Matthew 16, and I'll begin reading in verse 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? And 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, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Together in verse 19. 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." So we'll use this, a very familiar passage when you're thinking about the local New Testament church. How do you know that church is important? Let's pray and see what the Lord has for us. Father, I pray that you would help us this morning. That is what I pray every time. Lord, please help us. Without you we can do nothing. This is not about the displaying of knowledge or trying to impress with an illustration or story. This is just a sincere attempt to take the Word of God to make it understandable to the people of God and for the Holy Spirit of God to use it in our own spiritual development. I pray that be the case this morning. Meet with us, work in our hearts, draw us closer to yourself. We ask for these things in Christ's name, Amen. You may be seated. As I mentioned earlier, I think there's a lot of misunderstanding, misthinking about the local New Testament church, and I think there's two big ones that happen. It's not the only ones, but I think two big ones that I'm going to mention introducing us to this message. The first, maybe, I don't know which is more prevalent. For me, this is maybe a little more prevalent, but it may not be. The first misunderstanding is this misunderstanding or the disregard for how important it really is in the life of a believer, how really the Lord wants this to be a part of your life, your spiritual life. So let me say this, and again, I say statements like this. I'm not trying to fuss with people. I'm not just trying to say it just to stir up problems, but it's the reality that we face, so that's why I'm saying it. A church is not, is not, charity or community center. Most people out there who don't belong to a local New Testament church look at it as a church just like, you know, we're Salvation Army or we're, you know, the Red Cross or just we're just some type of nonprofit who exists just to help people. That is not why God started the church. I'm not saying we don't help people, but that's not the reason. That's not the driving reason. So a church is not a charity or simply a community center. It may help people, and really it does help people, but it's not why it exists. Now, I gotta stop because some people misunderstand and say, well, Pastor White thinks that a church should never help people. That's not what I'm saying, okay? And I think, number one, the people we help should be somehow attached to our church, because I think that's what God has called us to do, that we love the brethren. Jesus said, as you've done to the least of these my brethren, you've done it to me. I think the connection is to fellow believers connected to our church. We're not just trying to help everyone out there. There's 8 billion people in the world. We're kind of a small church to help 8 billion people. So we try to help the people in our church, and we've done that. We bought refrigerators, and stoves, and hot water tanks, and as a body, and then individually people have helped fix cars, and helped fix houses, and helped move people. There's a lot of things that happen, which I'm glad for, and I'm a proponent for. But Jesus didn't start a church just so we could find a place to help us fix a problem. That's not just why Jesus started the church. Now unfortunately, There are a lot of people, that's the only way they look at a church. And I'll say this, again, I'm not trying to be unkind, it probably sounds like it, but it is a little frustrating. That people only look at a church when they want something. They never show up, they never... Okay, I'm going to go ahead and say it. They never put a dollar in a plate, but expect the church to pay their bills when they have bills. But you've never given, why do you think you should receive? There should be kind of a back and forth here. There should be some giving and receiving both. It's more blessed to give than to receive. There should be some giving and receiving. And some people are just out of their mind. We've had people call and say, you know, I have some relatives, some children, and they've never gone to Disney World. I want to know if the church will help pay for our vacation to Disney World. No, that would be a no. It's just silly sometimes, but that's not why God started it. He didn't start a church just so that we could be a charity. Again, I'm not against helping people. I'm not saying that's a negative. We do help people, but sometimes that's the only thing people look at a church as somewhere that they can go like any other charity and just get something from it. They never give, they never are part of, never help. They just always want to try to get things from it. That's not the purpose or the reason that Jesus started the church. There's a second, I think, troubling trend. Not only the misunderstanding or the disregard for the importance of the local New Testament church, but the, and this is maybe, even though the first one may be more prevalent, this one I think bothers me more, the misuse or the abuse of a church by false teachers who only seek to enrich and empower themselves. This whole