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

Okay so the reading this morning is from Ephesians chapter 4 so Ephesians chapter 4 and the Bible reads in verse 1 I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of all the vocation wherewith ye are called with all lowliness and meekness with longsuffering forbearing one another in love endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace there is one body and one spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptism one God and Father of all who is above you all and through all and in you all but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gift unto men now that he ascended what is it but that he also descended fast into the lowest parts of the earth he that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might feel all things and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive but speaking the truth and love may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplyeth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love this I say therefore and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk not as other gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart who being past feeling have given themselves over to unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness but you have not so learned Christ if so be that you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that you put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to this deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness wherefore putting away lying speaking every man truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another be angry and sin not let the sun go down let not the sun go down upon your wrath neither give place to the devil let him that stole steal no more but rather let him labor working with his hands the things thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers and grieve not the holy spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you uh could I please ask uh brother Benjamin just playing praying for the service okay the title of my sermon today is how to become a good church how to become a good church right so um the population of this country guys england is 56 million so 56 million in this country um and it is it is a wicked wicked country isn't it we've um you know we all live here some have been here longer than others and wow what a place uh sister Sarah I know right now is studying this and and kind of coming up with a lot of info about that and it I mean it's just mind-boggling how how bad this place is we we've got you know you see perverts everywhere you see this liberalism just growing especially amongst the young amongst the so-called intelligent the educated um just walk out on the street look at the the way people dress um the way kids behave my kids were lost in school um it's just over three years ago now and wow I mean you you know even a fairly what was considered a fairly nice school you you wouldn't want your kids spending any time with these these these other kids sadly and um and the stuff coming out of their mouths the way they behave the stuff they're allowed to watch they're just just crazy the the drugs in this country I mean they're just a if you if you I mean I look back to people I used to know and um I've still kept in contact with some people to try and get them saved and wow the lives are just it's pretty bad and you can kind of see that you can see what's going on with this country and how bad it is when we're basically the guinea pigs for some terrible vaccine with I mean also this you know all sorts of rumors and stuff and I don't know what you can and can't believe but wow I mean this country are the first people to be getting jabbed up with a suddenly newly made vaccine and I mean it is it any wonder when you look about and see what it's like we've got just another quick stat for you 190,000 abortions in 2018 in England alone 100 over 190,000 abortions um and I think something which is telling is throughout this whole country we have we did a count didn't we we had it up recently and I counted 10 churches in England with the right gospel and the right bible okay 10 churches now if you think about the United States for example and don't get me wrong they've got a lot of problems there as well we're about six of their population there's 328 million in the United States that's the equivalent of only 60 churches in the whole of the states with the right gospel and the right bible now can you imagine the pulpit banging going on with some of the preachers we know and love if if it got to the point where there was literally only that many churches I'm not saying churches which have everything right just that have the right bible and gospel and by the way of those 10 churches none of them are I don't think are really soul winning so of those churches in this country and we know like I preached on this a while ago for example in um in when when it came to Sodom being destroyed God agreed not to destroy it for 10 righteous just 10 rights in a place as wicked as that he would have not destroyed it for 10 righteous and proverbs 14 34 says righteousness exalteth the nation but sin is a reproach to any people and if we could get some righteousness and righteousness obviously through through save christians first and foremost but but even just to improve the righteousness of this nation things would improve here and we do need a church we often talk about needing good churches here don't we we you know all of us together have regularly talked about we you know if only we had a good church if only we had this church oh we need good churches well we're going to see what is a good church in a minute but you know make no mistake like this country as wicked as it is it is receptive in some areas now some aren't you know and we I've sold done soul winning in many different areas around the country but some are really receptive the other week um myself John and my daughter went to somewhere called Tilbury not far from here and I mean we were just one group together so we weren't we didn't separate out and in the space of about two hours I think two hours of soul winning six salvations in two hours literally every door you knocked on which I mean we even of those as well as those six we had a couple I think we had a child who we were interrupted halfway through the pair whenever they were receptive just everyone was interested in the one person that really wasn't the one scorner John ended up I don't know what he did but but next thing you know the guy got saved you know after a bit of a kind of half hour debate and stuff and he just knew he was going to get saved anyway so you know there are places like that and and you know this there's some low-hanging fruit here and we need to get organized like we need to get out and be able to then build from there as well so we we often say don't we finally we had a church like this and if we had a good church we'd move closer to a to a good church and well you know now's a test because we've got a chance and you know I want to show you a few things in a minute about about what that's going to be because it's not just about your favorite pastor your favorite preacher and we do have a chance as we all know um we we we have the possibility that this could grow into a church and we have some backing with that and um and it's all down to us now and that's us not just myself not just just a song leader you know it's all of us and all of us are gonna get to play a part in this so and you know amen we have a great group here so everyone here amongst these 10 churches in this country and and i'll get onto those in a minute amongst those 10 churches we still everyone here pretty much is right yeah everyone is regularly soul winning regularly getting out um trying to live right for god and that's without without the backing of a church without that community and wow like what a start what what a start of a church we could be we could also be a problem to a start of a church as well because we've all been doing it our own way haven't we and we've all kind of you know been picking and choosing our pastors online or whatever else but we have a great opportunity we have a great group of people here um now you know like i say there are people here who've been out for years and the only thing and we've just got to be careful is that we haven't maybe got a little bit too comfortable so some