Lighthouses in the past and to some degree today were used both as a navigation aid and to warn sailors of dangerous reefs beneath the sea or a perilous rocky coast and to guide them into a safe harbor. They are tall structures built on a solid foundation to help them resist the elements and have a light placed on the very top with special magnification so that it could be seen from a distance. I'm sure many of you, if not all of you, have seen lighthouses in different places. In dark stormy nights or foggy weather, when the light could not be clearly seen, they would use a fog horn, which emitted a certain number of blasts so that it could be distinguished from other sounds and horns. The Lord Jesus tells us that his church as his church, that we are the light of the world, a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. A light that is put on a stand so that those who are around could see the light and come to the Father through Jesus Christ. Now, if the church is to be the light of the world and the world is made up of cities and towns, then the only way to fulfill our mandate is to establish lighthouses in every town and city. And brethren, if there is ever a time that our country needs a lighthouse that are built and established on truth and are ascending clear gospel lights to warn people of the dangers ahead and to guide them to find refuge in Jesus Christ, it is today. This leads us to where we are today as a church. We are in the process of establishing with God's help and blessing one of those lighthouses. God willing, on July 28th, some of our brethren will begin to meet in Kearney on Sundays in an effort to establish a church there. And our service today, as has been announced, is to prepare our church for this momentous event. We'll be addressing things like how is this going to impact our congregation and individually. What are the challenges and opportunities that come with church planting, and how do we maintain interchurch fellowship? This is an exciting time in the life of our congregation, and it is long in coming. Church planting has been in our Constitution right from the start. Here's what our Constitution, which was written, drafted sometime between 2003 and 2006 when the church was constituted, says in Article 8 on home, churches, and small fellowships. Here's what it says. It is an emphasis of Bread of Life Fellowship to foster home churches and other small fellowships. It is not a goal to grow a central church with cell groups, but rather to establish, plant, and support independent fellowships which can operate under Bread of Life Fellowship. This does not exclude the possibility of Bread of Life Fellowship having larger weekly meetings if the Lord has not provided adequate leadership for planting a new work. However, the larger fellowship should be considered a means to an end. The end being the planting of another congregation once adequate leadership is raised up. Individual churches under Bread of Life Fellowship may or may not be home-based, but must maintain the standards and direction of the ministry, which is to raise up and plant new work as opposed to grow a large central church. So right from the start, brethren, our aim has not been to become a megachurch. but rather to raise up leaders and to see other churches planted, and with God's blessing, those churches planting other churches. Now, having briefly looked at the need for church planting and our commitment to it, I would like us to look at the scriptural basis for church planting and how it impacts the world. So please turn with me to Matthew 28. It was read this morning by Pastor Damien, but we'll read it again. Matthew 28, I'll read from verse 18 to 20. And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always till the end of the age. The Gospel of Matthew has been labeled as the Gospel of the Kingdom. The Kingdom of Heaven is a central theme in the Book of Matthew. It is mentioned over 30 times. In this scene that we just read about, King Jesus is about to depart and be with his Father in Heaven, but has some parting words to say to his followers. He calls on them to advance His kingdom and to continue the work which He had begun. He's about to send them on what seems to us an impossible mission. There was ever a mission impossible, it's here. They are to go into this heathen world and to tell them about God they've never heard of. And call them to repent and believe on His Son, Jesus Christ. That's their mission. but notices how Jesus prefaces the commission. He says to them, He wants them to focus not on the difficulty of the mission, but on the one who's given the commandment. He says to them, He says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given unto me. And because of that, I want to send you forward. He tells them that all authority, He is the supreme ruler of the universe. He is the Lord of Lord and King of Kings. He has been endowed with power from on high until His enemies are put under His feet. And death is completely destroyed. And the second thing he wants them to know is that this sovereign Lord and King is going to be with them as they go. He says, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. So he sandwiches the commandment, the mandate, with these two