idea that a church was designed so some guy with a big ego could just collect a bunch of people who would stroke their ego and make them feel better about themselves, that's not why Jesus started the church. And there's a lot of goofy stuff that goes on in the name of a church. I remember watching, and I just did this just for kicks. I don't know if this guy's still alive anymore, but you probably know who I'm talking about. The guy, he held out his hand like this. Now, it is a TV show. He held out his hand like this, and so now the camera's zooming in. He's holding out his hand like this, and he goes, just reach out and touch the screen, and God will bless your life when you send in the $20. What kind of nonsense it goes on in the name of church? So much nonsense. And so there's a lot of abuse and misuse that happens with the church. I'll just tell you this. It's gonna be a sad day for charlatans who have used a local church to empower and enrich themselves and when they stand before the Lord. Now, probably nothing really gets my goat when people do that kind of stuff. but the Lord will take care of them. I don't spend my life trying to fight them, because I know the Lord will take care of them. I fight them as far as preaching the truth, but I don't necessarily try to fight them verbally all the time. So there's the misunderstanding or the disregard. That's a troubling trend. And then there's the misuse and the abuse of a church. That's another troubling trend. But, because I know you're saying, where are you going, Pastor? But, all the wrong that people have done in the name of church, whether using it as a piggy bank, just wanting, wanting, wanting, or people who have some type of ego who use it to gather some type of group just to empower and enrich themselves. Let me go back to it, because this still bothers me. Why do people send money to guys who live in a mansion, they have a private jet, and you're sending money to them? It's just silly stuff like that. It just really irritates me. And they do it in the name of God. Hell is going to be pretty hot for those people. But all the wrong that people have done in the name of church should not make us want to leave it. So some people say, well, you know, all this stuff goes on. I'm just going to leave it. I'm not going to go to church anymore. I'm just going to get away from it. It's all just a bunch of crazy stuff. That's not the right reaction. I know there's a lot of stuff that goes on that shouldn't go on. I know people treat the church the way it shouldn't be treated. I know people have the wrong ideas and wrong attitudes and wrong interactions with all that may be true, but it shouldn't cause us to walk away from it out of disgust or despair. Rather, all these things that happened should want us to return to what God's original purpose was. We ought to say, okay, if that's not right, and if that's not right, let's go to the Bible and find out what is right. What is a church supposed to be? Why is it important? What did the Lord intend for it to be? The biblical concept of a church is not the problem. It is the unbiblical use of a church by man. And so instead of getting mad at what people do that's wrong, let's go to find out what's right and let's do it the way the Lord would have us to do it. So the goal of the message this morning is to understand what God intended for the church, and thus why it is important in the life of a born-again believer. Now, let me stop for a moment. We have several messages coming up. probably the next two Sundays, if my memory serves me correct, that are very gospel-centered, giving the gospel out. Now, every message, I try to entwine the gospel. Some messages are very much the gospel. This message is not. It's not very much the gospel. This message is talking to believers. Why is the local New Testament church important in the life of a believer? But let me stop, because I never want to assume that everyone understands what a believer is. A believer is not, my head is shaking, no, is not someone who believes in God. That's not what we're talking about. A lot of people believe in God. Not everyone's a believer. A believer is someone who's come to a point in time in their life, in their heart, where they've accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. It's not just you believe there's a big guy in the sky. It's that you're looking to Jesus Christ as your only hope for heaven. and that's the only one you're trusting in. You've come to Him, you've acknowledged your sinful state, you've accepted the fact that He died on your behalf, and that's what you're claiming as your only hope for heaven. For those people, church is vitally important. Now, church is important for everyone, but it was designed, this may surprise you, church was designed for us as believers. Unbelievers don't understand the importance of church because they're not even born again. We who know Christ should understand why church is so important. So church is vitally important in the life of a believer. Why? How do we know this? To that end, I want to give you three things to consider. Back to our text. Look with me at verse number 18. And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against us. Brings us to our first thought this morning. Number one is this, is that Jesus started the