide not in me listen to this he is cast forth as a branch so if you think i'm mean
by saying this he's calling you guys branches they're just cast forth if you're not doing
anything he says if you don't abide in me i'm just going to toss you like a branch
that's pretty mean right well i guess the jesus that most churches are putting forth is like a lie
then right because according to the bible jesus christ will tell you that if you're not abiding
in the word of god and you're just going to be cast forth as a branch listen to this and it's
withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire they are burned now this doesn't mean
that you're going to lose your salvation okay you can't take a parable too far and say well you know
it says fire you know and it says that they're burned but folks if you're to take everything
literal here you would have to say that you're a literal branch and let me just let me just help
you to understand something when people die without christ men don't gather them and cast
them into the fire they just lift up their eyes in hell according to the bible what this is
specifically saying is that if a branch is no longer attached to the vine it falls to the floor
the next best thing for that person to do is just to be cast into the fire because they are simply
worthless right you understand and and so what the bible is teaching us here is that we need to make
sure that we continuously work at being a valuable christian by putting into being doers of the word
not hearers only actually put it into practice the things that we're listening to and not just
well i'm just here to appease my conscience you know by being in church now why don't you actually
take what god's getting you today and actually put it into practice hey how about this teenagers
you know here's a way that you can become a valuable christian how about you respect mom
and dad when you're home amen and out at home how about you actually obey your parents in the lord
for this is right how about you actually throw away the trash when they tell you to do that
how about you actually clean up the house when they tell you how about you actually wash the
dishes when they tell you to do so right and how about you do it with a good attitude too
you know now
i don't know how to roll my eyes because i think i did it once to my mom when i was young
and they just never rolled after that
you know how about you respect your mom yeah but my mom does this and that well you know it's not
i don't see a verse in the bible that says unless your mom does this and that
right so why don't you know why don't you become a valuable young man a valuable young lady hey
hey ladies why don't you cook dad a meal amen as dad dad what is your favorite thing to eat
you say well i don't know how to cook well get valuable and learn how to make your dad's
favorite meal amen you know respect your parents do a good job at school learn how to be a hard
worker right you know don't delay your obedience when they tell you to do something either
i'll do it when i'm done i'll do it when i'm done with this level
you know as you're playing video games or whatever well i got better things to do no
the thing that you're supposed to be doing now that's better is obeying your parents that's
right bottom line and you know what our church teaches for children and teenagers to obey their
parents we're we are not a church that's going to tell the kids well you just keep doing whatever
you want and you're a good christian anyways no you're a bad christian if you decide to go
sowing but you're not obeying your parents right you're like well i'm gonna i'm gonna disobey my
parents and just come to church anyways well folks you know if your parents tell you don't go to this
church go to another church and you come to this church i don't care if you think this is the best
church in the world you're being disobedient to your parents bottom line that's right okay and
you know what i think it would help you some young person if you're a good testimony at home
if you're obeying your mom and your dad you know they might let you come to this church more often
that's right because like you know i kind of like the fact that they're making you respectable over
there amen you know you're not yelling by the way don't yell your parents amen yep don't be raising
your voice at your parents definitely don't be raising your hand right at your parents i mean
that that should be just like a obvious one okay don't raise your hand at your parents don't raise
your voice at your parents respect your parents love your parents serve your parents and it's
sad that we have to talk about this in 2022 but that's the way it is nowadays we're teenagers and
you know and let me just say this not just young adults all right i'm not just teenagers i'm talking
about young adults as well if you're in your 20s and you live under your father's roof your mom's
roof you're still expected by the bible to obey your parents amen i'm a grown man though you're
living with your parents though i got a job though but you're still living under their roof
right and so if you're a 30 year old living under the roof of your parents you better still be
obeying your parents amen because that is god's word that's what the bible teaches well i want
i don't want to do that thing get married move out and do your own thing be your own boss then
at that point but until then god expects you to be a valuable young adult a valuable young lady
and to respect your parents just thought i'd throw that in there
for good measure all right go to first corinthians chapter uh five if you would
every teenager here hates me now
that's okay members can become worthless or vestigial okay if you're not putting it into
practice your your your body can go into atrophy spiritually speaking that limb can go into atrophy
if it's not moved you know after about six weeks this is supposed to heal after about six weeks or
