Turn tonight to Matthew chapter 16, please. If you recall at all, I mentioned last week, and I always go over my notes, but when I got up here, I realized that I was off by a week and we got in the car to go home. My wife said, that really bothered you, didn't it? And I said, I wanted nothing more. then to stop the service, have Brian lead some songs until I could go back and make sure of what I had done. So in any event, my intended sequence was tonight and then the one that I preached last week and then we'll go on, but I'm not gonna go back and redo that. So we'll just put this into the providential hand of the Lord. Matthew chapter 16 and let's pray and we'll look at our text this evening to get us started. Father thank you for the years that you give to us and the opportunity that we have to read and learn and study and think and be exposed to the wisdom and skill of others and for this development and may it be profitable to us always and profitable to those who follow us Bless our time together this evening, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. A well-familiar passage, we will begin this evening, Matthew chapter 16 and verse number 13. When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, whom do men say that I, the son of man, am? And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, the little stone, 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. Two weeks ago now, it should have been just one week ago. But as I closed out my message, pointed out that one of the reasons that I had dealt with this subject was because really of two things. I want to spend some time talking to us about the church. One of these days, and I don't know when and I'm not being coy about that, but one of these days you will get a new pastor. I will retire or perhaps pastor to the end of my life or some other end will come and you will have a new pastor. Pastors come and go. But the church does not. The church does not come and go. And so I think that it will be profitable for us to give some extended time and consideration to the church from a variety of perspectives. So in order to even begin to do that, I think that it is essential for us to recover what a church is. What is the church? Now, what the church is can be in many ways controversial. And so let me just point out that I am going to deal with what a church is from my particular perspective and understanding of what a church is, of what Westwood Heights Baptist Church is, I think. Primarily that the church is a New Testament creation, that it is distinct from the nation of Israel, that Old Testament Israel was not the church, that the church is New Testament. That is the position of covenant theology, and we are not covenant in our theology. And while I would argue passionately for the continuity of God's people, I would argue equally passionately that the church is not Israel, and Israel is not the church, and they never were intended to be treated as interchangeable pieces. So if we were covenantal in our theology, I would teach you different things probably about the church. But we are not covenantal, and I most certainly am not covenantal. And so I do not intend to teach about the church from a covenantal perspective. So what is it? And in order for us to begin to look at what it is, we will of course turn by necessity to the information about what it is. But a couple of things by way of introduction of what it is not. It is not simply an organization. Although churches are supposed to be at some level organized, Let all things be done decently and in order. They are not organizations. They are not like a club. They are not like a guild. They are not like a labor union. They are not like a civic association. Neither are they like a corporation. And it is tremendously unfortunate that so much of American religion has corporate mentality to the local assembly of people. So it is not an organization. Neither is it an institution. And institution is a word that is used to describe social structures like public schools or hospitals. They are institutions. And it is not an institution. Neither is it a building. And I'm guilty of this. We're all probably guilty of this. But I really think at some level it is unfortunate that we so easily talk about the church in terms of the building, as if this building is somehow the church. And it is in no way, I mean, there is just no imaginable scenario in which God would look at any type of brick and mortar, no matter how humble, no matter how spectacular in God. Now that's one of my churches. Never gonna happen. Never going to happen. What the church is, is God's people in the New Testament era. I'm gonna give you some verses, you can turn to them, I would welcome you to do that. Let's begin first of all with Acts chapter 20 and verse number 28, and I of course have the luxury of putting all these into my notes, so I don't need to turn as you will. And of course in Acts chapter 20, Paul is making his way back to Jerusalem and he stops by Ephesus and he meets there for a brief amount of time with the Ephesian elders. And part of his instruction to them is Acts 20, 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, those who are the elders, and to all the flock, those who are the parishioners. over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. And of course, you don't have to have a lot of instruction in Christianity to know that what Christ bought with his blood was a people, was people, not buildings, but people. Or Ephesians 5.25, husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. And I don't think that we should ever think that it's just accidental that the mystery of marriage what marriage is really putting on display is not mentioned until we get the first book in the Bible to tell us what the church is, the book of Ephesians. And that's because the people of God in the New Testament are described in a variety of ways one of the biggest being as Christ's body. What is the church? It is God's people in the New Testament. What is the church? It is the body of Jesus Christ. It is the body of Jesus Christ. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter one, and we'll just jump in in the middle of Paul's explanation in verse number 20. Ephesians 1.20, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. And let me just pause there. This is not really part of the subject, but I hate to pass over Ephesians 1.20 without touching upon it. You'll notice that it is heavenly places. Heavenly is an adjective. Right? He's not talking about Jesus going to heaven. He is talking about Jesus having authority over things that are invisible to the human eye. And we know that, by the way, from verse number 21. Far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. Heavenly places. He is above heavenly places. Verse number 22, and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. So the church is the New Testament people of God. It is the body of Christ. We are Jesus's body. Now, just how literal that is and just how figurative that is, and there's reality to both sides of that, but we'll get to this, but the church's function is to do exactly what Jesus did when he was here physically. We are now his physical representatives in this world. Or jump ahead a couple of books to Colossians chapter number one, the second book in the New Testament to describe the church. Colossians chapter one and verse number 15 of Jesus, Paul writes, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, for by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible. whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist, and he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. So one of the major ways that the New Testament describes the people of God is as the body of Christ. And another way is as a temple, is as a temple, which again, and if you want to turn to 1 Peter 2, is not specifically called a church, but is discussed in relationship to its head. 1 Peter 2 and verse 4, to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. And that's because Jesus is the living stone. That's what he's talking about there. Jesus is the living stone, rejected of men, but embraced by God, precious. Ye also, 1 Peter 2.5, lively or living stones, are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore it also it is contained in the scripture Behold, I lay in Sion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. So, right, to those of us that believe he is precious, and to those of us who don't believe in him, so what? He is still the head of the corner. Their unbelief accomplishes nothing. And he is, verse number eight, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. We're not really talking about rocks, are we? We're not really talking about rocks in that passage. And I read that passage, folks, because it touches upon something that we're going to come to in a little bit, right? Rarely are people confused when they talk about the church in the building sense of the word. We're going to church. Rarely do we say, what do you mean by going to church? But there is a tremendous amount of confusion about what is supposed to happen when we get here, or who constitutes the church. There's a lot of confusion about that. There are churches There are churches that call themselves churches that have as their model of ministry. This is what they get up out of bed every day and going, here's what we're going to do. We're going to bring in unbelieving people and we're going to give them assignments and responsibilities in our church services so that they will sit under the gospel and they will hopefully get saved. And this is how we do church. That is not how you do church. church, and again I will come to this folks, the church is only saved people. Only. And because a church is by definition only saved people, a church has as its primary ministry saved people. Now we'll get to evangelism. You spin that how you want to spin that, and I'm not trying to be facetious, but depending upon some other perspectives that you bring, you might still make the argument that evangelism is only to saved or to the elect. But church is not about gathering as many lost people as we can under whatever guise we develop. Churches do that, but you will never find it done. You will never find it being done in the Bible. Never. And that is because the Bible brings a different perspective on what the church is to the equation. To go back to my outline, the church has both a positional and a practical dimension. And by positional, here's what I mean. There is one view of the church that is what God sees and what God alone sees. And when we use that perspective to describe the church, then there is only one. God sees one. Or God is the only one who can see the one in its entirety. Ephesians 4.4, there is one body. How many bodies does Jesus have? He has one body. And there is one spirit. Even as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. I think that it's not hard to see that in Ephesians 4, 4 through 6, the idea of there being only one is pretty important. One body, one spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. and there will be someday an assembly of all of those people to the glory of God. Sometimes we call this the invisible church, sometimes we call this the universal church, sometimes we call this the true church. This is another one of those controversies, but I really at this point in time, maybe in Sunday school at some point in time when we deal with Baptist history, we'll get into where the, where this division arose, but the New Testament teaching is that in a sense there is only one. That is the positional sense. There is the church in the practical sense, and in the practical sense of the word, I mean local Bible-believing churches. Churches like Westwood Heights Baptist Church. So that the same God who writes Ephesians 4, 4 through 6, One faith, one baptism, one God, one Lord can write 1 Corinthians 1-2 unto the church of God which is at Corinth. And there be no inconsistency, no controversy, no reason to pull out what little remains of our hair over this apparent contradiction. The epistles are written to local churches and God's people ought to be members of local churches. The positional church is never a substitute for participation in the practical church. It is to local churches that God gives his commands, his instructions, and his help. And so again, the positional church, the universal church, the invisible church is not in competition but it is simply a dimension of something that God sees, as Paul reminds us, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And again, because I really don't want to get into this, but I would argue that one of the reasons that we need to make sure we understand that there is a distinction is because some of the things that are true of the universal church, are simply not true of local churches. And this is one of the things that makes a local church different from a universal church. The church, when Jesus talks about the church for the first time in Matthew 16, he guarantees it perpetuity. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. There will always be a church. But folks, local churches come and go. they just do. They come and go. And no local church can go to Matthew chapter 16 and go, we will always be a local church and we'll always be in existence and we'll always be faithful. And Jesus said to the church in Ephesus that they needed to get their act together or he would take away their candlestick. And the other thing, folks, that is true about the universal church that is not true about the local church is that in the universal church or the invisible church or the true church, it is constituted only of believing people, truly believing people. And the reality is, folks, that in any local church, we never really know for 100% certainty who's saved. You don't know that I am. And I am certainly not setting myself up as a great Christian. The Lord knows who are his, but we don't know who are his. We know who claim are his. We know whose lives are lived in such a way as to not raise a lot of questions about it. But as a good man once said, there's a lot of evidence against me. So there are two different ways of looking at the church. But there are not two ways of serving in the church, all service. is done through the local assembly. So the church is, I would understand it to be a New Testament institution, the people of God since the resurrection of Christ that has constituted both the believing Gentiles and believing Jews, Ephesians 2, we have made one twain. And the best definition of a local church that I've ever heard is the one that I was taught in Bible doctrines in 1979. Church is a local assembly of baptized believers meeting together to fulfill the Great Commission. And I would point out that the church must be an assembly. In Matthew 18.20, Jesus said, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. And this is said in the midst of a larger passage on the church. Again, if you go back, if you start going through the Bible and reading about the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God, or the Spirit of Christ if you'd like, the Spirit of Christ dwells in every believer. And he doesn't just come in you when there are two of you. If you're saved, you have the Spirit of God, that is the non-negotiable of salvation. You have God's Spirit. And you have God's Spirit when you're all by yourself. So when Jesus says, when two are gathered together in my name, he must have something more in mind than just the future indwelling of his Holy Spirit. There is a formality implied. Church is gonna be at least two. And then it will be a local assembly of baptized believers meeting together to fulfill the Great Commission. What then does the church do? If the church is the body of Christ, what does the church do? Turn, if you would please, to Acts chapter 1. As the body of Christ, the church is charged with doing what Jesus did. Acts chapter 1 and verse number 1, the former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, that's the gospel of Luke, by the way, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. Luke describes what Jesus began to do. Acts describes what Jesus continues to do. Verse number 2, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen. to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me, for John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence. And when they were therefore come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel? And he said unto them, It is not known for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power, but ye shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, which it did upon Jesus at his baptism. And ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria, which Jesus was in his earthly ministry. and to the uttermost parts of the earth, which Jesus was not in his earthly ministry. Jesus ministered to Judea, Galilee, and parts of Samaria. So we do what Jesus did. And the emphasis in the New Testament is upon two things. Number one, we are to preach the gospel to everybody. We are to preach the gospel to everybody. Now, again, there is a lot of academic conversation about who the recipients of the Great Commission actually are. It was given to the apostles. Does that mean it's not intended for every church member? Does that mean it's not intended for the church? But I think as we go through the Bible, you will see that people, whether they were doing it by profession and direct calling like an apostle, or whether they were ordinary people in the church, they were all engaged in the proclamation of the gospel witness. And I think, folks, that Jesus doesn't have to say it, although I think we could probably make the case that he does. that if we are going to take the message of Christ to the uttermost parts of the world, it is going to take the efforts of many people who are members of local churches. It is not feasible that one man could reach a billion people. And this is the practice that we find in New Testament churches. Paul is a true evangelist, going where the gospel had never been. Philip was an evangelist, going where the gospel had never been. This is Paul's commendation of the church at Thessalonica. So that ye were in samples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia, for