right. If you will take your Bibles, let us turn to the Book of Acts chapter number 1 and chapter number 2 for our text this morning. Christ's Will for His Local Churches. We are getting off of our Genesis series just for a week here, hopefully. Lord willing, we will get back on that get back on schedule as we're looking at the first 11 chapters which deal with the beginnings and deal with things that folks have questions about as we go through there. This morning I want to deal with the local church. I believe that by and large most, not all, but most local churches today And I'm talking about even our independent, fundamental, Bible-believing Baptist churches are really nothing like what Christ originally intended for them to be. Many churches have lost their purpose. We know the Great Commission has been cast aside as some churches have become nothing more really than just a place for social events. You know that we're not to be a social club. That's not what we're about. Now we can fellowship and we can have socials if it's okay, but if that's the main purpose is just to get us together and to have socials, that's not what Christ intended for His church. Sadly, many people attend church to just sit and be served rather than to stand and serve. I call it the bless me if you can mentality. In many churches, the work of the ministry, and I know this from what I see, what I hear, and what I've experienced. In many churches, the work of the ministry is largely left to the man of God and his wife. and it ought not to be that way. Some churches have become no more than just a place for folks to go and soothe their consciences. Some of you may be here today just to check mark off the list. I made it to church today, and I'm doing okay. I made it to church. Instead of, Lord, convict me of the sin of my life. Lord, stir me, stir my heart with the preaching and teaching of the word of God. So many churches have lost their purpose. Many churches have lost their power. There are few souls being truly converted and changed. Now, mind you, there's a lot of professions of faith that are being made, but how many are really in possession of the faith? I'm afraid that in too many, there's a lacking in the possession rather than just, and they just have a profession of faith. We're talking about you need to be truly born again. 2 Corinthians 5.17 tells us there's a difference. If you're born again, you're a new creature. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And we're living in times where people have stepped away from that idea and well, you just pray a quick prayer and you can go to heaven and they pray that quick prayer and they think they're on the way to heaven but God has never reached their heart, never stirred them about their lost and sinful condition and about the sufficiency of God's grace. There are too many members who have lost their testimony Some are like Lot, if you remember Lot back in Abraham's day, when the messengers came to him and said, God is fixing to destroy Solomon and Gomorrah, we need to get out, he talked to his sons-in-laws about that, that had married his daughters, and it says, but he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-laws. Why do you think they didn't listen to to a lot. Could it be that he didn't have much of a testimony? I'm afraid it might have been. Another thing is there seems to be little fear of God among the members of most congregations. Listen, the absence of the fear of God is supposed to be characteristic of those who are lost. not those who are saved. We who are saved, we ought to fear God. It ought to make a difference in the way that we live, the way we operate within the church. Many churches have lost their purity, not only their purpose and their power, but their purity. In fact, many have become havens for unrepentant sinners. Some have adopted worldly standards and practices, forsaking the holy standards of the holy God. God's not pleased with that. He wants us to abide by His holy word and the things that He told us to abide by. So what is Christ's will? for his churches. Now we're not going to turn there this morning, but let me encourage you sometime today or tomorrow to read Revelation chapter number 2 and chapter number 3. Revelation 2 and 3 have to do with Jesus Christ's address to seven local churches that really represent the seven types of churches that you will find, even in our day and time, and usually there's one that's predominant in a day and time. Revelation 2 and 3, though, we see Christ addressing what he called the angels, the messengers of the church, the pastors of the church. and there are rebukes to most of the churches. There's a couple of churches that receive no rebuke, Smyrna and Philadelphia, but Christ gave his assessment. You can tell by what he says about the local churches that he got his eye on his local church. He understands what we're going through. He knows the times that we live in, but He still expects us to be what He wants us to be. So what are Christ's intents and purposes for His local churches? Well, let's go back to the beginning of the church and the early days of it. Here in Acts chapter 1, We see in verse number four, the Lord Jesus Christ is assembled with his disciples. And it says, they're being assembled together with them. He's resurrected, understand he's resurrected. He's showing himself alive after his passion on the cross. by many infallible proofs here, and he assembles with his disciples, 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. And we're gonna see they were doing that very thing. But he told them that when the Spirit came, down in verse number eight, It says, But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. First