so but you know what because i haven't moved it in six weeks or if i don't move it in six weeks
it's gonna hurt to even like move still not because it's not because it's still fractured
but because i just haven't moved it i mean how many of you have ever broken a bone you keep it
in a cast you're moving from that cast and you're just like man it looks all ugly and skinny and
stinks and it's like it's like it's like a different race under there you know you know what
i mean i was like this is who i truly am you know it's like wow you know but that's how it is and
then you have to like work at it again and strengthen those muscles and those tendons etc
number four members can become a detriment to the body so not only can members can become worthless
they can actually be a detriment to the body you say what do you mean well you know think about
people who get frostbite right you know what frostbite is you know they they try to do that
climb to mount everest and they just bite off more than they can chew and then their nose freezes
they get that black frost bit nose or that frost bitten foot or toe or hand right and it has to be
what either amputated or you just live like that for the rest of your life okay and think about
this you know christians can become cold towards the things of god right you could be in church
but if you're just a cold christian in other words you're apathetic towards the things of
god you know preaching doesn't get you going anymore the you sing the hymns you're just like
whatever about it you just kind of dread coming to church you become cold towards the things of god
you're essentially a detriment to the body of christ right yeah you say why because apathy
spreads my friends how about diabetes right you know people can get diabetes to the point where
it's just like their foot begins to rot and they have to remove it right a certain body part they
have to remove it because of that you know cavities right can rot the oh man i think i just i hit a
nerve there you know tooth begins to rot and it's just no longer useful and it has to be removed
right and you say what happens if you don't remove it well you know if you don't remove a a cavity
or if you don't remove a tooth that that's that's essentially rotting it can begin to affect the
other teeth right it'll affect the other teeth and then you have to remove like three teeth later on
or something i mean it can cause a lot of damage right well in like manner in churches you know if
that cavity is not taken care of if that diabetes is not you know found sooner than later if that
dude doesn't come down the mountain before he gets frostbitten that appendage is going to have
to be removed that body part is going to become frostbitten it's going to become removed it's
going to be a detriment look at verse three of first corinthians five this is referring to a man
who is sleeping with his father's wife not his mom his father's wife and so he's committing the
act of fornication and the idea here is that possibly maybe either his mother is just not
in the picture for whatever reason or his mother has passed away and his father has remarried
okay but he is essentially committing the act of fornication with his father's
uh wife i mean this is disgusting right but the problem with this is that this is like in church
this is happening in a church this is at the church of Corinth and what's even worse is that
people know about it in the church they're just like it's commonly reported that this is taking
place in church okay so it's just like you just come here on a sunday morning and you're like oh
who's that couple it's like well it's kind of complicated you know wait so who's with who
you know that's his dad and that's his dad's wife but he's kind of with his dad's wife
it's just like what in a church so the apostle paul who's the one who planted this church
hears about it he's not even there he hears about it from different witnesses
and he's like this guy has to be kicked out he has to be removed now you wonder is that why isn't
the wife removed well possibly because of the fact that the wife maybe doesn't even go to church
it's possibly what it is okay so he's like this guy has to be removed because he's not getting
it right he's not repenting he's not correcting the situation he needs to be removed from the
church look at verse three for i barely as absent in body but present in spirit have judged already
as though i were present concerning him that had so done this deed in the name of our lord
jesus christ when you're gathered together in my spirit with the power of our lord jesus christ
to deliver such a one into satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit
may be saved in the day of the lord jesus christ what is he saying he's saying i don't have to be
there i already know what you guys have to do you have to kick him out if this guy's committing
committing this heinous sin that's commonly reported he's not remorseful about it get him
out of here right why because it'll become a frostbite in this church it'll become diabetic
in this church it'll become a cavity in this church and you know what when someone sees
that someone is involved in fornication in the church and the pastor's not doing anything about
it he's kind of turning a blind eye to it that means other people are going to be like oh okay
maybe i can sleep around with my girlfriend too and nothing's going to happen to me i mean i love
her she loves me i mean we we love god and then they begin to allow that into the church that
begins to spread in the church my friends that's why you even have cesspools of sin in a lot of
churches you say how does pedophilia get into the church when things like this aren't corrected
that's how verse 6 says your glorying is not good know you not that a little leaven leaven
at the whole lump purge out therefore the old leaven that ye may be a new lump as you are
unleavened even for even christ our passover is sacrificed for us so what he's saying is like
