WHY CHURCH? PART 1: The Building of a New Community | Dr. Efrem Smith

My name is Ephraim Smith, co-senior, co-lead pastor here at Midtown Church.

So glad that you joined us for the 1030 West Coast service.

If you are here in the room, we're glad you're here.

If you're in overflow, there's still some seats in here if you want to sneak in.

If you're online, uh wherever you are, thank you, thank you for joining us in this experience of worship.

Um I'm so glad that uh in the series we were in this summer, God is, we had so many different voices in our church have a chance to speak into that area of the Bible.

But you know, I was I was a little off schedule, you know what I mean?

Like I didn't I didn't get to preach as much as I normally preach this summer.

So I've been I've been I've been you know itching to get back into my regular rhythm, you know what I mean?

So so uh I'm glad to be before you.

I'm here this Sunday and next Sunday, and so with that in mind, we're gonna do like this two-week mini series.

This mini-series just for two weeks, and this series is called Why Church.

Why church?

And we're we're going to uh look biblically at the reason for the church and who we are called to be within the church.

Uh I know that we probably have many journeys when it comes to church.

You know, there's so many people, this church is so diverse that I'm sure we have just multiple journeys.

We're not all at the same place when it comes to how long we've been connected to, we've been navigating church.

I mean, I've been in church all my life.

As long as I can remember I've been in church.

You know, the the late Bishop Sherwood Carthon used to say from time to time, he said, I was a drug baby.

My mama drug me to church on Sunday, on Tuesday, on Thursday, on Saturday afternoon.

So I'm me too, me too, me too, me too.

And and so some of you have been in church all your life.

Some of you, this church is your first church experience.

Uh I'm sure there's just, I mean, there are people that have a Catholic background, and so this for you, this service is way too long, way too long.

There's Pentecostals in here, which means this service is way too short, way too short.

There's some Lutherans in here, which means this this service way too loud, way too loud, way too loud.

There's some Baptists in here, you just want to vote on how you feel about the church.

So we we we got people in all kinds of stages uh of church.

Some of y'all want to shout, some of y'all want to be quiet.

It's all good.

It's all good.

We have people that that you've had your own journey.

Personally, my journey in the church, uh, it's been interesting from you know going to church in Minneapolis, uh, you know, going to my grandparents' house in Louisiana and going to a church at the end of a dirt road where the pastor had three different churches and he preached at our church on the second Sunday of the month.

Sometimes he was there on first Sunday for communion and baptism.

We all have different journeys, but how do we come together on an understanding of what the church is and who we are to be within it?

Why is the church such a major part of the Christian life?

Why is this a team journey?

Why is it that the Christian life is not meant to be lived in isolation, alone, solo, but we are to navigate this Christian life in some way collectively in community called church?

Go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

There is an apostle, a pastor named Paul, who's writing to a church in a place called Corinth, and in this particular section, chapter 12, beginning with verse 12, he's talking about the church as a body.

And he says, This just as a body, though one has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.

For we were all baptized by one spirit so as to form one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, and we were all given the one spirit to drink.

Even so the body is not made up of one part, but of many.

Now if the foot should say, Because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.

And if the ear should say, Because I'm not an eye, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.

If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?

If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?

But in fact, God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.

If they were all one part, where would the body be?

As it is, they are there are many parts, but one body.

And the head cannot say to the feet, I don't need you.

On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable, we treat with special honor.

And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment.

But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.

If one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

From this text, I want to preach to you on the title, Why Church Part One.

Why Church Part One?

God, I pray this would be your message.

You would speak, that I would just be the vessel that you would use to say what you want to say.

My sisters and brothers, God, show us through your word.

Show us through your spirit what it means to be a part of your church.

In Jesus' name, amen.

What does it mean?

The transition from visiting the church to going to church to being a part of the church, to being a committed member of the church.

Why am I in church?

This is something we should all wrestle with.

Why am I in church?

I mean, I started out answering that question because I went with my Aunt Robin.

My first church experience is sometimes I would spend the weekends at my grandmother's house in South Minneapolis, and at the end of the block where my grandmother's house was, there was a church.

And my mom's youngest sister, Aunt Robin, was still living there at my grandmother's house.

And so sometimes when I was there on Sunday, she would say, I'm going to church.

Do you want to go with me?

And I would say yes.

And we would walk down the street to Calvary Lutheran Church, and we sat in there.

Weren't that many people that looked like us in this particular church, but that was okay.

They were welcoming, they were hospitable, they loved us.

