Why Do We Go to Church? | Matthew 16 & Acts 2 | Pastor Matt Nettesheim

If you will, stand with me as you take your Bible.

Take your Bible and stand with me. I'd like you

to turn over to the book of... Here we go, okay.

I need some young, strong whippersnappers. And

to move this, this will be a blessing. Take your

Bible, turn over with me to Matthew chapter number

16, if you will. Matthew chapter number 16. And

we're going to start by reading a verse in the

Bible. And Matthew chapter number 16. Oh, wonderful,

wonderful, wonderful. And church, wow. the children

of the church, learning the word of God, it is

a blessing. I want to just say thank you parents

very much for your investment in time and bringing

them faithfully and then allowing them to do

the devotions and being a part of that. It's

memories and your sowing seeds that will pay

dividends for the rest of their lives. Here in

Matthew chapter number 16, Jesus came to Caesarea

Philippi in verse number 13 and he began to ask

his disciples, whom do men say that I the son

of man am? And if you look at me before we read

this, Caesarea Philippi, been there, there is

actually in the side of a mountain was just a

sheer rock that they began to carve little pedestals,

and they would put their idols up there on those

pedestals. And he's sort of looking at Caesarea

Philippi, looking at that place of idols, place

of idols, and he begins to say to them, Whom

do men say that I, the son of men, am? And it's

amazing, if you look at verse number 14, and

they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist,

some Elias, and others Jeremiah, or one of the

prophets. He saith unto them, but whom say ye

that I am? Read verse 16 with me. And Simon Peter

answered and said, thou art the Christ, the son

of the living God. Wow. Look at verse 17, and

Jesus answered and said, unto him, blessed art

thou, Saruman Bar -Jona, for flesh and blood

hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father

which is in heaven. What he's saying is, you're

the Christ, you're the Messiah, you're the Lamb

of God which taketh away the sin of the world.

That's not the answer up there, but Jesus, you

are the answer. By the way, that's important.

Those idols. They have no power, no strength,

no ability, but Jesus, remember that Jesus was

prophesied being Emmanuel, which being interpreted

as God with us. You're Jesus, you're God in the

flesh. You're that lamb of God which take away

the sin of the world. Now look with me at verse

number 18. And I say also unto thee, that thou

art Peter, and upon this rock, what is this next

phrase says? I will build my church in the gates

of hell. shall not prevail against it. I will

build my church. Say that phrase with me, I will

build my church. Now that's interesting, I will

build, what's a church? And it's very interesting,

Sister Michelle Clark, she talked about one of

her sons asking, why do we go to church? And

she was sort of shocked that a young child would

ask that, why do we go to church? And she said,

well, if you think about it, if we built something

on sand by the ocean, it would come by and it'd

sweep away what we built. Well, we want to build

something on a rock, our lives on a foundation

that will last. And trying to explain what a

church is, and that's really a good question.

Why do we go to church? Jesus mentions the church.

But why do we go to the church? Before we go

any further, let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Dear Father in heaven, we love you. And Lord,

it's been a good night. My heart rejoiced in

seeing the children, Lord, and they're growing

up, memorizing scriptures, Lord, trying to live

for you. Thank you, Lord, for the children of

our church. But God, I pray that you help us

to answer that question tonight. Why do we go

to church? What is a church? And I pray that

you give us clarity of mind and help us. In Jesus'

name. Amen. You may be seated. Oh, why do we

go to church? That's really an important thought.

If you begin to turn the Bible over with me to

Acts chapter two, while you turn to Acts chapter

two, Jesus ascended up into heaven. and as Jesus

ascended up into heaven, the disciples were there

in Jerusalem, and it was the day of Pentecost.

It had fully come. It was 50 days after the Passover.

There's Jews from all over the world, and Peter

gets up in this crowd of people and begins to

preach and preach the mighty sermon. And if you

read Acts chapter two, a phenomenal sermon, and

it's a sermon that pointed people to Jesus. the

rock, Jesus, the one who started the church,

the founder of the church, and then he gets to

the verse number 42, after 3 ,000 people got

saved and baptized. In verse 42, it says this,

and they continued, do you see this? Steadfastly,

this is verse 42, Acts chapter two, verse 42,

and they continued steadfastly, and the apostles

what? Doctrine and fellowship. and in breaking

of bread and in prayers. And the disciples, they

didn't just get saved or lead those people to

salvation. People did get saved, they did get

baptized, but the Bible says they continued.

They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine

and fellowship and in breaking bread and in prayers.

