in your spirit, which are God's. You know, the Bible says that our body, once we're saved, in 1 Corinthians, Paul's writing to believers, he's writing to the church at Corinth, and he's letting the church at Corinth know that their body is the temple of God. Now we say, well, I'm glad that you came to church tonight. I'm glad that you came to this place. But the building doesn't make up the church. It's the body of believers that make up the church. And we're gonna talk about the local church tonight and what is the purpose of our involvement in the local church. When somebody gets saved and they're newly saved and they've been learning some things and growing, we all need to understand what the Bible teaches about the local church and what the Bible says about our involvement in the local church. How God wants us to be involved in it, how we make up the church. See what it said in verse 19, what? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own. God established three major institutions on this earth. One is the family. God instituted the family. And we'll end up talking about the family eventually, teaching about that a little bit too. But the family, that's what God instituted there. He also instituted the civil government. He gave render unto Caesar, that which is Caesar's, those kind of things. We have the government, those that are in place above us. And then the local church. Those are three areas or three institutions that God instituted. It's, the church is God's focus. He told Peter, upon this rock, I will build my church. He talked about how much he loved the church and gave himself for it. God thinks the church is very important. And it is the local church that has been commissioned by God to carry out God's purposes in reaching the lost and perfecting the saved. That's the job of the church. It's not just to see people saved, but it's to grow them and to perfect those that are saved. Not to make them sinless. None of us can be sinless, but that perfection and perfecting the saints of God means to make them wiser or more mature in the things of God. That is discipleship. That's what we're supposed to do. That is the job of the local church. God's plan for the Christian will always be fulfilled best when it's connected with the local church. Everything ought to be done under the authority of a local church. Why? Because God instituted the church. It ought to be done that way. In this lesson that we're going to go through, that we're going to teach you on, the purpose of it is to put upon your heart the importance of your role in the church and what the church should do in everyday life out there. We're going to talk about some of those things and that's what it says. But understand this, it's not this building that God says when he tells the church to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, he's not talking about the brick and mortar that's going to go out and win people to Christ. He's talking about those who the Holy Spirit indwells that make up the Bride of Christ the body of Christ through being a believer. So first question we ask is what is the local church? What is the local church? Some people will ask that well, it's not a building The Bible says in John chapter 4 look there quickly John chapter number 4 verse Starting in verse 22, ye worship, ye know not what. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshiper shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. It's not talking about the church being a building. It's talking about worshiping God in our personal lives, that spirit and in truth, we're supposed to do that. And then in 1 Corinthians 6, 19, we said our bodies are the temple of God. It says what? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own. Listen, it is not a denominational group. There's gonna be Methodists that go to heaven. There's going to be Pentecostals that go to heaven. The fact of the matter is this, anybody who has trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior becomes a child of God and makes up the church that God wants them to have. Now, God has instituted a local church. We're not just a universal church that everybody in every denomination out there that we just agree to disagree and we all just love one another and all that kind of stuff. The fact of the matter is this, we need to stand on the truths of the Bible. Okay, we separate over those kind of things. Why? Because if you mess up doctrine, you mess up Bible, it gets people confused and we have to distance ourselves from that. But in the fact of the church, what makes up the church, it's not a building, it's the people. The people that make up the church. The local church is a body of men and women who have been saved and who God has called them to serve in a specific area. That's what makes up the local church. See, God has you in Salisbury, North Carolina, And that is where God has you to be right now. And you have chosen to be at Tabernacle Baptist Church. And if you're saved and baptized and you're a member of this church, guess what? You make up Tabernacle Baptist Church in this area. That's what God has for you. That is a local church. And you're supposed to support a local church. That's why I have a problem with people watching television say, I go to church on the TV. Because you could be watching one that's across the world somewhere and that's not your local church. God wants you to support the local church. And it's the body of men and women that God has in this specific area. It's the body of Christ. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter number 12. 