Sermon

I Will Build My Church - Allen Bailey

Church of Christ - Bakersfield, Ca

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  1. In the Book of Matthew, the 16th chapter verse 18, this will be

  2. the keynote of our text. I'm going to broaden out the

  3. test and read more verses, but I'll first make sure in verse

  4. 18. This is Jesus, doing the

  5. writing. If you have a red-letter Edition

  6. Bible, you will see this then red letter Jesus said Upon This

  7. Rock. I will build my church which is

  8. the title of the lesson. I will build my church.

  9. And the Gates of Hell shall not Prevail against it.

  10. We want to learn what he meant by what he said.

  11. We want to learn what led up to that, comment or statement that

  12. Jesus made. So, therefore, would you please

  13. go back to verse 13? Matthew 16, we're going to begin

  14. in verse 13. The word of God says the

  15. following when Jesus came into the coasts of caesarea Philippi,

  16. he asked his disciples saying whom to Man say I the son of man

  17. I am one unique quality that we find here is Jesus said Sara

  18. man, he did not say who knew men.

  19. Say, I the Son of God, am he's at whom do men?

  20. Say I the son of man am Jesus was one that during his

  21. ministry, he called himself, son of man or numerous of occasions

  22. but when God spoke from Heaven he led be made known this.

  23. This is my son, he did that at the baptism of Jesus.

  24. In Matthew 3, verse 16 and 17. He did that of the

    Matthew 3:16

  25. Transfiguration in Matthew 17, 1 through 5.

  26. Now those passengers are not on the board.

  27. That was Matthew 3. Verse 16 and 17 the baptism of

  28. Jesus. Matthew 17 1 through 5 the

  29. Transfiguration both of which are amazing.

  30. And passengers. But here Jesus is saying, I want

  31. to know whom do men say that I am now.

  32. Good conversation is on is developing right here.

  33. Here's one of the Bible said in verse 14 and they said, was some

  34. say you are John the Baptist. Some say you are Elias, some say

  35. your jeremias or one of the prophets.

  36. In other words they don't have a clue who you are.

  37. They don't know. And then the Bible said, but

  38. whom say ye that I am now that's getting right down to the

  39. nitty-gritty and he approached Peter was dead.

  40. He's then I won't know who you say that.

  41. I am verse, 16 Simon Peter answered and said unto him.

  42. Thou Art the Christ, the son of the Living.

  43. God Dear friends before we baptized we confess the Lord

  44. Jesus with our mouth. We made the confession.

  45. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God just like Peter

  46. did right here. In Acts 8:37 Ethiopian eunuch in

    Acts 8:37

  47. the King James Version, New King James Version, and other

  48. versions equals. Well include the text of

  49. scripture where it was stated. I believe that Jesus Christ is

  50. the Son of God and John 1 and 29.

  51. John said, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins

  52. of the world. My dear friends, we need to look

  53. at Jesus as the Son of God. Our Lord.

  54. Our Savior, the savior of the world.

  55. We need to look at Jesus is our very best friend, John 15, and

  56. verse 13. And Jesus is speaking here and

  57. he's drawing attention, and he's mentioning something here that

  58. has never been mentioned before. The church has been called

  59. Kingdom Nimrod some time, but now he identifies the church.

  60. Would you look with me now? Verse 17?

  61. And Jesus said to Simon Peter and the others.

  62. He said bless her about Simon bar, Jonah for flesh and blood

  63. has not revealed that into you, but my Father, which is in

  64. heaven and I say unto thee that thou art Peter and Upon This

  65. Rock. I will build my church and the

  66. Gates of Hell shall not Prevail against it.

  67. This deserves a moment of our time.

  68. He praised Peter for his Proclamation that Jesus Christ.

  69. Is the Son of God, a very wonderful study enjoyable one to

  70. share with other people and then he said Upon This Rock and that

  71. rock is the foundation that confession That just that, Peter

  72. made upon this Foundation, upon this confession, I will build my

  73. church upon that Proclamation that I am.