might be well yeah but you know i'm quite happy at my church i just get by there go once a week maybe twice maybe maybe they go to all three services maybe um you know still do your soul winning you know doing what i'm told you know life's going okay for it for you well um we'll talk a bit about you know why a good church is so important but just remember like we might be going out soul winning but the great commission in matthew 28 was to go you therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son of the holy ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever i've commanded you and lo i am with you all way even until the end of the world amen so we in general only really fulfilling one part now i'm not going to go i'm not kind of turning into one of these kind of non-soul winning pastor christian types ah it's only part of it you know like you're somehow well you know what's the point if you only get them saved no getting them saved obviously is important we we know about hell where the bible's clear about hell we know what we're doing when we're getting people saved but i know myself when i'm so winning in london i've got nowhere to send people i i can't even encourage them where am i even encouraging them to get baptized you know drive all the way down to where i'm i'm a church most new believers like i know when i was a new believer driving out to a church i don't think i would have done that and and it's it's tough we're getting people saved to teach them as well we're kind of giving them a few maybe we're giving them a youtube cog i listen to this preaching maybe we're following up but it's nothing like what we should be doing what we can do with a church behind us in this country and then what will go on it's not just going to be the one we want to grow don't we we want to end up with churches planted all over this country okay so what will make us a good church um i don't know about you guys anyone see um the 15-year little video of faithful word wow that was inspiring wasn't it um that that was an inspiring video for me that really inspired me um and there's no reason with a group like this remember part you know don't get me wrong i'm not trying to compare you know anyone here to maybe people faithful word right now but he started in his living room he didn't start with a group already ready and raring to go and he's built that from his living room okay we're right now in a building we're not a church yet but it might it could be pretty soon okay um if you have a look in ephishian so where we were in chapter four so sandwiched between the the sort of great doctrine of the first half of the book of ephishians particularly chapter two if you're ever talking to zionists 11 to 19 and and the second half where we've got this real practical instruction don't we living righteously there's this passage of scripture um okay in chapter four this passage of scripture from verse seven okay we've got sorry in verse seven to eight we've got paul explaining about about about gifts yeah he's talking about the gifts given to us then from verse 11 we've got and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of christ till we all come in a unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ though we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lay lay in wait to receive but speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is ahead even christ from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply according to the effectual working in the measure of every part make an increase of the body to the edifying of itself in love okay so first 11 and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers okay how to become a good church number one it's by working as a team working as a team okay so look at that in verse 11 you've got apostles so this isn't where i start telling you i'm now a possibly and then got some healing to do guys uh okay so we know obviously the apostle the apostolic age is over but prophets preachers okay we we we need preachers and it's not just the person standing up leading a church who's who's who's a preacher obviously we preach the gospel don't we when we go out but as well you know if we if we eventually become a church guys we need guys who are able to step up and preach um we need people that can rotate you know we're working full time it's like a church is hard doing three sums a week is hard you know it's pretty pretty different especially at the beginning when you're learning the ropes but we need people that are able to get up able to preach that's what the men's preaching nights are going to be a be about but we need preachers and eventually we're going to need preachers we're able to go out and go to go go out and and eventually start other churches preach at other churches we need preachers preachers who are going to preach preach the bible and stand on the word of god okay evangelists now obviously we all we all are evangelists to some degree but there are some there are some here that have the ability with maybe life you know reasons maybe they don't have a family at this point um maybe they don't have other things which make it hard of them to get out so regularly um you know i'm thinking right now for example especially when he's away you know brother kenton here you know he's out he's out soul winning all around the world you know we and and we need that but we need that around here i'm thinking as well like brother john over there i think up until his little baby was born was out maybe three times a week was that was that right john with your wife for the last you know several months now and um you know we we need evangelists um and this this list in verse 11 it's not an exhaustive list yeah there there is like there's a part that everyone here everyone including kids everyone will have a role to play and thinking about kids yeah like you definitely have a role to play not just in so many soul winning great i i don't know about you guys i know when i'm out with my kids and pretty much i'm always so winning with my kids nowadays um i i know when the odd time that i'm not with them the reception is just a little bit different on the door people are just a little bit more open a little bit happier to have a talk a little bit less wary when i'm with my kids in general um and and i'll tell you what kids as well you know they can be trained up to give the gospel to other kids you know and and yeah for me like it's a great great thing when you see a child giving the gospel and and parents a lot of time relax a little bit more i've obviously been able to do that with my daughter be able to say look would you like my daughter to explain to your son daughter how to get saved and and yeah yeah okay you know and maybe they wouldn't have had it been me and and sometimes i know they won't have it had it been me um so kids soul winning but kids as well you know we're hoping to build up eventually have a church and be building up and and we're going to have new believers come new believers with families kids that you guys are going to have to be able to fellowship with them be a good influence be able to to build those children up as well encourage them to want to live for the lord um so kids like that there's you know you're just as much a part of this church and you're growing to be you know we if we make a church here we don't want this church to suddenly stop you know you know unless we suddenly go into the tribulation we want this church to just keep going keep going and that means you're the next generation in in in the churches that we want to start building this country so kids are a big part of it as well and like i say everyone has a role to play it's easy isn't it when we when we're looking for a church going to a church well what's it going to give me what's it going to do for me and and don't get me wrong yeah you want to be you want to you want to be edified in a church for sure but a church a real church a proper church we should all be playing a part in that and doing things for each other and being a part of that church being a success um okay if you and and it is going there's a bit more detail is if you go to first corinthians 12 first corinthians and chapter 12 okay and it's speaking about spiritual gifts but from verse 14 first corinthians 12 verse 14 for the body is not one member but many if the foot shall say because i am not the hand i am not of the body is it therefore not of