on this three-part series on what makes the church different. This morning we talked about our beliefs, primarily about our beliefs of the Savior make us different. And then we talked a little bit about, introduced just a little bit, and I'm going work on it a little more tonight. Our building and our builder make us different. You'll get into it, I think, as we get into it. I've got two more parts. There's the battles. Our battles make us different. And what I intended to preach tonight was our business makes us different. You know, some church members might be surprised to know we're not in business to have picnics. We're not in business just to have field goods. But the church is the lifeline of the world. Missions is the outreach of the church. Jesus said, you go into all the world, All power in heaven and earth is mine. We read that this morning, given unto me. Nobody ever else could ever say that, only Jesus. It's not just here, but it's there. He is the Savior. And he said, Go ye therefore, because of my power, go therefore and preach the gospel to every... No, go therefore and teach all nations in my power, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in my power, and teaching them. in my power. So that's where we are. And that's the beliefs about the Savior. And then we, today, we just kind of introduced it a little bit this morning, but I want to get into it. Look down to verse, we're in Matthew chapter 16. I might as well start and read 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 they are John the Baptist. Some Elias, some Jeremias, are one of the prophets. What they said was, These were all great men. These were all powerful men. These were all men with an agenda to move people in a direction. And all of that is a description of Jesus. They were right about some things. The other part of those, every one of those men, is they were in opposition to the majority vote of the whole world. Isn't that true of us? I mean, you count the cars running up and down this freeway out here, and then you look around here and see how many of them stopped in to the church. And that bunch out there, many of them would say, you're a bunch of old, you kind of goofy. Sunday night, cold weather, get out in this kind of weather just to go to church? Hey, they're playing football on TV. I remember when Bonanza used to come on Sunday night. Me and my dad had several discussions about that. He won every one of them. He never did let me stay home and see Bonanza on Sunday night. We went to church on Sunday night, and I'm thankful for it. He saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am? I won't ask us church. We come in here, you bunch of weirdos came in here, you didn't stay in the crowd out there. You're here because you're part of the church. You're either part of the church or you want something that the church has to offer. Nobody else would be here. Know this church. It's not what we think about this building or this preacher or the baptismal pool where we were baptized. It's what we think about him. That's what's all important. And we already spoke some on that today. And Simon Peter answered and said, here's the answer. Thou art to Christ, the Son of the living God. And here's, listen to what Jesus said now. And Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but by Father which is in heaven. All this preaching all day long, all the songs we sung today, all the prayers, the whole issue of the church, not just today, but last week, last month, and tomorrow, and next week, is to this end, to bring us to a proper place that we with Peter can say that the Father, through the Holy Ghost, has revealed to me that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. When we get there, we'll lay everything else down and hold Him as our only hope of salvation and believe on Him, and that introduces us into the church. So I want to come see here. Down to verse 17, he says, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed it, but my Father, which is in heaven. We live in a easy-to-believe theology day. I'm a Roman road fan. I love the Roman road track. Four steps, anybody can be saved if you get it. One says, the first step says that every one of us are sinners. I used to teach the ABCs of salvation to the junior boys. The A is I must admit I'm a sinner. If you never admit you're a sinner, I'm talking about a dirty dog down and out sinner with no hope. not a pretty good old boy, not with personality, not with anything that is attractive, just an out and out, sold out, down the tube sinner. When you get to where you see yourself there, you're getting in good shape to be born again. When you see your need of a savior, then you can be saved. But people that are too good, you know, some people get offended when you talk about their sin and try to justify some of the sins, you know. I'm better than so-and-so. No, we're not better than anybody. The Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But when we see that and we lose our pride or are being so wounded by those sins that we've got to have help, then we're ready for the Savior. And then he said, flesh above had not revealed it unto thee. But my father, listen, this book, 66 books, 40 