What Is A Local Church?

To Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two. We're going to begin reading in chapter two and verse 40 in just a moment. What is the local church? I think it's important that we understand what a local church is, what a local church is supposed to do.

We are going to take time next Sunday morning just briefly to read through our church covenant. Probably something we need to do every year but something we end up doing about I think every third year but want to take some time to look briefly the beginning as this year as we get started at our church covenant and so we'll be doing that next week but it's kind of an introduction to that leading into that. We want to look this morning at what the local church is and ask answer a few questions concerning the local church from the word of God. We live in a country today where unfortunately, more and more people growing up in this country don't understand what this country is about. They don't understand how this country was founded.

They don't understand why this country is here. They don't understand the the laws, the constitution, other things that govern govern our our country. Some of those things are not taught like quite like they once were and certainly if you watch one of their shows where they go out on the street and they start asking people, you know, who is your senator or what does this what's the you know, the the Bill of Rights or the First Amendment or any of those kind of things and they scratch their head and they look with this blank stare, you know, because they don't they don't have a clue and unfortunately, that ignorance of what our country is and why our country is here and how it's supposed to function. Causes the functioning to to go a little bit awry. It's important I think that we understand from scripture what the local church is and and why we're here.

Why why do we get together on Sunday and other times during the week to to worship the Lord together. Why why do we covenant together as a a body in Christ to to serve the Lord here and to to help one another. Those are very important. Very important to the Lord in Hebrews chapter ten twenty four and twenty five. I I read this earlier from the bulletin but there it says and let us consider one another.

Let us think about not just ourselves but let's think about one another. Consider one another to provoke, to encourage unto love, and the good works. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting encouraging, helping one another and so much the more as you see the day, the day of Christ return approaching. God has commanded that we congregate that we come together. That we might, among other things, encourage one another.

We need this church. We need not so much this building. We need one another. God has given us his spirit. He has given us his word.

He has given us our church, one another and we need each other as we pursue the will of God and to bring glory to his name in this life. So, don't forsake the assembly. You haven't this morning because you're here. So, I'm preaching the choir so to speak. But it's a very important thing that we do and also that we I think have a better understanding of than sometimes we do.

If you look in your Bibles in Acts chapter two verse 40, we're going to read about the beginning of the first church. In Jerusalem and we're going to refer back to this several times. So, if you find it, mark it. We'll be we'll be back here to look at several things. We're going to read in verse beginning in verse 40.

Peter had got up to preach on the day of Pentecost and he preached a sermon at the end of the sermon. He gave an an invitation to repent and in verse 40 and with many other words, not all of them recorded here in scripture. He did did he testify and exhort the crowd there that day in Jerusalem saying, save yourselves from this untoward, perverted generation. Then they that gladly received his word, the gospel, were baptized and the same day they were added unto them about 3,000 souls and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers and fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles and all that believed were together and had all things common and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need and they continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more before we continue. Lord, thank you for this day and this opportunity that we've been given together here today around your word. We pray Lord as we look into it that you would feed us today from it that the holy spirit would use it in our life to mold us more into the image of your son, Jesus Christ. We pray that if there be one here today that's never received the Lord Jesus as the Lord and savior of their life that they wouldn't put it off another day, another week but they might come to you in faith today and be safe. In Jesus precious name, we do pray.

Amen. I would like to read briefly from our church statement of faith which is based upon scripture about the local church this church. To to observing the ordinances of Christ, governed by his laws, exercising the gift, rights, and privileges vested in them by his word. Being the necessary and visible part of the whole in carrying out the commands given the church by Christ and the duty of every Christian to belong and to participate. We're going to use that as a bit of an outline as we go through the scripture to learn more about the local church today.

Not just about Missouri Avenue Baptist Church but what the local church is. The word church to start out with. The word church means called out assembly. What that means is it's a group of people that do what? They assemble, okay?

It is an assembly. The the word assembly is also used of like a town meeting. When they have a town meeting in a town and they call everybody out and they would all assemble. Church is doesn't specifically refer to a property or to a structure. It refers to the meeting that happens on that property and structure and the people that meet together.