the body and if the ears shall say because i am not the iron i am not of the body is it therefore not of the body if the whole body were an eye where were the hearing if the whole body were hearing where were the smelling and now have god set the members every one of them in the body as it has pleased him and if they were all one member where were the body but now are they many members yet but one body and the eye cannot say unto the hand i have no need of thee nor again the head to the feet i have no need of you nay much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable upon these we bestow more abundant honor and our uncombly parts have more abundant comeliness for our comely parts have no need but god have tempered the body together having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked that there should be no schism in the body but that the members should have the same care one for another and whether one member suffer all the members suffer with it or one member be honored all the members rejoice with it now ye are the body of christ and members in particular and god has set some in the church first apostles secondarily prophets thirdly teachers after that miracles and gifts of healings helps governments diversities of tongues are all apostles are all prophets are all teachers they're all workers of miracles have all the gifts of healing to all speak with tongues to all interpret but cover earnestly the best gifts and yet shall i unto you a more excellent way okay have a look um verse 25 26 there should be no schism in the body okay we you know that's important we want to if we want this church to thrive we want to all be going the same direction together be looking to help each other with that okay we should all if one suffers we should all care for each other as well um then the rest suffer with them um now you look at some of this you're thinking well we don't really you know miracles anymore you know the gifts of healing diversities of tongues well maybe modern applications i don't know um maybe brother alex does some miracles with some sourdough starter i tell you um and uh you know there are some great things that that people can do still and um maybe maybe when you're looking at i don't know what we got here maybe when you're looking at diversities of tongues okay yeah sure you know we know that was that was a gift for that day but i mean there are some people here that speak a lot of languages you know and that can be a great help in a country like this and in a multinational community that's around london and and pretty much everywhere in this country yeah that could be a great thing to have as well we all have a role to play not just the leaders not just the people preaching um governments governments leaders you know they eventually if this church if we become a church and it grows you know there's going to be there's going to be need for for people who can lead deacons maybe going out to to become other church people that can take over there's going to be a lot a lot to do and helps there's so much to do so much help to do even just just like i said the cleaning rotor at the back there you know all of it all makes a church and it all makes a group into what we want to be which is a good church okay so we all um you know i i suppose we all get this point don't we about teaming together and everyone's probably read these parts of the bible before um and you know you could probably give i could probably give a hundred different team sport kind of analogies and you'd all get it you know it's that's obvious but even um i was thinking about this as well even individual sports so um anyone here done i mean probably everyone's done to some degree but i know i know brother john at the back there i don't know about anyone else here like to quite a good level individual sports and i tell you what how important is your team even in an individual sport um i was thinking about it i was thinking about when when i first went to thailand and i competed out there and i remember i was all geared up i was all confident i had my first ever competition and i was i was um i was about to get in the ring you know in fact i got in the ring and i had a big group of guys from this who are my team you know they were part of my group they were they were part of the team they had people i trained with people that had trained me people i've sparred with everything to get me ready and suddenly my opponent pulled out and they had like a stand-in and suddenly i just saw their faces drop everyone's like you'll be okay the coach is like don't worry i was thinking i wasn't you know he's like it's you know you're as good as him and i was like okay and it just dropped me and and the first couple of rounds i mean i was i because it just it just affects you you know straight away what was around me my team suddenly their confidence going in me the way they the way their countenance was and they weren't even saying anything but i could see that they had no confidence in me and and i'll tell you what that that affected me and it took me a couple of rounds so finally actually this guy wasn't as good as they made out he was third round i probably won it but um i knew that around sadly and it was only a three rounder but point being that even in individual sports you see that in in high level sports world just those fine details you know little things make a big difference in the same for anyone who ends up preaching for you know little things i i read um jack harle's book on preaching and he he was saying that before preaching before and and don't get me wrong he was preaching at big auditoriums as well he would um he didn't want to talk about anything he didn't want to get into any serious conversation he didn't want to have to deal with any problems with his kids at home he just almost wanted to be pretty much on his own until he preached so he could just focus be in the spirit focus on his message focus on the result of his preaching and and it's not just the distractions that can be a problem it's not just you know the the effect that the people their reactions can have on on leaders as well um but but praying for your leaders as well praying for praying for leaders of of if it's a church of you know praying for those people praying for people is important but it's not it's not just it's not just the leadership um in a group in a group we know obviously you know first corinthians five i preached on that a little while ago we know that there are things which which which mean people have to be kicked out of a church and and sin all different types of sin affects others it affects those around you when you're not in the spirit when you're not living right it will have a knock-on effect to a church and and it is it's a group thing it you're all part of the body and how you behave how you live how you how you you you hold yourself what you're doing in your time away from the church is really important i feel to make a church work um proverbs 11 14 says where no council is the people full but in the multitude of counselors there is safety we want to be able to you want to be able to in a church just ask advice and get godly advice you want to be able to advise talk discuss chat about things with each other and if if there's people in the church who aren't reading their bibles who aren't living right who aren't trying to follow the lord and you know that's going to affect others around you as well um so we need strong faithful people in the spirit to counsel each other to be able to help each other um to be able to build each other up proverbs 27 17 says iron sharpness iron so a man sharpness the countenance of his friend and um you know that that's going to be more and more apparent if we become a church how we can build each other up help each other okay so back to Ephesians 4 so 4 4 verse 11 Ephesians 4 11 we've got and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers okay so how to become a good church by working as a team and number two through biblically qualified leadership biblically qualified leadership okay now what's you know the the most famous i think passage for this if you turn to first timothy 3 first timothy 3 and verse 13 sorry verse 1 to 13 first timothy 3 this is a true saying if a man desire the office of a bishop he desireth a good work a bishop then must be blameless the husband of one wife vigilant sober of good behavior given to hospitality