tonight in the book of first Corinthians seems like forever since we did the introductory message several Wednesday nights ago and it's good to be back preaching on a Wednesday night and back in the book of first Corinthians find your place there first Corinthians chapter one and verse number one We're going to, on Wednesday night, since it's Bible study night, we can just sort of go and then we'll slice it off like loaf bread. How about that? We finish, we finish. If we don't, we'll just say, okay, we'll pick up next week and start right there. How about that? Look if you would, verse number 1, Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus. called to be saints. With all that in every place, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord, name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. When you come to the book of I Corinthians, you find a church in crisis. Corinth is a sick church spiritually. It's the condition that many church consultants and people that survey churches across America, it's a condition that is prevalent in our own land. They estimate that 80% of churches in America are sick and die. that about 10% would be what would be considered a healthy church, 40% would have symptoms of sickness and they're on the downward decline, 40% are very sick, and 10% are dying. So that means of all the churches in America that the majority of them are struggling. You see, the church at Corinth was no longer living out the riches that were theirs in Christ. They had returned to the rags of their former life. They had sunk into the mire of carnal living. They had forgotten who they were in Jesus Christ. Look at verse number 9. They had forgotten this verse, God is faithful, by whom you were called under the fellowship of His Son, Christ Jesus our Lord. And they were no longer faithful to God. They were no longer living out their lives for Jesus Christ. They were completely out of kilter as a church and they needed to be recalibrated by Christ. They needed to be set right again. They needed the compass of their church pointing north, so to speak, to get them on the right trajectory. And so in these opening verses, Paul begins to remind them of some important truths. First of all, he's going to remind them of their powerful transformation. You know what? Whenever we get away from Calvary, we begin to decline spiritually. Whenever we lose sight of what God's done in our lives, we decline spiritually. I don't believe that we need to be shackled to our past, but neither should we forget where we were and where God's brought us to. Well, never lose sight of that. And the opening verses form a greeting for this letter. Remember, ancient letters are different from how we write letters today. And of course, not many letters are written. Most of the time it's email and text and Instagram posts. And so the art of letter writing is lost pretty much. in our culture, but in modern days, letters tell you who it's addressed to first, and so it'll say, Dear so-and-so, and then you read all the way to the end. I wrote a couple emails today, and then at the very end, I put, For such a time as this, Pastor, and left a verse, and at the very end, of course, they knew the email was from me, but in a letter, at the very end, we put who it's from. But in ancient letters it's just the opposite. You see, as a matter of fact, they tell you who it's from first. This is from Paul. Doesn't that make sense? And then they tell you who it's addressed to. Look what he says. Paul. He's saying, listen, this is who the letter is from. The human penman. He's on his second missionary journey. He arrived in Corinth around 50 AD. He's going to spend 18 months in this city preaching and teaching the gospel, the Word of God. A church is going to be founded in this city. And he calls them that he's called to be an apostle. He wasn't boasting a position. He's establishing authority. Here's what happened. In Corinth, they began to lose sight of the authority of the apostles in their lives. You remember what it said in the early church in Acts chapter 2? They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. Paul occupied a place that was unique in the Lord's church. He was what was considered an apostle. He had been personally called by the visible Christ. He had seen Jesus. He had been called into apostolic ministry. He carried an authority that was far different than anything we would understand today. And they were questioning that and they were compromising that and he's reminding them that he is a special envoy from God. And you know what? Listen, they needed to listen to what Paul had to say in their day and we need to listen to what Paul had to say in our day. Wouldn't we agree? And so he's reminding them of who he is, that he's the Lord's apostle. He had a message from him and they needed it and you and I needed it. Look over at chapter 4 verse 15. He had another relationship to the Corinthian church that he's going to tell you about when you get over into chapter 4 and verse number 15. Would you look over there with me? Notice he says in chapter 4, for though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, these are preachers and teachers, and of course here's hyperbole ten thousand. It's hyperbole. He said, yet have you not many fathers? He said, For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. That