things. I am Lord of heaven and earth, and behold, I am with you till the end of the age. Now you go. So he says to them, behold, he wants them to take notice. I want you to notice, behold, I am with you. This is the word that is I am, who I am, I'm me. This is the timeless, self-existent one, the one who has at His command, angels, who makes devils tremble, the one who makes the blind see and the lame walk, and the dead come to life, it's this one that's going to be with them, and it's this one that's sending them. He will be with them to empower them, to guide them, to protect them. Therefore, brothers and sisters, is it any wonder when you see them standing before magistrates and kings with fearlessness and boldness proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord? So having looked at the giver of the mandate, now let's briefly look at the scope of the mandate. What's the scope of the mandate? He says, go into all the world and make disciples. Now in Mark, we are told how they are to do that. How are they going to make disciples? It tells us, verse 15, He said to them, go into all the world and proclaim the gospel. to the whole creation. Proclaim the gospel. This is how they are to make disciples. Proclaim the gospel. Luke tells us further. In Luke 24 he says, And said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer on the third day, rise from the dead, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. So they are to bear witness to the life, suffering, death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they are to do this starting in Jerusalem and to call men to repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. Acts tells us further where they are to go from Jerusalem. He says in chapter 1, verse 8, So there's the road map. Starting in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. They are no longer to just go to the lost sheep of the house of Egypt. Now remember in Matthew 10 when he gave them that, when he sent them two by two, he gave them that prohibition. You are to go only to the lost sheep of the house of Egypt. Now that prohibition has been abolished and he says you are to go to the entire world. And then the second part of the commission is teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. They were to gather them into assemblies and to teach them all that Christ has commanded, to observe all that Christ has commanded. Now how did the disciples do? How did they do with this mandate? Well, They were faithful to the mandate in Jerusalem. We see once they received power from on high, they immediately bore witness to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter preaches his Pentecost sermon, testifying that Jesus is the Christ of the scripture that was foretold, and he calls them to repent and to believe on Christ as their Messiah. And by the Holy Spirit, 3,000 souls get saved. And those that were saved were baptized and taught according to what Christ has commanded, tells us Acts 2.42. So those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about 3,000 souls and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. What about Samaria? What about the ends of the earth? Well, they were bearing a strong witness in Jerusalem, but needed help to go to beyond that. So the Lord raises up persecution. The Lord has the answer for that. It says in Acts 8.1, and there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, and what do you think they did there? And it tells us in verse 4, now those who were scattered went about preaching the Word. Preaching the Word. And so what happens as a result? Philip goes to Samaria and there's a great revival. Then Samaria believes and then they send John and Peter. They come and what they do? They teach them. And they teach them. And then we go from there We see into other believers go beyond Israel and they go, it says, and now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. So they're still only focused on the Jews. Now remember, the Lord says, I want you to go to the ends of the earth. All men, all men, the gospel's for all men. But it says some of them went and they spoke to Hellenistic Jews. And then if you know what happened when God told Peter, they said, you are to go to the Gentiles and show them a vision. And then Peter's mind is changed. He goes and he preaches. And then God saves the centurion in Acts chapter 10. Now, what we see, those who were, it says, scattered, and they went as far as Antioch and began preaching. Well, God blesses their efforts, it says, but there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists, also preaching the Lord Jesus, and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. So what do you think the church in Jerusalem does when they hear that the word came to Antioch? Well, exactly what the Lord told them to do. They are to teach them. So what they do, they send Barnabas, a man filled with the Holy Spirit. They sent him and he's encouraged and he begins to teach them. He goes and gets Paul and they come and they preach and teach the church there. It tells us later that there were other prophets and teachers there in Antioch, whether they came from Jerusalem, whether they were raised up from Antioch, it matters not. The fact is that