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All right. Amen. So we are continuing on with our series this year going back to the basics and within that series we're going to be talking for the next several weeks, different subjects pertaining to church. Okay. Last week we started off by talking about the oracles, which are what? It's the word of God. Okay. No word of God, no oracles, no church. You can assemble yourselves together, have people dressed nicely, have somebody that says they're a pastor, have all the lingo, have ushers, have a big building. Doesn't matter. If you don't have the word of God, you don't believe the word of God, you're not a church. It's just as simple as that. So with that being said here, we're in Acts chapter number five. We're going to dig into that in a moment. I'm going to give you the title of the sermon that I'm going to read an article for you. The title is this. What's the point of going to church? What is the point of going to church? There are many reasons to go to church in the Bible, and we'll look at those as the weeks come. But what's the point? What's the main point? Because the attitude today of a lot of people is, well, wherever two or three are gathered together, there he is in the midst. So that's church. I'm always in church, right? We hear that more often than anything from these so-called Christians out in this community. And it is super frustrating, right? Because when you talk to these people, half the time, more than half the time, they're not even saved. And the ones that are saved are definitely out of the will of God, okay? And you're going to see that. Now, people sign me up for these various newsletters from liberals. And one of the themes throughout this last week has been church attendance in America. And I got a funny story for you. On Friday, my first call, I fixed this lady's dryer and I was getting ready to collect payment. I was already running late because I was just out till 930 the night before and I just wasn't with it. And she's waiting to pay and she just looks at me. She's like, are you a Christian? You have to be a Christian. I'm like, yeah. She's like, I knew it. I prayed to God and asked that God would send a Christian here. And I'm already like, yeah, I'm a real Christian. And I really believe the Bible. This is what I'm thinking in my heart. And I'm like, if you really knew the things I believe, you wouldn't be saying this, okay? But she's like, she's like, oh, where would church you go to? So I told her the brief description. Well, I'm the pastor at Shield of Faith Baptist Church. Oh, wow. I need a business card right now. I'm like, whoa, whoa. All right. So get the payment. I'm like, oh, I'm going to walk you out to the van. Okay. And that's always weird, but whatever. It's a nice lady. And she's just like, okay. I gave her a business card and she's like, you know, do you know pastor so-and-so from Harvest Church over in Meridian? That's where I go to church. I was like, I don't know him at all. All right. You know, and no. It's like, well, he gets a lot of pastors in the area together and would probably just love to, to, to meet with you and have you under his tutelage. And I'm thinking like, yeah, right. Look, I am not about to submit myself in this church to Sennacherib, the king of Assyria. Okay. Or the king of Syria. That's just not going to happen. But I didn't obviously say that. She's a nice lady, you know, and, um, whatever. So I just got in a van. I was like, that's going to be the perfect story to tell, but you know, that's just kind of, uh, the mindset, you know, and I was talking to her, you know, in the, in the course of that interaction there, and just talking about how a lot of people never came back to church after they opened up again, you know, and I've heard that a lot in this community and it's a, it's a big problem. And this week, you know, in the church inbox, you know, it's just one liberal after the other, like, oh, like pastor Jones has your attendance been suffering? If so, here's what you can do about it. Basically you can buy this program, which will show you how to triple your attendance in a week, you know, but they all, I was like five of them and they all quoted this Christianity Today article. And I thought it was pretty interesting. So I'm just going to read a little bit for you before we get started. So it says this. So the title is, and again, this is from Christianity Today and the title is American church attendance has plateaued in 2022. So it goes off and says this. It says, while people steadily returned to church services in the first half of 2021, the trend hit a plateau going into the third year since COVID-19 congregations and their leaders are left with the reality that the people who worshiped alongside them before may not be coming back. It goes on to say this around two thirds of people who usually attend church at least monthly. Yeah. Oh, the once a month, there's aren't coming back. Oh no. Said they were back in the pews in March, 67%, roughly the same as in September of 2021. It says 2021 had many leaders clinging to the idea that the next season Easter or the new, uh, the new school year, Christmas, et cetera, would bring attendance back to 2019 levels. For most churches that magic season never materialized. Uh, and it says in 2022, the constant cycle of hope and disappointment will give way to the new reality that this is your church. It will become evident that some of the people who said they're coming back late, uh, later this year clearly are never coming back ever. That's what the article says. They're never coming back. Um, keep your place there in acts, but go to Luke chapter number 18, Luke chapter number 18. Now, when it says that, uh, people who attended church monthly, I think they're probably talking about people who did come, you know, every single Sunday. But, um, you know, a lot of these churches out there, if they have a person who's, you know, comes once a month, they're just like, Oh, this is a great, we ought to make them president, you know, head of the board, the deacon board. And I'll just say this, I think God, we don't have to deal with any of that. You know, uh, one, one person keeps emailing, like, we would love to hear your feedback and your thoughts on how many people came back after you lifted your mask mandates and after you lifted all of this. And I wrote back to one guy, I had never heard anything back. I said, it was simple. We just didn't comply. No response at all. No response. So