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

Amen. So, of course, on Sunday we've been going through the distinctive doctrines, a series we started just going through that Baptist acronym with each letter of that word Baptist, meaning standing for a specific doctrine that is unique to Baptists, that is a distinctive of Baptists, and we're going through that. Of course, we find ourselves today in the letter, where are we at? We're in S, excuse me. So, Saved and Baptized Church Membership. I'm going to get it out here. So, we were going through, if you recall, we went through biblical authority was the first one, the inerrancy and preservation of scripture. We went through the autonomy of the local church. We looked at the priesthood of the believer. We looked at the two ordinances and the believer's baptism and the Lord's Supper. And, of course, we looked at individual soul liberty last week. And that one's going to kind of tie in with this morning as well. But what I want to look at this morning is the doctrine of a Saved and Baptized Church Membership. Now, obviously, this would apply to everyone in the room because of the fact that you're in church. So, you know, that should be something that we would pay attention to and understand that, you know, what is it that makes a church? What is it that makes us members of a church? Who should be part of a church? And all of that. Now, I want to start out, of course, keep something there in Acts Chapter 2. We're going to come back later in the sermon. But if you would turn over to Ephesians Chapter 5. Ephesians Chapter 5. You know, I think it's important when we start out here just to define the word church. We're talking about Saved and Baptized Church Membership. And you can be a member of a lot of different things today. You could be a member of a gym. You could be a member of some kind of a club. You could be a member of a lot of different things. And we're talking about being a member of a church. So what is a church? What does it even mean to be in the church? Or what is a church? And basically, a church is just this. It is the assembly of believers. We are in church this morning, not because we've met in this specific building. This building is not the church. And that's important. That's worth noting because a lot of people get this idea and this mentality and this philosophy that that church is all about the building. And I've been in churches like this where they're just all about their building. And that becomes the primary focus of a ministry. And typically when that becomes when a building, when a physical structure starts to become the focus of a ministry, a lot of things start to go downhill. The emphasis not putting where it needs to be, which is on the people. Because that's what makes a church, is the people that gather there. We're probably familiar with these passages, but in Hebrews 12, that says, saying, I will declare unto, in Hebrews 2-12, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing praise unto thee. And of course, we know he's quoting Psalms 22, which reads, I will declare thy name unto thy brethren in the midst of the congregation. So what is the church? It is the congregation, is the coming together of the assembly of the believers. Meaning this, that no matter where we assemble, we're in church. It's not because we're at 1955 West Grant Road, it's week 160 that we're in church. It's because it's Sunday morning, it's the first day of the week, and we've come together for the preaching and the teaching of God's word, for prayer, and for worship of God. That's what makes the church this morning. If we did it here, if we did it on the parking lot, if we did it in some other building, or even if need be in somebody's home, we would still be in church. Because again, it's not the building, it's the coming together of the people. And it's also important, whenever you bring up this topic, to understand that we reject this universal, or Catholic, that's what the word Catholic means, universal, this universal church theory that somehow all believers are united in one universal church. That there's a, you know, we're here in church this morning, but somewhere over on the East Coast, there's another church, and we're all part of this same church. That's not how we look at it. That's not that we reject that. We don't believe in, you know, one, just invisible church sometimes, we'll hear it called that as well. And the reason why I reject that is because that's not how the New Testament addresses the church. It addresses the church in plural form. Over 37 times, you'll see the word churches, and God is addressing specific individual churches. And yes, he does use the term the church, and we'll look at that a little bit later, what he means by that. But we have to understand that the New Testament does not support this idea of a universal or invisible church, because of the, just because of the fact that we see him addressing churches individually. Now there are some scriptures that might give you that impression that there is this universal church. And one of those is Ephesians, when you're turning there to Ephesians 5, I'll read to you Colossians chapter 1, here it says, and he is the head of the body, the church, who was the beginning, the first born of the dead, that he might have, that in all things he might have the preeminence. So it does say that Christ is the head of the church, that he is the head of the body of the church, right? If you're there in Ephesians 5, you'll see another one where you might kind of get this impression, or think that somehow we're all part of some universal church this morning. It says in verse 23, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, okay? And he is the savior of the body. Another one would be Matthew chapter 16. If you would, turn over to Matthew chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16. Now Christ, no doubt about it, is the head of the church. He is the head of this church. Faithful word, Baptist Church. He is the head, and we are the body. Matthew chapter 16, verse 18, it says, and I say also unto me that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So he's saying that he is going to build his church, Christ's church is going to be built. But here's how I understand these scriptures, in light of the fact that we are not part of a universal church, that we are not part of some invisible body, but that we were made up of individual congregations. It's the fact that Christ is still building that church. He said, I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also. And you go, you know, in my father's south ceremony mansions, he said he was going to go ahead and prepare a place, right? I believe he's still building that church. He's still building a church that is yet to come. And what that is, is when we will all be congregated together in one place. So that church, there is going to be a universal church where all believers are assembled together in heaven, where we're all together in one place. But again, what is that? It is the assembly of the believers into one church. We won't have these multitude of churches, but you'll have everybody in the millennial reign, we're all going to be a part of one church, just like we all came to the faith-aware Baptist Church in Tucson this morning. Well in that time, we're all going to be in one place. Then we all will be one congregation, physically. But the difference is we'll all presently be there in the flesh, in the spirit, in the new man. We'll all be there in the same place at the same time. That's what will make it that church. You see that in Ephesians chapter 1, in verse 9. