Alright, thank you for that and thank you, Pastor Shelley, for allowing me to come down here and preach for you guys again.
It's a pleasure as always, and if you didn't know Pastor Shelley right now, he's at a camping trip with Stronghold Baptist Church.
So I hope he's having a lot of fun there. Make sure you're praying for his family safe return back.
And I also want to just go ahead and apologize in advance. My voice has been kind of in and out today.
So if I sound weird, just bear with me, please. So we're here in Matthew chapter number 16.
Let's start reading in verse number 18.
This is where Jesus said, "And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock
I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
The title of my sermon is "Why You Need to Go to Church."
Why you need to go to church. And the goal of this sermon is
to explain to you, number one, why you need to go to church, to exhort you, and to remind you that church is a great
place to be. It's an important part of your life.
And if you're here on a Thursday night, most of you probably already believe that, but it's also just to defend the
institution of the local New Testament church, just as an entity, because there are always attacks against the
idea of even having church. And unfortunately, this stupid idea of not having church, of church being unbiblical,
has reared its head once again, and it's always rearing its head. You out-soul-winning, you talk to people, and they'll tell you,
"I'm at church right now," or "Church is unbiblical," or things like that. You hear it all the time. It's constantly rearing its ugly head.
So first, what is a church? Go ahead and get your place in Psalm chapter 22 and Hebrews chapter 2, Psalm 22 and Hebrews chapter 22.
We just read in Matthew 16 that Jesus said that He's going to build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
What does that imply? Well, that implies to me that there's going to be a lot of opposition against the church.
The gates of hell are not going to prevail. The forces of darkness, the devil and his minions, they're not going to prevail against the New Testament church.
But it goes to show that there are people attacking the New Testament church, right?
So what is a church? Well, you're there in Psalm chapter 22 and Hebrews chapter 20 or chapter two.
Look at Psalm chapter 22 verse 22 Bible says, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation.
Will I praise thee? I want you to remember that word congregation.
Now go to Hebrews chapter number two. Look at verse 11.
It says for both he that sanctify it and they who are sanctified are all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.
Notice this saying I will declare thy name unto my brethren. Sounds very familiar, right?
In the midst of the church, will I sing praise unto thee?
So notice that in your King James Bible, the word congregation and the word church are used interchangeably because a church is a
congregation of believers. I think a really great definition of what a church is, is that it's an assembly of saved
believers under the authority of a pastor coming together to fulfill the Great Commission. That's what a church is.
And even in your Bible, the word congregation and church is used interchangeably. A church is just a congregation of believers.
Now, of course, there's a false doctrine that the Catholic Church teaches called this universal church doctrine,
We're basically believing there's just one church and it's all believers throughout all the world.
And at all times, we're all in church because we're all the universal church.
But that's not true because the Bible actually talks about churches.
The church at Pergamos, the church at Philadelphia, the church at Sardis, at Thyatira, at Laodicea.
There's a church here in Houston.
There's another church in Fort Worth, Texas.
There's another church in Tempe, Arizona.
The only time that the universal church doctrine will be true is when we're all in heaven.
When we are all in heaven, then there will truly be just one church.
Why? Because we're all congregated together.
But unless we're all congregated together, then there's not just one church.
There's churches.
Now, notice that Jesus said that the gates of hell will not prevail against His church.
So that tells me that anyone that would attack the doctrine of church or attack the local New Testament church,
that they are of the devil, that they are being demonic,
that they are saying something that is satanic.
Anyone that would attack the local New Testament church is saying something that is demonic and satanic
because the gates of hell are constantly trying to come against the New Testament church.
So number one, I have six reasons tonight of why you need church.
Six reasons why you need church.
Number one, you need balance.
Go to 2 Timothy chapter number four.
2 Timothy chapter number four.
The first reason why you need church, why you need to go to church,
why I need to go to church, is every single one of us needs balance in our life.
All day long, all week long, we're out in the world and we're getting bombarded
by what the world wants us to think, what the world wants us to see,
what the devil wants us to think and see, and when you come to church,
you're going to get a reality check and you're going to be brought back into balance
by hearing what the word of God has to say.
Second Timothy chapter number four, look at verse one.
This is Paul and he's giving a charge to a pastor.
It says, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge
the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.
Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all
long suffering and doctrine.
So this, this set of instructions to the pastor, it has a couple of different aspects to it.
The first aspect that Paul tells Timothy is he needs to be preaching the word, right?
It's very important for a pastor or anytime any preacher gets to fill the pulpit to be
preaching the word of God, not preaching their opinion, not preaching Fox News articles,
not preaching poems and a bunch of stories.
No, the Bible says they're supposed to be preaching the word of God, okay?
Not only that, it says, but to be instant, be instant means to be ready, to be ready.
It says be instant in season, out of season.
So you have to be ready to preach the word when things are popular, when things aren't
popular, preaching things that people already agree with, preaching things that people don't
agree with, just whatever the Bible says, regardless of what the world says, what the
world thinks about it, or what's popular today, the charge is just to preach the word
of God.
Notice this, it says reprove, that's negative, that's telling someone they're wrong, rebuke,
that's negative, that's strongly telling someone that they're wrong, and then exhort,
that's positive, with all long-suffering and doctrine.
So Paul's saying, "Look, Timothy, I want you to preach the word of God, I want you
to do it, whether it's popular or not, I want you to do it, whether it's something
that is accepted by the culture right now or not, and I want it to be two-thirds negative."
And guess what?
If you read the word of God, it's about two-thirds negative and one-third positive.
That's how the word of God is, and that's the instruction to the preacher.
And the question is, why?
Why?
Well, look at verse number three, "For," meaning because, "the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves
teachers having itching ears."
You know, the Bible says you want to know why the instruction to the preacher is to
preach the word of God, whether it's popular or not, to rebuke them, to reprove them, to
exhort them.
The reason why is because people only want to listen to what they want to listen to.
And people only want to put into their ears things that tickle their ears, that satisfy
their lusts.