I ended up joining the Boy Scouts at Calvary Lutheran Church, and I went to more potlucks than you could go to.

That must be a Lutheran thing.

You know, you go somewhere and it's just a bunch of hot dish from different German people.

So that's why I went to church.

My Aunt Robin took me down there, I joined the Boy Scouts, ate a lot of lasagna.

But then I went to church because my mom and my grandmother were a part of starting a church that was initially called Tabernacle Baptist Church and would become Redeemer Missionary Baptist Church.

And so I went to church with my mom and my grandmother, and I sang in the choir with them, and I was a junior usher and a junior deacon, and I went to Sunday school and that and I went to church because of that.

By the time I was in high school, I had a friend named Joey and another friend named Julian, and they went to a youth group at Park Avenue, United Methodist Church on Wednesday nights.

So because my friends were going to church, I went to church.

I went to church because my Aunt Robin went to church.

I went to church because my mom and my grandmother went to church.

I went to church because my friends went to church.

But at some point I had to make a decision that I was in church because it would, it was, it was a drawing, it was a it was a desire, it was a commitment that I was making on my own.

And I am still all these years as a pastor in the church, going, why am I in here again?

No, no, no, I'm just playing.

Sister said I should know by now why I'm in church.

You're right, you're right, you're right, you're right.

But maybe what I'm admitting is the wrestling.

When it's difficult, when I'm disappointed, when it's messy.

Why am I in church?

Are you clear biblically on what it means to be a member of the church, what that commitment means?

And so we're gonna explore that this Sunday and next Sunday.

What it means to be a member of the church biblically, and specifically from that biblical rootedness, what does it mean to be a member here at Midtown Covenant Church?

We are in 1 Corinthians, but I need to tell you something.

This just in case you want to nerd out a little bit with me on the Bible.

1 Corinthians should actually be called 2 Corinthians, and 2 Corinthians should actually be called 3 Corinthians because 1 Corinthians was actually lost.

The very first letter that Paul wrote to Corinth, uh, we we don't know where it is, we don't know what happened to it, but there's enough evidence to know that he had written to them before he wrote this one because he's a little agitated.

If you read 1 Corinthians, you can tell that Paul's kind of writing like, didn't I write this to y'all before?

Didn't we have this conversation when we were together?

Do I have to go over this again?

So just so I just want you to know when I'm preaching this, I'm not agitated with y'all.

It's Paul's agitation that I'm just trying to share with y'all.

This is not my agitation.

I just want to express the scripture correctly.

So I'm gonna put a little agitation in it, but it ain't I ain't mad at y'all unless I should be, but I ain't mad at y'all.

Uh so Paul writes this letter because he's concerned about the church and he's trying to clarify what it means to be a part of the church.

Why is he concerned?

He's concerned because there is spiritual immaturity in the church, which is leading to immorality.

Because if you are unwilling to grow spiritually, it hinders your ability to discern the ways in which the enemy's trying to attack the church and the ways in which the spirit is trying to move in the church.

Should I say that one more time?

When you refuse to grow spiritually, it hinders your ability to discern the ways in which the enemy's trying to attack the church, and it's hard to recognize the ways in which the Holy Spirit is trying to move in the church.

So you could confuse something that's of the spirit with something that you think is of Satan, and you could confuse something that you think is is is it's of Satan, but it's really the spirit.

You know what I'm saying?

Like you can get it confused, you can't tell what the difference between what kind of spirit is moving in here, what kind of spirit is operating in here.

If you want to have the wisdom, the knowledge, the understanding to discern, because the church is under attack.

Because the church is God's, it belongs to no man, it belongs to no woman.

The church is God's, but there are spiritual forces and an enemy that is at war against God's church.

If it was mine, Satan wouldn't be attacking it that much because it wouldn't, because if it was just the church according to Ephraim, it'd it'd be it'd be messier than it is right now, you know what I'm saying?

But but so so we want it to be God's church, and since it's God's church, the spirit wants to move in it because the spirit is God, but Satan wants to attack it because it's of God.

Are y'all with me so far?

And and so Paul is concerned because there's spiritual immaturity in the church at Corinth, there's immorality and sin in the church at Corinth, and there's division in the church.

And because of the spiritual immaturity, the immorality and the division, Paul is writing this letter to them.

And his heart, because he loves this church, he's agitated, he's a little frustrated, but ultimately he loves this church.

And because he loves the church, he doesn't want to just fuss.

He wants to clarify what it means to be part of it.

