Thank you, ladies. Let's take our Bibles tonight and turn to Numbers 4. Numbers 4. Last time I preached, I was in New York. It's always good to have the opportunity. Brother Zach called me Sunday night because we weren't sure who was preaching tonight. And he's such a sweetheart because he said, I'll be ready as your backup if you can't make it. And I was determined to make it because I didn't want to put him in that situation. But I appreciate that, brother, a lot that you were ready. Because I was sick over the weekend and I didn't know what was going to happen this week. I just told the Lord, I said, I want to be ready. And so, the Lord gave me a message. And I hope I'm ready. Amen. I want to preach tonight on this subject. The church service. The church service. I'm sure that no one here noticed just the bulletin from just last Sunday. has the word service or services, and you can see where I've highlighted it in the bulletin, no less than six times, just in last Sunday's bulletin. And that's what I want to talk about tonight, the church service, in a way probably different than you've heard before. But I want to look at some definitions and apply those definitions. If we all stand tonight, we're going to see this word in our passage no less than six times. And when I saw that, I couldn't believe it. I had that in my message, but then I saw it in the bulletin, and it was exactly six times in each place. I think that's perfectly providential. Alright, Numbers 4, verses 21-28, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon throughout the houses of their fathers by their families. From thirty years old and upward until fifty years old, shalt thou number them, all that enter in to perform the service to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation. So, we're going to read about the three sons of Levi, and the tribe of Levi was given the responsibility of conducting all of the work and the service in the tabernacle. So, here we see each of the sons and their families mentioned. And notice that it was to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation. And they were to perform the service. Verse 24, this is the service of the families of the Gershonites. To serve and for burdens. And they shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle and the tabernacle of the congregation, his coverings and the covering of badger skins that is above upon it, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the hangings of the court, and the hanging for the door of the gate of the court, which is by the tabernacle, and by the altar round about, and their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and all that is made for them, so shall they serve. And at the appointment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, and all their burdens, and all their service he shall appoint unto them in charge of all their burdens." This is the service of the families of the sons of Gershon. in the tabernacle of the congregation, and their charge shall be under the hand of Ithmar, the son of Aaron, the priest." Now, we won't go and read about the other two sons. It's basically the same kind of thing. But this just shows the passage where they were to perform these duties. And it's called a service. It's called a service. And in that passage, mentioned no less than six times. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank You tonight for the privilege to be here in God's house. I ask that You would help us all to learn something from Thy Word tonight that we can apply to our lives so that we can go from this place enriched by the Word of God. and be able to be just a little bit more mature in the Lord and a little bit more discerning in the Lord than maybe when we came in. So, bless the service. Be glorified in it, Lord. And we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. The reason why the word service is used in this passage of Scripture, because as we saw and as we read it, there were jobs to do. There were tasks to perform. And they were divvied out amongst the three sons of Levi, the sons of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And when they performed this work, and you can tell by the description of the work that they did, it wasn't primarily for a self-benefit. It was to benefit whoever would be blessed by the tabernacle and its function. They didn't do it for self-benefit. They performed a service. And the connotation of the word service, isn't this true? That someone else benefits? I mean, what do we mean when we say, he performed a service? Well, I looked it up in Webster's Dictionary and this is what I found. Service, number one definition, the occupation or status of a servant. And that's why the word serve is mentioned in this passage. They were serving in the tabernacle and they had duties to perform, tasks to perform, work to be done, but not for self-benefit. for the benefit of others that would use the tabernacle. Number two definition in Webster's Dictionary is service means performance of labor for the benefit of another. And that's what the sons of Levi were doing in the tabernacle. Now, we don't have the tabernacle today, but we still have the house of God today, don't we? The New Testament church. And although we don't perform the services of the Levites, We do have something that we all call the church service. We say it all the time. It's in our bulletin every week. I have another bulletin here from another church. Some of you are familiar with Lehigh Valley Baptist Church and notice big letters on the front. Times of the services. And we see that term and sometimes I think we possibly can take it for granted or not grasp the entire meaning of what that term And that's what I want to deal with tonight. Because when we think of church service, we think of the time when we all assemble here in the house of God, and among the things that we do, we are familiar with these. To be fed from the Word of God. To be challenged. To do more for God. To be reproved and corrected by God's Word for a cleansed life. For fellowship. And folks, we need all of those things. But if you stop and think about each one of those things that we receive when we come to church, that's all for self-benefit. Primarily. Now, there's by-products of that. Other people are blessed by our growth and so on and so forth. But when we say, I want to be fed with God's Word, we're talking about us. We want it. Self-benefit. But here's what can happen. If we allow those things that I just mentioned to be the sum total of what we come to church for, then if for some reason we don't get enough of any one of those things, we can easily, and sometimes it happens, say, you know, I didn't get much out of church today. Have you ever said that? Come to church and I haven't gotten