Upon This Rock

You're listening to a message preached at Front Range Baptist Church by Pastor Dean Miller.

It is our prayer that this message will be a help and an encouragement to you in your spiritual walk.

Now, here's Pastor Miller.

A faith.

There are people in the world who are willing to die and to kill for their faith.

And there are other people willing to die because of their faith.

And we live today not in a political, this is not political.

It is a spiritual battle that we face.

And if God's people are going to be faithful to the Lord today, it's going to require courage.

And as Charlie said, I want to be remembered for my faith.

And how are you going to be remembered?

Are you going to be remembered for your faith?

How will your children remember you?

Will they remember you that dad is a man who loved Jesus Christ supremely?

And that my dad was willing to share the faith, and he led us in the faith.

How do you, how do you want to spend your life?

The Bible says, in the last days, perilous times shall come.

Men will be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud.

And yet we thank the Lord for people who are willing to hazard their own lives and to lay their lives down, not to kill for their faith, but to bring life, to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And that's what we're preaching on.

I wanted us to remember this as a church.

And then go into this text in the light of missions that God is building something, and we are a vital part of it.

Let's look in our Bibles this morning to 1 Peter chapter 2, and uh just for a few minutes we're gonna open up God's word here.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

1 Peter chapter 2 and verse number 4.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Peter is writing to scattered, persecuted believers who have been maligned and mocked and called the off-scouring of the world.

Literally, in those days with no plumbing in the homes, people would take their waste out and throw them out and discard them into certain places, and they called that off-scouring, and Christians were called that.

We were no more than just buckets of waste that needed to be thrown away.

We were the stench and the disease in the world.

That's how these believers were being faced.

And Peter writes to them these words in 1 Peter.

He's already laid a foundation in salvation, but he's going to write to them in verse number 4 to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, and he quotes from Isaiah here, Behold, I lay on Sion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

Unto you therefore which believe, he is precious.

But unto them which be disobedient the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them that stumble at his word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Father, I pray that you'll bless the reading of your word, and as we think about the world in which we live, a world that pursues pleasure and will destroy anything that dares to stand in its way, anything that would preach and proclaim something against its conscience.

Lord, this it's a dark world, it's a depraved world, and the Bible calls it a dangerous world.

And yet we have been called to be ambassadors for Christ, and we are we are part of a work that you are doing.

And Lord, even though this world is evil and wicked and under the control of the evil one, greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.

And I just pray today that we would look back at this text and remember the words of the Lord Jesus.

Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Lord, I pray that you would give us boldness and courage in the mission that you've called us to.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

I want to preach this morning on the subject upon this rock.

God is building something, and you're a vital part of it.

Jesus said in Matthew chapter 16, upon this rock I'll build my church.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

And many people have said, Well, yeah, that was Peter.

He was the first Pope, and God was gonna, Jesus was gonna build his church on Peter.

Well, Peter talked about that two times in Acts chapter 4, when he told the Jewish elders that Jesus was the stone that was set at not of you builders, but is become the head of the corner.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

And then here in 1 Peter chapter 2, he says that Jesus Christ is the stone.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Listen, we are not built on Peter, we are built on Jesus Christ.

One of the first jobs that I had, and I guess it wasn't really a job because everybody would have gone to jail for child labor.

I was little and my dad had me go to a construction site with one of our deacons in our church had a construction company, and my job was to go around that construction site and to pick up all the scraps.

So I was picking up scrap wood and lumber and straightening out 16 penny nails, and I was doing all of that and just working around that construction site.

Now I want to tell you something.

I was a little kid and I was overwhelmed at how messy those construction sites were.

It was an absolute mess.

If you've ever been in a construction site, it is nothing but a mess.

If you ever had your house remodeled, you thought they were gonna come in and improve your house, but they destroyed your house first.

Construction is a messy process.

And if you were to walk into a construction site and you saw everything everywhere, you would wonder, what is all of this junk?

But the builder has a specific piece of purpose for everything that's on that site.

And that's the point of this message.

That's the point of this text, that God is doing a work.