thing I want you to see is Christ intends for His churches to be filled with His power. He does not want us to operate in the power of the flesh. He doesn't want us to go our own way. He intends for us to use this book that He has given to us, God's Holy Word, as a roadmap, as a guide to what we ought to be. When he said, you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, we know that that message was to Christ's disciples who were all believers at that time. Judas had already by that time gone out and committed suicide. He wasn't a true disciple of Christ to begin with. but realize that no one can be filled with power when they are first, realize that one can only be filled with power, let me get it straight here, one can only be filled with power when they are first indwelt by the Holy Spirit. If you don't have the Holy Spirit of God live and dwell in, you can't walk in the Spirit's power. And then you've got to not only be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but then you need to be filled with that same Holy Spirit, and then you are to be walking in the Spirit. And that's talking about staying in that filling and walking in the power that the Spirit gives us. Listen to a couple of verses. that dealing within dwelling, Romans 8, verse 8 and 9. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. And we know that, don't we? We know that we cannot please God in this flesh. He said, but you're not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. So if you're not saved, you don't have the spirit of God living within. But if you are saved, you do have the spirit of God living within. He indwells you. And then we're told to be filled with that indwelling spirit. Ephesians 5.18, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Paul told the Galatian church, he said in Galatians 5 verse 16, this I say then, walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And then he said in verse 25 of Galatians 5, if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Now, could it be that the reason so many believers are not filled with the Holy Ghost is because their lives are filled with something else? You know you can only be filled with one thing? You're filled with the Holy Spirit and you're filled with something else. To be filled with the Holy Ghost, you have got to be empty of yourself. One that's full of sin is not going to be filled with the Holy Spirit. One cannot be full of sin and full of the Holy Spirit at the same time. The Holy Spirit is not going to fill a dirty vessel. That's why it's important to keep short accounts. We all sin, even your preacher sins. but I need to ask for forgiveness at the time that I do so that I can remain in a place where God wants me. Amen. One can't be full of self and full of the Holy Spirit at the same time either. If one's life is self-centered or otherwise centered, then it can't be Christ-centered. You can only be centered on one thing. The Lord wants us to be Christ-centered. One can't be full of the world. I'm talking about being full of the world. I'm talking about like Paul told the Romans in Romans 12 verse 2. He told them not to be pressed into the mold of the world. He said we're not to be conformed. That's how he called it. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And so, you know, we can't be full of the world, pressed into the mold of this world and full of the Holy Spirit at the same time. So we need to empty ourselves of sin and of self and of the world in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And I believe that so many believers are not filled with the Holy Ghost. It's because their life is filled with something else and there's no room for the Holy Ghost to fill their lives. Second thing here we see is Christ intends not only for his churches to be filled with power, but also Christ intends for his churches to be witnesses. That was a part of Acts 1.8 that we read there. But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, that's talking about where you live, and in all Judea, the outer areas, and in Samaria, even the nearby areas, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. We have a responsibility to be involved in witnessing. When those who make up the church are filled with Holy Spirit power, as it should be, the result will be that the gospel will be given out. and souls will be saved, just the way it is. Acts 431, when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and what came out of that being filled with the Holy Ghost says, and they spake the word of God with boldness. Acts 4.33 says, And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. How could they give great witness of the resurrection? Because they were filled with Holy Spirit power. Acts chapter number 2 verse number 41 says, Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day were added unto them about three thousand souls. Now for the word of God to be received, it first had to be proclaimed. And so we see in the early church, here in the first few chapters, you see folks busy about sharing the gospel. And as they were doing that, Acts 2 verse 47 says, And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. But when there's no witnessing, there is no addition. Folks getting saved was a regular happening in the early church. So Christ intends for His churches to be filled with power. He intends for His churches to be witnesses. Number three, Christ intends for His churches to be filled with right doctrine. And it says in Acts 2, verse number 42, that they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. The folks that had received the Word and had gotten saved, they realized they needed to continue and hear what the apostles were teaching. