Good morning.
It is good to have each and every one of
you with us.
It’s good to see a few faces we haven’t
seen in a while and it’s great
to have our visitors with us. We
appreciate your presence at every
opportunity that
you have to to meet with us.
There are things that every person alive
needs.
One of the first ones that comes to mind
is oxygen.
~ you won’t get very far without oxygen
in your bloodstream and in your body and
around you.
Another is water.
You will sustain yourself for a short
period of time without water,
certainly longer than you can go without
oxygen.
But
Try to go without it for very long,
and you’re gonna find out in a quite
devastating way that you need water.
Food. We have an abundance of food here
today.
So I hope all of you are planning on
staying to eat lunch with us because there
is food, and that’s one of the needs that
you have is food.
So some of us could probably do with a
little less by way of portions,
and some could probably do with a little
more,
but we all need food.
Three things that every person needs.
Oxygen, water, food.
What I want talk about this morning is
three other things that every person
needs. ~ unlike the prior three,
that all of us pretty much have no choice
but to come to grips with
the fact that we do n need oxygen,
water, food.
A lot of people do not realize they need
these three things.
Though if they were to examine their
lives,
especially in view of the Word of God,
they would find they absolutely need these
three things.
As we consider the first of those,
consider number one, that Every person,
everywhere that has ever lived,
of any culture, of any nation,
of every tongue that has ever been born
needs grace that saves.
Paul will write in Romans chapter 3 that
all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. In Romans chapter 6,
verse 23, he will write that the wages of
sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life
through Christ.
Every person of every nation,
of every tongue, of every language needs
grace
that saves. Turn to Titus chapter 2.
As we spend time in the text that will
be shown there on the screen as we go
through our lesson,
bear in mind we will say some things about
them,
and we will not have time to say all the
things that we would like
to say about them. In Titus chapter 2 and
in verse 11,
we read for the grace that of God that
brings salvation has appeared
to all men.
God doesn’t do useless things.
God doesn’t do things that have no value.
God doesn’t do things for people that they
don’t need.
And yet God has made that grace available.
He has made it appear. It has made it ~
that which is accessible
to all men. Teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lust,
we should live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present age.
Looking for the blessed hope and glorious
appearing of our great
God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave
himself for us that he might redeem
us from every lawless deed, and purify for
himself his own special people,
zealous for good works. Speak these
things,
exhort, and rebuke with all authority,
let no one despise you. As Paul is writing
to this young preacher,
Timothy.
He makes it incredibly clear to Timothy
that God has made salvation accessible
to all men, to every person who is alive.
But that grace which saves us also demands
something of us.
It teaches us how to live and how not to
live.
It demands of us a change in our lives.
Paul is going to write to Titus,
and he is going to make it clear that
grace is that which leads to salvation.
It is that which has made salvation
accessible.
But it is also that which causes us to
deny ungodliness.
And the stark contrast of ungodliness is
to live in righteousness.
But he also makes it clear that that grace
causes us to look
for something beyond this life.
So many people who live their daily lives
in misery,
in dread, and in despair do so because
they
are not looking past this life.
And this life for them holds nothing that
they
can take joy in. And yet,
Paul will tell us that grace causes
someone to look toward that
hope of Christ appearing. There is a time,
there is a place, there is an event that
is coming,
and Paul lived in assurance of it that
Christ would return,
that this world was not all that there
was,
that there was a home waiting for those
who were faithful.
Paul would write in 2 Timothy chapter 4.
Concerning the fact that in this life he
had fought the good fight,
he had finished the course, he had kept
the faith.
Therefore he said, I know there is laid up
for me a crown of righteousness,
and not for me only, but for all those
who love his appearing. Grace that saves
demands that we look forward in hope to
Christ’s appearing.
But it also teaches us the difference
between the lawless deeds that
we had been partakers of in our former
life before our salvation and the
redeemed,
purified, and zealous state we are
supposed to be in as a result of our
salvation.
We are not to be those who look like the
world.
We are not to be those who live like the
world.
We are not, as Christians, to be those who
entertain the things that
the world entertains because we don’t live
in the world.
Our home is in heaven.
And we are a unique people.
But he also makes it clear that that grace
causes us to speak.
As Paul wrote to Titus, he demanded of
Titus.
If that grace has appeared to all men,
then the gospel must be preached to all
men.
And it means that even amongst Christians,
Paul says, you’re going to have to speak,
you’re going to have to exhort,
and you’re going to have to rebuke.
