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

The title of my sermon tonight is Church versus a Social Club. Church versus a Social Club. So when we think of those two words, you know, sometimes it's good to get a good definition first. To really kind of define our terms, get a good idea of what we're kind of talking about. And we had in Revelation 2, we had a lot of admonitions unto churches. We learned a lot of different things about what Jesus Christ would say unto the churches in the New Testament. But I looked on social club, that's not really a word the Bible uses, it's kind of a modern term. I looked online and a social club was defined by Wikipedia as a group of people or the place where they meet generally formed around a common interest, occupation, or activity. So there's a lot of different ways that a social club can kind of manifest itself. But basically saying it's just a group of people that are all centered around some type of interest or some type of work, some type of activity. I saw another kind of definition or idea of what a social club is. It says where members go in order to meet each other and enjoy leisure activities. So it's just a place to meet with other people that are kind of like-minded or have the same interest or the same hobby. They have something that they really like to do and they just get together and do that. You know, this could be examples of a social club would be like a fitness club where people go and they just work out or they go join a gym somewhere. It could be an art club where they do some kind of art stuff together. It could be like a running club where people go running together. Maybe a book club, maybe a dog club where people bring all their pets together and they go walk them or something. I don't know. It's like a travel club, dinner clubs, maybe men's and women's clubs. So there's a lot of different variations of what a social club could be. So we see the kind of the general idea is that they're all kind of focused around some topic or some interest or some kind of hobby. So how is that contrasted with a church then? You know, because the main idea of a social club is to have this fellowship, is to kind of have this camaraderie, kind of have people that are like-minded, getting together. Well in that way, I think a social club and church are really pretty much the same in the idea of you wanting to have that fellowship. They both share the idea of fellowship, of getting together with people that are like-minded, they want to follow together and stuff. Turn if you would just a few books back to 1 John. Go to 1 John chapter 1 and I'll read for you in Acts chapter 2. It says in verse 41, then they were gladly received as word were baptized and the same day they were added in about 3,000 souls and they continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship and in the breaking of bread and in prayers. So in Acts 2, we kind of get the beginnings of the church. We kind of get, we see that people go out and they're speaking with other tongues, they're getting a lot of people saved and now they're kind of congregating. The Bible says that God was adding to the church. So we have a bunch of people congregating together, they're in this church and we see one of the parts of church is fellowship. Is this idea of getting together with other people, is kind of having this camaraderie, you know, they're breaking bread, they're praying, they're reading the Bible. Sounds great. Very similar concept to a social club in the fact that they share in fellowship. But look at 1 John chapter 1 verse 3. Look at verse 3 where the Bible says, that which we have seen and heard declare unto you that he also made fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And so the Bible says that, you know, having fellowship is a good thing. And, and you know, what's one of the best parts of going to church is having good fellowship. You know, I moved all the way here from Texas and you know, I really kind of moved just for Pastor Anderson's preaching. I'll be honest. You know, I was there, I was hearing the preaching online and it was just, I never heard anybody preach like that. They used so much Bible. He knew the Bible so well. He preached hard on sin. I never heard that before. I couldn't find it anywhere. And so I was like, I got to take my family to this church. If I really want to be a pastor someday, if I really want to do big things for God, why don't I go where God's man is, where somebody is preaching the word of God. But you know, when I got here, I was really surprised by the fellowship. I was really surprised by, you know, how much camaraderie there was, how like minded everybody in the church was. And it was great. And you know, just, you can have that in a lot of different ways. This is not just in church. I mean, maybe in a social club, you know, you all have the same dog. You have the, you know, you all go running together. You love to run long distances. You can kind of join in that fellowship, that camaraderie. So in that aspect, you can see that there is a little bit of, you know, a similarity between a church and a social club. But what does the Bible say a church is? So we kind of define what a social club is. It's just a group of people congregating together over a similar interest. But what is a church? If you go to the dictionary, it's interesting. The first definition of a church according to the dictionary.com is it's a building. The second definition is it's a service in a building. The third definition is it's all Christians in the entire world. The fourth definition is that it's all of one denomination. So like all the Baptist or all the Methodist or all the, you know, Jehovah's Witness, I guess you could say. Because the fifth definition is all of the Christians in a particular city or country or nation. The sixth definition of a church according to the dictionary.com is a local congregation. And the thing that's surprising to me is I think that's what the Bible means every time it says church. It's a local congregation. And we're going to try and prove that. Go to Matthew chapter sixteen. There in the New Testament, Matthew chapter sixteen. So they're giving lots of definitions. They're saying it's a building. They're saying, you know, it's a service in a building. It's just every Christian. Or maybe it's just all the denomination. Now the Bible says something different. And you know, I've used the word church in reference to the building and stuff. I mean, obviously you can have different definitions in a modern vernacular. But when the Bible uses the word church, it's very consistent to always mean one thing. That's the local congregation. We're going to see the first mention of the church in Matthew sixteen. Look at verse sixteen. And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 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. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charge these disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. Now the interesting thing about this first mention is there's a lot of false doxiness around it. You know, the Catholic church teaches that this verse eighteen is that Peter was, you know, the rock that the church founded on. And that's where they get their idea for the pope. And that's where they get this idea for their structure. But you know, if you read the whole context, if you kind of get more text with that, if you look at verse sixteen, what was the question that Christ was asking Peter? He was kind of asking, you know, who do men say that I am? And he says, thou art the Christ. And he says, he said, upon this rock I will build my church. What was the rock? It was the fact that Jesus was the Christ. That's what the church was built on. It was built on the fact that Jesus was the Christ. So we even see in verse twenty, he says, then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus, the Christ. The whole point of this passage is the fact that Jesus Christ is the rock and that's what he's going to build his church on. He's going to build it on him. So a social club is centered around some idea of an interest, like a hobby or something that they all like. What's the church centered around? The fact that Jesus is the Christ. That's the rock upon which the church is built. That's the central point of us coming together, is the fact that we're all unified that Jesus is the Christ. That's the point that we have to focus on while we're getting together. Go to Matthew eighteen just a couple chapters over. So we see that the church is centered around Christ. But that didn't really necessarily give us the perfect definition of what a church is yet. So I was going to read for you in second Thessalonians one. It says Paul and Sylvanius and Timotheus, under the church of the Thessalonians and God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We see in the Bible a lot of times the Bible say the church of and then a place. They'll say the church of Thessalonians, the church at Smyrna, the church at Ephesus, what we're reading in Revelation chapter two. So I see that a church is at a location and we see in Matthew eighteen verse seventeen, look at verse seventeen, and if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. Now if we think about that, let's go through our definitions. The first definition of the coordination there is a building. So we're supposed to tell the building when somebody's you know not doing something right. Are we supposed to hear the building you know answer us back? Are we supposed to you know tell the service? How do you tell the service? I'm going to tell the Thursday evening service. Now when somebody's saying that, usually they're referring to the people, right? They're referring to the idea of the service. Are they talking about all Christians? That was the third definition of the service. Let's just tell it to every single Christian on the planet. I don't even know who every Christian on the planet is. That's going to be really difficult. How about just tell all of the nomination? Let's just tell all the Baptists. I mean it's still not making any sense. How about just all of them in a country or in a nation? No, the only definition that makes sense is a local congregation. It's the group of people that are assembled together that you would tell them. You'd say, hey I have a problem you know Kevin. He stole something from me. He needs to come up here. You know I'm going to present my case. I'm going to say why you know there's a problem. And we're going to present it in front of the church. That would be kind of an example of you know bringing something into the church. You know if he stole something from me and he's not going to give it back and it's just a big deal and I see him every week and I'm like look you know. I mean we got to do something about this. You can't take my pencil. Let's turn in our Bibles to, excuse me, go to Acts chapter five. I want to build on this idea and get a little bit better stronger foundation of what a church means. Go to Acts chapter five. I'll read for you in first Corinthians chapter one. Under the church of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours. So he said look the church of God which is at Corinth. So we see a church is at a place. It's at a city. It's not necessarily just all the people, all the Christians. He said in Galatians one two, he said and all the brethren which are with me under the churches of Galatia. So now they were kind of, one of the definitions did say in all the believers in a city but the Bible even says the churches of Galatia meaning there could be multiple churches in one city. Even Faith Ford Baptist Church. I mean I guess you could say there's a difference between Tempe and Phoenix but it seems like we're kind of two churches in the same city. You could say the churches in the greater Phoenix area. I mean we're talking about church can be you know in the same city if the local congregation is the assembling of the people that makes it a church. In Galatians one twenty two later it even said and was unknown by faith unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ. So there's multiple mentions of there being churches in a city. There being multiple churches in just even one location. In Acts chapter five verse eleven the Bible says in great fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these things. Now I've never seen a building get really scared. I mean maybe you know if you believe in the nine eleven attacks or something you know a building got