This morning we're going to be in the Old Testament. We're going to be in the book of Psalms. This is a passage that we have looked at before on multiple occasions. Recall that we took about two and a half years to go through the entire book of Psalms. We've also looked at this psalm and this particular verse on other occasions, but we have one verse this morning that serves as the text for our thoughts and it's Psalms 122 verse number one. Psalm 122 and verse number one. In Psalm 122 and verse number one the Bible reads I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord. The title of the message this morning is the benefits of church. Let's pray. Father we thank you for the opportunity to be in your house today we thank you for the way that you care for us and Lord the blood of Christ serves as the basis for our forgiveness and Lord we thank you so much for Jesus's faithfulness and dying for our sins and Lord daily Pleading for us and interceding on our behalf and Lord. We just thank you that today we can stand in your house right with you not based upon what we've done or who we are but based upon what Christ has done and who he is. We pray that today you'd help us to take the services very seriously, to be locked in and ready to hear what you have for us from your word. We pray that the Holy Spirit would speak to us and Lord help us to be thankful for a place to serve you and worship you and Lord help us to understand the many and multitude of benefits that we do experience and enjoy because of the New Testament Church. We thank you and we ask you to bless as only you can It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. The benefits of church. As I mentioned in the announcements, Tabernacle Baptist Church held its first Sunday service on the 24th of September in 2006. Happy anniversary. How thankful we should be for a place to worship God and to serve God. Not every city, not every locale has a true church in which we can feel free to worship God according to the teachings of the Word of God and specifically the New Testament. So I believe that we will be thankful for the Lord's Church and a place to serve and worship the Lord if we recognize the many benefits of church. Now Psalms 122 is one of 15 Psalms that are titled Psalms of Degrees. Psalms of Degrees. And we've studied this previously in our Study of the Book of Psalms, so I'm not going to go into great detail. I just want to mention that this literally refers to steps to a higher elevation. That's what degrees means. It means steps to a higher elevation. And here David is the author of the 122nd Psalm. And he's writing on an occasion in which the people of God were journeying to the holy city of Jerusalem to participate in one of the annual feasts. That's what these psalms were designed for. At least that's what they were used for. And he starts off the psalm with a right priority. He starts off the psalm by dictating and letting others know about his gladness at entering into God's house. He says, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Now, the church, you know this if you've paid any attention at all through the years that we've been together, the church is not the building The Greek word ecclesia literally means an assembly So the church is not the building the church is the people and the church is described in the holy word as God's house So when we meet together to worship, this is God's house now there are a multitude of benefits of God's house the church And I just want to ask you this question. When is the last time you considered the benefits of church? Well today, I want us to spend our time this morning Thinking on five benefits, five benefits, and by the way this list is not cumulative, it is not complete at all. There are many other benefits that you can think of that we leave off, but I want us to focus on five benefits of church this morning. Now I'm going to shy away from our normal mode of delivery where I give you all of the different points that we make and then we get into them. I'm just going to get right into them this morning. And so five benefits of church. The first benefit and I hope that we think about this, is freedom from society. When we are gathered together, we have freedom from society. God's house should be a special place for the believer. God's house should be a special place for the child of God. Now, this is true that we have this benefit, freedom from society, because we as God's people, we require time away from society, we require time away from the world. What do we experience in the world? If you say, man, this world is my home and I'm perfectly content in this world, then you need to check up on your relationship with God and whether or not you're really saved. We sing that old song, this world is not my home, I'm just a passing through. It doesn't mean that we can't enjoy life. I'm not saying that. But I am saying that in this world we are not going to have the easiest of times as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. What did the Lord Himself say? He said in John chapter 16 and verse number 33, In the world ye shall have tribulation. What do we experience in the world? We experience oftentimes what Lot experienced. Lot decided to choose where he would live based upon his lust of his eyes and what would most benefit him wealth wise. And so he chose the well-watered plain. And he wound up in those five cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And there were more than just the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, but there were about five cities there. And we can become like Lot where our righteous souls can be vexed. The Bible tells us, and Peter wrote about this in 2 Peter chapter number 2 and verse number 7. when he talks about the Lord delivering just Lot, or Lot who was justified and righteous in the sight of God, and he says Lot was vexed. with the