God is building something, and he's using you and me as part of it.

And when you look around at the state of the church today, sometimes it looks like a mess.

Sometimes it can get very messy.

But I want you to understand that there is a master builder who is going to take every piece that is on this construction site, and he's going to build for himself a glorious church.

This is the picture that Peter is painting of the Christian life.

That in a world where these believers that he's writing to were scattered, they would easily feel discarded as pieces of junk and insignificant in the world.

But God was building something, and they were a vital part of it, and this is what Peter was giving them in this text.

The first thing I want you to see is that we are built upon Christ.

He says in verse number four, to whom coming as unto a living stone.

Who's he speaking about?

Verse number six.

Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture: behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone of life, precious.

He that believeth on him should not be confounded.

Well, who's he talking about?

Verse 8, that he's also a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them that stumble at the word.

Who is he talking about, this living stone that is the cornerstone, that is this stone that people stumble over?

Who is this?

Well, this is Jesus.

Listen, we are built on the foundation of Christ.

The foundation of the Christian life is Jesus himself.

It is to whom coming, not to which you're coming.

We're not just coming to a denomination or we're not just coming to a building.

We have come to Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast him out.

Listen, you've not been saved if you just came and joined a church.

You've not been saved if you just come to a communion.

You've not just been saved if you've come to baptism.

You must come to a person and his name is Jesus.

Salvation isn't a prayer.

Salvation isn't a plan.

Salvation is a person and his name is Jesus Christ.

And I want you to see about this foundation.

Number one, he is the living stone.

Now, this is an oxymoron.

It's kind of like government efficiency.

This is a living stone, and we all know that rocks are not alive.

But Jesus is a rock, he is the rock upon which he's building the church.

I am that rock, Jesus said.

But like a rock, he is strong, he is firm, he is unmovable.

Listen, there's no other name given among men whereby you must be saved.

Jesus Christ is firm in the fact that he alone is the rock upon which you can build salvation.

All other ground is sinking sand.

On Christ, a solid rock I stand.

All other ground is sinking sand.

So he is solid in that sense, but he's also, unlike a rock, alive.

He is a rock that's living.

And I want to tell you, I believe this with all my heart.

I believe that that Old Testament picture of this in the wilderness, when they were walking in the wilderness, there was a rock that followed them.

And Moses was told to smite that rock, and water would come out of it, and they would all get their water.

That that rock would have living water flowing out of it.

Moses smote it twice in anger and could not go in the promised land and so forth.

But but I want you to know that that rock followed them.

I've always thought about the last guy in line when they were all wandering through the wilderness and he would walk, and that rock would just, you know, that had to be a funny thing to see that rock moving through the wilderness with him.

But the Bible says the rock followed them.

That is a living rock, out of which comes living water, out of which gives life in the wilderness.

And Jesus is the rock, but he's a living rock.

Not only that, he is the rejected stone, not just the living stone, but he's the rejected stone, disallowed indeed of men.

See, mankind inspected the rock and they rejected him.

The religious leaders looked him over and didn't like his message.

Pilate looked at him and turned him over to the crowd, and the crowd gave their verdict and they said, crucify him, crucify him.

This world rejects Jesus Christ.

Listen, you don't hear people hit their thumb with a hammer and yell, oh Muhammad.

Or oh my Allah.

No, they take Jesus' name in vain.

His name is the cuss word.

His name is drugged through the mud.

He is despised and rejected.

I will just tell you right now that this 9-11 we had an Islamic mayor, communist mayor of New York City, laughing and giggling during the reading of the names.

And the world just has no problem with that.

But had that man been a born-again Christian and come there as a Christian and stood in a solemn spirit, the world would have ridiculed him.

Why?

Because the world hates Christ.

He's the rejected one, he's disallowed indeed of men.

By the way, this is why many of us don't make our statement for Christ.

We don't live wide open for Jesus Christ because when you do, there is rejection.

Jesus said, I am despised and rejected.

But what was God's estimation of him?

I have chosen him and he's precious.

He was disallowed in deed of men, but chosen of God and precious.

