Sunday Message - Pastor Trent Cargill (December 7, 2025) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

want to thank you for joining us today, and we

hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.

To find service times and watch messages online,

see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. Let's get into the

Word. Let's go to Acts 2, chapter 2, verse 42

through 47. Let's read this together and then

we'll pray and we'll get started. And they devoted

themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship

and to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

And all came upon every soul and many wonders

and signs were being done through the apostles.

And all who believed were together and had all

things in common. And they were selling their

possessions and belongings and distributing the

proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day,

attending the temple together and breaking bread

in their homes, they received their food with

glad and generous hearts, praising God and having

favor with all the people. And the Lord added

to their number day by day those who are being

saved. Lord God, we thank you for your word.

Lord, we ask that it would be as you say it is,

that it is a sword, Lord, that it would be the

sword of the Spirit, God, dividing between soul

and spirit. Lord, let there be a dividing between

us. Lord, inside of us, God, that we would receive

your word by the spirit, not just of the soul.

Lord, not just by our feelings or by our thoughts.

Lord, we don't want just intellectual words.

We don't want just a show put on for entertainment.

But Father, we want to be changed and transformed

by your word. Lord, we ask that you would begin

to speak to us, Lord. We open our ears to hear.

We open our eyes to see. God, by your grace,

everything that you want us to see and to hear

today. Lord, let it be bread to us, God, filling

us to overflow. Lord, that let us meditate on

your word day and night. God, that this would

be something we would chew on for days. Lord,

we know that your word has such incredible depth.

And so, Lord, we ask that for every person in

the room, Lord, your word would meet them where

they're at. That's one of the beautiful things

about your word is that it is shallow enough

for a toddler to play in and deep enough for

an elephant to drown at the same time. Lord,

we thank you. for just the incredible aspects

of your word. Lord, we bless you. We honor you.

In Jesus' mighty name, amen. Amen. Well, I sent

my notes to Pastor Brad for this message, and

he sent me a couple things back. A lot less changes

than what he normally does, which is great. But

one of his critiques that he said to me was,

there's a couple parts in here that are pretty

intense. And I'm like, if you're saying that,

then I really need to be careful. So if I'm a

little intense, then just, Pastor Brad approved

this, okay? Blame him. If I say anything that

upsets you, trust me, I'm not preaching next

week. Brad will be back to be able to set things

right. But the title of my message comes from

something the Lord has really put on my heart,

which is to take, our youth through the book

of Acts. And so we've been going through the

book of Acts verse by verse. And I think we've

been in that series for probably two, three months.

Am I right? Two or three months, four months.

And we are just now in chapter two. So if that

doesn't tell you Brad's influence on my preaching,

I don't know what else does. But we are just

going through it. And this is a message I preached

to the youth before. So I hope you guys get something

new out of it that you didn't get before if you

have heard this. But the title of my message

comes from the idea of the church. being a united

church. And especially in Acts chapter two, verse

42 through 47, which is the model of what church

is supposed to look like. And it was the model

of what it looked like at its birth. The after

Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell upon the

120 in the upper room. that this is what precedes

the 3 ,000 that were saved, that this is what

I would probably call the definition of what

the church is supposed to be and what it looks

like, is Acts chapter two, verse 42 through 47.

And so us as a church, we really try to live

up to all of the things that are mentioned in

that couple passages. But one thing that's really

stood out to me as I was praying through this

and reading through this was the term they, every,

together, all, there, being used in those chapters.

So let's pull this up again. And I've underlined

and bolded all of the parts where it says they

and every and together and all and there and

all together and all that kind of stuff. But

if it's on the slides, then great. If it's not,

I want you to just shout out loud with me every

time you see a they, every time you see every,

every time you see together, all, and there,

okay? I'm sure you're going to remember all of

that. And they, very good class, well done, devoted

themselves to the apostles' teaching and the

fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the

prayers, and awe came upon every soul, and many

wonders and signs were being done through the

apostles. And all who believed were together

and had all things in common, and they were selling

things. possessions and belongings and distributed

the proceeds to as any had need and day by day

attending the temple and breaking bread in homes,

received food with glad and generous hearts,

praising God. You guys are really good at this.