from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God God word is spread abroad so that we need not to speak anything. Now, if I could just pause here for a second, because I am not saying for a minute that I or we have necessarily done this well. I would point out, folks, that the primary obligation is the proclamation of the word, and it does not really fall upon us to get creative to make the word more successful. Now, we've been talking about that in Sunday school, but part of the conflict that we're going to see in the revivalistic mass evangelism era, I think is some confusion over the role of the church and the role of the evangelist in the biblical world. So what is the mission of the church? It is great commission to preach the gospel to every creature. And it is to preach the gospel to every creature with a distinct view. I mean, this is the goal, folks, that they would become followers of Christ, which brings us to the second wing of the mission of the church, and that is to prepare every believer to meet their Savior. The church's job is to preach the gospel to every creature. Task number one. Task number two is to prepare every believer to meet their Savior. Now I would argue that the primary work of evangelism is assigned to the church apart from the public services and then weekly the church assembles together in public services where the primary thrust is the preparation of individual believers. In other words, folks, to be very specific and pointed, the model in which I was raised as a very young Christian of spending much of the week trying to get as many unbelievers as you can to come to church on Sunday so that you can present the gospel to them and talk about what a great day we had is not a model that you would find in the New Testament. You would find what we might call mass evangelism in the New Testament. but never as part of the church service. Because the church service is designed to concentrate on the already existing people of God. And Paul, when he talks about the gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14, just raises a hypothetical question that we kind of gloss over as if Paul doesn't really know what he's talking about. He says, well, you guys are all in there running around making a big ruckus over your gifts. What is an unbeliever gonna think if they show up? And we somehow have, in some wings of fundamentalism, come to the conclusion that that is the whole point of coming together, is to get lost people to show up. And it just really is not, folks. And it really is not. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians chapter four, again, right? The book that tells us what the church is. So evangelism, we try and do some concentrated evangelism. Again, I'm not saying that we do all this well. I was thinking Sunday night when Brother Stensis was speaking, I was thinking, I was quite honestly somewhat envious. Paul said, pray for us that the door would be opened. And he lives in a country in which many ways the doors are opened, and we live in a country, folks, in which in many ways the doors are closed. Now that's not trying to let us off the hook, a realistic look around American culture, and we know that many doors are closed to us. And, right, so we do some things. We don't probably do all that we should, so I make no excuse there, but we are charged with the task of evangelization. And we do, I think, an increasingly pretty good job. I appreciate so much your generosity in the realm of world missions. and using that money to help those who are preaching the gospel around the globe. That is not all there is to world evangelization, but that is a big part of it. And so then secondly, it is the task of the church to prepare every believer to meet their savior, and I put it that way kind of deliberately. Ephesians 4.11, he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints. for the making of the mature, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying or the building of the body of Christ. Till we all come in the unity of the faith, because we are not all there yet. And to the knowledge of the Son of God, and we are not all there yet. Unto a perfect man, and we are not all there yet. Unto the measure, the stature, the fullness of Christ, there's the standard by which we will be measured. 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. We are sometimes gullible and we are always susceptible. But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ. Again, he is the gull. He is both the goal and the curriculum, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, because every member matters and every member is a minister, according to the effectual working and the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. So the church is, folks, done properly And when I say done properly, I mean the offices and the officers in verses 11 and 12 fulfilling their obligations. The church is then able to do this amazing thing of building itself in love. Now it doesn't do that apart from Christ, but it's kind of like one of those gigantic cranes that they used to build skyscrapers that has its own ability to elevate itself as it needs to go up the rising of the floors. The ministry is the building up of the work of saints. Or Colossians chapter one, in verse number 24. And Paul writes, who now rejoice, Colossians 124, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you. and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church, whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints. Now we know what others did not know. to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the true church, the hope of glory, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. or until I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. The ministry of the church is to prepare God's people to meet their God. And there is no better way to meet God than to be like him when you see him. This is the task, folks. This is the task of the pulpit. Whoever the pastor is, okay, if I may look down the road and a man comes in with grandiose visions of this activity and that activity and this program and this