authors, the Holy Ghost of God who breathed and inspired this book, the blood that bought this book, the price that was paid. When you get down to that place that you can accept the answers of the book. When you'll let the Father show you the Savior, the Holy Ghost prepares you for the Savior. When you let loose of yourself and depend on Him, then you can say, thou art the Christ, the Son of the... I mean, you can shout on that a little bit. Wasn't that the way you were doing it? It's precious blood. It's not just blood. It's absolutely sinless, perfect, holy, sanctified, set-apart blood for the redemption of every sinner that ever lived in this world. Well, and so we've seen what men say, what we believe. and especially what we believe about the Savior. That's all the prerequisites that separate us from everybody, separate us as the church from every other part of the world. The high and mighties and the upper crust and the lowest I mean, one's not better than the other. Without Christ, we're all sinners. Without Christ, there's no hope. But the church is set apart because of our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I probably preached that to death. But I'm wanting to go to verse 18. And I say unto ye also, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I'll build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. This morning we talked in the introduction, look here where we're at. In this passage, we're somewhere in the middle of Jesus' ministry. He is now preaching and teaching. We read that verse this morning over in Mark 3, 14. He had ordained 12 that they might be with Him, that He might send them forth to preach. Right now, He's still doing the teaching of His preacher boys. We call them apostles. What separates the apostle from the prophet is this. The apostle was the eyewitness of Jesus, and the verses said that he gave them special powers. Why was there a special power? For hundreds of years, these Jews have had Passover day and and sacrifice day, and they've kept up the lamb and inspected that lamb, make sure no blemish, and they've taken him down on a certain day. And in that tabernacle of the congregation, only the men could go in, but the men went in with their sacrifice, the lamb. The priest handed them a knife, and they had to kill the lamb. They had to cut the throat. They had to shed the blood of the sacrificed lamb. That man, when I go down there with my family, my family stays outside. I step in with the lamb. The lamb, there's two words for lamb in the New Testament. One is a common old everyday lamb. The other one is the household pet. That's what those two names mean. The lamb was kept in the house or around the house and inspected. He had to be perfect because he's a picture of the perfect savior on the cross of Calvary. So dad cuts the throat of the lamb, and the priest takes the lamb to the altar and makes the sacrifice. Let me say this. This is where I was going to get to. See, God ordained it. Without sacrifice, there's no sacrifice. I mean, there's no pass for our sin. Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. But it wasn't just dad who sacrificed. It was mom. She's right out there. It was those little kids that's been living with that lamb, and now he's the household pet. They're sacrificing. For our sins, you and I don't have a sacrifice. I mean, we couldn't sacrifice enough. If we could go hungry for 80 days, or if we could, I pulled up to the, to the place down there in the valley, the shrine to the Virgin Mary, and watched an old man get out of his car. He couldn't hardly get out the car. Fell on the ground. It's a quarter of a mile or half a mile up there to the statue, and he's crawling over that hot stone. What's he doing? He's paying some kind of penance for his sin. But when he gets there, it doesn't buy anything. It's not sufficient for his sin. And whatever you do or whatever you've joined or whatever you said is not sufficient for your sin. It takes the blood of a perfect sacrifice. That's what the Lamb was all about. Now Jesus is our sacrifice, and he did pay. Hey, if you're saved, you don't ever have to worry about your sin again. I mean, yeah, we all live different. But I'm talking about you couldn't pay 1 10th of what you owe for your sin. And some of us could not pay 1 100th of what we owe for our sin. But Jesus paid it all. That's what the point is. And when we get our belief right, which we've preached all day, when we get our belief on Him right, you don't have to worry about this sin anymore. He's taking care of your sin. So this verse says, I say unto thee, Peter, I say unto thee now, verse 18, we've got past the sacrifice in verse 17. I say 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. I'm not going to go to all the scriptures. The Roman Catholic Church is built on this premise that Peter started the church at Rome. And since Peter started the church at Rome, he was the first pope of the church. The word Catholic means worldwide. It's a worldwide church. In their theology, they say, Peter established the worldwide church for every sinner in the whole world to come here to this church. That's the reason it's called a Catholic church. There's some of our brethren, some Baptists, who preach that the church was not started until the day of Pentecost, after Jesus Sacrifice. I've been intending all day long to take us over to Acts chapter 1. Read Acts chapter 1. Pentecost happened on Acts chapter 2. It's surprising how much information is in the book of Acts. And the more you read of it, the more you'll understand the rest of the New Testament. It's a powerful book. In Acts chapter 1, There's verses, well, let me just give you a couple of them. Acts chapter one. If I can find Acts. Let's see. I'm going to start reading in verse 12 and read five verses. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the Mount of Olivet. We're jumping in the middle of this. If you read verse 11, the angel has just said, as Jesus has ascended, you remember Jesus told his disciples to come to come out to that mountain on the east side of Jerusalem. We talked about that, didn't we, this morning. And now they've stood at the mountain, and as he blessed them, he ascended up into the clouds. And the previous verses, the angel said, you men of Galilee, why stand ye here looking up? The same Jesus that you see go away come again and he was taken up and the cloud received him out of their sight. Look at verse 8. I should have started up here. Verse 8 says, Jesus is speaking to him. just before he leaves. Verse seven, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in his power, 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 into the uttermost parts of the earth. I said I was going to preach on the business of the church. Here's the business of the church. It's to make His name known throughout this world and to be a witness of Him. He said, you'll receive power. Jesus said in Matthew 28, I've got all power, heaven and earth. Go ye therefore. that therefore is therefore to tell us that we've got power. And it's his power. And he says, the second order for the church, ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth. Somebody said, well, yeah, you're the preacher. You're the witness. No. You're the Christian. You're the witness. Every one of us are witnesses. And the walking order of the church, the business of the church is the witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's going to I don't remember how many times, I did know how many times that word witnesses in this, but as you read through these pages of the Book of Acts, he's gonna say it many times. You're witnesses to me. See here, this morning I said a little about it. Brother Rick told me that I didn't cover it good. But here it is. We thought we got saved to go to heaven, right? Well, that was our reasoning. But that's not what God says. I'll give you this verse for free. I don't even have it in my outline. Over in Ephesians chapter 3, I believe it is, verse 21. Verse 21 says, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Where does Jesus get his glory? In the church. What's the glory given for? So the whole world can see his glory. It's not so the whole world can see our fine furniture or our building or whatever it is we got to be proud of, but we're here just as vessels to be used of God. We talked about that this morning, and we are the vessels of honor chosen to bring honor to Him. Amazing, isn't it? That's why He saved us. That's why we have a church. It's to bring honor to our Lord Jesus. That's our business. Well, I'll give you that verse. Now let's move back over here and see where I'm at. I was in 18, verse 18. of our text. Matthew 13, 18, I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I'll build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So here's two big mistakes that are being made. If the church was started on the day of Pentecost, the day of Pentecost is over there in Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 1, I never did get that far in Acts, did I? He came and talked to the disciples there in Acts chapter 1 about the church. If the church has not started until Pentecost, Who was he talking to? I didn't ever get it read. Would you read, promise me you'll read Acts chapter one. You're gonna find out that there's 120 people at least already waiting. The church was already established. Not just, it began with the 12th, Mark 3.14. But by the time you get to Acts chapter one, he says the ladies and the women and the disciples, and he names off all that were there. Then he says there's about 120 in the upper room. And they were, when he addressed the church, he was there before he was taken out. That's who was in the crowd. who he talked to, 120, at least 120. What I'm going to say is this, our Baptist brethren who say that we can't start the church until the day of Pentecost, I don't want to make anybody mad, and I don't want to argue about it, but you just need to read your Bible. Matthew 13 is not the day of Pentecost. And the disciples did not start the church. Jesus started the church. The church was started in heaven. The church came through the Savior. We've looked at that all day long. And the church was started prior to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, grant you, God, I think one reason that, see, he gave those apostles special gifts that you and I can't have. They could do things we can't do. Nobody