In some of the the translations preceding the King James version, the word church was actually the word congregation and they mean basically the same thing. A church, a congregation congregates. It it meets together. So, church is an assembly. It's a it's an organized assembly.

It's it's it's a structured assembly. Has rules of order and procedures governed by what? By the by the word of God, okay? It has regular meetings to perform ordinances and other matters of worship and service to God. So, church has regular meetings.

We don't just, you know, every now and then make an announcement and say, hey, we're going to meet this month on this day. No, we have regular service meeting times that we gather together for. In Acts chapter 20 in verse seven, it says and upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow and continued his speech until midnight. So, Paul was I believe in Troas in Acts chapter 20 and there he met with the church. The church again is not a building.

It's people. On their regular day of assembly which happened to be what? The first day of the week. In other words, Sunday. This isn't the only time in the New Testament.

It refers to Sunday, the first day of the week is the week that the church chose to meet as a as a large group, okay? As mentioned in the book of Acts, they met at other times throughout the week at different people's homes in in smaller groups. The Bible doesn't say you have to meet on the first day of the week. I suppose if we wanted to meet together on Tuesday, we could do that. Paul says not to hold one day in higher esteem than another but generally speaking, we meet on the first day of the week though we do have other activities as you see in the bulletin other days of the week.

There needs to be there. It's only make sense to have a designated place together. That's what this building is. There's a sign out there that says Missouri Avenue Baptist Church but this building is not Missouri Avenue Baptist Church. Missouri Avenue Baptist Church meets in this in this building on on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, for Tuesday, for the Bible study group, whatever.

At different times, this is our our meeting place and we have a designated place to meet. The early church met in different people's homes. It wasn't common for really for several generations. It they tended to meet in homes generally and was a while before they started constructing big church buildings. The church building does not make the church.

They did. The early church did meet publicly. It would seem at times on the temple grounds in Jerusalem. They met in a in a public area. I think that is important.

Something maybe we're we're we're missing the boat a little bit with today. Our church is public and that anybody can walk through those doors and if you're visiting with us today, we're so glad to have you and we wish that you had brought 100 more people with you, okay? So, it it's it's a public building. Anybody can come and and worship with us and we want them to come and we want them to hear the gospel and the word of God. However, sad to say in our culture today, there aren't that many people that come through the door like they used to and so it maybe isn't quite as public in a way as it it used to be and I I think sometimes that that hurts us a bit and there isn't always an easy answer to that.

One of the answers is that as we leave this building, we we go out with an eye for opportunities to praise the Lord ourselves before other people and tell them of Jesus Christ. Is a place a group that met regularly in a designated place with an agreed upon a statement of faith. Written or unwritten. Primarily, our statement of faith is what? Right here.

This is our statement of faith. This is what we believe. The word of God. We do have a abbreviated written statement of faith in our constitution and bylaws. That's not always the case.

The church doesn't have to have a written statement of faith but but there needs to be an agreed upon doctrinal basis for that church that that meets together. That this is important that we be of the same mind, that we have the same belief and practice if we're going to work together towards a common goal. Paul writes in first Corinthians one ten. Now, I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you and that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. If you'll notice in that verse, you have the word same on more than one occasion, okay?

Same is important. We need to be of the same mind. We need to be of the same judgment. We need to have an agreed upon belief doctrinal basis for our our gathering. In our case, we have also written out besides the word of God and abbreviated statement of faith that when somebody wants to join the church, I give em a copy of that so they can look through it.

So that we can all be on the same page together and if we're not, we have a chance to to talk about that beforehand. There's a lot of churches, sometimes bigger churches that have a lot of people but aren't really accomplishing much for the kingdom of God because everybody's going different directions because they're not taught the same thing and so that's that's vitally important. The church is an organized assembly meets has regular meetings and designated place and agreed upon statement of faith and elected officers. There are two elected offices that are specifically designated in scripture ordained of God and that is pastor and deacon, okay? Also, the word bishop and the word elder are used interchangeably with the word pastor.

