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June 1, 2022 · 46 min · The 7 Basics
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Beth Jones is a Bible teacher and founder of The Basics With Beth, a non-profit Christian teaching ministry dedicated to helping people learn the Bible basics.
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The Importance of Church 0:01 Good morning, VFC. So we're talking today in our series. We're in a series called The 7 Basics and we're just each week taking a basic from the book, The 7 Basics, and just really drilling down and talking0:13 about the importance of establishing our roots in Christ, of getting a really strong foundation. And our text has been this verse. Let me read it and then we'll pray. Colossians 1 29 from The Message Bible,0:25 it says to be mature is to be basic. And the verse goes on to say some other things, but this little phrase here really grabbed me many, many years ago in the New King James version and then more recently in The Message0:36 and I love how it's worded. It says to be mature is to be basic. You're as mature as you are basic. As established in the basics, the simple truths, as deep as your0:48 roots go, that's the degree to which you can be mature and growing up in Christ. And so we're taking some time to strengthen our roots and looking at lots and lots of different basics. And so today we're on basic number0:59 4. Let me pray and then we'll get into it, all right? Father, thank you so much for your word. Thank you so much, God, that you're strengthening our foundation. You're causing our roots to go down deep, to tap into that1:10 living water. Lord, so that good fruit will be produced in our lives and through our lives for your glory and for your honor. Lord, I pray that you'll speak to us this morning. I have a lot of things to share, but holy1:21 spirit, I ask you to guide me. I thank you for your anointing. I thank you God for stirring us up on the very thing that is on front and center on your heart and that is your church. And so we trust you for great1:33 service, eternal fruit to be the result of our times together. Lord, that even callings and divine purposes and destinies would be1:45 changed because of today's service in Jesus' name. And everybody that agreed said, Amen. Talking about how to then, basic number 4, the importance of get into a good1:57 church. That's basic number 4, get into a good church. And we're gonna talk about 4 reasons why we should get into a good church. We'll get into that in just a minute. But first, let's just take a few minutes. By way of2:07 introduction, let's talk about God's view of the church. I think it's important. We'll talk about God's view of the church, the world's view of the church and the church's view of the church. How do we see ourselves? But2:19 it's important to start with what is God's view of the church? I mean, why do we do this? Why do we gather every week? Why do we have services? Why do we build buildings? Why do we have kids' ministries, student2:30 ministries? Why do we have all kinds of outreaches into a city? I mean, why are we doing this? What's the point of the church? God's view is throughout the scriptures, but 1 passage I love in particular2:42 is this 1 found in Ephesians 1 verses 20 through 23. I read this years ago. I was sitting at a production that our kids were in at the school. It was in the cafetorium in the2:53 elementary school and I was waiting for this program to start. So I pulled out my little Bible in my purse and I was just reading Ephesians in the Message Bible and when I read this, I'm telling you, man, the words just3:03 exploded in my spirit. I just loved every word of this passage and it grabbed me. Then it's continued to grab me ever since. It says this, Ephesians 1 20 through 23, it says, all this3:14 energy, issues from Christ, God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments,3:26 no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all3:38 this, at the center of all of these galaxies and governments, at the center of all of this, Christ rules the church. The church you see is not peripheral to3:50 the world. The world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body in which he speaks and acts by which he fills everything4:02 with his presence. That's God's view of the church. It's Christ's body in operation by which he speaks and acts. The world is peripheral to the church. It's not the other way4:14 around. Although in the culture, you know, the culture and even some within the church themselves might have this mindset that the church is peripheral. It's not relevant. It's not really front and center. It's4:26 this little group of people that meet and do their little church thing. It's so much more than that from God's view. It's so much more than that. At the center, you gotta get this, at the center of all the galaxies and4:36 governments, the very central thing, Christ rules the church. He rules the church. You would think it would say Christ rules the universe or4:48 something. You would think it would say something else. No, at the center of all the galaxies and the governments, all of this stuff, at the very center, the thing that's front and center for God is Christ rules the4:59 church. Jesus came on the scene, he said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And how many of you know the gates of hell are sure trying? But here's the thing and this should be a5:11 clue for us, this should be a tip-off for us. Why does the devil care about the church if it's