real scared and just fell down straight perfectly as if you know a plane could just make a building just go straight down and then building seven you know no plane touched that one it just went straight down. It got so scared. It was like I don't want a plane to fly to me I'm just going to fall straight down. No I mean the Bible's obviously making it clear that great fear came upon the people. It's talking about the local congregation. Flip over to chapters Acts seven. Look at verse thirty eight. It says this is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the Mount Sinai and with our fathers who received the lively oracles to give unto us. So the church necessarily doesn't even have to be in a city. It could just be out in the wilderness. It could just be out in some country somewhere. It could just be in some campground. It could be on the sea. It could be anywhere. But the church is the local congregation of people. Go to just two more chapters Acts chapter nine. I'll read for you it says in Acts chapter eight and Saul was consenting unto his death and at that time there was great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. But the church is usually associated with some kind of city. It's associated with some kind of location. So we know that the church is not just all the churches. Just all the Christians. We see so much division and we see in Acts chapter nine verse thirty one it says then have the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified in walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied. There's not just one universal church. There's churches all across this world. There's churches in all the cities. Whenever Paul's talking unto Timothy he said to ordain elders in every city. He wasn't just well we got the Pope. Now we just you know have the church. We got our one guy. We got Peter. We're going to build up on the rock. So church is a local congregation of people. Turn if you would this last place we're going to look is Hebrews chapter twelve. Hebrews chapter twelve. In Romans chapter sixteen Paul said I commend unto you Phoebe our sister which is a servant of the church which is at Chanceria. So we even see outside of the Judea area outside of you know Samaria there's churches everywhere. We read in Revelation two you know all kinds of churches that were in Asia. So it's not just even just the region that Christ you know grew up in the nation of Israel. Church can be anywhere. You know many churches today they don't make this distinction of not being a social club. They are a social club because every church in some way has some kind of fellowship or they have some type of common interest. But what makes the distinction between a church and a social club? Now I would think sometimes even the name. The name gives a very big distinction right? But so many churches today it's almost like they're gravitating towards wanting to be a social club. They don't even want to be a church anymore. And so you see all these strange names. You see names that are followed around the words of fellowship and experience and community. Words that you know really don't emphasize the church very well or emphasize what the church does. I was looking at some churches in this area and I came over I looked just went on Google maps just looked at some of the church in the area. Some of the names of the churches Open Door Fellowship Church. Open Door Fellowship Church. This just sounds so nice. It's just Open Door. It's got the fellowship. The Door Christian Fellowship Church. The Door. You know what I mean? The thing is this church I looked at it had all five star reviews. It just had all these reviews. There's all five star. Everybody just loves it. Trinity Baptist Fellowship Church. Creative Living Fellowship. That's the name of a church. Creative Living Fellowship. I don't even know what that means. That's just really confusing. There's a church called Way Fellowship Church. These are all churches in Phoenix area. Way Fellowship. I'm going to go the way. What is that? I mean these names are just silly in my opinion. It doesn't even make any sense. There's one called Evening Light Fellowship. The Evening Light Fellowship. I guess they congregate at night. I mean can they not have church on Sunday morning? They're evening light fellowships. How do they get together in the morning? You know Arizona Community Church. Community Christian Church. It doesn't matter where you go. It doesn't matter what city you're in. It's all the same names. I mean it's Grace Community. Grace Fellowship. This Fellowship Church. Open Door. The Door. I mean how many ways can they say the same thing? And I thought I was only looking for Phoenix churches but I guess I found a church in Tennessee. But it's just the name that was just crazy to me. It's called Experience Community Church. Experience Community Church. And on the front of their building just says experience. Just huge. That's the only word you can even read. Just experience. And that's really what these churches want to do. They're not a church. They're a social club. They want you to come experience the fellowship. And this church in Tennessee, it had like all five star reviews basically. It had all these pictures inside. Every single picture was just this purple light stage with like a rock band. I was just like I mean it just fits just when someone makes a mockery of a church and you're like they're not really churches that are like that. They got the purple lights and the guy with the skinny jeans and they just sing you know rock music and it's all about the experience. No that's exactly what these churches are like. There really are churches like this. And when you look at it, it looks like there's thousands and thousands of people packed into these buildings. There's a lot of people going for this. And I looked up some information about them. I tried to go to their website. Real, you know, real well done website. Like you could just tell they put a lot of time into it. Had big pictures. It's real pretty. Had lots of different links. But it's like impossible to find any information about the church. I found a thing that says who we are. This is the best I could get. It says we are a group of Christ followers that are focused on living lives