The Bible provides us some metaphors for the church, and I think these metaphors are helpful to understand.

One, there are parts of the Bible that present the church as the bride of Christ.

What this means is God is in love with the church.

It is the church is the helpmate of God.

There are these stories, especially in the Gospel of Matthew, where it paints the kingdom of God and the church as this bride, and Jesus as a groom who one day will return for his bride, and there will be this wonderful ceremony that will uh culminate into eternity because the church is the bride of Christ.

But as we'll study here in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 today, the church is also described metaphorically as a body, as the body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

That means two things at least.

If if the church is the body of Christ, it means that because Jesus is no longer physically here in human form, the church is to be the most visible representation of who Jesus is, the activity of Jesus, the nature of Jesus, the mission of Jesus, the work of Jesus.

The church is the bride of Christ.

God is in love with the church, and God is going to return for his church.

But the body, the church is also the body of Christ, which means the church, in some way, not perfect, is to be a physical, visible representation of the gospel of Jesus, the work of Jesus, the mission of Jesus until Jesus returns.

Ah, but there's also something else here with the church being the body of Christ.

What happened to the body of Christ?

The body of Christ was bruised.

The body of Christ was pierced.

The body of Christ was whipped.

So sometimes being a part of the body of Christ is going to feel piercing.

Sometimes being a part of the body of Christ is going to feel painful.

Not because our desire is to inflict any pain at all, but if it's the body of Christ, you've got to take all of what we're seeing with the body of Christ, which is why the best thing to do if you're a part of the church is just to go ahead and be crucified.

Just go ahead and die to self.

Just go ahead and surrender.

Just go ahead and sacrifice something at the door for the greater good of God's love in it.

The church is the bride.

The church is the body of Christ.

The church is the kingdom.

Or at least a sneak preview of the kingdom of God.

Which means the church, in part, is an answer to the prayer, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Which means the church should be God's willing instrument so that God can bring some kind of representation of what heaven is like on earth through the church.

If there's healing in heaven, healing ought to come through the church.

If there's salvation in heaven, salvation should come through the church.

If there's empowerment in heaven, empowerment should come through the church.

If there's liberation in heaven, liberation should come through the church.

If there's reconciliation in heaven, reconciliation comes.

The church is not to be a mouthpiece of the world, it is to be an embassy of the kingdom of God.

We are representatives of heaven till such time as heaven is fully operating here.

Church is the bride of Christ.

The church is the body of Christ, the church is the kingdom.

Man, that could have been the three points of the sermon, and you kind of I actually have three points though.

So that was just appetizer right there.

That was just some wangs and thangs.

That's all that was.

So I really want to get to biblically, what does it mean to be a member of that kind of church?

The church that's the bride of Christ, the church that's the body of Christ, and the church that is the embassy of the kingdom of God.

Before I get there, I want to share with you how we define membership at Midtown Church.

We've been working as a board, as pastors, working with our denomination to be in alignment and to clarify what it means to be a member of Midtown Covenant Church.

So here it is.

A member of Midtown Church is a lover and follower of Christ who has chosen to covenant with this local body by committing to spiritual growth, serving, generosity, and accountability.

And I'm going to show you how this definition of membership at Midtown Church, how it's connected, rooted in Scripture, in First Corinthians to this part.

But let's just look at it one more time.

A member of Midtown Church is a lover and follower of Christ, which means this is more about your intimacy with God, your love relationship with God.

I'm not trying to be Velcro.

I don't want you stuck to me.

I want you sticking to a deeper, intimate, growing relationship with Jesus.

A member of Midtown Church is a lover and follower of Christ.

That's first and foremost.

See how that's first?

Who has chosen?

Which means nobody pressured you.

Nobody guilt tripped you.

Nobody shamed you into this.

You've chosen freely to covenant, to step into relationship with this local body, which means we acknowledge we ain't the only church around.

But you chose to step into relationship with this particular church by committing to spiritual growth, serving generosity and accountability.

We're gonna keep talking about this over the next few weeks.

But the issue is that's fine that we say that, but at the end of the day, what's of most importance is what does the Bible say about church membership?

And and are we defining it right?

Is this in alignment with what the scripture says about the church?

What I'm trying to wrestle with in this sermon and in next week's is what does it mean biblically to be a member of the church?

What does it mean biblically to be a member of the church?

Here we go.

One.

Biblically, to be a member of the church is loving deeply.

Loving deeply.

I'm gonna go back to First Corinthians 12, starting with verse 12.

Just as a body, though one has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.