That is why the preacher has to preach everything, no matter what people think about it.
Because guess what, any false doctrine that you want to find, I will find you a preacher
that will preach it to you.
You want to find a preacher that says it's okay to drink alcohol, I could find that preacher
for you.
You want to find the preacher that says it's okay to fornicate, to get divorced, to be
a fag, I will find you the preacher that will say it is okay.
That is why the instruction to the preacher is to preach the word and to be instant in
season and out of season, because people don't want to endure sound doctrine.
So you know what, you need to get in church where you're going to get the balance of the
word of God actually being preached.
Now of course, not every church is created equal and not every pastor is obeying this
command to preach the word, but you better find a church that is, because you need a
reality check and you need balance in your life.
Look at verse four, it says, "And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall
be turned unto fables."
If you do not listen to the word of God, if you do not read the word of God and you do
not listen to the word of God being preached, you will believe stupid things.
And you will believe things that are wrong.
And you need the word of God to recalibrate your mind, to recalibrate your heart, because
if you're only out there in the world and you're not in the house of God, you're going
to believe stupid and wrong things.
You need the balance of the word of God.
Let me read for you.
You can stay there.
Actually, go ahead and turn to 1 Corinthians 6.
I'll read for you Jeremiah 17, 9.
The Bible says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can
know it."
The problem with our country is so many Christians just want to follow their heart today rather
than actually reading what the Bible says.
And when they hear something in the Word of God or they read something in the Word of
God that goes against what they think, they don't want to humble themselves and submit
to what God says.
They rather listen to their own wicked heart.
And that is human nature.
Every single person in this room, including myself, can fall prey to this mentality.
That's why we need to be in church, because you will be an idiot if you do not go to
church.
thing about going to church, because you say, "Well, I can listen to all the sermons online."
Here's the thing though, the people that listen to all the sermons online, you know what they do?
They pick and choose the sermons that they want to listen to. And so guess what? They're not going
to hear the entire council of God being preached. They're not going to hear the whole word of God
being preached. They're going to hear what they want to hear. Because the Bible told us that men
want to heaps in themselves, teachers having itching ears. They want to listen to what they
want to listen to. People want to listen to the sermons against the reprobates. People want to
listen to the sermons against the Jews. You know what? A lot of people don't want to listen to a
sermon about how to fix your marriage, or how to run your finances, or you know what the Bible says
about salvation. There's people that literally listen to our type of preaching online that aren't
even saved, but they just want to hear all the cool and fancy sermons against the sodomites.
Guess what? When you actually show up to church, you're going to hear all of it. Now, I have this
article here. I wrote, I won't read the whole thing, but this is very sad. This article says,
this is the title of it. U.S. church membership falls below majority for first time. This is
Gallup. This is what the article says. Washington, D.C. Americans membership in houses of worship
continued to decline last year, speaking of 2020, dropping below 50% for the first time in Gallup's
eight decade trend. In 2020, 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque,
down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999. U.S. church membership was at 73% when Gallup first
measured it in 1937. So in 1937 in the United States, 73% of people said that they belonged
to a church, and of course they have all sorts of things on here, synagogues, mosques, false
religion as well, but 73% of Americans said that they went to church, said that they were a member
of a church, and now in 2020, for the first time in American history, the majority of our country
does not go to church. That is sad. The majority of our country does not go to church. This was in
2020. I wonder if a two-year pandemic helped those numbers or made those numbers worse.
I can't even imagine what the numbers are like right now, if it was 47% in 2020. What a sad
article this is that the majority of people in our country don't go to church. And you know,
I wonder if that has anything to do with the craziness of the people in our country and the
stupid and idiotic things that people in our country believe. I wonder if it's because they
stopped going to church. Here's an example. How about cross-dressing? Let me read for you this.
Deuteronomy 22.5 says, "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man.
Neither shall a man put on a woman's garment. For all that do so are abomination unto the Lord
thy God." You know, in 1937, when three-quarters of Americans went to church, you didn't see a bunch
of women walking around in pants in our country. And right now, thank the Lord, we don't see a
bunch of men wearing dresses. But I'm telling you, there will become a day where you will see that.
And there are places in this country where every once in a while you do see that sick
abomination. But what has changed? People stopped going to church. People stopped listening to the
Word of God. People stopped caring about what the Bible says. And rather, they just heap teachers
to themselves, having itching ears, following their own lusts. I told you to go to 1 Corinthians
chapter 6. Here's another example. How about fornication? 1 Corinthians 6.15, the Bible says,
"Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ
and make them the members of Inharlet? God forbid." What? "Know ye not that he which is joined to
Inharlet is one body? For two, saith he, shall be one flesh; but he that is joined unto the Lord
is one spirit." Flee! Fornication! "Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that
comitteth fornication sinneth against his own body." You know, it used to be in America that it was
taught by people that were saved and that people that were unsaved that you should have the honor
and the integrity to wait to go to bed with someone until you put a ring on her finger.
It used to be that people in America believed in having the decency and honor to do that,
and now it's almost impossible to find a young man or young woman that gets to the marriage
altar pure. It almost does not exist. Now it does exist. Thank the Lord for that. And I hope that we
can reverse that trend in churches like ours to where the vast, vast majority, if not all of our
young people, go to the altar pure. But let me tell you what, that has been a big change in America.
And guess what? Why has that changed? Because people stopped going to church. That's why,
because they've lost their balance. They were not given any balance to their beliefs. All they did
was listen to the public school, tell them that it's okay, as long as you love each other,
that it's okay, as long as you use some sort of protection. That's not what the Bible says.
The Bible says to flee it. And actually, if you had your butt in church and had a man of God
yell at that to you, then maybe you wouldn't have committed that sin. And maybe people who
have done that would not have committed that sin. And now, guess what? Our country has to pay the
price for sinning against God in this area because now there's a disease STD pandemic of people with
just STDs from all the rampant fornication going on. You go and look up the statistics on STDs.