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 9, if you are there, flip back. He says, Having made known, beginning of verse 9, unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he had purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the full of his times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, which both are which in heaven, and which are in earth, even in him. So there is going to come a time when God gathers all things together in Christ, the things which are in earth, and the things which are in heaven. They're all going to be gathered together in Christ. So I believe that's what Christ is referring to, is the fact that one day, he says he is the head of the church, that he's building his church, is that, yeah, it's referring to the fact that one day we are going to be one body. We're going to be gathered together, those things which are in heaven and in earth, gathered together in one in Christ in heaven. Until that time, we have a multitude of churches. We have a plurality of churches. We see that throughout Scripture. So, but what is church? Okay, we kind of define the fact that it's not a building, it's people, and that it's not just this universal Catholic church doctrine where we're all part of this invisible church somehow. But what else is a church is the fact that church is made up of people, yes, but who are those people? What kind of people make up the church? Well, a church is made up of people who have willingly decided to follow Jesus and associate one with another. And we kind of talked about this last week, how we have the individual's sole liberty to choose whether or not you believe certain doctrines, that the church isn't here to force doctrines or coerce you or, you know, say you can't be a member of this church if you don't believe exactly everything the same way we do. Of course, we talked about there are lines that are drawn, there are certain doctrines that must be upheld. But this kind of ties in with that and the fact that, you know, church is made up of people who want to be here. And if you would turn over back over to Acts chapter 2, verse 41. You know, with the exception of maybe some children this morning, probably everybody is here because they want to be. They're doing it because they understand that they should be. But it's not because someone's forcing you to be here. You know, this is a voluntary assembly of the believers. That's what makes up a church. It says there in Acts chapter 2, look at verse 41, Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. So notice there that they received it how they received it gladly, you know, they were, they were willingly doing this, they were happy to do it, they were glad to receive the word. You know, there was they didn't have their arm twisted, they weren't, you know, it wasn't something they did against their will, it was something that they wanted to do, they were glad to receive it. You know, and kind of again, going back to the children in the, you know, kids growing up in church, they're going to have to decide one day whether or not this is for them. You know, while you're under mom and dad's roof, you know, that's the rule, you go to church, then that's it. You know, children are to obey their parents and all things. You know, my kids don't wake up on Sunday morning wondering if they're going to church. They already know. They don't wonder on the midweek service if tonight's a church night, if they're going to church. They already know they're going to church. It's not even a question. That's something that, you know, I settled long before becoming a parent, that I was gonna be in church every time I could, every time the church doors were open, you know, and I understand that we have seasons in life where things change and we get busy and we can't make every service. I'm not saying you're in sin if you make every service, but generally speaking, you know, church should have that kind of priority in our life. I mean, it's important. And after all, it's what Christ died for. You know, Christ died for the church. And we're going to get into a little bit why it's important to be in church, but you know, the kids, you know, the kids, they do, some kids might feel like they're kind of just getting drug along. You know, that they kind of, well, I have to be there. And you know what? They do. That's true. Yeah, you have to be here. If you're my child, you have to be here. You know, it's one of my rules. It's not an option. It's not an option for me. But here's the thing. When they become adults, when they're grown and start to live their own lives, will they gladly receive that same role? Will they still gladly receive, you know, that tradition that was passed down to them from their parents of going to church on a regular basis, of being members of an independent, fundamental Baptist church? You know, we pray that they do, you know, and, but here's the thing, they're gonna have to decide that for themselves. And just like all of us this morning as adults have decided that for ourselves, you know, we made the decision to be here. And that's what makes up a church. The church is made up of people who want to be here, who desire to be here. It says there, it goes on in verse 42, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. So church is made up by people who continue in doctrine, right? That's a big part of what makes us this kind of church that we are. It's the doctrines that we believe. So a church is made up of people not only who desire to be there, but it's also made up of people who agree on certain doctrines. You know, we all, we're not, we're not, we're not going to go to this church one day and then go over to the Episcopalian church the next. You know, we're not getting a Baptist church on Sunday and the next week we're going to find ourselves in the Methodist church. And why is that? Because we understand doctrine. We understand the Bible. We understand the differences in what we believe. You know, and there's a lot of different churches out there today that teach a lot of different things. And that's why we all have the responsibility to search the scriptures for ourselves as we discussed last week and determine what it is that we believe for ourselves and let that be our guide and let that determine what kind of church we're going to be founded. So we see that they continued in doctrine. Church is made up of people who agree on doctrine. Notice also there it says, and they continue to the apostles doctrine and it says, and fellowship. So church is consistent, you know, it makes up, it's made up of two things. You know, it's people who are wanting to be there to, because they believe that the same thing as others, they desire to be there. And not only that, it's because they want to be around God's people. You know, that's another thing that makes up a church is the fellowship that goes on with it. And, you know, if you think about it, if you didn't want to be here, you probably wouldn't be, you know, and if church was full of people that you couldn't stand, you probably wouldn't come, right? I mean, we're here because we enjoy one another's company because we want the fellowship and because we want to be in the same, we want to go where the people that have the same doctrine as us. So go ahead and turn over to Acts. You're still in Acts 2. Let's continue on here in verse 43. It says in verse 43, and fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were gathered together and had all things common, Acts 2 verse 45, and sold their possessions and goods and part of them to all men, as every man had need. Now, we're not going to model ourselves after that church, okay? We're not going to turn into a commune here, all right? But this was a, you understand this is a very unique time, right? This is when they were very early on in the church. There was a lot of persecution. It was a different time. We don't need to go to that extreme today where we're all going to sell our goods and distribute one to another, okay? But there was a reason why they did that back then. And again, the Bible doesn't command us to do that. It's just telling us what they did, right? And it says in verse 46, and they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all people, and the Lord added to the church such as should be saved. Now, that verse there, that towards the end where it says the Lord added to the church such as should be saved, sometimes that throws people. They say, oh, the Lord picks and chooses who should be saved and who shouldn't know. And again, we talked about that at length last week. It's just a different way of saying things. It's, you know, it's a, we don't speak in the same way often as the Bible does