And having favor with and the Lord added to number

day by day as those who were being saved. The

church is defined as the called out ones. And

those who are called out, those who are called

out, that's who we are as the church. That's

what ecclesia means. It means the called out

ones. We have been called out by Christ from

a kingdom of darkness and brought into the kingdom

of light. Amen? But the thing that is so crazy

about how the church is supposed to be a we thing,

a together thing. In all together things. So

if you're taking notes, the title of my sermon

is The They, Their, Every, All, and Together

Church. How's that for pronouns? That's the right

use of pronouns. Amen. Well, one thing that,

when I was thinking about this is, A lot of people,

myself included, have done this in church, where

we stop making it about together, there, they,

all. We make it about me, myself, and I, and

my experience. And if we're not careful, especially

within our Western culture, which our Western

culture is incredibly individualistic, it's all

about your personal experience. Did you have

a good time? Did you enjoy this? How was your

experience today? Rather than taking in, how

was everybody in this together? Not just me.

Because there's been many times where I've gone

to church and I walked out of service and I went,

yeah, it was all right. What am I using to determine

that church was just eh today? Most of the time,

how it affected me. How did, did they play the

songs that I liked? Which by the way, came to

my rescue. The last song we sang today, you were

speaking to that 90s, early 2000s kid who loved

Hillsong United back in the day. If they would

have gone into shout unto God, come on somebody,

the Shekinah glory would have broken open. Shout

to the Lord. Come on, we're going to get there.

Shout to the Lord was the worship song. It was

like, that was, this was written by the angels.

Or just one of the angels. Her name was Darlene

Check. But there was, it's one of the best songs

ever written, worship songs ever written. And

so, I mean, there's, right, I'm like, I'm in

the glory of God. But there's maybe a few people

in here that didn't have that experience and

they're like, what is this song? What determines

that church was good today? Is it my experience?

Well, the opposite of the church that we've just

read in Acts chapter two is called the me church.

Imagine you walk into a church and no one is

in the building except the staff and pastors.

Red flag right off the bat. You walk in and the

team says, we're so excited to have you. You

go into worship and you're the only person in

the room other than the staff and the pastors

and the worship team. And you start to get a

little worried and freaked out because you're

wondering where the heck is everybody. They go

through the worship, they go through the message,

they have an altar call. Let me ask you, would

you go to that church? Would you go to that church?

Some of you are like, yeah, because I can get

some personal experience, personal one -on -one

time with the pastor all the time. Every altar

calls for me. Every message is catered to you.

Every worship service is catered to you. Would

you go to that church? No. But how many of us

come to church with that mindset? Where we think

we're the only person in the room. And we think

that God is really just looking for us in the

room. There's a significant... what I would call

a false teaching or a false doctrine, that if

we're not careful, will actually infiltrate our

theology and our ecclesiology, which just is

a fancy term for saying our belief of what church

is. What is the church? Because what you believe

the church is will actually determine who you

think Jesus is. So we need to understand that

it's not just about understanding Jesus. We have

to know what he died for. We have to know what

he loves. Bible says that we should love what

he loves and hate what he hates. Do you know

what he loves? His church. Do you know what he

died for? Me. Yes. He did die for you. But not

only you. You're not the only saved person here.

If you think you are, we're going to have an

altar call for you right now. Amen. Amen, Troy.

So I want to define a couple things. First thing

I want to define is individualism and hyper individualism.

Individualism is essentially prioritizing the

individual over a group. The prioritization of

yourself over everybody else around you. Then

there is what is the next level, which is called

hyper individualism. which is to act as an individual

in opposition to a group. That not only do I

like to have things be about me, but I don't

like anything that tries to be more than just

about me. I am against an organization or some

form of a collective. In other words, a lot of

people who stop going to church. Not only do

I think, That Jesus, I just need to have a personal

relationship with Jesus, but the church is the

biggest hindrance to my relationship with Jesus.

The church keeps getting in the way. If they

would just only sing the hymns. If they would

just sing all of the newest songs and never old

songs. If they would just fill in your blank.

I could be more in touch with Christ. If the

pastor would stop correcting me over this small

issue. Jesus didn't tell me that it's a small

issue. Let me just tell you that you're probably

not hearing Jesus right. So Jesus put somebody

in your life that is hearing God for you to help

you hear him right. One thing that's really popular,

and we saw this really big in 2020, and we continue

to see it around the United States, is that organization,

especially with established authority, is evil

to its core. That we all, and here's the thing,

any collective or group, let's just take, you

know, LGBTQ. Let's just take that for example.