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. Now listen, the Great Commission has three parts. And I'm afraid there's a lot of churches have forgotten about all three parts. I mean, the gospel is the first part. You can't baptize somebody, and they're not gonna learn until they first are born again. People have to know the gospel and believe the gospel, and then you baptize them, that's the second thing, and then you teach them the doctrine. Matthew 28, verse 18 through 20, that's what it talks about. And the very last thing there, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And we know we live in an apostate time. We've been looking at that for years, of the increasing apostasy in this world in which we live, and especially in our country. And Paul told Timothy that the time was going to come when folks would not endure sound doctrine. In fact, he told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, verses 2 through 4, he challenged him to reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. Well, see, the problem is people don't like reproving and rebuking and exhorting. And the day and time in which we live, what they will do is they'll leave this church and they'll go down the road and go to a church that will give them, tickle their ears, let them hear what they want to hear instead of hearing the truth. He says, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. That's apostasy. When you don't want to hear the truth, when you don't want to have the truth affect your life, you're going to turn to that which is false. Sadly, we live in those days, but the encouraging thing about that is those are the days where we're going to be right prior to Jesus coming back. We know the more that gets that way, the closer we are to Him coming. Four things are needed for churches to be filled with right doctrine. First of all, right doctrine has to be taught. 1 Timothy 4, 13, Paul told Timothy, till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine. Right doctrine is important for right beliefs, and right beliefs are important for right actions. It all begins, though, with what are we teaching, and here we teach the Word of God. We focus heavenly, very heavily on the Word of God because the Word of God is what we are supposed to be abiding by. And 1 Timothy 4, 16, Paul told Timothy, the young pastor, he said, take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. He told him, continue in them. For in doing this, Thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. Another young preacher, Titus, was told by Paul in Titus 2.1, but speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. The Lord wants us to have the right doctrine taught, and thus the goal of me as your pastor is to bring forth the word of God and its truth. Second leap, right doctrine has to be received. I can preach till I'm blue in the face. Sometimes I get red in the face. But I can preach, doesn't matter how hard I preach the truth. Listen, you've got to receive the truth. Paul said of the brilliance in Acts 17, 11, it says, And they that received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. They received the word in a great way. Amen. They had a mindset to receive that. And we praise God for that. In 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 6 and 7, Paul told the Thessalonian church, he said, you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word. They received the word. And he says, in much affliction and with joy the Holy Ghost, so that you were in samples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. They were following, they were following the word of God so well that they were great examples. What kind of examples are we? As folks look at our lives, can they tell that we believe the truth? 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. Paul said, For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. See, when I preach the word, It's God's Word. A lot of people look at it, well that preacher said, but I just don't believe what that preacher said. If the preacher is saying what thus saith the Lord, from the book, you need to receive it. Don't receive it as the Word of men, but receive it as it is in truth, the Word of God. Right doctrine has to be taught. Right doctrine has to be received. Right doctrine has to be put into practice. Sadly, there are many who want right doctrine taught, They'll come, well, I want to hear the Word of God preached, and that's a good thing, but do you want to live it? Do you want to live it? We just won't write doctrine taught, but we ought to want to live it. 1 Thessalonians 4 Paul said, Furthermore then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, he said, so ye would abound, more and more. He wanted them to abound in the practice of the Word of God. 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 6 and 7. It says, Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us. Paul was walking in the Word, and He encouraged them to walk in the word with him as he was walking in the word. Right doctrine has to be taught, has to be received, has to be put into practice, and you must, you must avoid wrong doctrine. Wrong doctrine has to be avoided. These are days of deception we live in. I hope that you can see that, especially right now. it is proliferating at an unforeseen rate with artificial intelligence and with the ability to change things so easily. We need to be listening and looking for truth. What is the truth? And Romans 16 verse 17, Paul warned some folks. He said, I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them. Guess what? You're not going to know what to avoid if you're not under