so irrelevant, if it's so peripheral anyways, if it's just a little club of a bunch of naive little insecure people that get5:23 together? If that's what the church is, why is the devil so afraid of it and why is that the thing he fights against the hardest? There's a lot of things the devil doesn't fight over, you know?5:35 But he sure does fight the church And that should be a tip for you and I, that should be a confirmation for you and I that God is doing something and wants to do big things through his church. And5:47 maybe we need him to help us get the basic on what the church is all about and what he's trying to accomplish and then what is our place in that church? What is our view in the church? I mean, it's interesting. I just5:58 read an article yesterday. In Iran, the country of Iran, there's quite a bit of persecution of Christians and so on. And I just read this article. I had to read the paragraph several times to make sure I read it right.6:11 In the last 32 years there is no known construction of any church building. In the last 32 years. There are6:22 200000 known Christians in Iran, but there's no known construction of any church building in the last 32 years. Does that sound like somebody's been trying to fight the church? I6:34 mean, here we live in America, the plethora of churches. Right? From God's view, what does this look like? From God's view, Christ is ruling the church and there's an assignment, there's a mission, there's a mandate6:46 for what God wants to do in us and through us as individuals and then collectively as his church. And that's what we're gonna get into today. Couple thoughts about the church. 1 thought is this.6:58 There's no other organization on planet Earth like the church. There's nothing else like it. You gotta think about this. I think sometimes we've minimized it. The enemy helps us to minimize the church. It's just a7:09 club or it's just a group of people. It's just kind of like that thing I do on Sundays. But you need to just step back for a second and think about the power of a church. Don't underestimate, don't minimize the church.7:21 There's nothing else like this on earth. Where else can you go? Where else can you go on planet earth and gather with a group of people that you don't know, but then instantly you feel connected.7:34 Where else can you go and you can gather with a bunch of people and you can sing songs to God, worship songs to God and then he shows up in the space. And when he brings his presence, he brings all of his7:46 presence and he ministers to people and he customizes a gathering so that people leave having been fed, having been ministered to, having been encouraged, having been healed, having been7:57 touched, where else can you go to get that? I mean, really, where else can you go to have a place that impacts your life, spirit, soul and8:09 body? You can go to the doctor's office and it'll help your body. You can go to the hospital and that'll help your body. You can go to the university and that'll help your mind. You can go to your job and that'll help8:20 your finances. But I mean, where can you go that'll impact you spirit, soul and body? The best crime prevention program in a city is the church. The best8:32 family strengthening social agency in a city is the church. The best values leadership development organization in a town is8:44 the church. The best financial stability operation to help people get their finances in order and to succeed and to prosper in life. It's the church.8:57 The healthiest place to be. It's the church. Why? Because it's in the church that Christ, his presence fills the place and9:09 he ministers spirit, soul and body. You cannot get this anywhere. The closest thing you can get it, you know what we're talking about this church, the closest place is your own natural family. But then for a lot of you,9:20 even in your own natural family, there's not that kindredness in Christ. So you're actually closer in some cases to the church people than you are to your own family because you share that relationship with Christ.9:32 You know, we had great worship this morning. I mean, you talk about energy. Where else can you get physical fitness like this? Like Pastor Jeff said, you know? I mean, you can take an aerobics class but this right here9:43 will do it for you. So, but in a worship setting like this, I mean, God shows up and there's energy and you just feel the joy of the Lord trying to empower you, spirit, soul and body. The closest thing to9:55 that, to me anyways, the closest thing is like a big 10 football game. How many of y'all like big 10 football? Yeah. I mean, big, it's hard to beat. Michigan State, Michigan, you know, you go to those stadiums and you're10:06 sitting there with 170000 people and the marching band is going and it's like an awesome game and there's energy and caramel corn and there's just all kinds of jerseys all over the place.10:18 Isn't it like the best? Big 10 football's the best. But it's just big 10 football. I mean, God's presence isn't filling the stadium, other than he's in10:30 you. Right? I mean, it's just a great soulish fire me up thing to be at. But if you're in a crisis, it doesn't matter if you have on a Spartan jersey or a Wolverine's jersey. If you're in a10:41 crisis, that jersey's not gonna help me. I need somebody that's filled with God and somebody that's filled with faith and filled with his word to come pray for me. I need to be surrounded by people when I go through a10:51 crisis and a hard time in life, people that'll help my kids, people