as closely as we can to Jesus. I believe that. We are a non-denominational, completely self-sufficient community that teaches biblical principles of grace, mercy, love, and community service. If you are intimidated or uncomfortable in traditional churches and desire genuine worship and community, this might be a great chance for you to experience a true and authentic encounter with God. So I tried to look up what they believe. I tried to look up information about the history of the church. I tried to find information about the pastor. This is the only thing I could find. They were just saying, look, if you like traditional church, don't come here. You know, you're going to get the authentic. Oh, how is it authentic if it's new? How is it authentic if it's not the old way, the old past, the good way? That's what the Bible says. But you know, they had some ministries. I wasn't shocked not to find soul winning, but they did have a really unique ministry. I've never heard of this in my entire life. It was called the Bar Ministry. It says that there are over 26,000 college students in Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, only a few miles from campus, and there are seven bars in downtown Murfreesboro. The Bar Ministry exists to show the love of Christ through serving hot dogs and water to individuals coming out of downtown bars on the weekends. Through these acts of kindness, many opportunities for ministry open up and relationships are formed. This is a very unique ministry opportunity that welcomes volunteers that want to serve and show the love of Christ in a tangible way. So yeah, when I read the Bible, I just picture Jesus Christ at the bar with a hot dog trying to invite you. Hey, want to come to the experience? You want to come to the experience community? I mean, what in the world? That has nothing to do with the Bible, has nothing to do with Godliness, has nothing to do with righteousness. That is not a church, but it's a social club. Look at Hebrews chapter 12 verse 23. It says to the General Assembly and Church of the First Born, which are written in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect. I think this is one of the best places to get the definition of church. It says to the General Assembly and Church. He's saying, look, the church is just the assembly and if you look up all the places in the Old Testament where it's talking about the church, it's talking about assembly. Uses the words interchangeably from the New Testament, Old Testament, because it's just the congregation of people. It's people congregating together is what the Bible means when it uses the church. So we kind of have these two definitions. Social club is a group of people meeting together with a common interest and we see that the church is a local assembly and they have some similarities. They both are interested in fellowship. They're both interested in getting together with other people that have the same, you know, they're like-minded. They have the same interest. They have the same desires. They have the same, you know, they want to do the same things. But how is it different? I mean, how is a church not a social club? If, you know, if we don't want to be a social club, if we don't want to just be like the dog, the dog club, you know, the book of the month club, the running club. If we want to be something different, how according to the Bible is something a church? How is something not a social club? Go back to Revelation chapter 2 where we started. And, you know, I'll say this. The Bible says that the church can be pretty much anywhere. It uses in three different places that I could find. It says in Romans 16, likewise, greet the church that is in their house, salute my well beloved Epinatus who is the first roots of Achaea, Achaea unto Christ. Or it says in Colossians 4 15 salute the brethren which are in Laodicea and Nymphos and the church which is in his house. First Corinthians 16 says the churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord with the church that is in their house. The Bible says church can even meet in their house. It doesn't matter where the church meets. And, you know, I don't think that's necessarily a distinction between a social club. Social clubs lots of times meet all over. So we kind of see they're both similar. But how are they different? Look at verse 5 in Revelation chapter 2. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else I will come into thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent. So we see in the Bible Jesus Christ is saying under this church, he said some good things, but he says, look, you've lost the first works. And if you keep losing these first works, if you don't repent, I'm going to remove the candlestick from you. Now at first you say candlestick? I mean, are they decorating with lights? Now they can't be the evening light fellowship. I mean, they don't have the candlestick. How are they going to have the light? No, that's not really what the Bible is saying. Look at Revelation 1. Go back one chapter. We'll kind of get an idea. What is he trying to say here? He says in verse 20, the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. So when Jesus Christ defines the candlestick for us, what does he say it is? It's church. He says, if you have a candlestick, it's because you're a church. And he says, if you don't do the first works, I'm going to take away your candlestick. What is he saying? He's going to take away your church. The first thing for a church is you have to be preaching the gospel to be a church. You have to do the first works or he's going to remove it from you. I don't care what you do when you come together. I don't care what good things you have going on. If you're not preaching the gospel, you're not a church. So the first distinction between a church and a social club is preaching the gospel. It's doing the first works. Turn to Mark chapter one. Go to Matthew, Mark. Look at Mark chapter one and I'll read for you a couple of places. What's the first works? Is that really preaching the gospel? What is the Bible saying there? Well, in Ephesians chapter five, it says, therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wise be to their own husbands and everything. Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Jesus Christ gave himself for the church. Why did he lay down his life? So we could just all get together and drink coffee. So we could all just walk our dog down the street. So we could all just get together and talk about, you know, football and what we did over the weekend and what color shirt I'm wearing. I mean, who cares about that junk? No, Jesus Christ laid down his life so that we could preach the gospel and get people saved to get him out of hell. That's why he did it in Matthew chapter four. This is kind of parallel with what we'll read in Mark one. You don't have to turn there. They'll read for you. It says, then the devil leaveth in and behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Now, when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zebulun and Nephthalim, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaias the prophet, saying, the land of Zebulun and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness, saw a great light, and to them which sat in the region in shadow of death, light is springing up. From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now, when Jesus Christ was on this earth, he didn't really do any ministry all the way up until his thirties. And then the Bible says that he was baptized of John, and then he went into the wilderness. And when he was in the wilderness, he was tempted of Satan. And the Bible records in Matthew, after he had been tempted of Satan, he comes into Galilee and the first thing he does is preach, and he preached repentance for the kingdom of God is at hand. So he said, well, what's he preaching? What's his repentance? It's not repentance of your sins. Let's go give Matthew, Mark chapter one. It's going to be a parallel passage to give a little bit more information. It says in verse 12, and immediately the spirit drieth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan, and was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered unto him. Now after that, John was put in prison. Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. So we see the first works. What is the first works that Jesus Christ did? He came to preach the gospel. Jesus Christ's first works is preaching the gospel. It's always been preaching the gospel. When he was talking to his disciples, what was the first thing he commanded them to do? Go ye out into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature. The first works is preaching the gospel. It's going out, getting people saved. It's preaching repentance and believing the gospel. What is it to repent? It's a means to change your mind. Repentance from dead works, repentance from unbelief, repentance from Allah, repentance from Buddha. Stop believing this and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's saying, look, the kingdom of God is at hand. You can't believe your false gospel. You can't believe that you're going to work your way to heaven. You got to believe me. You got to believe on me, the Christ that's going to die for your sins. And we see the first works is Jesus Christ preaching the gospel. So for a church to be a church, it's got to be the first works. It's got to go and preach the gospel. And we see so many churches in this world. How many churches are on just every corner? I mean, there's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of churches, but are they churches or are they social clubs? Because I have this question. How many of you in this last year, let's go all, let's just take this month and last year. How many of you were approached by another church with the gospel? Anybody approached even one time so even though the Colson, the Mormons, those, I mean, look, I've never in my entire life been approached by any church with the gospel outside of just like going to their service. I'm saying like not going to their church. I've never been approached by anybody. The only person I've ever been approached by is with the Mormons. One time they came and knocked on my door. How sad is it that we have churches covering this whole city, covering this whole country and nobody's been confronted with the gospel. It's the first works. So that tells me there's not a lot of churches, actually. There's just a bunch of social clubs. There's social club fellowship and there's social club community social club. It's not a church. You can't even call it a church. They're just getting together and they're just drinking coffee. They're just hanging out. They're just having fellowship. It's not a church. We're not doing the first works. God said he'll remove his candlestick even if it's a King James only independent fundamental Baptist church. If it's not preaching the gospel, it's not a church. Let's go to my second point. Go to look at verse two here in Revelation chapter two. He says, I know thy works. Look at verse nine. I know thy works. Look at verse 13. I know thy works. Look at verse 19. I know thy works. How does somebody be a church? By working. What's the difference between a social club and a church? Work. And it really just comes, leads itself in from that first point, right? The first works. But we see that coming to a good church, you're going to get to work. You're going to do some things for God. You're not just coming to have a good time. Just enjoy the show. Just see Pastor Anderson, kick the pulpit and then just go home. No, that's not what church is about. No church is doing some works. Even in verse, look at chapter three, verse one. I know thy works. Look at verse eight. I know thy works. Look at verse 15. I know thy works. When Jesus Christ talked to every single church, he always started with, I know thy works. Why? Because if you're a church, you're doing works. If you're not doing works, you're not a church. If you're not preaching the gospel, you're obviously not a church. You got to do the first works and then even just by your works, it's going to determine whether you're a social club or a church. But you know, I think a lot of these, these social clubs, we'll call them churches. They kind of understand this idea that they got to be doing something. They got to have something to bring the people in. They got to be doing something. They got to, they got to pretend that they're doing the work somehow. So they usually, I