they were being taught. And then this church plant becomes the sending church. And the Holy Spirit says, I want you to send forth Barnabas and Paul. And they go into Asia Minor, and they preach the gospel. Churches are established there. And it says, now what do you think they do, Barnabas and Paul, when they establish churches? It tells us in Acts 14, 21 to 23. If you have a chance, please turn there. And as you do, I'm going to read it. When they had preached the gospel to the city and made many disciples, They returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And verse 23, And when they had appointed elders for them, in every church with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed." So what do they do, brethren? Exactly that. They preach the gospel, they make disciples, and what do they do? They gather them into churches, they raise up elders so that they could be taught. That's the purpose, brethren, of the preaching of the gospel. To make disciples and to teach them, to instruct them. That's why the Lord given elders and pastors in Ephesians 4. It tells us, elders and pastors, for the equipping of the saints, for the edifying of the brethren, that we might be complete. So that is the commission that the Lord has given us. Local and then local churches began not only in Europe, but in I'm sorry in Asia Minor But then in Macedonia where the Lord sends Paul he shuts he shuts the door to to Asia Minor He says I saw a man in vision and says come over to Macedonia and help us so the Lord wants this gospel to go beyond just Asia Minor, but to go to Europe and beyond and so we see churches established in Achaia and in Macedonia, and so on. Now, how long is the gospel, brethren, how long is this commission to last? Till the end of the age. Till the end of the age. And it can't stop with us. It cannot stop with us. We must continue this mandate. Because King Jesus, King Jesus deserves to have a witness in every part of this world. And that is, brethren, what we are about to do by the grace of God. Therefore, I want to encourage you with this word. Your faithful giving, we're helping to plant and support churches in different continents around the world. We have missionaries, the Sniders and the Johnsons of Papua, Indonesia. We have the Jebelos of Papua, New Guinea, Tigreens in Turkey. the Daudis in Mexico, Pardins in Peru, Philip Remers in China. And we're helping to see, brethren, not only through our own effort to see the gospel go to other parts, but also across the world. So we praise God, and I just want to encourage you with that. We're going to turn our attention now to how church planting impacts our church. Because as churches raise up other churches, obviously the sending church will be impacted by that, and you are all a part of that. Turn with me to 3 John. You may recall in 2018 we were in 3 John and so I have just a bit of a summary of what was said there because it's very applicable to how this new endeavor will affect us as a body. 3 John, as you know it's one chapter so I'll just read verses 1 through 8. The Elder, to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testify to your love before the Church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore, we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth. God's objective in this world is to glorify Himself as the ends of the earth. See the salvation that He accomplishes through His Son, Jesus Christ. Now God will use different means to accomplish this purpose of glorification. Every decision, every circumstance, every molecule is subject to God's loving sovereignty. All things, then, are ordered to set the stage for the glorification of Jesus Christ as He saves His people from their sins. as the scriptures declare, that Jesus came into the world in the fullness of time. We might wonder, why didn't he come when we had smartphones? But rather, he came in the first century. And it's no accident, therefore, that Christ would come in the first century where, at the same time, the Romans would be building their dominance around the world. That didn't surprise God. God appointed it that way. And why? As one commentator said, the Romans excelled all people In three things, in military might and discipline, in civil law, and in something we might seem to be trivial, but road making. You've heard of the Roman roads, I'm sure. And those Roman roads linked the entire south and west of Europe to North Africa, Asia Minor, and the southwest of continental Asia, three continents, with a network of highways and solidly built roads. You and I take for granted the roads that we ride on. We, I'm sure, get very upset when we hit a pothole. But think about the blessing of actual built, engineered roads that didn't exist prior to the Romans, now linking together some of the most important cities in the world. In no other period of time, until the invention of the steamship and railway, has travel been so freely practiced over so wide an area of the globe for the first time in history. And it was in this particular time of history that Christianity rose to prominence. This is no accident in the mind of God. Without these Roman roads, from a human standpoint, without these roads, the career of the Apostle Paul, the things we