Look at verse 47. It says this, praising God

and having favor with all the people and the

Lord added to the. church daily such as should

be saved. A church is not a building. A church

is God's people gathered together. Churches is

a group of saved baptized believers who gather

to worship God. They gather to hear the word

of God preach. They gather to pray together.

They gather to encourage one another. And they

want to reach other people with the gospel. And

the church is God's people meeting together,

you might say, for God's purpose. And church

is God's idea. But really, if you could think

about it in a simplistic way, the church is simply

God's people gathered together. It's good to

be a part of the family of God. and it's good

for God's people to gather together, and praise

the Lord. I got gloriously saved on a Saturday,

and I went to church on a Sunday. I was baptized

in that church, and then all of a sudden I realized,

wow, this is, a lot of people, this is a great

place to be. First of all, I get to be around

other believers, and it's sort of like a little

bit of heaven on Earth, and I lived in a, we

live in a sin -sick world, and I was in the Navy

at that particular time going to electronic school,

and sin was very, common with the people around,

the foul language was very common, but you go

to church and people are interested in God, people

are interested in the Word of God, people are

interested in the things of God, and it just

was exciting being around people who are interested

in the great God that we have. So church is God's

people gathered together. Church is God's people

gathered together. Church is God's people gathered

together. It's good for God's people to gather

together. It's good to be able to gather together.

It's good to have a building, but church is God's

people gathered together. Now look at this if

you will. Look at this in Ephesians chapter number

five. You turn over to Ephesians chapter number

five. Oh yeah, Ephesians chapter number five.

Churches, God's people gathered together. This

is really, really, really interesting, and Ephesians

chapter five is a chapter about the family, and

it's about music, it's about living for the Lord.

You go into chapter six, it talks about children

obey your parents, but in the midst of this,

in chapter number five, verse 25, it says, husbands,

love your. wives, even as Christ also, Christ

also loved the, Christ also loved the church,

Christ also loved the church, and gave himself

for it, okay? Now, but it doesn't stop there.

Christ loved the church. Love is giving yourself

for the good of someone else. So Christ loved

the church. He was giving himself to help the

people. A church is God's people gathered together.

but Jesus loved the church and gave him, verse

26, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, the

church, with a washing of water by the word.

And so when you begin to think about it, the

Lord's giving himself, loving the church, and

he's helping sanctify and clean the church. not

clean the actual building, Sister Hancock, but

cleaning our lives up. And in church is a place

where God loves the church and he begins to work

in the lives of God's people and he begins to

clean your lives, he begins to mold you, he begins

to form you, he begins to fashion you. We're

not to be conformed to this world, we're to be

transformed by the renewing of your mind, but

church is a place, then look at this, verse 27,

that he might present to it, the church, It's

a glorious church, a glorious church, a glorious

church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such

thing, but that it should be holy and without

blemish right here. The Lord loves the church,

and then it speaks about a glorious church right

there. Church is not mainly about us, it's about

the Lord. And we go to church, we go to church,

and Jesus loved the church, and we love Jesus.

And this is sort of a thought process. Jesus

loves the church, which is us. Okay. It's hard

to go after Patch the Pirate Club, okay? We gathered

together as a church. A church is God's people

gathered together. God loved the church. God

loves us. And coming to church, it's a way to

express our love for Him. You think about it,

we sing songs, singing songs, songs, singing

Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing

and making melody for our entertainment. No,

singing your heart. to the Lord. So when you

come to church in a way, we're saying, God, we

love you. Jesus, we love you. We're singing to

you. We want to learn about you. We want to be

molded closer. We want to be that glorious church

where you're sanctifying us and molding us and

transforming us and building us up. And it's

so interesting. A church gathers together. God's

people gather together. God loves us. And he

has a plan for each and every one of us. Now,

think about that. God has a plan for you. God

has a desire for you. How many of you ever struggle

with your own plans? Okay, we all do. But if

we, church, when you go to church and we hear

the preaching of God's word, remember that God

loves us, God's got a plan for us, he's trying

to point us in a certain direction, he's trying

to sanctify us, and boy, if we remember, church

is about us not only receiving God's love, but

it's about us loving him back. Okay, I want you

to go to this next one, if you will, and go to

First Timothy, or Second Timothy chapter number

three, Second Timothy chapter number three. Oh,

why do we go to church? Well, we go to church.