because it's an older, you know, English has evolved over time. But basically what he's saying, you know, is that people who are added to the church should be saved. You know, meaning this, that people who are members of a church, it's because they're saved. Now, that's not to say that people who are not saved are not welcome in church. They are. But does that make them a member of the church? It does not. A church membership is made up of people who have believed in Jesus Christ. That's what makes you a church member. That is a prerequisite. You know, who's going to be part of the church? It's going to be people who are saved. And we understand that, you know, it ties in again that salvation is an individual decision, right? We all have to decide for ourselves whether or not we're going to accept Christ or reject Christ. You know, when we're presenting with the gospel, we have to decide whether or not we're going to believe or not. But that does not mean that the Christian life is a solo endeavor. You know, yes, it's an independent decision that you make to get saved, but after that, the Christian life is one that requires fellowship, that requires being in a church to be admonished, to be exhorted, to being approved, to being reviewed, to be, you know, to be sent out to do the work of the spreading gospel. That takes a local church. God has designed the New Testament church to be the instrument through which he reaches the world with the gospel. And, you know, we accomplish a lot more as individuals when we're part of an assembly of believers. You know, that is something very important to understand. The church isn't just this optional thing. I mean, it's optional, right? But at the same time, it's, it's, it's, that doesn't mean, let me, how can I put this without, church, church is voluntary. That's what I'm trying to say. Church is voluntary, but that does not make it optional. Does that make sense? Yes. You can choose whether or not you're going to be here, but in God's eyes, is church optional? No. Did God say, well, yeah, if you feel like going to church, go ahead. I know I sent my son to die for the church. You know, he shed his blood for the church, that it's, he calls the church his bride. You know, I know it's, you know, how I'm going to reach the world with the gospel, but it's up to you whether or not you want to go. But, you know, it's okay if you don't. No, yes, it's voluntary, but that does not make it optional, right? Let's go ahead and, go or turn over to Hebrews chapter 3, Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3. The Bible exhorts us to be in church. The Bible tells us to be in church. That, and there's a lot, you know, Bible talks a lot about loving the brethren, you know, and, and, and, and having fellowship and bearing one another's burdens. You're not going to do that without a church. You're not going to bear one another's burdens if you don't have, if you don't know anybody. Right. I mean, how can I know how to, what, what to help you with or what encouragement you need if you're never in church? If you're, if I don't even know your name. If you've never, if you never come. It's impossible. Look there in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 12. He says, take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily what is called today? He's saying, look, we should be exhorting one another daily. You know, I mean, are we doing that? You know, how are we going to do? I mean, we're, we should be at least getting that in at least once a week. Right. We should be at least getting it in twice a week, three times a week. The Bible, you know, that, I don't think that's a lot to ask. The Bible says we should be doing it daily. You know, and we could be doing that, you know, in our homes, with our friendships, you know, in other ways. But I mean, that should tell you that being in church is pretty important. That we need to be exhorted. Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Turn over to Hebrews chapter 10. Again, a very familiar topic or scripture. Anytime this past, this topic of church membership or church attendance comes up, you'll probably end up in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24, where the Bible reads, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. So the Bible is telling us that even in Paul's day, there was a certain people had a manner, they had a habit, they had a way of not being in church. Right. He says, look, don't forsake, and look at there again in verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together. Now, what do we define church as? The assembling of ourselves together. This is talking about church. That is what church is, the assembly of the believers. He's saying, don't forsake that. You know, don't, that's not something that you should take for granted. That isn't something that you should just say, I can do without. It's important. Being in church is important. And he says, as the manner of, don't forsake the assembling ourselves together as the manner of some is. So some people have a manner of forsaking church. And we see that a lot today. You know, and it was even going on in Paul's day and nothing, there's nothing new in the sun. Nothing's changed. There's a lot of people, even today, that forsake the assembly of the church. You know, I, I, I guarantee you there's people in Tucson that are safe, that even listen to, to, to pastor Anderson's sermons on a regular basis. And they know this church is here, but they won't come because they, because they forsake the assembling of themselves together, you know, and they can have whatever excuse they want. You know, they don't like the preacher that's down here. The building's too small. It's, it's too, whatever excuse they have. Well, you know what? It doesn't change the fact that they're forsaking the assembly of themselves together. Right. And, and, and God says, don't do that. You know, he didn't see that. There's no caveat here in scripture. It says, you know, if you find it preferable, you know, if it's to your liking, assemble yourself together. You know, if it meets, if it meets your criteria, your personal preferences, that's not what he says. Does we ought to be in church and not forsaking it as the manner of some is, you know, and some people I've even known, heard from people who even say things like, Oh, pastor Anderson's my pastor. Right. But they don't, they don't even live in the state. You know, they don't even, they don't even go to a church where they live and they say, Oh, but pastor Anderson's my pastor. Well, it's nice that you think that, but the fact is he isn't. And I don't, I mean, I've named the pastor just because you tune into some preacher online does not make him, that does not make him your pastor. I mean, the pastor is the pastor of the flock. He's the, he's given the oversight of the flock locally. Right. You know, he used to oversee a local assembly. So to have him as your pastor, you have to actually show up and be a part of that church. You have to, you know, we have to see the whites of your eyes to be considered a member of the church. So, and if the people have that attitude, they think that, well, you know, if I tune in to all the services and I might, they might even send their tithe over, you know, in the mail, you know, or an offering. Great. But that does not make you a member of Faithful Word Baptist Church. What makes you a member is actually being there. Okay. So again, church is, being a church is voluntary. I know I kind of already stressed this, but I wanted to stress a little bit more. Being here, totally up to you. You know, no one's gonna, and I don't want to get too ahead of myself, you know, but it's up to you to be here. You know, I'm not gonna hunt you down. Right? Right. But that doesn't make it optional. That doesn't mean it's a give or take type of thing where you can just say, well, I feel like it, you know, or, or I don't, you know, you should be here at all possible. So go back to Ephesians chapter four. I should add to keep something there. When you get there, keep something there, because we're going to move again and come back. So book, we're, we're, we're done in Acts two, but if