that'll bring meals to the house, people that will sit with me in the hospital, people that'll be at the funeral home, people that'll counsel me when11:01 I'm in a time of need. Come on, there's nothing like the church. There's no place like the church. You gotta think about it. Sometimes we can almost take for granted what we have. We're in a free country. We11:13 got an amazing building. We get to worship God. And this is a living, dynamic organism. The church, nothing like it.11:25 Go over in your Bibles to Psalm 92, God's view of the church. I was talking to 1 of our gals in between services and she's 1 of our 80 year old gals. You guys know Beverly, some of you do. I love Beverly. She's just11:36 amazing. She's in her 80s and she's here like 4 times a week and she volunteers and her friends are like, what do you do there? Do you like going there? She goes, I love going there. She goes, I am loved there. I11:48 get to serve there. It's fun there. She just comes and volunteers 4 times a week because she's family. We're family here. God's view of the church, here's what he says in12:00 Psalm 92 verses 12 through 14. It says, the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord12:12 shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age. They shall be fresh and flourishing. You can take it to the bank. You can grab onto that. You can hold onto12:23 that. Those who are planted, not those who are drive bys, not those who sorta, maybe, kinda, shoulda, woulda, coulda. Those who are planted in the house. We've watched it. For12:35 23 some years, we've watched it. We've watched those who are planted. We've watched them flourish. We've watched their kids flourish. We've watched their marriages flourish. We've watched their lives flourish. Does it12:47 mean they don't have issues and don't have tribulations and challenges and trials and adversities? No, we all face that. Jesus said we would. But they flourish in the midst. Even when it's the worst of the12:59 worst, they still flourish. Those who are planted God's view, He wants you to flourish. Some stats now are backing it up. I thought this was interesting. The New York Times, April 2013:11 13, a New York Times guest columnist is a professor of anthropology at Stanford. She said, 1 of the most striking scientific discoveries about religion in recent13:22 years is that going to church weekly is good for you. Religious attendance, at least religiosity, boosts the immune system and decreases blood pressure.13:34 Well tell that to your cardiologist. It may add as much as 2 to 3 years to your life. New York Times, Stanford professor.13:46 Another report said church kids are less likely to divorce or live in poverty. People are studying this. They're saying what is the deal with these churches? What's the deal with the advent of the megachurch? And is13:58 it having an effect on anybody's life? Those who are planted in the house shall flourish. The Gallup poll did a survey. Religious Americans enjoy higher well-being.14:10 They analyzed over half a million people, half a million interviews, and they found that Americans who are the most religious have the highest levels of well-being.14:23 At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church you see is not peripheral to the world. The world is peripheral to the church. There's nothing like the church. And we're talking about a basic. A14:35 basic is get into church. Dads, listen. The best thing you can do for your family on Father's Day, I hope you get a bunch of presents from your family. But the best thing you can give your family is you can stand up and14:45 say, I'm the head of this household, I'm the man of this house and as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And kids, we will be in church every Sunday. Now, I know we're preaching to the14:57 choir because you're here. But man, I'm telling you, I want you to get stirred up about it. I want you to pass the word to the people in your life. Church is good for them. But there's more to it than15:09 just being good for us. We'll get to it here in just a bit. Alright, what's the world's view of the church? The world's view is they think that it's irrelevant. It's peripheral. It's just naive, insecure people that meet15:20 together. They don't have God's view at all of the church and statistics will tell us in 19 91, 24 percent of the population was unchurched.15:33 Now, fast forward a few years later, 37 percent of adults are unchurched, almost 40 percent. So it's going in the wrong direction. That's the point. It's going in the wrong direction. It needs to be15:44 getting smaller and smaller and smaller as we continue to reach unchurched people. But as those in the church, we need to esteem the value of it. We need to see that it is more than something that I just do, check it off15:56 my list, make my wife happy or make my kids happy or hopefully I'll get some extra brownie points in heaven, you know, extra credit because I went to church twice this month. Hopefully we have a different view of it than16:08 the world does. What's the church's view of the church? Here's what the church's view, us, our view is of the church. We see it as optional,16:19 statistically. The church sees church as optional. In the past, we've known this ever since we started the church, we would watch these numbers. In the past, you know, the last 20 some years, it16:31 was known amongst church leaders, it was known that on any given Sunday, you would have 80 percent, 75 to 80 percent of those who call your church home, they