Let me tell you, that had to ring true in the heart of these people that Peter's writing to, because they, like Jesus, had been despised and rejected, but they were chosen of God and precious to God.

Boy, that had to give them some help.

This world's rejection never determines your value.

Not only was he the living stone and the rejected stone, but he's the cornerstone.

Verse number six, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone.

The Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 2 that Jesus Christ is built upon the chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

The cornerstone was a vital part.

One of the things, if you ever go to Israel with us and we go tour the Holy Land, one of the things that you're going to find is that you will very rarely see a structure made out of two by four in lumber.

Almost everything there is built out of rock.

The reason for that is because trees are a scarcity there, but rock is abundant.

And the temple was made out of hewn stones.

And this is what Peter has in mind here.

They would quarry those rocks and bring them to the Temple Mount, and they put them together in a way that built this wonderful and glorious temple in Solomon's day.

And every stone structure has to have a cornerstone.

And the cornerstone is essential because every other stone in that building is going to be anchored to that cornerstone.

And not only that, the cornerstone has to be cut just right because it is the alignment stone.

One bit of miscalculation with the cornerstone, and you might be a quarter of an inch off on the cornerstone, but by the time you get to the end of the wall, you're four feet off.

How many of you play golf?

Anybody in here play golf?

Okay, let me help you guys with your golf swing.

The reason why you're 30 yards into the woods is because you're only about a tenth of a degree off at contact.

But a tenth of a degree off at contact here is 30 yards into the woods over there.

Amen, Ethan?

Pastor Ethan, he knows what it means to be 30 yards into the woods.

But anyway, he can hit the ball a long, long way into the water.

But um, if it's not aligned, it's gonna be off-measure.

And I want to tell you, listen to me, this is the problem with the modern day church.

The modern-day church today has tried to make Jesus align with our message rather than us align with him.

See, Jesus does not align with your life.

Your life must align with him.

Your morality is defined by Jesus Christ.

Your marriage is defined by Jesus Christ, your finances are defined by Jesus Christ.

Your service is defined by Jesus Christ, your standard of living is defined by Jesus Christ.

He is the measurement.

You are not the measurement, I am not the measurement, and modern-day Christianity needs to lose this phrase out of its vocabulary.

It made Jesus a part of their life.

He doesn't want a part of your life, he wants no part of your life.

In fact, he wants to crucify your life and give you his life.

He doesn't come into your life and adjust himself to you.

You are a new creature in him.

Not only that, he's the dividing stone in verses 7 and 8.

He's the dividing stone.

The same stone produces two completely different responses.

To those who believe, he is precious.

To those who are disobedient, he is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

I understand that your life is either going to be built upon him or you're going to fall over him.

There's no neutral ground with Jesus Christ.

Gamaleel, the great teacher and Pharisee, found out that you cannot remain neutral about Jesus Christ.

In the book of Acts, he stood up and he said, Hey, we don't need to do anything about this because if this message is of God, you can't change it.

And if it's of men, it'll come to naught, so we're just going to leave it alone.

But he made a critical error.

You cannot remain neutral about Jesus.

You either believe on him and he is precious to you.

Or you're offended by his message and you try to redefine him.

See, there's a lot of people today that want to talk about how grace comes by Jesus Christ, but they forget that truth came first.

Truth and grace.

Grace and truth.

You cannot have a true estimation of grace until you know the truth.

And when you know the truth, you rejoice in the grace.

But Jesus is altogether grace and truth.

And I want you to see something here.

The people who were disobedient, they stumbled at the word.

Notice this.

Look at verse number eight again.

As a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient.

So when the word came to them, they didn't want to submit to Jesus Christ.

They didn't want to come to Christ.

He was offensive to them.

And by the way, he is offensive to the world.

Nobody wants a bloody Savior.

But to those who believe, that's precious.

But to those that believe not the word and are disobedient to the word, they stumble over it.

And I wanted you to see something here.

The Bible says, Whereunto also they were appointed.

Many people have revved their theological engines and try to make this an issue of some kind of sovereign appointment that God has chosen some people to be disobedient and go to hell.