just heard about in the book of Acts, would never have been possible. So as the Gospel spread in the first century, as the cross was preached, along those roads were set up local churches. And these local churches were set up as stations in the forward marching of the body of Christ. And these churches were links, they were links in a continuous chain, keeping in touch with one another and with the advance of the Christian cause. They served as means of transmitting messages and reinforcements along the line, governed by the idea of the marching orders of the chief founder to go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature. We then, as a church, we are an outpost of heaven along the roads of this world. And we are to support other outposts of heaven along the roads. We are to support the creation of new outposts when new civilizations arise or when populations increase and a new church is needed. That is our marching order. As we look at the book of 3 John, just for some context, John here is writing to a man named Gaius, and he commends him. He gives him praise for hosting some of these traveling Christian teachers. Along the roads, as we were just talking, teachers and preachers are preaching the good news, and they're going to be able to stay in some of these outposts along the road. And so John the Apostle commends these churches for hosting these teachers. Because while one outpost might not be exactly the same as the other outpost, they recognize that they are working for the same kingdom. And so by supporting these traveling Christian teachers, they are supporting Jesus Christ and the proclamation of the gospel. Later on in the epistle, he condemns another man named Diotrephes in verses 9-11 for doing the exact opposite. And so it's clear that churches ought to support other churches and other teachers in their endeavor to preach the gospel. And why? Look at verse 7 again. It says they have gone out for what? For the sake of the name. There are some people in this room who will be going out for the sake of the name. It's not easy to depart from people that you see every week and maybe you come in contact with throughout the week. But why are we doing this? For the sake of the name. The name of Jesus Christ. And so, we ought to support these in verse 8. Why should we support them? So that we may be fellow workers for the truth. When we start this endeavor in Carney, we are continuing to be teammates, even though our team is now in two different locations. We must see ourselves as fellow workers. We will be starting soon, as Pastor Eli mentioned, July 28th. That is a month and a half from now. July 28th, there will be more empty seats in this room, unless the Lord is pleased to bring a swath of visitors just that day. And as we meet in Kearney, while many of you meet here in Wayne, it might be two congregations, but it's still one church. And of course, just for the sake of specifics, we are not an independent church yet anyway. And for that reason, on July 28th, we don't even have a name. And I did that on purpose. We're not going to be some specific name, we'll just be Bread of Life, Meeting, and Carney, until the Lord directs us to pick a name and constitute and raise up elders and so on. And we can talk more about that during the questions and answers, but that's intentional so you'll recognize that we're not leaving you, but we are in the same kingdom, working for the same king. We are fellow workers for the truth. And so as it has been mentioned, July 28th will be our soft launch. A soft launch simply means that we're not promoting it to the community. That doesn't mean that people aren't welcome. We expect all that come on service that day to invite friends and family and promote it amongst themselves. But it isn't like a grand opening. It's basically those of us who are committed to Kearney and meeting in Kearney, we'll just start meeting in Kearney on Sunday and get used to what it's like to meet in Kearney every Sunday. We'll be meeting at 1.30 p.m. because the building that we found is a church that uses it in the morning. Briefly before I pass off of Pastor Joe, then how can we as one church support, how can we be those who are fellow workers for the truth? Well, first of all, like I said, pray. Pray for these families who are leaving a more established, mature church to go to a church that isn't quite established yet, that doesn't have the diversity of mature believers that we have and people and resources that we have. Of course, we're going to borrow a lot of resources from Bread of Life, but it's still a big deal to go from an established church to something that's brand new. So continue to hold us in prayer. We have to understand that spiritual warfare is real. Right now, every Tuesday night that we meet, things are really edifying and encouraging and joyous, but we're recognizing that Satan is not happy. And though He may not have tried to attack, as far as we know yet, it's coming. And as the Kingdom of God expands, the Kingdom of Satan gets just a little bit threatened. And so there will be an attack. As we've been going through Ezra and Nehemiah, you see it all the time. They build the temple, there's an attack. They build the wall, there's an attack. Of course, if