They say and claim that they're a collective,

but really they're a collective of individuals

because there's no ordained authority over anybody.

Right? It's I'm a part of this group, but I'm

the one in charge. And some of us try to make

church like that. We come to say that we're a

part of a group, I'm a part of a church, but

I'm an individual in that church. And that I

can leave whenever I want to. And I can do what

I want. And if the pastor has a problem with

that, it sounds like that's the pastor's problem.

So we start to look at church actually through

the mindset of pagan beliefs than actually through

the... The Holy Spirit is moving. The wind of

the Spirit is moving. So... I have other jokes.

I'm not going to say them. But one thing that

we really have to understand is that fundamental

doctrines are based on truths and false doctrines

are based on lies. So let's identify some lies.

What is the me church? Lie number one, become

less a part of a group and become solely identified

as a unique individual. And I put the word unique

in there because everybody was told by their

mom, they're special. And you are. You're very

special. Receive that how you will. But more

and more people are not willing to pick a side.

They just want to be themselves. Because we see,

and we just experienced this at the Thanksgiving

table, just not even that long ago, where you're

sitting at the table and all of a sudden, the

conversation starts to turn in that one direction

about that certain topic that now it's like,

I am so done with this. Now it's like only those

few people that are arguing at the table and

you just try to see yourself out. Things get

awkward. You see it all over social media that

it's just conflict and conflict and conflict.

Why would I want to be a part of an organization

or a collective of people when all it does is

breed division? And so I'm not gonna pick a side,

I'm just gonna be me. Because who's gonna get

mad at me? Who's gonna have an issue with me?

Well, if you have an issue with me, then that's

not my fault, that's your fault. Isn't that the

world we live in? Isn't that our culture right

now? And so what happens is we come to church

with that mindset, and instead of actually becoming

defined by our church, We come and we just define

ourselves with our own definition of how we are.

We define our own relationship with Christ and

we come to church and then we go, why isn't the

church living by my definition? And so now you

stop attending that church and you try to find

your church that does everything how you would

like to have it done. Guess what? That church

doesn't exist unless you start it. Now we have

a whole other problem. You just started something

that you claim is for God, but it's all about

you. It's how we get weird house churches. There's

nothing wrong with house churches, I'm just saying.

There are weird ones out there. The issue with

this thinking is that it says, I want to be a

part of something that doesn't challenge me or

corrects me because it just proves Proves that

they don't care about me or understand me. I

want to be a part of something that will always

affirm who I am in my unique individualness.

We have so much of that. Lie number two. Follow

your desires because that is who you truly are.

Your desires are not unique. What you like that

you say makes you unique is not unique. They

are just dictated by culture anyways. Timothy

Keller has in one of his books, he was a pastor

that he died just a few years ago from cancer,

but incredible philosophical preacher and incredible

guy. But his book, he talks about the fact of

how people's desires are more shaped by culture

than actually through what they would define

as, this is what really defines who I am as a

unique individual. So this is the analogy he

uses. Take a man back in the days of the Vikings,

and let's say he has a desire to kill somebody.

That desire, he acts on it. In that culture,

it was celebrated. Take that same man, same desire,

put that in today's culture. Not celebrated.

He goes to prison for a long time. What changed?

Culture. Let's take somebody who in the same

time period had homosexual desires. In that time,

not celebrated. Put them in today. Same desire.

Celebrate it. What changed? Culture. And people

would say, well, culture has changed for the

better. Has it? Has culture been here before?

Ask the Greeks. Ask the Romans. How long did

their culture last? A long time. But was it eternal?

No. So what culture do we want? A godly one.

A biblical one. Because that is a culture that

will actually be eternal. It will not change.

It will remain. So here's something that's really

important for us to understand. Hyper individualism

creates a me church. And I actually rewrote Acts

chapter two, verse 42 through 47. I rewrote it,

which automatically ears have popped up. You,

what? This is not the word of God. This is not

inspired by any means. This is just to prove

a point. But I rewrote it. Lord, help me. I rewrote

it. as if I was writing from the filter of a

me church. And let's put it on the screen if

we have it. Verse 42 says this, not of the Bible,

but of Trent's me church mind. They devoted themselves

to the latest trends and their own curated beliefs.

The breaking down of traumatic experiences and

the complaints of what the church does wrong.