just remove them and you know people today will hear them like yeah but how's the church going
to grow like that how are you going to reach people like that folks it's not my job to build
any church my job is to do this and to do what jesus told me to do his job is to build a church
amen his job is to bring people in his job is to build up the congregation based upon
my obedience and our obedience and us winning souls to christ that's our job right so how are
we going to say well you know i know jesus said this but we know a little better we're going to
keep these people around we're going to help them look this is the way you help them this is the way
we help them if you're involved in fornication you have you have a couple options number one
break up okay number two get married what get married oh i know how horrible what a horrible
thing to have to marry the girl that you're sleeping with oh that's so terrible
yeah in 2022 that would be terrible right well i'm not ready well it seems you're ready enough
to to you know commit the act of fornication though do you respect the girl enough to actually
marry her though well no okay then the only other option is that you break up
or if you're just unwilling to get that right if you're unwilling to repent of that then you need
to go to a different church that accepts that type of lifestyle but we don't accept it here
see you later amen and that's how it works you're like i don't agree with that well you know
there's plenty of churches that do you know that that don't practice that that you can go to
and that's your choice but that's how we do it here because we don't want sin to spread here
you know what our church started five years ago we've had nine marriages nine weddings at our
church i think nine right brother lisa's am i right approximately nine weddings at our church
of people who met and people who maybe yeah were involved in fornication and they got right they're
like you know we're just gonna get married amen and they got married and they live happily ever
after in christ oh what a terrible thing though huh to make them get married and make them have
just a great marriage and and just love each other and do it the right way how terrible that is to
make people do that it's crazy out there folks okay but look go to matthew chapter 18 go to
matthew chapter 18 now don't misunderstand this because you know sometimes people hear this and
like so does that mean you go around asking people are you in fornication are you in fornication are
you guys in fornication are you guys like sleeping together or something none of us do that right
okay i'm not the moral police here just kind of looking around making sure people are are
doing right or something like that but often i'll preach something like this and then people
come up to me and say well you know we're kind of living together and we're doing this and then
i'll present that option and by the way when you when people come to me it's not like oh you you're
so wicked wicked you're in our church and you're doing ah you're just like i just lose it or
something okay so don't think that like i just blow up on you just because you're committing
the act of fornication because i've heard it all before right and there's nothing new under the sun
okay i just give them those options is what i do you know and you know what the best option out
of all of those is just to get married amen because at that point then god's blessing can
be on your marriage god's blessing can be on your life and married life is just way better anyways
way better okay look at matthew 18 verse 7 it says well into the world because of offenses
for it must needs be that offenses come but woe to that man by whom the offense
offense cometh verse 8 wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee
cut them off and cast them from thee it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed
rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire and if thy right eye
offend thee or excuse me if an eye offending pluck it out and cast it from thee it is better for thee
to enter into life with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire skip
down to verse 15 so here in matthew chapter 18 verses 7 through 9 we see one of the most
controversial passages in the bible because of the fact that jesus christ is essentially saying
if there's a limb that's causing you to be offended go into sin you should cut it off you
know and he says of course it's better to enter into life with one eye or or maim than having
both eyes cast into the lake of fire and really at the end of the day what he's teaching to the
unsaved is that you need to cut off whatever is causing you to not get saved right okay that's
like the main interpretation of this passage of scripture okay you need to repent not from your
sin but from your dead works whatever you're trusting in to get you saved you need to remove
that from your life okay whatever ideology you know if you believe you have to worship
marry in order to be saved well you need to cut that off you understand but a secondary
application to this because it's in the same exact chapter is it's referring to church
discipline as well because if you remember the body in the local new testament church is
described as a body okay now look at verse 15 it says moreover if thy brother trespass against thee
go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone if he shall hear thee that was gained thy
brother but if you will not hear they didn't take with thee one or two more than in the mouth of two
or three witnesses every word may be established and if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto
the church but if you neglect to hear the church let him be unto thee as a heathen man and as a
publican now what is this referring to it's referring to church discipline so essentially
if a brother has ought against another brother in christ here at our church and that brother is
unwilling to repent of that then essentially they go to the church leadership to go confront that