apt to teach not given to wine no striker not greedy a filthy luca but patient not a brawler not covetous one that ruleth well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity for if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the church of god not a novice lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil moreover he must have a good report of them which are without lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil likewise must the deacons be grave not double tongue not given to much wine not greedy a filthy luca holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience and let these also first be proved then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless even so must their wives be grave not slanderers sober faithful in all things let the deacons be the husbands of one wife ruling their children and their own house as well for they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is which is in christ jesus okay so obviously you know we're talking about leadership there and there's some obviously big similarities about that and um and and this this passage you know is a it's not just our why anyone who wants to be a leader really we should be all aspiring to be like that leaders in the home leaders at work you know in any any areas of our life but um verse 14 yeah see what he writes here at the end these things right eye unto thee hoping to come unto thee shortly unless you pay for bible college and then forget what i just said he didn't write that did he but wow what what what have we got what have we got you know in these these churches here and all over the place you've got these kids yeah coming out of bible college who who literally can barely tie their own shoelaces they haven't got families they haven't been through any of this they don't qualify yet they're up there they're taking on roles of leadership in churches then we're wondering why we have this problem well we probably don't we we understand this i'm sure but so it's nuts you i don't know like i've been now around a lot of churches in the uk at least and um and i've been i've been to a lot i've visited quite a lot and i've also kind of got in touch with a lot as well because i've been searching for churches ever since i was i was saved and wow it never ceased to amaze me the people you got out there clearly clearly are disqualified clearly disqualified from the beginning i mean to the point you've got people who look like blatant sodomites as well up there some of them you've got you you've got clear qualifications for leadership here and then instead they've just gone for this man-made institution this bible college this unbiblical thing um they come out with the same bad doctrine it just it pretty much preached yeah i teach the same stuff there and what's the deal with women at bible college what's all that about anyone it's like it's like they're there for the hookup everyone's it's like does anyone remember i don't know if anyone's old enough here to remember blind date anyone remember that i don't want to go into like worldly tv shows yeah but it's it just makes me think of that bible college they're all just there just there trying to meet someone to get married you know it's i mean you can only imagine you would not want to send especially not your young daughters to bible college i mean just unbelievable but um so they come out with the same bad doctrine don't they and there are reasons for these qualifications there are reasons for it and some are obvious so having multiple children having multiple children uh you know those of us here who have kids i'll tell you what it doesn't half change you know and it you learn to lead you learn or you hopefully do you either lead or you don't you know it's one or the other um and and but there's a difference as well there's a deal and this isn't knocking anyone that doesn't have kids because you know we there are different things that come from different lives and and hopefully you know you know hopefully those that do have kids will learn what we're meant to learn from it but psalm 127 um in fact yes turn to psalm 127 why is it so important to have have children if you're going to be in leadership fair that but being a parent you know i mean i'll tell you what i i was a lot more selfish before i started having kids and and leading a church you need to care about the people in your church you need to be able to think about others when you're a single guy on your own the truth is the only person you need to think about in general is yourself and it makes a big difference um okay if you turn to acts 20, acts 20, and in verse 28 so this is Paul speaking to the Ephesian elders here and he says take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the holy ghost have made you overseers to feed the church of God which he has purchased with his own blood for i know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves entering among you not sparing the flock also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years i cease not to warn every one night and day with tears being a being a leader is serious serious business in this in in you know when you're doing things especially when you're leading a church leading a group it is serious business so there are false prophets everywhere aren't there and we know that we you know again something which you don't see preach about much in a lot of these churches there are false prophets everywhere look uh turn to second peter too and we're back in actually he was i mean he's warning them with tears because he knows what's going to happen he knows how bad bad it will go and can go and in second peter too he says but there were false prophets also among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you who privately shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction and many shall follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of and through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise for you whose judgment now the long time lingereth not and their damnation slumbereth not okay and it you know it's everywhere it's everywhere and now with youtube what what you know we're you know we can be affected by this a lot more than maybe back 50 odd years ago or not even you know not even that i mean i don't know about you guys every time i i watch anything on youtube what's suggested after us it's always a false prophet isn't it um who do you get john macarthur do you know yeah ravi zacharias i get billy graham yeah um and wow and and you know and and the thing is yeah okay we might be wise to this you know but um is there any wonder why the pastors that we love the pastors we we follow and that we respect are making a stand on this stuff and they have to make a stand and people kind of oh they're so mean aren't they you know why is it always infighting you get these stupid comments come up well no wonder they have to make that stand because it's everywhere and if they're you know we we might look at it go oh you can tell you know they are but there's a lot of newer christians you know back five six years ago would i've really been that discerning no i know i wasn't you know and i'm sure many others as well and they have to make a stand and that's why in in uh in timothy chapter three there he talks about being vigilant you know and it's important to be vigilant um john for one says many false prophets have gone out into the world and you know there's that there are i think they're everywhere aren't they it's amazing really for me i i sometimes just stand amazed at how many there are but the bible says there are there are many and there are many aren't there now um another important thing you know we saw was to have a good report of them which are without and you know these are just a couple of highlights i'm picky out of this because you know it's easy to it's easy to to look at these it's easy for us and and something you know i've really examined myself about um and i think we all need to because i've there are probably people here that would like to go on to to to lead you know churches to to help lead you know in in different capacities and the bible says to have a good report of them which are without yeah because of really because the persecution will come you don't want them to be able to go well a year ago or two years ago or three years ago and it's easy isn't it because we go to these churches and you look at them you