church. He said, I will build my church. It's his church. He started it. It belongs to him. Now when he says in verse number 18, thou art Peter and upon this rock, Peter is not the rock. That's the misteaching that goes on. Peter is not the rock the church is built on. Let me just ask you this. Why would Jesus build his rock on a person who's a sinner? He said, well, he was Peter. You know what Peter does after this? He denies Jesus three times. That doesn't sound like someone I want to build a church on. And so it's not built on Peter. There's a little play on words. I'm not going to get long into it. Peter means stone or pebble. Rock means massive boulder. The rock is what Peter just said, and we'll see this in a moment. But he said, upon this rock, I'm going to build, this truth, I'm going to build my church. So Jesus started a church, and it is his church, and he builds his church. Now, why is this important? The only thing that we know from Scripture that Jesus started in his life on this earth was the local New Testament church. It's the only thing he started. And he started it, and he started it for our behalf. Because this is the only thing he started, this implies then that this one thing that he started is critical for believers. So let me dive a little deeper. Jesus did not start a political party or political movement. He could have. I mean, there's a lot of politics at play in his time. That's why John the Baptist was beheaded, because of politics. That's why he's going to be arrested and eventually crucified, really because of politics. The Jewish people said, hey, wait a minute, everyone likes him. They don't like us. They'll all follow him. They won't follow us, and we'll lose our place, so let's kill him. So it was all about, as far as the unsafe people, now we know the big story. He died on behalf of us, so he died for our sins. But as far as the Jewish people were looked at, it was just like a political move for them. Jesus didn't come to start a political movement. I'm not against politics per se. I'm not against voting. I think you ought to do it. What I'm saying is Jesus didn't come just to start a political party or political movement and fix the politics of a nation. Jesus came and started a church. Now, I have my political thoughts, you have your political thoughts, mine are right, yours are whatever. We all have our own political leanings. But Jesus didn't come just so we could play politics. Jesus came to start a local New Testament church. So Jesus didn't start a political party. He could have. He could have, you know, I don't know, ran for the Sanhedrin. He could have had all these people follow him. But that's not what he did. Even when John the Baptist was arrested, he didn't go out and protest. Release John! Release John! Release John! That's not what he did. He didn't get involved in those type of situations. He started the local New Testament church. Now why am I saying that? That means church is more important than politics. I'm glad the way the election went. It went the way I wanted it to go. But my thoughts about America hasn't changed. Only thing that happened is we put a different driver behind the wheel who maybe won't go so fast headed for the cliff. America's headed towards a cliff, not because of who sits in the White House. America's headed towards a cliff because we have turned from our Lord. The Bible says, The wicked will be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." Our problem is a lot deeper than who sits in the White House. Church is more important than politics. So Jesus didn't start a political movement. Jesus didn't start a business or a company. He could have. He was a carpenter. Could you imagine buying furniture from Jesus? Furniture made by God Himself. What a great thing on a business card. But he didn't do that. He didn't start some business. He started the local New Testament church. So what does that mean? That means church is more important than making money. Jesus didn't start a resort or some vacation spot. In fact, when he put his disciples in the boat and sent them, he sent them not into peace, he sent them into a storm. So church is more important than politics. Church is more important than making money. Church is more important than your rest or your relaxation. The one thing that Jesus started was the New Testament church. So, you knew there's something coming, I think. So why do we who claim to follow Jesus put priority on all the other things instead of the local New Testament church? You know what we tend to do? Okay, so the only thing we know that Jesus started was the local New Testament church. And what we tend to do is, we tend to prioritize all the things that we've started, and deprioritize what He started. We prioritize our jobs, and our hobbies, and our vacations, and whatever else we're doing. Those things get the priority, not the local New Testament church, but this is what He started. In many ways, it's just like idolatry. If you look at the gods who man worship, especially if you think about the Romans and the Greeks, they had a god for this, and a god for that. If you lost your keys, I don't know if they had keys, if you lost your boulder, here's the God you pray for for that. If you're sick, here's the God you pray for that. If you need a new house, here's the God you