it was through his ministry that the gospel had come and he had begotten them in the Lord Jesus. He was the founder, so to speak, of the church there in Corinth. And then he's going to talk about a friend. A co-worker, a partner. Look back. He talks about his relationship to them as an apostle, as a spiritual father, and whose faith they should follow. And then he goes on to say, an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes, our brother. Now who in the world is Sosthenes? Well Sosthenes, you read about him in the book of Acts, and he calls him our brother. He's well known to the Corinthian church. You and I wouldn't know him real close, but they would. He was one of them. He was a ruler in a synagogue. He was an unconverted Jew. At that time he was an unconverted Jew who comes to Christ. And then he joins Paul's evangelistic team and many believe he's Paul's secretary who is writing the words as Paul dictates them from the Holy Ghost and he's writing them down. He's his secretary and Paul signs his letters, so to speak. And so we find that Sosthenes is a very important individual there in the church at Corinth. And notice who he's writing to. Verse number 2, "...under the church of God which is at Corinth." That was where they were located geographically. The Church of God, which is at Corinth. Calvary Baptist Church, which is at King, North Carolina. Geographical location. Do you realize that when you study the Bible, the emphasis is not on some kind of invisible universal church, but a very visible local church in a geographical location that's carrying out the will of Jesus Christ in the world. You know what? The Bible says that in Revelation Jesus said, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the church is. Plural. Not the church. The so-called universal church doesn't meet. A church is a called-out assembly. It's a group of people that's been called out. Can I tell you, that church, the entire body of Christ, the entire bride of Christ, will not be gathered under the rapture. It's at the rapture that the entire body of Christ will be visibly located in one place. But until then, it is churches. And that's important. See, a lot of people give the idea, well, if we'll just all gather up and gather together, we'll get more done for the work of God. That's not how God designed it. Because here's what happens when you yoke up into large groups. It begins to water down doctrinally. Because what I have to do is I have to compromise what I believe to accommodate you. And so the Lord, to maintain purity within His church and orthodoxy, that means a strong stand fundamentally on the Bible. He brought churches together individually. And He is the head of each individual local church like the church at Corinth, like Calvary Baptist Church. He intended us to be autonomous. That means single, solitary church. Now we do work together. We can work together. We should in areas of agreement work together. But we're individual churches. I pastor Calvary Baptist Church. I don't pastor any other church. Somebody asked me, what's your opinion in such and such church? I don't have one. I don't pastor that church. I'm concerned about this church. This is where God's placed me. This is where God's placed you. They were located in a crowded, cultic, corrupted city. But the gospel came to their city. Paul preached. They believed. And a local church came into existence. It was created. It was birthed by God. Just like we are birthing the Lone Star Baptist Church in Hutto, Texas on April the 27th. That church is in its embryonic stages at this point. It's in those infancy. It's going to be birthed. and become its own ministry on April the 27th, geographically. But then notice where they were spiritually. Look at verse 2. To them which are the church of God, it belongs to Him, and He's reminding them of who they belong to, which is at Corinth. Does that remind you the church doesn't belong to us, it belongs to Him? Now could I tell you, I understand when I look at this wonderful campus. We call Calvary Baptist Church, but can we keep it in our minds these are just buildings? That's all they are. The church is not wood and plaster and mortar and brick and paint. It's not that. It's people that have been made alive in Jesus Christ. The church is you. We have to understand that. Buildings come and buildings go, but God's people remain. And then he goes on to say that are sanctified... What's these next words? In Christ Jesus. You see, it's one thing to be in Corinth. It's something else to be in Christ. To be in Christ. That's the spiritual location. The phrases in Christ or in Christ Jesus are found about 164 times in Paul's writings. If God mentions something one time in church, is it important? If He mentions it 164 times, don't you think we ought to take notice to it? I would agree. Do you know every person on planet earth is in one of two places spiritually? They're either in Adam or in Christ. That's the only two places you can be spiritually. Let me show you that. Could I do that? Turn all the way to chapter 15. Almost to the very end of the letter. And you can come to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. You're going to find verse number 33. And that's not the right verse. My computer made a terrible error. Thank you. It's just a matter of one, you know, two or three. And