  74. The Son of God upon that, I will build my church.

  75. He led to be made known what you see is entitled on the ward.

  76. I will build my church. And he said in the Gates of Hell

  77. shall not Prevail against it. What does that mean?

  78. What it means is that the gates of Hades, if you have a Greek

  79. New Testament, you have seen the word Hades that is what this

  80. English word. Hell is from the Greek word

  81. Haney, the place for departed Spirits.

  82. Jesus said, I'm alive now, but I'm going to die, and I'm going

  83. to go to Hades, but Hades English word.

  84. Hell will not prevent me from building my church.

  85. Church. He said I will build my church

  86. and he said, the Gates of Hell will not stop me.

  87. Nobody and nothing will stop me. They can kill me and they're

  88. going to do that. They're going to kill me but I

  89. will be back. You remember during his

  90. ministry, he said destroy this Tabernacle in three days, I'm

  91. rising up again. It's going, I'm going to be

  92. coming back and I will be seeing you.

  93. I will be back. It is magnificent when you put

  94. yourself and the sandals of Jesus and you began to think in

  95. their walk in to understand what he was going through. it is an

  96. amazing passage my Christian friends, to all of you in this

  97. assembly who are members of the Lord's church, the church that

  98. Jesus Built You are so very blessed.

  99. You've got brothers and sisters and all parts of the world.

  100. You've got hundreds and thousands in America, you've got

  101. many, many more thousand and Africa and in variety of parts

  102. of the world. It is amazing.

  103. You can go to the Philippines and go to Australia on a mats

  104. and go you just go all over the place.

  105. And there's New Testament, Christians.

  106. Oh yes there are some time there are few in number but they're

  107. your brothers and sisters in Christ.

  108. And when you read the Bible, if you would read the New Testament

  109. and to those who are members of the Lord's church then and you

  110. would put yourself and understanding.

  111. That's my brother in Christ. She's my sister in Christ.

  112. Well, they mention men and women.

  113. It's just like we today are brothers and sisters and we love

  114. each other and we hug each other's neck.

  115. I love the atmosphere of this congregation.

  116. The Joy, the love, the warm handshake, the great hugs, and

  117. people give it is fabulous and that's the way it should be.

  118. That's the way the Lord wants it to me.

  119. Because we are helping each other go to heaven, and we want

  120. to build that relationship. Make it strong, and make it

  121. tight, because we're members of the Lord's church.

  122. I love this. Jesus said, I will build my

  123. church. Now, let's pay attention here

  124. for a moment. I will build my church.

  125. Jesus is laying forth to situation, the church is not Not

  126. built yet, but I will build it. It's still in the future of

  127. Matthew, 16:13 through 18, it is still lying in the future but I

  128. will build my church. Death Hades, it's not going to

  129. stop me. Do not give up when I die

  130. Calvary, I will be back and I'm going to build my church.

  131. It is so wonderful to know that the things that Jesus

  132. Illustrated is exactly what happened, only to be, a member

  133. of the Lord's church is. So very important.

  134. Jesus can write me call it my church, because it's his, and we

  135. realize the Lord has given us the opportunity to be a member

  136. of his church. And if you're in this have

  137. saying that you're not and you never obey the gospel and

  138. baptism according to the gospel of the Great Commission, then

  139. you're not a member of the Lord's church.

  140. And you don't want to stay in that position.

  141. You want to change your status, your spiritual status and you

  142. want to obey the gospel. You do want heaven to be your

  143. home and it's very, very important.

  144. Well, as we've studied, Matthew 16:13 418 it becomes abundantly

    Matthew 16:13

  145. clear. Now, we're going to jump quite a

  146. bit forward. We studied one night on that

  147. second chapter. The day, the Church of the

  148. stablished we're going to go to acts 20:28.

    Acts 20:28

  149. There's two or three very important points here that we

  150. need to look at and be reminded of lessons like this or a

  151. reminder to those who have been in the church for most of their

  152. life. But less you like, this will be

  153. new information to many people who have not had that luxury.

