The Work of Jesus Christ in the Earth

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 shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.

Would you pray with me this morning? Lord, we come to you as a needy people. Lord, we know that we have needs sometimes, and other times you know that we have needs that we’re even unaware of. We certainly need your word. If we’re going to grow as your people, Lord, we’re going to have to grow by the word of God. And that’s what we come out to look at this morning.

We come to your word. Lord, open our eyes and our heart that we might behold wondrous things out of thy law. Give us understanding, Lord, and teach us by your Spirit these truths. Guide me, Lord, to say the things to help and strengthen your people in their faith, in the truth, in the Scripture. But not only that, Lord, help us not to just go away with more knowledge or a knowledge that’s been strengthened, but Lord, that we might apply the word of God and use it to help us to live uprightly and to walk before you unto all pleasing.

So Lord, we just acknowledge we need your help in every way in Jesus’ name. Amen. Now you’ve seen in the book of Matthew as we’ve gone through it, I do want to look at several verses starting in Matthew chapter 1. We’ll just take a brief, very brief walk through various verses in Matthew. We’ve seen a recurring theme that’s recurred and has been brought up a number of times in Matthew.

And the theme is, who is this Jesus? Who is this Jesus? And that we’ve seen it over and over. The identity, the question of the identity of the Lord Jesus is a major theme in the book of Matthew, is a major theme in the book of Matthew. Now to you and to me, that question might seem like a settled issue. But if you peer beyond Greenville, South Carolina, you know, because we do get kind of a small world mentality, we do, we think everybody thinks like us and has the same beliefs as us, and that’s just not true.

When you leave even this area and you go to another part of the country, or especially when you leave this country and go to another part of the world, there are literally billions upon billions of people that have not settled this question. Who is this Jesus? Many, many people, you might be surprised to know that most people in the world have heard of Jesus. So I know we go to Romans 15 about, you know, striving to preach the gospel where Christ is not named, right?

But there are actually few places on earth where the name of Christ has not at least arrived in some form or fashion, where people know the name of Jesus. Now I have met, as a missionary, I have met people who had never heard of Jesus, had no idea who Jesus was at all. So they exist, but by and large, even in Cambodia, which is definitely kind of on the fringes of that, most people are familiar with Pré-Jesu, they know who Jesus is, at least in broad terms.

But the question of his identity is still an open question. And that’s true in most of the world. And in Matthew it’s true. When Jesus arrived on the scene, if you put yourself in that place, in that time period among those people, that’s an open question. Here you see a man who is just a regular man, a regular Jew, no doubt, just an average guy by all accounts.

He hath no form nor comeliness. There’s no beauty in him that we should desire him, is what the scripture says. Probably a short man based upon the heights of the skeletal remains of people in the first century, probably about five foot three, just in all ways average. And so there’s a lot of reason for questions regarding who he is to be in people’s minds. Look at Matthew 1, even going all the way back to his birth, verse 20.

But while he thought on these things, this is Joseph now, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. What is this angel Gabriel telling Joseph? He’s telling him who this baby is. That’s what he’s doing. He’s addressing the identity question.

Right? Now let me say this, and we’ll see it in just a minute, but the identity question regarding Jesus Christ is still a question in our day. And the identity question is, if you want to boil down the body of Christian doctrine, you want to boil down eternal life even, it is based upon this first kind of initial question. There’s probably another one about who made the world, you know, where we come from.

That’s probably even more basic and elemental. But on top of that, the question of who Jesus is, is a foundational question. It’s the foundation of the cross and the resurrection, because you can’t properly understand the gospel unless you understand who this person is. You have to know his identity before you can understand who’s on the cross and why that’s so significant. It is foundational. You know, a Jehovah’s Witness can believe that Jesus died on the cross for his sins, and because he has his identity wrong, it is ineffectual.

He has the wrong Jesus. Right? He has a man parading around as Jesus with a mask that looks like Jesus, but it is not Jesus. No more than if a man put on a Donald Trump mask, like you probably will be seeing at some point in the next several days. You’ll probably see some people with Donald Trump masks knocking on your door, ringing your doorbell. That doesn’t mean they’re Donald Trump.