just say i could do a better job than that and you probably could to be honest we could probably everyone here could do a better job leading leading a church than the vast vast majority of churches in this country probably borrowing a handful okay and but that doesn't mean that we're qualified to lead and we've got to make sure we're qualified to lead before we try and lead because a good report of them which are without it doesn't mean well you know in the last six months you know i've been doing things right the last year you know or or whatever else no you you should have people that are without not christians who are looking at at least respecting the fact that you live right and that you have been living right for a long time yeah not not to have a load of mud they can throw at you because you know it will come won't it it will come leading a church leading a proper church in this country that's going to come so it's got to be week in week out over years and the pastor teacher role it is it is the one in the spotlight isn't it and you know with that you know who it like if if you know with this if this becomes a church or in the future and and anyone else goes out and becomes a leader of a church you know we're going to need support encouragement prayers you know we're going to need all that and again that's where that whole teamwork comes in yeah okay so we've got we've got number one yeah working as a team number two through biblically qualified leadership okay just look at ephesians four again we're going to be going backwards back and forward to ephesians so maybe keep a finger in there and verse 11 says and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of christ so for the work of the ministry and number three i think to become a good church it's by working hard okay hard working people is what we need and it's not just the leadership everyone needs to be working hard every good church we know of and we love has hard working past and hard working church members every single one um these guys have started their ministry full-time jobs like i say no preaching three sermons a lot of them three sermons a week with full-time jobs families some some were even working extra hours on top of our kind of golden 40 hours or whatever it is you know that that that we were maybe maybe not so much recently working here these are hard working people and and they continue working hard even when they become full-time i mean amen for church plants say because if that works out praise god that that that you know there are pastors out there that want to still do hard work and even want to come over here and plant churches missions you know going out and doing mission trips is something a good church should be looking to do the different events you know the different fellowship events so that you're kind of getting that that you know you're getting that time that fellowship that enjoyment for being with each other and you don't have to start seeking it out with your work colleagues or whatever else you know and that stuff takes work it all takes organizing it all takes hard work you know and then all the extra stuff the documentaries etc and and a lot of this it's not just a leader you know this is a whole church doing this stuff and all playing a role and all having a part in that and we've all everyone if we want to make if we want to become a church we want to be a successful church we all need to be saying right i'm going to work hard not i'm just going to be a once a week or even i've come to three subs but i ain't doing nothing else you know we you know we've all been praying for this haven't we and i i believe i do believe yeah that that it's not just the praying that it's everyone here who's been faithful for years yeah just going out week in week out yeah let's encouraged each other as well with this yeah let's let's put up with with some some not so great churches at times you know and maybe have found better ones at other times but but it's that where i think now god's looking at us and going right i think i think you guys are ready you know and we've all proud if only there was a church no we've shown something i mean i know like you know people here have been encouragements to me with it i know like over lockdown the encouragement like brother dan there i mean me and him out like over lockdown with a table just you know at the beginning it was like if because i've just been door knocking before they announced it and had literally doors slammed in my face people go you should be out you should be out you know covid covid and you're thinking like how are we gonna like get the gospel and then you know we we went out and what an encouragement i think god's reward and i know everyone was doing their own things you know and god's rewarding that yeah god's rewarding that perseverance and i think i think you know if we if we just we keep with that focus and not just ah well you know now we've got it we could just kind of take the foot off no now we need to go and do more and make make a church work so um okay so again it's with the church members as well and like i said before not just one service a week it always makes me think there i won't name it but there was an old pastor a few it's a few years ago now so um i i don't have a problem with saying this yeah this this pastor is in this country yeah he is a full-time missionary yeah full-time yeah he has yeah we went to his house yeah he's got i think it was a five or six bed house yeah um it i mean it was nice yeah full paid for paid for by supporting churches yeah around the states yeah full time and his family yeah now you're thinking man like you're paid full time you can imagine what can he get done imagine the soul winning imagine the services imagine all this stuff one service a week one service a week on a sunday morning is all he does what still now to this day i'll check before before this i just saw i wonder what they're if they're still doing that one service a week yeah and this is an independent baptist missionary one service a week that is not what it should be is it we should be you know that you know what so sweet full-time oh and so witty by the way is is an hour twice a week of giving some leaflets okay that's it that's it but that isn't what's going to make a good church is it and no wonder that will never be a good church we need to be out working hard soul winning soul winning is hard work can be hard work can't it you know and some days you don't maybe feel like it it can be hard it can be hard for the kids as well you know and again we need you guys working hard with that those of us with families if our kids are moaning complaining oh when are we going oh you know it's don't really you know what's the time you know like 10 minutes into soul winning are we nearly done yet you know that that that's not going to help that's not hard work we need the kids encouraging wanting to be out there wanting to be working hard to get people saved to and god will build the church i'm not saying all those people are going to come to church but god will build it if we do the work and it's not just handing out flyers is it it's not posting bibles through letters the same church they've got like 10 000 bibles just posting through letter boxes i was there at the time saying let's go and knock the doors oh well you know you know we've got a lot of bite so so i had to almost force forces pastor to come and knock some doors whilst going up to the door and putting a new testament bible through the door what what a colossal waste of money 10 000 they posted through the door that had been sent over for free from i think tennessee or somewhere i mean amazing amazing okay we also we need silent partners guys don't we so we need to try and encourage encourage those because right now we could do double the work if we had the same amount of silent partners as we have talkers so we need to encourage people getting saved those of you who are silent partners keep going man because i'm not saying never talk but really like we need them you know and we you know don't right there's no no pressure there's no oh well it's a bit embarrassing if i'm still a sudden not at all you know we need silent partners get right get your gospel presentation right before you do talking about that um something that that you know i'd suggest to everyone that has anyone here seen the uh pastor him and there's a full light series of of how