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Turn if you would to Ephesians chapter 4 because this is this is the key verse. This is a critical passage And I've been hitting on this a lot lately at our church But this has just been standing out so much to me lately and how important this is I cannot stress it enough Getting this just cemented in your mind the importance of being in church To Help establish you in your faith. It just cannot be understated Because God has ordained men to establish the believers and we saw this passage earlier today in first the salamis 3 you turn into Ephesians 4 where Timothy was sent remember I was talking about the comfort that he that he was bringing by being sent But I'm gonna reread that passage in first the salamis 3 for you tonight the Bible says wherefore when we could no longer forbear we thought it good to be left at Athens alone and sent to Mothius our Brother and minister of God and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith So it says there we're sitting there to establish you to get you founded to get you rooted down So they're sending Timothy to do this job with this new church plant with this younger church to make sure that they're established That no man should be moved by these afflictions for yourselves No that we are pointed there on to the reason why I'm bringing this up again is because This is of God that Timothy would go and establish these people because they need help being established and grounded and God is ordained for men to do so and We see in Ephesians chapter 4 That God is given Gifts particular gifts unto people unto men in order to perform the job that he would have for them Which is all for the edifying of the body of Christ One Of the fundamental truths that we believe in is that your local church your local independent church is a body It's a body. Yes of believers, but this is the body of Christ Christ is at the head of this church right here Christ is at the head Christ is at the one that we should be looking To for all the direction for the knowledge for the brain center right of the church is coming from Christ But every single person in this church is a member of the body and each member of the body Performs different functions and God would have you to fill particular roles within this church Why because God has a great work for this body? Collectively as a whole to do to bring glory unto Jesus Christ and in order for that work to be done The tasks need to be distributed amongst the members and we see this in 1st Corinthians chapter 14 You know where the Bible talks a lot about the different members and it goes into you know If the whole body were the eye then where were they hearing if the whole body? Were the ear then where were the smelling right? Obviously our physical bodies have different members different Bits of components that were comprised of that all perform different functions, but they're all necessary. They're all really important In order for our body to be the most effective in doing any particular job. We need to have Everything working well together We need to have the eyes seeing and the hands feeling and in Gripping and we need to be able to hear things and smell things and we need everything in its place and working properly In order to just be at full capacity full potential and ready to do as much work as possible I mean think about how much work You're limited by even when you fall ill when you get sick And you're not at a hundred percent and something's wrong in your body, you know, you have some infection somewhere You can't really function and perform the way that you could if everything was going well in the church It's the same way God needs everybody here everybody. They don't feel like hey, I'm just new here. I'm not that important Look God has you here for a reason. God was building this church. It's not man that builds this church God is gonna build this church God is gonna bring people into this church that he has a place for here if you're here He has a place for you to fill in this church in this body Okay, and you may not know exactly what that is, but that's okay But don't ever feel like you think that well, you know, what about what can I do? There's always something for you to do and God would have something for you to do here as well and being here is extremely important I brought up earlier this morning About people, you know being just comforted by knowing, you know When they see you and encouraging you and when you're not here that actually is taking away from the body and the Bible teaches us here in Ephesians chapter 4 look down at verse number 7 The Bible says but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ Wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men So God has given gifts for a specific purpose for a specific role Verse number 9 now that he ascended what is it? But that he also descended first in the lower parts of the earth He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things Look at verse 11 and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers so He's giving these gifts unto men why because he has a job to fill he has roles for them to fill so he's giving Apostles and prophets and evangelists pastors and teachers and he tells us what the purpose what is the role? What is the function for these men that have these gifts have been given unto them to fill a role of God? Look at verse number 12. It says for the perfecting of the Saints Now a saint don't get the Catholic notion of a saint That's the common world's Perception of what a saint is the other Catholics would say Oh a saint to someone who did all this great work And they ascended into this this position of sainthood that they're these really holy people Look a saint is a holy person But it's not because you've done so many great works a saint is a holy person because you've been sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ so every believer in Jesus Christ is a saint because you've been sanctified you've been washed by the blood of Christ We believe in the sainthood of the believer That we are all saints everyone who's been sanctified by Jesus Christ is a saint and these men these positions these gifts have been given From God for the perfecting of the Saints for you to be Perfected to be complete to to not be lacking in any area. That is the number one reason that's listed It's for you. These positions are given these apostles and pastors and teachers and evangelists therefore you It's not for them to have glory It's it's to be ministers unto the people unto the Saints at large to the body for the perfecting of Christ Excuse me for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ What's edifying means it means you're building them up, right? God has given for these men to help build you up to help you to be strengthened the whole body Collectively wants a whole body to be strengthened built up ready and prepared to do the work set before you