Say amen. That’s right. That doesn’t mean they’re Donald Trump. So this identity question is very important. Let’s look at Matthew chapter 3, as we just take a stroll through Matthew, chapter 3, verse 11. John the Baptist is speaking here. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

Right? This is, who is this one? And of course, we know later John the Baptist will say, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away to the sin of the world. But again, even John the Baptist had questions. Who is this? How will I know him? This one who is sent from God. Look at chapter number 3, verse 17. And lo, as John baptizes our Lord, and lo, a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

This is the testimony of the Father as to the identity of this man Jesus of Nazareth. Look at chapter 4, verse 3. Jesus speaking. That doesn’t seem right. That’s not right. Ah, there we go. Chapter 4, verse 3, I was right. I was looking at verse 4. And when the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

He says the same thing in verse number 6. You see this? The question, you’re not really who you say you are. You’re not really who you think you are. Your identity is not, is not, you got this wrong. Even to the Lord himself. How much more will then the devil’s lie be associated with the identity of Jesus Christ? Right, it is. The cults pedal it, false religions, all without exception pedal it.

All right, let’s look at chapter 8, if you would. Chapter 8. And I know as we’ve gone through this, Matthew, we have paused and we have noticed this in each case. I’m just trying to review it because in Matthew 16, we’ve come to like a high point on the question of Christ’s identity. This is the grand confession of Peter. That’s why it’s so important to get the context of it.

Matthew 8, verse 27. After Jesus calmed the storm, the Bible says, But the men marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him, struck with his identity? Chapter 11, look at that if you would. Chapter 11, verse 3. This is our dear John the Baptist now in prison. We covered this as well. And John said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?

John was doubting what? His identity. Because John was disappointed that everything didn’t turn out like he expected the Messiah to be. And that’s something that we’ll see in our text in Matthew 16. That’s also an issue with the disciples. Look at chapter 13. Chapter 13, verse 55. In Nazareth, of course, the hometown of the Lord Jesus, the people of Nazareth say this, Is not this the carpenter’s son?

Yes. Is not his mother called Mary? Yes. His brethren, James and Joses and Simon and Judas, verse 56. And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? Again, they didn’t believe. They obviously believed in Jesus. See this? These men believed in Jesus. We’re going to see that in Matthew 16 in just a minute. But they got it all wrong.

They did not believe in Jesus as in his true identity. Look at chapter 16, verse 1. Back in our text now. Chapter 16, verse 1. The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting, desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven. What’s the purpose of this? Prove yourself. Prove who you are. Show us a sign and we’ll believe. Even all the way into the cross, the thieves on the cross, the people walking by the cross, all said, if you come down from the cross, you save yourself, we’ll believe that you’re the Christ.

We’ll believe that you’re the Son of God, right? Listen, you see it over and over and over, just like a drumbeat of the same theme, the same subject. Who is this Jesus? Who is this Jesus? Then we get to verse 16, chapter 16, verse 13. Jesus poses the question. Now I want you to note that he gives the question, he wants the disciples to draw a distinction between what the world says about Jesus, and what the disciples say about Jesus.

Because that is not the same. You know, when you turn on the Discovery Channel, you’re going to hear a lot, I don’t know, was it Discovery, TLC, I mean, whatever. You know, they have all these money-hungry conspiracy theory ideas, these programs that they produce, like, en masse. I mean, it’s like mass-produced that cover, you know, the Da Vinci Code, and Who Was Jesus’ Wife, and you know, all these dumps, they’re all dumb.

You know what it is? It’s this right here. Who do men say that I am? That doesn’t matter. That doesn’t matter at all. Because the real question, the question that can be answered, and actually, from an apologetics perspective, if you’re ever talking to someone about Christ, they say, well, you can’t trust the gospel accounts because they were written by, well, they weren’t even written by the disciples, but even if they can see that point, but they had a dog in the fight, so you can’t trust what they say.

They believed in Jesus, of course they’re going to say he’s the son of God, but they were also the people the closest to him. They were also the people that knew him, that saw him in private, not just his public face. And you notice that’s what’s going on here. It’s a distinction between what the people versus the disciples. Look at verse 14. And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, and some Elias, that’s Elijah the prophet, and others Jeremiah’s, or one of the prophets.