can do. But they had special gifts because they were messengers to the nation of the Jews. The Jews were God's chosen people, and because of their rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, He removed their candlestick from them. But in order for them to get the message, there were special gifts given to those apostles to show, hey, Acts chapter 2, they're going to say they're all drunk. because they could speak in tongues. But if you read Acts chapter 2, the miracle is not in the speaking. The miracle is that those 17 different dialects that were there in Jerusalem Those people who had, this guy's from Egypt, this guy's from Ethiopia, this guy's from somewhere else, and that's the language he speaks, all of a sudden he's hearing the gospel preached in his own language in his ear. That is the languages. You can tell your charismatic friend it's not an unknown language. There's 17 different dialects right there that day when they spoke in, quote, unknown tones. It was a special gift to demonstrate the authority that these apostles had of the truth that Jesus is the only Savior. and that the gospel is the only means of salvation. If you wait until the day of Pentecost to start the church, who's doing the work? He started the church in Mark 3.14. He started the church over there in Matthew 13. I mean, he's addressing the church, and he's announcing the church. Paul's going to say, over there in Corinthians, Paul's going to say that the church is the mystery that was hidden. from the whole world down to this, those Old Testament prophets could prophesy about Jesus coming, but they did not prophesy about the church. The church was announced by Jesus. Our text verse on this, what'd he say, in 13? No, not in 13. He said in, 18, on this rock, I will build my church. Whoa. They said, that's a new word to us. The very first time that that word is used in the Bible is right there. Jesus is announcing something. The word church is ecclesia. I know you've heard somebody talk about that. Ekklesia is a word that doesn't necessarily apply to the church. The word means a called out assembly. Called out for a purpose assembly. Tomorrow's the day, isn't it? Tomorrow, there's already a group My pastor had a ticket before all this shakeup because of the weather and before moving it inside. My pastor thought he was gonna see the president. He went, he's there somewhere, probably out in the cold. But he went there, especially, he had a ticket, and he and his boy were gonna see the president. step in tomorrow." Well, the word ekklesia applies to that crowd. You could call that crowd over there, if you were a Greek, you could call that crowd an ekklesia, because everybody that's over there assembled is there for a purpose. You see it? Ekklesia means a people that is called out for a purpose, assembled. Hey, right here, right here in this room is a called out assembly. We're here because the Holy Ghost has anointed, directed, and guided us down to this hour. And we're here for a reason. Hey, this is a filling station. for Christians. I mean, I'm going home tomorrow. Somewhere along the way I'll have to stop that truck and get more gas if I intend to get home. Every Christian is here to bring glory to God, but you can't bring glory to God with your empty tank. you're gonna have to get more Bible, more Holy Ghost, more prayer, more reality of Christianity in your life. And the only way you do that is with the word of God and the people of God. So we're called out here today. The church, we are a called out assembly. You say, yeah, but they had a big crowd. There's a bunch of folks that say the whole world is a called out assembly. And there's a great invisible church. And that's a bunch of baloney. How does the whole world of invisible Body parts assemble tonight. They can't. You read your Bible. Paul wrote nine letters to seven churches, seven local churches. It's not an invisible church. When he writes to Thessalonica, over at Thessalonica, one of the big cities of that part of the world, There's a handful of folks that are assembling for the purpose of getting the gospel to that city. Corinthians. I mean, he wrote to local churches. And the Bible's written to local. You and I here, we've all been called out. Your calling's different than my calling. But I heard it from the same place you heard it yours from. And we somehow, by the grace of God, have assembled for that purpose today. You see it? The ecclesia. It's not a worldwide. I was thinking about it this week. One of these days, the trump of God will sound. The archangel will shout. The dead in Christ will rise first. And we who are alive, will meet them in the air, will be raised up with them to meet Him in the air, and so shall be able to be with the Lord. When we circle up around the throne in heaven, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. And you speak in one language, I'm speaking in another language, and I don't understand you. Hey, then we're the invisible church that is now visible around the throne of God. You see it? The body of Christ. Until that day, there's a local church over here and a local church over there and a local church over there, but every one of them are an ecclesia. That word