They devoted themselves to those things. And

self -importance came upon every soul. And many

cool songs and non -offensive preaching was being

done through the influencer pastors. And all

believers were loosely affiliated and kept their

distance, each protecting their own time, space,

and truth. And they were accumulating possessions

and upgrading often, improving their own lifestyles

as they each saw fit. And day by day, attending

church when they felt like it, keeping to themselves

or only fellowshipping with a hand -picked group

of friends who reinforced their views, maintaining

careful emotional boundaries, and avoiding the

discomfort of true community. praising genuine

self -expression and constantly seeking likes

from others, and many were added because they

were never challenged or confronted. That's the

me church. See, the thing that, what creates

this idea of hyper -individualism and this idea

of the me church actually started in the garden.

It started with Adam and Eve. Because what humanity

truly desires, probably more than anything, is

independence. And another word for independence

is called self -autonomy. To be completely self

-autonomous. When the serpent tempted Eve with

the fruit, he wasn't offering a different menu.

They had all the fruit they could ever want.

When the devil says, you will be like God, he

wasn't giving them something they didn't already

have because they were already like God. They

were made in the image of God. So they already

could choose any fruit that they could ever want.

They were already like God. So what was the serpent

really offering? Genesis 3, 5 says, for God knows

that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened

and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

It's funny how the serpent doesn't offer omniscience.

He doesn't offer all knowledge. He doesn't offer

omnipotence. He doesn't offer all power. He doesn't

offer omniscience. He doesn't offer God's omnipresence,

that he can be everywhere all at the same time,

outside of time. He doesn't offer eternal life.

They already had that. What does he offer? The

one thing that God has that nothing else has.

Complete self -reliance. Independence and autonomy.

God has never needed anything. He has never needed

you or me. He has never needed anything in this

world. He has never needed anyone else to sustain

his existence. He does not need another God to

help him out. He is fully sufficient in himself.

He needs nothing. And anything he gives, it doesn't

deplete him. He is always at 100%. He's never

tired. He never has to take a break. He is always

at 100. He is always more than what we could

ever think. He is fully autonomous in needing

of nothing and nobody else. That is what the

serpent was offering. To be independent. And

to be completely self -reliant. Genesis 3 .8

says, And they heard the sound of the Lord God

walking in the garden. You should keep that in

your mind. And they heard the sound. I wonder

what that would have sounded like. Walking in

the garden in the cool of the day. And the man

and his wife hid themselves from the presence

of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Now, so we see here in Genesis how because they

now have what they wanted. A life independent

from God. That they are now separated from the

presence of God. That is autonomy. That is independence.

You want to do life without God? Go for it. And

what ended up happening was now that they have

this independence, they are coming back into

contact with the presence of God. And what do

they do? They run from it. So how many of us

have come into the presence of God today? But

we get scared. Some of us, we get scared because

it's like, what are the consequences of my sin?

What will God do to me because of my sin? But

I think a lot of times, some of us are scared

because of what control and independence we'd

have to give up. Because if you're gonna be in

relationship with God, you can't be independent.

If you're gonna have a relationship with his

church, you cannot be independent. You cannot

be an individualist. You have to believe in God

and depend upon him and you have to believe in

his ordained community called the church. You

have to. So here, now back in Acts chapter two,

this is what's so amazing is in Genesis 3 .8,

it says they heard the sound. What was the first

thing that happened when the Holy Spirit came?

The sound. So now instead of running away, there

were 120 that stood there and fully received

the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and the baptism

of the Holy Spirit and were now birthed to create

what? A community called the church. They were

no longer scared because they knew that what

they were about to do, they were not doing it

in their independence. They were doing it in

their dependence upon the Holy Spirit and that

this community is not going to last long unless

the Holy Spirit is on it. That's why Jesus says,

look, you have the gospel already, but wait.

Because if you try to build a community without

my spirit, it will not last. If you just go with

the gospel and the message, is that enough? Jesus

seemed to think it wasn't. He says you need to

have the Holy Spirit. Because if you're going

to have fellowship with each other, you need

to have the gift of my Holy Spirit, who is the

gift, who draws and binds us together. The Holy

Spirit is needed for community. You can't say

I love the Father and the Son and then throw

out the Holy Spirit because now you're throwing

out the community of the Trinity and then try

to build a community based off of a community

that's broken in your theology. Anyways, moving

on. Now that we've identified those lies, we're

gonna take a look at some truths. What is the

truth? What made the church unified? The Holy

Spirit, number one. We need the Holy Spirit.