a church is going to be established, there will be an attack. And we need your prayers. We also will be very intentional in having combined worship and activities from time to time. Like I said, we're not yet an independent church. We don't even have a name. So while we meet on Sundays in the next few months, we're not adding any new, say, evangelism outreaches or things like that. We're going to encourage people from both congregations to go to the same outreaches and some of the same home groups as well. We'll try to coordinate some sort of agape meal from time to time, things like a church picnic, if you were at that yesterday, or the upcoming men's retreat. We're still going to be sharing a lot of those things together because, again, we are fellow workers and we should see each other as teammates. We're also going to be exchanging pulpits, hearing reports. This will be really the biggest ministry we're supporting, because this is our ministry. We as a church have been blessed to multiply, replicate ourselves in another community. So there will be times where Joe and Eli preach in Kearney, or I come back to preach here in Wayne. Also, there are men here who are gifted to preach, and maybe you won't be joining us in Kearney, but you may be given the opportunity to come preach in Kearney from time to time. But regardless of the things that we might do as a church to set these things up, my challenge to all of us is that we would continually try to be intentional about keeping in touch. A lot of us might determine that I'm going to visit this one or that one, but the truth is, out of sight, out of mind. And so, like we see in 3 John, be hospitable. How can you facilitate hospitality to those who are leaving in order to multiply the kingdom? I encourage you to visit the church plant as well. I do want to caution against going half and half. So if you're thinking, I'm just going to go half in Wayne and half in Kearney, ultimately you should be accountable to one congregation. But it would be great if every member determined to come visit us from time to time in Kearney, and also to those who are going to Kearney, don't forget to come back and visit here. Yeah, I also want to say that if you're in Wayne and your co-worker lives close to Kearney, now you have a place you know you can invite them to. That's another way you support the church by sending people who live in that area closer to that area. And again, the same is for Kearney. I want to see the church in Kearney be built up, but if I meet someone who lives closer to Wayne, I would want to invite them to go to the church in Wayne. But don't use the two locations as a way to fall between the cracks. Please commit yourself to one or the other and continue to keep in touch, but remember that you have elders who are shepherding your soul, and if they don't know if one Sunday you're in Wayne or Kearney, it could be a temptation to slip between the cracks. I also want to say when it comes to visiting, you don't have to wait until July 28th. We have been meeting every Tuesday, and just to clarify, if that was perceived as only for people who are going to Kearney, it's not. So we have three Tuesdays left at 7 p.m. That's the building we're meeting in. If you want to come check us out, please come this Tuesday or next Tuesday to the end of June. We're going to be meeting every Tuesday there, and it's on the calendar if you need to know the address. And so my brothers and sisters, I recognize that this is a bittersweet time, but let us think biblically. We are fellow workers for the truth. Those who are leaving are going out for the sake of the name. So let us endeavor that we would continue to support one another as outposts of heaven along the road of this world until that one day where we will be one forever, never to separate again. Let's turn to Romans, chapter 12. Romans 12, we'll read the first 13 verses. Romans 12, verse 1. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given me, I say to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of the faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. Let us use them if prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. Let love be genuine, abhor what is evil, and hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints. And seek to show hospitality. Romans chapter 12 is filled with application, imperatives describing how the church is to live in light of the glorious gospel that has been outlined in the first 11 chapters of the book of Romans, revealing the gospel through the ages. I find in this a summary of how we as individuals are to approach this idea of a church plant. It reveals to us, this text reveals to us, the mindset that we need going in. It reveals to us how to discern God's will as to whether or not to go to the plant or to stay here. It shows us the need of humility, of the service that we need to take up, how we are to continue to treat one another going forward. Yesterday I was speaking with a brother from CFC talking about the church plant and I said, I'm excited. He said, you're excited. You're excited people, you're not going to see people. And I started to think about it and it really hit me, the standing up, having them stand up. I think it's going to