you would keep something Ephesians four. Let's say, is it really that important? I mean, how important is church? I mean, why, why is God, why is it important that I don't forsake the assembly? I mean, what's so important about it? What, why, what can I get, you know, what I can get to this online. There's nothing I can't learn that's being preached. I can't learn online. That's true. But you know what? One of the elements of church is fellowship. Right. You can't get that online. You can't download the fellowship. Right. And that's a big part. I mean, preaching is important. You know, the doctrine is important. The sowing is important. You know, a big important part of church is the fellowship of just knowing that there's somebody else out there that believes and feels and thinks like you do that goes through the same things you do, you know? And I think this is especially important for ladies. You know, those of us that have wives, you know, we're living in a day and age where, you know, the homeschooling mother who's having children is, you know, the oddball in society. Right. You know, they say, well, why aren't you, why don't you, why don't you have a career? Right. Why aren't you in slacks? Why aren't you on birth control? Right. Right. And, you know, these seems like real basic things, but this is a big part of, you know, a Christian wife and mother's life is that, you know, she has standards. She has a way she's living. It's a lifestyle. And, you know, if we keep her out of the church, you know, she's not going to have that fellowship. And it can be real, it's hard to feel like you're isolated pretty quick. I mean, I know even we as men, we don't, we might not stick out as much in society because of the fact that we, even the women dress like we do these days. Right. You know, but, but we even as men, we still need that fellowship. We still need to know that we're going to go somewhere where it's not going to just be all about, you know, the football game, the dirty jokes, the beers, and everything else that goes on in the world. It's not just going to be a bunch of worldly talk. Right. But there's actually going to be people there that are kindred spirits that read their Bibles, that have questions about the Bible, that find interesting things in the Bible. They want to share with somebody that would actually find it interesting. There's a fellowship in the spirit that we, we don't have online. You just can't get it. You can't get it in the comment section, you know, with your anonymous avatar account. Right. You don't know who you're talking to out there half the time. So church is important, you know? Yeah, it's voluntary. You know, you can decide whether or not you want to be here, but in God's eyes, that does not make it optional. Okay. And why is it so important? Well, let's look here in Ephesians chapter four and see if God thinks church is important. Verse 11 of Ephesians four, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers so they can preach into a vacuum for themselves so that they can learn to enjoy the sound of their own voice. Is that why God raised up teachers and preachers? No. It goes on to verse 12. For the perfecting of the saints. You know, the reason why we assemble and have somebody stand up and preach to us the word of God is so that we could be made perfect. Now that doesn't mean perfect. Like we mean it today, like without sin or without fault. It means being a complete whole, right? We for the perfecting of the saints so that we can be whole Christians, that we can have the whole thing. For the work of the ministry, you know, that's why we have preaching. That's why we have teaching. It's not just for the perfecting of the saints so that we can be better Christians, but also for the work of the ministry. Right. What is the work of the ministry? Going out and knocking these doors on Tucson and trying to preach the gospel. That's right. And to get souls saved. And even under the uttermost parts of the world. That's a pretty big job. You know, and you're not going to do that on your own. You know, the guy who wants to say, well pastor Anderson's my pastor because, you know, I tune in three times a week and I don't, I don't even go to a local church. I live in another state or wherever. You know, that, you know, that guy is not going to be doing the work of the ministry. He's not. And if he's doing it, he's not doing anywhere near the degree that he should be or could be. Right. If you were part of a local church. That's right. Because here's the thing, when you're part of a local church, you know, when you see other people go soul winning, that makes you want to go soul winning. You know, or when you don't want to go soul winning, you know, you go anyway because you know that's the thing to do. You see other people doing it. You know, you see other people who maybe are getting off work and coming straight to church to go soul winning. That encourages you to say, you know what, I'm going to do the same. Amen. You know, you see other people who have made it important. It helps you make it important yourself. So we see that going to church is, you know, it's, it's very important. It's not just so that we can, you know, you know, please the preacher or make him feel important or something like that. But it's actually for us. It's for us to be built up. It's for us to learn to do 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. Right. We have this local assembly until we all come in the unity of the faith. Right. When we are all assembled in heaven with Christ. That's how important it is. This is getting, you know, this is like a, the church here is kind of like a, you know, a pit stop on our way to heaven, you know, where we get a little, we get a little refueling every week when we come in and, and we, we get another, it's just like a, it's a help along the way. So I'm trying to say it's, it's like a way station. It says, so we all come in the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, under the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ. So until we reach heaven, until we are part of that congregate great assembly in heaven, we need churches to help us. We need church to help us along the way. We need church to edify us. We need it to exhort us. We need it to provoke us onto love and to good works. That's the, how important church is. Look there in verse 14, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, the slight of men. People who aren't in church, they're unstable. A lot of times people who are getting all their, all their so-called church from, from the internet. They also ended up getting a lot of other stuff. They end up getting a lot of slight of men. They also get a cunning crappiness. They get a lot of deception online, right? They're, oh yeah, they've got the great, they've got the sound, a little preaching that they're taking in, but they look over the sidebar, you know, their YouTube suggestions. And then they're like, well, I might as well take this in. Next thing you know, you're listening to some heretic, like, like Charles Lawson or whatever, Lawson, you know, or, or some idiots can tell you about hollow earth or something like that and fill your mind with nonsense. And what are you going to be? You're going to be like a child tossed to and fro, every winded wave of doctrine, right? And that's what a lot of people who are, who are not, who get out of church and stay out of church, that's what their life is like, just being tossed to and fro. They're not grounded. They're not rooted. They're not built up. In order to grow and to build up, you have to be rooted. Amen. You can't, you can't build a structure without a base. You have to have a solid, firm base. My friend that base this morning is the local church. This is the, this is the rock. This is where we need to do the work. Christ's sayings, his or the rock of his sayings are going to be taught and preached in a, in a sound manner. And we need to be here in order to be built up in the faith. He goes on there and says in verse 16, speaking the truth and love may grow up into him and all things, which is the head and the Christ from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which