would be in the church on any given Sunday. And so you16:43 always knew there was 20 percent of those who call your church home. They're not there that Sunday, but they'll be there next week and another 20 percent won't be. That was just how it was. Nowadays, because of the16:53 culture and just because of the attitude about church that the enemy is fighting. Nowadays, the percentage is 50 percent or worse, meaning 2 out of every 4 people who call our church17:05 home would be in church on any given Sunday. So you could look around this room today and you could go, okay, so half of our 11 30 service people are here. 50 percent of them are not here today.17:17 Same thing was true first service. Half are here. Our church size is actually double the number of people that attend. Well, that's great but it's not great. It's actually not17:29 good because it means that in our mind we're like well church is optional. Come see, come saw, go when I can. I don't when I don't. Depends on the weather. I live in Michigan. But17:41 again, I'm preaching to the choir. You guys are here at 11 30 on an amazing day in Michigan. And Pastor Jeff and I would like to personally thank you. It's awesome.17:53 It really is awesome. It says a lot about you, about your heart for the church. So again, we're gonna stir you up but you're already stirred up because you're here. But even still, it's just we wanna get this in our18:02 spirit. So 4 reasons to get into a good church. Let me tell you what they are. The 4 reasons are you need a family, you need to be fed, you need a18:14 hospital, and you need to be in the army. And so let's start by looking at this verse in Hebrews 10 25. It's a great verse. It says, Some people have gotten18:25 out of the habit of meeting for worship, but we must not do that. We should keep on encouraging each other, especially since you know that the day of the Lord's coming is getting closer. So this is a18:37 classic passage on church and it's a great verse and every word in this verse is important. The very beginning he talks about a habit. He said some people have gotten out of the habit of meeting for worship. It18:49 is a habit. You know, at the lowest common denominator, it's a habit. You just establish the habit. Kids, mom, wife, dad, this is what we do. We go to church. On Sundays, that's what we do or19:01 whenever services are available. We go to church. That's what our family does. It's not optional. Sunday morning we don't wake up and go, oh, what do you guys think? Are we tired? Do we wanna go out to breakfast? Do we19:10 wanna go golfing? What do you guys wanna do? It's like no, Sunday mornings that time is already reserved, already carved out for God, for church, for this thing that is not peripheral. It's a habit. And19:22 again, I just wanna encourage you dads and your moms too, just make some decisions to be like, God, if it's true that those that are planted will flourish, then we're gonna put you to the test. We're gonna do what you19:34 said to do because we certainly could use some flourishing in our lives. Our kids are coming into a season, some of you with kids coming into middle school age. Listen, I hope you're hearing this, parents.19:46 You should have started it sooner. You gotta get them when they're really little. But even as they head into middle school, the peer pressure thing really amps up. Your voice carries less weight and their friend's voice19:56 carries more weight. And if they haven't been grounded in the word, if you've not been consistent in getting them to church because they whined and cried and kicked and screamed and you're like, okay, I don't wanna fight20:05 the battle. It's just too hard. Okay, kids, you can sleep in. We're not going today. If that's been your MO, you're about to pay for it. Don't let that be your MO. You be the parent. Let them be the kid.20:17 We told our kids, of course, they didn't have an option. We pastor a church. Look people, this is what we do. And they had to be at every service. Back in the day we had 4 services. And you know what? Not 1 of them20:29 regrets it and neither do we. Sometimes parents give kids an option and I'm like, seriously? You're kidding? You're giving your kid an option about going to church and about going to youth group. Well, they don't like20:39 the youth group. Well, do they like school? I mean, hello. You make them go to school. Well, they don't like the youth group. Well, then tell them to go to20:51 the youth group and make it cool. Or if they're so cool, tell them to go to the youth group and make it cool. And all the people said.21:05 Come on, are we Let's talk serious now. Let's talk about real life. What the church will do in your family is not able to be measured. What comes out of, listen, don't21:16 underestimate the church. Don't underestimate, don't minimize, don't get that mindset because what comes out of the church, only eternity will tell. We're having a great service in here. God's already ministered to us21:27 through the worship kittamizoo. We don't know what kind of seeds God, the Holy Spirit is planting21:39 into the lives of dozens and dozens of young people that'll mark their life forever. We don't know what's going on in middle school. We don't know how God is tapping the shoulders and working in the hearts of young kids21:50 that are gonna 1 day grow up and be the adults and be running this universe, be running this country at least, be running things in our city and God has established some things in their lives that'll go on22:02 to impact eternity. We don't