1 Corinthians chapter number 12. Look at verse 26 and 27. He said, and whether one member suffer, all members suffer with it, or one member be honored, all members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular. See, Paul is telling the church at Corinth that ye are the body of Christ. Paul compares the church to the human body. If you look from verse 14 all the way down through verse 27, it says, For the body is not one member, but many. It starts there and then all the way down through verse 27, he said, Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular. All that is talking and likening the church. to a body. It's likening the church to a physical body, but the church is made up of believers that come together. Paul compares them with the human body. Each member has a different function. Look at verse 14 of 1 Corinthians 12. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, it is therefore not of the body. And if the ear shall say, because I am not of the eye, I am not of the body, it is therefore not of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set members, every one of them, in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, were they the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body." What he's talking about in this passage of scripture, he's saying is every person, though different in our entities, God has a different purpose in the church for every one of us. Not everybody can be the pastor. Not everybody can be the deacon. Not everybody can be a Sunday school teacher. But it takes the body to make it up collectively to make up the body of Christ. It compares each member has a different function. I praise God for the nursery workers. Praise the Lord for that. Those of you that have infants and babies, it makes it easier because we have nursery workers that are willing to watch those kids and we have junior church workers that help out on Sunday and Sunday school teachers and people that teach different Sunday schools all throughout and watch kids after service and all kinds of things that take place, guys that count the money, people that run the sound, all different people that make up different functions in the church. And that's what God says. He said, listen, we're not all the eye, because if we were all the eye, then where would be the smelling? Where would be the hearing? All of those things that were all important in our own area, in our different function. No member can function alone. Look at verse 21. It said, and the eye cannot say into the hand, I have no need of thee, nor gain the head to the feet, I have no need of you. So basically what it says is we all need the other part of the body. I praise the Lord for working hands and feet and all of those things. We take those things for granted often. I'm glad that we're not suffering with those kind of things right now, and praise the Lord for that. There may come a day where I'm not able to use my legs, but right now, man, they're important to me. And my hands are important, and my eyes are important, and my ears are important. Why? Because they all work together, but not one is more important than the other. And we all need to understand that though we have different functions and each member has a different function, no member can function just by itself. If all I had was a hand and my hand was supposed to do everything, I couldn't function properly. The fact is, if all I had was these fingers and no thumb, guess what? I would be not able to do certain things. We can't just function by ourself. One person can't do all of the work. You understand? It takes a bunch of people, collectively, together, to accomplish what God wants us to do. Each member's contribution to the church is just as important as the other. Look again at verse 22. Nay, much more, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. It said, those that seem to be more feeble, they're necessary. Understand, don't think that you're worthless in the church. Doesn't matter if you're older, you can still do something. Doesn't matter how young you are, you can still accomplish something. It said in verse 22, nay, much more, those members of the body would seem to be more feeble Be be more feeble are necessary and verse 23 and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable Upon these bestow more abundant honor and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness for our comely parts have no need but God hath tempered the body together and having given more abundant honor to the part which lacked." So what it's saying is that you may think that you're the least in the church, but understand this, you're just as important as the other person right on the other side of the pew. We all have a specific function. The nursery workers are no less important than the person that plays the piano, or the preacher, or somebody else. It's vital to have an active church that has different areas, different parts, different functions that work together as one body. That's what we're supposed to be doing. And the Bible talks about it. Each member has a different function. No member can function alone. Each member has a, their contribution is just as important as the other. And then a body that functions properly, it operates as one single unit. Look at verse 25, that there should be no schisms in the body. but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all members suffer with it. Or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular. So a properly functioning body operates as a single unit. See, my body moves together. If I move over here, guess what, Nick, my hand came with me. I can try to leave it over at the pulpit if I want to, but it can't do anything because we act as one body. Sometimes it feeds me when I don't want to be fed and I can't do anything about it, right? No, the fact of the matter is it works as one unit, one body. That's how the church is supposed to be. It's supposed to work at one unit. But on the other side of this, think about it this way, you being a member of the body of Christ, when you neglect to do what God intends for you to do, you're hurting the functionality of the body because