So, you have pastor slash elder slash bishop and then you have deacon and these are to be ordained as offices though we have other committees and other officers in the church that do help with finances and and Sunday school and other things as well but in scripture in Philippians one ten, it says, Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi. In other words, the church at Philippi with the what? With the bishops and deacons. So, you have those two offices there. Bishop slash pastor and deacons.

So, our church has pastor and deacons. We have four deacons at present. Brother Al over here. Raise your hand, brother Al. Okay, he's a deacon.

Brother Harry back here on the back row is is another one. Brother David White in the sound booth back there is deacon and I don't think Jeremy can hear me this morning if he raised his hand, you wouldn't see him because he is in Costa Rica on a business trip but he is our he is our fourth deacon and I praise the Lord and thank God for the deacons that we have at this church that assist this pastor in the ministry. They are vitally important to our church and do a lot behind the scenes maybe that you are not aware of. So, it is an organized assembly. That is what a church is.

However, are there other organized assemblies? Yes. I see a few of you nodding your heads. There are a lot of other organized assemblies in this world. There are political assemblies, government assemblies, clubs, lodges, all kinds of different assemblies.

What sets the church apart? What sets this assembly apart from the others? Why is this assembly called the church? Not just another town meeting. Well, it has to do with who makes up.

This assembly. It it has to do with who they are. Who are we? Who is it that is assembling? And what is their purpose?

In assembly. First of all, who are we? We are believers in who? We are believers in Jesus Christ. If you look back to Acts chapter two verse 41, it says, then, they that gladly what?

Received his word. Now, that word received there means that they heard it and they what? And they believed it. Those who heard and believed and heeded the words that Peter spoke when he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, how that they needed to be saved from their sin and that Jesus Christ died on the cross and he rose again that he might do that very thing for them if they would put put their faith in Jesus Christ. Repent of their rejection of him because remember, many of these people had just weeks previously chanted in the streets, crucify.

Peter said, if you will repent, if you will have a change of heart, change of faith Put your faith in the one that just weeks ago, you cried out to crucify. That very one will still save your soul. From sin. And many of them received his word. They believed his word.

They became followers of who? They became followers of Jesus Christ. Part of God's family, part of the body of Christ, the body of believers, part of his kingdom. His kingdom does not have a throne at a particular spot in this world yet. He's coming to to do that.

But if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are already a subject of his what? Of his kingdom. Because he is your what? He is your king. He is your king.

And you become part of what the Bible calls the body of Christ. It says, then they gladly received the word were what? Were baptized. So, we're talking about baptized believers here in first Corinthians one two. It says, under the church of God which is at Corinth, the church that's at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus.

The word sanctified there isn't talking about progressive sanctification. It the word means to be set apart and when you trusted Christ as savior, you were what? You were set apart unto God and unto Jesus Christ and so, those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints, the word saint means holy and also is from the same word root word is sanctified. You don't have to be designated by the church or a church to be a saint. When you trust Christ as savior, you become a what?

A saint in Christ Jesus. You've been set apart. You've been declared holy before God. So, under the church of God which is according to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours. The church is made up of believers.

Those who have called upon Jesus Christ to be the Lord and savior of their life and then, those that subsequently upon faith in Jesus Christ after they have been saved, follow the Lord and believers what? Believers baptism. Now, according to scripture, this is baptism by immersion, okay? Jesus went down into the water when he was baptized and then came back, came back out. Every time we see in scripture baptism in the New Testament, it seems to be immersion.

Matter of fact, the very word baptized, baptizo in Greek means to be immersed. And baptized in the name of the father, son, and the holy spirit. We'll come back to that in a few minutes but the church, the first church here in Acts chapter two was made up of believers, followers of Jesus Christ, who were saved, who then subsequently demonstrated that publicly to those around them by following the Lord in believers bapt ism. So, we believe as a church that if you become a part of our our local church that you must be a baptized believer. What does a local church do?

What is its purpose? What's the purpose of this assembly? You know, that's that's a very important question. That that needs to be answered and that we need to know the answer to. There's a lot of people that come to church have been coming to church for years.

Don't really know why they're coming. Don't really understand the purpose a local church. What is its, what is its purpose? Well, let's look if you would. Hold your place in Acts two and turn with me to Ephesians chapter four.