pray for that. You had all these gods, we see that in Mars Hill, you see all these gods they would pray to, but every god they would pray to was a god that they wanted something from. This is what I want, this is my priority. My priority is my job, so I have a god for that. My priority is my family, so I have a god for that. My priority is, so we had all these priorities, all these false gods. instead of the true God. And it's the same thing we do with church. We put priority in all the things in our life, not the thing that the Lord created. So let me say it clearly, so you don't walk out and say, I don't know what that preacher is saying. So let me say it clearly. One of the number one priorities in the life of a born again believer is a local New Testament church. Not because you like it, but because God started it and he called us to be a part of one. This is a God thing. This is not a man thing, this is a God thing. Man didn't start churches, God started churches. And this is why it's important. So the local church is important because Jesus started the church. There's a second thing. Let's go a little deeper again. Go back with me now to chapter 16. We alluded to this in the first point. We'll now talk about it more in this point. Verse 17. And Jesus answered and said unto them, 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 unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock, that's what we're going to talk about now, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So the second reason that church is so important, number two, is this, the local church is the pillar of truth. He said, upon this rock, Well, here's what 1 Timothy says. I'll show it to you, then I'll explain the point. These things write unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. This is Paul speaking. But if I tarry long, thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God. Now watch this phrase, which is the church of living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. That's what the church is, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. So there is a great controversy, but the pillar and ground of the truth is a local New Testament church. The rock that the church is built on is not Peter, but rather it's Peter's statement. Look at verse 15. He says unto them, Okay, so he says to the people, who do they say I am? Well, some say you're Elias, Elijah. Some say you're Jeremiah, says Jeremiah. Some say you're one of the other prophets. Okay, but who do you say that I am? You're my disciples. Who do you say that I am? And this is when Peter speaks up. Verse 16, Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. You're the promised Messiah. You're the Son of God. You're our hope. You're the hope of Israel. You are who we've always looked up to. You are the coming Messiah, and you've come. That's basically what he's saying. And Jesus says, you got it right, Peter. That is true, and that's the rock I'm building my church on. I am who I say I am. I am the living Son of God. That's what a church is built on. It's not built on the fun and the fellowships, nothing wrong with that, but that's not what a church is built on. It's not built on just getting a big crowd, big crowd, get more, get more, get more. That's not what a church is built on. A church is built on the Word of God, the pillar and ground of the truth. The most important thing for a church to do is stand for the Word of God. It is not to please people. Let me just say this, if we make everyone happy, we're doing something wrong. Because a lot of people don't like what the Bible has to say. Now our goal is to bring them to that point. I don't know if you've heard about this. There's this thing out there, it's called social media. Maybe you haven't been clued into it yet. There's some different ones, Facebook, and Instagram, and TikTok, and X, formerly known as Twitter, and whatever the other, some blue something that's just showed up. If you want to see what the world thinks, post something about what the Bible says is true. Just put this, Jesus is the, in capital letters, O-N-L-Y. Jesus is the only way to heaven. Man, they'll be coming out of the wall. That's what the Bible says, but they don't like it. But it doesn't matter, it's what the Bible says. We are to stand for the truth. We're the pillar and ground of the truth. That's what a local New Testament church is. So the rock is not Peter, but rock is what Peter had said about Jesus. The church is built upon, and then stands upon, the revelation of God's truth from his word. A church is to stand unapologetically, uncompromising, and unwavering on God's word. Where else is this going to happen? It's not going to happen in the government. It's not going to happen in public schools. It's not going to happen in your, I don't know, whatever group you're a part of. The only place where we can come and we can hold up the Word of God unapologetically and rally people around it is the local New Testament church. That's why we're here. That's what we're supposed to be doing, rallying people to the Word of God. You're not rallying to me. I'm not rallying to you. We're rallying to the Word of God. Truth is found in the Bible. Here's what the Bible says, John 17, 17. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. So truth is found in the Bible. Truth comes by the Holy Spirit. How be it when he, the Spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth. So it's the Holy Spirit in us as he opens our eyes so that we can understand the word of God. He guides us into all truth. And it comes through our faith in Jesus Christ. John 14.6, Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. We accept Christ as our Savior. He's the truth. Now the Holy Spirit has come in. Our eyes are opening. We read the Word of God, and all of a sudden understanding comes, and that's how we begin growing under the teaching and the preaching of God's Word. A church is not a charity, it's not a community center, it's not a food bank. I'm not criticizing any of that, but that's not where we are. A church is the pillar and ground of the truth. So let's poke a little, because we've got to do it. Shame on believers. Shame on believers who seek truth as their source of truth, from podcasts, TV shows, social media, websites, and ignore the local New Testament church. I don't need to come to church, I watch this person on TV, or I listen to this podcast, or I go to this website. Jesus didn't start any of those things. I'm not saying they don't have some ability to teach truth, but God has designed a body like this, assembling together under the preaching of God's Word, to grow us in our faith. Those things could be helps, but they're not replacements for the local New Testament church. And we're not done yet. That's shame on believers. Shame on churches who are no more than rock concerts and self-help therapy sessions. We're not a rock concert. I don't know if you notice this or not. I know you're going, when is Pastor White going to bring out his guitar? When is Brother Mather going to get on the drums? We're not. We're not a rock concert, and we're not a self-help therapy. The Bible does have help in it. I'm not saying it doesn't. But there's more in the Bible than simply five ways to be your best life now, five ways to have a good family, five ways to raise good kids, five ways to deal with depression. I'm not against any of those, but sometimes that's all it is. It's just thin, it's like cotton candy type preaching. You get a big mouthful, There's nothing to it, no depth, no truth, no meat, no meat and potatoes. We are to be the pillar and ground of the truth. Now I know sometimes the world eventually catches up with us about what's right and wrong, and they seem to be doing it somewhat, at least some of them, when it comes to the transgender movement of children. And I'm glad, I'm glad people are catching on. Let me tell you this, but if all the world was still for it, I'd still be against it. Let me tell you, from the Word of God, there's no way you can justify, I'll just say, I know it aggravates people, I'm gonna say it anyways. It is no way you can justify mutilating kids. Man, you ought to grab those doctors and just twist their head off. You mutilate a kid? A kid doesn't have any idea, well, you know, this kid thinks he's a boy, this kid thinks he's a girl. Kids think all kinds, that's why they're kids! Mutilate a child. Now, let me tell you why I think it's moving in our nation the way it should be moving. Well, because of Donald Trump. It's not because of Donald Trump. It's because churches began preaching about it and teaching about it, and began rallying people around it. Typically, the things that move our nation closer to God always originates in times like this, when we begin preaching on those things, and then begin spreading out from here. The local New Testament church is the pillar and ground of the truth. This is how the Lord has designed for truth now to spread. It begins here as we listen to it and begin saying, okay, this is what the Bible says, here's what I'm going to believe, here's what I'm going to commit to, and then we begin influencing those around us and we begin affecting a whole nation, but it begins in the life of the believers in a local New Testament church. The place to grow, the place to develop, the place to have your faith challenged and stretched is a local New Testament church. Church is important to those who spiritually, now watch this, I'm going to slow down, I don't want, I don't, I'm rushing through this, let me slow down. Church is important to those whose spiritual growth and development is important. In other words, it is as important to you as your spiritual growth is important. Church is as important as the Bible is important, and you want to know it and want to learn from it. If one is not important, probably the other is not either. So I say it this way, just to be clear, church is important to you as your Christian growth is. The more you desire the one, the more you show up for the other. So how do we know the church is important? Well, Jesus started, it's the only thing he started. We know it's the pillar and ground of the truth, that's what the Bible tells us in the previous verse we saw in 1 Timothy. And then there's a third reason, and that is back now to our text, chapter 16, verse 18 again. And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock, he said, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Again, in point one we alluded to two things. One we talked about in point two, the other we'll talk about in point three. He says, I will build