  154. And the book of Acts the 20th chapter 28, this is a powerful

  155. passage listen to what the writer said, take heed,

  156. therefore unto yourselves. And to all the flock over the

  157. which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church

  158. of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

  159. Now, all the churches within our Brotherhood within our

  160. fellowship. We call ourselves Church of

  161. Christ and I'll explain more of why, but many people have gone

  162. to this first and said, see Church of God.

  163. So you could go by Church of God.

  164. Well, let's take a look at that who is referred to by the phrase

  165. Church of God. The very next phrase said, which

  166. he hath purchased with his own blood who purchased it with his

  167. own blood. Jesus, Jesus is one and

  168. purchased it with his own blood. So this word god refers to

  169. Jesus. He's the one who purchased it

  170. with his own blood. Now, you may need that sometime

  171. Just look at the verse and die. Scepter passage, you know, a

  172. couple of debates we had on the godhead.

  173. It was very important to show and to clearly established that

  174. all three beings and personalities of the godhead.

  175. God, the father Jesus Christ, the Son and the Holy Spirit all

  176. three, recalled God. All three men called.

  177. Lord, all three were identified as whole Holy God, lord, and

  178. holy and you take a good look at that.

  179. It'd be kinda games and come alive.

  180. The we understand, they have a Unity.

  181. They work together and the debate their Oneness.

  182. They're not one person anymore than husband wife or one, but

  183. not one person. They decide for the Christ are

  184. one but not one person. Well, here's what we find.

  185. Looking at acts 20:28, Church of God that word that phrase refers

    Acts 20:28

  186. to Jesus Christ. It is the Church of Christ.

  187. Now, the thieves in 5 and 25, the word of God teaches here.

  188. Actually, you know, when you go to Ephesians 5 men and great

  189. preacher 32, wonderful lessons on the home, the family husband,

  190. and wife, and their relationship together and it Ephesians 5 and

  191. 25, the word of God said it very, very clear and it shows

  192. how much Jesus loved the church. He feeds in five and twenty

  193. five. Husbands love your wives, even

  194. as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.

  195. I want you to have an appreciation for the church

  196. because Jesus died that he could establish the church.

  197. He allowed himself to me hung on a cross.

  198. Cross to be beaten to be hit with fist, to have a crown of

  199. thorns upon his head. He went through every bit of

  200. that. For you.

  201. And for me, and he said, Paul wrote about Jesus, he gave

  202. himself for the church, dear friends, There may be a time and

  203. I pray that it's not, but that maybe in time that you have to

  204. give your life for the church. We can't hardly fathom that but

  205. do you know a revelation? The second chapter and verse 10?

  206. Revelation 22 verse 10, the latter part of this passage.

    Revelation 22:10

  207. The Bible said be thou faithful unto death, and I will receive a

  208. crown of life and you shall receive the Crown of Life.

  209. Well, what does that mean? Be faithful even to the point of

  210. giving your life dying for the Lord be thou faithful, even unto

  211. death. You look at the earlier part of

  212. the verse you see, trials and tribulation and challenges or

  213. come by the way of the Christian.

  214. I know this can have a two-fold Meaning be thou faithful until

  215. the day you die. That's true.

  216. But in this passage, he really is referring to that.

  217. You be willing to lay down your life for the church.

  218. And for Jesus, like, he laid down his life for you and the

  219. church. So you need to love the church

  220. like Jesus did and be willing to do everything within your power

  221. and your might to do the right thing.

  222. Would you take another look please and Romans the 16th

  223. chapter and verse 16? Romans 16 and verse 16.

  224. The word of God says the following Now, would you take a

  225. good look? At the phrase Churches of

  226. Christ. When Paul, the Apostle was

  227. concluding, The Great Masterpiece of the book of

  228. Romans, here's what he said. Now, I'm going to read it from

  229. the King James version, so if you're using a different

  230. version, it might want it slightly different, but the

  231. meaning was still be there. The Romans have such think 2:16

  232. salute, one another with a holy kiss The Churches of Christ.