we don't have this problem, right? You know, it's just that simple. We just didn't comply, you know? Oh, that's hilarious. But it does kind of show you though, that I don't know, like, like a lot of people really aren't scared. They're like faux scared, right? They're, it's almost like they're pretending to be scared to kind of go along with it. Right. And obviously the coronavirus is, it's, it sucks. You know, I lost my taste for several months. It's, I'm not trying to downplay that. It's definitely not, not a good thing. That's like the only thing that happened to me. I had a fever for half day and I lost my taste for four months. I'd rather have what everybody else says, like, you know, just the, all the other symptoms and get my taste back quicker than to go through that. But whatever, you know, think about this though. Think about in 2001 when 9-11 happened, right? That literally struck fear into a lot of people and the pews did fill up. You know, I have talked to people who were in church. Well, I was in church during that time too, but I wasn't really aware of what was happening. I wasn't really keen to what was going on. And so, talking to soul owners who were soul winning back then, they would tell you that all of a sudden it was like the veil was lifted from people and they were interested all of a sudden, you know, neighborhoods that you would go to where they would just slam the door in your face or call you a Mormon. All of a sudden, these people were interested in what you had to say. But that is not what happened this time, is it? Right? This is an event that affected the whole nation, but it really affected the whole world. And what was the response? You shouldn't be out here. It was just extreme pride. Yeah. Arrogance and accusations and you're killing thousands of people, right? We had sodomites chasing down women with children in our church, threatening to kill them because they didn't have a mask on, knocking on their door. And it's like, wait a second. If you're really that concerned about social distancing and not catching it, why are you barefoot chasing our church members down the street trying to fight them? Right? So that's what I'm saying. You know, the attitude today in the world is vastly different. These people really aren't scared of it. They just want you to comply because this is my personal opinion. I believe that a huge part of the whole thing was an attack on biblical Christianity. Okay. Every one of these politicians, fear-mongering Fauci, Joe Biden, you know, even Trump, all these people, okay, they would love nothing more than to have us all just quit on church. Okay. Like if we just wrote a letter to the government and say, hey, you know, we just want you to know that we just closed the whole church down and encouraged everyone to maybe come back in 10 years, they would probably write back, that's great. That is just awesome. You know, that's what you should do. You should just live with your head down in the sand for the rest of your lives. Okay. But again, it does demonstrate when you compare 9-11, which affected literally the whole world as well to 2020, which affected the whole world, you know, the attitude is different. Okay. People really weren't that scared. Okay. Now, obviously there are a few that were, there are people out there that have autoimmune issues and definitely don't want to take the chance of getting that. I'm not knocking that at all. Okay. Again, that's a whole nother situation, but you guys know, you lived it, you went through it. Most of these people were just mad because we had the courage to just keep going soloing anyways, you know, and to just not do it, you know, that, that, that's what I'm talking about. So Luke chapter 18, verse number eight, I'm gonna give you a couple of verses here. We're going to go to Hebrews 10 next, but every time I read this verse here, every time I think about this verse, it just is very, very, very sobering to the times that we're living in. Look at verse number eight. Jesus says this, he says, I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. And so what is he talking about there? We're talking about the day that God is going to avenge the saints. He's going to take revenge on the world for how they have treated his people and how they have destroyed the earth and promoted wickedness. And then he says this, nevertheless, when the son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? So he poses this question and that gives you some inclination as to what it's going to be like in the end times, which obviously we're living in. Okay. Go to Hebrews chapter 10, and then just think about this. So you go to Hebrews chapter 10 right now within a five block radius, there are probably 20 churches. Okay. And that's a conservative number right next to us here within, you know, I mean, you could literally throw grass at this church over here, St. Stephen's Episcopal church. Okay. Right. You got that right next to them. You have a Zion's church. Okay. Right across the street, you got a Catholic pedophile tabernacle. Okay. You got St. Mark's, you got another Catholic deal right down there. There's Mormon tabernacles all around us here, just right down North view there. Like, literally you could throw a rock and hit this church. It's like some prophecy, biblical prophecy church. Okay. You add up all, just those churches in this just very small circumference. Okay. There's really only one church. And that's this one because we have the oracles of God. And you say, well, you're being arrogant and pride. No, I'm not being arrogant and I'm not being prideful. I'm being honest. I'm telling you the truth. Do you think St. Stephen's over there is preaching the oracles of God? No, they've got some idiot standing up there in a long white dress with a reverse collar on basically telling you that you must repent of your sins and that God loves everyone. And then it's a great thing that dudes are marrying dudes and women are marrying women. That's literally what's going on over there. Okay. That is what's going on over there. And don't even get me started on this Catholic junk across the street or that false prophecy church down there. And so you can see very quickly that there are few that have faith even right now. And I don't even think we're like right there at the end times. I mean, I, who knows, you know, we're definitely going to find out. But the point is there is a huge, huge lack of interest amongst people across the board regarding the things of God. I'm