my church. That brings us to our third thought. The local church is a place to serve God. The church is not the physical structure. We use it that way, and I understand I'm not attacking or criticizing, it's just the way we do it. We say, I'm going to go to church, and we show up here. Okay, great. But I tell you, this building is not a church. It's a structure. And when you leave, it's still a structure. It's not a church before you got here. It's not a church when you leave. It's only a church when you're here. Because this is the church. It's believers assembling together. That's what a church is. If we were to leave here, this same group was leave here, and we were to go, I know you don't want to do this, but we all put our coats on, and we walked to the back of the property back there, and we said, this pastor's crazy, what are we doing out here? And we all are huddling together and saying, we wish we had a fire or something. You know where the church would be? It wouldn't be here, it'd be there. It's where the people are. The people make up the church. So when he says, I will build my church, he's not talking about building structures. In fact, for a long time, they had no structure. They just met wherever. This is somewhat of a newer outcome, having a structure where you meet in. They just kind of met, they met sometimes in the temple, they met in houses, they met wherever. Everything could find a place they met. So the structure is not the church. This is not what Jesus is building. If we were to extend, one time we were going to do that, and then we did something different, but if we were to extend this way and build onto our church, that's what we say, we're going to build onto our church. Well, not really, we're just building onto the structure. The only way we build onto our church is when more people show up. That's how we build the church. So the church is not the physical structure, but it's the assembling of believers. What is built, now there's a purpose I'm going, direction I'm going, what is built by Jesus is not the structure. What is built by Jesus is people. Now how does Jesus build people? He needs tools. And guess who his tools are? Me and you. We're the vessels or the tools that the Lord uses. You ever seen a lumber package? Someone's going to build a house or maybe an addition and they bring a lumber package and they drop it off and you see all the wood and all the material. It's all sitting out there. So maybe it's going to build a house. So here's an empty lot. Here's the lumber package. How does that lumber package become the house. Well, in the middle of the night, little bitty elves come along, little pointed hat, little toes that curl up, shoes that curl up, and they, it's like little bitty elves build the whole, is that what you think happens? No, people come, workers come, and they take the material that's there, and they assemble it together, and they build something. That's exactly how a church is built. God provides material and we are the workers who are trying to build. We're being used of the Lord to build His church. That's what a church is. We come and we, in this room over here, which I really irritate when I knock on it, this room right here, right there, there is some workers and some kids, they're trying to build some lives. On this side over here, irritate one, might as well irritate the other, that's what we do, we're fair play here. In that room right there, There's some workers and some, working with some kids, trying to build them. In here, there's someone who's trying to build you. This is what a church is. We're here to serve. Some nursery workers trying to help those kids. I know, you know, what are you gonna teach a six-month-old? Well, maybe you can keep them quiet and comfortable while the parents are able to learn some things. We have some guys who are walking the hallway just to make sure everything stays safe. We have ushers who pick up the offering to help pay the bills. We have Sunday school teachers. We have bus workers. All these servants are trying to be used of God to build. That's what a church is for. It's a place where we serve God and try to build people. It's through the local church where believers are organized to convert sinners. Disciple those converts and encourage fellow believers. Apart from a church, you can do any one of those, but in a church you can do all of those things effectively and efficiently. God has designed His work to be accomplished through the combining of efforts of believers using their various gifts. It is through the church that God has chosen to accomplish His work, and those who are trying to serve God should be doing so through the local New Testament church. Let me back up. Because we're almost done. Let me back up for a moment to a previous illustration. Remember the lumber package? And here's the empty lot. Well, I'm not going to claim I'm not a member of the trade, but I work with someone who's a member of the trade. And so this is my observations from just being kind of a little bit of work that I've been a part of. Taking this package and building this house requires people to show up. You know what's frustrating for the trades? When you're getting ready to do whatever your part is, whether it's the foundation or the framing or the roofing or the site, whatever