So many times when people are corrected,
they would love to claim, Well,
you didn’t do that correcting with the
right attitude.
You you didn’t do that correcting and that
admonishing and that rebuking
in the way that I wanted it to be done.
It’s really hard for the person who’s done
the wrong to complain about
how they get corrected.
I know we live in a world where people
want to soften just about everything.
There are probably some teachers in
schools that are no longer feeling
as though it’s appropriate to use red to
correct the incorrect answers
on the test for the students. Because red
is such a harsh color.
It implies that they’ve done something
wrong.
They did. They got it wrong.
And by correcting it, you haven’t harmed
them,
you’ve helped them.
It’s sad when we have neglected
to understand that grace is supposed to
correct us,
not permit us to continue in wrong.
Paul will make it clear to Titus that
grace has appeared to
all men so that we might have salvation
that has appeared to all men,
so that we might live corrected,
purified, sanctified lives.
If you turn over to 1 Peter, Peter,
as he is writing to the first century
church,
will write concerning the very nature of
God.
He writes in First Peter chapter one,
beginning in verse 15, and writes,
But as he who called you is holy,
you also be holy in all your conduct,
because it is written, Be holy,
for I am holy. ~
See, grace doesn’t allow us to be what we
are.
Grace demands of us that we become like He
is.
And that is holy.
If you turn over to First Thessalonians
chapter four.
In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, Paul will
write concerning the conduct of
our lives as Christians. And he will
write,
finally, then, brethren, we urge and
exhort in the Lord Jesus that
you should abound more and more,
just as you received from us how you ought
to walk and to please God.
Notice as he’s about to continue in the
things that he’s stating,
he is going to say, We already told you
this.
We already informed you of this.
We already taught you this.
And we want you to abound in what you have
already been taught.
He says, For you know what commandments we
gave you through
the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of
God,
your sanctification, that you should
abstain from sexual immorality,
that each of you should possess.
or should know how to possess his own
vessel in sanctification and honor.
He says, as he writes to them,
he says, we taught you how not to live
like the world.
We taught you the things that you were not
to participate in,
that the world glories in. We taught you
how to possess your person
in honor.
He goes on to say, not in passion of lust,
like the Gentiles who do not know God,
that no one should take advantage of or
defraud his brother in this matter,
because the Lord is the avenger of all
such.
No, wait, no, no. The the Lord is loving
and gracious and forgiving.
The Lord would never do anything that was
harmful.
What do you think the word avenger means?
God says, you defraud your brother in
matters of sexuality.
He says, I will avenge them on you.
Notice, he says, that no one should take
advantage of or defraud his brother
in this matter, because the Lord is the
avenger of all such,
as we also forewarned you and testified.
Paul says, I told you this. When I taught
you when you were converted,
we spoke this in your hearing.
He goes on to say, For God did not call us
to uncleanness,
but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects
this does not reject man.
But God, who also has given us His Holy
Spirit.
Paul says not only did we tell you this
while we were present with you,
not only did we warn you that this was the
case,
and not only did we teach you properly how
you ought to behave,
we also made it clear that if you deny
what we’re teaching,
you’re arguing with the Lord and not us.
Grace that saves demands
a corrected life that corresponds to the
very holy nature
of God. We turn to Ephesians chapter four.
Paul writes in Ephesians chapter four in a
context where he’s describing
the maturity of the body of Christ,
and he will begin in verse 17,
and he will write, This I say,
therefore, and testify in the Lord that
you should no longer walk as the rest
of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of
their mind.
Notice in the prior passage, he said,
Don’t walk the way they do, because they
do not know God.
Now he’s writing to another group of
Christians and saying,
do not walk as they do, because they are
futile in their mind.
They don’t know what they’re doing.
He says, having their understanding
darkened,
being alienated from the life of God,
because of the ignorance that is in them,
because of the blindness of their hearts,
who being past feeling, have given
themselves over to lewdness,
to work all uncleanness with greediness,
but you have not so learned Christ.
The grace that has been given that has
brought salvation,
and that salvation has appeared to all
men,
is the teaching of Christ.
And Paul says, you didn’t learn Christ in
that sort of lifestyle.
You weren’t taught to live in this sort of
lifestyle.
He says, rather, if indeed you have heard
him and have been taught by
him as truth is in Jesus.
That you put off concerning your former
conduct,
the old man which grows corrupt according
to the deceitful lust,
but renew in the spirit of your mind,
and that you put on the new man,
which was created according to God in true
righteousness and holiness.