  233. Let ye I don't like to hear people read this first thing

  234. that we don't believe in the Holy kiss.

  235. Wrong. We better believe in a holy

  236. kiss. We don't believe in an Unholy

  237. kiss. No, we don't practice.

  238. Immorality Unholy kiss, he said greet one another with a holy

  239. kiss as a custom, wasn't those days your it was very common and

  240. you see that today and the Middle Eastern country you know

  241. they were kids on wanted both cheeks it should be a holy kiss.

  242. I'm seeing brothers and sisters you know kids each other on the

  243. cheek. It's be a holy kiss.

  244. Holy is an adjective. Describing the kiss I just don't

  245. like to see people read five times in the New Testament about

  246. about holy kiss and foot wash and all that bad when I believe

  247. in all that. No, we do believe that it the

  248. holy kiss, not an Unholy one, but the point I want to really

  249. illustrate is the Churches of Christ alert.

  250. You when to use a plural, what did we begin?

  251. This meeting talk about one way. One body and one Church.

  252. Why if there's only one Church did he use the morality Churches

  253. of Christ? Well, let's take a look here at

  254. Revelation, 1 verse 11, And that will help to clarify.

    Revelation 1:11

  255. It is not hard so don't think it is.

  256. Revelation, 12 verse 11, Jesus riding the seven churches of

    Revelation 12:11

  257. Asia and he says the following notice, it's one passage it

  258. clearly identifies. The message we want to talk

  259. about Revelation, 1 verse 11 saying I am Alpha and Omega the

    Revelation 1:11

  260. first and the last well that's is writing a book and sitting

  261. under the seven churches plural which are in Asia.

  262. The word churches is used in the plural because of refers to

  263. different congregations. Not religion.

  264. A b and c, not all these religious you see on all the

  265. corners of Bakersfield California.

  266. No. And then In this passage, he

  267. mentions the seven churches of Asia that were going to receive

  268. this letter under the church at Ephesus.

  269. Smyrna pergamum has thawed Tyrant Sardis, Philadelphia and

  270. unto laodicea. He named the seven churches of

  271. Asia. So understand please remember

  272. this, keep it in your brain. The word churches in the plural.

  273. Mention in Romans 16:16 made you an aroma.

    Romans 16:16

  274. Revelation 1 verse 11 churches, simply refers to congregations

    Revelation 1:11

  275. because many people in the religious world, they're taught

  276. it doesn't matter what church you, go to the recent late Billy

  277. Graham. He would say go to the church of

  278. your choice. You know what, there's not the

  279. one church and we didn't go to the Church of the Lord is

  280. choice. The Lord has a choice.

  281. He has a meaning. He has a purpose.

  282. He has the design. He has a plan.

  283. I was somewhat appalled. And how many people text me or

  284. sent me little Facebook, private messages and call me on the

  285. phone and said, do you think Billy Graham is in Paradise?

  286. I got to do what you say, Billy Graham's In Paradise.

  287. No question that question. Listen, Billy Graham was a false

  288. teacher, he was a nice man. He had a nice family, he did a

  289. lot of good things, and they would point that out to me, but

  290. look at all the good he did. I think you sound like Matthew

    Matthew 7:21–23

  291. 7:21-23. Many will say to me in that day,

  292. Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name,

  293. done many wonderful Works Billy Graham.

  294. There are many wonderful words, but I was saying to you, I never

  295. knew you depart from me. You workers of iniquity.

  296. God is the final judge. We know that, but of corn, the

  297. scripture one who the thoughts teacher, who teach the people

  298. wrong about salvation and we could talk more about that Lord

  299. willing in a couple of nights. So you may need to get another

  300. dose of to this part right here because I want everybody to know

  301. that regardless of how good people are.