talking people that aren't saved out there. Most people that we talk to want nothing to do with it, right? Just give me my Donald Trump and my American flag now, please. Right. That's the answer. You look, you guys know you knock on someone's door and they got the huge Trump flag and the American flag, right? You're in trouble. Like, like literally I would say eight out of 10 times, you're probably going to have a fight with that person. Okay. It almost seems like it's shifting. Like it's almost like you knock on the door with a person that says we're everywhere. And you know, we believe in science. Like they're more respectful than these American Patriots that are out there. It's weird. It's really, really weird, but Hey, at the end of the day, whoever's interested, we're going to get them right. We're going to knock. We're going to teach them the things of God and hopefully get them into church. So real quickly, Hebrews chapter 10, look at verse 23. It says this, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promise. Okay. Let me just stop right there. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. So obviously, you know, we spent several weeks and I keep bringing this up, but we spent several weeks in the books of first, second, and third, John. Okay. And what was the point of that whole study fellowship, right? How to be in fellowship with God, how to be in fellowship with God's people. Okay. How do you do that when you willfully neglect going to church, when you forsake the gathering, it's not going to happen. Now, a quick disclaimer. There are people who live in States and live in other countries that cannot find a good church. Okay. And this is true. Like this even happened to us. You know, we had a great old IFB church. They were right on the gospel. I mean, we were like, like almost every doctrine, almost everything was the same. It was just the sodomite thing. And in the pastor, he even admitted to not liking them. So it was like the reprobate doctrine and then prophecy, right? Because we're post-trib pre-wrath. Like they were willing to be like, like, if you believe the reprobate doctrine, you might be right. That's cool. Whatever. Right. But when it came down to the rapture, that was like the worst thing in the world or, or to the Jews, not being God's chosen people that were God's chosen people, those who have believed on him. Okay. Those two doctrines right there can basically, when a pastor finds out that's what you believe, and they will sooner or later, even if you keep your mouth shut, because some clown is going to come in and dine you out. Okay. They will sometimes tell you not to come back, right? There are churches in treasure Valley, right now that if you told them that you believe what you do, that you agree with us, you agree with the Bible, they would say, don't come here. Okay. There's a church in Nampa, right? What is it? West Valley. They find out that you believe in a post-trib pre-wrath rapture, or that you listen to pastor Anderson, you listen to pastor Mendez. They will tell you to not come back. Okay. So I'm saying that is a reality. There are people that literally are in a situation where they can not come to church. They have to get their food online. And to those people, I would tell you, you know, keep doing that until you can improve your situation. Those people can still grow. They want to learn. Okay. And so luckily, and thank God that this technology is available to actually get them the truth. But what about people who live like five or 10 minutes from the church? Yeah. They're lazy. Okay. Are there in the world? What, what, whatever, you know, is this is a reality that we are dealing with. These are the signs of the times that we're living in. So verse 24, he says, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Again, how can you do that? If there's no point in going to church, if it's just where two or three are gathered together, you're good. You're always in church. Okay. Do those people ever grow? No, they don't. They don't ever grow. Do they, do people in the small groups ever grow? No, cause they don't have the oracles. Okay. I've never met a, and there might be one out there. I'm sure somebody will email, well, there is one out there. Okay. But there are very few small groups that are actually teaching the truth. Okay. Let's just keep that in mind. That actually read out of the King James Bible that actually preach application and try to teach doctrine. Those things are few and far in between. So the writer of Hebrews is basically giving us this passage here to tell us, Hey, there is a reason. There is a point in why we go to church verse 24 again, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good work. So this is why we assemble ourselves together. Okay. This is one reason. Okay. It is impossible to do this if you forsake the gathering. And that's what he's going to tell us in verse 25. Look what he says. It says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Now go back to Acts chapter number five. Okay. So again, you want to make sure you have those verses written down, that you have them in your heart so that when people come at you and say, Hey, you know, wherever two or three are gathered in his name, I'm in church. It's all good. I don't need to go to your church. It's like 10 minutes down the street. There's eight other churches in between. Why would I choose yours? Kayden and I were knocking doors in Sacramento at Verity one time and we knocked on the school teacher's door and she's like, Oh, you go to a Baptist church. It's like, how far away is this? It took us 10 minutes to get here. She's like, well, there's one five minutes. Why should I go to yours? I was like, well, I'm, we knocked on your door and I'm guessing they probably never have. And she's like, that's really interesting. That's really good. That's you got a point there. You know, she never came, but this is not as far as I know. But again, that's the attitude. Oh, it's five minutes, 10 minutes away. It's too much. It's too far. Well, you know, I'm glad that Christ didn't have that attitude. That cross is pretty far down there or that place of the cross is pretty far down there. You know, I'm not really feeling the best right now. I'm not sure if I could carry this thing. You know, I don't want to want to bother anybody in the crowd. You know, he didn't have that attitude to us, but that's the attitude we have towards him. That's the attitude that a lot of saved people have towards Christ, isn't it? And