It's disgusting. You should be terrified to ever step outside of the bounds of your marriage for
that reason alone. You are almost guaranteed to get some sort of sick disease, how disease filled,
how fornication filled our nation is. And you know what else? It's caused a big issue with
fatherless homes. There's all these children that are a result of fornication that are growing up
in fatherless homes. And the statistics on people that grow up in fatherless homes, they're way more
likely to be behind bars in their life. They're way more likely to commit serious crimes. They're
way more likely to be addicted to drugs and addicted to alcohol. And you know what else?
This fornication problem has led to literally murdering babies. You want to know why a bunch
of abortion happens? Because of a bunch of whores and a bunch of whoremongers committing
fornication. There'd be no abortion if it was a man and his wife, like the Bible says. It
shouldn't be Roe versus Wade. It should be Ho versus Wade. A bunch of whores and whoremongers.
That's the problem. And why is it? Because people stop going to church. That's why.
It used to be in America that people believed in the sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill.
Now we're actually having a debate of whether it's okay to murder a child. I'm not interested
in having that debate. If you believe that you want to murder a child, I'm not interested in
winning you over to my side. I'm not interested in having a conversation. I'm interested in
destroying you. I'm interested in destroying your wicked ideology of murdering babies.
And guess what? Christians need to get their voice back and preach against this wickedness
and stop being quiet about it. No, it's not just, "Oh, you know, you just made a mistake."
No, you're a murderer if you get an abortion. That's what it is. Stop sugarcoating it. Stop
saying it's not that big of a deal. It's a big deal. And you want to know why a bunch of idiots
in our country think it's okay to rip a baby apart in the womb? Because they stopped going
to church. That's why because they listen to their atheist science teacher that hates God. That's
probably a faggot himself. Tell them that it's not a life until it's out of the womb. I don't give
a crap what that guy says. What does the Bible say? That's what I care about. People stop listening
to God. They'd rather listen to that guy. Go to Leviticus chapter number 20, Leviticus chapter
number 20. You know, if you look online of these videos of these satanic, disgusting women shouting
their abortion, praising the fact that they're getting an abortion, abortion doctors blaspheming
Christ, saying all sorts of nasty things about how they're proud of the abortions that they do.
Let me tell you what's going on in our country right now is literal child sacrifice to the devil.
You read about that in the Bible and guess what? It's happening right now in our own nation. Look
at Leviticus chapter number 20 verse 1. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 'Again,
thou shalt say to the children of Israel, whosoever he be of the children of Israel,
or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Mole." Talking about
children. "He shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones."
Let me tell you what our nation should do to every single woman and every single abortion
doctor that performs as an abortion. They should be lawfully convicted in a court of law and given
the state-sanctioned death penalty after a due process of law. And guess what? I believe that
all the people that have done it in the past should be forgiven if a new law was passed on the books,
but after that there should be no mercy on this heinous disgusting abomination
crime that is happening in our nation. And someone should bring the wheel over these wicked people
that are sacrificing children. And this problem will stop real fast when you start putting people
to death for this disgusting crime. And why should we do that? Why should we do that? Look
at verse three, "And I will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people
because he hath given of a seed unto Molech to defile my sanctuary and to profane my holy name."
Here's one reason we should do it. Abortion is blaspheming God. Abortion is blaspheming and
profaning, profaning the name of Christ. Look at verse 4. "And this, and if the people of the land,"
that's you and me, "do any wise hide their eyes from the man when he giveth of a seed unto Molech
and kill him not." So this is people that don't want to acknowledge the problem of abortion,
that don't want to talk about it, that want to sweep it under the rug, that want to pretend like
it's not happening. Look at what the Bible says God's going to do to that person. "Then I will
set my face against that man and against his family and will cut him off and all that go
a-whoring after him to commit whoredom with Molech from among their people." Let me tell you this,
God is not only angry at the women and at the abortion doctors that are committing these
murders, He's angry at every single Christian that will not open up their mouth and say that
it's murder. People that are too afraid to say what it is, God, His face is against you. If you
want to hide your eyes from this sick evil, God Himself is against you. And why is that? Why is
this happening in our country? Because people stop going to church. That's why. People stop
listening to the Word of God being preached. They don't have any balance in their beliefs
because all they're getting is from the public school and from the media. And so they have no
balance. Since we're in Leviticus chapter number 20, look at verse 13. "If a man also lie with
mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely
be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them." Look, if you watch the documentary The Sodomite
Deception, which is right on the back shelf right there, you need to watch it if you haven't yet.