it's not working together as one unit. When you decide to live in sin and do the things that you want to do, rather than go the way that God wants you to go, you hinder the body that works collectively. If I have a problem, an ailment in one limb on my body, it affects the entire portion of my body. Anybody ever had back pain before? You ever had back pain all over? When you get back pain, guess what? It messes with the whole body. I watched Doug when I first moved here. He was suffering with some things, and he was like, this for a while. You know why? His back affected his whole body. There's been times I've gotten up and it affects my whole body. I got in a car accident in 2010. Shortly thereafter I was helping my wife in the kitchen. I wish doctors could give you notes for this but they couldn't. I was helping my wife in the kitchen and I was, Ms. Joyce, I was putting dishes in the dishwasher. It's not a hard thing to do. I was putting them in the dishwasher and my back went. And I was stuck. I couldn't move. I was hoping the doctor would give me a note that I didn't have to do dishes, because it was dangerous to do those things anymore. But he wouldn't. The fact is, I was stuck. I had to go and crawl my way to the couch, because one part of my body messed up, and it affected the rest of it. Don't say that, oh, I can live life how I want to live it. It's just me. It doesn't bother everybody else. because it does. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 9.18, Wisdom is better than weapons of war but one sinner destroyeth much good. See the fact is because we all work together as one body when one person doesn't do their part it affects the rest of the body. It affects the functionality and how we move and how we work and how we do things. It affects it. Why? Because we're all part of it. But if you are working and you are dedicated and you are doing what you don't think you're any less vital or less important as somebody else, as a different member of the church. We all have our functions, but a properly functioning body operates as a single unit. Verse 27 said, now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular. If you go to 1 Corinthians, Paul's telling the church at Corinth, listen, you all need to work together because you're all just as important as the other. You know, we have guys that stand in the back, greet people when they come in and pass out bulletins and all kinds of things. That's just as important as somebody that's helping out in the nursery, different things like that. Why? Because we're all working together for a common cause. And that's to see people saved and that those to be growing in Christ and to see others that perfect the saved and see them grow in Christ. The function of the local church. Those are some of the things that we're supposed to do. What is the local church? Is it a building? No. This building can crumble and we can still have Tabernacle Baptist Church. Why? Because it's made up of the people that are here. What is the function of the local church? And the function of the local church though is twofold. The first question, what is the church? We know it's the body of believers, but what is the function of the local church? The local church is to fulfill the Great Commission. That's our job, to fulfill the Great Commission. Look at Matthew 28, Matthew chapter number 28. We'll give you a scripture for it so you don't think it's just preacher that's standing up on his little soapbox trying to tell you what to do. Matthew 28, verse 19 and 20. He said, actually let's jump up to verse 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen. You notice what he said before he said, Go ye therefore and teach all nations? Jesus said, All power is given unto me He said, I'm all powerful and I'm about ready to give my church a command. Go ye therefore and teach all nations. With all the authority of God, Jesus is saying, go ye therefore and teach all nations. It's our job to fulfill the Great Commission. Look at Mark chapter 16. Mark chapter number 16. Mark chapter 16 verse 15, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. Now listen, some people take that verse right there, verse 16. They say, see, you gotta be baptized to be saved. Isn't that what it says? He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. But look what it says at the end of it. But he that believeth not shall be damned. He didn't say he that believeth not and is not baptized. See, we've got to take the whole thing. What he's saying is to be part of the church, you've got to be saved and baptized. But if you're not believing, you're going to hell. You've got to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be part of His church. But then He tells us in verse 15, He said, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. It's our job to tell everybody that we know how to go to heaven. That's what God wants us to do. Fulfill the Great Commission. Fulfill the Great Commission. Look at Luke 24. Luke 24, 46 and 47, and he said unto them, thus it is written, and thus it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that the repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. He said we need to preach repentance and remission of sin. The Great Commission, we need to be telling people about it. It's our job, the local churches to fulfill the Great Commission. The local church should be a soul winning church. That's what he tells us to do. We ought to be a soul winning church, going in to reach the gospel, preaching the gospel to every creature. Look at Proverbs chapter 11. Proverbs chapter 11. Proverbs 11 and verse number 30, the Bible says, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that lets everybody else in the church win souls is wise. Is that what it says? No, it says the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that winneth souls is wise. We