that shouldn't be. That is disgraceful. That is disgusting. You know, every once in a while I'll get an email, hey, can you talk to my family member and really try to push them to get into church? I'm like, I'll pray for them. You know, maybe I'll talk if it comes up, but here's the thing at the end of the day, no one ever drug me and my family to church. You know what I mean? You know, we've gone through the gauntlet of churches in our lives. We've been through all the new evangelical circuits, the denominations, all that garbage. And you know what? Wherever we found ourselves, we just always went when the doors were open. We were just always there, always wanting to help. And I'm not trying to toot my own horn. I'm just saying we just made our minds up a long time ago. We love God. We want to serve God, you know, and that's what it is. You know, people didn't have to like drag us. Maybe initially, you know, that was the case for me, but you know, we all go through that, right? But no one had to drag me. So it's like, if it gets to the point where you're like, can you really just try to grind on this person? Just tell them, you know, you really got to go there. It's already too late, in my opinion. It's like, just let them go, man. Just, just, just let them go. Hopefully, through the circumstances of life, God will be gracious to them and they'll just realize they need to come to church. Hopefully that's what happens. Most of the time it isn't, you know. So with that being said, let's get in to the point of the sermon. Say the title is, what's the point of going to church? Before I give you the main point here, there are a couple of things that I want to go over here. So Acts chapter number five, we're going to start reading in verse number three. And I want to show you that in this chapter, well, there's three basic types of people. Okay. There are three basic types of people that you can find in church. And really this isn't any organization here. Let's take a look at this first type of person here. So verse three says, but Peter said, Ananias, so you know the story. We just read it. Okay. And what's going on here. This is the early church, the church in Jerusalem, right? They're preaching the word of God. They're going out, they're getting people saved. They're doing miracles. They're doing all of these things. And people are basically saying, well, Hey, you know, we want to see this thing grow. So we want to go above and beyond, and we want to start giving money. We want to start helping. We want to start giving more than our tithes. So these people are literally selling things. They're giving offerings to the church here. And there's these two people, husband and wife, who have good intentions at first probably. And they say, well, we're going to sell this land. And we're going to give this much. This is what they say within themselves. Okay. And look what happens here. So let's take a look at Mr. Ananias. Verse number three, it says this, but Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land? Because you know, the story, what they did, they said in their hearts, we're going to do this. We're going to give this much. And then when it came time to cash that check that their mouths had written, they didn't do it. They were like, Amazon's got a special. Okay. I didn't know this before I said that. And so they lie to the Holy Ghost. And before we go on here, okay, some people will say, well, they weren't saved. Or they'll say, well, they lost their salvation. Okay. We know that's not true. We know that you can never lose your salvation. Okay. But here's the thing. How can you lie to the Holy Ghost if you're not indwelt by the Holy Ghost? Okay. So honestly understand that Ananias and Sapphira were saved. Okay. They were saved, but God said, hey, if you're not going to play nice, especially at this time where we're starting this new thing of branching out and preaching the word to the world, then guess what? I'm going to make an example of you. Okay. And I'm going to call you home. Right. Any good parent would do that. Kids outside plan. It's like, hey, keep throwing rocks. You keep trying to mess around. You're going to come inside if you don't stop. That's what God does to us a lot of times. Look at verse number four. It says, whilst it remained, was it not thine own? So again, why does Peter say that? Well, because they didn't have to do it to begin with. Right. God wants people that are after his own heart. Okay. Not these people that are just trying to put on a show just to get some attention or just to seem like they're involved. So Peter's like, you didn't even have to do it in the first place. This all could have been avoided if you would have just not made that promise. So he says in verse four, whilst it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why has thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou has not lied unto men, but unto God. Verse five. Then Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up the ghost and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And we're going to visit that phrase there here in a moment, but what kind of person does Ananias represent? Okay. Peter's asking him these questions and I could just almost see the situation play out. And he's just like, how'd you know this? I don't know what's going on. What's going to happen. Right. So he's wondering, okay, we're going to come back to that. Look at verse number eight, jump down to verse number eight. Let's look at the second type of person, which his wife represents. It says in verse eight, and Peter answered unto her, tell me whether ye sold the land for so much. And she said, yay for so much. Right. So now you have this other type of person here. She knows like he doesn't ask her the same questions. Right. He's just like, Hey, is this what happened? Yep. Right. Like she knows what's happening. She knows what's going on. Jump down to verse number 10. So after they both pass away, look at what we read here in verse number 10. It says, then fell she down straight way at his feet and yielded up the ghost. And the young men came in and found her dead and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. So then we have this third group of people that we see here, which are these young men. And what do they do? Well, they're making things happen. They see something go down and they take care of it. Okay. And so the bottom line for today is this. There are three types of people in churches. There are people who are wondering what's