(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

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.