That documentary proves that people in America used to believe right on this, that popular
opinion used to believe like us on this issue of sodomites, that they're pedophiles, that they're
predators, that they're an abomination, and God said that they should be put to death. That's what
the Bible says. But you want to know why people stopped believing that? Because they stopped going
to church. That's why. Because you allowed yourself to be brainwashed by the news and brainwashed by
the public schools and brainwashed by your queer uncle into not believing what the Bible says right
in front of your face. And isn't it funny that the more and more we see the LGBT having more and more
freedoms in our society and the more and more they're exalted and lifted up isn't it a funny
coincidence how pedophilia is increasing in our society and how open pedophilia is being portrayed
and shown in our culture in our society you think that's a coincidence absolutely not this has been
their agenda the entire time if you actually had read your Bible or if you had actually been in
church with a man of God to actually tell you what the Bible says you would have known that
you would have stopped letting your queer cousins come over to your house so that they can molest
your kids you would have stopped sending your kids to the public fool system with a queer teacher
that's going to tell them that Jesus isn't real that they're an evolved primate that they're just
going to lie to them over and over again that's what happens when you don't go to church about
this in Leviticus chapter number 20 look at verse 10 and the man that committeth adultery with
another man's wife even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife the adulterer and the
adulteress shall surely be put to death you know our nation used to used to be a godly nation
and people used to believe in being faithful to their spouse and if a person committed an
the act of adultery it would just be an unspeakable shame there was times in the
colonies in the early united states where you would have a scarlet a attached to your clothing
at all time being publicly shamed that you were an adulterer now that's not a punishment that the
bible prescribes the bible actually prescribes the death penalty for someone that would do that
but it just goes to show that that used to be a shame they used to be a heinous crime in our
nation and now there's literal billboards everywhere everywhere you go where with just
the click of a button you can be on some adultery website and find someone to hook up with it's
wicked as hell and you want to know why adultery is running rampant in our country because people
stopped going to church and this is why people have so many stupid beliefs and stupid ideologies
is because they stopped going to church go to romans chapter number seven romans chapter number
seven how about divorce roman chapter number seven look at verse two for the woman which
hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth but if the husband be dead
she is loosed from the law of her husband so then if while her husband liveth she be married to
another man she shall be called an adulterous but if her husband be dead she is free from that law
so that she is no adulterous though she be married to another man you know used to be in
america that people honored their vows and it used to be in america that people took marriage
very seriously and when they said till death do us part they actually meant that and you know
the bible says that the woman is bound by the law to her husband not only is that true of the word
of god the law of god but it used to be the law of our land as well it used to be illegal to get
a divorce and then it used to be very difficult to get a divorce and now anyone can get a divorce
for any reason or no reason whatsoever that's not god's will it doesn't matter how normal it is in
our society it doesn't matter how many people you know that have had a divorce and have gotten
remarried god says no god says that if you do that you're an adulteress you're an adulterer if you
do that that's what god says but why don't people believe that anymore why are so many christian
preachers even teaching that it's okay because they want to believe what they want to believe
they want to hear what they want to hear they want to follow their heart they want to follow
their lusts they don't want to submit themselves to the word of god and they stopped going to
church and it's funny how the modern bible versions uh say that it's okay to get a divorce for the
cause of sexual immorality you know that's probably a big reason why people want to keep their ears
to that false bible version because it actually just okays their sin and it's weird how no one
ever wants to own up to their sin anymore it's like no one can ever just be like david and say
you know what i have sin yeah i know that divorce and remarriage is unbiblical and i'm a sinner and
i'm doing it anyways and i'm sorry no one can even have that much integrity everyone has to justify
their sin everyone has to just say oh no it's not a sin why don't you just listen to what the bible
says why don't you just submit yourself no but you say we don't need to go to church you're
you're so prideful you're so smart that you don't need to go to church yet why do you have all these
stupid ideas if you don't need to go to church if church isn't unbiblical why don't you believe
anything right why do you believe so many stupid things go to titus chapter number two titus chapter
number two the bible says the age of the women likewise that they be in behavior as becomeeth
holiness not false accusers not given too much wine teachers of good things that they may teach
the young women to be sober to love their husbands to love their children to be discreet
chase keepers at home good obedience to their own husbands that the word of god be not blasphemed
it used to be in america that people believe that the mother should stay home and raise the kids
and that used to be looked at as a great honor and a great responsibility to raise these little
human beings into functioning god-fearing adults that used to be seen as something that was great
but now we've i mean we've murdered babies in the womb so why not after they're born just
toss them to the government to raise them toss them to the wolves to raise them it's no surprise
whatsoever but you want to know why women today have traded in their own children for some stupid
worthless job is because they stopped going to church and men stopped going to church and men
stopped hearing about how it's their job to provide it's their job to go out and bring home
the bacon and it's a woman's job to love her children enough to raise them and now instead
of that people are just what loving themselves loving their own lust and listening to their own
heart why because they stopped going to church go to first grand theans chapter number five first
grand theans chapter number five first grand theans chapter number five look at verse 11 it says
but now i have written unto you not to keep company this is someone you should not be around
if anyone if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an adulterer or a
railer and i want to focus on this one or a drunkard you know it used to be that you were
publicly shamed if you were the town drunkard i mean cops if they hear your address coming on
the thing they're like oh we know this guy is it's tom the town drunkard right and he used to be a
shame he used to be embarrassment and now america's lost their shame there's beer churches literal
beer churches there's pastors that preach that it's okay to drink hard liquor beer wine people
have totally given themselves over to drunkenness in our nation the cdc estimates that over two
thirds of americans drank last year so less than half of americans go to church but two
thirds of them drink alcohol that's where we're at as a nation sad god bless america where we
murder babies and exalt fags and drink alcohol and commit fornication and don't raise our kids
and don't go to church and don't honor the lord what a joke what a joke our nation is how did
our nation get to this point from where we were let me tell you why they stopped going to church
that's why whenever someone wants to tell you that church is unbiblical why don't you just do an
audit of the things they believe because i will bet you that a lot of the things we talked about
they believe wrong on why is that because they don't have any balance they're not getting god's
word to balance them from the world that they've been having going into their ears and into their
hearts and you know a lot of people would be offended at some of the things that i've said
so far in this sermon but let me tell you what if you're offended by anything i've said so far
you're the extreme one you're the one that's lost your mind you're the one that's not balanced
because everything i just read was from the word of god so we're looked at as extreme no you got
extreme when women started putting on a pair of pants and cross-dressing no you got extreme
when you thought it was okay to murder a child you're extreme not us you got extreme when you
said it was a good idea to bring a pedophile in to a public library to read to your children
you got extreme why are christians always cowering to what the bible says why don't we just point out
the obvious fact that they're the ones that are extreme point it out i said i have six points the
other five will go by quicker okay so why do you need church okay you need balance you need
church because without church you're going to believe a lot of stupid things you're going to
believe a lot of wicked things without church number two you need a pastor you need a pastor
and these these idiots that believe that church is not a biblical doctrine you know what they
always say well it's just a man you shouldn't follow a man i want to read for you the names
of some men okay maybe maybe you'll be familiar with some of these if you believe that church is
not a biblical doctrine then you're probably not familiar with any of these but let me let me read
for you some men's name Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samson, David, Gideon,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. Hey did you know that a bunch of the names of the literal
books in your Bible are named after men? Have you really read the Bible so little that you never
saw the title of the book? Really? But you're going to sit here and tell me that church is
not biblical. You fool! What is wrong with you? God uses men to perform His will. How are you
going to literally see the names of the books of the Bible written after men and say, "Oh,
we should never follow men. Never listen to what men have to say." Okay, because you're better than
Jesus. You're better than all of these prophets that I just listed. Maybe we should just follow
you, wise guy, fool. These people are fools that want to attack the doctrine of church,
saying that there should be no church. Well, guess what? You need a pastor. You need to follow a man.