they preach the gospel the instructional yeah the seminar it's like 10 part okay onshore foundation baptist church's website they've got all 10 parts under soul winning on it um i went through this the other day fully i've done it years ago and i'm terrible no i mean you know i really like i learned so much from it and i was thinking wow like i really could have done with that because for me like really i'd started before i'd even got into nifb preaching i started somebody from like jack cole stuff and you know don't get me wrong i still get people safe through work stuff and then i i kind of i watched different presentations but they were the video one so i kind of started incorporating that and they're a bit less interactive you know and so you're kind of copying how they do a presentation on a video but it's very different isn't it that instructional is great i would encourage anyone even if you have watched it maybe watch it again um i know that that's how we you know how really the idea is for us to be more like that kind of way of doing things yeah okay um okay so it it yes it can be hard work but it's the work of the lord so if you um if you turn to first corinthians 3 8 so first corinthians 3 verse 8 while i read first corinthians 15 58 which reads therefore my beloved brethren be ye steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the lord okay so we should be always abounding why is it not in vain well first corinthians 3 8 says now he that planteth and he that walked with the one and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor so as much as yeah people going to hell should be a motivation for us for sure building our church just doing what god tells us to do is and should be a motivation but it totally cited the eternal rewards as well guys we work hard in this life yeah the rewards are for forever okay they're for eternity um okay a good church a good church does need everyone working hard i went um oh another like thing i was thinking about i was thinking about this i went to a church a little while back i visited um and they um they the pastor was up up the sorry they had like a visiting pastor up the front and he was saying like yeah yeah come trying encourage people to come out you know and i was thinking wow okay yeah you know they put on their website they're in the soul winning here they're gonna come out somebody so i had a look and um i was having a listen so i'd had a look on the website and they had and he said yeah you know come out because brother i can't remember the guy's name he said you know he really puts a sort of shame yeah he's such a hard worker and i was thinking yeah great and they said they said he said you know no one can keep up with him and i was thinking wow he must be getting a lot of salvations well it actually turned out no one could keep up with him he was so fast between doors at putting a flyer through the letterbox and this was their example this is a one guy in the whole church soul winning church yeah like that that's what what we're dealing with here okay like that was their hard work but no we want to be hard workers going out giving the gospel don't we not just how quickly we can get a leaflet through a letterbox all right and same how how not and it's not just obviously how quickly we can rack up salvations either because again anyone could just get someone to pray it's getting people saved isn't it okay so other hard work running this service obviously all of this takes work uh the food takes work the all the ladies like making all this food that's hard work you know um the cleaning rotor which is i'm hoping is going to be full up there's going to be work there um the praying that we should all be doing for each other for this to become a church um the the learning the learning of reading your bibles you know that's all work yeah it's good work but it's work raising new members raising the youngsters is work yeah and it's all work that we should be doing with the church in mind fellowshipping new people when we start getting people in here you know we don't want to just be our own little clique and then just a couple of you we want to be making that effort to be kind to be to try and encourage them to to meet up with them you know to maybe swap numbers um try try and try and get to know new people um and then eventually hopefully missions as well you know we want to be doing stuff as if we become a church when we're doing stuff as a church proverbs 34 says the soul of the sluggard desireth and had nothing but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat so we want to get some good fat souls going on around here okay so aphasians 4 again so if you've got figure in aphasians 4 um verse verse 12 to 14 okay so all of this for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of christ till we all come in a unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craft in this whereby they lie in wait to deceive so how to become a good church number one by working as a team number two through biblically qualified leadership number three by working hard number four by building up the believers okay by building up the believers building up the members of the church um the preaching and teaching is for the perfecting of believers um a good church service is is not for the unsaved okay yeah we want to get people say we want to get people in the church but but we go out to preach the gospel don't we that's the whole point yeah we come in to be perfected to be edified um okay so we talk a lot i mean i've heard all of us talk about that word edify before edifying each other what does it mean to instruct and improve the mind in knowledge generally and particularly more than religious knowledge in faith and holiness okay so we come to church to be edified here it says for the perfecting of the saints for the edifying of the body of christ okay we're not getting edified at churches with the gospel here in the gospel week in week out okay that ain't happening that's not how we get edified now um we we we join the service yeah we we we come to a service to learn things to get built up to then be sent out hearing someone just give the gospel obviously and and there's a lot of that sadly a lot of churches um okay i was thinking of an analogy with that but for the sake of time i'll leave that um but how to build up believers okay so there's a few ways to edify and perfect if you turn to second corinthians four second corinthians four sorry second timothy four my mistake second timothy four second timothy four from verse one i charge thee therefore before god and the lord jesus christ who shall judge the quick and the dead it is appearing in his kingdom preach the word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering adultery for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables but watch thou in all things endure afflictions do the work of an evangelist make foolproof of thy ministry okay so in verse one he charges them he commands them okay in fact he commands him so he's talking to timothy he commands him okay he is and he's saying here he's commanding him to preach the word be instant so that's sort of urgent earnest jack so so it should be like when as a as a preacher we should be seeing things and preaching on them before they get out of hand yeah preach the word be instant in season out season so in fashion or out of fashion um okay reprove rebuke okay so reprove is like express disapproval rebuke is harsh criticism so maybe maybe my son you know is doing cartwheels over the baby you know maybe i reprove him at first he does it again now it's time for a rebuke you know probably probably a thrashing as well but okay reprove and rebuke okay so there's times for approval there's times for rebuke and we gotta you know we've got to hear all of us you know all of us have to be ready ready for to take a reproved take a rebuke yeah and don't be the one that can't take that yeah and and it's not personal and sometimes it's funny sometimes you hear preaching you're like sure i'm sure that's about me and sometimes it probably isn't but it's a word of god convicting you you know and and can we really can we really take proper preaching because some of us are going to find out aren't we we're going to find out when we're there in a room getting preached at week in week out and i'm not saying it's not all shouting and screaming because we're going to see in a second there's another word