As you can see, the prevailing opinions of society and of the people to whom Jesus ministered were varied. Everybody didn’t agree on who exactly Jesus was. And if you think about it, you think about these people, John the Baptist, Elias, Jeremiah, the prophets, all of those people, you know what they are? They’re highly revered people in the Jewish society. Like they’re highly revered figures. They believe that Elijah had risen from the dead, or that John the Baptist or Jeremiah had risen from the dead.

And so it is not that the people are against Jesus. You see that? It’s not that they think he’s a devil. Now if you look at the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they thought he had Beelzebub, right? They thought he had a devil. But the people in general had a favorable and a reverential view of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see this? That’s why they said that they compared him or thought that he was the resurrected prophet, if you will.

So it wasn’t intended to be an insult for them to think this about Jesus because they did highly regard him. After all, he had healed their sick and provided for them in various ways as we’ve seen. But I want to tell you something, brothers and sisters. To highly regard the Lord Jesus Christ, and that’s our society right now. To highly regard the Lord Jesus Christ is not the same as to believe in him as he said he is who he is.

That is not the same thing. This world highly regards Jesus as the founder of one of the great religions of the world. That’s not enough. People every moment of the day are falling into hellfire with a high regard for Jesus. That’s not enough. That’s not enough. And that’s, but that’s this society. But think about this as well. Look at verse number 14 again. Of all of the opinions that the people in this society entertained about Jesus of Nazareth, and they were good opinions, not bad, not like the Pharisees.

They were good opinions. The one, now follow it. What are the four identities that the people identify? What are they? The first is John the Baptist, second, Elijah, third, Jeremiah, fourth, one of the prophets. All right, so you got four identities. There is one missing of all, I mean, think about how distinct and how varied all of these opinions about Jesus’ identity are. They have all of these different figures, important figures in their history, that they think Jesus might be these four people.

But you know what the one that is missing is the Messiah. Nobody thought maybe he’s the Messiah. Maybe he’s the Son of God. Nobody thought that. Only the disciples thought that.

The one that they left out was Christ. And the truth is that the Christ, the promised seed of David, the promised king in the line of David, was a very significant figure in Jewish theology. It was very, very significant. But that was the first thing that came to mind. It was very significant. But that one is the one that they didn’t entertain. The one that he is, they didn’t entertain at all.

So let me tell you something. To deny Jesus who he truly is, even when he’s highly regarded, is to reject him. Because in their mind, they were thinking, well, he’s a great man, he’s a great man. But the one thing that he was they didn’t entertain, that is actually a rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why the cults, and this is why Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons, and Islam and all of that, are actually rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ.

And particularly, if you’ve ever seen any of the clips of different apologetics debates with Muslims, Muslims will often say, we more highly regard Jesus Christ than Christians. Because we believe he’s a prophet. Well, but that’s not enough. That’s what they believed. You see what I’m saying? But to reject who he truly is, is to reject him entirely. Is to reject him entirely. You think of Herod. Herod also believed that John the Baptist was risen from the dead.

But as we see here this question, who do men say that I the Son of Man am? What do you believe about the Lord Jesus Christ? I want to tell you something. That question, what a man believes about Jesus Christ determines how he responds to what Jesus says and to Jesus’ demands upon his life. Right? What you believe about Jesus determines everything else. Whether, and this is very important, especially because a lot of this touches religion, modern religion in our day.

A lot of people give lip service to the idea that Jesus is the Son of God. He’s God, very God. I mean major religions. Roman Catholicism acknowledges that. There are many Protestant denominations that acknowledge that. They acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God. But when you come down to brass tacks, do you really believe that? Yeah, believe it on paper. But do you really believe it? Because what he said is not held in the highest regard as the ultimate standard of truth.

There’s something else that’s also, in other words, if he is the Son of God, very God in the flesh, then his word is the final authority, not anything else that came after. Not tradition, not what men think, not what any religious figure thinks. What Jesus says is supreme to all. Right? But that’s the very thing that is not received, that is not accepted. Matthew Henry said this.