know. We can't measure that. Only God can measure that. I mean, things we've seen come out of this church in the last 23 years, what God22:14 has done in the lives of the people, where God has taken them, some that have launched into ministry, gone to Bible school, gone into the military, started their own businesses, moved to other cities, and now are22:26 carrying influence. That's the stuff God measures. You don't ever underestimate the power, the influence, the impact of a church because it's through the church that22:38 Jesus acts and speaks. He says here, some of you have gotten out of the habit of meeting together. Don't do that. Meet together for this reason.22:50 4 things we're going to look at, and they all have to do with encouraging. He said, get together to encourage 1 another. This is a dark place y'all are living in. The world's a dark place. There's not a lot of23:00 encouragement out there. A lot of people are discouraged. A lot of people are without hope. A lot of people are feeling like they don't have a friend in the world. Nobody cares about them. Nobody's cheering them23:11 on. Nobody cares if they succeed or fail. Nobody cares about what they're going through because because everybody cares about themselves. And he says, Get together, you all, get together.23:23 Spirit, soul and body, my presence will show up and you encourage 1 another. To be encouraged, it literally means to infuse someone with courage. To give them courage.23:36 Get together and give 1 another courage and then let God encourage us. I mean, think about it. When was the last time somebody spoke words to you that encouraged23:48 you? Think about it. What was the last thing? Go back. Let's see, when was that? Somebody said something to me and man, it was an impartation of courage. I just felt like I could24:00 do it. I just felt valued. I just felt like my life mattered. I just felt like it was worth it. Come on. What was the last thing somebody said to you that encouraged you?24:12 What was the last thing you said to someone? What What was the last thing you looked at somebody in the eyeballs, you sent somebody an email, you wrote somebody a note, and you saw somebody in church, you picked up your24:22 kids from kiddemissou or middle school, or you're in the atrium, or you're shaking hands here. When was the last time you looked at somebody in the eyeballs and you were like on purpose, like, you are amazing. I love24:33 you. I am so glad we're friends. You're so smart. I love your laugh. I just love how kind you are. Just, I like knowing you.24:46 You know what that does for people? The littlest of phrases, the littlest of phrases. We're so encouragement starved. Do you know we latch onto24:58 anything? Practically? We latch onto the littlest of phrases. Somebody says that we're just like, oh thank you.25:12 Somebody likes me, Say it again. Can I record that? But that's the purpose of church. You should leave this25:23 place feeling good. You should leave this place hearing from God. Even if he has to correct you, you should feel good. You should leave this place going like, man, those are my people. Those are my friends. That's my25:34 family. I like them and they like me and I have value here because you do. Amen. To encourage someone is to give them25:46 value, to give them courage. And he said, Look, that's what you come here to do. There's nowhere else you're getting that. In most places, you're getting jealousy. In most places, you're getting belittled, patronized,25:58 condescended to, put down. Most places, people are competing with you. Most places, they don't want you to succeed. They see a bunch of fake stuff on Facebook, but it's not real.26:11 And all the people said This is supposed to be the real deal here. This is supposed to be the place where Jesus is the head of this gathering. And not just Sunday morning because the church happens,26:23 a lot more happens during the week other than when we gather on Sunday mornings. A lot more is going on. And we're able to be a part of it. So 4 things.26:35 4 things, reasons we should get in church. Number 1, you need a family. Here's what C. S. Lewis said about it. If you know C. S. Lewis, he wrote Mere Christianity, The26:47 Chronicles of Narnia. Quite philosophical, quite intelligent and academic. He said this, he said, I thought I could do it on my own by retiring to my rooms and reading theology.26:59 And I wouldn't go to the churches. But as I went on, I saw the great merit of it. I came up against different kinds of people of quite different outlooks and education and then gradually my27:11 conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns, which were just sixth rate music, were nevertheless being sung with27:23 devotion and benefit by an old saint in wide elastic side boots in the opposite pew. And then when you realize that you aren't fit to clean27:34 those boots, it gets you out of your solitary conceit. He's an academic, he's an intellectual, he's a little highfalutin, a little too good for those church people. He said, I thought I could just spend time with27:46 God by myself. Which a lot of people have that mindset. Well, I don't need church, just me and God. We like nature. Me and God, we go for walks. Me and God, I just read my Bible. He says, that was my mindset. He goes,27:58 and then I went and I saw the benefit. I saw the head something. What the head was, God's presence showed up. And there was all different kinds of economic and educational backgrounds and everybody had something to28:08 contribute. Then I saw them