And if you, after the verses that I'm about to show you, do not understand this doctrine,
I would question if you're even saved. Go to Jeremiah chapter number three. Jeremiah
chapter number three. You could also get your place in Ephesians chapter four. It's like,
tell me you need a pastor without telling me you need a pastor by telling me you don't need a
pastor. That's how I know you really need a pastor. Jeremiah 314. Turn, O backsliding children,
saith the Lord, for I am married unto you, and I will take you one of a city and two of a family,
and I will bring you to Zion. This is God speaking, and I will give you pastors according to mine
heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. Okay, you know, God's promising
to give you pastors, but we shouldn't have pastors and pastors on biblical and the churches on
biblical. Okay, how about Ephesians chapter number four and he Ephesians 4 11 and he that he there's
talking about the Lord and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some
pastors and teachers. So these are all people that God gave to us, but we don't need them.
God just gave them to us and we don't need them. It's just waste of time. It's pointless. It's
useless. What kind of idiot believes something like that? Why do we have them? And here's the
thing. Like I said, people don't want to just admit to their sin. People just want to say like,
"Yes, you know, I'm getting divorced and it's a sin and I'm sorry." People don't want to just say
like, "Look, I just don't believe the Bible." People just don't want to be honest and say, "Look,
I don't believe the Bible. I don't believe we should go to church." You know what they want to
do? They want to hide and act like they're real spiritual. Of course I believe the Bible. Of
course I'm spiritual, but church is unbiblical. No, just say it. Just let it come out of your mouth.
"I don't believe the Bible." Because if you are reading the verses that I'm reading and you're
telling me that we should not have pastors, you're not even saved. Because you can't even
understand a lick of God's Word. Look at verse 12. Why do we have these people? "For the
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."
Now here's the thing. Of course anyone with the Spirit of God can open up their King James Bible,
read what God's Word says, and learn everything that a pastor can learn. But here's the difference,
is that if someone just got saved two years ago, and a pastor got saved 40 years ago, the pastor
probably has read his Bible cover to cover 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 times, and he may know a thing or two
that can help you. And the thing is, a pastor can often help people get further faster, right? And
of course you can learn all those same things, but if someone's been studying the Bible for decades,
and I just got saved, I want them to help me. Because the Bible says the reason God gave us
these people is for the perfecting of the saints, to make us more complete, to make us more whole,
to make us more balanced, right? And for the work of the ministry, we need someone leading what?
The church, because the church is a biblical institution for the edifying of the body of
Christ. And of course, I know there's a bunch of frauds out there. There's a bunch of fake
pastors out there. I'm not saying go and follow those people. I'm saying find a real man of God
and follow Him. And even if you for some reason ever leave this church, you move for a job, or
something like that, make sure that you go to a church with a real man of God. Make sure that it's
a biblical church that has a real pastor that's actually going to preach you the full counsel of
God. And it's great that you've had such a great example from Pastor Shelley so you know what to
look for if that ever happens to you. If you ever do go to another church. Verse 13, "till we all
come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Why? "That we henceforth be no more children
tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning
craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive." Notice, why do we need these pastors, deacons,
teachers, evangelists? It's so that we're not like kids, like children, that are just tossed to and
fro with every wind of doctrine, like believing that church is unbiblical, like believing that
we shouldn't have pastors. This is a perfect example of someone who is a spiritual babe,
someone who is a child in their beliefs, and it just goes to show how badly they really do need
a pastor. They really do need a deacon. They really do need an evangelist. They really do
need a teacher, if you think such a stupid and foolish thought. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter
number four, 1 Corinthians chapter number four. We should be fairly close there. 1 Corinthians
chapter number four, look at verse 15. The Bible says, "For though you have 10,000 instructors in
Christ, yet have ye not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel."
So Paul's saying, look, you guys may have a lot of instructors, but I'm your father in Christ,
because I actually got you people saved. And so in verse 16 he says, "Wherefore I beseech you,
be ye followers of me." So hey, the apostle Paul said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
that these people were supposed to follow him. And who is he? A man. And you could apply this
just as easily to a pastor. Well, how do you know that? Well, he's about to tell us about a pastor.
"For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is a pastor, who is my beloved son and faithful
in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways." Sounds like Timothy's following Paul
too. "Which be in Christ." Sounds like Paul and Timothy are following Christ. "As I teach everywhere
in everywhere." Church. Sounds like Paul was in churches. It looked like Paul believed that
church was a biblical doctrine. It looks like Paul believed that he thought it was right for you to
follow a man. Looks like Timothy thought that way. But we're going to listen to some loser tell us
that church isn't biblical. I don't think so. Not going to stand for that garbage, for that false
doctrine, for that lie. Go to Hebrews, or I'm sorry, go to 1st Timothy chapter number three,
1st Timothy chapter number three. And I'll just read a couple of these. This is the qualifications
of a pastor. And my whole point of even showing you any of this is why would there be a chapter
in the Bible listing the qualifications for a job that shouldn't exist? Makes no sense.
Or if you're going to say, well, everyone's a pastor, well, then why are there qualifications
for it if everyone's a pastor? Oh, I have a church in my house. Okay. Who's the pastor?
Do you meet these qualifications? Let's see. If this is a true saying, if a man desired the
office of a bishop, that's a pastor, he desired the good work. A bishop then must be blameless.