  302. They have to obey the gospel and become a member of the Lord's

  303. church. Not some religious organization

  304. started by, man, or woman. They need to be a member of the

  305. Lord's Church in order to be saved.

  306. Time is rushing on, I got to move on to Christian hear the

  307. word Christian the shoes and three verses in the New

  308. Testament acts 11 and 26 hours 26 and 28 first, Peter 4 and

  309. verse 16. Those are the three times the

  310. word Christian issues acts 11:26.

    Acts 11:26

  311. We find here disciples were called Christians.

  312. First in Antioch, Sid disciple is a learner of Jesus, a

  313. follower, a student of Jesus, and those disciples were called

  314. Christians first in Antioch, and you've heard of Antioch

  315. throughout many lessons and your Bible, reading, and all that.

  316. And then in Acts 26, and 28, the word of God teaches about

  317. Ethiopian eunuch as Paul preached to him with all his

  318. might. And King.

  319. Agrippa, put it away and put it off and put it off and he said,

  320. almost down persuaded me to be a Christian.

  321. I want you to know something tonight, you can be almost

  322. persuaded to be a Christian and if you are you're not a

  323. Christian. In order to be a new testament,

  324. Christian, you have to obey the gospel, the gospel Plan of

  325. Salvation, you have to be immersed in water for the

  326. remission of your sins and the name of the father, Son, and

  327. Holy Spirit. That's part of what it is to be

  328. bored again. John 3 verse 7, All of these

    John 3:7

  329. verses just blend together so beautifully.

  330. When you read it, it all fits together.

  331. And I want everybody to know to where the name of Christian is

  332. to wire an important name. The Bible said will be given a

  333. name which is above every other name.

  334. It's powerful. I want you to believe in.

  335. Jesus Christ wants you to follow him.

  336. I want you to be a member of his church.

  337. And I want you to consider that a tremendous honor, and when you

  338. wear the name of Christian, you remember that your Christian at

  339. work at school in your neighborhood and whatever

  340. organization you might be a member of and your Christian at

  341. church, You're Christian. Everywhere you go.

  342. You don't take breaks. You're always a Christian even

  343. on vacation. 24/7, your Christian and so am I because

  344. you never know what influence we can have and I wanted to be for

  345. the better not for the worse. Okay let's take another look at

  346. something here and Mark 8, verse 38 and Luke 9 and 26.

    Mark 8:38

  347. These two passages would teach the same thing.

  348. You know, when we reference this passage here and first Peter 4

  349. and 16 the third time the The word Christian is used, he says,

  350. if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be

  351. ashamed. Don't be ashamed to be a

  352. Christian. And then, in these two verses,

  353. Mark 8:38, Luke 9 and 20 cents. I want you to remember these.

    Mark 8:38

  354. I'm giving you a lot that I want you to remember.

  355. But this is so important. This will help to ground you and

  356. make you more effective and talking to other people about

  357. the gospel. And these two verses here and

  358. teaches, Jesus said, listen, here's where we're going to

  359. work. If you are ashamed of me, then I

  360. am ashamed of you. Ouch.

  361. Hey, read it, Sir. Mark 8:38, Luke 9 and 26 if you

    Mark 8:38

  362. are ashamed of me. You're ashamed to wear the name

  363. Christian, you're ashamed to admit that I'm a Child of God

  364. that I'm a member of the Lord's church.

  365. If you're ashamed of me and all these ways, I will be ashamed of

  366. you. On another note, with the same

  367. principle. Jesus said, in the Book of

  368. Matthew, this is not on the board to write it down.

  369. If you're taking notes and Mac to the tenth chapter verse 32

  370. and 33. Jesus said here in Matthew 10

    Matthew 10:32

  371. verse 32 and 33 whosoever shall confess me before men.

  372. Him will I confess before my Father which is in heaven, but

  373. if you deny me before, men, I will deny you before the Father,

  374. which is in heaven. We don't want any part of that.

  375. We do not want to be denied. We confess Jesus before men or

  376. Jesus said, I will not confess you for the father.

  377. If you don't confess me before men, I'm not Confess you listen

  378. to that, those are not vain or empty words.