evidently, you know, the computer only does what you put in it. So it really wasn't computer error, it was operator error. There just comes a time you have to own it. You just have to own it. But I do like passing the buck every chance I get. That's just the human way. Look at verse 22. Could we do that? You should be there right now. For as in Adam... In Adam... Did you underline those two words? In Adam all die. They're going to die spiritually. And Adam all die, even so in Christ. There's the two spiritual locations of every person. Listen, everybody you will meet tomorrow is in one of those two locations. In Adam or in Christ. You ought to underline them in your Bible. It determines their spiritual condition. And Christ shall all be made alive in Adam. You say, preacher, what do I have to do to be in Adam? Well, you're just nothing. You're just born physically. We're born physically in Adam. That's our natural condition. We are sinners. We're under a sentence of condemnation. We're lost in Adam and we need to be saved. And when we realize that condition and we receive Jesus Christ as Savior, a powerful transformation takes place. We are taken out of Adam, now watch this church, and we are placed in Christ. No longer are we in a state of death. No longer are we in a state of condemnation. We are now in a state of life. Yes, we may die physically, but we will live eternally. Listen, Diane on Sunday afternoon just changed addresses. That's all she did. I'm not negating the heartbreak of death. Death's a horrible thing. The Bible calls it an enemy. But aren't you glad that Jesus has defeated the enemy? But for the child of God, listen, we're alive. Isn't that wonderful? We experience a new birth. 2 Corinthians 5.17, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. We become new. We have a new life. We have a new environment in which we live. No longer are we in Adam. We have a spiritual relocation in Christ that is unique to biblical Christianity. No other religion on earth claims for their followers to be in their God. But there is a oneness. Listen to me, Christian. There is a oneness. with our God. You and I are in Christ. We are in God the Father. We are in the Holy Spirit. They are in us through the Spirit of God. There is a living union with the God of glory. God inhabits you. Don't ever lose sight of that. But not only do they have a powerful transformation, number two, there's a proper designation. I want you to underline this phrase in your Bible if you haven't already seen it. I know we're retreading some verses, but we have to keep them in our minds or the rest of the letter doesn't make sense. Called to be saints. Did you see that? They're sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. Do you know saints and sanctified come from the same root word? If you've been sanctified, you're a saint. They have been sanctified by God. That word sanctify is a word of possession, a word of ownership. They've been set apart. Now when you're set apart, you're set apart from something to something. See, a lot of times we want to think about just that we're separated to something. Now I remind you, we're separated from the world. That's going to be important in a moment, alright? When we get to it, we're separated from the world unto God. In the Old Testament, the priests, the tabernacle, the furnishings, the utensils, the sacrament. I'm reading through Leviticus in my own personal devotion, and it's easy to get bogged down, especially you get into the plague of the leprosy and all of this different stuff, you know, and you're saying, OK, Lord, I know this has something to say to me, and all of that, and you're working your way through all of that, and what you can't eat. Thank God for shrimp. I started reading the fish they could eat. No catfish, no shrimp, no scallops, no crabs. Thank God for grace. Amen? No pork chops. Could you imagine that? I couldn't even imagine life without pork chops. Alright? And I was reading through all of that. But what he was doing is he was making them peculiar. He was setting them apart unto himself. And so we understand that they were holy unto the Lord. They were dedicated, devoted, consecrated. And can I tell you, when God saved you, listen to me Christian, He sanctified you. He set you apart. You belong to Him as His personal possession and for His personal use. That is why you exist. Somebody says, I'm trying to figure out my purpose. If you're saved, your purpose is whatever God wants for your life. and whatever God wants for my life. And it's just living our lives for Him. Sometimes we're all the time trying to search it out, when what we ought to do is just live it out on a daily basis and let God lead. And you know what? You're going to do what God puts you on planet earth to do. We want to make this thing of doing the will of God hard. And it's not. I just need to faithfully... Listen, He leads, I follow. It's that simple. God lays something on my heart, I do it. If it's in the Bible, right? And so Christian, listen. God didn't more than just forgive your sins, justify and declare you righteous. He sanctified you and set you apart from the world, from sin, from self, from Satan unto the Lord for His special purpose. We are holy unto the Lord. Notice he says, called to be saints. That's our proper designation. Now let me remind you, a saint is not a dead person