ought to be a soul winning church. That's what God commands us to do. And by the way, church, it's everybody's job in the church. This is not where he gives us different functional preacher. You just said we all have different functions. I'm just not a soul winner It's all of our job when he was telling the church to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature That wasn't segregating different people and saying well It's just the deacons and it's just the pastor and it's just those in authority in the church that are supposed to be the soul winners No, it's every person in the church. That's supposed to be doing it. I We're all supposed to be working together for that common cause, to see people saved. God tells us that. He that winneth souls is wise. So what's the opposite of wisdom? You guys tell me, what's the opposite of wisdom? Foolishness. So if he that winneth souls is wise, then we can also say on the other hand, he that winneth not souls is foolish. Isn't that, could we not say that? Yes, we could. So let me ask you this, are you wise or foolish? As a church, are we wise or are we foolish? He that winneth souls is wise. Well, preacher, I'm just not good at talking to people. Well, that's why we have the Bible. That's why we have tracts with the printed word of God on it. We pass those out to people and let the word of God do its job. You heard the missionary here on Sunday. It's not my job to save anybody. I can't save anyone, but it is my job to tell them about it. It's my job to plant the seed and get it out there. It's the Holy Spirit's job to convict and see people saved. But He tells us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's what we're supposed to do. The local church says it. He that winneth souls is wise. Proverbs is a book of wisdom. And it tells us to win souls. To win souls. Look at Matthew chapter number 4. Matthew chapter number 4. Verse 18, Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. Verse 19, and he saith unto them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. He's saying right now you're fishing for fish. But when you follow me, I will make of you fishers of men. If you do what I do, guess what you're gonna become? fishers of men. Why? Because Jesus' job was to bring men to God. That's what He came. His earthly ministry was, He said, I'm about my Father's business. What is that? To see folks go to heaven. To trust Him as their Savior. To take their place on the cross. He came down to the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. And we need to understand he tells us to go into all the world and preach the gospel. He told the disciples, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. You cannot follow God and follow this book without being a soul winner. You can't. Why? Because that's the whole purpose of the Bible is the Great Commission and seeing people saved. We see that. Luke 24. Flip over there would you please. Luke chapter number 24. Luke chapter 24, verse 47, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. We already looked at that verse once, but here's another time he tells us. He said that we ought to preach repentance and remission of sins. But if we're gonna do that, guess what? When we just preach a prosperity gospel, right? No, because without the shedding of blood, there is what? no remission of sin. So, Brother Doug, if we're supposed to preach remission of sin, we need to be talking about the blood of Christ. We need to talk about the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on the cross. We ought to be talking about the shed blood that Jesus paid for you and I. Not only did he shed his precious blood on the cross that paid for my sin and paid for your sin, but he was buried. And for three days, just like Jonah was in the belly of the whale we were talking about the other night, he said, so shall the son of man be. By the way, listen, he was in the ground for three days. Why? Taking our hell for us. But then he rose from the grave so he could offer life eternal. And that ought to excite you if you're saved, that you don't have to go to hell for one second. It ought to motivate you to be a soul winner. But the Bible commands it. It's something that we're supposed to do. That is the job of the local church. So I ask you this, are we doing what God has called us to do? Are we doing what God says for us to do? Are we winning souls? He that winneth souls is wise. So he that winneth not souls is foolish. The local church is to fulfill the Great Commission. It's to be a soul winning church. The local church not only is to be a soul winning church, but it's to minister to the needs of people. To minister to the needs of people. Look at James chapter number one. James, I'm sorry, James chapter number two. James chapter number two. James 2, verse 15 and 16, if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? Basically, what it's saying is if you see somebody who has a need and you tell them, hey, go fix this need, and you have the means to do it, but you don't do it, what profit is it to them? Well, to help meet the needs of each other. We're supposed to bear one another's burdens and help meet the needs of one another. You understand, if we know that somebody in the church has a need and we're able to meet that need. Listen, I'm not talking about enabling people to be lazy. I'm not talking about enabling people to live in sin. I'm not talking about enabling people to do the wrong thing. But if we have somebody that genuinely has a need and we're able to meet that need, we as a church ought to try to help and meet that need. That's what the Bible teaches we're supposed to do. Look at Now James chapter 1 verse 27. James chapter 1 verse 27. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. So those widows and the fatherless, those that have needs, those young kids that come on the bus, that don't have a dad, they don't have anybody over them, they don't have anybody to help guide them. We have widows in the church that don't have anybody to help them. Guess what we're supposed to do? We're supposed to help meet their needs. You understand some of these kids that come in here on a bus, some of these kids that come into this church, this is the only truth they ever hear. And we ought to be reaching them. We ought to be trying to help meet their needs. I thank the Lord for the people that have sacrificed to help some of our bus kids go to camp and different things like that. That's a blessing, helping get them clothes and different things that they need that we've had over the past few years. And that's a blessing that we do that. But we ought to minister to those needs. We have elderly folks in the church, widows in the church that sometimes need help. And we ought to be able to help them. We ought to be willing to help. That's the church's job. God wants us to be a soul winning church and to minister to the needs of the people. The local church is also to edify the saints. What's it mean to edify? To build up, teach and strengthen. It doesn't mean to make them prideful, but to edify the saints, to encourage them, to help build them up, help strengthen them along the way. That's what the Bible says the local church is supposed to do. Look at Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians 4, starting in verse 11, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers, for what purpose? Verse 12, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come together in the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of his stature and the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ for whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part making increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." We're supposed to edify one another. build each other up, encourage one another, help strengthen one another. We don't help strengthen one another when we bring sin into other people's lives. We don't strengthen one another when we gossip in the church. We don't strengthen one another when we are living in open defiance against the Word of God. We don't strengthen the church. We hurt the church. We're part of the body. We put clamps on certain parts of the body, and we don't let it function properly. We don't let it move right. We start doing this as a church and begin to drag, trying to get the work done. Why? Because we have those that aren't doing what they're supposed to do. They're not edifying, building up. They're tearing down. They're destroying. God doesn't tell us to do that. He tells us to edify to build up to teach to strengthen look at Acts chapter 2 Acts chapter number 2 I Know it's a lot of information, but I want you to learn it what the function of the church is Acts chapter number 2 Look at verse 41 The day that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, and every man had need. or as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple and in breaking in bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. You know what it said? It said they edified, they encouraged, they built up, and when others had a need, they even sold their possessions and brought them all together and gave to those that had need as they needed it. The church worked together as a unit. It wasn't just one, well, praise God, we'll just let them take care of it. No, we're supposed to all work together when there's a need to do something. That's the church, it's what it's supposed to do. The church, the local church is to edify the saints, to encourage one another. It's a place for saved people to worship the Lord. When we come together, guess what? We're to worship the Lord together. Look at verse 47 again, praising God and having favor with all people and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. It's a place when we come here, we ought to come with the intention of worshiping the Lord. That's what we ought to come here for. When we join together, yes, this is just a building. The building doesn't make up the church. Something could happen, a storm could come through and blow this building away and the church could still be here. But when we join together as a local body, as a body of believers, we all should come with the mindset of worshiping God. That's what we ought to be doing, worshiping Him. It's not about worshiping a man. There's a lot of man-worship in our society today. Even in our independent fundamental Bible-believing Baptist ranks, guess what? There's man-worship. You don't come to church to worship Pastor Caldwell. You don't come to church to worship anybody that stands behind this pulpit. You come to worship the God that's being preached from this pulpit. That's what the church is intended to do. Anytime that we begin to get our focus off of the Lord and put it on something else, that thing that we put our eye on becomes an idol. And nothing is to be above God. I don't care how much you like me as a pastor or like somebody else as a preacher. I don't care how great of an orator they are. They are just a human just like you. And they are nothing without God. And when we come to church, we don't come to worship people. I have some preachers that are some of my favorite preachers in all the world. I enjoy hearing them preach. But I don't worship those people. Because they're preaching about somebody way higher than they are. And that's God. When we come to church, we need to understand it's a place that we come to worship the Lord. Look at Luke 24. Luke chapter number 24. Luke 24. 