sing these songs even though it was kind of lame music, I saw them sing these songs with such devotion. And the lady had these weird elastic side boots, but then I looked at her and I thought,28:19 I'm not even fit to clean your boots. He said, it caused my self conceit, my solitary conceit, this inflated view of myself to peel away and I realized the value28:31 of this thing called church. Number 1, you need a family. Galatians 6 10 it says, Therefore as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially28:43 those who are of the household. The household, the family of faith. I mean, like we've said over and over, there's just nothing like the church and there's something about it. Jeff and I have traveled around the world28:53 over the last number of years preaching and been in lots of countries, a lot of places where they don't speak English and we didn't speak their language, but do you know? I'm always amazed. It's always such a29:03 confirmation to me. You can visit with somebody and even if you don't speak the language, you can visit with somebody and it doesn't take more than 2 or 3 or 5 minutes and you're like, we're family. I'm with family.29:15 Like we both love Jesus and we're family, there's a kindredness, there's a connection, you can meet a fellow believer. You can be in Starbucks and meet somebody who's a Christian and you don't even know them but29:27 instantly you've got a connection. What is that? How does that even happen? It's supernatural. It's what God wants to have happen in his church. Listen, he does not want you to come here and be29:38 in your little solitary capsule disconnected from everybody around you. You will get into, you will get out of the family, what you put into the family. Same thing's true in your natural family. You'll get out29:50 of it what you put into it. If you're all in with your family, you're gonna get a ton out of it. But if you're isolated in that what C. S. Lewis called that solitary conceit, you're not gonna get a lot out of it, which30:02 is not God's plan for you. No. He's given you family, people you can let your hair down with a little bit. You can be yourself. When you have a need, you can ask for some prayer, you can ask for some help. You can laugh.30:14 You can have the joy of the Lord, you can have inside jokes. I mean, all the stuff you have with family. He wants us to have that in church, you need that. There's no other place on the planet like this.30:26 Please don't sit in the pews and not enjoy the advantages of being in such a thing as the church. Wouldn't that be a disgrace? Wouldn't that be a waste?30:38 You came to a church for 20 years but you actually never got the benefit. You actually never felt like you were part of the family. Please don't do that. Please don't do that. That is so not our heart. We don't want30:50 anybody here to ever feel like a spectator. We want you to be a participant. You are in the family. You are family here. Amen. And you've got to then do31:02 your part because you're only gonna feel that to the degree that you put in to get out. This last couple of weeks we've had some deaths in the church. We've had some people going through some hard times,31:14 some people in the hospital, some people facing some challenges. Some of you know Karen Fulton. Karen is a pioneer. She helped us to pioneer the church in Battle Creek that now pastor Nick and Jill Nelson are pastoring,31:25 our former middle school pastors are now pastoring that church. Karen invested a lot of her life in helping us just with this church at large, but she invested 18 months, her last 18 months on earth.31:38 Now talk about a grand welcome into heaven. She invested her last 18 months on earth. Spirit, soul, and body, she was all in helping to plant that church in Battle Creek.31:50 And then she goes to heaven, and she gets to be with Jesus, the head of the church. And so then there's John right there. John is her husband. So then there's John. And John, he32:02 decides, you know, sometimes people go through stuff like that. They're like, God, I'm mad at you. I'm out of here. I'm away from those church people. I mean, how could she go be with the Lord after she sowed into that32:12 church like that and gave her life for that church? And look what he's doing. He's like, I want to still worship God. Jesus is still the Lord of my life and I wanna do everything just as normal as if Karen and I32:23 were still here together. And listen, when Karen went through what she went through, they were surrounded by family, church family, the Battle Creek family, this family. John's gone through a process of grieving and32:35 still is, obviously. And the church has rallied around him. He doesn't feel alone. I sent them a note 1 time. I said, we don't want you guys to feel alone. We know you're independent. We know you guys can handle it. But32:44 let us know if you need anything. They wrote back, we totally do not feel alone. We are so surrounded by the love of this church family. You need that. You need a family. Life may be going32:56 great for you right now, but everybody has their day. You need family. And God wants you to have 1 and God's given you 1. The Bible says he sets the33:08 members in the church as it pleased him. So if you feel God's led you to VFC, God has set you here. You might look around and you might be like, God, I want a different family.33:22 No, this is your family. Embrace the dysfunction. If this is your family, then just admit it. Just own it. Just love it.33:35 Just go praise God. I've got a bunch of