Paul is going to tell these individuals,
you need the grace of God.
Not so you can keep living the way you
lived in the world,
but so that you can recreate yourself in
the image
and likeness of God, so that you might
know
how to be righteous.
and holy and sanctified and justified in
his sight.
Every person everywhere needs the grace
that saves.
But every person everywhere also needs the
church,
the body of Christ. In Matthew chapter 16,
Jesus will ask his apostles, Who do men
say that I am?
And they will respond Well, some say you
are Elias or Jeremiah or
one of the prophets.
And Jesus will say, Who do you say that I
am?
And Peter on that occasion will respond,
You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God.
Now, Jesus is going to say,
Blessed are you, Simon Barjona,
for flesh and blood is not revealed this
unto you,
but my Father which is in heaven.
And upon this rock,
now much has been said through the years
by individuals about
the fact that Peter’s name means rock.
And that upon this rock, Jesus must be
saying,
Well, upon you, Peter. No.
Peter’s name means pebble.
Jesus says, Upon this bedrock.
What is the bedrock? The testimony of
God the Father is the bedrock.
Upon the testimony revealed by God the
Father.
Through the mouth of Peter upon this rock,
Paul Christ says, I will build my
assembly.
That’s what the word church means.
I will build my called out people.
That’s what the word ecclesia or church
means.
And the gates of Hades shall not prevail
against it.
Jesus came as one of his very explicitly
stated purposes
to build his church.
He didn’t come to build a thousand
churches.
He didn’t come to build a million
churches.
He didn’t come to build a church for every
thought and belief in humanity.
He came to build his singular church.
Because it belongs to no one but Him.
And it goes without saying
That if there is someone else’s name on
the church of which you are a member,
you should maybe examine whether or not it
belongs to Christ or belongs
to the person whose name’s on it.
But I want us to point out that Jesus
makes this explicitly stated
as his purpose in coming.
Jesus would say elsewhere in the book of
Luke that he came
to seek and to save that which was lost.
And that’s true. But he came to accomplish
that purpose in his church.
And he said, I’m building it, and death
won’t stop it.
But then consider as well in Ephesians
chapter four,
as Paul writes concerning the church.
You go back to chapter one, and he says,
beginning in verse twenty-one,
that he as verse twenty rather,
which he worked in Christ when he raised
him from the dead and seated
him at the right hand in heavenly places.
Far above all principality and power and
dominion and might,
and every name that is named, not only in
this age,
but also in that which is to come,
and put all things under his feet and gave
him to be head over all things
to the church, which is his body,
the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Paul says that Christ’s authority is
exhibited first
and foremost in
The church, and the church is the body of
Christ.
But we go into chapter four, and as Paul
is talking about
the oneness of the body, as he’s talking
about the oneness of
the church and illustrating that in the
oneness of God,
and the oneness of Christ, and the oneness
of the baptism in which we are called,
he says all of these things, but he says,
But to each one of us, grace was given
according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Therefore, he says, when he ascended on
high,
he led captivity captive and gave gifts to
men.
Now this he ascended. What does it mean?
But that he also first descended into the
lower parts of the earth.
He who descended is also the one who
ascended far above all the heavens,
that he might fill all things.
A lot of people struggle to understand
what is Paul saying.
Paul’s saying that Jesus Christ died and
was buried.
But he didn’t stay in the grave.
He descended, he was laid in the tomb.
He also ascended, he came forth from that
grave and was ascended back to the Father.
And in the promise of doing so,
and in the statement before he did so,
he said, I’m going to send the power of
the Holy Spirit to be able
to provide you what you need to accomplish
the mission.
And so Jesus told his apostles to wait in
Jerusalem until they were endued with
power from on high, after which they would
begin preaching
and testifying concerning him in
Jerusalem,
and then in Judea, and then in Samaria,
and then to the uttermost part of the
earth.
That occurred in Acts chapter 2.
You can read about it. And then Acts
chapter 3,
chapter 4, chapter 5, all the way through
the end of the book.
But as Paul is writing to the church at
Ephesus,
he makes it clear that these things God
did because
he was equipping the church. He says,
and he himself gave some to be apostles,
some prophets, some evangelists,
some pastors and teachers for the
equipping of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ.
He says, These things were done,
these gifts of the miraculous gifts in the
first century were given to
the church so that the church might be
equipped to do its service.
That’s what the word ministry means.