filthy conversation of the wicked. The word vexed there literally means oppressed, to labor down, or bear with toil. And so Lot was vexed. And oftentimes, in fact, that is probably the norm of our existence here on this earth. When we're apart from the house of the Lord, and when we're apart from God's children and fellow believers, we are vexed. with all that we see around us. And Jim and Tina and Darlene, you perhaps remember the message that the brother preached up in the state up north at the Bible conference up there about how that we can literally contribute to our own vexing by focusing on the news and all the political events that are taking place. And we can just be tied up and balled up in a knot. And we require time away from society and the world. We're talking about benefits of church. The first benefit being freedom from society. We require time away from society and the world and so where can we go? Where can we go but to the Lord? And we have to understand that God's house is our refuge. I talked about this recently and I used the illustration of coming home from work and being anxious, not in a bad way but in a good way, to get home because my home is a refuge. I'm a homebody. I like to be at home. I don't try to find reasons not to be at home. I like to be at home. My home is a refuge. Favorite person in the world is there and it's not me brother Steve My wife is there. Okay. Yeah, man. Listen, I like to go home as a refuge. Well, guess what? God's house is to be a refuge for us now. This is true because God is our refuge Seventeen times in Scripture the Bible tells us that God Himself is our refuge. Two times the terminology is used that God is our hiding place. God is our place that we flee to in times of trouble and distress. Now, if God is our refuge, now listen to this. If God is our refuge, then should not God's house be our place of refuge? Should it not be a place that we can go where we can get away from society and get away from the world and all that is happening there and be alone with God and be alone with God's people? And we'll talk about those benefits here in just a moment. Proverbs 14, verse number 26, Solomon wrote about the children of the Lord having a place of refuge. In Proverbs 14, verse number 26, Solomon wrote, In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and His children shall have a place of refuge. And so if God is our refuge, then should not His house be a place of refuge? Turn with me, if you're in Psalms 122, turn with me over to Psalm 61. And I want you to notice in Psalm 61, the terminology used here, denoting that God's place is a place of refuge. God's house is a place of refuge for us. Notice in Psalm 61, We're going to read up through verse number four, and I remind you that Psalm 61, the theme of Psalm 61 is refuge for the overwhelmed. That's the theme of the psalm. Now notice Psalm 61, a psalm of David, verse 1. Hear my cry, O God. Attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee. When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Now stop there. Where do we find the rock? It's higher than we're going to talk about that here in just a little bit as well notice verse 3 For thou has been a shelter for me in a strong tower from the enemy now watch verse 4 I will abide in thy Tabernacle forever I will trust in the covert of thy wings say la now let me ask you this Where was God's house in the days of David? It was the tabernacle. It was the tabernacle. The tabernacle was God's place of worship in God's house up until the time that Solomon built the temple. And that wasn't done until after David had passed. God gave David the resources and the plans to build the temple, but He would not let David build the temple. He allowed Solomon, David's son, to build the temple. And David here is saying, that his place of refuge, when he's overwhelmed, is the house of God. I will abide in thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah. The word covert there literally means covering. Listen folks, you and I need freedom from society. You and I need a place to go that's not just our home, but a place where we can serve God and worship God into His house. The first benefit of church is freedom from society. Notice the second benefit of church. It is fellowship with the saints. It is not only freedom from society to get apart from the world and society, but it is fellowship with the saints. We are children of God, and we should rejoice in seeing our family together. We should rejoice in seeing our family together. Now, we say fellowship with the saints and rejoicing in seeing our family together because we have a familial relationship. God's church is a familial relationship. God's family. Remember, there are different terms that God uses to describe our relationships. The kingdom of God is different than the Lord's church and is different than the family of God. The family of God consists of all the saints that have ever been saved on heaven and earth. Read Ephesians chapter 3 verse 15. The kingdom of God, and a lot of times it's confused with the church, but the kingdom of God consists of all believers on the earth at any given time. This is a spiritual kingdom in which Christ rules. We've been translated into the kingdom of Christ. And then the church, of course, is the called out assembly of God's saints who have been properly baptized and organized together to carry out the work that the Lord has given us. We have a familial relationship one with another. We are brothers with the Lord Jesus Christ. We are brothers and sisters one to another. God is our Heavenly Father. In Romans chapter 8 verse number 16 and the first portion of verse number 17, listen to this. The Spirit, and that's the Holy Spirit. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. If we are God's children, then what does that make God? It makes Him our Heavenly Father, right? We have a familial relationship that we are the children of God. And then in verse number 17, and if children than heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. So we are brethren, one with another, and we are brethren with the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a familial relationship. Now I'm going to tell you this. I'm trying to think about how I can say this without being offensive to not anybody that's here, I hope. So we all have family members that we don't necessarily enjoy being around. We don't necessarily want to be around them, right? I mean, we don't really have anything in common with them. There's always something going on, you know, like, oh man, you know. What are we going to discuss? Your latest GoFundMe endeavor? You know, I mean, you all know what I'm talking about. You've got family members like that, right? There are family members that we don't want to be around, we don't have anything in common with, and there's no desire to be with them. But you know what? The Lord's Church is not supposed to be that way. In the Lord's Church, if it's a place of refuge where we have freedom from society, it ought to be a place where we can fellowship with the saints. And so there's not to be any favorites amongst the membership. You know, oh well, Lauren is my daughter, so I'm going to favor Lauren, and I'm going to try to get the church to do things that will help Lauren. No, we're all members one of another. We are all on equal footing. I don't have any priority over you. I have a different role than you have, but we are members one of another. And so we have a familiar relationship that should require us to want to spend time together. And that means this. The times of fellowship in the Lord's house should bring rejoicing. Rejoicing. What did David write in Psalm 122 in verse number 1? I was glad. I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. I'm pretty certain that David's stomach didn't begin to tie in knots. He's like, oh man, I can't face them today. I don't want to go to the Lord's house because of who's there. I don't know what I'm going to be met with. No, David was glad when it was time to go to the Lord's house. The word glad here literally means to brighten up, to cheer up, to rejoice. Do you have that attitude towards the Lord's house? Do you realize that that is a benefit of church? In another place, in Psalm 42 and verse number 4, he writes, when I remember these things, this is Psalm 42 verse number 4, when I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me For I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise with a multitude that kept holy days." So David again is saying and rejoicing in the fact that we can go together to the house of God and enjoy this fellowship together. Now, family vacations are a joyous time. It doesn't matter the location. Maybe the location is not your favorite place, but the point is that you're all together. Family vacations should be a joyous time. And I gotta tell you, we got back late last night. I'm sad that our vacation's over, man. I already miss Xavier and Liam and the little twins, who, by the way, wouldn't give me the time of day. They were a little out of sorts, but I love them. It's good to be together, man. It's good to have Libby and Lauren. Darlene with us and enjoyed time with Cody. I mean, we had a good time. We were together. I want to be together with my family. Rachel, you know, I mean, goodness, Rachel doesn't like people. I don't know. I'm not sure she likes us or me, but we still had a good time together, you know? I mean, I love my family. I'm sad it's over. I'm looking forward. We're planning on putting you guys on notice, Lord willing, in two years, we're going to go to Yellowstone together, okay? If the Lord doesn't come and we're able to do that and so forth, I'm looking forward to time together. Do you look forward to time together with the Lord's people that we can fellowship over the things of the Lord? Spurgeon wrote this, good children are pleased to go home and glad to hear their brothers and sisters call them hither. David's heart was in the worship of God. And he was delighted when he found others inviting him to go where his desires had already gone. It helps the ardor of the most ardent to hear others inviting them to a holy duty. Encouraging one another. What did Paul write in the book of Hebrews? So much the more, as we see the day approaching, admonishing one another to be faithful in the house of God and to be together, fellowshipping one with another. Is this not what the saints who were initially saved, I mean right after they were saved, what did they do? How about this? This is Acts chapter 2 and verse number 42 and it says there prior to that that the Lord saved, daily such should be saved and then Acts 2 verse 42 and they could they those that the Lord saved they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers and the word fellowship there literally means partnership or communion you are taught of God When you are saved, that's a good thing for the Saints of God to be together in fellowship. Where can we fellowship? Where can we where can we let our hair down on? Some of us anyways, not me included, but the ladies, right? Where can we let our hair down and be what God wants us to be and not be fearful of reprisal about, oh, you said this and you said that. You should be in the Lord's house, fellowshipping one with another. So it's a benefit of church, fellowship with the saints. There's a third benefit, and that is that we are fed with the Holy Scriptures. We are fed with the Holy Scripture. Now today, in our afternoon fellowship is breakfast day. And man, I'm looking forward to that. I know you all look forward to that day. Well, really, we look forward to all the fellowship meals. I do anyways, because it's all good. But breakfast is just a little bit special. We enjoy being fed. Well, church