wacky people in my family. You'll get so much out of being a part of the church when it's family. Number 2, you need to be33:46 fed. Jeremiah 3 15, I'll give you shepherds according to my heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. God will give you pastors to feed you. That's our job. That's what he's anointed us to do, equipped us33:58 to do. Can you get a bunch of truth and revelation from the Bible on your own? Yes, absolutely. But apparently you can't get everything. Apparently you can't get everything you need on your own34:10 because it's not in my notes. But in Ephesians 4, it talks about he's the 1 that gave gifts to men and it says in Ephesians 4 that he's the 1 that called apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and34:22 teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, that by them we may all grow up into full maturity.34:34 So it must be that you can't come into full maturity unless you're part of and connected to those to whom he has called to be shepherds and leaders34:46 that are supposed to feed you. Must be you can eat some stuff, but it must be you can't come into full maturity. Because otherwise Jesus was confused when he established the church and set leaders34:58 in position to feed you. And all the people said. In other words, there's revelation, there's nuggets. I mean, I believe as you're sitting in church every week that God is giving you revelation, that light35:09 bulbs are going off, that dots are being connected, that an answer to that question just made sense, that this connected to this. And you're like, oh, God, thank you. That's what I needed. You know, we have people. We'll35:21 do a series on marriage. God will put it in our heart. Do a series on marriage. Do a series on parenting. Do a series on finances. Whatever. We'll do the series because the Holy Spirit put it in our heart because he35:32 knows you. He knows what you need. He put the basics in our heart because he knows that this is what we need right now. And so we'll you know we'll teach on marriage or something and then but somebody they decide well35:43 I'm not gonna come that month. We're just busy. We're not gonna come that month. The next month they run into some marital troubles. They run into some marital challenges And then they call, they want to have a private35:54 counseling appointment to be ministered to to talk about their marriage. We say, Well, were you at the series we just did because the Holy Spirit must have known there was gonna be some trouble in the marriage? And he36:04 put it in our heart to feed you with knowledge and understanding to help you in your marriage. Oh, I was we were too busy. We couldn't come to that series, but now we want private counseling.36:18 Oh, now we're getting real. You gotta believe that God knows what you need. You gotta believe that God knows you need to be fed and he knows what needs to be in the diet.36:30 And then he is customizing a message just for you. I'm talking about 4 reasons to get into church. You need a family. You need to be fed. You need a hospital. You go36:42 through hard times. You go through difficulties. You need to be surrounded. My mother was in a season of her life back in the day. Her shoulder was hurting and she came to church and she had a frozen shoulder36:54 and so she came to church kind of discouraged. And I'll tell you when, church is the best place to come if you're not feeling good. Come here and let people pray for you. Pray over you. Join their faith with your faith.37:04 And she came and she said, the pastor saw her and he said, Carol, you look like you're a little down today. And she says, Well, my shoulder hurts and I know I need a dollar's worth of faith but all I have is a nickel.37:15 And so, you know, he looked at her and instead of listen, oh man, listen, to be in a faith filled church, to be in a place that believes the Bible, that believes Jesus is the same yesterday, today37:27 and forever, that'll take God at his word, that is priceless. What he didn't say to her was he didn't say, oh, Carol, I'm sorry, boy, that's a bummer. You know, sometimes God tries to teach us things through our frozen37:37 shoulders. I'm so glad he didn't say that. I'm so glad he didn't add to her discouragement. I'm so glad he said, well, Carol, you got a nickels worth of faith? The Bible says Jesus is the same yesterday,37:49 today and forever. All things are possible to him who believes. Who in the audience has some faith that we can maybe get a dollar's worth of faith for Carol? Anybody got a quarter's worth of faith out there? Somebody37:59 raise their hand. Anybody got a dime's worth of faith? Somebody else raise their hand. Do you know in 2 minutes they raised a dollar's worth of faith? They all stood up and the pastor prayed a prayer, a38:11 prayer of faith for the healing of my mom's shoulder. And do you know her shoulder loosened up? Do you know she got a dollar's worth of faith when she came to church and she only had a nickel? She came to the hospital,38:21 the spiritual hospital, and God ministered to her right where she was. Maybe you're here today and you're feeling like that's me. I've got a nickel's worth of faith. I know I need a dollar's worth of faith. I've got so38:32 much going on in my life. I need healing, I need answers, I need some help. I've only got a nickel's worth of faith. Listen, when you come to the hospital, you wanna talk about health coverage. God'sShow more In this video 0:00 The Importance of Church
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