individual if they're like i don't care i'm not getting that right i'm not doing x y and z
then at that point we execute church discipline and that person becomes as a heathen and as a
publican unto us what does that mean we basically excommunicate that person from the local new
testament church just as if a right eye or a right hand off envy you understand you cut it off and
you get rid of it that's what that's specifically referring to why well the main teaching here is
this it'll spread if you don't take care of it right removing a tooth is very painful but it's
going to be more painful if you allow it to spread to the other teeth understand you know removing a
foot because of diabetes because it's rotting is painful but it'll be more painful if they have to
remove the entire leg because at the end of the day it's going to spread it's going to be
detrimental to your entire church body's health understand go to first corinthians chapter 12
go back to first corinthians 12
here's one of my last points regarding church membership there are certain members that are
actually more necessary than others right now look what it says in verse 22 of first corinthians 12
nay much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary
and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable upon these we bestow more
abundant honor the bible says now what is he referring to well at the church at corinth
they were esteeming the gift of tongues more than the gift of prophecy prophecy meaning what
preaching so in the eyes of the corinthian church it was more important to be able to speak in
different languages than it was to preach the word of god so in other words they were honoring
other spiritual gifts more than the preaching of god's word but he's saying here
that the preaching that which is less esteem is actually more necessary
now why bring this up well you know because of the fact that sometimes people
churches members of different churches have a tendency to kind of not or they kind of
despise the preaching of god's work you know they want to come to church to kind of dance
to them it's just like yeah but what kind of worship service do you have though
who cares i mean we care to a certain extent but we don't you shouldn't base what church you go to
based off of what kind of worship is there right why because what's more necessary the preaching
is amen amen because just think what if they had the kind of worship you like but they have a bunch
of false doctrine from the pulpit it's not it's not a church worth going to amen right you know
and there's even independent fundamental baptist churches out there we're an independent fundamental
baptist church they will place more emphasis on the music ministry than on the preaching of god's
word they will sing and play instruments for like 45 minutes or something like that and then the
sermon is like 20 minutes you're like well i thought i was going to get a 20-minute sermon
today you're lucky if i stay under an hour and that doesn't always happen okay you know i preach
for about an hour but you know what it's because the preaching is far more important amen that's
right the preaching of god's word is the pre-eminent thing in the local new testament
church let me say this it's the most necessary thing for you to hear amen hey we're gonna have
the kids olympics that's gonna be fun we have an air hockey table that's fun sometimes we have
ice cream we have pizza we have fellowship all those things are great but the most necessary
aspect of our church is the preaching of god's word that's right most important part why because
the bible tells us to give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine that's what the bible
says okay look at first corinthians chapter 14. first corinthians chapter 14
it says in verse one follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts but rather
the e may prophesy for he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men but unto
god for no man understandeth him howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries but he that
prophesied speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort he that speaketh in an
unknown tongue edify it himself but he that prophesied edify the church and let me say this
the preaching of god's word is the most important part of his church service it should be of every
church service and in fact if you have a pastor out there who claims to preach god's word but he
doesn't study the bible it's worthless it's worthless why teach a 15-minute sermon and sing
for 45 minutes well that's not the emphasis of the new testament church and we love singing here
we love music we believe we should worship god and music and and with singing but it's not the
preeminent thing to do in a church and people wonder why there's so many churches out there
with biblically illiterate church members that don't know even even the basics of bible doctrine
it's because the pastor is not emphasizing bible doctrine that's why well i want to hear a sermon
on you know just give me a sermon on how to feel good or something give me a sermon on how
to get through the week you know every once in a while i'll give a sermon like that but you know
what you also need is just doctrine as well that's right you need to learn what the bible says my
friends you know there's christians out there who are saved who can articulate salvation very well
they can't even articulate how to get saved they can't even tell someone how to be saved they can't
even tell someone about the deity of jesus christ why because they're spiritually anemic in their
church that's why right we want to make sure we have a church that's that's that's serving steak
every service right and you know what it's not always going to be delicious steak sometimes it's
going to be liver amen you know liver is not the most uh delectable thing to eat but it's the most