services are where we are fed with the Word of God. It's where we are fed with the Word of God. Now, remember, let's not try to defeat Or get away from God's plan for his people. Who created the church? Who instituted the church? The Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. This is the Lord's church. The first church that ever existed was in Jerusalem. The first church of Jerusalem. Who instituted the church? The Lord did. What did the Lord give to the church's pastor? The Lord did that. If you say, well, you know, I don't think churches should have pastors, then you need to take it up with the Lord. And there are some churches that obviously don't believe that they need a pastor because they've been without a pastor for years and years. And the way that they treat pastors, it's no wonder that they've been without a pastor for years and years. But you know what God's economy is? That in the New Testament church, that church that He created would have a pastor. Each individual church would have a pastor. Now why would the churches have a pastor? Because the pastors are given to feed the flock. Brother Mark preached on this a few weeks ago when he was here. There are different terminologies for the role of the pastor. There's the bishop. There's the there's the elder and then there's the pastor right and the word pastor is Poem a knee or point main and in first Peter chapter number 5 and verse number 2 we read this Peter wrote about this in first Peter chapter 5 and verse number 2 Peter writes feed the flock of God which is among you feed the flock the word feed is Poimeneo and it literally means to care for the flock by furnishing nourishment for the flock. Now how does the pastor do this? The pastor does this by preaching and teaching the word and that serves as the spiritual food that God's people need. So pastors are given to feed the flock and I say this emphatically you cannot be spiritually healthy You can't be. Without feeding on the ministered Word. Now there are some folks that say, well you know what, I'll be okay because I can read my Bible at home. No you can't. No you can't. That's not enough. If that were enough, then why did God institute churches, and why did God give pastors and teachers, Ephesians chapter 4, verses 11 and 12, to churches? It's not enough. Just like you need physical food to sustain you, you need the ministered word or the preached word. You are not entitled to circumvent God's plan. God gave pastors for the perfecting of the saints, and that means the furnishing of the saints, and the pastors are to preach the word and to feed the saints of God. You know one of the benefits of church? Being fed with the scripture. If you're not being fed, then you need to go someplace where you can be fed. And you know what's interesting to me, and I'm not saying this, I don't have an axe to grind, I'm not bitter, I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but do you know that in all the people that have left this church, I don't recall any of them ever saying, you know, you didn't preach the word, I never got fed with the word. It's always some personal thing that they got offended at. They never said they weren't being fed the Word. In fact, I would challenge anybody, if you listen to this over sermon audio or our website or whatever, you come to me and you tell me when you lacked being fed by the Word of God here at Tabernacle Baptist Church. Because if there's one thing that we do, we preach the Word. We feed the flock with the Word of God. Now, you might not like my cooking. There are some people that maybe you don't like their cooking. Well, then you need to find a place where you like the cooking. But you can't say that you aren't being fed. Now, just a couple weeks ago, I preached a message on the importance of an inspired Bible out of 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17. Do you remember what we covered there? It's nothing new. So how are we fed with the Scriptures? We're fed, first of all, with what is right. And Paul wrote that that's called doctrine. You know what we can equate doctrine to? Milk. milk. In 1st Peter chapter 2 and verse number 2 Peter wrote, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that she may grow thereby. You know what we get with the milk of the word that builds us up and makes us strong? We get counsel for daily living. I don't know what to do. Are you in the Word? I mean, I'm facing situations where I don't know what to do. What does the Word of God say? Counsel with the Word of God. So, we are fed what is right, or doctrine. We are fed reproof, or what is not right. You know what I equate this to? Your veggies. Your veggies. Now look, don't bamboozle me this morning, okay? It's your last meal. How many of you are going to request a salad of kale and arugula for your last meal? You're not requesting that for your last... I would be willing to say you could go through the archives of all inmates that have been executed by capital punishment in the United States, and I would say that you would not find one that had just a salad with healthy veggies for their last meal. But you know what? Those of us that hope to live for some time, we need those veggies even though they may not be the best tasting thing that we get. We need those veggies that don't necessarily taste good and we don't necessarily like, but they serve a nutritional value to us. Sometimes we gotta eat what we don't like. You know what happens when you only eat what you like? You wind up as Tammy and what's the other girl's name, Libby on Yeah, the thousand-pound twins, okay? You're not my size, Amy, and I can't do it like Libby does it, but you get what I'm saying? That's what happens when you only eat what you like. Guess what? You gotta eat some things you don't like. You gotta eat some veggies. You gotta eat some things that are healthy for you. So it is with