I thought it was good. It is well or ill with us, according as our thoughts are right or wrong concerning Jesus Christ. Concerning Jesus Christ. See, if you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, is the Son of the Living God, the Christ, the Son of the Living God, then why is it we have such a difficult time understanding that when he died on the cross, he did all that was necessary?

When he said, he did all that was necessary, when he said, it is finished, it was finished. Why are all these religions adding to this? That is a rejection of who he is, because it’s a rejection of his authority. The Lord said, there would be many that would call him Lord, Lord. Notice they call him, they identify him as Lord, but they didn’t do what he said.

What good is that? What good is it to say Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Son of the Living God, if you do not act in accordance or believe then that what he says is the truth about how a person gets to heaven, how a person gets eternal life? It’s just words, it’s just words. But with Peter and the other disciples, it was not just words.

Look at verse 15. He saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the cross, the Son of the Living God. You see the disciples, I want you to understand that the disciples did not grow into a belief that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. You know that? Like all the time that the Lord spent with the multitudes and he taught them and he showed them signs and wonders and miracles and all of that, and you see, the disciples are bearing witness.

All the way up until Matthew chapter 16, there’s still a lot of people who are not following Jesus Christ until Matthew chapter 16. There’s still a question regarding who is this man? You see this? There’s still a question. But with the disciples, that question was answered from the very beginning. Take a peek if you would at John chapter 1. John 1. John chapter 1. Look at verse 45.

The Bible says this, Phil findeth Nathaniel. This is at the very beginning. And saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did right, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph. So he doesn’t got it exactly right, but keep reading. Look at verse number 49. Rabbi Nathaniel answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art what? The Son of God. The King of Israel.

That’s the Christ. You see, this is at the very beginning. Nathaniel, the disciples, understood from the start. They didn’t grow into understanding. They accepted and acknowledged who Jesus was from the beginning. Now someone might say, well I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. That’s great. Then you must also, I mean that’s a great basis, that’s a great foundation. Without that you can’t have anything after that.

But now you must examine what he said about how that you can have eternal life. That must be the final authority. Not a preacher, not a bishop, not a pope, not a religion. But what Jesus Christ himself said. If he is the Son of God, he has authority on this matter. And he does indeed. Then we go to verse number 16. Verse 16 says, thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Now the Lord always referred to himself almost always as the Son of man. But the disciples here have come to understand without necessarily him all the time directly saying, I am the Son of God. Repeat this after me. I am the Son of God. I am the Son of God. Listen, be careful. Listen, religious liturgy has taught us you just repeat things, repeat things, repeat things. And that’s taught.

And that’s historical. Liturgy, and liturgy has, where you have these back in the days when we had this, lectionaries, were designed to be repeated, repeated, repeated. You just repeat things. And there’s a resurgence of liturgy among Christian churches. Has anyone noticed that? There’s a kind of a resurgence in interest in liturgy. But the problem with that is it’s words. See, we deceive ourselves by thinking if we repeat the words, we are that thing, or we actually believe that thing.

And it’s really just words. With Peter, it wasn’t the words. Peter had never, as far as we know, Peter had never said this before. This came straight out of Peter’s heart. Right? But we deceive ourselves through that religious liturgy, and we say, oh, well, if I can quote the prayer, if I can quote the line or the catechism, that means that I am the thing. And that’s not the case.

That’s the danger in it. That’s the danger in it. The disciples came to understand, though the Lord did not have them constantly repeat, thou art the Son of God, they came to understand that he was the Son of God. Most of the time, he referred to himself as the Son of Man, but not so with the rest of the world. To the Buddhist, Jesus is a Christ, the Son of the living God, not the Christ, because Buddha himself was a kind of Christ.

To the Hindu, he is the Christ, the Son of one of the gods, because they had many gods. To the Muslim, the Son of God, to the Muslim, Jesus is the Christ, but not the Son of the living God, because, of course, they reject the idea that God could have a son. To the Jehovah’s Witness, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, but that doesn’t mean that he is actually God in the flesh, which is what the Bible says it does mean.