Church is God's people gathered together. We

go to church and remind ourselves Jesus loved

the church and we love Jesus. And then in Second

Timothy chapter three, verse 16, and look at

this, read verse 16 with me if you're there.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God

and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,

for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

that the man of God may be perfect, throughly

furnished unto all good works. We go to church

to hear from God. And you know, we are a Bible

-believing church. And what hopefully you should

expect every time you come to church is to hear

from God. not Matt and Etta's sign, but here,

thus saith the Lord, the word of God. We open

up the Bible, what does the Bible say? And the

Bible is an absolute amazing book. And we go

to church to hear the Bible or hear from God.

And I remember going to church and I'd just gotten

saved and the preacher got up and man alive began

to say, thus saith the Lord. And at first I said,

does the Bible really say that? Or is he making

these things up? And then it challenged me to

read the Bible. And then all of a sudden I said,

wow, I never knew that was in the Bible. I never

knew God wanted me to do this. I never understood

that. And then I began to all of a sudden see

life clearly. I saw where I was at. I began to

see where I was going. And the Bible is an absolute,

and somebody say amen to that. Bible's an amazing

book. We oughta read the Bible, study the Bible.

We oughta come faithfully to hear the preaching

of God's word. And God uses his word to teach.

to correct us, to strengthen us. We go to church

so the Bible can shape our hearts and our lives.

Have you ever been around somebody who watches

maybe the news too much? or somebody who watch

reads too many things on the internet right there,

and sometimes they're there, but they're not

quite there, and you as a Christian, a Bible

-leaving Christian, when you saturate your heart

and your mind in the word of God, all of a sudden

it begins to change your thinking. Let this mind

be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, and

you see the world differently. You see the future

differently. You see your family differently.

You see life differently. The Bible is a glorious

book. It's a wonderful book. We go to church

to hear the Bible. So as we go through this,

church is God's people gathered together. We

go to church and remember Jesus loved the church

and we love Jesus. We go to church to hear the

Bible. Go to Hebrews chapter 10. Go to Hebrews

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10. A very famous scripture right here

and I want to speak about this a little bit and

talk about this a little bit and notice this

a little bit. And Hebrews chapter number 10.

All right, I'm gonna switch over this man Here

we go let us consider one another Here we read

it with me and let us consider one another to

provoke unto love and to good works Okay, stop

again verse 24 and let us what consider one another.

What does consider one another? Think about one

another notice one another, set our hearts and

our minds on one another. And so when we begin

to think about church, church is a place to hear

the Bible, but church is a place to encourage

one another. Look at verse 25. Not forsaking

the assembling of ourselves together as the manner

of some is, but what? Exhorting one another.

and so much the more as ye see the day approaching,

exhorting one. When you consider one another,

the Bible then says that we are to exhort one

another. Okay, first of all, you consider one

another. You think about somebody else. Church

is a place where we're to think about other people.

Now, very important, we go to church. Church

is God's people gathering together. The Lord

loves us, has a plan for us. We go to church

to love him back right there. We sing songs to

him. We listen to the word of God. But then church

is a place where we consider one another. We

think about one another. We consider. And then

it mentions the word exhort. What does the word

exhort mean? Okay, what does the word exhort

mean? The word exhort means more than just saying

nice things. We consider one another, but it's

more than just saying something nice to somebody.

It means that we are to encourage, we're to sometimes

urge, we're sometimes warned, we're to strengthen,

we're to stir, we're to help people keep following

the Lord. We are to consider one another, to

provoke one another, to encourage one another,

to urge one another to help each other on the

journey to live for God. Church, I need help.

You need help. And when we come to... together

with church, church is God's people gathered

together, and we take time out and realize, man,

I'm gonna consider one another. I'm gonna think

about other people around me. And boy, I wanna,

you know, when you come in and I see you back

there, Brother Scott, Grinnells, and Miss Rhonda,

I know the battles you go to with your health.

and you get here and boy, I shook your hand and

it made me smile seeing that you were here. Brother

Jeff, brother Jeff back there. Raise your hand,

brother Jeff, you there? He's in the hospital

last week. Do you realize he had a stroke? And

all of a sudden he's here, he's going through

a battle. And right there, I went back there

and I gave him a big hug and he started tears

in his eyes. But just being here in church tonight,

it's a miracle Jeff's here. And I'm thankful

for that. I needed that hug, but he needed that

hug too. Brother Thomas Ashton, you're here,

man alive. But what a blessing to have you back.