Till we all come to the unity of the faith
and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
to a perfect man, to the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ,
that we should no longer be children
tossed to and fro,
carried about with every wind of doctrine.
By the trickery of men in cunning
craftiness of deceitful plotting,
but speaking the truth in love may grow up
in all things into him
who is the head Christ, from whom the
whole body joined and knit together
by what every joint supplies according to
the effective working by which every part
does its share causes growth of the body
for the edifying of itself in love.
Paul as hiz writing to these Christians.
says there’s one church.
But all of you are individual members of
it.
And as he’s writing to these Christians,
he’s making it incredibly clear that God
has given what the church needed
in the first century and forward from that
time,
the what they have what they needed in
order to become mature in Christ.
But have you never ever noticed?
That someone who goes through the the
harsh reality of having to have
a part of their body amputated the
amputated part doesn’t keep living.
It it doesn’t go on and say, Well,
I never really needed the rest of the body
anyway.
I’m pretty good on my own. I mean I’m a
finger.
Who needs a leg? Who needs a heart?
Who needs an eye? I’m a finger.
Now I I know some of you grew up watching
the Adams family.
You thought that hand was real.
But believe it or not, a part of the body
doesn’t live without the rest of the body.
Many people are quite convinced they need
Christ.
They just don’t need his church.
Christ said, ~ you really do.
Because it is in the body.
It is in the church where God is supplying
all the things that
you need in this life to be a part of the
body of Christ.
But not only does a person need the
church,
the body of Christ, because it was
Christ’s purpose to come.
And to build the church. Not only do you
need the church because it is
the place in which our equipping is done
to make us mature in Christ,
you also need it because of
accountability.
Galatians chapter six. Paul writes to
these Christians in the churches
of Galatians says, Brethren, if a man is
overtaken in any trespass,
you who are spiritual, restore such a one
in a spirit of gentleness,
considering yourself lest you also be
tempted.
Bear one another’s burden and so fulfill
the law of Christ.
For if any one thinks himself to be
something when he is nothing,
he deceives himself. But let each one of
you examine his own work,
then he will have rejoicing in himself
alone and not in another,
for each one shall bear his own load.
Paul makes it clear as he’s writing to the
churches of Galatia,
he says you all have an individual
responsibility to
To stand up and do the work of the church.
Part of the work of the church is rescuing
those who are wayward,
turning them back from the error of their
way,
restoring the one who is in trespass.
But you also need to remember to carry the
load of those who are unable
to carry their own.
But if you wanna examine somebody,
stop examining everyone else and start
examining yourself.
Make sure you’re first carrying your load.
Paul makes it clear that you don’t get to
have the church without accountability.
You don’t get to be a member of the body
without functioning with the body.
But he also points out that we need to do
so remembering that
the body is important.
Paul elsewhere will write to the church at
Corinth.
He will write to the church in Rome,
and he will encourage them to remember
that the members of
the body are purchased by the blood of
Christ.
And they are precious in the eyes of God.
And that we have no business destroying
what Christ purchased.
But then consider what James writes.
James chapter five. James as he writes to
the first century church will make
it clear that they need the church because
of prayer.
Have you ever considered that a person
apart from the body of Christ
is missing the opportunity and the power
that prayer can have in their lives?
In James chapter 5, James will write to
these Christians,
beginning in verse 16, and he will say,
Confess your trespasses to one another and
pray for one another that
you may be healed. The effective,
fervent prayer of a righteous man avails
much.
Where do you find righteous men?
The answer is you only find them in the
church.
Because they’re the only ones who have
obtained the grace of God.
They’re the only ones who have obtained
the sanctification of God.
They’re the only ones that have obtained
the holiness of God,
and therefore you find them in the place
where God put them.
In the church. If someone says,
I don’t need the church, then you’re
saying I don’t need the prayers
of righteous people.
Someone says, I don’t need the church,
then you’re saying you don’t need the
person who can pray for you when you sin.
He says the effective prayer of a
righteous man avails much.
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.
He prayed earnestly that it would not
rain,
and it did not rain on the land for three
years and six months.
And he prayed again, and the heaven gave
rain,
and the earth produced its fruit.
Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from
the truth and someone turns him back,
Let him know that he who turns a sinner
from the error of his ways will save
a soul from death and cover a multitude of
sins.
But these aren’t the only things that Paul
said that you could pray for.
As a matter of fact, or sorry,
James writes that you could pray for.