supply at every joint, every joint supply. According the effectual working the measure of every part, making increase of the body onto the edifying of itself and love. Now that's working. There's a lot going on there, right? But he says that it's making increase of the body onto the edifying of itself in love. It's edifying of itself. You know, a big part of the, why it's important to be in church is because just you being here edifies another person, right? I mean, it tells other people that it's important and edifies itself in love. And it even back, it says there that it make an increase of the body. You know, if we're here faithfully and other people come in and they say, Oh, there's something going on here. I'm going to stick around and then other people come in. Oh, there's something going on here. I'm going to stick around. And the body begins to grow in that way. But if everybody's just kind of coming and going whenever they feel like it, they're here one day, then they're not, then they're gone for a while, then they come back. You know, that's not edifying. That's not increasing. You know, that's, that's fluctuating. You know, we want to be like this and I get it. You know, not every, this is just church. Is it for everybody? But for those who it's for, they ought to be here and they ought to be faithful to it as much as they can. Because here's the thing, helping church will help you. You know, when we go to church, we're the, we're helping ourselves, you know, we're, we're, it's going to build us up. And it's where we're going to get the fellowship that we need is where he's kind of talked about, because again, church is for believers. That's who it's for. Are unsaved people welcome to come visit? Absolutely. But, you know, unsaved people who are going to stay unsaved and try to preach heresy or just want to come here and start a food bank and just want to minister to the homeless. This isn't your church. There's another church somewhere else you can find. Some lady gave us the address last week, right? Some Baptist church where you can go and you can bring your soup cans and, and, and, you know, hang out with a bunch of unsaved people who don't even believe the right gospel sometimes, often in many cases. But church is to be made up of people who believe the gospel, who are saved. And that's why we need to be here, because we are to have fellowship with believers and not unbelievers, right? We should be having fellowship with believers. You know, our closest friends in life should be the stem from the relationships that we make in church. Now I'm not saying we have to be best friends with everybody, but you know, the people that we have meaningful relationships with, we should be finding those in church. Look there in a, in a, we'll just stay in Ephesians. I'll read to you probably know 2 Corinthians 6, where it says, be not unequally yoked with unbelievers. Now it doesn't say don't have anything to do with them. It's just saying, don't be yoked up with them. You know, don't be in the same, down for the same cause with them, you know, not endeavoring to the same goals as an unbeliever. Now, obviously we have to go out in the world and rub shoulders with unbelievers. You know, we have to go to work with them and wear a witness to them and things like that. But when it comes to, you know, what we're going to accomplish with our life, you know, it should be found within a local church. And we should have the same goals as other believers have. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness. Now more specifically, that would tell us that unbelievers are not to make up a church, to make up the church membership. Because they're darkness. You know, they don't have the Spirit of God living in them. And the church is supposed to be made up of people who are believers in Christ. So in order to have that, you know, we all have to be saved. You know, and a church is supposed to be made up of believers so that we can all be in unity. You know, the Bible emphasizes unity in the local church a lot. He talks about it quite a bit. Look there in Ephesians chapter four, verse one. Ephesians four, verse one. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all loneliness and weakness and longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Why is it, why is it so important that we endeavor? You know endeavor, that's, you know, that is, you know, denoting effort. You know, this isn't just like something that's just going to happen on its own. You say look, this is something you have to work at. This is something you have to kind of keep on your radar. This is something you have to, you know, set out and purpose to do. You're going to have to endeavor to do this, right? Endeavor to keep the Spirit, to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Why is that? Why do we have to do that? Because of verse four. There is one body, one Spirit, even as you're called, the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, the Father of all. You know, there isn't another option out there. You know, it's not like if we say, well, I don't want anything to do with the church. I'm just going to go join, you know, I'm just going to start doing whatever else you do besides church. You know, it's not like God has, you know, options for you where you're going to get your fellowship and where you're going to learn and grow in Christ. It's the church that's going to do that for you, nothing else. You know, people get, you know, there's plenty other things to keep you busy on a Sunday. You know, I pass every Sunday morning, I go by that stupid racetrack up there on the 10. I still haven't figured out what they're racing on that little thing. If it's go-karts or I think it's radio control cars. You know, is that what it is? That's what they're doing right now. I wonder how many Christians are there. I wonder how many born-again, saved believers are out racing radio control cars on Sunday morning. I'm not against racing radio control cars if that's your thing. But you know what? Sunday morning ain't the time for it. You got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. I mean, we're living in a society of the, you know, the 40-hour work week. You know, that's the ideal. That's what everyone's shooting for, right? Not everyone gets that, but you know, most people have, a lot of people have plenty of time in their week to do whatever else they want. But what are people spending most of their time on Sunday doing other things? At home watching the game, church is going on. I mean, church is becoming less and less important to people today. It's becoming the manner of many people today, not just some, to forsake the assembling of themselves together. But here's the thing, you don't have another option. If you want to grow in Christ, if you want to be rooted and grounded and built up in Him, you don't have another option besides a local church. This is it. This is God's, this is how God's going to build you up as a Christian, the local church. You know, and it's going to be through just the preaching of His word that's going to do it. And the study that you do your own, of course, and learning how to go out and preach the gospel and having fellowship with others, with others in the church, that's what's going to build you up. It's not going to be through, you know, I'm going to go do hot yoga on Sunday or whatever, you know, some stupid, all these other things that people want to, you know, I'm going to find, you know, my church is in nature and, you know, the lake is my church. Nope. You're supposed to be a fisher of men, right? You're not going to catch any men up the lake, you know, by casting a physical rod into the water. So this is God's method, the local church. That's how important it is. The God's decided that He's going to use the local church to reach the world of the gospel. He's going to use the local church to build up His people and to edify them. And really, this is the danger of seeker-friendly churches. You know, they're just, everyone, these churches, they just want to bring in the unsaved. You know, they want to bring them in and preach them the gospel in the church. But here's