The husband of one wife. Sorry, Joyce Meyer, you're out. You're not a pastor. Vigilant.
Sober. You know, sorry, Bourbon Church, Jeff Bourbon, you're out. You're not a biblical
pastor. Of good behavior. Given to hospitality. Apt to teach. Sorry, Robert Breaker, you're out.
Not apt to teach. Not given to wine. No striker. Not greedy of filthy lucre. But patient. Not a
brawler. Not covetous. One that ruleth well his own house. Having his children in subjection with
all gravity. Hey sorry pastors that have no kids. Not qualified. For if a man know not how to rule
his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Sounds to me like there's some
qualifications for a pastor so that what? They can rule the church of God. That is what God said.
Why would he give us qualifications for a position that shouldn't exist? And this house church
church movement or this no church movement that wants to attack the local church. You know what
they are lacking a pastor. They have no pastor to lead them. I'll read for you Hebrews 1317. The
Bible says obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your
souls. You know, not only do you need a pastor just so that he can lead the church and preach
all the right doctrines, but the Bible says that they watch for your souls. You know, a pastor is
a great thing because the pastor actually cares about you. The pastor actually loves you. The
pastor actually prays for your individual specific needs, and you're not going to get that if you're
not a member of a New Testament local church. And so, you know, the Bible says that they're the ones
that watch for your souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with
grief, but that is unprofitable for you. The pastors are the ones that are going to have to
give an account before God of their flock, how they stewarded their flock. You know, you and I,
we don't have to have that much pressure on us, so we should follow the man of God. We should follow
the pastor, like the Bible teaches to do. And of course, like I said, these people when they teach
these lies, these false doctrines, what do they always hide behind? Spirituality. Oh, you know,
he's just a man. I follow Jesus. Okay, let me read for you a verse in 1st Corinthians 1437.
This is Paul. He said, "If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual," so if someone wants
to think that they're a spiritual person, "then let him acknowledge that the things that I write
unto you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant." You want
to say that you're so spiritual, yet you reject all the teachings of Paul. You reject the idea of a
local New Testament church. You reject the idea of following a man of God. Well, you're not spiritual
because you're not acknowledging that the things that Paul is writing are the words of God. And
guess what it says, "If anyone wants to be ignorant, let him be ignorant." Hey, if you just want to be a
fool, if you just want to be ignorant, if you just want to be stupid and say all these dumb false
doctrines, then I'm just going to let you do that. But don't you dare start teaching people I love
that false doctrine. Don't you dare come into the house of God and start teaching these false
doctrines that we shouldn't have a church, that we shouldn't have a pastor. I'm not going to stand
up for that for one second and neither should any person in this room allow someone to tell them
this damnable stupid lie. It's wicked. Number three, why you need church. Go to Titus chapter
number two, Titus chapter number two. Number three, why you need church is you need godly examples
in your life. You need godly examples in your life and of course we're talking about a pastor,
that's a great place to start, of course. But you know, the the local New Testament church is not
a just one-man show. We're a whole body here. We've got a foot, we've got a hand, we've got legs,
we've got arms, we've got eyes. There's lots of great examples in the New Testament church that
you should and could be looking to, especially if you're going to church your whole life. You're
going to be exposed to a lot of different people. Look at Titus chapter number two verse one. It
says, "But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine, that the aged men be sober."
You know, it's a great testimony when you can come to church and you can see some aged men.
I believe that aged is probably talking about 60 plus. When you can see some older guys
that aren't drinking, that aren't out boozing, that are sober, not only from an alcohol and
drugs perspective, but are also just serious people that are just serious about life. That's
a great example to see. An older man that is serious, that's grave. Again, that's another
synonym for serious, temperate, able to control himself. He's sound in faith. He knows what he
believes. He's going to be able to help you teach you the Bible. He's going to be able to show you
how to go soul winning. This old man, he's sound in the faith, in charity, in patience. It's
important to be in church because you're going to get that type of example of the older guys as
something to look to. You're not going to get that if you're out in the world. You know, you're going
to see a bunch of 60 plus year old dudes that are still smoking pot. You're going to go to Portland
and see a bunch of 60 plus year old dudes that have a man bun. That's not what you want to be
looking at as your example. You want to know where you want to find your example for old men?
The church. The church. And would to God that we would get some more old men in this church.
I don't see anyone as 60 plus in here. Hey, you know, stick around. You'll turn 60 someday.
Stick around. If you can't, if we can't drag them in, we'll just wait till you turn 60.
The aged women, likewise, that they be in behavior has become a holiness,
not false accusers, not these women that run around blowing their mouth off and gossiping
and railing against people, not given too much wine. This here, I believe, is talking about
luxury because you have wine in the Bible that's alcohol and you have wine that's representative
of luxury and living a very luxurious lifestyle. You know, this woman isn't going and blowing all
of her husband's money on just stupid, pointless, luxurious items. She's not given too much wine.
She's a content woman. She's a teacher of good things and she's teaching these things by her
behavior. What is she teaching? That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their
husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home. All these things that we
talked about that are very important for young women to know that, hey, they should be at home.
They should be loving their children. They should be loving their husband. They should be being
discreet. All of these things you can get from a great example of a godly older woman. You're not
going to get that out at your job. You're not going to get that at the public school. You know
where you're going to get that? In church. In church. Look at verse six. Young men likewise
exhort to be sober-minded. So again, young men should also be serious. They should also not be
drunk, of course. In all things, showing thyself a pattern of good works. In doctrine, showing
uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned. So again, even with
young men, you should be able to come to church and you should see a plethora of young men that
are serious about their lives, that take the Bible seriously. You know, their doctrine isn't
corrupted. They're not just speaking foolishly, right? There should be good examples of young men
in the church. That way when we go get other young men saved and they come to church, now they have a
good example to look to. Now they have someone that they can come alongside with and see as a
good example. Again, you're not going to really see that out on the job force. You're not really
going to see that out at the public school. You're going to see it at church. And of course,
you know, it's great if you grow up in a Christian home and it's a blessing if you
grew up in a Christian home and you were taught these things by your mom and dad and you have
these examples from your mom and dad. And, you know, children that grow up in a Christian home
don't realize what a blessing and privilege it is. But hey, even if you are a first generation
Christian like myself, you can at least come to church and have these great godly examples.