But we're going to look at Acts chapter 2, 42

Acts 2 · chapter mention

through 47. What is the first thing that is mentioned?

The apostles' teaching. They devoted themselves

to the apostles' teaching, which means that they

didn't just get teaching when it was Sunday.

They sought to know what they really believed,

not just through YouTube videos, or podcasts,

but they sought the apostles' doctrine, which

means something that is tested, proven, and has

lasted a long time. I'm not after opinions of

self -proclaimed apostles and prophets. I'm after

the proven, tested teaching of the apostles,

those who are God -appointed and God -anointed.

Just because you have a platform doesn't mean

you're anointed. Because everyone is a platform.

You can record yourself and put it on the internet

and call that a platform. You can say, yeah,

that's a platform, but you're not anointed. You

could have followers. That doesn't mean you're

anointed. Anointing comes from God. And God alone.

And the anointing, is what really provides authority.

Because if I'm gonna say I devote myself to a

specific teaching, you believe in the authority

of said teaching. In other words, you believe

that this teaching has greater depth and truth

than all other teachings that are out there.

You believe in its authority. If you're to declare

that the Bible is the truth, By automatically

saying that this is the truth, you are saying

that other things that are outside of it are

a lie, by definition. Not everything can be the

truth at the same time. It would cease to be

truth. What gives truth? Who defines truth? Authority

does. Who has the authority? That's the question

that most people ask themselves. And when you

have an individualistic mindset, You do. I have

the authority to define what church looks like.

I have the, excuse me, but are you building the

church? Do you define the church? Did the church

start when you showed up? Or did the church start

when the Holy Spirit showed up? It wasn't that

Peter was the one who preached the sermon. It

was that the Holy Spirit was speaking through

Peter. The book of Acts is not about just the

apostles. It is about the Holy Spirit building

the church of Jesus Christ. And he's still building

that exact same church today. Full of prophecy

and miracles and all the like. The church is

not about trends or self -affirmation. It's about

tested, proven, anointed beliefs that have been

withheld throughout history. The teaching was

given by God -approved authority, not just any

platform. God -approved authority. The 12 apostles

who walked with Christ. And then those following

who walked with the apostles. And then you just

follow down church history. And you can see every

place in church history where we get off is when

we make the church ourselves the final authority

and not the Holy Spirit. And we begin to put

authority on just us as an individualistic mindset.

Because I've seen the other side. I've seen church

government get to a place where it defines everything

and it was the one that decides whether you're

a part of the church or not. Right? I've seen

the bad side of that idea and that concept, but

that's why you need the Holy Spirit. That's why

you need the Holy Spirit and that's why the Holy

Spirit will always raise people up within the

church to fight against false beliefs and false

tendencies within the church. You just study

church history, you'll see God raised Ben up

to fight against false teachings and false doctrines.

But not for the sake of just fighting against

false doctrine. Because we don't want to just

create a bunch of heresy hunters. And the church

has made a lot of emphasis on this. That our

number one job is just to go throughout the world

and say that everything is, and tell everybody

that they're all wrong. No. God said to preach

the gospel. Preach the truth. Yes, we're going

to fight heresies. We're going to fight things

that are wrong. Absolutely. I'm trying to do

it right now. But that is not the full purpose

of why I went to study this. If you read the

Bible only because you're trying to prove an

argument, that's how you get bad theology. That's

what happened to a bunch of people that went

to Genesis 1 -1 and tried to use it against atheism.

That's not what it was used for. Anyway, I've

got to get off this soapbox. Anyway, we've got

to move on. I've got a lot of notes and not enough

time. All right. Any revelation that encourages

rebellion against authority will ultimately lead

to self -destruction. Because even Paul says

that you should submit to the worldly authorities,

no matter who is in power or who's in position,

because you actually will preach the gospel by

your submission rather than through rebellion.

That's what caused the church to flourish and

so many to come to be saved because that when

those who are arrested as Christians were arrested,

that they actually drew their captors to Christ

because of how they love them and how they submitted

to them. Some people may agree with the teaching,

but because it was presented with authority,

they resist it. I like what you have to say,

but I don't like that you're saying that it is

like, You're saying it with such authority. I

don't like that. You need to be more open to

what other people have to say. I'm all for listening

humbly and wanting to hear people's perspectives,

but I'm okay with totally telling them they're

wrong. But I'm not trying to preach the truth

to prove I'm right. I'm trying to lead them to

Christ. If I try to argue and debate somebody

just to prove that their argument is false, then

what do I really win? Nothing. I see so many

videos on Instagram and apologists that are just

going, look, really good apologists know how

to lead people to Christ, not just prove a good

argument. Because when Christ was, whenever you

argue with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, it

was always to try to reveal something to them.