the thing, the church is for saved people. And you go into these seeker-friendly churches, these non-denominational churches, these fun houses that call themselves churches, and the danger of that philosophy of being seeker-friendly is that it leads to compromise and it leads to confusion. Now, it leads to compromise because, you know, if you want to try to just bring people in, you're not going to preach the offensive parts of the word of God. You're going to skip over that because you're just trying to build up. You're just trying to get saved or unsaved. You just want people in church. That's what they want. They just want a big church. I'm not against a big church. If it comes, you know, if the Lord builds a church and it gets big, amen. If it's filled with high, you know, quality people who just love God's word, love soul-winning, I want, you know, as many of those as we can get. But what we're not going to do is compromise the word of God for the sake of just bringing people in. And that's what people who get in these seeker-friendly churches are in danger of, you know, getting involved with is where it's just going to be a church that's never going to preach hard on sin, never going to take any controversial stands. And believe me, you know, we're living in a day and age where some controversial stands need to be taken on the word of God, where God's people need to stand up and take a stand and suffer, you know, the persecution that comes as a result. And a lot of these churches out there, they don't want to do that because they're more interested in just filling up seats than they are actually preaching the truth of God's word. And, you know, that's the danger of a seeker-friendly church is that they start to compromise doctrine or controversial things. And it leads to confusion because when you have, you're not preaching clear doctrine, you're not saying this is what the Bible says, this is what we believe, and we don't accept anything else, you know, improving all things from the word of God, then you have a lot of confusion because now everyone's believing different things. I mean, I remember early on in my Christian life, I was, you know, long story short, I ended up going to, before I got in a Baptist church, I was going to this like youth meeting on, you know, maybe it was at somebody's house with all these different young people. And I didn't realize it at first, but they were all coming from all these different churches. We had Assemblies of God, we had Na Na Na, we had Baptist, we had all of it, it was just a melting pot. And I remember, you know, they would just get together to, you know, play guitar and sing some sappy song for a while, and then you would have a little, then we'd break off and have our little prayer group, and then we'd basically sit around and eat potato chips and play Uno, right, which is why we were all there. It was for the fun, and that was great. But, you know, the thing is, we had a lot of different kids from a lot of different backgrounds, and anytime, I remember I brought up speaking in tongues because I wanted to know about this subject. And, you know, they're all just like, well, we just, you know, we all believe differently here, people have different beliefs, so we just don't talk about that. Well, how's that going to help me as, you know, make any decisions about what I believe about the Bible? Right. It's not. And I started to find out real quick that it was just, it was kind of just, you know, it was just a fun time. It wasn't spiritual at all. I don't care, you know, how many times you play the same chorus over and over, and how high you lift your hands in the air, that doesn't make it spiritual. Right. What makes it spiritual is when you get into the Word of God and expound it. Yeah, right. And that's what these seeker-friendly churches lack. This is what they're not doing, you know, and that's the, that's the danger of that kind of a church. So, we have to have unity in the local church because, because the local church is made up of the leavers, people who are saved. It's not for the unsaved. And that's why, and if you think about it, that's why church attendance has to be voluntary. Because of the fact that we, we teach here that you must conform to Scripture. Your beliefs must conform to the Bible. Your standards, your way of living have to line up with the Bible. And here's the thing, not everybody likes that. Not everyone's willing to do that. Right. And that's why it has to be voluntary. I can't make you line up with the Bible. I can't twist your arm, put you in a full Nelson, give you noogies, you know, and make you say uncle, you know, and make you believe the Bible. You have to decide that for yourself. That's right. That's why church attendance must be voluntary. You have to be here because you want it. Because you want to be here. Now go ahead over, go over to, where did I go? Just go to First Corinthians chapter one. It'll be kind of, it'll be a little quicker one this morning. We'll wrap it up here in a minute. But, you know, church, it has to be voluntary. You have to be here because you want to be here. And this is, this is, this is good for several reasons. One, you know, it means that we do not become cult-like as a church, you know. And some churches, even Baptist churches, they get cult-like in this area. Where if, you know, someone quits coming, then it's like, you know, people, I'm not, listen, I'm not going to hunt you down, okay? I'm not going to hunt you down. But I know churches that are like that, you know, in the past. Where if you quit coming, it's like, then they start coming by, they start texting you, they start calling you. Hey, where you at? And now you just, now you're coming, now they're like, all right, well, I got to come to church because the guy keeps bugging me. I want to get these people off my back. Or they think I'm just this or that. So now you're coming to church just to prove a point, you know? And not because you want to be there, because you're sick of phone calls or whatever, you know? And they, and they get really, they get really, some churches get really weird about church membership, okay? So I want to touch on that, and then I want to tell you what you have to do to be a church member and paperwork, as I understand it, and know it, and have experienced it, okay? And again, I was even talking to my wife this morning on the way down here. I said, hey, do you know, do you know about, oh, where's so-and-so? Do you have so-and-so's number? You know, so-and-so hasn't, hasn't been in a few weeks. And I said, maybe we should try reaching out. And then she said, yeah, we could. And then she kind of reminded me of the fact of what it was like when that happened to her. You know, she, she was going to church. They got her number. She kind of, you know, I'm kind of confessing her faults for her a little bit, you know? I know contrary to your, probably your impressions, my wife wasn't perfect, okay? You know, she didn't grow up in a Christian home or any of that. But, you know, she said, you know, when I went through that and people started calling me and people started texting me and wondering where I'm at, she said, it made me mad. It didn't, it wasn't like, oh, these people care about me. I should be there. It just made me mad. And I'm not saying we should never check up on one another, but if you're going to check up on a brother and sister in Christ that hasn't been to church for a while, it should be out because you genuinely care about what's going on with them. Not because you're trying to hold their feet to the fire. Like, you know, you're not forsaking and settling yourself together, are you? You know, you sinner. I mean, if you genuinely care about somebody, like, hey, are you sick? Is everything okay? That's one thing. But it's not our job to go around and police everybody's life. And I'm not going to do that. You know, I'm not going to, if people fall out of church, I might, you know, if they're not here for a week or two or a few weeks, I probably, you know, if they're a regular attendance, attendance regularly here, you know, if they didn't, if their banner was to be here on a regular basis and all of