  379. These words mean, something, who if you do not profess

  380. Christianity in your life, Jesus said, I will not confess you

  381. before the father very similar to what is said here.

  382. If you are ashamed of me that I'm ashamed of you, two were the

  383. name of Jesus Christ and the church and Christian the New

  384. Testament Church. You are a Christian, a follower,

  385. a disciple, a learner of Jesus Christ.

  386. So therefore we're in the Name of Christ is very, very

  387. important. We can spend the balance of our

  388. time tonight. The church is not, there's a lot

  389. of things. The church is.

  390. But there are some things that is not and this is a very, very

  391. key area of study that will address some of the things that

  392. you might be asked, okay? The church is not, your church

  393. is not my church, it is the Lord's Church.

  394. I know what you mean. When you say, well, my church

  395. says of my church that but let me tell you what that is really

  396. not using the Bible terminology that God would have you to do.

  397. 82 congregation that you attend. It is the church, you're a

  398. member of But it's the Lord's Church don't ever forget that

  399. and that way, we understand, we're going to do things the

  400. Lord's way. Not my way, not your way.

  401. The Lord is way. And therefore, we need to

  402. consider the fact this is the Lord's church.

  403. This is a beautiful remodel job you did here.

  404. This is amazing. Beautiful.

  405. Let me tell you what the church is, those of you sitting in the

  406. benches here This is the village of beautiful building, a great

  407. comfortable, cool place to worship.

  408. I like it. Cool.

  409. Even having a fan here to help that along the way.

  410. But I want to tell you something, today, I want you to

  411. be so thankful to be a member of the Lord's church that you were

  412. his name Christian with pride. And I don't mean pride in a bad

  413. way, but with accomplishment of sense of accomplishment, that

  414. you're happy to let people know that I'm a Christian.

  415. No, I don't want to go there because I'm Christian.

  416. No, I don't talk like that because I'm a Christian.

  417. I want to know anyway, you're different because you don't want

  418. to participate and those worldly things.

  419. Understand the church is not your denomination.

  420. My denomination. It's not even a new

  421. denomination. The church is the Lord's Church.

  422. On the Lord's Day morning when we gather around the Lord's

  423. table. To observe what we call

  424. communion. The Bible uses that term

  425. breaking of bread and the Lord's supper, we're invited by the

  426. Lord to assemble around his table to commune together with

  427. those a lot precious Faith to eat of.

  428. That one loaf that represents the Lord's body at Calvary to

  429. drink out of that one cup containing fruit of the Vine.

  430. That signifies the blood that sealed in purchase the New

  431. Testament and ratified the New Testament.

  432. This is very important, it's not the time to balance your

  433. checkbook or to clip your fingernails or even a clean,

  434. your fingernails. Nor to clean out your purse or

  435. your wallet. It's time to do what Jesus said

  436. this do in remembrance of Me. Jesus knew how we are.

  437. We are forgetful people and if we did not have this to remind

  438. us, there is no telling how long we would go at times and we

  439. don't have think of Jesus. But this is a regular weekly,

  440. reminder. Now, I'm not saying that's the

  441. only time you think of Jesus but Jesus brings us back to what's

  442. really important, the death, the burial and the resurrection.

  443. Please make a notation of First Corinthians 15 verse 1 through 4

    1 Corinthians 15:1–4

  444. Teachers, death burial, and Resurrection, the cord Gospel of

  445. the New Testament Church, Do nomination here, denotes

  446. division, a denomination 12, branches off of forts offer

  447. devise off from another religious organization.

  448. Let's say the church has never been a denomination and they

  449. start one now. The church that Jesus

  450. established understand when he established the church, there

  451. was no other religious organization on Earth.