hit more on July 28th. I would submit to you that church planting to the natural mind is utterly illogical. Utterly illogical. It goes against all natural reason. It certainly goes against the Western corporate business model mentality. If we were to look at the present makeup of our church with merely natural eyes, we have brothers and sisters here who love one another genuinely, we're growing, everything is functioning well, things are going smoothly, people are using their gifts without being burnt out, we're enjoying a great season of of Psalm 133 kind of unity in our church, the kind of unity that pleases God as brethren dwell together. We're generally like-minded, certainly in our eldership and in our church body. The members are serving. We're blessed with a number of different evangelistic efforts. We've been enjoying an extended period of peace, so the question might be, why bust it up? Why change? Why enter into a realm that would most certainly stir up Satan's angry wrath? Why not instead simply look for a bigger building, continue to grow our brand? We have a successful foundation built. Why not just let that grow? I would submit to you that that is a carnal way of thinking, that the large church vision is, in my humble estimation, a worldly vision. It is an incorrect understanding of the makeup of the church. And it's a conviction that I've held for decades, but one that only grows stronger as time goes on. I remember, and some of you were here, 15 years ago, 16 years ago, when I said, if we ever reached 100 people and we're not ready to plant a church, something was wrong with the leadership because we were not raising up leaders. And certainly, we see examples of this throughout the evangelical landscape, domineering, controlling, authoritative leadership that's unwilling to release responsibility to the body of Christ. They will never consider planting a church. This idea of the large church mentality, if it is linked to scripture at all, it's either the result, in my opinion, of an over-realized eschatology, or it's drawn from the Old Testament theology of glory that sees the church as a building that's parallel to the temple, and it is not. The church is not a building. Nowhere in scripture does God call us to plant worship centers. And brethren, I realize that might sound harsh to some, but I firmly believe that God carefully and jealously outlines in Scripture the way He desires His people to worship Him in spirit and in truth. And I would say in the strongest of terms that the Old Testament temple or worship center format That is, admittedly, the experience of many evangelicals in our day is the result of a commercial society that uses a form of Christianity to draw consumers, not worshipers. And I believe the church needs to stop. And the way we stop is to stop being conformed to the pattern of thinking of this world and be transformed by the renewal of our mind. As we consider the church universal as a whole, the universal church all over the world, it is huge. It is diverse and huge in its size. There is wonderful unity that God builds into his church. We read about it, how it is made up of people from every tribe and tongue and nation of the world. And one day we all will gather in perfect unity, people from every tribe, every tongue, every nation, in one great worship center, in one great gathering. But that is not yet. That is the future glory. Also in the past, yes, there were the pilgrim feasts of Israel where all of the people of faith, all of the Jewish people from all over the world would come to a single place in Jerusalem to worship. But that is the past glory. We live in the present. Christ has come. He has fulfilled the old covenant. Those things pass away. God destroyed the temple and built a greater one in the resurrection of his son. The glory of the former temple is gone, despite human efforts to try to raise it in our day. The past is past. The future is yet to come. Jesus has not yet come in his power and glory and his return. So we can look back and we can appreciate past glory. We can look forward, anticipating future glory. But now in this age, we live not according to a theology of glory, but a theology of the cross. In this age. Worship is more spiritual, less visible. Not that it's not visible, we can all see each other. It is visible to a point, but it's, Jesus said, the Father is looking for what? not the ones that go to the mountain, Jesus told the woman at the well, not the ones that go to the mountain here, there, but those who are worshipers in spirit and in truth. Our worship is more spiritual, less visible in nature. We have the same characteristic unity, but that unity is not demonstrated in a central physical location, but rather it is as individual local bodies gather who by necessity of three dimensions that we are presently all bound to, time and space, we need to be separated because of this necessity of our dimensions, but who nevertheless remain one in spirit. Because we are indeed one body, We are one body. The hymn writer captures the emotion of the loss when he says, when we asunder part. Be sure, it causes inward pain. Never were the hymn writer's words more true than in the context of a church plant. We experience it every time