doesn't say they have to be so big to be an ecclesia. It just says a called-out assembly. You look at those churches. You look at some of those churches. Paul, it wasn't anything for Paul to meet with three or four people. Hey, you read that book of Philemon sometime, that little one-page book. There's a slave called Onesimus that's been meeting with Paul over there in the prison at Maritime, that Mamertine prison at Rome. And now Paul's sending him back to his owner, but he said, I'm not sending you back a slave. You read it. He said, I'm not sending you back a slave. I'm sending back Onesimus, who is now a saved, born again brother of yours. I heard OSM Lockhart, somebody said something about it last night. S.M. Lockridge preached on the Lord's Prayer. The first time I heard it, he's black. And I was around some rednecks that were talking about, get that black preacher going. Well, old S.M. Lockridge is a choo-choo train preacher. He started slow. He got up there, he said, Our father. Then he backed off. He come back, he said, now he surely is my father. Well, whether you like it or not, that makes us brothers. He got the point across, don't you see? And that's the way it is. It's not your color or your creed. It's your trust and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that puts us together. We're family. That's the church. Don't get it wrong. Read it off the page of the book. He started it in Matthew 13. First time, he said church. All of these folks in the upper room over there in Jerusalem, 120 people, had the message before the day of Pentecost. Who were they? Who was that 120? They were a called out ecclesia. They were a people called out for a purpose. Jesus had instructed them to wait. Read that verse. Wait in Jerusalem till you be endued with power from on high. Then you'll be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and Judea, and Samaria, and the other most part of earth. had a missionary come by one day and he said, Brother Wayne, you go to Oklahoma to preach a lot, don't you? I said, yes, I do. He said, why do you go up there? I said, well, somebody's got to go up to them Samaritans. He went up there and told those guys. I'm an Okie too, so I could get by with it. So that's one mistake that needs to be corrected. The church did not start on the day of Pentecost. By the book, the church started in Matthew 13, midways of Jesus' ministry on this earth. God and the Godhead had already established the church in heaven. He came for the church. Christ loved, look at, you can go over there to Ephesians chapter five. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Nobody has to be left out in that verse. Anybody who will trust him as their savior and believe on him as the only Lord in Christ is a part of that church, isn't it? And I know there's more to it than that. I ain't near God. Let's go one more step. I started this a while ago. That crowd that says Peter was the first pope, and that the whole Catholic Church, the worldwide church, they don't believe in a local church, it's a worldwide church, that the worldwide church was started when Peter went to Rome. Let me say this. I've investigated my Bible quite a bit on this subject. I don't find any Bible example of Peter ever going to Rome, certainly of no church being started by Peter in Rome. Paul went to Rome, but if you read the book of Romans, he'll list everybody he's writing to, who he expects to see in Rome. Somebody had started a church because he knew some people. And he's going with expectation of being able to preach. He says, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you at Rome also. But there's no mention of Peter in any of it. So think about it. Whether he was or not, we can't say if he was or not. Understand that. but here's what they base it here. He said, in verse 19, he's talking to this group of his disciples. And he said, I'll give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. I was not going to use this verse because it had taken me another day and a half to preach that. But he's not addressing Peter when he says that. He's addressing the whole disciple band. And he's not saying that any disciple can touch you or blow on you or whatever they do and give you any power with God. What he's saying is when you have witnessed, when the Holy Spirit has filled you, when you've been used by God, then that is the, you either accept it or you reject it, and if you reject it, you're not going. If you accept it, heaven is gonna be your home. That's the key. I've got, I was, I lived in Alvin for 40 years, and one of those, hurricanes came over Alvin. I was pastor of a church. The eye came over Alvin. The wind blew one way half a day and then the wind blew the other way half a day. And it was pretty exciting around there, I'll give you that. But a month later I was in I went to a preacher's meeting up in Porter, Texas, up there in East Texas, up on the other side of Houston. A guy from up in Nacogdoches, well, I said, where's the preachers at? Somebody said, well, they're back there in the kitchen. They're still drinking coffee. That's what we do, isn't it? And I went back and I saw the preachers back there at a table and I was just getting there and I walked