52 and 53, And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen. That's the function of the church. When we come together, listen, we're supposed to be seeing folks saved, winning people to Christ, helping meet the needs of each other, encouraging one another, lifting each other up. When we come to this place, we ought to come to worship God. We come here to praise His name, to worship Him. Listen, these praise and worship teams have it all mixed up. The people aren't worshiping the Lord. You know what they're doing? They're getting excited about the music. They're worshiping the band that's singing. We don't wanna have songs in this church that focus on the person who's singing. We wanna have songs that focus on the God that they're singing about. When we get behind this pulpit, it's not us to be the best orator to keep you in suspense the whole time. Wow, they're such a great speaker. No, it's to make you in awe of who God is. And we ought to be worshiping him when we come to church. The local church is to edify the saints. It's a place for saved people to worship the Lord. It's a place for saved people to fellowship with other saved people. When we come together, it's also a place for us to fellowship with each other. Look what the Bible says in Acts 2. Flip over there again, Acts 2. Verse 42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. You know what, this area of fellowship we have down pretty good. A lot of times, Brother Miller, I think we come to church to fellowship more than we come to worship. We come just to talk to our friends. And listen, I'm glad that we get along. I'm glad that we enjoy one another. I'm glad that after church is over, a lot of people just stick around and talk. And many preachers have said something, man, you got a great group of people. They just like to stand around and fellowship. They enjoy talking with each other rather than everybody getting mad at each other and just bolting out the door and going home. They enjoy fellowship. And that's a wonderful thing. That's what we're supposed to do. But we ought not to allow fellowship to come before worship. Let me say that again. We ought not to allow fellowship to come before worship. It's that they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. That's what they said first. And in breaking in bread and fellowship. See, fellowship is good. It's part of the church. It's what we're supposed to do. But it doesn't take the place of the Bible. It doesn't take the place of the Word of God. We ought not to come just to talk with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We ought to come to worship Him. But we're here to fellowship one with another. 1 John. 1 John in your Bibles, if you would, please. 1 John. 1 John chapter 1, verse number 7 says this, actually verse 6. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and we walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. See it says, if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. That's why the Bible says, what fellowship hath light with darkness? We're not supposed to be that way, but we're supposed to have light with light. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. So brother Miller, if you're walking in the light and I'm walking in the light, we have fellowship. But if I'm walking in the light and you're walking in darkness or vice versa, we're not to be fellowshipping. You know why? Because what fellowship has light with darkness? We're not supposed to do that. As a church, we're not supposed to fellowship with those in darkness. We're supposed to be fellowshiping with those in light. Bible teaches that. Isn't that what the Bible says? If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, has cleansed us from all sin. Understand this, I'm not saying we shun the world and we never try to reach them with the gospel. God tells us to do that. But when it comes to fellowship, friendships, enjoying that fellowship one with another, we as a church are not to fellowship with those walking in darkness. We're not. We're to be different. The Bible teaches that. We just saw those verses. When we come to church, or the church gets together, the function of the church is to fulfill the Great Commission. We're to be a soul-winning church, minister to the needs of the people. The church is to edify, build up, strengthen each other. It's a place for saved people to worship the Lord, to fellowship with other saved people. But it's a place for saved people to come and be taught the Word of God. When we get together, it's a place for us to come and be taught from the Bible. Acts 2 again, verse number 42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. This is doctrine. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for what? Doctrine. This is the Apostles Doctrine, the Bible. So when we get together, it says they continued steadfastly in the Apostles Doctrine. When we as a church come together, we ought to be expecting the Word of God. We ought to be expecting preaching. A lot of people come to get their ears tickled. They don't want to hear preaching. They don't want to hear the Word of God. They want to hear love. and how live life the way you want to live it and because God loves you and God wants you to be happy you do whatever it is to make you happy because you're happy God's happy. That's not what the Bible teaches. They continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine what the Word of God says. It's a place for us to come and learn and be taught from the Word of God. Look at Ephesians chapter number four. Ephesians chapter four, starting in verse 12. He talks about how he gave some apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers for what purpose? For the perfecting of the saints. See what it says? We taught the word about the perfecting, making wise or more mature the saints of God. Church is not just for lost people. Not just for lost people. It's for born-again children of God to come and to grow and be more mature. That's what church is for. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come into the unity of faith and into the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man under the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children Tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. You know what it said? We can't be children believing everything we're told. Tossed to and fro in every wind of doctrine. There's people out there saying, well preacher, how am I supposed to know what's right? Joel Osteen said this. And Joyce Myers said this. And Dr. Phil says this. How would I know what to believe? God said it. Period. Done. Dr. Phil has nothing on Dr. Jesus. Joel Osteen doesn't know the first thing about even how to go to heaven. You say, what are you talking about? He's a saved man. Really? That's why he says there's many ways to God? According to the Bible, John 14, 6, Jesus says unto them, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Well, preacher, I'm not going to give him the offering. You're talking about Joel Osteen. You probably don't give anyway. If you get upset about something like that, the fact of the matter is this, people like to hear the prosperity gospel. I can live how I want to live it and God, he's just going to bless me. And I'm no, that's not how it works. You come to be taught from the word of God. Let the Bible teach you for the perfecting of the saints, not to be tossed around with every wind of doctrine. We're not supposed to act like the world, imitate the world, do what the world does to accomplish the will of God. God has always been distinctly different than the world. He tells us that. What fellowship have light with darkness? We can't walk in the light of God and walk in the darkness of the world at the same time. We can't do it. We come to this place for saved people to be taught the Word of God. It's a place also for saved people to observe the two ordinances that were given to the local church and that is baptism in the Lord's Supper. Those are the two ordinances that God gave to the church, to the local church. We come to observe those things. We observe the Lord's Supper, we observe baptism, all of those, Acts 2, verse 41 and 42. Look back there again, Acts chapter 2. Let me just jump back quickly. We're almost finished for tonight. We'll pick this up again next week. But right before Acts chapter 2, we remember Jesus Christ had just risen and He spent some time on this earth teaching them before He ascended back into heaven. And He's telling them to carry on the work that He was teaching them. And He's given them some instruction of what to do. And here in Acts chapter 2, He's talking about it and He tells them what's going on. And in Acts 2 verse 42, 41 and 42, and they gladly received his word, were baptized, and the same day were added unto them about 3,000 souls, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine of fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. You know, when we observe the Lord's Supper, where he says this is his body, which is broken for you that's due in remembrance of me, that breaking of that bread is a picture of Christ's body, the bread, that we grow and eat off of. He's our spiritual substance. As we see that His body, which is broken for us, and the great juice, that unfermented wine, or the great juice that we partake of is a picture of the blood of Christ, that it doesn't physically turn into the blood of Christ, but it represents the blood of Christ, that remission of sin that we're to be preaching. That's what we come to observe when we come to the Lord's house. Matthew 28, He said, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. But He said, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Look at 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11. starting in verse 23, it says, For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. Now let me explain something to you. We're going to go down through what the Lord's Supper teaches and what it's all about here real quickly. But as he He said, For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night when he was betrayed, took bread. He said, And when he had given thanks, he break it. And this is what he told them, Take, eat. That sounds like a command to me, doesn't it? That sound like a command? That's a command of God. He didn't say, If you want to eat, take it. No, he says, Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. He said, This do in remembrance of me. After the same manner, he took the cup when he had sup saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye as often as you drink in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the blood of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let every man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." See, when we partake of the Lord's Supper, here's the principle of it. He wants us to examine ourselves on, first off, why he had to die. because we were sinners that deserved hell. It ought to remind us, bring us back to that day that we got saved. Bring us back to that time when we realized we were doomed and destined and condemned for a devil's hell. And when we partake of the Lord's supper and he said, this is my body which is broken for you, take eat. He said, this is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. As we partake of that bread, we're picturing the body that was broken, that payment, the wage of sin, which is death, that what it earned, that death, his body and that blood that was shed for us, that's why we're able to be saved. You understand that? Because of what he did. And as we do that, it says, let us examine ourselves, whether we be unworthy. Guess what? He doesn't want something that's defiled. He doesn't want us to be defiled. He wants us to be holy. That's why we say, you know, if you've got unconfessed sin in your life, just let those elements go by when they go by. Because if you eat unworthily, you know, it said there's many that are weak and sickly among you and many sleep. But let me