To the Mormon, Jesus is the Christ, but not the Son of the living God, uniquely, because all of us can become sons of God or gods. You see, in every case, Satan has managed to create a way for mankind to give lip service to Jesus Christ without fully owning him in his person, as his identity truly is. In other words, he’s given man a way to agree to parts of this confession, but not the whole.

And that’s what I gave you an example of leaving out, just changing one thing here, one thing there, and that changes the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what it does is it allows men to profess Christ and come in among God’s people, thinking that they are the genuine article, and they actually are not, because they have rejected him. To deny part of this confession is to reject it entirely.

Either Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the one true and living God, and that means he has got very God in the flesh, or you have rejected him. You see, in every way in our life, in our eternity, our eternity hinges upon the question, our eternity hinges upon our opinion of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you think Jesus committed sin, you’re not going to heaven. If you think Jesus is anything less than very God in the flesh, you’re not going.

If you think Jesus is in any way, just a regular guy, even a highly revered person, you’re not going. You’re not going. Verse number 17, And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee. That reminds me of what religion, religious dogma, right? This is what you’re supposed to believe. Now repeat it. No, anyone who comes to the Lord Jesus Christ and receives eternal life, who acknowledges and understands who he truly is, has been taught by God.

Because that’s not something we come to naturally. That’s not something we come to naturally. This is the Lord’s personal interaction revealing himself to people, because God is always calling men to himself and revealing himself to men. Now look at verse number 18. 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.

If you would, I’d like you to look at John chapter 1, if you would. I want to show you one thing about this name Peter. Thou art Peter, John chapter 1. The name Peter means a stone, right? It is very similar to the word rock used in the same verse, but it’s a different word. You can see it in John chapter 1 where it’s actually translated as the word stone, although it is Peter’s name, right?

Just like we say someone’s name is Hope, right? Hope is a name and it’s also, it means hope. Well, Peter’s name means a stone, so every time the Lord called Peter Peter, he was calling him a stone. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but... John chapter 1, look at verse number 42. And he brought him to Jesus, and when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah.

Thou shalt be called Cephas. Cephas is Aramaic. You know what it means? A stone. The Greek word is Peter, which is by interpretation, Peter. That’s what, a stone, same word, is his name. Is his name, Peter. So go back to chapter 16, verse 18, Matthew 16, verse 18. The Lord says to him, Thou art Peter. And what he’s doing is Peter’s name means stone, but then he’s referring to a rock, okay?

So he’s using two different words, but they’re similar, and their spelling is similar. So the Lord is using a play on words. What he’s not saying to Peter is, That’s not what he’s saying. He’s just merely playing off, hey, your name means stone. It’s similar to the rock upon which the church is built, right? At no point in this passage does he make any statement about Peter being the foundation of the church, because Peter is not.

Peter is a disciple. But what I want you to see before we get too far into that is in verse 18, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my temple. And Peter is the foundation of the church. And upon this rock I will build my church. I want to tell you something about the church of God. That Jesus, this is what the Lord Jesus Christ is doing in the world.

You want to know what Jesus is doing in the world? Here’s what he’s doing in the world. Jesus is building a church. Jesus is building a church. The Bible says, for time’s sake, I won’t go into it, but 1 Corinthians chapter 12 says this, For by one spirit are we all baptized, not this, this is a spiritual baptism, into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

And so Jesus says in this passage, look what he says, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. So at the point in which the Lord speaks, this building has not yet commenced, Jesus’ speaking future. But now, in our time, of course, that’s long since commenced already. 1 Corinthians 12, 28 goes on to say this, And God hath set some in the church, the church of God.

I want to tell you something. If you are, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you can, with Peter, acknowledge Jesus is the Christ Son of the living God, and your faith is resting on Christ and his blood shed for you to take your sin away, if that’s what your faith is resting on and nothing else, then you have received the Spirit of God who dwells in you forever.

Right? That is the seal that you’re really born again. One of the best ways that you can tell you’re saved is by the Spirit of God in you and how he operates in the hearts of his people. That’s one of the best ways to tell. When you sin, how does he respond to you? Does he correct you? Does he lead you? Do you have the Spirit of God?