there which isn't but but we have to be able to take that to be able to deal with that because if we can't maybe we're just so comfortable that pastor love you all's church or whatever it is and it's not really love is it it's love of himself but but that sort of where oh no you don't want to offend people nonsense so we're all of us probably got quite used to that we can distance like i always say you can distance when it's on youtube to another church but the bible in proverbs 9 8 says reprove not to score that lest he hate thee rebuke a wise man he will love thee we want to be the wise men we want to when we hear the word of god reproving and rebuking us we want to love love that person love the word of god love god for doing that um not not be the scorer the school there ain't a good person to be okay so um we want to reprove rebuke now it also says exhort though and again it's not all just screaming and shouting and telling you what useless christians you are you know that the leader preacher should be doing um the exhorting exhorting should be encouraging with all long suffering that's enduring patiently a doctrine okay so what is that doctrine that that we should be encouraging with well verse three to four talks about is sound doctrine for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables okay it's going to be sound doctrine what are the fables well titus 1 14 says not giving heed to jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth okay and this makes me think of this racist zionism nonsense okay and it is it's just racist nonsense isn't it this that we get everywhere it just it really winds me up it makes me sick first timothy 1 4 talking about fables says neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith so do okay endless genealogies how does someone prove they're one of the chosen people prove they're a jew without endless genealogies it's impossible it's so clear in the word of god and the more you the more you read it the more it is so clear this nonsense well what nonsense it is is zionism nonsense and that's not the only doctrine there's so much bad doctrine and and doctrine you know it does you know it does go hand in hand you know in many ways because as soon as you start going wrong on one thing it just it all goes wrong does it and then you end up with pre-tribulation raptures people that aren't even prepared for persecution it's crazy now um if you go back to to ephesians 4 and verse 13 says till we all come in the in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ so when we're perfected and edified and united we'll go on to be more christ-like okay and and we'll do greater works for god okay verse 14 in ephesians still there in ephesians 4 that we henceforth be no more children tossed to a throne carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness why but whereby they lie and wait to deceive okay so we might think that we're grounded we we we understand those kind of major doctrines but bad church to bad doctrine can and do chip away at you for sure they do you start to question a little bit you know and it's not just those big ones okay you're not going to question that necessarily but it does it chips away it makes you doubt the truth and that's a heart it's been a hard thing i've found it really hard going to churches knowing the truth on things going and trying to be a faithful church member trying to respect etc and just being taught bad doctrine bad doctrine bad doctrine it's really difficult but i do think god's rewarding us all for this perseverance but it makes you doubt the truth and a good church a good church needs to preach and encourage with sound doctrine because they do go together for example i was thinking about this recently um for example the reprobate doctrine you can't in a way you can't really preach oh you know you can preach sorry but repent of your sins showing what nonsense is doesn't work without the reprobate doctrine really does it because how on earth can you be go you're going to people well you know of course of course you don't have to change it we know we know it's faith alone it's clear as day that you believe you believe yeah it's all about belief yeah uh whosoever believeth in me should not page for everlasting life but so then what you're saying you're saying that that someone who does disgusting disgusting perversions at all sorts all sorts to kids and everything could then believe and carry on doing that stuff and be it just doesn't make any sense does it and and i even had that with a password i was trying to talk a bit about the repent of your sins but it is a false you know they've become a false church i don't really know really whether it ever wasn't i hope it wasn't but it become a false church they're preaching hard this repetitive your sins and he said this well you know who am i to say that if you know a homosexual um you know you know should he have to stop doing that you know etc i think yeah probably you know and it just doesn't work does it and and these these doctrines you know the clear sound doctrine of the bible is perfect as soon as you mess him up it starts messing up other things and but there's little things as well in a church be a good church there are little bits as well the conversations because yeah it might be you know you might say well the preacher is going to get most things right you know he's going to study for a week before he preaches and it's hard you know for an hour of talking and i might sorry if i go over a little bit i've got a bit to say here for an hour of talking you are now and again sure you're going to maybe say something a bit off or something not that you you know of course you you know if you really are preaching something hard that's a false doctrine that's a problem but now and again you might say something a little bit off by mistake but everyone here is going to spend hours fellowshipping chatting talking being amongst each other and the things you say to each other have an effect on the church and have effect on each other and if you're trying to justify your little sin by trying to just push a little subtle doctrine stroke you know it's not really sinful you're going to affect the church as well and you and if we want to become a church we need everyone to be make sure they're sound on their doctrine as well yeah especially with new believers as well okay so okay last bit sorry guys ephesians 4 okay verse 15 and 16 but speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is ahead even christ from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love okay how to become a good church by working as a team through biblically qualified leadership by working hard by building up the believers number five by standing on the word of god okay standing on the word of god a church needs to be speaking the truth the truth in love okay not the worldly no offending people type of love okay we're not talking about that nonsense we're talking about the truth in love and what's the truth we know what the truth is john 17 17 says sanctify through them them through thy truth it's the lord jesus speaking thy word is truth okay this is the truth this is what we need to be speaking in love okay so many churches claim to stand the word of god i mean you see you look i mean i've been like a kind of tourist of statements of faith for years and they all claim to stand on the word of god in the originals or something the majority of them sadly you know of which there is no actual vibe but anyway um they claim to stand the word of god but until it contradicts the world's wisdom you know or you know until it means make your real stand on something they just don't do it or until it goes against the mainstream doctrines um okay very few really stand to speak the truth in love and that love that truth in love is is a love that warns of the effects of sin yeah that love that preaches on sin because because the the bible god you're the preacher should be loving enough to be telling you not to not you know telling you about what the consequences of certain sins even if that offends half of the the church love that warns people warns people warns the flock of reprobate predators okay and and the more you understand the more you see this the more you see what a risk what a danger they are and i'll tell you what i'm you know for me i find it hard enough like you know you take your kids to a church you don't even know you don't know you