program so that we are always building a crowd, be careful. Be careful, I am not unaware of that kind of thinking. I am not oblivious to that kind of thinking. I am deliberate, whether I am right or wrong. And believe me, folks, I am counting on having gotten this right. I come to the pulpit every time I come with the intention of making a significant contribution to the knowledge of Christ to the body of his people. And if there are lost people in the assembly, I am glad for that, but they are not the focus of what we do here. Once we leave and scatter, lost people should be the focus. But when we assemble, saved people are the focus. This is what God has. The primary way, folks, that a pastor shepherds the congregation is by delivering to them the word of God. That is the primary way that he shepherds. He feeds the people the word of God, and the word of God is good food for the human soul. We know how important, or at least we think we know how important, a healthy diet is for our well-being. Well, that's true spiritually. That's true spiritually. And the Bible is a healthy diet. It is a well-balanced, healthy diet designed to benefit the people of God. That is what a church is supposed to do when it gathers. And of course, the Great Commission lays all this out in Matthew 28, 18 through 20. We could have dealt with it just in one verse. Jesus came, spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth, right? Because there's no authority other than his. And go ye therefore, teach all nations, disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. That's the main verb, really is. Grammatically, it's the main verb, to teach people to be like Christ. In order to do that, they have to believe in Christ and then they have to identify with Christ publicly through baptism, then they have to assemble with Christ, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world, or the end of the age. So evangelism and discipleship are both right there. And how do we do this? Well, of course we do this through the promise, presence, and power of God, Matthew 28, 20. That's, right, and I don't think Westwood Heights thinks like this, but I'm just, right, in some churches it appears that the reliance is upon whatever technique or methodology is popular right now. But biblically, folks, our reliance is supposed to be upon the God who is the head of all this, who really hasn't lost his sense of direction in the pandemonium of 21st century living. It was, if I can give a personal testimony, it was a glory, I mean, I come out of a background, and I know you get tired of hearing about my background, but I went to four years of college where I was taught thousands of times, go build a great church, go build a great church, go build a great church, go build a great church. So I came here to build a great church. And then I'm working on a Sunday school lesson, and I read Matthew 16, 18, and Jesus said, I will build my church. Now I think what Jesus means is that he is gonna build his church through his ministers, if you take Matthew 16 and you combine it with 1 Corinthians 2, 3, and 4. But I know this much about Matthew 16, 18, I'm not competing with Jesus to build a church. Not that he's gonna build a church and then I'll build one my way and hand it off to him and here, what do you think of this? So how does the church do this? It does this through the promise, power, and presence of God, folks. Here's our promise, Matthew 28. Go do what I tell you to do, and I am always with you. And we go, well, it doesn't really feel like he's with us very much. Well, but the promise is, I am always with you. Go do what I told you to do, and I am always with you, period. And then, of course, it does this to the labor of God's people, because God doesn't just do it in the abstract. 1 Corinthians 3.9, we are laborers together with God. Year God's husbandry, year God's building, according to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, another buildeth thereon. Paul's talking there about a church, not a life. Not talking about the individual life of the believer, but the church at Corinth. And of course, Ephesians 4.16, every man doing his ministry unto the edifying of itself in love. We build ourselves not in our own power, not in our own wisdom, not in our own strength, but through the ministry that God has gives us. Our mutual ministry, folks, is accomplishing something. This is part of the presence and the power of God. Feels like we're never getting anything done. Well, God would think differently. God would think differently. Right? This is just one more area, folks, in which there is this beautiful and yet mystical union of God and man. Right? Just like salvation is of the Lord and salvation, men have to believe and men have to respond. And the Bible is written by God and yet God used men to write the Bible. And Jesus is man. and Jesus is God. There's a marvelous, beautiful, mystical union, and there is so too in the church. And yet all of this, folks, when we ask about, well, what are all of these things then? How do we accomplish all of these things? And last week, of course, I turned our attention to people, but I would just point out to you folks that the way that all of those things are accomplished is through the proclamation of the Word. You go and you preach, you proclaim the gospel. How shall they believe on him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? Lost people need to hear the gospel. And the gospel will do its work. That's Paul's conviction. The gospel will do its work. And safe people need to hear the Bible. And hearing the Bible will do its work. So that folks, when you take your New Testament and you read through what you find, it's always the same thing. You always find the apostle or the evangelist or the pastor doing this, preaching, preaching, teaching the Bible, delivering the word of God to the people of God. That's what they're doing. That's what shepherding is, giving people the word of God. And then God works through that. God works through his word to accomplish his purposes for his glory. So I'm going to stop there. It's already 8 o'clock.