What a blessing to have you back. And one of

the things when we come in here, we should think

about one another, notice one another. And then

we ought to try to basically provoke, as you

think about it, it's exhort one another. We ought

to try our best to help people. Brother Ricardo,

you brought your friend back again. And I'm so

glad he's here again. And it's a blessing to

have you. And so, but this church is a place

where you belong and we want you. But when you

come to church, you ought to not be pushed down

your lifted up and strengthened and encouraged

and that's what we're here for. We're here to

help one another, exhort one another, encourage

one another. It's one of the greatest parts of

church. Exhorting one another means lovingly

helping other believers stay close to the Lord

and help them to do right. All right, 1 Corinthians

chapter number one. 1 Corinthians chapter number

one. 1 Corinthians chapter number one. Did I

say first Corinthians chapter number one? Okay.

Look at verse number 17. Oh, one of my absolute

favorite verses in the Bible. If you're there,

read it with me. For Christ sent me not to baptize,

but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of

words, lest the cross of Christ should be made

of none effect. We go to church, but part of

church is reaching people with the gospel. Part

of church is trying to reach people with the

gospel. And the preaching of the cross is to

them that perish foolishness, but unto us. That's

the church, that's the body of believers, that's

the gathering together. We have an opportunity

to reach people with the gospel, reach people

with the gospel. I remember Brother Bob Beeman,

and Bob and Barbara Beeman, they came, they got

saved at a revival many years ago, and baptized

the both of them, and then Brother Bob Beeman,

you know, they were in their 60s at that time,

but Brother Bob Beeman came and he says, hey

pastor, I like this soul saving church thing.

And he always called about soul saving. He never,

he was like, soul saving. This soul saving is

great. And he would smile with that twinkle in

his eye, soul saving. Souls being saved is great.

I wanna say a soul being saved from dying and

going to hell and going to heaven for all of

eternity is great. It's great. It is great. You

know, when we think about people getting saved,

people getting saved from hell, and they get

to go to heaven when we die, there is nothing,

that's why it's the power of God. It's life -changing,

it makes a difference for all of eternity. You

think about Sunday, people at Saturday, we had

close to 100 people go out, soul -winning, soul

-saving on Saturday. We had visitors on church

on Sunday, and God worked in a great way, great

way. Brother Geron, we spent some time together,

you and Michelle yesterday, my family, and I've

forgotten. Miss Michelle came here and Miss Michelle

Clark got saved here at our church. And then

you know how it is, something that she'll never

forget, we forgot to put the heater on in the

baptistery, she got baptized in freezing cold

water. Those are the ones that stick. I think

we oughta just turn it off right there. But Miss

Michelle, you got gloriously saved. And we think

about that. Boy, people get gloriously saved.

And one of the great things we do, great things

we do, is tell people about Jesus. I read this

every once in a while and I wanted to read it

tonight. The life -saving station. On a dangerous

sea coast where shipwrecks often occur, there

was once a crude life -saving station. The building

was just a hut and there was only one boat. but

the few devoted members kept a constant watch

over the sea with no thought for themselves.

They went out day or night tirelessly searching

for the lost. Many lives were saved by this wonderful

little life -saving station so that it became

famous. Some of those who were saved and various

others in the surrounding area wanted to associate

and give their time and money so new boats were

bought in new crews were trained, the little

life -saving station grew. Some of the new members

of the life -saving station were unhappy that

the building was so crude and so poorly equipped.

They felt that it should be a more comfortable

place, should be provided as a first refuge for

those saved from the sea. So they replaced the

emergency cots with beds and put better furniture

in an enlarged building. Now the life -saving

station became a popular gathering place for

its members, and they redecorated it beautifully

and furnished it exquisitely. Fewer members were

now interested in going on life -saving missions.

So... They hired lifeboat crews. The life -saving

motive still prevailed in the club decoration,

and there was a liturgical life -saving boat

in the meeting room. About this time, a large

ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired

crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet, and

half -drowned people. They were dirty and sick,

and some of them had yellow skin. The beautiful

new club was considerably messed up, so the property

committee immediately had a shower built, a house

built outside the club where victims of shipwreck

could be cleaned up before coming inside. At

the next meeting, there was a split in the club

membership. Most of the members wanted to stop

the club's life -saving activities as being unpleasant

and an hindrance to normal social life of the

club. Some members insisted upon life -saving

as the primary purpose and pointed out that they

were still called a life -saving station. But

they were finally voted down and told that if

they wanted to save lives of all the various

kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those

waters, they could begin their own life -saving

station down the coast. They did. As the years

went by, the new station experienced the same

changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved

into a club, and yet another life -saving station

was founded. History continued to repeat itself,

and today you will find a number of exclusive

clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are still

frequent in those waters. but most people drown.