who's been elevated and given a special title such as Saint Patrick or Saint George. Joe or Saint this one or Jerome or whatever. I'm not familiar with all the saints of the Roman Catholic Church. And let me just help you understand. Neither are they, you know, and they get elevated there. I think now Mother Teresa's made sainthood or whatever. Friend, listen, I was a saint long before she was. I mean, if that's what you have to do to be a saint, you're in trouble there. I thank God. Seventeen years old, I was made a saint. I am Saint Kevin, honey. You just remember that. I don't want her to stand up and say, yeah, but you're not saintly all the time. Can I tell you something else too? It's not somebody with an SC painted on their chest for super Christian. It's not. It's a designation that's given to every child of God. This is the most carnal church in the New Testament. They've got more problems than you can shake a stick at. They've got issues. They're sick spiritually. They're unhealthy. And He's reminding them that you've been called to be a saint. Why does He do that? Because God's setting the bar high. See, if God called you and me sinners and we listened to Him, you know what? We're going to live up to our name. Well, you know, I'm just an old sinner. I sin because that's what sinners do. God said you're called to be a saint. We ought to live up to our name. That's our designation. We've been cleansed and made holy, our position in standing before God, regardless of our practice on earth. The worst Christian, the most carnal Christian is still a saint. Isn't that amazing? If you're saved, you are a saint. I love J. Vernon McGee. He said, the only two kinds of people on planet earth are saints and ain'ts. And you're one or the other. That's what he said. And Christian, I get this. We call ourselves sinners saved by grace. And I get that. And I understand that. And it reminds us of where we were, where God brought us from. But God, the moment you got saved, God never referred to you as a sinner again. You are a son, a daughter, a sheep, a servant, a soldier, a saint. You've been forgiven and set apart by God, and we ought to live who we are in Christ. That's our position. We're saints. Nanny talks about our practice. Notice, called to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours. So sainthood is not something you get when you get to heaven. It's something that we are and we're to live out on earth. You see the word, the root definition of the word sanctified or saint is also the same root word of the word holy. They go together. You could write it this way, called to be holy. You see, one is what I am before God. The other is how to live before men. We've been called, church, to be holy. We don't hear a lot about that anymore, about holiness and holy lives. But I'm reminded that the Bible says, But as He which hath called you is holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy. It's not an option. And a holy God demands and deserves His people to be a holy people. Our practice ought to match our position. I believe one of the reasons why many times we live less than Christian lives is we're not in the Bible. The Bible has a cleansing effect. It sets the bar. It teaches us who and what we ought to be. Everything in our lives needs to be passed through the filter of God's Word. And you see, the problem in Corinth, the reason they were sick is they were anything but holy. They were saints in a sinful city. That's what they were. But instead of making an impact on Corinth, Corinth was making an impact on them. All the ugly attitudes and actions and activities that were going on every day and night in the city of Corinth were infiltrating that church. And instead of them changing their city, the city was changing the church. And Paul's going to deal with all that in these next verses. They'd forgotten who they were in Christ. And listen to me, Christian. If you and I forget who we are in Christ, we'll decline. We'll become sick spiritually. It'll affect us. We'll become unhealthy. We'll become anemic. Listen, we'll need to be recalibrated. The best thing to do is to let God keep our compass pointed in the right direction. Wouldn't we say amen to that? Let me give you the third thing that recalibrates us. Number one, recognizing we've had a powerful transformation. Secondly, recognizing our proper designation. We've been transformed. I'm no longer in Adam. I'm in Christ. I belong to Him. I've been changed. It's my favorite choir song. I've been changed. You like that? I like that. It's one of my favorite choir songs. Now, you say, what's your favorite book of the Bible? It's the one I'm preaching in right then. What's our favorite choir song? It's the one that served up that Sunday most of the time. But I enjoy that particular song because I'm thankful I've been changed. And they had been changed, a powerful transformation. Then they had a proper designation. They're called to be saints. Don't lose sight of the fact that God has called you to be saints. That is your position before God, and we ought to live saintly before the world, not perfect. but holy. And I would ask myself a question. Does this make me holy? What I see, what I do, where I go, how I live, what I say. Even can we say as much as what we wear? As Christians. Isn't that true? Sure it is. Because if we lose sight