happening. There are people who know what's happening. And then there are people who make things happen. Okay. And you say, great. What is the goal? What is the point of church? Well, the point of church is to constantly have this culture where we're edifying people, we're exhorting people and we're moving people down that list to category number three, to people that are making things happen. Okay. Everybody, when they come in here, you know, sometimes they're new, they don't understand. They're wondering like, what's going on? What's this guy talking about? Why is he so upset? You know, why are they doing it this way? Right. Everybody goes through that phase. And then there's the next phase where you start to learn, you start to gain knowledge and you start to understand what's going on. Okay. But we don't want to just leave people in that category. We want them to be like those young men who came in, saw a problem and dealt with it. Okay. It doesn't say that Peter was like, Hey, you know, do this, do this, do that. Okay. They came in, they understood what was going on because they already knew. They weren't wondering. Okay. And they took care of business. So with that in mind, let's get to the point here. Look at verse number 11. It says this and great fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these things. So why did God kill Ananias and Sapphira? It was to promote fear. And we've talked about this before. Why promote fear? Well, this is the good type of fear. This is the fear that brings knowledge. The fear that brings wisdom and the fear that causes us to grow. That is why God did that. So you say, what is the point? The whole point of going to church is for sanctification. Okay. Sanctification means separation. Now, when you get saved, God, and he sanctifies you, he sets you apart. You are no longer part of the world. The world cannot have its way with you. It has to go through him first, right? That's initial sanctification, but it doesn't and it shouldn't just stop there. After you get saved, you should strive to want to be more Christ-like. Okay. And there's tons of verses. We could spend weeks on just sanctification alone. Sanctification means separation. That is the point of going to church here. If there was no point in going to church, then there was no point in having Ananias and Sapphira killed to bring fear on the church. What is a church? It's a congregation. It's a gathering. It's an assembly of people. Okay. It's an assembly of people. Go to Ephesians chapter number five. Ephesians chapter number five. And so, I mean, really in that first church there, you can see everything that we see today. You know, there's the preaching of the word of God. There are people bringing in offerings of money. There are, uh, soul winning taking place, all sorts of things. You know, you got your, you got your P's, right? You got your preaching, you've got patience being developed, and you got persecutions. I mean, think about the end of the chapter there. What do we read? Well, the apostles, they got beaten, right? What did they do? Where's the next mission? It didn't even phase them. How do people get that strong? How do they get that courageous? They don't get it by doing the Hebrews chapter 10 and just forsaking the gathering saying, I don't need to go there. I'm going to make up lies. I'm going to do whatever. I'm just going to do my own thing. I don't need you. Okay. Everything in church is superstitious. That's not what he said. Okay. That's wrong. How do people get courageous regarding the things of God? It's only by going to church. Okay. And obviously it goes much farther than that. You can't just come in here and sit down and just be like, okay, I'm here. You know what I mean? Like I did my duty. I came to church. God's definitely happy. It's like, look, do you love the Lord or not? Okay. Do you want to serve God or not? If not, there's the door. Look, look, here's your safety briefing. There are many ways to get out of this building and that door is not one of them. You can go through the back there and go out the back door. There's two doors in this office and there's one door right there. Look, one, two, three, four. There are four ways out of here. Okay. And guess what? There's nothing that we attached to your vehicle that says, okay, on Sunday mornings, it's automatically going to pull you into this parking lot here. You have to have the volition. You have to have the choice. You have to make up your mind to come through those doors. Okay. No one's going to do it for you. I'm not going to call you. I'm not going to email you. I'm not going to text you. I'm not going to constantly remind you. Nobody else in here is going to do that. So again, I'm not trying to be rude. I'm just trying to be honest. If you don't like being in church, then don't come to church. I mean, it's that simple, right? Obviously Ananias and Sapphira liked it for a little while. And then they were like, well, this, you know, this money thing here, right? Amazon. I'm not like preaching. Don't buy anything from Amazon. I'm just saying, you know, I'm just being funny, but you know, the world, it's always talking to her. It's just like one foot in, one foot out, one foot in, one foot out. What usually happens? God takes them out. He will take you out. So you know what? Learn to love the Lord. Okay. Understand that you will be in eternity longer than you're ever going to be on this planet in this body. So again, what does all of this mean? Ephesians five, look at verse 23. So Paul says this to the Ephesians. He's comparing the relationship of a husband and wife and how that should be to our relationship as a body, as a church to Jesus Christ. Verse 23, he says this for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body. Okay. He's talking about, I mean, there's many different ways that you could read this verse. Obviously he's the savior of our bodies. Okay. The word of God comes into us and it divides soul and spirit right into the new man. It divides that from the old man, but also he's the savior of the body of Christ. Okay. And so you can interchange the word church with the body. Okay. Every believer in the world belongs to his body. They are the body of Christ. Okay. But can, is it possible though? Let me ask you this. Is it possible for every believer in the world to assemble together right now? No, because there's different time zones. There's different logistics. There's all kinds of things, right? So what do we have to make up for it? Well, we