Right? That's why it's important to go to church. Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter number one,
1 Thessalonians. I'll get there myself. 1 Thessalonians chapter number one.
Paul talks about a church that is a great example. 1 Thessalonians chapter number one.
Look at verse six. It says, "And he became followers of us and of the Lord, having received
the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that ye were in samples to all that
believe in Macedonia and Achaia." So Paul is specifically stating here, saying, "Hey,
church at Thessalonica, you guys are a great example." And that's the testimony that we should
strive to have at Pure Words Baptist Church and at Steadfast Baptist Church is that, you know,
if the Apostle Paul were to come visit our church, he'd say, "Hey, you guys are a great example."
That's what we should strive for. And you need church because you need to see godly examples in
your life, and you're not seeing it on the television, you're not seeing it watching sports,
you're not seeing it at work, you're not seeing it in any of these ungodly places,
you're seeing it at church. Here's another reason. Go to Psalm
chapter 73. Why you need to go to church is you need encouragement. You need encouragement.
Every single person, regardless how strong you are as a Christian, no matter how strong you are
emotionally, every single person gets discouraged and goes through times of discouragement.
We're going to read about a person named Asaph who was going through one of these times in
Psalm 73. Let's start reading verse one. He says, "Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are
of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped."
So, you know, he's contrasting that God's good to these people, but he's like, "But for me,
not so much the case." He's being very discouraged. Verse three, "For I was envious at the foolish
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. There are no bans in their death, but their strength is
firm. They are not in trouble as other men. Neither are they plagued like other men." You know,
Asaph, he's getting discouraged. You know, he's saying that he's trying to live a godly life,
but he's looking at all these wicked people and he's saying, "It looks like nothing bad is happening
to them. It looks like they're prospering. It looks like they have everything they ever want.
How is Klaus Schwab even alive still? How is Joe Biden still living? How is Henry Kissinger still
living? Why do these people make it to their old age? Why is Bill Clinton, you know, still living?
It's just like how are they just making it to their old age? Nothing bad's happening to them
and they're getting away with all the evil stuff that they're doing. He's discouraged, isn't he?
He's very discouraged. Look at verse number 12. It says, "Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper
in the world. They increase in riches. Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands
in innocency." He's saying, you know, I'm basically serving God for no reason. I'm living a righteous
life for no reason at all. Verse 14, "For all the day long I have been plagued and chastened every
morning. If I say, 'I will speak thus,' behold, I should offend against the generation of thy
children." When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me. You know, he's going through an
extreme emotional crisis here where he is doubting every aspect of his life. He's doubting his
purpose. He's doubting his works. But notice when that changes. Verse 17, "Until I went into the
sanctuary of God, then understood I their end." Notice how discouraged he was. Notice how his
perspective on life was so out of whack. He was not remembering the truth that the fact is,
even though these people are prospering right now, their end is destruction. Their end is hell. And
when he actually came into church, you know what happened to him? He got his balance back. He got
his perspective back. He was reminded his mind was renewed and saying, "Okay, you know, I shouldn't
be envying these wicked people even if they're prospering right now in the world. I shouldn't
be envying this people because, oh yeah, I forgot their end is destruction." And so he was discouraged
until he came into the house of God. And people never know what God has in store for you for a
sermon that the preacher has prepared. God has something that he wants to encourage you with.
God has something that he wants to teach you out of his word. And when you're not going to church,
you're missing it. You're missing out on the opportunity to be encouraged. I can't tell you
how many times I was just having a bad week and then just coming into church just fixes everything.
And you sing a couple of songs where you're out in the world and you're listening to horrible music
and you're dealing with all sorts of sin and you just sing a couple of great godly hymns
praising the Lord and you hear the powerful two-edged sword being read into your ears and
you hear the word of God being preached and it recalibrates you and it encourages you. And that's
why you need to go to church is to get that encouragement. You're not going to get that
anywhere else. You know, the self-held people, it's all temporary. It's all fraud. You know,
Jordan Peterson is not going to help your life because first step of wisdom is believing in God
and until you've believed in God, you're a fool and none of the self-held people are going to
help you. You know, it's going to help you. The word of God being preached. You say, "Well,
the pastor's just a man." Yeah, he is just a man, but hold on. It's the word of God that we're
preaching. Hold on. Why don't we open it up and read the titles of the books, okay? God uses men
to preach His word. Really quickly, what's another reason? Go to Matthew chapter number 18. These are
just some bonuses. You know, people that want to say that church is not biblical. Well, you have a
little bit of a problem because here's another reason why church is biblical is sometimes you
need help resolving conflict. Sometimes you need help resolving conflict. You say, "What are you
talking about?" Go to Matthew chapter 18, look at verse number 15. This is Jesus speaking and he
said this, "Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between
thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear
thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word
may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the perch. But if he
neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Why is this in the
sermon? Well, remember, we're kind of attacking this stupid idea that says church isn't biblical.
Okay, if church isn't biblical, why is the Lord Jesus Christ giving me a blueprint of how to
resolve conflict between brothers and sisters in Christ? He says, here's what you do. You have a
problem with a brother in Christ. Let's use a random example. Let's say, you know, you gave
five thousand dollars to a brother in Christ. They asked to borrow money and then you just didn't pay
them back whatsoever. Bible says that, hey, you can go to your brother alone. You can confront him
with that issue. And if he says, oh, hey, sorry, I just forgot to pay you back. Here's your money.