remind you of something. He never said it's optional to his children. When the Lord's Supper partakes, if you let it go by, guess what you're doing? You're sinning. Because he says, take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. So as we think of the ordinances of the church, by the way, baptism's a command too. If we don't get baptized after we get saved, it said they were saved and baptized and added unto the church. If we don't get baptized, we're disobeying God and we can't grow the way that God wants us to grow. Why? Because we're living in disobedience. We have to obey what God tells us to do. Those are the two things that God tells us to observe as a church, those ordinances. He doesn't tell us to do it every service. He said, as often as you do it in remembrance of me, whenever you partake of the Lord's Supper, remember me and what I did for you. It ought to motivate us to keep serving him, keep doing what's right, but to be clean, usable vessels that he can use. See, our job as a church is more than just seeing people saved. our job as a church to edify one another, build each other up, encourage, strengthen one another, to fellowship one with another. If somebody has a need try to help them with that need. But we are commanded to walk in the light as He is in the light. And you know what? Even if we have a brother in Christ, they're our brother in Christ, if they're walking in darkness, Brother Nick, the Bible says we're not to fellowship. Oh, we can be kind, we can pray for them, we can be cordial, But we're not to be fellowshipping with them. Why? Because you can't walk light and darkness. Can two walk together except they be agreed? Amos 3.3. They can't. Why? Because that's called compromise. That's what happens. And we don't need to compromise. We need to stay on the truth. See, there's a lot of things about the church that God wants us to know. There's some things about it. What is the local church? It's not the building, it's the believers. When he looked at Peter and he said, upon this rock I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He wasn't saying, Peter, I'm building it on you. He said, I'm the foundation that you need to stand on. And as the church is built and made up of people, if the church was the building, North Carolina would be going to heaven. It really would. If the church was just the building, Brother Nate Sendelius was telling me, he said, man, I saw so many churches on the way here. He said, I couldn't believe it, I saw so many churches. If the church was made up of the brick and the mortar that's here, North Carolina, they'd be on their way to heaven, I'm telling you. But it's the body of believers. Why isn't this place jam-packed full every Sunday? I'll tell you why, because God's people aren't fulfilling the Great Commission. We're not being wise. We're being foolish. Preacher, are you calling me a fool? I didn't say it. The Bible said it. No, he said, he that winneth souls is wise. So then on the opposite foot means what? If we don't, we're foolish. Let me ask you this question, church, before we close. When's the last time you won somebody to Christ? or attempted to win somebody to Christ? Listen, you may give the gospel every week and nobody gets saved. That's not your job to see them saved. Your job is to plant the seed. That's your job. When's the last time you sowed the seed? Are you trying to win souls? The Bible says you're wise if you do. But on the other hand, we're foolish if we don't. You don't have to be the best orator. You don't have to know how to say all the words correctly. You don't have to have every verse memorized, but take some gospel tracts with you that we've printed the Word of God in, that people can read and you can walk them through it if they have questions. The reason we're teaching these lessons is because I want you to be able to help people when they ask questions about the Bible. What does this mean? Why am I supposed to do this? That you can give an answer to them according to the Bible. Not just, well preacher said so, that doesn't mean anything to them. But I'll tell you this church, If you go out there into Salisbury and you say this to somebody, Brother Jeff, my preacher said that it's not right that that Christmas play or Christmas parade got messed up because of the homosexual movement. They really could care less. But you say God says in his word, everybody is intimidated by the word of God. Why? Because it has authority. It has authority. Even the world is intimidated by this book. Why? Because they know what it can do. I was talking with Brother Jason. You mind if I give that story that you were telling me? Brother Jason was telling me a story about a guy that he was talking to. And the guy was like, well, I don't believe the Bible. I don't believe that's God's Word. That's just a book that man wrote. He said, really? Well, let me share something with you. He said, don't. Don't open that book. Don't open that book. You know why he didn't want the book to be open? because it has power, because it's piercing to the dividingness under a soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Listen, we need to hide God's Word in our heart, but we ought to be able to know the Bible and learn the Bible. Why? Because the Bible has authority. People aren't gonna believe doctrine because your pastor said so. People are gonna believe doctrine because God said so. That's why. It's not because, well, Pastor Colwell says, so it must be, no. God said so. That's why there's all that confusion. People, all the wind of doctrine. Well, so-and-so said so. That doesn't matter. God said. Period. Done. That settled it. It doesn't matter what you think or I think. If God said it, period. It's done. All power is given unto Him in heaven and on earth. He tells us, go ye therefore were to fulfill the Great Commission. Heads bowed, eyes closed.