So there's a connection here between the body that Paul is talking about and Christ.

Why am I saying loving deeply?

Because we should understand Jesus Christ first and foremost, yes, as the Son of God, yes, as the Messiah, yes, as the Savior, but really how you need to understand Jesus is Jesus Christ is the greatest, most clearest expression of God's love.

So what is going to bring this body together, what is going to keep this body together is the love of God.

Because Jesus Christ is salvation, is liberation, is transformation and eternal life, but ultimately Jesus, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.

Oh, consider the love that God has lavished upon us.

How do we know this love that Jesus gave his life?

And out of the overflow of that we love one another.

Says verse 13, for we were all baptized by one spirit so as to form one body.

Whether Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free, and we were all given the one spirit to drink.

If this is a body, we need water.

We need to drink fresh, good water for the body to function right.

Paul is saying that water for the body that is the church is the Holy Spirit.

Is the love of God flowing?

Uh even so the body's not made up of one part but of many.

Now, let me wrestle a little bit with this, whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free.

Paul is trying to help them understand is this body is forming out of God's love a new community.

And this new community is countercultural to how we are identified in society.

Jews and Gentiles were not getting along well in the Roman Empire.

In that culture, they were at odds against each other.

Paul is saying we're already divided out there.

How we we we can't bring that same division in here because we are one body drinking from the same spirit, connected to the same Christ, and that ought to do something to us as we form this new body, this new community, and we grow together.

We've got to love deeply because God loves us deeply.

Danisha and I just uh we just came back from Ghana.

Can you tell?

You just came back from Ghana.

And um, once again we went to the slave castles, but uh, you know, after you go there a number of times, you really know what they are.

They they were slave dungeons.

Now there's a slave castle called Elmina, and um it's on the on the Cape Coast.

And um and the the thing about this particular slave dungeon is the there's a church that sits in the middle of it.

Think about that for a minute.

At the center of where slaves were kept and prepared to get on ships, there's a church in the middle.

But above right above the church, there is a level of this castle that's the missionaries.

And then there's a second level above the missionaries that are the merchants, the people that are buying and selling the slaves, and the people that are gonna develop their economic systems and their businesses, and then above them is the governor.

So think about this that the church is in the center, and above the church are the missionaries, but above the missionaries are the merchants, the marketplace, and above the marketplace are the politicians.

See, this is a sign that the church did not know its rightful place or its rightful theology.

Because what is the church doing looking up at the marketplace people, looking up at the politicians?

Why are the politicians and the marketplace people sitting higher than God's church?

Why are they looking up at an authority that looks like it's an authority that is above the authority that is in the church?

And that's why that was a counterfeit church.

That wasn't a real church, that was a cheapened version of Christianity.

That was more about colonization than evangelism and discipleship.

And so that that that's a every time I go there, I go, This is a picture of what it looks like when the church doesn't know who they are and what it means to be a part of it.

Paul is saying, in this new body, out of the overflow of God's love, the slave and the slave owner are now family.

Jews and Gentiles are now family.

All of this patriarchy and hierarchy and prejudice and privilege categorial status stuff that is out there, this is a new body.

We're not looking for who's in power here, who's in this here, no.

No, no.

There's one head, his name is Jesus.

I I know my position and I know my role as co-senior pastor in this church, and I know what responsibilities, what authority, what it what it, what it what it entails, but I ain't Jesus.

When it comes to Jesus, I'm middle management.

Loving deeply.

What am I let me so it goes on here to talk about these parts of the body, but I want to skip down, I want to skip down to verse 22.

On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable, we treat with special honor.

And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment.

But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.

If one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

What Paul is saying is somebody in this body is hurting, we hurt with them.

Somebody in this body is celebrating, we celebrate with them.

We have enough compassion, we have enough empathy, we have enough growing spiritual maturity, we have enough discernment that we can say if somebody is unemployed in the house, there's enough employed people, there's enough people running their own businesses, there's enough people in here in executive positions that we ought to be able to network and figure out how to meet the needs of the ones that society has deemed less presentable.

Somebody that's been incarcerated ought to be able to come up in here.

Somebody that's been hooked on drugs ought to be able to come up in here.

Somebody that was living in the streets ought to be able to come up in here because the parts of the body that the world says are less presentable, we put on presentation in this place so they can be loved and empowered and liberated and transformed.

So you don't need to look down when you walk in here, but also don't come in here with your nose up.

Let's just look each other eye to eye, heart to heart.

We don't need this, and we don't need this.

Because every part of the that's how we gotta love deeply.