a brother or sister here have to move out of the area, go to another part of the country, and we sense that inward pain as a result of life in this world, in the dimensions of this world. And the cost will be significant. We are losing the activity, the presence of many servants and many leaders, but more significantly, we are being separated from our friends and our family. I hope you have no doubt that this will impact each and every one of you as individuals. Sunday, July 28th, it will feel different here. It will look different here in Wayne. and it causes inward pain. There's no sense in being stoic, no sense in ignoring that emotional pain and feeling of loss. That's one of the reasons why we're doing this, is to prepare us for this. That is the reality of life, brothers and sisters, in an imperfect world. The gospel spreads through weak vessels, it spreads through pain, The cross we bear in life is not comfortable, it is difficult, it embodies a sacrifice. And so will this church planting effort be difficult and require a sacrifice, the very kind of sacrifice Romans 12 calls our spiritual worship. Because it is God's will, we need to do this. Now is the time that God is calling us as a body for perhaps our greatest sacrifice in the short history of our little church. Now God is calling us to offer up, in a sense, our church body as a living sacrifice for a greater purpose for the advancement of his kingdom. But we do so, though, not without great hope, not without hope that this sacrifice will be used of God for His glory and the furtherment of His invisible kingdom. So in order for all of us, every one of us, to fully appreciate, fully love, fully endorse, and fully rejoice in this effort, it's going to require a renewal of our minds. We present our body, in this case our church body, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship. It will require, as Romans 12 continues, that each and every one of us not think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but with the measure of faith that God has assigned to each and every one of us as individuals, that we employ that faith, utilize our unique gifts to serve one another. Brethren, the time has come, verses 9 and 13, for our love to be genuine, for us to outdo each other in showing honor to one another. It's a time for zealous action, for fervent service of our Lord. It's a time to rejoice in hope and be patient through tribulation, and above all, constant in prayer. It's a time to contribute to the needs of the saints. The financial stability of our two churches is going to be tested as well. All that is listed in Romans 12, those first 13 verses, apply as we go forward. as you consider your role, whether it's going to be here or in Kearney. You don't make any decisions based on carnal ideas. Let's not be carnal in our choosing of a church by any human means, program, style, friends, comfort. Romans 12 reveals the mindset that we must have for God to reveal. Say you're praying about, I don't know, I should go there or I don't know where God's going to use my gifts most. Well, he says in Romans 12, do not be conformed to this world. Be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. If you make this decision based on a carnal reason, you're not having your mind renewed. But as you renew your mind, not being conformed to the pattern of this world, I am sure, I am confident, the Holy Spirit will tell you where He wants you to be. Finally, Hebrews 12 tells us of Christ. that he endured the cross despising the shame, but there was a greater reason, a greater purpose. How is it that Christ endured the cross? How is it that Christ endured that suffering? How is it that the body of Christ endures moments of pain? Christ did it and we do it for the joy that is set before him. Let us likewise look for the joy that is set before us, brethren, as we consider the facts that we just heard about the growth of the early church. Another biblical church is going to be raised up that is going to proclaim the glorious gospel about a half hour south of here. Let us not see this as a division, but rather an addition. More room is going to be made here in our parking lot and in our pews. More can come and be a part of a biblical community, both here and incarnate. What does that mean? It means more sheep. It means more green pasture. It means more quiet waters that sheep can find. It means Christ getting more glory in more people's lives. His kingdom advancing through weak and foolish means that he ordains, namely another small church. When we asunder part, it causes inward pain. But brethren, because of the blessed tie that binds, what is the tie that binds? It's not the ties that bind. The blessed tie that bind is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who binds our hearts in Christian love, our fears, our hopes, our aims are one. And we shall still be joined in heart and hope to meet again until the day when perfect love and oneness reign through all eternity. Let us rejoice in this work and movement of God in our behalf. As we bear a cross, may we see the privilege and the hope and the joy that's set before us. And may we, by His grace, be up to this challenge. And may God receive all the glory and honor and praise. Amen.