And Peter is not teaching sovereignty of God in this passage.

He's not teaching election in this passage.

If you study the word here, appointed, and I just want to make this very clear so that there's no false teaching about this.

God does not appoint some to heaven and some to hell.

God who would have all men everywhere to be saved.

The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.

For God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Those who come to Him are the elect.

God takes no pleasure in the destruction and the punishment of the wicked.

But to be appointed here, or to be this appointment to stumble, it's simply this.

They're disobedient at the word and they stumble whereunto also they were appointed.

Let me tell you exactly how this works.

Those of you that are parents, if you've ever had a kid sitting on a stool and the kid keeps standing up on the stool, and you say to the kid, hey, sit down, you're gonna fall.

Hey, if you get up on that stool like that, you're gonna fall.

And the kid keeps horsing around, and pretty soon the kid stands up on the stool and bam, he fell.

Now the parent did not ordain that kid to fall.

The parent said, This is what's gonna happen if you do that.

And you're appointed to fall.

If you do this, you're gonna fall.

What it is, appointed is the natural consequence of their disobedience.

I want to just make that clear.

Number two, we talked about we're built.

God is doing a work and we're a vital part of it because we're built upon Christ.

Number two, we're built together in Christ.

Verse 5 says, Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

We are living stones as well.

And his the reason why we're living is because his life is in us.

So we have the life of Christ.

Now listen, we're all bricks, but we're not scattered bricks.

We're not just scattered around.

God is building something together.

I want you to know how many of you today have the life of Jesus Christ in you?

How many of you know that you know that you're saved?

How many of you have the life of Christ in you?

Okay, then you are a brick.

You are a living stone, you are a rock that has been infused with the life of Christ.

So every brick has a place.

When you drive by a construction site, you see it littered with bricks.

But you're gonna find that a builder is gonna make every one of those find a place in the building.

Now I want to tell you that every one of you has a place in the spiritual house that God is building.

God is building something, you have a vital part in it.

Now, you may not preach and you may not sing and you may not teach and you may not uh have a title, but God knows we have too many people with titles and not enough people with a heart to serve, but you have a place in the church.

You don't have to be the preacher or the teacher or the singer, but you need to have a place to serve.

God is building something and you are a vital part of it.

Some people have have told me that they um that they have the gift of criticism.

And they criticize everything.

They very rarely serve.

You never you don't see them at all the services, you don't see them engaged in the connection groups, you don't see them serving in the church in any capacity, but they will tell you everything that's wrong with the ministry.

And there are some people that just have that wonderful gift of criticism.

And uh sometimes you just say, you know, why don't you just go start your own church?

That would be a blessing.

But God has told us, listen, there is no gift of criticism, there's just a great gift of unity in the church that we would all come together, and if there is a problem in the church, that we would help be part of the solution.

And uh, that's what God wants us to do.

Everybody has an you need to see your gifts, see your opportunities, and have a serving heart.

So every gift, every brick has a place, every brick needs every other brick.

You're built up a spiritual house.

You don't build a house with one brick.

Bricks have to be put together.

You look at these brick walls on both sides of this auditorium.

Those bricks right there are easy to pick up and carry around.

You can actually even take a brick and probably break it, but I guarantee you that no one can pick up that wall.

When the bricks are all together, those bricks are joined together.

There is, there's a brick may be strong, but they're much stronger together.

And that's exactly how the Lord designed the church.

Listen to me carefully.

Christianity was never meant to be lived in isolation.

One of the things you're gonna find in the New Testament as you read it is you're not gonna find I and me.

You're gonna Find us and we.

Some people say, Well, I love Jesus, I just don't really need the church.

And Peter says that's an impossible argument because to have Jesus is to embrace the church.

And the church, like a construction site, might have some mess every once in a while.

There might be some broken pieces and some discarded things and some dust and some inconvenience you have to deal with with other people.

But God is doing a work and you're a vital part of it.

He, you're the material, he is the master builder.

And you don't get to tell the builder how to build.

We just sit back and say, Here are my Lord, use me in the place that you want me to be.