It was never just to show them that they're off.

The next thing that they devoted themselves to

was the breaking of bread and prayers. Communion

is meant to be taken as a community. And I love

that people take it in their homes and some people

take it every day. That's great. But the communion

was ultimately meant to be taken in a communal

setting within the church. Prayer should also

be a communal sacrament as well. We should pray

together, hear God together. That's how we get

weird things because people heard God one way

and then they didn't check with anybody else

what they heard. That's how you get weird stuff.

My favorite story of Santa Claus. You might be

suffering some whiplash from that change of topic,

but I promise you it connects. There was a man

who was actually, his name was St. Nicholas,

and he was standing within, he was there with

a council of people, and there was a guy who

was basically, denying the divinity of Christ.

And he stands up and goes up to the guy because

he just could not stand the lies that this guy

was spouting. And he clocks him in the face.

So if you don't like what I'm preaching, don't

do that. But it's my favorite story of St. Nicholas

because He was a man that was, you know, I'm

not saying that that's how we should do things,

but what I'm saying is, he's going, look, you

got something that you think you're so right

on that the only way to knock you out of this

is to actually come up there and punch you in

the face. Sometimes we need a punch in the spirit.

From people in our lives that are willing to

go up and knock us silly because we start saying

some stupid stuff. We need people like that in

our lives who will actually love us enough to

punch us in the face spiritually to clock us

out of our whatever it is, our weird thought

that we've wiggled ourselves into. That's why

we should pray together. If you don't come to

pre -service prayer, you should at least try

it. Just come try it. Here's why. Because I want

you to come and experience what it's like to

pray together. Experience the atmosphere. It's

different than praying alone. And we need that.

We need to hear other people praying. We need

to hear other people prophesy. We need to get

into that space where all of us are trying to

hear God and pray for something. We're praying

for the kingdom of God to be released. We're

praying for the atmosphere of heaven to be here

on the earth. We're praying for church to happen.

And we need to hear that from each other. And

praying together is actually the best way to

support each other. Jesus lived this in his own

life. Jesus asked the disciples to stay up in

the garden and do what with him? Pray. When Christ

was at his weakest, he didn't say, come talk

to me. He didn't say, come and just hang out.

Let's just sit together and listen to some worship

music. We're just gonna listen to the shout to

the Lord and we're just gonna wait on God. He

said, pray with me. Prayer is the best way to

support each other. I'm running out of time.

These last few points, really quickly. I love

preacher's famous last words, right? All in wonder,

we should have experiences together. The church

is the place where God pours out his glory and

we should be in awe of who he is. If you're experiencing

glory only in your secret place and never in

the community of the body, something's off. Something's

wrong. Because you should be experiencing the

fullness of his glory in the community of the

body of Christ. Because that is the place where

God's presence dwells richest and most often.

I want you to really think about this. transports

me to the idea, because when I see the terms

awe and wonder came upon every soul, I think

back to the tabernacle of Solomon, to the temple

of Solomon, the tabernacle of Moses and David,

where the presence of God would fill the temple

with his fiery divine presence to the point where

no one could minister before the Lord because

of such reverence and awe and the weightiness

of his glory. Man, how incredible is that? God

moved in that way, not just on an individual.

He did that on a people, a community. He moved

that way on his church, his fellowship. And church

is where the fear of God should come upon us

most. It should serve as a reset for our fear

of the Lord. Without the fear, we can become

numb to God's presence. The church should be

a place where we experience and learn about the

fear of the Lord. We need to encounter his presence

as the fear of the Lord in community. Because

there's something about God's presence coming

upon a whole group of people. Something about

the glory of God being revealed. To more than

just me. I love being in his house. I love worshiping

with you. I love hearing the word of God with

you. Because I know there's things that you're

grabbing that I'm not. There's ways God's moving

in your life that he's not moving in mine. I'm

a part of something more than my experience.

I'm a part of something more than my definitions.

And I'm a part of something more than who I am.

I am a part of Life Bible Church. Because Christ,

yes, there's the universal church, but there's

the local church. We are a part of a local body.