God loves us and placed us in the church as he sees fit, and we ought to have love, honor, and concern for one another.

I gotta get out of point one.

What does it mean biblically to be a member of the church?

Loving deeply.

Two, living spiritually.

Living spiritually.

First Corinthians 12, beginning with verse 1.

Paul says, now remember, he's a little agitated.

This ain't me, it's him.

Now about the gifts of the spirit, brothers and sisters.

I do not want you to be uninformed.

You know that when you were pagans, when you was out here in the streets, when you was out here living carnal, and you was out here doing your thing.

And then he says something that I can't believe he said this in the Greek or in the Aramaic.

He says, somehow or other.

That's not like a Mississippi translation.

Somehow or other, you were influenced and led astray to mute idols, which means you were worshiping gods that don't even say nothing.

You were worshiping false gods that didn't even have the spiritual vocabulary to transform your life.

That's why Jesus says in the beginning was the word, the word was God, the word with God, the word became flesh.

And he's like, and now y'all worshiping these false gods don't even have no vocabulary.

Therefore, I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, Jesus be cursed, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit, which means it's through the Holy Spirit that you have the correct understanding of who is at the center of the church.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit distributes them.

There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord, there are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone, it is the same God at work.

Verse 28 of the same chapter says, And God has placed in the church, first of all, apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of help, of guidance, of different kinds of tongues.

Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, do all work miracles, do all have the gifts of healing?

Do all speak in tongues?

Do all interpret?

Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.

What Paul is saying is there are all kinds of gifts in this house, in this church.

There's all kinds of competency and ability, all kinds of talent in here.

But it's the Holy Spirit that should be at the core.

Don't put your positions and your possessions over the presence of God.

When I say some churches, I ain't talking about any particular one.

But because we're in the United States of America, it is easy for a church just to put at the center of it its possessions and its positions.

I paid for that.

That's where I sit.

That's my position.

Do you know that I'm the head of the auxiliary here?

Do you know that I am Dr.

Reverend Potentate Apostle Bishop?

Do you know that I am evangelist?

Do you know that I head the women's ministry?

Do you know that I head?

See, see, see, the church can't put at the center.

The first thing that people know about you when they come to your church shouldn't be your position or your possession.

They should want to know is the presence of God here?

Is the spirit of God moving here?

Can I sense the presence of liberation?

Can I sense the presence of salvation?

Can I sense the presence of healing?

Can I sense the presence of reconciliation?

Can I sense the presence of justice?

Can I sense the presence of righteousness?

Can I sense the presence of victory in this place?

Is God moving here?

I know you're in here, but is God moving here?

We need to live with a thirst, a hunger, a desperation for the Holy Spirit.

We have PhDs in here, GDs in here.

We got full-time, part-time contracted working on it, in school, out of school, make a lot, make enough.

We better not put that at the center.

What I love about this church that we dress casual, because nobody knows if they sit next to the CEO or the teacher or the doctor or the dentist or the unemployed or the grandparent or the single mom or the married or the single guy or the single woman.

We're sitting in here casual, hoping for the concrete move of God.

I want a church that's full of the spirit.

I want a church where they make room for the Holy Spirit.

Because you may be all that today, but you're gonna need the Holy Ghost for tomorrow and next year.

Because what I know about the United States of America ain't nobody's financial portfolio.

That's it.

But I know a God who owns a cattle on a thousand hills.

I know, I know Jehovah Jirah, and I've known him when I was employed, and I knew him when I was unemployed.

I knew him when the checks was flowing, and I knew him when it was ramen noodles, spaghetti o' chef boy M.

D, Spam Fried Bologna, and Wonder Bread.

I know the gumbo of a tomahawk steak, and I know the gum of cinnamon croquettes.

You hear me?

I know the gum of steak tomata, and I know the gum of a tuna and salads and crackers.

Leave your position at the door and come in here hungry for the presence of God.

I feel something in this place right now.

I feel something in this place.

Your salary can't bring you the healing you need.

We need the presence of God moving.

Matter of fact, bring the presence of God in here with you.

You should have felt his presence when you was in the car.

You should have had his presence when you was at home getting dressed.

Come in here with your hallelujah.

Ah, I gotta get out of point two.

Thikes.

Point three.

Lord help me.

Giving generously.

Giving generously.

I got a detour here in chapter 16 of 1 Corinthians.

I told you Paul's agitated now.

This him, this him, this him.

In chapter 16, verse 1, he says, now about the collection.