See, here's the problem.

Too many of us go to church.

But we don't belong to the church.

In fact, if some of you didn't show up on a Sunday, would anything here not be undone?

Would um would it be missed?

Is my life a vital part of the spiritual house that God is building?

See, we need to get away from this idea that I attend church, and we need to start understanding that we belong to the church.

And that we are the church.

And that his life is in me, and he has joined me to others, and I have a responsibility to him and them.

And church is Jesus and relationships.

I need believers, and believers need me.

So every brick then has a ministry.

I'll move on.

I can tell we kind of hit a little stump right there.

Verse number nine and verse number five say that we are a holy priesthood.

I'm almost done, so just bear with us.

It's been a little bit longer today.

Every brick has a ministry.

Priests.

Priests are those who go before God.

You and I have a ministry.

We are in the priesthood.

But the priesthood was a ministry.

They served at the temple, they served in the presence of God.

And what did the priest do primarily?

They offered sacrifices.

The Bible tells us in verse number five that we are a holy priesthood.

And what is our job?

To offer spiritual sacrifices.

So not only are we the priesthood, we're the temple.

So we are the temple when we gather together where God meets.

And then we become not just the bricks, but the priests who make sacrifices to the Lord.

And I want to tell you, as believers, today we are to make sacrifices.

Now, thankfully, none of you brought a goat, nobody brought a turtle dove.

I'm grateful for that.

But I want to tell you, you better have brought your body.

You present your bodies a living sacrifice.

You're to glorify God in your bodies, Romans chapter 12 and verse 1.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

In Hebrews 13 and verse 15, we are to offer our praise as a sacrifice to the Lord.

I wonder today, when we were singing today, did you make melody in your heart to the Lord, full of grace, making melody to the Lord, and offering your song as a sacrifice of praise to the Lord?

In Hebrews chapter 13 and verse number 16, we offer our good works as sacrifices to the Lord.

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

We also, in that same verse in Hebrews 13, 16, we offer our giving.

Everything that we give to the Lord is a sacrifice, an offering to the Lord.

In Revelation chapter 5 and verse 8, our prayers are offerings of sweet smelling incense to the Lord.

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

When you pray, you're offering these as things that God favors.

And then Romans chapter 15 and verse number 16 are converts, our sacrifices to God.

Romans 15 · chapter mention

Paul said in Romans 15, 16 that he said, I want that the Gentile believers would become a great offering to God.

Every time you bring someone to Christ, that is an offering and a sacrifice to God.

So every brick has a ministry.

You know, we often ask, and we should, hey, what did you get out of church today?

Well, I would hope that every time we come, we get something out of church.

But I think we are we're we're remiss when we don't ask the follow-up question, what did you bring to the house of God today?

See, sometimes we come as consumers.

I hope I get something out of the service.

But God says, you're not a consumer, you're an offering.

You're offering something in the service of the Lord.

What did I bring to the church today?

What did I bring in offering to the Lord?

So now I want you to see, thirdly, and lastly, that we're built upon Christ.

We're built together in Christ, but we are built for the glory of God.

Look at verse number nine.

But you're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.

That ye should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

These verses are the why.

So we know what God's doing.

God is building something, and we're a vital part of it.

We understand what God is building.

God is building a spiritual house.

God is building a priesthood.

God is building something by which living stones, living rocks of people who have the life of Christ in them, gather together to offer a ministry to God.

We understand what he's building and why he's building it or what he's building, but we need to know why he's building it.

Why is he building it?

He's building it for his glory.

That we would show forth the praises of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

See, what I love about this, and I think the modern-day church has an identity crisis.

We have tried to redefine the church, we've tried to reshape the church, we've tried to make the church after our likings and our appetites and our image, and we've gotten away from the chief cornerstone.

And God gives us the identity here.

Here's our true identity in Christ.

Who are we?

We are the chosen, which means that we belong to Him.

We are royal priesthood, which means that we serve the King of Kings.

And we are peculiar, which means we are his special possession.

Look, peculiar does not mean weird.