Ephesians chapter four and we're going to read verses I think 11 through 16. Yes. Ephesians four eleven through 16. Paul is writing the local church, the local church at Ephesus. What is the purpose of this this gathering?

Ephesians four verse 11. And he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, teachers. For the perfecting or the maturing of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, the building up of the body of Christ, which here is speaking of the local church. Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God unto a perfect or complete 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 and doctrine. By the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive but speaking the truth in love may grow up into him that is in the Christ in all things which is the head even Christ.

From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply it according to the effectual working and the measure of every part make it increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. So, Paul says, here, he says, I'm writing you. I'm explaining here. God gave to your church these leaders and and teachers to assist the church in ministering to itself and growing into a mature body of Christ group of believers to the glory of God and to the edifying of one another. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, the service of Jesus Christ, and for the edifying of one another.

That those who are part of the church might all grow together in the knowledge of Jesus Christ that we be not tossed to and fro with every wind and doctrine that we become grounded in our faith and that we might grow in our service for Jesus Christ. Speaking verse 15, speaking the truth and love may grow up unto him in all things which is the head even Christ from whom the whole body fitly joined together. That that verse is talking about every part of the body has a what? Has a purpose. Every member of our body is important.

You know, you say, well, your hands important. Yes, my hands important. Is my thyroid important? Yeah, I don't see my thyroid. I don't think about my thyroid very often but my thyroid gland is important.

A matter of fact, nearly as important as my hand is. Every part of the body has a function, has a purpose, and that purpose is to edify, to build up the rest of the what? The rest of the body. That it might grow, that it might be healthy, that it might increase. As he says here.

The purpose of the church is that we, as the body of Christ, would serve the Lord and one another. That by using the gifts and talents that God has given to us that each one of us might help to build one another. The church is not a a a a femoral body a place, it's you. It's me. We are the church.

And the purpose of the church is to build up each other in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and to increase our number as well and to bring glory to who? And to bring glory to God. That's our purpose. Just to bring glory to God. We do that through worship.

We do that through worship. We come together. We gather together to worship the Lord. We pray as the early church did. We preach the word as the early church did.

We praise the Lord in song. As the early church did. We give as the early church did. We worship the Lord and all of those things are part of our worship to him and we are together together meet together a symbol that we might publicly worship the Lord together. We come together to worship.

We come together to serve and to fellowship, to serve the Lord, and to serve one another. Church is an opportunity to serve. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Christians today do not go to church to serve. They go to church to be what? To be served but they don't go to church to serve.

If we are going to be served by one another, then we must be willing to do what? To serve one another. We must be willing to find an aspect of ministry that we can be involved in. We must look for opportunities to pray for and to encourage one another. You are important to this body.

If we are to fulfill our purpose, we have to go to church with an eye for serving and fellowshipping and encouraging one another. In the evening server, after the evening service tonight, we're going to have a church business meeting. In that church business meeting, we're going to vote, bring up for vote, changing the the service times on Sunday morning. Our Sunday school has been meeting at 09:45. Our morning service has been at 10:45.

We're going to go back to the previous times from twelve years ago and we're going to start Sunday school at ten. We're going to start the Sunday morning service at eleven and there's a couple reasons I want to do that. One of those reasons is, I want to have a prayer meeting before Sunday school. I would love to have the entire church there. We're going to meet in the fellowship hall and we're going to spend some time in prayer before the Sunday services get started.

What a what a better way to start Sunday than to gather together in prayer. Now, honestly, I don't expect everybody to show up but I wish I could. And we'd love for you to come And and meet in the fellowship hall. And spend some time in prayer. We're not going to read through the prayer list.

Though those will be available to you. But we're not going to read through them. Don't want to just pray down a list. I want us to spend some time in groups just to for whoever wants to pray, to pray, to pray for revival, to pray that God would be magnified in our services, to pray that souls would be saved. I want us to have a little more time to pray and I think that would be a good time to do it and then, we're going to allow for a little more time between the Sunday school hour and the morning service about twenty minutes.