a sudden they weren't around, yeah, I would probably call that person. You know, brother Fabian here, just all of a sudden three weeks went by, he wasn't here. I would, I would think, but here's the thing, my first instinct wouldn't be, well, he must be back somewhere. I would be like, man, he must've gotten some hard news. Now here's the thing about brother Fabian, he'd probably already let me know. I mean, he's late to soul waiting for five minutes usually, that's been all right. You know what I mean? But here's the thing, I mean, for anybody, you know, that, that has that kind of regular attendance, you know, if they, if all of a sudden they got irregular, I would just be kind of like, man, I hope everything's okay. And I might reach out to that person, but you know, I'm not going to track every single person that walks through these doors and then just start to hound them about why they're in church, why they're in church, why they're in church. You have to decide not to come because here's the thing, not everyone's going to want to come to this church because of the stance this church takes and because of what we preach. And you know, that's fine. That's the way it's going to be. Now they get, now some churches get very, almost cult-like in this area. You know, here's another way that some churches do this. They have, now you know what, maybe some churches practice this and that's fine and maybe it's a little harsher to call it cult-like, but that's just how I feel about it. Okay, maybe I'm wrong to call it cult-like, but to me it just, that's how it strikes me, is a little odd, okay. Where they have, you know, if you, let's say, let's say you decided you wanted to go to another Baptist church in Tucson, okay. You just said, you know what, Faithful Word Baptist Church is just not for me. You know, you've been a faithful member here. No problems with you. You know, you, it wasn't a matter of church discipline, but you just felt like, you know what, I could grow more at another church or another church is just doing things the way I like. Good Baptist Church. And you know what, you could probably find that. You know, I don't, I mean, maybe. My opinion, no, but you know, you might feel differently about that. You might say, hey, you know what, there's another church in town that is just doing things that does things different and that's the way you like it and that's fine. But some churches would say that you have to come and get a letter of good standing from your previous church in order to go join that church. That Pastor Anderson would have to write out a letter and sign it for you to take to that other pastor and say, it's okay for him to go to your church. How is that? I mean, that's weird. Does that strike anybody else as weird? That's odd to me. And you say that doesn't happen. That happens a lot. That is very prevalent in a lot, in the old IFB. They, they teach that. They emphasize that. They say, hey, you need to have a church role. You have to blog who's a member there and keep tracking them. And if they go somewhere else, you know, they should take it upon themselves to, you know, consult with you about going to another church and this and that. And to me, that's just weird. And I don't see it in scripture. I don't see where there's a church log, a church membership role where we keep track of everyone's attendance and who's here and who isn't. And if you decide to go to another church, that, you know, you have to come talk to me or Pastor Anderson about whether or not that's okay. You know, because here's the thing, go to church and volunteer. You can go to church, whatever church you want. That's fine. The point is that you're in church. You know, that's, that's what you need to do. Now, I do think that you should probably be in the best church you can find and there should be certain criteria. You know, they, they have, you know, they require letters of good standing. You have to get the approval of a former pastor to change churches. You have to go to your pastor and say, hey, is it okay if I go to this church? Now I will say, I will say there, there is one instance where this applies, you know, that's in the matter of church discipline. You know, if somebody gets kicked out of the church for a biblical reason, like in 1 Corinthians 5, all the sins that it lists, things that can get you kicked out of church. And yes, there are sins that can get you kicked out of church, you know, Bible lists them in 1 Corinthians 5, as well as other places. There are several ways to get yourself kicked out of church. If that's you, if you end up getting kicked out of church, then, then, and you go to another church, yeah, that, that church should not accept you. They should say, oh, or, you know, now here's the thing. How do I know who's being, if somebody walks through the door, whether or not they're being disciplined by another church, they've been kicked out of another church. You know, I don't. Does that mean I have to sit here and krill every visitor or everybody that walks through the door? Oh, what's your name? Are you kicked out of another church? That kind of thing kind of comes to light on its own. That kind of thing eventually, you know, people, if they start coming on a regular basis to another church, they start to develop, talk to people, introduce themselves. People just start asking questions like, hey, what do you do? How, where do you live here? You know, people get to know one another and that kind of a thing like, oh, well, yeah, I used to go to another church, but then, you know, this, you know, it didn't work out. Oh really? And then that kind of thing just kind of comes out. You know, it's not that we don't have to like have an interrogation room here with the hot lamp and sitting down with every visitor at some point, oh, you want to be a member here? Okay, well now it's time for your, we're going to get a lie detector test and we're going to start, you know, grilling you about your church membership history, you know, and God, and by the way, I mean, God, if some bozo or yaku walks in, God has to take care of that himself. Yeah, that's right. I've seen that. So that's really the only instance where that would matter, I think, is where if somebody was found out, if I, if somebody, you know, like had gotten kicked out of the church and started attending another church on a regular basis and then it came, it came out that they had gotten kicked out, you know, then yeah, then that, I think that the leadership there would have to say, look, you can't come here until you make things right with your old pastor because things are wrong. Okay. They have to go make what's wrong, right? Right. Now this idea of you have to leave in good standing and still have approval to come to another church. I don't see that. I don't get that. I don't understand it. It's weird. And what it is, I think a lot of time is envy. That's where a lot of that stems from that people that meant that, that churches like pastors and things, they can start to covet people and be, and they want people to stay in their church and nobody else's. So they have this thing, you know, and here's the danger of that, where you had this idea of if you're going to go to another church and you have to have a letter of good standing is because now it's now, now the pastor, the preacher, he gets to decide whether or not you're in good standing by his standards. Oh, you're a pastor Anderson listener. Oh, rejected. Oh, you're, oh, you're a, you're post-trib. You don't believe in the preacher rapture. Sorry. You're, you know, you're, you're gonna get kicked out of this church and I won't give you that letter of good standing. And now you, now you just want to go to church and do what's right. Our black ball from every church, right? You're on the list that happens. You're blacklisted. You know, you can't go to another church because some other person determined what, what constitutes good standing in their church. Right. And so that's the danger of that is that good people. And that happens, man, that happens. People find out something as simple as this guy listens to pastor and it's not that he was going around trying to indoctrinate everybody