Because the Bible says when you have the Spirit of God, you’ve been baptized into the body of Christ. Later on in 1 Corinthians 12, that’s identified as the church. This is what Jesus is doing. He’s building a church. He’s building a church. If you want to know what Jesus is doing in this world, this is it. He’s building a church. Now, what does that then say about how important the church of God should be in your life?

The church of God should be in your life. This is his activity. Now, we know in heaven he’s interceding for the saints. We know that, right? He’s praying for us. But on earth, you know what he’s doing? He’s building a church. I want to tell you something, brothers and sisters. The church of God should be a significant part of your life. It should not be secondary or trivial.

It should not be incidental to your life. It should not be some kind of add-on. It should be a primary thing. You want to know where the work of God has taken place in the world? In the church. And this church, choice hills Baptist church, is one kind of visible manifestation of the church of God, which is all believers who have the spirit of God. This is one of them.

And let’s just choose straight. Not every church that is one manifestation of the church of God is Baptist. There are other churches of God, local churches where they serve God and they go by other names. So long as they’re right with the scripture. But our church is one manifestation. Choice Hills Baptist Church is one visible manifestation of the church of God on earth. I want to tell you something.

This is where God is working. Just like any church, faithful church of God. This is where God, this is the Lord’s business. In Revelation chapter 2 and 3, what do you see? You see the Lord walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, which are the church, refer to the churches of God. His churches. Christ is building a church. The Lord is working in this church.

You know, sometimes it might be hard for us to see that, but he is. And if that’s the case, should the church of God be just kind of a secondary or tertiary importance in your life or my life? No way. This is where Christ is. This is where he is. He is chosen just like in the Old Testament temple, right? Just like in the temple. That was the one place on earth where the presence of God was manifested.

And so it is in the earth. The church of God is the one place on earth. You can go to the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. God’s not there. Not in the sense I’m referring to. The one place on earth where God is, is in the church. And in every faithful local assembly, that’s where God is. I want to tell you something.

As a believer, you cannot keep the church of God at arm’s length and grow as a believer. That’s where he’s working. That’s where he’s building. You can’t do that. They go together. Yeah, you need each other. We need each other. I missed you guys when I was in Indiana. I really did. I got to meet some nice people in Indiana. And that’s all finding good. But I missed you guys.

I missed seeing those kids. I missed seeing the Roush’s son. I won’t say Andrew. Thomas. There you go. I missed seeing him. I grabbed his little face. You know why? Because it’s the church of God where God has me. Right? If you are aloof from the church of God, you’re aloof from where God is working. This is where the work is happening. Now, sometimes in our mind and our heart, we have a hard time reconciling that.

Because everything in us tells us, I just don’t know if the Lord’s working in me. And then you have little issues in the church. You think, well, I want to tell you something. Every church has that. Every church has that. And yet the Lord is still working in there. So let me give you just some advice based upon this truth. I will build my church. Get all in.

Jump in with both feet and press the gas to the floor. And serve God with all your heart because this is where he’s working. I don’t say that with a proud heart like our church in Noel. I don’t mean that at all. I mean, but the church of God is where it is. This is where missionaries are sent out. This is where the gospel is proclaimed. Where the gospel is sent out from.

This is where the people of God grow. This is where the people of God love one another. This is where the people of God exercise their gifts as the people of God. This is where it all happens. This is the whole focus of the Lord Jesus Christ in this world is the church. So it matters when he says, I will build my church. Are you all in?

I want to tell you something. Aloofness from the people of God in a local church is usually one of the very first indicators that there is aloofness from God himself. That’s the truth. Because they’re all connected. You’re a part of a body, right? And this is the way it works. Get all in. Every child of God should be fully integrated and participating in a congregation of the people of God.

Because this is where Jesus Christ’s work is in the world. This is his habitation in the earth. It should not be non-essential to us. I’m going to stop there. I have more notes, but I’m going to stop there. I want to ask you, what is your relationship with the church of God? What is your relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ as it relates to the church of God?

You know, sometimes when things go sideways, and they do in churches, there’s no question about that. They do. Sometimes our default reaction is to withdraw. But from whom are you withdrawing? You’re withdrawing from the church. You’re withdrawing from the people where the Lord Jesus is building. That can’t be good. That can’t be good. Would you pray with me?