mean, it's just an epidemic, but this thing called life groups, who knows what I'm talking about? A life group or, you know, a group where they just, people of the same age or the same, you know, gender or the same interest or the same hobby. I mean, it's like many social clubs at the big social club. I mean, they just get together. And you know, at the church that I grew up in, these life group things were huge. I mean, it was the big push. It was the thing they talked about every week. They kept trying to get people to start groups and go to groups and sign up for this group and come to this group. And as you know, the interesting thing about it, it was never about the Bible. I mean, it was like, hey, let's all read pastor's new book. Oh, let's go read, you know, the book that Oprah endorsed. Let's go read this secular book. Let's go meet at this coffee shop and just drink coffee. Let's all go play football together. Let's all go run together. I mean, it was just a normal social club within the parameters of being like a church. You know, and a lot of people, they like that. They say, you know, I like going to my church because I just get to go and get a cup of coffee. I get to just sit back, got the comfortable chair. I watch the show. I sing a little bit if I kind of like the song. Maybe not. Maybe I heard on the radio. But they liked it. They just want to sit back and they just enjoy the social club. But that's not a church. And you know, you say, well, this is just these like new evangelical churches, these mega churches. No, it's infecting the independent fundamental Baptist movement. I was going to an independent Baptist church and they, you know, disguised life groups with Sunday school. They say, well, we don't have life groups, but we have Sunday school classes and they all just meet together. And again, most of the time they're not preaching the Bible. They're not going through the Bible. It's just an excuse to get together and do fun activities. Just to go out. Hey, we're all going to go to lunch after church. Hey, we're all going to go bowling. Hey, we're all going to, you know, I was going to a really bad liberal church and you know, I was in the world. I did a lot of things. I was really into football and I was really into this thing called like fantasy football. I don't know if anybody knows what I'm talking about, but it's sort of this thing where you just get, you pretend like you have a football team. You get all these players and you score points with them through the week. And I got like really, I was just playing this all the time. I was just really focused on this thing. And I finally realized like, I'm wasting so much of my time. I watched so many football games that I could care less about the teams just because I had a player on just because I, you know, I was, I was so wrapped up in this game and this, this stupid fantasy stuff. And so I was like, I'm going to give it up. You know, I'm going to go to the independent fundamental Baptist church. I'm going to get right with God. I'm going to just give up. I don't want to watch the football games. I don't want to care about them anymore. And we get into Sunday school class. Okay. It's young married Sunday school class. And the first week they get up and they go, you know, we thought for a fun activity for the group, we would do NFL pick-ups every single week. So we'll just pick all the football games for the whole week. And we'll all just talk about it. And at the beginning of every Sunday school class, we'll show all the games and all the stats. And I was just like, I wanted to come here to learn the Bible. I want to go out and do some work. I want to go out and preach the gospel. You know, I started listening to pastor Anderson a lot. I was like, I want to go soul with him. I want someone to show me soul with him, but all I could get was a football club was just a social club. That's the difference between a church and a social club is the work. I come to church to do work. I don't come to just have a good time. And just for the fellowship, that's bonus. That's extra. And there's nothing wrong with getting together with like-minded believers and having fun and going out to eat and doing activities. There's nothing wrong with that. Our church has activities, but you know what makes the difference between being just a social club and a church? The work. Right. Let's go to first Timothy chapter one. You know, these, they disguise it with all kinds of stuff. They have special church meals. They have church specials. They have the plays. They have missions trips. They have, you know, well they're mission trips. They don't actually go preach the gospel. I had talking to some young kid that was doing a mission trip and I was like, so what are you going to do? Well, I think we're going to go to the beach one day. And I think we're going to go, you know, explore on a mountain. And I think another day we're going to go eat at this cool place. And I was like, what? It's a missions trip. It just sounds like a fun vacation. You want me to give you thousands? And I mean, our church rates hundreds of thousands of dollars for these mission trips for these kids to just go on a vacation to Australia or to some cool place. And, you know, maybe they do a little bit of work. Maybe they help build a building or like hand out a track or something, but they're not going to preach the gospel. You know, they, maybe the churches have a sporting events or sporting outfits. You know, these independent bundle of Baptist churches, they're not going back to the Bible. They're not going back to the first works. They're doing what these other churches are doing. They're drawing back. They're going into the life groups. They're going into, you know, the events and the activities and all the things. They don't want to do the first works. But my third point that separates a church from a social club is the doctrine, is the doctrine. In Revelation chapter two, it said, but I have a few things against you because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balaam to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication. And in verse 15, it says, so hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. When Christ was talking to the churches, he