It's incredible. It is an honor to meet with

you here in this very building, in this place.

But this church is more than just the four walls.

It's more than the building. As we've all heard

many, many times, it's a people. But what makes

this people so special? Moses understood it in

Exodus. If you don't go with us, no one will

know the difference between us and any other

group. What makes us different than any other

group on the planet? What makes us different

than any non -denominational church in the world?

What makes us different than any just nonprofit

organization? What makes us different than anybody

who sows money into missionaries around the world?

Because trust me, there's plenty of organizations

that feed the homeless and take care of people.

There's plenty of non -religious. that do tons

of things. But what I love about the church is

that we do it best. But not because it's us,

but because of the presence of God, because of

the Holy Spirit himself. So I want to close by

just, challenging you a little bit. And I know

that I was a little more teachy this morning.

And I know Pastor Brad really, he likes it when

I get fired up. But I'll tell you what, there's

nothing that gets me more fired up than people

who love church and getting in church and worshiping

God together. Because if there's one thing this

world needs, It's a unified church. If there's

one thing our country needs, it's a unified church

who knows what the church is and what it should

be doing. That we understand that the church

is God's plan A and there is no B or C or any

other letter of the alphabet. That God is using

the church to save the world. That yes, it is

the vessel for the gospel to be preached. It

is the vessel where the sick can be healed. It

is the real vessel where the presence of God

is to be dispersed around the world. It is. The

bride of Christ, as we have become so consumed

with critiquing her and saying, man, this is

all she does wrong. I don't know about you, but

if someone just came to me and only told me all

the things that my wife does wrong, I would get

a little upset. So why do you think Jesus doesn't

get a little frustrated when that's all we do?

We gotta remember that this is his bride. This

is who he died for. This is what he lives for.

That he is resurrected. and alive and that we

are his body and we are his bride and all these

things that the Bible uses as analogies that

they all work together and it doesn't make sense

to me but it makes sense to God so I'll just

believe him and I'll trust him. But we have to

understand that this is what we're a part of

is so much bigger than us. It's bigger than a

political party. It's bigger than just some president.

It's bigger than just some country. We are the

established work of God on the earth. This is

how God is going to save the world. And Christ

isn't coming back until we're what? Unified.

So don't you think the devil is going to try

his hardest to divide us? Because he knows the

moment we're unified is when he is getting his

butt kicked for the last time. So let me just

leave you with this. And trust me, I've done

this many times. I'm a PK. I grew up in church.

I know so many things about church. I know all

the stuff. Trust me, I have walked into service

as ferns on the stage. Are you kidding? Is this

1995? I thought that. I thought that when I first

came here in 2014 at the Wyatt campus, when there

was Ferns on the stage, and I went, oh, dear

Lord, what is this church? The only way they're

going to redeem this is if they also play worship

songs from 1995. That's not going to be the only

way. I remember thinking that. Man, God, really?

confronted me because he's going, really, you're

going to miss me because of some burns? We are

so ridiculous, aren't we? The things we will

nitpick. The biggest cause for divisiveness is

preference. I'm telling you, I've gotten in more

fights with my wife because of preference. I

prefer things to be this way. Thank God the church

isn't being built on my preference. It's built

on God's. What matters to him is, sure, put some

trees on the stage. Sure, have some ferns. Because

ultimately, who cares? What matters to me is

you're here and that you call this place home.

And that you've dug your roots in here to a local

church and you say, I'm a part of something more

than me. I'm a part of Christ, his body. And

I give my life for what he gave his life for.

And I live for what he lives for. Let's pray.

Lord, thank you so much. Lord, for your goodness

and for your faithfulness and for who you are.

Father, you are. Lord, you know what we need.

You know our wants too, but God, you're so faithful

that you help us want what we should need. Lord,

you change the desires of our heart. You change

the focus of our heart. You change our minds.

We're transformed by the renewing of our mind.

Lord, renew our minds by your word and not by

culture. Renew our minds by what's eternal, not

temporal. Renew our minds by... what pleases

and delights you rather than our preference.

Lord, it's not about our songs. It's not about

us. It's not about our individualistic experience.

Lord, but church is number one, supposed to bless

you. That's why we're here, to bless you. Lord,

may you be blessed today. In your mighty and

precious name, amen. Lastly, if you are in need

of prayer send us a text message at 541 -625

-1365. We would love to pray with you.