your part of that building is, when you show up and others don't show up. That is very frustrating. Because you're like, we got a job to do. We're so-and-so. Oh, well, he didn't feel like coming today. Great. Well, who's gonna do it? Well, I guess we gotta work harder. And there's some people, even a local church, they'll say, okay, we'll do more. But wouldn't it be better if everyone was doing their part? You know what would be really frustrating? And there are people, I was at a, it wasn't our job site, we were going to another job site, and I was watching this job site. And there were people there, and a couple guys were working over here doing whatever. And there was a couple guys over here doing this the whole time. It was irritating me. I wasn't even a part of the work crew. I'm like, really? You see there's a job to do. What are you doing? Well, I'm here. I'm at the job site. But you're not doing anything. Get busy. Hey, you know what? This hammer fits. Look, I got a handle on that hammer. Look at that. It fits perfect. Go do something. We all have a part to play in the building of the local New Testament church. We all need to be doing something. This is a place that God has given us to serve him. God wants to use you. He wants to use your talent and your abilities to build His church. The local New Testament church is important because God has chosen the local New Testament church to be the instrument of His work. This is how He accomplishes His work, through us in a church throughout the world. Let me just give you one illustration. I've got to hurry and be done. In the book of Acts, and as you can tell, I'm skipping some verses here. In the book of Acts, the Bible says this, and Saul was consenting unto his death, that'd be Stephen. And at that time, there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. So Saul comes in, he brings persecution, People have to leave. It wasn't simply, you know, like people slapping their hands. I mean, it was, you lose your job, you lost everything, you lost your livelihood, you lost all your possessions, and sometimes you lost your life. And so you had to go somewhere else in order to survive. And so these believers packed up what they could and they went to other cities. Now, let's continue on, chapter 11. Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phineas and Cyprus and Antioch preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only." So when they went they didn't just go and say well we're not in Jerusalem we don't have a church to go to they said okay let's start preaching the gospel here let's start telling people about how to get saved and people started getting saved and churches started getting built even wherever they went they're still being used of God. But notice what it says in Antioch, that brings us to our last. Now there were in the church, it was in Antioch, which is alluded to back in the previous verse, certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon, that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene and Menaean, which had been brought up with Herod in the tech truck, and Saul. Now here's why I'm pointing that out. They go all the way to Antioch, but wherever they go, they're starting a church. The church that was in Antioch. God uses us to do his work. How does the work of God spread around the world? Through people like us. Not just through highly educated people, but through normal people who have a love for God, who are busy serving him. And it works through a local New Testament church. In that church in Antioch, there's a man called Barnabas, and there was a man called Saul, Paul. Saul at the end, but he becomes Paul. And those two men are called out of that church and are sent around the world to preach to other places where other churches are started. So the local church is a place to serve God. Now, let's get to the end. I understand that many, and I say this, I'm not saying there's any unkindness is just reality. I understand that many have a wrong understanding of a church. Maybe you came in this morning with the wrong understanding. Okay, maybe that's... no one ever explained scripture to you. I understand many may have a wrong understanding of a church, but this morning let us have the right understanding, a biblical understanding. There's nothing wrong with helping, nothing wrong with feeding, nothing wrong with clothing. I'm not criticizing that. What I'm saying is, there's more to it than that. Jesus started the church so every believer would belong. And in belonging, they would grow in their faith, grow in their knowledge, and work together to reach a lost world. and then those who got saved encouraged them in doing the same thing. So we started with a question. How do we know, how do you know, how do I know, that church is important? We said Jesus started it, that makes it important. We said it's the pillar and ground of truth, that makes it important. It's a place to serve God, that makes it important. So the question for us then to follow up is this. Have you decided, to be an active part of a local New Testament church. If it's that important, and you claim to be a born-again believer, have you decided, okay, I need to be part of it? I need to do what the Lord had me to do? And that's the question you need to answer. And let's pray.