of that fact, then we begin to look like the world. And when we begin to look like the world, we've lost who we are in Christ. What did God do? He clothed our first parents. Isn't that right? There's modesty there. Isn't that what the Bible says? For both men and women there's to be modesty in our lives? Absolutely. We don't need to lose sight of those things. Does that mean I have to wear a suit and tie every time I come to church? Well, I do. That doesn't mean that a person has to do that to worship. It doesn't mean that. But don't you think we ought to be, when we come before the Lord, there ought not to be anything distracting. Wouldn't we agree with that? And everything ought to be on Jesus and honor the Lord in holiness. Number three, their personal obligation. Look at verse number three. and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. He's sitting before them more than just a hello. I know you find that greeting in every letter, but it's more than just a hello. It's more than just a Christian greeting. They had received grace. It's what they'd experienced from the Lord. Twin virtues that were needed as they responded to one another. Paul is reminding them, you have received grace and peace and now you need to show grace and peace. This church was a battleground. It was filled with divisiveness, schism. They were all divided up. There was no unity in this church. They were belittling one another. The rich were casting off on the poor. They were just causing all kinds of rifts within this church. And you know what they needed? They needed grace. And they needed peace. And I believe that churches that become unhealthy lack grace and they lack peace. Listen, when we fail to relate to one another in grace and peace, Calvary Baptist Church will become unhealthy. There ought to be a latitude of grace. Now listen, unity is not uniformity. That doesn't mean that everybody's going to agree with everything all the time. I don't even agree with myself all the time. Okay? I mean, that's reality. All right? And so listen, I don't expect that everybody's going to see perfectly eye to eye on every little detail the way I see it. And so you know what I need to do? I need to relate with grace. I learned that. I hate to even talk about the pandemic. Don't you hate to talk about it? I don't know what I'm trying to say. If that's our mark of life, if everything dates back to that, we're in trouble. But boy, I learned something there. I mean mask, no mask. Vax, no vax. People's all over the spectrum on it. And you know what? One of the things I believe that helped us come out of the pandemic a strong church is that you related to one another in grace and peace. If you wanted to get the shot, you got it. You didn't want to, that was your business. Nobody beat anybody else up over it whether you wore a mask, didn't wear a mask, whatever. Now if you wear one, you know what news site they watch. You just walk along, they watch CNN, MSNBC. I remember I was wearing chemo, I had a mask on, and the lady asked me, she said, are you going to give me something? I said, no, I'm trying to keep you from giving me something so I can get my next chemo treatment. That's what I'm trying to do. Grace, just realizing everybody doesn't see eye to eye on everything, but we ought to see eye to eye on the right things. And we ought not let little things divide us. I tell our staff when I hire them, I tell them this. I expect you to be loyal to the pastor, but your undying loyalty belongs to Jesus Christ. If you are ever aware that I am doctrinally incorrect, morally compromised, or ethically compromised in this church, you are bound by God to make it known. Bound by God. Because our ultimate loyalty belongs to Jesus. Isn't that right? Yes. And we ought to follow the Lord as a church. Wouldn't we agree with that? And we ought to stand strong on the Word of God. Wouldn't you agree with that? But if you say the ten toes of Daniel are these ten nations, and I think there are different ten nations, I'm not going to fight with you over that. Because we're not told what those nations are. I just know there's a European, some kind of ten-nation confederation of regions that'll be there. But I'm not going to argue with you on the toenails of Daniel's beast. I'm not going to argue with you over that. And we all just show some latitude and grace in some areas. And so there's conflict, there's quarreling. We're going to see that. There's division. Look at chapter 3 verse 3 because I need to land the plane. Notice he says, verse 3, For ye are yet carnal. Do you know what a sign of carnality is? A contentious spirit over things that don't really matter. For ye are yet carnal, forwares there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions. Are ye not carnal, and walk as men? And can I tell you there are churches riddled with division. And they're unhealthy. And that's why they can't go forward for Jesus Christ. These disputes were so intense, they're going to take each other to court and sue each other before the unsaved judges, bringing them to make decisions in spiritual matters. Does that mean I can't ever take another believer to court? It does not mean that. But it does mean that I should never take spiritual matters before an unsaved world. Because they can't judge in spiritual matters. And they needed grace. To love like God loves