Great. Conflicts resolve. You've gained your brother, right? But if it's a serious issue like
that and he doesn't want to hear you, Jesus says, okay, step two, you need to get two or three
witnesses. And if this is something that has to happen, this is probably where you need to involve
Pastor Shelley when you need to grab the two or three witnesses. Don't just grab two or three
random people. This is probably where you need to involve Pastor Shelley. Then you talk about it
there. Then if that person is just like, yeah, I know I told you that I'd pay you $5,000 back,
but I'm just not going to anyways, then it's brought before where the church. So if the church
is an unbiblical institution, then why would Jesus give us this instruction? What a stupid
thing to believe. And if you want to say, well, you know, it's just the universal church, just
we're all the church. Okay. So we're just supposed to air out all problems to the entire world.
Attention, all Christians of planet earth. I have a dispute that I need to. It's like, what?
That's what you would have to believe if you believe in the universal church. Bring it before
the church. It's ridiculous, right? But you know what? We should laugh at people that want to have
such a stupid idea to tell us that church isn't biblical. It's, it's ridiculous. Jesus is just
wasting his breath in Matthew 18 telling us how to resolve conflict. What a joke. Go to first
Corinthians chapter number six. Well, let me tell you what these people do when they want to resolve
conflict. They don't go to the local church. They don't hear the word of God being preached.
They don't believe that the church is a biblical institution. Here's how they solve their conflict.
It's called lawsuits. It's called going to before the world to law. What does the Bible say? First
Corinthians six, look at verse number one. It says, dare any of you having a matter against another
go to law before the unjust and not before the saints? Paul's saying, how dare you do this?
Didn't Jesus tell you how to deal with issues between brothers and sisters in Christ in Matthew
18? How dare you do this? Verse two. Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?
And if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
Know you not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life?
If you then have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are the least
esteemed in the church. He says, hey, you'd be way better off finding the guy that just got saved,
finding the first-time visitor of our church, and grabbing him to judge in a conflict than to go
before the world. Because you want to know what happens when you go before the world for judgment?
It's like, okay, hey, we have the First Amendment, church is preaching the Bible,
and yeah, let's evict them. That's the world's judgment. No righteousness, no judgment. That's
why the Bible says, how dare you go to law before your brother? How dare you try to evict a brother
in Christ? And of course, I don't believe the person that evicted us is a brother in Christ
whatsoever. I believe he's a devil. I believe he's a false prophet that's going to split hell wide
open. But this just goes to show this idea of, oh, we shouldn't have church. Okay, why did Paul
tell us to find the least esteem in the church to judge? Why did Jesus say to bring it before the
church? Ridiculous. My last point, go to Romans chapter number 10, Romans chapter number 10.
My last point of why you need to go to church is because you need to be put to work. You need to
be put to work. Look at verse 13, it says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved." Praise God for that verse. Verse 14, "How then shall they call on him in whom they
have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher?" The Bible's kind of giving us like a reverse process of how someone
gets saved. You got a preacher, the preacher preaches them the word of God, they hear the
word of God, they believe the word of God, and they call upon the name of the Lord to be saved.
This is how people get saved. It's called soul winning. This is how people are getting saved
every single day in this world through soul winning. And how does this process of soul
winning happen exactly? Look at verse 15. "And how shall they preach,cept they be sent?" As it
is written, "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad
tidings of good things." You know what I've noticed? I've noticed something very interesting about
these people that want to tell you that church is not biblical. They don't go soul winning. They
don't preach the gospel to people. They're not getting people saved. You know what's interesting
is Steadfast Baptist Church in Fort Worth had 2,111 salvations last year by the glory of God,
by the mercy of God. We were able to get that done. But you want to know why it was done is
because someone sent us. Someone said here's your bulletin, here's your soul winning times, here's
your captain, here's where you show up, here's your invites. Oh you've never done this before?
No problem. You're a silent partner. Here's your map. It's all done for you. You just show up and
you preach the gospel or you just show up and you're a silent partner. But you want to know
what's not happening? People that believe that church is not biblical, people believe that we
shouldn't have pastors, people believe that the church is just worthless and made up man-made
institution. You know what they're not doing? They're not getting 2,111 people saved. That's
not what they're doing. You know who's doing that? Churches like Steadfast Baptist Church.
And it's not because we're anything special. It's not because of anything that's great about us
in our flesh. It's just simply because this is how God ordained the gospel to go out.
And if we're obeying what God said to do, then it's going to be successful. It's going to be
victorious. And so let me tell you, one of the biggest reasons why this stupid false doctrine
makes me mad is because people that get infected with this lie will not be a soul winner. And if
you are not a soul winner, people will go to hell. So I have no interest whatsoever in putting up
with someone that would come in here or come into our lives, our families or anything like that,
and teach this stupid lie that says church is not biblical. Why don't you just say,
I don't believe the Bible? Why don't you just say that? And I'll say, okay, you want to be ignorant?
I'll do what Paul said. I'll let you be ignorant. That's fine. Keep your mouth shut about it. Don't
come in here teaching that church is unbiblical. Every single person in here needs church,
including myself. And look, there's so much more Bible on this that we can go into about the local
New Testament church and the structure of authority of a local New Testament church and examples in
the Bible of churches. We've barely scratched the surface on why you need to go to church.
The whole New Testament is about the local New Testament church fulfilling the great commission
that God gave us. The truth is every single person is sent because God gave us, Jesus Christ gave us
that great commission. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That,
of course, is to all of us. But let me tell you the reality of how that mission is getting done.
It's through the local New Testament church. And praise God, Jesus said that the gates of hell
will not prevail against his church. It will not happen. But that doesn't mean that when we
hear people attacking it, we should just stay silent. No, we need to rebuke it. We need to call
it out. And we need to not put up with that false doctrine. Let's close in a word of prayer. Heavenly
Father, thank you so much for sending your son, Jesus Christ, who the Bible says gave himself for
the church. I pray that every single person in here would realize the importance of the local New
Testament church, that they would devote their lives to the church and that even if someday they
would go to a different church, that they would just get plugged in at a good church and spend
their lives serving you, filling the great commission through the means of a local
New Testament church. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.