Yeah, yeah, hear, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn.

This is the Bible.

Now stop that.

Stop.

Y'all being silly.

Stop now.

Okay.

Now about the collection for the Lord's people.

Do what I told the Galatian churches to do.

So this means this ain't the only church with this problem.

On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up so that when I come, no collections will have to be made.

He's like, when I come to town, I shouldn't have to say close the doors, close the doors.

This is a thousand dollars.

This is a thousand.

We got a thousand dollars.

We anybody got a thousand dollars, a thousand dollars right here.

Come on now.

We're in the building campaign now.

Come on now, come on now.

We're trying to say we're trying to lead people to Christ now.

Five thousand, five thousand, five thousand, five thousand, ten thousand, ten thousand.

Come on.

Oh, thank you, sir.

Ten thousand?

Did you nod your head?

He said, No, he didn't.

He said, You better go home now.

You better go do that to the other side.

There's a reason we don't do that because if we did, what would happen is absolutely nothing like what y'all just did.

And I don't believe in that anyway.

I shouldn't have to be a religious auctioneer for us to meet our budget in this church.

When I take you to lunch, I don't want to ask you for money, I want to ask you how I can pray for you.

I want to ask you how I can equip you to clarify the call that is on your life.

It is between you and God to set apart a portion of your income so that this church can be generous and transformative.

I hope that you would see that there is integrity in this church and how we steward the resources.

We stored the resources so that we can minister to the unhoused.

We steward the resources so we can adopt under-resourced schools.

We steward the resources so we can send kids to camp to know Jesus and to be baptized.

We we receive and steward the resources so that people can get low-cost to no-cost therapy and counseling.

We steward the resources so we can have job fairs and health fairs in partnership with the Health Education Council.

We steward the resources so we can get kids to grade level and math and reading.

We steward the resources because people are going to be baptized right across there as soon as this service is over.

And so nobody should have to beg because out of the overflow of God's provision for you, you give.

Eating ramen noodles more than we was eating sirloin steak.

The bottom line is the poor give a greater percentage of their income to the church than the wealthy do.

All I'm saying is we ought to not be worrying about resources in this place as long as we are honoring God and how we use them.

So, sisters and brothers, I got to close.

I got to close this sermon out.

I I did come back for part two next week.

You got to come back.

I got to close.

But I but I do I need to tell this.

What does this all mean then?

What does it mean?

If you're here and you haven't become a member of this church, we would like you to say yes to that.

We would like you to try us on.

We're not perfect.

This is messy Midtown trying to follow the Messiah.

Come on board.

That wasn't the greatest recruitment, wasn't it?

But I don't want to lie to you.

So, if you want to be a member on September 6th, we will have a member orientation class where you can learn more about Midtown Church.

If you haven't given your life to Christ and you haven't been baptized, you can make that decision and you can be baptized on September 24th or September 27th.

Matter of fact, they're doing baptisms right over there after this service.

Last month, we had 18 people that were going to be baptized, and two people decided they wanted to be baptized right then, and it went to 20.

If you are already a member of this church, this is the ask.

Would you recommit to growing spiritually?

Would you recommit to serve on a ministry team?

Live scan is here today in the video cafe where the baptisms are gonna happen.

And after the baptisms, you can live scan, which is you know, background check at Midtown, because we can't just throw people into children's ministry.

We love you, but we don't know you like that.

So you yeah, you got to go through the process because we need to provide a safe, Christ-centered, spiritual environment for children and youth at this church so you can go through the live scan.

It costs a little bit of money.

It does, it does, but it but it's like it's I already talked about the collection.

We also want you to commit to giving financially consistently.

What would be great is if people were giving at least on a monthly, ideally weekly, monthly would be awesome, quarterly, but because we gotta keep the lights on, we gotta pay staff, we gotta pay utilities, we gotta we there's stuff we gotta do.

And so, but I should this shouldn't sound like cash flow, but this should sound like Christ flowing through your hearts, that there's generosity in this place so that no bill is not paid.

Okay, give financially to the ministry, and we're asking you to bring God's love to the world around you.

That's what it means to be a member here.

We're gonna have a homecoming Sunday and a ministry fair on September 20th.

But through then, we're gonna be preaching about this because I believe that the best days of this church are ahead of us.

I believe that the hand of God is on Midtown Church.

I believe that the grace of God is upon Midtown Church.

This is still good soil producing fruit of salvation and righteousness and sanctification and justice and change.

This doesn't happen every day, this kind of diversity.

This doesn't happen every day.