with all, you know, you know, some doctrine that the church doesn't uphold people who are just going to church, minding their business and being a blessing. And they get found out as not being pre-trib by the way, if you're pre-trib, you can come here and you can be a member here, you know, and we'll fix that in time. Right. We'll work on it. You know, even if you could be picked for the rest of your life and you could still come to church. Amen. Now again, there's certain doctrines you have to line up with in any Baptist church. And we talked about that last week, but you know, that's not a reason to kick anybody out of church. And it's certainly not a reason to black ball somebody from another church. And that kind of thing happens and it's sad and really it's pathetic on the part of those that would do that to somebody. I mean, thinking the account that you're going to give, that those people are going to give themselves before God, that, that they said, Lord, I mean, Hey, I had this child of mine that I wanted to grow in Christ and you wouldn't let him come to your church because you believe different on the preacher of rapture. Right. And that's that you're going to, that's a, that's the hot seat. So again, that's the danger of this kind of attitude when it comes to church membership. Okay. Is that it can become cult-like, it can become domineering, it can become controlling and it can become detrimental to a person's Christian growth. So how do you become a member? Okay. How do you become a member of a church? You say, I want to be a member of faithful word Baptist church. Well, meet with me after service and I'll get the sweat lamp out and we'll go back. We'll talk about your church history, attendance history, right? No. Well, here's the first requisite that we already talked about. You have to be saved. Amen. If you're not saved, you can't be a member. Does that mean you can't come here? No. You know, but it's, you're not going to be considered a church member, you know, and here's the other thing. You have to be baptized. Now you have to be baptized here. No, but you have to have had, if you've been saved, you have to have some kind of proof that you've been saying, yeah, I got baptized at so-and-so's church, you know, scripturally baptized. That's part of church membership, you know, and really that's it. That's it. You know, you don't, you don't have to, we're not going to sit down and review the statement of faith with you. You know, the statement of faith is in your hand. It's called the Bible, right? Got one in here too, but you know, that's our statement of faith and, and you can, we can analyze it together every Sunday and every Thursday when we have church. We can all sit down together and go over our statement of faith every church service. So you have to be saved, you have to be baptized. Now there is one other thing to be a church member here, okay? You have to be here, right? If you're not here, you're not a member. So if you're, if you're here on a regular basis, you know what? Congratulations. You're a church member. Don't you feel special? You know, we should because it's, you know, it's important. It's important to be of, it's important to be a member of a Baptist church, but it's not this like, I think it just gets blown way out of proportion to Baptist churches. They just want to make it this, this really big deal when it's really not. I mean, we saw it in Acts 2, you know, they believed, they were baptized and they continued in the doctrine. That was it. And the Lord added them into the church, such as to be saved. I mean, it was, it was really that simple. It's not, it's not this, you know, feeling out process. Some churches will want to sit down and have a, you know, 12 week course on, it's just, they have all kinds of things that they want to do. And we don't do that here. You know, you want to be a member here? Amen. Well be saved. You know, if you're not baptized, get baptized and show up and attend the services and, and you can be, and you can be a member of the club, right? And I don't, you know, I don't say that. I know I kind of say that jokingly, but I don't, and I don't mean to make light of it because of the fact that we looked at it a little bit earlier. Church membership is important for several reasons. You know, your spiritual growth, we talked about that. To be built up in Christ, not be a child tossed and driven with the, you know, with every wind of doctrine and sleight of men and cunning craftiness where in their life and way to deceive. It's important for your spiritual growth to be in church. You know, there's, there's certain things that I believe you're only going to learn in church. I mean, it's one thing to read these things in the pages of the Bible and understand them. It's another thing to go to a church where it's actually, you're going to have to put it in practice and actually have to live it and actually have to be that and not just read it. You know, that's what church is. That's your opportunity, opportunity to actually put into practice what you've read in your Bible reading. And, you know, you need that. You need the spiritual growth. You need the fellowship with like-minded people. You know, you can't get that online. You're not going to get that. You're not going to go to your unsaved buddy at work and get spiritually edified. Right. You know, the very best you'll see, he'll make a mess out of his life and you can be edified by saying, at least I'm not doing that, but we should walk a little bit more for our own life. We should want to, you know, a little bit more edification than that. We should want to be around other people who are going to, you know, inspire us and motivate us and encourage us to, you know, take our Christianity to the next level and do bigger and better things for Christ. You know, and it's your opportunity to serve in a greater capacity. Can you serve outside a local church? Probably, but it ain't going to be much. It's not going to be anywhere near what it should be. It certainly isn't going to be anywhere where it could be. Right. And you can serve to a greater capacity here than you will anywhere else because, you know, going solo on your own is very hard to do on a regular basis. It can get discouraging and you'll get a regular at it. But when you know there's a group of people that are meeting, you're going to have fellowship, it's going to be fun, you know, you're going to go. I mean, these Indian Reservation trips are a perfect example of that. Why would people sign up to go out, you know, in the barren desert of the Navajo Nation, you know, and knock on doors of people they've never met? Because there's a bunch of us doing it. And it's not just the, you know, just out of duty, just out of because we know that's what we're supposed to do. Yeah, but also because we have fellowship. Right. You know, we get to get to know one another. We have, you know, there's going to be stories that we can tell about about these trips that we take and things like that. Right. You know, so you know, being a member of a church is very important. But also being a member of church is pretty simple. It's pretty basic. It's not this, you know, big blown up thing that some churches make it out to be. And so, you know, understanding that and let's determine, you know, we have a great opportunity to be a member of a great church here in Tucson. You know, not everybody has a church like this church. And so you're bragging on the church. Yeah, I am. You know, we got a great pastor. And Pastor Steven Anderson, he is, you know, a great man of God. Right. And we're very, you know, privileged to have him being willing to to start a church down here. Right. And do this. You know, I mean, people are calling all the time. Start a church here. Start a church here. I read comments all the time. We need a church here. We need a church there. And I tell people we need a church everywhere. But hey, you're in Tucson. We've got one. So let's not take it for granted. You know, let's be a member here. How do we do that? Be saved, be baptized. I think we've all got that down. Now let's be here. And let's get something done for Christ. Let's go ahead and pray.