Some believers have really taken that to heart and said, you know, I'm going to be peculiar.

I'm just going to be weird.

Well, you don't have to be, to be saved, you don't have to be a weirdo.

But you do need to be peculiar.

And peculiar would be something like finding a diamond in a coal mine.

It is something of intrinsic value.

It is something that stands out.

It is something that is different from everything around it.

It's something that your eye is drawn to.

And that's what believers are.

We're to be peculiar in this world.

We are living in a dark world where people will kill and threaten, and the depravity of man's heart is on display in its wickedness.

But there are some people here who are to live as servants of Jesus Christ, and we shine differently than the dark world around us.

See, identity leads us to purpose.

When we know who we are, we will remember what we're called to do.

So this is what Peter is saying in this passage of scripture.

He said, You're built for the glory of God.

So if you're going to know the glory of God, if you're going to glorify God, number one, remember who you are.

Who are you?

You're the chosen, you are a royal priesthood, and you are a peculiar people.

So you need to remember who you are.

And next, you need to remember why you're here.

Why are you here?

To show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness.

My job and your job is to be built together to show the world how wonderful Jesus is.

That's the job of the church.

We are here to show the world how wonderful Christ is.

That we are people who used to be in darkness, but now we're in light.

We are people who used to be in death, but now we are in life.

We are people who used to be filled with guilt, but now we've walked in forgiveness.

We are people who used to be in the chains of bondage, but now we walk in freedom.

We are people who were strangers from God, but now we're in the family of God.

We know who we are and we know why we're here.

And God said, now what's going to help you remember that is remembering what you were.

In time past you were not a people, but are now the people of God.

Now, why would he say that?

In time past you were not a people, but are now the people of God.

Well, in time past you did not have mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Now, why would he say that?

Because he wants to remind you that you are the people of God in the building that God is building, but you did not build yourself.

This is the very dangerous part of human pride.

Is that we can build things and we can see things and then we think that we did it.

Listen, we did not make something of ourselves.

God has made something of us.

This is not a glorified AA meeting where we all got together and we found some, you know, some self-help, and the pastor got up and gave us a TED talk, and we all go home motivated.

We had a concert and we leave here and we feel great and we're energized.

Man, this is great.

Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen.

The church is not that.

The church is a place of people who were no longer of God, but are now the people of God.

But we we are not just people who are pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps.

Listen, Christianity is not bad people who are now doing better.

Christianity is people who were dead who are now alive.

It's people who have been radically transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves.

We gather together in here, remembering that we were.

And by the way, we do that because this, because the world that we're called to reach is like what we used to be.

And we look at those people out in darkness and we condemn the darkness.

We curse the darkness, and God said, No, don't curse the darkness.

Shine as lights to the praise of the glory of the Father.

It's easy to sit in this world today and curse the darkness and be angry at all that's going on in the world.

When the truth of the matter is, we're supposed to shine as lights and let people know I used to be in darkness, but now I'm in light.

I used to be that way, but now I'm changed.

I was blind, but now I see.

When you look at a beautiful building, I'm talking a beautifully done structure.

You don't go through and admire every individual brick in the building.

You stand back and you look at one building together and you say, Wow, who built this?

A beautiful building glorifies the architect.

Every brick in that building in its place to bring glory to the one who built it.

So the purpose of the church is not to say, hey, look at us.

The purpose of the church is to say, hey, look at him.

Look at him.

So let me ask you two questions as we close.

Number one, have you accepted your place in the church?

Have you accepted your place in what God is building?

Have you accepted the fact that God has saved you and made you a vital part of the work that He's doing in the world?

Have you accepted that?

And number two, are you fulfilling your purpose?

Are you as a believer edifying the church?

You as a believer, are you using your gifts and your abilities and the things that God has given to you?

Are you using those to build the church, to edify the church?

And are you fulfilling your purpose in showing into the darkness the light of the gospel?

That's the call of God on every believer.

God is building something, you're a vital part of it.

So let's take our part and let God use us, and let's be the building and the church that the Lord Jesus Christ has called us to be.

Our Father, I thank you for this.