have local new Testament churches or gatherings. Okay. And they are super necessary. Okay. Look at that language there. And the savior of the body. You and I, we have to understand that we are in the body of Christ. And let me ask you this. What happens if you have a member of your body, you have a part of your body that stops getting blood, that stops getting nutrients. What happens to that? It dies. It falls off, right? If you're a little pinky, you know, stops getting blood, eventually it's going to wilt away, be very painful, cause an infection and drop off, right? You're gonna have to amputate that thing. It's really the same thing in the body of Christ. And I am talking about safe people. There are people who get so wilted and just restricted that they start causing problems for everyone else, for the rest of the body. And you know what God does? He eventually sets them up to get them out because it's not healthy. That attitude is not healthy. That's why he's using this language here that Christ is the head of the church. Okay. So is it a president that's the head of the church? Is it a seminary leader that's the head of the church? No. Who is in charge of the body of Christ? It's Jesus Christ. How do we understand what he wants us to do? Through the word of God, through his word. Okay. Look at verse 24. It says, therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. So again, verse 24, therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ. Now, if you were to go back to the beginning of this book here of Ephesians, what would you learn? That this is a letter to the Ephesians. It's a letter to a church that was in Ephesus, to a group of people that assembled themselves together to hear the word of God and to exhort one another and to go out and to preach the gospel and continue the mission. Okay. So for people to step back and say, you know what, there's no real reason to go to church. It's not really that profitable. God is happy with me on my own, just doing my own thing. Okay. That's wrong. And, you know, people will accuse, oh, you're being superstitious. Okay. That's Bible, hero. That's Bible. You understand me? This is Bible doctrine. One, zero, one. To the church, to the church, to the church, to the church at Ephesus. But yet we have this attitude today. It's just there if you need it. Okay. No, that water's back there if you need it. Okay. The coffee's back there if you need it. Okay. Those things don't necessarily have to be here because you can get those outside of here. Okay. But how do we get our nourishment? How do we grow? How do we seek after God's own heart? Obviously through him, through his word and being subject unto him. Verse 25, husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. And I tell people this all the time and it does apply. Christ gave himself so that we could also assemble ourselves together. He died for the church. People say, well, that's just the body of Christ. Okay. Again, go read the beginning of Ephesians. Go read the beginning of Galatians. Go read the beginning of Philippians. Go read the beginning of Colossians. All of the letters. Okay. To the church. Go read the beginning of Romans. Okay. To the church, to the people that are saved in Rome. I mean, it's the same thing. Go read Revelation, you know, to the church in Pergamos. Okay. Church is a real thing. It's not this concept that we just dreamed up over time to get money into so that we could get riches. Now, some people have gone down that road. In fact, most people have gone down that road. Right. But not real biblical Christianity. Verse 26 tells us the purpose again. And look at this. After telling us that he gave himself for it, verse 26, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. If you are not in the word of God, if you are not in church, how does this happen? And furthermore, is that pleasing to God? No, of course not. Right. What is the point here? Look at verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word. So what is the point of going to church? To have this continuous process of being washed by the water of the word. Now, does that mean you don't read it Monday through Saturday? That it's just only on church days, only on Wednesday and only on Sundays? Of course not. We're supposed to read it every single day. You guys know that. I don't need to tell you that. You already know that. Last week, one of the passages that we looked at was where Christ said that I will build my church. Okay. Do you think that just starts like getting saved and then finishes up in heaven? Or don't you think that the stuff in between there kind of counts? You have to understand that what you learn regarding the word of God today is going to last through eternity. Like you want to be the type of person that gets to heaven when people are wondering like, how long, oh Lord, is it going to be until thou avenges? You want to be that guy or that gal, they're like, haven't you read? Until their brother and should suffer death just like them. Right. You want to have those answers. You want to learn the song of Moses so that you don't, you know, I'm ready to go. Right. You want to understand these things. Now, the knowledge and the wisdom that you gained from the word of God in this life, it goes right into eternity. You take that with you. It doesn't go away. You know what? But all this worldly crap and vainglory, that stuff stops. That stuff ceases. Your heart stops. That stuff goes out. You know, I might talk about this a little bit tonight, but I just learned that this guy from Foo Fighters died there. I guess it was their drummer, you know, and they're like, he was the nicest guy and this and that. Look, those guys hate God with a passion. Go type in Dave Grohl in Christian or Dave Grohl on Jesus Christ. Okay. If you want to be vexed for a few minutes, those people hated God. And I often wonder when those people die, like Madeleine Albright just died. She's a God hater, a politician who absolutely, just a wicked human being. Okay. Filled with riches, filled with money, filled with vainglory. The moment they die and lift open their eyes in hell, what do they say? Uh oh, there's no attorney that's going to get me out of this one. They know. They know. So that lifetime of just trying to strive for vainglory isn't going to save them. But it's really the same thing for the believer too. How many believers do you think die? And they're like, oh, it wasn't quite, I didn't, I didn't want to meet him on these terms. I didn't want to meet