sound doctrine. You don't take time to come and listen to the sound doctrine. You're going to be more likely to be led astray, contrary to the doctrine which you've learned. Ephesians 4.14 says 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. God doesn't want us to go with the wind. Well, I'm blowing this way today because I think that's the truth over there and I'm blowing this way tomorrow because I changed my mind. Listen, truth is truth. and it doesn't change. God's truth is not going to change for you, it's not going to change for me, it's not going to change for anyone. Stick with the truth. In Titus 3.10, Paul told Titus, a man that's a heretic after the first and second admonition, reject. So Christ intends for his churches to be filled with power, to be involved in witnessing, to be filled with right doctrine. Then number four, Christ intends for His churches to be unified. And I'm talking about unified in the right thing. Amen? Acts 2.46 says, and they continuing daily with one accord. This early church was in one accord. We're not talking about unity for unity's sake, but unified in the right things. And it says in Acts 2.44, all that believed were together. You know, there should be unity of heart and soul. In Acts 4.32 says the multitude of them that believe were of one heart and of one soul. That's the way that the Lord Jesus Christ intends for it to be. Of one heart and one soul clinging to the truth. Amen. There should be unity in purpose. Acts 2.1, you see this group of folks that we read about in Acts chapter 1, and they were the disciples, and there's also a group of believers there who numbered about 120, according to Acts 1 verse 18. They went into that upper room, and they were waiting for the Spirit, just as they were instructed to wait. And it says in Acts 2.1, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. The believers were unified together. Amen. They were all there for the same purpose. They were waiting for the power of the Holy Spirit to undo them with that power they were promised. Now this was the beginning of the Holy Spirit indwelling mankind. And we know that when we're saved, the Holy Spirit comes in to dwell, but we ought to have the same purpose. Every one of us ought to look and want and desire in our lives to not only be in dwell with the Holy Spirit of God, you got that if you're saved, but also to be full of the Holy Spirit, as I mentioned earlier, and also to walk in the Spirit. There should be unity and obedience. They were all there because they had been told to be there. That's why they were in that upper room. It says in 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 14, If any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed. We ought not to have close company with those that are living in disobedience to the Lord. In Acts 11 verse 23, Barnabas, when he came to Antioch and had seen the grace of God in that church at Antioch, says that he was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. He encouraged them to have a unified purpose and be unified in their obedience to the Word of God. There should be unity in doctrine. Acts 2.42, these folks that got saved in Acts 2, it says they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. Then they should be unity in fellowship. Acts 2.42, again, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and breaking of bread. Fellowship's number two. What is fellowship? Partnership, partnering together, literally participating. Be a participant. Don't just be a knot on the log. Be a participant. There should be unity in breaking a bread. Acts 2.42 says that they were unified in breaking of bread. I believe that that not only included observance of the Lord's table, but as well it included the things that we call fellowship, like what we're going to do when we leave here this morning. We're going to go next door and we're going to fellowship together around a meal. Nothing wrong with that. But there should be unity also in prayer. Acts 2.42, prayers mentioned as well as what they continue steadfastly in. It's a sad reality in our churches that most people would rather play than pray. You can have a fellowship with fun activities and food and it can be well attended, but you try to have just a prayer meeting and not so much. The prayer meeting is probably the least attended in any church I'm talking about. The least attended in most churches is the prayer meeting. It's because people don't see the need for prayer. Oh, I want prayer if something's wrong with somebody that I love and somebody that's important to me. I want you to pray for them, but I don't want to come and join the rest of the church in prayer for the needs that folks have. You know what Isaiah 56 verse 7, the Lord said, For mine house shall be called a house of prayer. We're to be a house of prayer. There should be unity in care also. Acts 2 verses 44 and 45 says, 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. Now this is not communism. This was just Christian care one for another. Acts 4, 32, said, The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. Neither said any of them that all of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common. 1 John 3, 17 tells us, Whoso hath this world's good and seeth his brother have need, sheddeth up his vows of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? Unity and care. Should be unity in worship. Hebrews 10, 25. Not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. So much the more as you see the day approaching. I have the sad challenge every week to remember who's come and to check marks beside your name whether you were here. Keep you from slipping through the cracks. Try to keep up with who's faithful and who's not. I tell you, some have slipped in their faithfulness. Some of you only had just a small amount of attendance in the last ten weeks. And it'll show up in your life. It'll show up in your family. It'll show up in the way that you live. We ought to come together as God's people and worship. It says in Acts 2.47 that they were praising God and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. John 4 verse 23. Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, The hour cometh, and now is, when true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. Listen, where there's no spirit, worship is dead. Where there's no truth, confusion reigns. We are to worship in spirit and in truth, and Christ intends for us to come together corporately as a church. Yes, I know you can worship by yourself. But you can't look at the Bible and tell me that God's satisfied with just that. Because He's not. He wants us to come together. Unless we're providentially hindered. I think a lot of times we use that as an excuse. It's really not that we're providentially hindered. A lot of times it's that we just really don't have the want to. We ought to have the want to. We usually do what we want to do. We just do. If you want to do right, do what the Lord would have you to do. Then last of all, Christ intends for His churches to be pure. We find that the early local churches practiced church discipline. In the very early stages of the church, the apostles were the ones who applied that discipline against members of the church. Can you imagine being in Acts chapter 5 and Peter is having a discussion with Ananias and Sapphira that they have actually claimed that they have brought a certain amount and they lied about it to the church and to him. One of them dropped dead and the other one dropped dead shortly thereafter. They both dropped dead at the word of Peter. I'm glad I don't have that power. Then the Bible says in Acts 5 verse 11, the great fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these things. Later on, churches were instructed to apply their own discipline against their members. In 1 Corinthians 5, you've got Acts 5 and 1 Corinthians 5. In 1 Corinthians 5, there was one in that church who was having sexual relations with his father's wife. And that was something that even was looked down on by the Gentiles. In conclusion here, what does Christ want from us today? What is His intents and purposes for His church? Has He changed? He's not changed. A true New Testament church realize belongs to Christ. Let me put it on a personal level. Christ wants us to be filled with His power. Are you, as a part of Christ's church, filled with His power? It begins with salvation. The Holy Spirit doesn't even move until that point. It doesn't move in a person's life. You've got to be empty of self-sin in the world to be full of the Holy Spirit. Christ wants us to be witnesses for Him. Are you doing your part in Christ's church to be a witness for Him? Christ wants us to be filled with the right doctrine. Hard to be filled with right doctrine if you're not here listening to the messages. Are you under right doctrine, receiving right doctrine, practicing right doctrine, and avoiding wrong doctrine? Christ wants us to be in unity, in the right way, and in the right things. The question is, are we? Are we in unity in heart and soul? Unity in purpose, and in obedience, and in doctrine, and in fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayer, and in care, and in worship? Christ wants us to be pure. Are we pure? Now, we may think that we're doing okay. We're doing all right, but what would Christ say about it? I don't want you to look at it from, well, how does Brother Jerry see this? I want you to look at it, what does the Word of God say? How do you look to the Lord? Is this church the kind of church that Christ has in mind as to what a church should be? What would he commend about our church? What would he condemn about our church? Are you doing your part in fulfilling His intents and purposes? His will is what we're talking about. I just felt like a message like this was needed. You might think it's kind of hard. Yeah, it was. A lot of that is preaching to myself too. But I think on this celebration of the 37th anniversary, we need to have a little bit of hardness there. Amen. Look at ourselves and make sure that we are what is pleasing to the Lord. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your great love for us. And Lord, thank you for saving us that are saved. And we thank you for the Holy Spirit that fills within. But Lord, the question is, are we what we ought to be for you? Are we personally what we ought to be in this local church for you? Lord, help us to look at these things from your viewpoint, from the viewpoint of the Word of God. It's very easy to get upset with a preacher, very easy to decide to go down the road and attend somewhere else where the preaching is not as hard. What's hard is getting ourselves in the place where we need to be. Lord, help us, each of us. All of us still fall short of Your glory in some area. Help us to recognize those things from Your Word and to get those things right in our own lives that we might glorify You with our lives. Now, Lord, if there's one here today who doesn't know You, Help them to come and, Lord, receive Jesus Christ, who died on the cross of Calvary, shed his precious blood, was buried in a tomb three days and three nights, and rose victoriously over the grave, so that we might have salvation. Help them to come, believe on Christ and Christ alone for salvation. Have your way in this invitation, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.