the preaching of the Word of God. Well, preacher, I don't like what you preached. Well, you know, reproofs are the way of life according to the book of Proverbs. Watch this in the book of Ezekiel. Turn with me to the book of Ezekiel. We're going to look at a couple passages in Ezekiel as it relates to this point and then the next point. First of all Ezekiel chapter number 2. Now Ezekiel And I think he gets a bum rap because, you know, people say, man, that Ezekiel was an odd guy. But Ezekiel was called to do some odd things. It wasn't necessarily that he was odd. He was just called to do some odd things. Now watch Ezekiel in Ezekiel chapter number 2, verses 8 through 10. Ezekiel is told to go and preach the Word of God to the nation of Israel. They're going to look at him with stern faces and dirty looks and mean faces and furrowed brows. You're going to try to give him the stare down and the stink eye. And God says, you be faithful and preach the Word. Now watch Ezekiel 2, verses 8-10. But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee. Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house. Now watch. Open thy mouth and eat that I give thee. And when I looked, behold, a hand was sent unto me, and lo, a roll of a book was therein. and He spread it before me, and it was written within and without, and there was written therein lamentations and mourning and woe." What was the word that Ezekiel was called to eat? The word that God would have him deliver to the house of Israel. And guess what? It wasn't a pleasant word. Sometimes we need unpleasant words that are words of reproof to show us what is not right. But then notice as well, It is the word of God and the food that we eat is designed for repair. For repair. Or how to get things right. Paul refers to this in 2 Timothy chapter number 3 as correction. Sometimes, sometimes we have food allergies. Right? Now Lauren has gluten, no wait, you don't have gluten, what's it called? You got, she has to eat gluten free. I think of Evan King. And he's got celiac disease, right? So he can't have any gluten. And poor chubby guy back there, Wyatt, he can't have dairy. And sometimes you can't have these things. You have to correct your diet. You've got to have some things repaired. Well, guess what? Sometimes in our spiritual walk, we need some food that is going to repair us. Hebrews chapter 5 verses 12 and 13. You can hold your place in Ezekiel. I'll quickly read to you. Hebrews chapter 5 verses 12 and 13. Paul writes, For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong drink. Verse 13, For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. So there are times when we should be feasting on the strong meat, but we can't. We can't stomach it. We can't take what it is that is being given to us, and so we need something else. We need to be repaired. We need to get things right. We need to be corrected. And then there's a fourth way in which we are fed with the Word of God, and Paul Records that in second timothy chapter number three in verse number 16 where he says that that we might be instructed in righteousness Righteousness or this is how to keep things right now. Here's where we get into the choice eating, right? This is the meat and potatoes This is brother steve's uh, uh, well, you're not really a filet mignon guy, right? I mean you like a different kind of steve like a filet mignon Filet mignon, okay, here's the filet mignon of the word right Hebrews chapter 5. We didn't read verse 14 Hebrews 5 in verse number 14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age even those who by reason of use had their senses exercised to discern both good and evil so this is the strong meat of the word that helps us be instructed in righteousness and keep things right and we we've grown from the milk and we go on to Those pleasant things of the word and you know what? What else? It's not wrong to have a little sweetness with your meal. You know, dessert is okay. A little honey, right? There's honey from the rock. Well, how about this? I asked you to keep your place in Ezekiel. Now look at Ezekiel chapter 3. Look at Ezekiel chapter 3, verses 1 and 2. Moreover, he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest, eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat this roll. And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Now watch. Then did I eat it, and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness." Man! You know, sometimes we need milk. Sometimes we need some veggies. We need some strong meat and some potatoes. And it's not wrong to have a little honey or a little sweetness from the Word of God. We need to be instructed and preached and admonished about heaven. We preached this series about heaven not too long ago. We need the good things that we... It's all good, you understand. But I'm talking about from our perspective. We've got to have the veggies. We got to have the kale and the arugula and the spinach and the things like that that give us health But you know it's okay occasionally to have some money by the way I Have to say this we're getting ready to have lunch, but remember Proverbs. It says It's okay to have honey, but eat so much as is sufficient for thee lest thou vomit it up Okay, so don't don't eat too much honey, right? It's good to have honey, but don't eat too much, which is why I don't eat sweets, because I eat too much, right? But it's okay to have that. We need to be fed from the Word of God. That's a benefit of church, being fed with the Scriptures. We hurry along. There's two other benefits we'll cover quickly. The fourth benefit from church is that we get fortified against Satan. Fortified against Satan. We gain strength for our spiritual warfare. Now we know the enemy seeks to devour. He walks about as a roaring lion seeking who he may devour. So what happens when we come into the house of God? Well, our spiritual armor is