Right now, it ends up usually being about ten minutes but you need to have time to fellowship and help and encourage one another. So, I want to have a little more time between Sunday school and church that we can fellowship because you're important and the ministry that you participate in and in helping, encouraging one another is also important and so that's why we're going to bring that up in the business meeting this evening. So, if you want to have some input in that or vote, show back up members this evening. The church gathers together to worship, to serve, and fellowship, and for the purpose of evangelism and discipleship. Evangelism and discipleship.

The sole purpose of the church is not to win the lost to is to bring glory to who? God, by the building up of the church but that by necessity, that necessitates increase in the body of Christ and the church has been commissioned. What's the word commission mean? Commanded The church has been commanded to do what? To do what this verse up here says.

What is it? That we're supposed to go you therefore and teach all nations. The word teach means this make disciples. Win souls from all nations and then doing what? Baptizing them in the name of the father, son, and the holy ghost and then doing what?

Well, and then teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Jesus says to his disciples, one of the things the church must do, The church must be about winning other souls to Christ. Bringing other souls into the kingdom for whom Christ died on the cross. God has given us this privilege to be his hands and his feet and his mouthpiece to be the messengers of the good news of Jesus Christ to the world around us. That is one of the purposes for which we assemble together It's to win the lost to Christ.

To win the lost to Christ through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we are sinners who need a savior and Jesus Christ is that savior. The only way to be saved from sin and hell is if you will come and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Without him, you are without hope with him. You have promise of eternal life. For God so loved the world, you that he gave his only begotten son.

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish in hell but have what? Everlasting life with him in heaven. That's the good news of the gospel and people need to hear it. They hear it through the preaching of God's word but they also hear it through the equipping of the saints that gather here to leave this place and go out and do what? And take it to them.

As I mentioned earlier, I wish more people came through that door. I wish this church was filled with people every Sunday that were searching for Jesus Christ. But sadly that that's not the case. And if they're not going to voluntarily come through this door, then we need to go out and we need to bring them bring them in. We need to go out and we need to take the gospel to them.

You need to take those tracks. I want to see em disappear off that back table back there. Take em. Hand them out. People need the Lord.

God has commissioned his church to increase its number through the preaching of the gospel and in so doing, not just expand the size of our local assembly but expand the size of the kingdom of God. That is what is most most important. These responsibilities are intended to extend beyond these walls. We come together to encourage each other. We come together to teach each other, to help each other grounded in the faith, and to encourage one another, to live for Jesus Christ, and to go out into a lost and dying world, and tell other people about Jesus.

So they can come to know him too. We observe two ordinances that are commanded in scripture. We mentioned that in our statement of faith, that of baptism which identifies one with Jesus Christ that's mentioned here in the verse. We are to be baptized in the name of the father, son, and the holy spirit. Baptism by immersion pictures your death in Christ Jesus under your old life and risen in Christ Jesus to walk in newness of life.

That you are identifying yourself as a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ and by God's grace, you're going to live for him. Baptism doesn't save you. I don't know how many baptist I've talked to. That I ask him, when were you saved? And they say, well, I got what?

I got baptized. Well, you know, it maybe that they did get saved when they got baptized because when they got baptized, they put their faith and trust in who? In Jesus Christ and called upon him as their Lord and savior. But I'm sad to say that there are some. That are trusting not in Jesus Christ.

But are trusting in what? The waters of baptism. Baptism, the waters of baptism cannot save you. Baptism is a picture What Christ has done in your life. When you came to him by faith.

It is a public confession of that. It is obedience, a demonstration of your faith. But it is not that which saves. The Lord's supper also the same. It is a picture, a reminder of what Christ did for us, that we have been commanded to keep and to do regularly.

We take the Lord's supper about once a quarter. You need to be doing that. We usually have the Lord's supper on Sunday nights. Some people miss that regularly. There are some elderly that have a hard time getting out.

I understand that. But for the rest of us, we need we need to gather together to take the Lord's supper to celebrate our fellowship that we have with God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ that has washed away our sins and the fellowship that we have with one another in him. So, question, how does one become a part of a local church or Missouri Avenue Baptist Church? Well, you must do what? You must believe in who?