Verse 13, he says, if anyone among you
suffering,
let him pray. Is anyone cheerful?
Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you
sick?
Let him call for the elders of the church
and let them pray over them.
Over and over and over again, James says,
pray, pray, pray, pray for yourself,
pray for others, pray for sinners,
pray for those who are.
Who have repented, pray.
You need the church because of prayer.
You need the church to pray for you.
And you, as a righteous person in the body
of Christ,
need to pray for others. But then consider
Peter also will write in
1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 1 that you
need the church because of oversight.
Chapter 4, verse 1, Therefore,
since Christ also suffered for us in the
flesh,
arm yourselves with the same mind.
For he who has suffered in the flesh has
ceased from sin,
that he no longer should live the rest of
his time in the flesh,
but it for the lust of men, but for the
will of God.
For we have spent enough of our past
lifetime in doing the will of
the Gentiles when we walked in the
lewdness,
lust, drunkenness, revelries, drinking
parties,
and abominable idolatries. In regards to
these things,
They think it strange that you do not run
with them in the same flood
of dissipation, speaking evil of you.
They will give an account to him who is
ready to judge the living and the dead.
Now Paul has written about what your life
is supposed to be changed from or sorry,
Peter, get my peas right here in a minute.
Peter has written what your life is to be
changed from.
He’s also going to write in chapter five
about the work of the oversight that
has to be done over you. Chapter five,
verse one, the elders who are among you I
exhort,
I who am a fellow elder and witness of the
sufferings of Christ,
and also a partaker of the glory that will
be revealed,
shepherd the flock.
Shepherd the flock of God, which is among
you,
serving his overseers, not by compulsion,
but willingly, not for dishonest gain,
but eagerly, nor as being lords over those
entrusted to you,
but being examples to the flock.
And when the chief shepherd appears,
you will receive the crown of glory that
does not fade away.
Peter writes that because these people,
these Christians, this church is supposed
to live a new life,
they’re going to need some oversight.
They’re going to need someone to shepherd
them.
They’re going to need someone to lead them
in right paths.
And that’s what the work of elders is.
You need the church because it’s Jesus’
purpose to build it.
You need the church because it’s the place
in which you’re equipping to
do the work of the ministry of God and
Christ occurs.
You need the church because of the
accountability that the church provides.
You need the church because of prayer
without it,
without the body of Christ. Those prayers
are hindered.
You need the church because of the
oversight that God established within
the body of Christ. But then consider
number three:
every person everywhere needs fellowship
with God by
the gospel of Christ.
In first John chapter one.
John will write
Beginning in verse 4, and these things we
write to you that your joy may be full.
This is the message which we have heard
from him,
and declare to you that God is light and
in him is no darkness at all.
If we say we have fellowship with him and
walk in darkness,
we lie and do not practice the truth.
John, an intimate friend of Jesus Christ,
an apostle of our Lord, an elder in the
church,
will write to the Christians and will tell
them,
you need to be in fellowship with God.
Every person needs to be in fellowship
with God.
And I’m going to write
to you so that your joy may be full.
Because I know that God is light and in
him is no darkness at all.
And yet John judges every single person
who walks in dark.
He says, if you walk in darkness and you
claim you have fellowship with God,
you’re a liar. You don’t practice the
truth.
But then he says,
But if we walk in the light, as he is in
the light,
we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ,
his son, cleanses us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not
in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just.
To forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned,
we make him a liar, and the his word is
not in us.
John, as he writes to these Christians,
writes about what they already knew.
That at one point in their lives they were
in darkness.
John is going to write to them because
they’re no longer in darkness,
but they have to make sure they stay in
the light.
And they have to do that by what they
practice,
by what they continue in, by what they’re
willing to
ask God for forgiveness for and confess to
Him.
They do that by maintaining their walk in
the light.
He writes in chapter 2, verse 1:
My little children, these things I write
to you so that you may not sin.
And if anyone sins, we have an advocate
with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous, and he himself
is the propitiation for our sins,
and not for ours only, but also for the
whole world.
John doesn’t leave anybody out.
John says it’s possible for you to hear
the gospel,
to believe that gospel,
because Jesus said, Except you believe
that I am He,
you shall die in your sins. To repent of
your sins,
to change your life, to conform to the
Word of God,
because grace demands that you do.
And to confess the name of Christ.
Because there’s no name under heaven given
among men whereby we must
be saved but Jesus Christ.
And to be immersed in water for the
remission of your sins,
because you have to die to sin.