designed to aid us in our warfare. We have spiritual armor that we come to hear about this armor. We come to know about each piece of the armor as it is presented to us in Ephesians chapter number 6 verses 10 through 18 and other places. And how are we to stand? By putting on each piece of armor. And so our spiritual armor is designed to aid us in our warfare. We come into the house of God and we hear about this armor. We're made aware of this armor. We're encouraged and admonished and challenged to put on that armor. So our spiritual admonitions motivate us. to put on the armor. How can you resist the devil according to James chapter 4 verse 7? How can you resist the devil and flee and draw nigh to God and expect the devil to flee from you when you're not in the house of God? You're not hearing the preaching of the Word of God. And you're not being reminded to put on your spiritual armor. Again, I don't understand how people survive. I mean, you cannot survive. You can, but you wouldn't, right? I mean, you cannot survive if you go, Three weeks without eating. Now, you can survive, right, if you're drinking water, but you get the drift of what I'm saying. Nobody goes three weeks without eating unless you're waiting for a weigh-in in the Air Force or something like that, right? Nobody does that. And yet people go three weeks not being in the house of God, not being fed the Word of God. I don't understand. I don't get it. It's a mystery to me. You're not healthy. And the fact that you're not healthy is evident by the fact that you don't understand you're not healthy. You don't see that you're not healthy. And so we're going to fall prey to the enemy in our spiritual warfare if we're not in the house of God being fortified against Satan. And there's a fifth benefit. By the way, I could dwell on each of these points for quite some time, but to be conscious of your time this morning, there's a fifth benefit. This perhaps is the consummate benefit. And that is the fact that the church services are frequented by the Savior. This is the capstone benefit, if you will, that we have Jesus' presence. His presence is promised in the Word of God, and I give you just a few references in Matthew 18, verse 20, what did the Lord say Himself? For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them. And so Jesus says when When folks are congregated together as a New Testament church, I am in the midst of them. And then in Revelation chapters 1 through 3, the Lord talks about His churches. And there are seven churches of Asia that serve as examples of types of churches that would exist throughout time until the Lord returns. And in Revelation chapter 2 and verse 1, the Lord talks about His relationship with these churches, which He refers to as candlesticks. And in Revelation chapter number 2 and verse number 1, the Lord says, Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars. Those are the pastors or the angels, the messengers of each of the churches. He that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. Do you recognize that when you come into the Lord's house, if this really be a place that the Lord has placed His name, The Lord is present with us. He is watching and taking in what happens. After all, He is the head of the church, is He not? If He's the head of the church, should we expect Him to stay away from His church, or one of His churches? And so, we are promised with His presence, and you know what? Because He frequents the services, this is a benefit, that the services are frequented by the Savior, then there is peace, provision, and protection that is provided. Why are we here? We're here to worship and serve the Lord. All of these other things that we get are benefits from us being here, fellowship with the saints of God, being fed with the Word of God. These are benefits that we enjoy, but we are here primarily to worship God, to serve the Lord. And as the head of the church, Jesus, our Savior, will guide us as we serve and worship and work for Him. All things are to be done decently and in order. And you know what? The Lord will instruct us as to what is decent and orderly. There are benefits of the church. And God has blessed us miraculously. Sixteen years ago, we met for the first time in our living room over here on Kingsley Drive, and the faces are different, but I hope the desires are the same. We desire to honor and glorify the Lord, that the Lord's people might have a place of refuge to come and worship Him, that we be free to worship the Lord according to the dictates of our conscience and based upon what we believe the New Testament tells us. Why don't we just quit? Why don't we just go somewhere else? There's just a few of us. Why don't we just go down the road? Because we recognize the benefits of the church. Samuel Martin was an English Congregationalist who lived in the 1800s. He preached a sermon entitled, Gladness in the Prospect of Public Worship. He wrote this, Then brethren, to your non-attending neighbor, say, let us go. to reluctant members of your own family, say, let us go. To those who once went to the house of God in your company, but who have backslidden from worship, say, let us go. To all whose ear and mind and heart you can command for such a purpose, say, let us go. Let us go together into the house of the Lord. Why should we go? There are many reasons, but there are benefits. from the Lord's house, freedom from society, a place of refuge, fellowship with the saints of God, being fed with the Holy Scriptures, a balanced meal, and yes, even some honey for sweetness, fortified against Satan, and Jesus frequents the services. I don't know about you, but those are some pretty good benefits. May we be desirous and may we be earnest in our attitude. David wrote, In Psalm 122, I was glad when they said, let's go to God's house. Let's go to church. I pray that that's our testimony as well. Let's pray.