Boy, we as a church were to reach people with

the gospel. And so, go over this, I'm not trying

to park there too much, but a church is God's

people gathered together. God loved the church.

He's a plan for each and every one of us as individuals.

We're to love him back. We're to grow through

his word. Boy, as a church, the people gathered

together. We're to be Bible believers. We're

to study the word, look at the word. Then we're

supposed to reach people with the gospel. And

then this is the next one in 1 Corinthians chapter

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

12. If you want to turn there, I'll just begin

to read it. For the body is not one member, but

many. This is 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse

1 Corinthians 12:14

14. For the body is not one member, but many.

If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand,

I am not of the body, is it therefore not of

the body? And if the ear shall say, because I

am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore

not of the body? If the whole body were an eye,

where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing,

where were the smelling? But now hath God set

the members, every one of them, in the body as

it hath pleased him. And this is interesting.

This is speaking of the different types of church

member. Everybody in our church has different

gifts. Every one of our church has different

abilities. Not everybody's an ear. Not everybody's

a nose. Not everybody's an eyeball. Not everybody's

hair. Amen. And we begin to think about that.

God created us all differently and everybody

here is needed. God's got a plan for every one

of us. of us in 1 Peter chapter four, as every

man hath received the gift, and this I think

is the problem, and write this verse down, 1

Peter chapter four verse 10, as every man hath

received the gift, every man has received a gift,

everybody has a gift, everybody has an ability.

And we go back to not forsaking the assembly

of ourselves together. We go to serve. We consider

one another. We think about one another. We're

to exhort. We're to strengthen. We're to encourage.

We're to help one another when we go to church,

the body right there. But it says, as every man

hath received the gift, even so, minister the

same one to another. In other words, sometimes

we don't get busy with what God has given us

and use that gift to help people. And it's saying,

hey, don't worry. If you're not an eye, don't

worry about it. If God made you a nose, be a

nose. If God made you a hand, be a hand. If God

made you a foot, be a foot. But be a foot, if

you're a foot, be a foot that use that gift to

help somebody. If you're that hand, be a hand

that helps somebody. If you're that eye, be an

eye that helps somebody take whatever. God has

given you and be a blessing to somebody right

there. We go to church to serve the Lord together.

God gives every believer something to do. And

I tell you what, inside this church, there's

something to do. There's always things to do.

There's so many things that we can do and we

need to do. And I wanna say, volunteer, say,

Pastor, do you have a job for me? And I'll say,

absolutely, got a job for you. And we'll find

that job. And by the way, this is an intro. Hello,

everybody over there. Wow, this is good. Hi,

Ms. Ducky, good to see you over there. Praise

the Lord. Everybody has a gift. I was gonna say

that sometimes here's the problem is everybody

has a gift, but we're sometimes, and if I use,

that's a negative way to say it, but sometimes

we're too lazy or selfish to use our gift. to

help others. And so I wanna encourage you, don't

be lazy and don't be selfish. Use that gift for

the Lord. We're at the very end, so why do we

go to church? Church is a great place, God's

invention, and the church is God's people gathered

together. We go to church, and church is a place

where Jesus loved the church and we love Jesus

back. We wanna learn the Bible. We wanna learn

the Bible. We hear the word of God. We go to

church to encourage one another. We consider

one another. We help one another. We go to church

to gather together and make a rally and cry.

to reach the gospel or reach the world with the

gospel, planting a church, Brother Barry, is

exciting. And then we go to church to serve the

Lord together. Church is a wonderful place. Let's

pray. Dear Father in heaven, we love you. It's

been a good night. Simple reminder about church,

Lord, and I love church. I love coming to church

on Wednesday night. I love coming to church on

Sunday mornings and I love coming back on Sunday

night. And Lord, this church is filled with faithful

families, faithful children, Lord. And Lord,

thank you for that. Thank you for loving us.

Thank you for giving us the gift of a church.

Thank you for a place that we can go where there's

so many people that consider one another. And

Lord, I know so many people consider me and my

family and they encourage me and my family. Thank

you, Lord, for that encouragement. I need it,

Lord. And Lord, I pray that you help us as a

church to never forget giving the gospel out.

Help us to somehow, some way, remember that we

live in a world that needs you desperately. Help

us to, on purpose, tell people about you. Lord,

I pray that you help even tonight some people

with some gifts really step up and find a way

to be used of you in a great way. We sure do.