You must believe in Christ. You must be saved in order to become part of the local church because it is the body of who? It's the body of Christ. It's the body of the followers, the believers of Jesus Christ. The saints who have been set apart through faith in Christ to his purpose.

So, you must be a believer. In order to belong to our local church, you also must be a a baptized believer in Jesus Christ. And you can join by transfer of letter that is from another church in which you were saved and baptized and you can transfer your membership here. You can come on statement of faith and that you've been saved and baptized or you can join our church when you are baptized. But our church is made up of baptized believers.

Why join? Why join a church? Well, few reasons. You know, there are a lot of people that just go to church and they never what? They never join the church.

Now, if you are a baptized believer in Jesus Christ, are you part of the family of God? Yes, amen. You are. Whether you're the member on the roles of a baptist church or not or a church at all. If you are a baptized believer, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you are part of God's why.

You're part of God's family, okay? But why should you join a local church? Just some thoughts in closing. Commitment. It's important to make a commitment.

Don't you think? We have marriages. What is marriage? What's a wedding? It's a it's a commitment between a man and a woman to be husband and wife and to be committed to one another.

Why join a church? Commitment. We need to commit ourselves to being part of a local body to to gather to to worship, to serve the Lord, and to grow itself. Commitment is important. Accountability is important.

That passage up here, Hebrews ten twenty four and twenty five reinforces. Paul says, you you can't stop assembling together because you need each other. Don't stop that. You need each other to help each other. In fighting the battles that we fight in the Christian life.

With our flesh and the world around us. We we need each other. That accountability, that praying for each other is important. You need to join so you can serve. So, you can get involved.

We need people to get involved. You need to join so you can get more involved. You need to be part of a local church in obedience to to Jesus Christ. And for mutual growth and for fellowship That's why. But now in the invitation this morning, I have just Four quick questions and we'll be done.

Question number one, do you belong to the family of God? Are you saved? Most important question this morning is not what local church you're a member of. The invitation this morning is not for you to join our church. If you wish to join our church, I would love to talk with you about that.

Because we would love to have more members. But that's not the primary invitation this morning. The primary invitation is this, you need Jesus. You need to be saved. Are you saved?

Do you if you know if you died today where you would go? The Bible teaches us, you don't just go in the ground and that's it. You're going to wake up somewhere. Heaven or hell. Which will it be?

There are some today that would tell you, you can't know that. They're not telling you the word of God. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me. You can come to the father by whom?

By Jesus. If you believe in him, John three sixteen, you will perish but have what? Everlasting life. The Bible says in first John chapter five, John writes to those who believed in Christ that they might know of a certainty that they had eternal life. I want you to know.

God wants you to know. I hope you want to know. What will happen when this heart stops beating and this brain stops functioning and your soul departs this body, where will it go? Where will it go? Do you know Jesus?

Are you saved? If you have any doubts, I plead with you. Don't walk back through those doors. And out into the world. You don't have to walk around with those doubts.

You can be saved. Number two, have you been scripturally baptized? Because you should be. You should be. You should let the world know that you are a follower of Jesus Christ.

Are you a member of a local church? You should be. You should be part of a local church where you can serve the Lord with other Christians and be an encouragement and help to them as they are to you. How are you doing? How are you doing as a member of a local church?

And encouraging and serving one another. All of those are questions that God laid on my heart to lay on your heart. But above all, I plead with you as we give this hymn of invitation this morning. If you've never trusted Christ, would you come? Jesus is holding out his arms for you.

You can be saved and known today. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, we thank you Lord for your word. We thank you for Jesus Christ, our savior. We thank you that through faith in him, we have become not only believers in Christ but part of your body and Lord that you have placed us here by your own purpose that we might serve you together.

We might be bring glory to your name. That we might help each other. And that we might increase our number. Through bringing souls to Jesus. Lord, I pray that we might do an even better job at that this year.

I pray Lord that as we do our part, Lord, and that we make these things a priority in our life. Lord, that you would bring them the increase. That we would see more souls saved this year. We would see Christians growing, that would see your name magnified in our community. Lord, we do pray.