brought up doctrine several times. And doctrine is a separated from a social club. Why? Because the social club's not going to, you know, infringe its viewpoints on you. You're supposed to come and influence the social club. But we see that that's not what the Bible has in store for us. Go to, we are in first Timothy chapter one, right? Look at verse three. This is Paul talking to Timothy says, I besought thee to abide solid emphasis when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some, that they teach no other doctrine. What's the point of the pastor to come up with some new idea to be influenced by the people? No, he's supposed to teach the doctrine that he learned. He's supposed to teach the doctrine of the Bible. It's the same thing. It's the same message. We have the same Bible. We should be teaching the doctrines of the Bible. We shouldn't be coming up with our own ideas. We shouldn't be coming up with some new thing, but these social clubs, they change every week. They might be a different book every week, a new method of running, a new method of taking care of your dog, a new method for doing this. I mean, they're just constantly trying to do the new facts. Think about, you know, a club meeting about eating. They're constantly on some new diet. They're constantly trying to figure out new things to do. The Bible's an old book. The Bible's got an old message. The Bible's got the old ways, the old paths, and we learn that through the doctrine, through the preaching, through somebody preaching the Word of God and us hearing it. You know, if we listen in chapter 2, he kept saying, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. You know, the difference between a church and a social club is that you're listening, that you're hearing. We're not all talking. We're not all gabbing. We're not all coming up and giving our idea. What do you think the Bible says here? What do you think? What does your Bible say? You know, if you go to these live groups, if you go to these social club churches, everybody has their own opinion. Everybody wants to give their interpretation. They're just constantly going through this circle just like, well, I think the Bible says this and I think this. You know, I think it's okay to commit fornication if you really love the person. You know, I mean, what's wrong with loving people? I think God just has an open heart. He just loves everybody no matter what at all times. He's always happy. That's the Jesus that I've read in the Bible. You know, you get all this false doctrine coming in because everybody's got their own doctrine. Everybody's got their own idea. And in these social clubs, that's how it is. And we see even one of the churches was like this. They were letting Jezebel come in and just teach whatever she wanted. She called herself a prophetess. I mean, let's just let her get up and preach. No, Joyce Meyer, sit down and shut up. That's right. Go to 1st Corinthians chapter 14. The point of church, the point of coming is to learn the doctrine to be exhorted, to be encouraged. Why? Because you're doing a bunch of work because you're going out preaching the gospel. It's hard work. Sometimes it can be discouraging. You need to come to church and hear the doctrine, to hear the preaching, to get motivated, to get excited, to go out and preach with zeal, to know that it is the right thing. If you get out of church, you're going to stop doing the works. If you never go to church, if you're never getting exhorted by the pastor, if you're never hearing the doctrine, you're going to stop. You're going to slow down. You're going to forget. You're not going to do the works. See in 1st Corinthians 14 verse 4, it says, he that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself, but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. And I would that ye all speak with tongues, but rather that ye prophesy. For greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret that the church may receive edifying. The purpose of preaching, the purpose of prophesying is for people to be edified. It's for people to get the preaching, to get to hear the instruction, and to go out better than they were before. We see the social clubs, a lot of times these people are just coming to give their own idea. They're just coming to just confirm themselves, to just say, oh, I think this and I think that. Oh, that's a good idea. Oh, you're so smart. Wow, that's so great. They don't come to learn. They come to just spew out all the foolishness of their mouth. Look at verse 19 there in 1st Corinthians. It says, yet in the church, I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue. The purpose of the preaching, the doctrine is to teach, is to instruct, is to give people more wisdom, to help them learn. He that hath an ear, let him hear with the spirit, sayeth unto the churches. One of the distinctions between a church and a social club is that there's a man of God preaching the word edifying and the people are listening. The people are hearing. They're not talking. It's not just a three ring circus. It's not people just getting up, you know, the speaking in tongues. What if everybody just started screaming and just started? We're just all just dancing around and rolling. I mean, is that really going to help you? Did you hear anything? Are you getting instructed? I mean, if I can't hear the teacher in the classroom, I'm not going to learn anything. I mean, sometimes I want to sit on the front row so I can hear what they're saying, so I can hear what the words coming out. I don't want to just hear a bunch of blabbering. That's not going to help anybody. Kind of leads into my fourth point. Look at verse 35 there in 1 Corinthians 14. The fourth point is that there's an order. There's a specific order to church. There's not just, it's not just chaotic. It's not just do whatever you want. It says in verse 35, and if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. The Bible says, look, not everybody has the opportunity to just come up and just preach the word of God. There is certain orders, there's certain rules, there's certain, you know, instructions for how the church is supposed to operate. And we see in a social club, it's usually just a free-for-all. I mean, it's