don't know what's going on with half the people in that church you don't want them out your sight you know and i would say that as well if you're taking your kids to to you know to what what a church where they don't believe the rep rate doctor where they think everyone bring in everyone they don't they've got no radar for it at all yeah and then it's just like yeah off you go you know and it's like you're upstairs having a chat there's basements things like that and you don't know where your kids are like i think you know no offense to people here like i think think about that because i think that's nuts yeah because well you don't you don't know any of those people in that church yeah you know we don't know each other that well but you know i'm pretty sure about everyone in here you know but but we should you know there are kids and love will be warning of that and being ready to kick people out and if in doubt get out you know because because it is this is that's a big thing these people are predators yeah and they are everywhere everywhere in this country love that calls out the popular false prophets yeah call them out tell them tell them what they you know tell people who they are what they are we we see that amongst churches and pastors we love and they're doing that and and praise god that they do that um love that means taking your brother or sister to one side awarding them the results of their sin you know it's not just the preacher is it it's that love amongst each other to do that to help each other to to to speak the truth to each other you know not just oh well i don't like the love of yourself is i don't really want them to not like me and maybe not say that yeah yeah i'm not saying just call out everyone on everything but but obviously you need to be discerning with that but love that wants to help each other love that calls out false doctrine love that calls out full structure no matter how unpopular you might get right a good church believes that god's word is pure okay proverbs 35 6 says every word of god is pure he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar and and sadly most of these churches sadly in this country they don't really think it's pure i don't think because they just pick and choose they pick and choose and and it's not a pick and mix um okay it's pure imagine you didn't have faith in it imagine you didn't about i don't know imagine we were christians we were saved but we didn't really have that much faith in it imagine how hard it would be how hard is it for these people that just i i know a lot of them were unsaved but there are some say christians there use false bibles you pick and choose which one i mean wow i just can't even imagine living like that it made me think when a few years ago i did um i studied nutrition for a couple of years yeah and it was really frustrating because there is no like set way so they had all these different theories and even like they kind of have this textbook these main textbooks they give you but they'll just be saying oh research this research that everyone's coming up with different ideas different things and you see it everyone's got their own ideas and this is good for you this isn't this how you should eat this is how you shouldn't eat this is what you should do this is what you shouldn't do and for me like that's really frustrating when you don't have like just something that you could go right this is the truth this is it this is that you know for us this is the word of god we know exactly if it says it it means it yeah um and we should be standing on the word of god a good church will stand on the word of god and if we become a church we need to stand on the word of god that's everyone in here everyone in here um okay if there was only one place you're going to hear the truth where should it be the house of god shouldn't it um turn to first timothy three first timothy three and verse 14 says these things right onto thee hoping to come unto thee shortly but if i tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of god which is the church of the living god the pillar and ground of the truth okay we want it to be the pillar and ground of the truth here and and when we become a church you know that's what we want people to think it's a church that's why i'm getting the truth and that's from everyone with everyone to everyone we're all grounded in this word okay so faithfully preaching god's word is loving others isn't it we know that trying to sound intelligent by questioning or criticizing the preserve word of god is just loving yourself and i've heard i've heard that with king james only churches as well where they start to well yeah the translators here they should have really said this or should have done that or oh well you know they didn't you know if you know this word i was it he was talking i think one past through it i think it was about the word baptism maybe uh or maybe there was one with the word congregations trying to suggest that they were basically being influenced by king james just come on you know you don't know a thing you know they try to go oh maybe they could have translated or should have translated it this no you don't know anything yeah what do you know and it's just trying to lift up themselves all the time now we need to trust trust this word of god um okay we need to preach the whole bible second typically 316 says that we know the you know famous verse all scripture is given by inspiration of god and is profitable for repro for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that's all scripture um now the lord jesus christ spoke the truth in love for the people when he called the scribes alone just in in matthew 23 alone he's called the scribes and pharisees hypocrites blind guides fools extortioners whited sepulchers full of iniquity serpents a generation of vipers okay anyone saying that the lord jesus christ isn't loving that was in love okay and we're told to to we're told to speak the truth in love okay now i'm not saying we just have to be here constantly throwing out insults but that is love that is love and it's not love just say oh well they're just a bit confused about oh you know well they're just a bit off on on on salvation at that church but they're good people you know that ain't love yeah that ain't love for the people that are being that are being conned by that nonsense okay so good church speaks truth to jesus christ being the only way the truth of the life you know and and that that's where we go out so the members go out of a good church and they speak the truth in love of heaven hell and the glorious gospel we all know that we all go out and we do that we do that as soul winners and we want to make sure that if we become a church then that's what we do we're out there just preaching the truth yeah um okay so how to become a good church by working as a team number two through biblically qualified leadership number three by working hard number four by building up the believers number five by standing on the word of god okay last bit if you just read that verse 16 of ephesians 4 it says from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplyeth according to the effectual work in the measures of every part make an increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love okay so when a church follows god's way becomes a tight-knit team the result is a church displaying the love of god and we've obviously talked about what that love is yeah um first John 4 8 says that god is love so what a great opportunity that we have here to make a difference in this evil nation we have a great opportunity to become a church yeah um so let's get united get working for the lord and you know let's make a let's make this into a good church yeah um amen so let's with that let's have a word of prayer heavenly father thank you for um giving me the opportunity to preach your word thank you for your word thank you for just that we could stand on that word thank you for for showing us what what we need to do to be a tight-knit unit to be that that one body please help us to all want that help us to all strive for that help us to work hard for that um help us to all just just just to live for you lord and live for your your church that you've given us to be able to go out then and preach the gospel to others and build them up too we just ask all these things um and ask you also sorry to bless our day as well in jesus name amen you