him like this. Dang it. I thought I had more time. You're still going to go to heaven. He still loves you. It's still good to go, but you could have done so much more. You could have done so much more. Look, do you think that Saul has regrets or do you think he's up there like, I'm glad David, that was so funny, man. That whole javelin thing. I mean, they might be laughing about it now, but you know, I seriously doubt that eternity is going to look the same for, you know, when you take David and Saul, you know? So just think about that and understand that. What's the point of going to church? That he might sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. Remember those three categories of people that I brought up to your attention in Acts chapter number five. That's the point here. Now, how do you move people from wondering what's going on to knowing what's going on to actually making things happen if you don't come to church, if the things of God are not at the forefront of your mind, or if we're not able to provoke people into moving along that list there to the better category. Okay. Doesn't work. Look at verse 27. This is this, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Okay. It is very, very difficult for people. In fact, I'll say it's impossible for people who are saved to just say, I don't need it. I'm done. It pissed me off. I'm out. Whatever. Okay. It's very difficult for those people to claim, well, I'm sanctified. I'm without blemish because the world's just beaten the tar out of them, you know, on a daily basis. Like, seriously, I know, and I'm not talking about anybody here. I'm just talking about people that I know in general, you know, I'm hearing all the time, these stories, you know, of people that I know in some of these other churches, you know, and they just quit on God after five, six, seven years. And all of a sudden it's like, they're unrecognizable. Like, like you just forgot everything, you know, the wives are like out doing all kinds of crazy stuff. Oh, I got a corporate position wearing pants and all this stuff. Now husband's just like, oh yeah, you know, I got this, these tickets to this band and it's just crazy at how quickly people fall. Look, it happens and it's not supposed to be that way. And what keeps you out of that? Well, it's supposed to be church, a place where we edify and promote to evangelize people. Okay. That, look at verse 27 one more time, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church. You think St. Stephen's is a glorious church? It's not even a real church, right? It's like a Ted talk from hell. Not having spot or wrinkles. So again, this takes away that notion. No one can come up to you and say, no, no, no, no, no. This isn't talking about a local gathering of people. Because once you get saved, wherever two or three are gathered together, you're in church, everything's good. You're just automatically without wrinkles. You're just automatically great. No. Why would this verse be in the Bible? If that was the case? It doesn't make any sense, does it? What's the point of going to church? Sanctification, to work on it, because it's a daily thing, man. It's a daily process. What did Jesus tell those who wanted to be his disciples about the cross? You got to take it up what? Daily. Didn't say monthly. Didn't say biweekly. Didn't say on Christmas and Easter. You know, I read this quote. I don't remember who said it, but I read this a while back and it was like, this guy is like, I go to church three times. He's like, once is to get sprinkled. He's like two to get married and then three to have dirt sprinkled on me. And that's good enough. Okay. It won't be good enough when you wake up in the eternity, boy. Go back to Hebrews chapter number 10. Hebrews chapter number 10. So again, the point is sanctification, separation. It's so that we can work these spots and these wrinkles out of ourselves, right? So that we can be shown different from the world, right? Why does that matter? Because we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers of darkness in high places. That's what the Bible says. What we do Monday through Sunday, when no one's looking, it has spiritual consequences. Okay. It does. We don't know what that looks like. We don't know how it all quite works, but we know it's real. We know that when we come to church and we put on a front or we lie to the Holy Ghost, that that has spiritual ramifications. It somehow will manifest itself in a New Testament church. This is why God's, you know, set up what? He set up apostles, prophets, preachers, teachers, and things like this in the church for our edification. So again, this is a subject I love to talk about because it really bugs me when people say, what's the point of going to church? Or they just look at it like, I'll give God of my spare time. If I have time, yes, I'll come down there and visit you guys. If I have time. Look, I said this in Spokane, time doesn't discriminate. You and I, we've all got 24 hours a day. So I love it when people are like, I don't have time to read. I don't have time to come to church. Friday, I got off at like five o'clock. Okay. I left Vista and Canal at five o'clock. And I felt great. I was like, man, this is the earliest I've been off in a long time. Now I get off early on Wednesdays, obviously, cause I have to come to church, but I got home at nine 30. No, I'm sorry. I got done in garden city at nine 30 and got home at like almost 10 o'clock. I'm not asking for sympathy. I'm just simply saying, I could still find time to write sermons and to read the Bible and to do all these things and to help people and do all this stuff. But yet we got people that can't seem to bother themselves with the things of God. I don't have time. You got no kids. You got no spouse. You got very little responsibilities, but you don't have time. I feel no sorrow for you at all. Oh, feel sorry for me. Well, it's just so hard. I'm trying to start a business. I look, I don't even care. I got way more going on in you. And I still got 24 hours a day. Just like you don't give me this. I don't have time garbage because that's a lie. Why don't you just say, Hey, I suck. I suck. That's what I want to hear. I suck. I'm terrible because that we can work with. At least that's humble. At least that displays humility. Not this, Oh, I don't have time. Yeah. Shut your mouth. Hebrews chapter 10, looking for a summer 10 says this by the witch, will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Okay. By the witch