  452. There wasn't religion, a b, and c.

  453. I remember, when I left a little town of Houston, Missouri,

  454. roughly 2,500 people and I moved to Dallas Texas, your little

  455. bitty phone book, went about this thick and you can turn

  456. pages of Trades and Fades or trade of different religious

  457. organizations and it just mind-boggling how people can

  458. make up their own set of rules their own dictates And people

  459. will follow it. That is amazing to me when you

  460. all were asking, people to do is follow the Bible and be a member

  461. of the Lord's Church. Understand we the church is

  462. never been a denomination and never will be a denomination.

  463. It is simply the Lord's Church. So when people ask you what did

  464. nomination of your member of what do you say?

  465. Oh Church of Christ. Wrong.

  466. Bad answer. Have I ever said that?

  467. Yes, I shouldn't have but I did. You know, did you do you know

  468. what they're asking for church? Do you go to?

  469. That's really what they want to know you so well, I'm a member

  470. of the Church of Christ in the church, the Lord established I'm

  471. not a member of any denomination.

  472. Now, don't expect them to understand that because they're

  473. not that gives you the opportunity to explain it.

  474. To him to know, I'm a member of the church that Jesus died that

  475. he might established. I remember the Church of the

  476. established and that's chapter 2.

  477. I'm not a member of these denominations began way after I

  478. mean, hundreds of years. And sometimes thousands of years

  479. after Jesus type of some church. We are not a denomination,

  480. understand that and if you ever hear somebody in the church, say

  481. we are a member of a denomination because the Church

  482. of the denomination that person is one to watch.

  483. They have a mindset that's not in accordance to the word of

  484. God. All right, stay with me now.

  485. The church is not an afterthought of God.

  486. It was not a plan B. Not a plan B.

  487. Not this afterthought. It is God's original plan.

  488. I just want everybody to know that.

  489. The Lord plan this. It was prophesied hundreds of

  490. years in advance. This is part of God's great

  491. plan, you know, brother Johnny. L Moore wrote a song, many years

  492. ago, Tis, the part of God's great plan.

  493. That is a great song that I haven't sang in quite a while.

  494. The fourth in church, I haven't don't remember seeing him some

  495. bugs, but it seemed that some of the older books brother Lin,

  496. what happened to the part of God's great plan.

  497. That was a great word that brother Johnny did and and I've

  498. enjoyed that song Through the Years Ears.

  499. Well, I just want you to understand.

  500. It's not your church. It's the Lord's.

  501. It's not a denomination. In any shape, it's a Lord's

  502. church. It's not an afterthought.

  503. It's God's plan. Understand the church in which

  504. you are a member of the Lord's church is part of God's great

  505. plan. And now take a hold of here.

  506. Now listen, if you have been wondering come back, I haven't

  507. seen about a one-room, but if you have come back, we're going

  508. to speak a couple of more minutes, five more minutes.

  509. I want you to get this point because this is very, very

  510. important, the church, the Lord established it's not Catholic,

  511. we are not governed by the Pope. We did not start in Rome Italy.

  512. The Church of Christ is not Catholic.

  513. That I probably don't have to spend a lot of time on.

  514. If you have any question about that'll be more than happy to

  515. talk with you. A brother Frank brother Terry

  516. and your brother would be glad to don't you take another look

  517. here. The Church of Christ is not

  518. Protestant. Now you say, do what?

  519. We're not Protestant, you know, I knocked on doors on time for a

  520. week in New York. And nearly every home.

  521. You're not done. I'm Catholic.

  522. Boom. That shut the door.

  523. And people think you're in the cabin, what are you a

  524. Protestant, guess what? We're see.

  525. Never won. We are not confident.

  526. We are not Protestant. Look here.

  527. Protestant. Protest.

  528. We are not Protestant, why? Because we have never been

  529. associated with the Catholic Church, those who are

  530. Protestants and get ahold of this.

  531. Those who are Protestants, at one time, was Associated the

  532. Catholic Church, they protested the Catholic church and they

  533. went out and did their own thing, and they were labeled

  534. Protestant. So when people say, are you

  535. Catholic, Like a Protestant. You say C.

  536. None of the above And everything I say, you say, I'm simply a

  537. member of the Lord's church. The church that Jesus

  538. established. That is so, very important.