in and here come one of those preachers, name was, I don't remember his name right now. But he was the preacher from Nacogdoches and he was fiddling with his key ring as he came. He got his keys out and he was doing something. And when we got close enough, he had taken his key to his house off his key ring, and he handed it to me. He said, Brother Wayne, this is the key to my house. And I'm giving it to you right now. And he said, next time one of those storms comes through Alvin, don't you stay down there. You get in your car and come to my house up there in East Texas. Whether I'm there or whether I'm not, you've got my key, you can come in my house." You know what he did? He gave me the authority to come. When I had that key, I had authority to go into his house, look at his house, see what he had in his house, handle things. I had all authority. what Jesus is saying is, when we have preached the gospel in the church, when we have been witnesses of Jesus Christ in the church, when we have the Holy Spirit working in us in the church, then if they will accept the key, hey, I could have said, no, I won't take your key. Well, I wasn't going to do that. I might need that key. You better not refuse the key. You're here in the church. The word of God is being preached. This church is witnessing and praying. Hey, even that little old homeless girl, she caught me off guard when I walked in the door this morning. She's over there filling out a prayer request. She said, what kind of prayer request have you got? Well, honestly, I was thinking about a cup of coffee. And I wasn't spiritual. She caught me off guard. She caught me flat-footed. I couldn't say, well, I'm praying for this, that, or the other, because I wasn't praying. I was thinking about God. You know what I mean? But there's been some spiritual work that's gone on for every individual in this place. And some of you got the key to heaven right here. I was preaching last week and it was just so simple. I stepped off the pulpit and here she came and she was saved before I could even get the questions out. You know what she did? She got the key. That's what the church does. It's not the pope. It's not the preacher. It's the church. He said, you church, you 12 guys that I've gathered up, you beginning of the church, You can give them the key. And it's not my hands. I don't have holy hands. My hands have no, you know. Somebody said, would you anoint me? I would, and I would do it sincerely. I'd try to obey the Bible, but when we get through with it, I had no power. It was his power. He's got the keys, and he allows us to hand out the keys. That's what it amounts to. So I've got to go just a little further. He says. in 18, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I'll build my church. Now, let's move back to this Roman idea that Peter started the church. The word here for Peter is Petras. Petros meant a little throwing stone. Y'all ever skip stones on a stock pond? What kind of stone do you look for? Big old heavy stone? No. A little flat. As little bit of rock in it as you could get. Or you could skip it two or three or four times. We used to play that game when I was a boy. We'd get out there and try to out-skip each other with, you better get the right rock if you're gonna skip it. And it has to be a little piece, really, it's a little piece of the rock. When I was in Alvin, I used the church, when I started that church, they sent us the, the, I can't remember the name of that magazine. It was a magazine of the Jews. I can't call the name of it right now, but we got the magazine every so often, and it was Christian Jews who were trying to reach Jews. And it was during that period of time, you know, the wailing wall at the temple, is there because they were not sure where the Holy of Holies was. That temple was destroyed in AD 70. And nobody knew exactly where the holy place, the most holy place, that Holy of Holies, where only the high priest could go. Nobody knew exactly where that was. So they set that wall up. Well, you've seen them praying at the Wailing Wall in films, I'm sure. They put their notes in the wall and they pray there. They gather there every day and pray. Nobody knew how far it was before they'd be stepping on the ground they wasn't supposed to step on under the law. For you and I as a Christian, It would have been no problem. We could have walked in there. We wouldn't been desecrating any. There's nothing in the New Testament that says we couldn't go there. We can pray. My dad used to say you can pray in a jet airplane flying upside down. You can pray in any position. You can pray in any place. You can pray at any time. You can pray for any need. There's no limit to prayer for you and me. They could only go so far, and I described that to you already. The Chosen People magazine that I used to get, that was the name of it, in 19, around 1980, those archaeologists digging under the temple, And on the temple ground there on the mount of that big granite mount, Moriah, they dug in underneath and found the foundation stones. And they could lay out exactly where the holy of holy was and where the holy place, where all of it was. Nobody had to wonder about it anymore. Everybody knew