nutrient-dense food out there my friends okay most nutrient-dense and yeah it tastes kind of
grainy when it gets in your mouth but it's so good for you though you know and you know what
in church sometimes we need a little bit of liver that's right yep sometimes you need to eat the
liver maybe put some maple syrup on there you know to help help it go down or whatever and eat it
well i kind of want you know can we just have like fries can we have just like potatoes and starch
and sugar and all those things you know we can have that after service but during the preaching
service you need nutrition you need to you need to actually learn something about the bible
you say well you know yeah i don't think god wants us to have that much look how big this
book is look how big this thing is you're trying to tell me that he spent all that time writing
this entire book but he only wants us to preach like this much of it i mean think about that my
friends the bible tells us to preach the entire council of god okay i must hasten here i'm pretty
much done okay go back to first corinthians 12 i'm going to skip a point here or i'm just going
to breeze through this point point number six is that soul wonders are the most commonly members
of a church of a body okay because the bible talks about the uncommonly parts of our body
are actually the most commonly commonly meaning beautiful attractive and if you think about it
you know feet happen to be the most unattractive part of a person's body sometimes some more than
others and you know you think about them you know the middle east people wearing sandals walking in
the desert they probably got had some ugly feet their feet were probably just atrocious you know
which is why when they would go into different homes they would wash their feet and stuff like
that god bless that person who was in charge in that home to wash the person's feet looking at
you know all corns and bunions and all that stuff you know calluses but you think to yourself well
that's the most uncommon part but the bible actually says that that's the most beautiful part
because the bible actually says how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of
glad tidings in god's eyes the most beautiful aspect of our church are the soul winners that
go out and preach the gospel because they're proclaiming the good news of jesus christ
it's the most beautiful aspect it's not the building it's not the paint on the wall
it's not the immaculate piano or how well people are dressed or what type of instruments they have
or what type of programs and nurseries and sunday school classes and activities
that's not the most beautiful part in god's eyes the most beautiful part in god's eyes
is when a group of people make the decision to say i'm going to take time out of my schedule
out of my week to go tell someone about the gospel so they can get saved because the gospel
is the death barrier and resurrection of jesus christ lastly is that when everyone understands
the structure of the body there is no division look at verse 24 for our comely parts have no need
but god has tempered the body together having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked
that there be no schism in the body but that the members should have the same care
one for another what is he saying you know when there's a schism there's a division
and we should not have a divided church what did i mean by that well this section believes in
calvinism this section believes you could lose your salvation this section believes in mormonism
or parts of johovah's witness doctrine these people right here and i'm not saying that's what
you guys believe okay i'm just giving you an example that would be like a divided church
these people believe you have to repent of your sins to be saved these people believe it's by
faith alone it's like you have a divided church there should be no schism in the body
well how do you uh how do you prevent a schism in the body by knowing the structure of a church
right by knowing who's in charge by knowing your place in a church by fulfilling your function
in a local new testament church that's how you do it okay what's the sermon for today well this is
true church membership and you know in our church we're not going to have you sign your life away
with the church covenant it's just like here's a covenant for you to sign you got to make sure
you got to make sure you tithe to this church you got to make sure that you go faithfully they
have that they'll give you a church covenant like a piece of paper and it says like um you have to
attend church faithfully by the way all the things that they require they're legitimate things amen
you should be tithing you should be going to church faithfully you should be sharing the
gospel but to sign a covenant a covenant is a contract right it's like you're signing your
contract to let us know that you're gonna do these things and let's just be honest most of
the pastors the part that they care about the most in that covenant is the tithing part
that's why they want you to sign that thing okay whereas we don't have a church covenant here
we're all part of the new covenant anyways okay you become a member of our church once you decide
first of all once you're saved you're baptized and you decide to become a functioning member
of our church come here and learn the word of god and and learn how to preach the gospel you're a
member of our church that's how it works okay and so you know i hope that what was preached today
as hard as it may have been to to your ears that you'd give heed to what was said because at the
end of the day folks we showed you from the bible amen and so let's pray father we thank you so
much for your word we're so thankful for uh jesus christ being our head lord and um this is probably
stark contrast to what a lot of churches do out there but we want to be able to be as close to
the word of god as possible and i pray that you'd help us to do so lord we love you we
thank you pray these things in jesus name amen