And Paul would write in Romans chapter 6
that when we are buried with
him in baptism, we are buried into his
death and resurrected with
him in the likeness of his resurrection.
Coming up out of that watery grave a new
person,
no longer a slave of sin, but rather a
slave of righteousness.
But then consider first Corinthians
chapter three.
In First Corinthians chapter three,
beginning in verse ten.
Paul writes, according to the grace of
God,
which was given to me as a wise master
builder,
I have laid the foundation and another
builds on it.
But let each one take heed how he builds.
Now he’s already said back in chapter one,
the foundation that he laid was his
preaching of the gospel.
And that he preached Jesus Christ and him
crucified.
And he didn’t preach anything else.
He didn’t preach anyone else. He preached
Christ.
And he says, I’ve laid the foundation.
Verse 11, for no other foundation can
anyone lay than that which is laid,
which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone
builds on this foundation with gold,
silver, precious stones, wood,
hay, straw, each one’s work will become
clear,
for the day will declare it, because it
will be revealed by fire,
and the fire will test each one’s work of
what sort it is.
He says, There’s one foundation
In the life of an individual that grace
authorizes,
and it’s Jesus Christ. It’s the foundation
which the Word of God,
the gospel, lays. And everyone who builds
on that as they build the life
of that individual, every teacher who
comes along and builds on
the foundation of Christ builds in some
sort of way.
Some people build that which is in
accordance with God’s will,
and some people don’t.
Some teachers build in accordance with
God’s will and some teachers don’t.
And God’s going to test what’s built.
He’s going to test it in the lives of
individuals.
He’s going to find out whether or not what
they’ve built stands up to his testing.
And so notice what he says. He says,
if anyone’s work which he has built on it
endures,
he will receive reward. If anyone’s work
is burned,
he will suffer loss, though he himself
will be saved,
yet so as through fire. Do you not know
that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If anyone defiles the temple of God,
God will destroy him.
For the temple of God is holy,
which temple you are.
Paul brings to mind for these Corinthian
brethren that
old temple that was made in Israel,
that old place that was new at one time,
where God said, I’ll put my name there,
and you will be my people,
and I will be your God.
And Paul says the foundation of that
temple in the life of a Christian
is Jesus Christ.
But you’ve got work to do.
You have to build on that foundation.
But you be careful. Because if you build
on a foundation,
but the building and the structure that
you make is made out of straw,
made out of wood, made out of stubble,
has no substance to it, it isn’t ordered
by the word of God.
It’s going to be destroyed.
But there are precious things that you can
build if you will but do it,
if you will but take the Word of God and
instill it into your lives,
and if you will build on the foundation of
Jesus Christ.
But let me make it clear. That only
happens inside the body of Christ.
That only happens inside of the church.
Because it only happens where grace and
salvation is found,
and grace and salvation place one into the
body of Christ.
Because that is the place where Jesus
said,
I came to defeat everything that death
can send at you.
Three things people need. Many people
don’t know they need them.
Many people think they already have them
and they don’t.
Many people believe that they’re walking
in righteousness,
they’re walking in grace, they’re walking
in salvation,
but they don’t know what the Word of God
actually says because they don’t actually
read it. They don’t study it. They don’t
examine themselves by it.
They don’t judge themselves whether or not
they’re in the faith.
But we as the church, the body of Christ,
have a responsibility to seek and to save
the lost,
for that is the mission of the church.
It is our mission to reach the person next
door
and the person across the globe.
The person who’s an American and the
person who’s from
Iran.
To reach the person who’s lost,
no matter their name, their culture,
their background, their family lineage,
their color of their skin, but rather
understanding that they
are all made in the image of God.
But we don’t call them to live like they
are and just become those
who claim to follow Christ. We call them
to live like Christ.
For that’s what he’s called us to do.
Three things every person needs grace,
the church, and fellowship with God.
And they’re found through the gospel
message of Jesus Christ.
If you’re outside the body of Christ this
morning and you would like to
be added to the body of Christ by God,
we don’t add you. He does. We add He adds
you when you
Obey his terms of entrance to get into the
contract that is salvation,
the covenant relationship with God.
But if you’re one who’s been faithful to
God in the past and you’ve turned your
back
and you’re no longer walking with him,
know this: that we are called upon to pray
with
you and pray for you if you’re willing to
repent.
If you have need of the invitation of
Christ.
For any reason, why not come now as we
stand and as we sing