much out of it. Because if we didn't, If any one of those areas did not measure up, we could easily say, a preacher isn't that the sum total of why we come to church in addition to worship the Lord? Well, it's a little bit more than that. Now, all of us need church. There's no question about it. But if there's one thing that God makes clear in the Scriptures, is the New Testament church is not to function with its members focused on themselves. And if we're not careful, the items that I just mentioned, all of them we need. All of them are important and are part of it. But if that's all that it is, then something is lacking. Because God never intends for the sum total of service to be a focus on ourselves. And that comes out in Scripture. Let's just take a couple of examples. Look at Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. If you just think of the pure definition of the word service, it's not focus on self. It's for the benefit of another. And does that not come through passages such as Romans 12, 3-5, where Paul said, For I say through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." And we're going to read further, but I think what God is saying there, look, don't think so highly of yourself that the only reason you come to church is for you to receive a blessing and not to be a blessing. See, the word service means more than what we can get. As a matter of fact, the definition means just the opposite. And notice here, for as we have many members in one body, and all the members have not the same office, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another. See, we are members one of another. That means we need to have the other member in mind. and in view. We're members one of another. Do you see how service comes out in that wording? It's just not all for us. It's to perform a service. The church service. Notice also in 1 Corinthians 12, in verses 4-7, Now, there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operation, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. Now, I don't need a modern translation of the Bible for me to understand what Wiffle means. All I need is a dictionary if I don't know what it means. And it means together. We are each given a talent and an ability so that it may profit together. Do we see service in that? The church service where others benefit? If we come to church, And do not have the other members in view. How can I be of benefit to them? We've come for the wrong reason. And God notices it. He notices something like that. So we can see what can easily happen when we come to church. That it's all for self-benefit and it is not. Now, we all know what was going on in Corinth. They weren't really having church service. They were having church free-for-all. And everyone was in it for themselves. But that's not what it's all about. So I wonder if we looked at our church service more in line with the definition of the word service tonight, what we would find. In other words, if we blended the term church service with Romans 12.1's service. Look at Romans 12.1. We blended these two together. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. So I'll tell you what would happen if we blended that idea with the idea of a church service. We wouldn't come to church just to get more instructed, just to get more revived, just to get more inspired, just to get more cleansed, and just to have more fellowship. It would be, hey, what can I contribute? That's what church service is. What can I contribute for the good of the body? For the benefit of those present? I mean, it's mentioned six times. So let's see how we can be of service in the church service. And let's start with the one that we're most familiar with. Go to Ephesians chapter 4. This involves all of us, but we're going to start with the one that we're the most familiar with. The one we would think of, the first person we would think of who's at church to perform a service for the benefit of another. And here in this passage of Scripture, it mentions these types of people. In Ephesians 4, verses 11-15, The Bible says, "...and He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers." Now, were they in it for self-benefit? Not according to what we're going to read next. What we're going to read next falls in line with the definition of church service. They're given for the perfecting of the saints. See? The benefit of another. They perform the labor as a benefit and service to another. Just like the sons of Levi in the tabernacle. For the work of the ministry. For the edifying of the body of Christ. That's you and me. We're members in particular, but one body. That's what the pastor and teacher is given for. till we all come in the unity of the faith, 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 in love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." So, verse 11 says those individuals were given to perfect and benefit from verses 12-15 somebody else. So the pastor is the most familiar figure in the church that we think of that's performing church service when he comes to church. And so, he's not an entertainer. See? He's there to perform church service. He's not a beggar of money. He's not a babysitter. of immature Christians. No, his goal is to perform a service. To labor in the pulpit for the benefit of the other. To perfect the saints so that we're not tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. There are many churches tonight where the membership is not the recipient of church service because There's so many people tonight that are tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. That's not the case in a church like this. It really isn't. And so we know that our pastor is performing church service when he preaches. Notice specifically some of the things that he does in the church service. In Acts chapter 20, In verses 28-30, he said, take heed therefore unto yourselves. And he's speaking to the elders of the church here at Ephesus. And an elder is a pastor. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. So, one of his functions is to feed the church of God. Now, I want to tell you something. That's not as easy as it looks. And I can tell you, Brother Kirtland oftentimes makes it look easy. But it's not as easy as it looks, especially when you consider that there are people in the congregation in various stages of spiritual maturity, and he has to get a message from God that's prepared so that everyone can benefit in some way. Also, in 2 Timothy 4, 2 Timothy 4. Keys 2. Verses 1 and 2. I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead as it is appearing in His kingdom, preach the Word. Be instant, in season, out of season. So he is to preach the Word of God. He is to preach the whole counsel of God. And not to leave anything out. And he's to do it in season and out of season. In other words, whether it's popular or not, he's to preach it. Now, I want to show you the difference between a pastor who is performing church service in the church service and one who is not. I'll give you an example of one and the other. Go to 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17. Just right there on the same page. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Now, just down in chapter 4, his charge is to preach the Word. Now, the Word of God is all Scripture. Okay? And notice what it's given for. It's given by inspiration of God and is profitable. Now, there's another service word. Profitable. Not for his own profit. For your profit. And for my profit. The Word of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. Now, if a pastor, while he's preaching, leaves out the reproof and the correction, the two middle terms there, If he leaves those out and he just preaches for doctrine and he just preaches for instruction in order to have a larger church, then he's not performing church service. If he leaves out correction, reproof and correction, he's going to leave those out so he'll build a bigger church, a larger church, then what he's really doing is propping himself up to be the pastor of a big church. But a pastor who's performing church service is going to preach the Word of God profitable for doctrine. And when reproof is necessary and needed, he's going to reprove. And when correction is necessary, he's going to correct as well as instruct. Because he has the good of the congregation at heart no matter how big that congregation grows. benefit in mind. So, a pastor that leaves out part of that to get a larger crowd is a self-promoter. He's not in it for service. Of course, here's where the pressure comes in. If he doesn't leave those terms out and his church doesn't grow as fast as maybe the one down the street, then a lot of people say he's not a success. So there's pressure there. We need to pray for the man of God that he stays true to church service when he's preaching. But the pastor is not the only one in the church service. We're here. Is He the only one performing service? Well, all you have to do, let's go back to Ephesians 4. And all we have to do is read down just a little bit further. Because it starts off that passage talking about the apostles and the prophets and the evangelists and the pastors and the teachers. And what their function is. But if you drop down to verse number 16, we see that everyone else has something to contribute. Is that not the case? From whom? The whole body. Now we just read in Romans 12 that there's the whole body and members in particular. So, now the rest of us get pulled into this. The whole body fitly joined together and compacted. That's why there needs to be one accord in the body of Christ. The way it works right is the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplyeth. Service. See, the joints and the members and the parts of the body are supplying something here for the whole body. according to the effectual working in the measure of every part. Do you see service there? Labor for the benefit of another? Make it increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Every single part plays a part in the church service for the good of the entire body. It's not just the pastor's job. It's all of our job. We all have a part. What are the parts? How about praying? How about prayer? When you walk in those doors and come into the service, do we ever pray? You know, I thought it was interesting in the Bulletin just this past Sunday. Right down at the bottom, after the illustration of World War II in England, how the bombing stopped when they got a group of people together and prayed at a certain moment. for peace and for protection in England and so on and so forth. And we're called here. This is a good idea. There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America. If you would like to participate, each evening at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, which would be 8 p.m. our time, stop whatever you're doing and spend at least one minute praying for the upcoming election, humbly asking for forgiveness, for revival in the hearts of God's people throughout this great country. Now, there are times at 8 o'clock we're in church. So I wonder if everyone at that moment would just, I mean, you don't all have to bow your heads while a pastor's preaching, but say a silent prayer. Collectively, for this. Because this is how this ends. Someone said, if people really understood the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we might be speechless. Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have. We need to be a praying church during the church service. When we are performing service, and we hear pastor preach a message that we've heard before, do we say, how many times is he going to preach on that? How many times have I heard that? There's the self-promotion coming through. But if we say, you know what? I remember when pastor preached on that subject way back when I first came to church or when I first got saved. And what a blessing it was. There may be somebody in the congregation tonight that's just gotten saved and has never heard that preached before. And so I'm going to pray that God will bless them like I was blessed. That's service. Instead of, well, how many times do I have to hear that subject? So prayer is one of the ways we can perform service. How about another? Look at Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10. This is given right here in connection with our assembly when we come together. In Hebrews 10, starting in verse 21, and having a high priest over the house of God. That's us. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Now, there's a key thought there in verse 22. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance. If we walk around doubting our salvation, doubting God, doubting this, doubting that, we'll be of very little service to anybody. So we need to be fully assured when we come to church. Assured that, you know what, I can be a blessing to someone else tonight. I can perform a service in the church service. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. That goes right along with it. For He is faithful to the promise. And let us consider one another. Do you see service there? To provoke unto love and to good works. So a second thing we do in the house of God that's part of the church service is provoking one another unto love and to good works. Now, the way that works, you do that before and after the service. You say, well, preacher, I want to do it during the preaching. Well, we know we're not supposed to do that because the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 33, that God is not the author of confusion as in all churches of the saints. So God is not going to have us trying to provoke us to love and good works while the pastor is trying to preach. But there's ample time prior to the service and after the service where you and I can provoke another brother or another sister unto love and to good works. That's what the Bible says here. So, we need to understand that Even though we use the term church service in relation to the time confined to the worship service, which includes the singing and the preaching, we need to look at it in a broader sense. Instead of the confines of the worship service, let's expand this from the time we walk in the door to the time we go out the door. And then it's all inclusive. So, praying, provoking one another to love and the good works. Look at verse 25. Not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together as the manner of some is. You know, there are some members of this church not here tonight. So they're not going to be able to exhort one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. If they were here, they could do that. You're here and you can do that. You can exhort one another and so much the more as we see the day approaching. How do we exhort one another? Through fellowship? Through encouragement? We do that before and after the preaching service? You know what? You and I can think of ways that we can be a blessing to other members. Now, I'm not going to brag tonight, but I want to use this illustration only to stir up your pure mind by way of remembrance. To stir up some ideas. When Brother Thomas was out of work, He did what you're supposed to do. I mean, he was on the internet. He used different means. Sent resumes out and so on. I had an idea, because I asked him if he got the Sunday paper. He said no. So every Sunday, I would bring him the jobs section. Every Sunday. And I got a blessing myself out of that. And I gave it to him. And he looked through it. And guess what? He found a job. through that job section. Now, I've asked another church member who's looking for work if I could do the same thing for them. Because he has a job now, but I'd like to keep doing that. See, we can think of ways that we can encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ. And I just want to say this, we ought not just hang around the same people all the time either. in little groups when we come to church. That's not church service. Spread the thing out. Get to know the other members better. Let's perform church service with them. Let's provoke unto love and to good works. Let's exhort them. Let's encourage them. Let's have fellowship with them. Let's do church service. Now, there's one man in the church that we can exhort during the service. We just said you're not supposed to do that. Well, there's one you can do it to. Guess who that is? The preacher. Now look at Nehemiah chapter 8. Let's remember that. Nehemiah chapter 8. How can we encourage the man of God while we're sitting there listening to Him? Well, one way for sure is don't fall asleep. And one surefire way to help with that is don't make Saturday night your night out on the town. Make Friday night your night out on the town. Get a decent amount of sleep Saturday night so we won't fall asleep during the church hour. It's very discouraging. Because notice here in Nehemiah chapter 8 verses 1 through 3, and all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate. And they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate, from the morning till midday, before the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive under the book of the law. If we just have an attentiveness and a hunger for what's being preached, that's an encouragement to the pastor. Now look at verses 4-6. And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which they had made for the purpose. The pastor stands up here. Same thing. Now, I'm not going to read all those names, but verse 5, "...and Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people. And when he opened it, all the people stood up, and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, Amen." You know, it's encouraging to the pastor to say amen every once in a while. That's an encouragement. That's part of the church service. You're performing a service. It's part of that encouraging, exhorting, One another. That's one way we can do it during the service. But with the other members, it's before and after the service. What else? Look at Psalm 81, verse 1. Psalm 81. Now what does it say here? Psalm 81. Sing aloud unto God our strength. Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Singing our best is performing a service that benefits the entire church. When we stand there and we just lip-sync the words, we're not serving anybody. When we sing, unless we're sick, We ought to stand there and sing out. We ought to sing out. It says here, sing aloud unto God. Why not? Look at all that He's done for us. Now wouldn't that perform a service for the entire body? The effectual working of every part if we all sang our best when we came to church? It ought not just be the choir. The entire congregation. Sing aloud. Just sing out. I'm telling you why. They'll do something for this place. Psalm 149 and verse 1. Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song. And His praise in the congregation of saints. That's us. Singing our best. By doing that, we're performing church service. And lastly, look at 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 26. 1 Corinthians 14. So do you see that the church service is more than just the worship service and just pastor up here preaching and us singing? It goes beyond that part of the service. It's the entire time we're here for all those reasons. And this last reason, is if we can't think of anything else, then everything else. 1 Corinthians 14, verse number 26, How is it then, brethren, when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation? Let all things be done unto Edifying. So that last thing, anything else you can think of, All things. Anything you can think of that will edify the body, that's part of the church service. And that's what we can perform. Praying, provoking one another unto love and good works, exhorting one another, singing our best, and anything else you can think of is our job. Like the sons of Levi in the tabernacle had tasks to perform. So do we. They were performing a service and so are we. It's all part of the church service. So the next time you see that word service, don't look at it the same, the same way as maybe we have in the past. Look at it as an opportunity for all of us to perform some kind of a labor of love for the benefit of the other brother and sister member of the church. Okay, let's stand with our heads bowed.