  539. And this right here have gives people intention.

  540. When you say, I'm a member of the church that Jesus Built.

  541. He said he would build it. He did build it, and I'm a

  542. member of it and you can be too. I want you to have a working

  543. knowledge of understanding and being able to explain are you

  544. Catholic or you Protestant. And what denomination do you

  545. remember of that? You're 90?

  546. None of those And then you get there tended to, no, I'm simply

  547. a member of the Lord's church. One is satisfied here.

  548. Next to the one that Jesus died that he might established one,

  549. he gave himself for, that's the one I'm a member of and you

  550. should be too. Now, I want you to know

  551. something we would never be. as large as he's Mega Church, would

  552. never be We would never be an organization.

  553. A church that's going to offer a all the little things along the

  554. way. We're not having Starbucks in

  555. here. And we're not trying to compete

  556. with those denominational churches.

  557. What we are? We're members of the Lord's

  558. Church. Doing things God's will, God's

  559. way. And do not be ashamed of the

  560. fact that you have 50 75 people be thankful.

  561. You have 50 or 75 people. It is so important.

  562. I love it. When the church is continuing to

  563. grow through Community. After Community, after

  564. Community, when we establish another crime Geisha, another

  565. current gatien, you know, they do this in the Philippines, we

  566. do it in Africa, we do it, the United States, It is so

  567. important. Listen, be honored and be

  568. thankful to your God. That, you know, about the Lord's

  569. Church. You're a member of this church

  570. right here. The church that Jesus said I

  571. will build my church. No, you're not Catholic.

  572. No, you're not Protestant. No, you're not.

  573. A member of the denomination. You're simply a member of the

  574. church. Can you imagine how it would

  575. have been to be a member of the church and the first century?

  576. Hurry. That's the only one.

  577. There wasn't a Baptist or Methodist or Pentecost for

  578. whatever scattered rather wasn't there.

  579. There were hundreds and hundreds of years away from ever

  580. starting. They were not there.

  581. The Catholic church was six hundred plus years away.

  582. Wow. Yeah, it was pretty tough

  583. people. That I would love to live there.

  584. No, let me tell you what isn't for the rough?

  585. The persecution was tremendous. I want you to be thankful to be

  586. a member of the church today and this day and time and your

  587. lifetime and I want you to give the Lord your very best because

  588. he gave you his very best. And I want you to make the

  589. church as Jesus said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his

  590. righteousness, I want the Lord to be first for you, for you,

  591. for your family, for your people that you influence.

  592. Let them know, know, we go to church on Lord, stay we don't go

  593. do all that other stuff. Sunday afternoon maybe but not

  594. send the morning. We go to church.

  595. We worship God, we're gonna go support our gospel meeting this

  596. week. Some time to make the bosses of

  597. a bit upset. Hey, but you're attending the

  598. Lord's meeting of the Revival of gospel meeting their friends.

  599. Listen, be thankful to your God. That, you know, about the Lord's

  600. church. That's written about and the

  601. Bible. Oh, I can say a whole lot more

  602. but I've said enough for tonight.

  603. If all goes well brother, Terry would have this on your Facebook

  604. and the private Facebook for the congregation may be as early as

  605. tomorrow. We asked you to really think

  606. about maybe go back and re-listen to this sermon because

  607. it's going to help you become able to more communicate with

  608. people is so important. I'm not saying I'm giving you

  609. anything brand-new. Good.

  610. I'm not. If I were, then you probably

  611. need to check it out. But we're just reminding you of

  612. biblical truths and we're learning how denominationalism

  613. communicates with us and how we need to stand our ground in a

  614. very solid way. And never be ashamed of who you

  615. are of the New Testament Christian.

  616. We thank you for listening to our podcast, put on by the

  617. Church of Christ at 22:15 plans. Road in Bakersfield, if you

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  620. Please email us at info at search of Christ.

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  623. Please make plans to join us. We would love for you to be our

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