and to forgive as God forgives. And that's why there's an entire chapter about how to love in I Corinthians 13. And then they needed peace. Grace and peace. You know, once you receive grace, you get peace. Isn't that right? And I'm going to go down through this list. I'm going to fill in your blanks for you, okay? Peace is a gift. That's the peace with God. That's what we get when we get saved. We have peace with God. Romans 5.1, Ephesians 2.14, He is our peace. We learned that peace is a grace. It is a grace, part of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Love, joy, peace. Right? And we're going to see that in a moment a little more in reality. God gives us peace for the tough times of life, the difficult journey of life. And so peace is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of Jesus. You know that. But then peace is a goal. Peace with one another. I want you to look at one more verse and I'm going to land the plane. Look at I Corinthians 14, 5 verse 33. Let me tell you what God is never the author of in a local church. We're going to study the gift of tongues, what it is biblically, how Paul dealt with the abuse of it in the Corinthian church, But notice what he says, verse 33, for God is not the author of what, church? Confusion. God's not the author of divisiveness, schism, disruption. He's not. Are there times to leave a church? Absolutely. If that church goes away from the Word of God, if that church is morally compromised, doctrinally compromised, yes. If it won't change in the moral compass, yes. Doctrinal, yes. Yes, there are times that there are healthy division that needs to take place and separation. Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord. But division within the local church in a normal way, what we would understand, a local church that teaches right, believes right, stands right, not perfect. Every church has problems. Even good churches have problems. You know how I know? Because it's populated by sinners like you and me. Now we're saints, understand, but we're imperfect saints, right? At this point, one day we're going to be perfect saints. Our practice will match our position. We get to heaven. But until then, we all have flaws, don't we? I'm going to make mistakes, you're going to make mistakes. There's times we're not what we ought to be. Not giving excuses, just reality. And you know what? It's during those times that God said, I'm not the author of confusion and these little breakups and divisions and camps in churches, but of peace. as in all churches of the saints. Did you see that? God's not the author or the source of confusion and chaos that stemmed in the Corinthian carnality. Every Christian is responsible to bring unity to the Lord's church. I've said this before and I'm going to say it again. There's two kinds of Christians in every home, every church, every job, place. Those who take peace and those who make peace. and we're one or the other all the time. I'm either taking it or I'm pursuing it. The Bible said, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. I'm convinced of this, church. I'm convinced. When a church begins to decline spiritually, they begin to look in. When you begin to look in, you see all the flaws, all the problems, all the issues with other people, and then there becomes interpersonal conflict. There become camps. I want it this way. I want it that way. I want it the other way. You know, I don't like that color. I like this color. I don't like that. I like this or whatever. What it is is we're all absorbed in... the church gets in focus and we've lost our out focus that really all of these things don't matter. What really matters is reaching a lost world and accomplishing the cause of Christ. And that's where our focus has got to be. Not here, but there. And when a church comes in, When a church comes in and it starts focusing on the inward, and you start seeing that inward focus rather than outward focus, it begins to decline spiritually. And that doesn't mean that things don't need to be fixed, and house cleaning doesn't need to take place, and it doesn't mean that there are not situations that need to be rectified within a local church. I told you this, even good churches have problems. But our focus can't be always on the problems. Our focus needs to be on what God's called us to do. Amen? And that leads to a healthy church. We need to be recalibrated by Christ. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Lord, thank you for a powerful transformation in our lives. Lord, a designation of saints that we're called to be saints. Lord, help us never lose sight of who we are in Jesus. And Lord, the personal obligation that we have to relate with our fellow Christian in grace and peace. Help us to be your kind of Christian, Lord. To be your kind of servant. or to be your kind of church member. Lord, because I'm a member of Calvary Baptist Church just like any other person is. I have one vote just like they have a vote. I may have a little more influence as the pastor, but yet Lord, we're all, when it comes to that matter, we're members of this body. And Lord, I pray that we would have the same mind, same heart such a time as this to reach our world with the gospel and to accomplish Your will for this church. Give us wisdom, Lord, and help us, Father, to submit ourselves to You. In Jesus' name I pray.