exactly. See, how come? How could we know? Well, those foundation stones, scientists and those archaeologists, nobody knows how in the world they got those stones. Those stones could not be cut on that mountain. You read your Bible. No tool could be used on that mountain. There was no noise when they were building. But somehow or another, those stones that weighed 24 tons were moved up into place. And Mount Moriah is a solid rock. It's not sand and rock. It's solid rock. And they set those stones just where God wanted them. Think about a 24-ton dome. And it was set in place, and it was set in place, and it was set in place 800 years or so before Christ. And it hasn't moved since. He said, you're the throwing stone. And I am the unmovable stone. I've got a bunch of scriptures we could run on that stone. I just urge you to get your Bible and read up on the stone. I can't go to all of it. He said, on this rock, on this rock that has been sent from heaven, on this rock that has been eternally prepared, on this rock that will never move or change, I'll build my church. And get this idea out of your head. Somebody said, well, during the dark ages, the church failed. No, sir. It didn't fail. It's never failed. It didn't fail during the days of the persecution. It didn't fail when there was just a handful. Hey, didn't you all have Ted Alexander here? He preached about those people that got out under the trees or down in the caves, and there's where they worshiped God, even in the darkest day, even in the, hey, I've got a testimony that, I can't remember the fella's name right now, but I've got a testimony in my library of the old man who they were gonna burn at the stake. And some of the young preachers around him, he had been influencing them about the goodness of God and the protection of God. They said, when you get out there tomorrow when they light that fire, if you can know that God's doing anything, would you just let us know somehow? And so the next day, they lit the fire, and he was at the stake, and those young preachers were watching, and he just slumped over. But after a while, out of the fire, he raised his hands three times. They burned him up. But the signal was, God's still working right here in the middle of the fire. I don't know what kind of persecution you're going to come into or what kind of trouble you're going to have. You know, sometimes we pray for people not to be persecuted or not to be tried, but sometimes God allows us to come to a place to have trouble so we'll turn aside from what we're doing and look to Him. And some of you have been through some trouble, and I imagine you could say what I'm fixing to say. I had a heart attack when I was 41 years old. They took me off a mountain in Colorado with a helicopter and put me in a little old country hospital out there in Montrose, Colorado. And I had two weeks of the most powerful time I've ever known in my life. I mean, people got saved and things happened. Everywhere I turned, it was like that. My nurse was the district attorney's wife. My wife gave me my Bible. She got there two or three days later and gave me my Bible. I was reading my Bible. She said, what are you reading? She said, my grandpa used to read a Bible. Said, I'd like to know all about it. I got to lead that lady to the Lord. I was on my deathbed, they thought. And I thought. But God used it greatly in my life. I could give you three or four more. But that may be your condition. Don't cuss God when you get in trouble. Turn your face toward him and ask him to help you to be used for his glory. That's what he saved you for, right? I can't say anymore. We're already way past time to be quitting, but I can't get you down to our business. Our building's still standing. He started it when he was here. And it's been up and down and back and forth. But you know what Jesus preached that Sermon on the Mount and he ended it with this. There's one guy that went out there and built his house on the sand. When the storms came, and the wind blew and the rain came. That house fell apart. There was another fellow who came and built his house on a rock. And when the storms came, the troubles came, the rains came, the wind blew, that house stood firm. The greatest single thing that's ever happened to me in my life is the church. I just got on it a little bit this morning. Hey, you're blessed tonight to be here in this church. You're blessed to be taking part in the church. You're blessed to be used in the church. You're blessed to have the opportunity to link up arms with the saints of God and just gather together as a witness and a light for the Lord Jesus Christ in a godless generation. You're blessed to be part of his church. I'm blessed to be part. Thank God for the church. If you're not there, this invitation is the time to get there. The door is open. You can be right here. I guess y'all would take another, wouldn't you, brother? Y'all would take another member? Two? Of course they would. And you'd be blessed if you're not a member, just get in here. Go to work. Tell us about Jesus. Give us your version. Give us your story. And we'll share together. Let's stand. I'm going to pray, and then we'll have the invitation. Father, I thank you for the church.