man, woman, boy, child, old, young, experienced, non-experienced. I mean, there's no rules to a social club. I could start a club tomorrow and just, hey, let's all go study trees. Let's just, you know, let's just come to my house and we'll just all go look at trees together. It's like, well, what do you know about trees? Nothing. I just, let's just go look at a bunch of trees. There's not any order to that. There's not, you know, a social club can be started by anybody for any reason, but the Bible has that a church has specific instructions, specific things that we're supposed to follow. Back up a few verses in verse 28. It says, but if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church and let him speak to himself and to God. Look, not just the women. Look, not every man's supposed to get up here and preach either. There's supposed to be specific people that come up and preach the word of God, the pastor, a preacher, a man of God, not just some novice, not some guy that just came off the street. Let's just, let's just see what he has to say. I mean, no, there's a specific order to church. Go to Titus chapter one. So what are we learning? The differences between a church and just a social club. What's the first one? That a church is going to go out and preach the gospel. What's the second point? That a church is going to do works. It's not just going to do the first work. It's going to do a lot of works. You know, it's hard work to preach the, you know, to get prepared and preach a sermon. Sometimes it's hard work to, you know, play the piano and learn an instrument and learn all the hymns and get up and lead the music, you know, to come to church. And some people do the physical service. They're cleaning the floors, they're setting up the building, they're doing all kinds of things. There's a lot of works to be done in the church, taking care of the widows. The third point is that there's doctrine being teaches at the church. It's not just a free for all. It's not just coming up with their own ideas. No, we're supposed to preach the Bible. We're supposed to preach the instructions that God gave us. That's going to separate us from just some random social club that just changes the rules every week to just come up with a new idea every week. The fourth point was that it's in order. We see in Titus chapter 1 verse 5, it says, for this cause left by thee in Crete, that thou should have said in order the things that are wanted and ordained elders in every city as I had appointed thee. The Bible has very specific instructions for how a church is supposed to be set up. We're not going to look at every single instruction. But we see that there's certain things that are supposed to be set in order. A church is supposed to operate in a very specific way. But with a social club, it's just a free for all. That's why you go to the church down the street that's not really a church and they don't believe what the Bible says. Maybe they let women preach. Maybe the church over here, you know, they let some divorced guy preach. Maybe over this church, they're just speaking in tongues. Maybe, I mean, it's just crazy. It's just all different. It's just something new. But we see that a real church, they're all going to be the same. They're all going to be preaching the same Bible. They're going to preach the same gospel. They're going to be doing the same works. There's a specific order to church. And obviously churches might be a little bit different. But when it comes to the core, when it comes to just the maintenance of the faith, they're going to be the same because it's the same book. It's one Lord, one faith, one baptism. And we see that a church is going to have a specific order. But social clubs, they just mold with the times. They just constantly are changing. They look different. You go to this one, it's completely different than the next one. I mean, an independent, fundamental Baptist church that's using the King James Bible should look really similar. I mean, no matter where it's at, whether it's on a boat, whether it's in the wilderness, whether it's somebody's house. What's the difference between a church and a social club? It's doing what this book said. And let's go back to Revelation 2 and we'll finish. So we should be preaching the gospel. We should be working hard. We need to get the doctrine. We need to have things in order. That's going to help us distinguish ourselves from just being a social club and just being a bunch of people that get together and read the same book. There's a lot of people that get together and read the same book. That doesn't make them a church. Revelation chapter 2, look at verse 24. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak, I will put upon you not another burden, but that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Why is it so important to understand the difference between a church and a social club? It's so that you get in a church. God said it's good for us to be assembled together. And we need to be assembled together in a church so that why? So that we can overcome. So that we can succeed. He said there in verse 26, keepeth my works unto the end. How are you going to keep God's works? By staying in church. And what did he promise to that man? He said to him, the person that stays in a good church, that's doing the first works, that's working hard, that's keeping to the doctrine, that's keeping things in order, will I give power over the nations. You're going to rule and reign with Christ if you stay in a good church and you do the works. Why is it so important to understand the distinction? So that you can rule and reign with Christ. So that you can have success in this life and the next. So we need to see the difference between what a church is and just a social club. So that you can all rule and reign with Christ. Let's close in prayer. Thank you God for your word. Thank you God for giving us clear instruction of what a church is. I pray that everyone in this room would never be confused as to what a good church is. That we can always stay faithful unto a good church and that we could be rewarded to be ruling and reigning with you in the new millennium. I pray for a special blessing over everyone in this room. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.