will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ for all. I'm going to give you three points of application regarding sanctification here. Starting right now. Okay. And number one is this sanctification is a work of God, your separation, your growing, if you will, your discipleship, whatever you want to call it, comes from God. What is the institution that God has established with the oracles that helps facilitate that? It's church. It's not Starbucks talking about your latest jet skis and your old muscle cars and this and that, because wherever two or three are gathered together, there is in the midst. So when I go to the Marilyn Manson concert and Rob Zombie, there he is in the midst. Yeah. He's there in the midst taking notes. He's getting ready to blow that thing up. And you say, why are you bringing this up? Because I know somebody who saved. In fact, the person who got me saved was recently posting pictures of going to a Rob Zombie because all was so nostalgic. Look at this guy saved. This guy is saved and he's at this place. It's crazy. It's absolutely absurd. Absolutely insane. You know, and he quit going to church a long time ago and that's how far back he's gone. Think about that for a second. Sanctification is a work of God. So in order to allow this process to happen, you have to go where God wants you to go, which is to this book and to be around God's people. Fellowship with him, fellowship with the body of Christ. Look, it's simple. I hope that's clear. Sanctification is a work of God. When you remove God and still say, oh yeah, yeah, but I'm just good to go. Okay. You will have trouble. You will not even be the person that's just wondering what's going on. You're going to be like completely oblivious. Like you're, you're a fourth category that we haven't even talked about yet. Go to Galatians chapter number five, Galatians chapter number five. So sanctification is a work of God. He did all of the work. He died on the cross. He paid the sin debt so that all that we have to do is believe. Once we believe we're initially sanctified, okay, we're set apart from the world in a spiritual sense, but then should begin the process of becoming Christ-like, of becoming a disciple of Christ. And that takes place at a local New Testament church that has the oracles of God and has a heart for God. Galatians chapter number five, look at verse number 16. So Paul tells the Galatians this, and you guys know the Galatians, right? They were bewitched. They were hoodwinked, if you will, by people coming in and saying, oh, do you worship Jews? Do you have circumcision going on? Don't you know that, you know, yeah, you, you might be saved, right? You, you begin in the spirit, but you gotta be made perfect by the flesh, okay? If you're really saved, if you're really good to go, then you're going to have all these works, and Paul's ironing all of that false doctrine out, but he makes a statement in verse 16, and he says this, this I say then, walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. I want to meet somebody, and I know I can, I know this is impossible, that has the attitude, I don't need to go to that church. I don't need to go to a church. I don't need that. I'll go ahead and forsake that. I want to meet the person who has that attitude that's walking in the spirit. You say, why didn't you bring that up? Because it's impossible. It's absolutely, positively, 100% impossible. We need to know this. We need to know this, because look, there are people out there that we talk to, and in the moment, at least, they need help, and they realize, yeah, I just moved here. I used to go to church. I used to be like you. I used to do this type of stuff, and I'd like to get back, right? And you've got that small window of opportunity to try to make that happen. You know, Moses had a guy like that yesterday. You know, the guy seemed like he was going to come, and he might. You know, every time we go to a trailer park, one year later, somebody comes and visits and stays for a little while. I don't know what it is about trailer parks here. We go to trailer park up in Seattle, up in Washington, and good luck, okay? Good, that's all I can say. I'm like, I used to say, these places are reprobate concerning the faith. I never got somebody saved in a trailer park until I came here, okay? But we have had like four people who have come here from trailer parks like a year later and stayed for a little bit. You know, and we're happy. So that guy you talked to, Moses, he's going to be here next year. Don't worry about it, okay? It just takes a little bit. Hebrews 17, for the flesh lusteth against the spirit and spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would, okay? So look, Paul's just being honest. He's like, hey, I already told the Romans, you know what, I'm the chief sinner. He tells this story all the time. He's like, the things that I would do, the things that I preach not to do, he's like, I find myself doing those things. So how much more are you going to find yourself doing those things when you neglect church, you neglect the oracles, and you say, you know, it's just not that important to me, right? You know the answer to that question. Skip down if you would to verse number 24. Okay, the answer is very simple. How do we overcome these things? Well, you better understand it's difficult and it's a daily battle. And second of all, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, okay? Verse 24, and they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the effect, I'm sorry, the affections and lust, okay? Let me read that one more time. Verse 24, and they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. A lot of preachers will pull this verse up at you guys and say, hey, see, if you're really saved, you wouldn't desire all that stuff. And they'll quote this. What are you going to say to them? You got a response? Well, you have to understand what this means. And what this means is those things don't have power over us anymore, but they have presence, okay? That's what you need to understand. These things, these lusts of the flesh, they no longer have power over you, okay? We have God's protection, but they still have presence, okay? Meaning you still wake up in the old man. You still have struggles. You still have thoughts. Someone, again, takes your order up here at that stupid Taco Bell, okay? And you're going to flip out. Look, you're going to order the fish and chips basket at Big Bun, and they're going to forget the tartar sauce every single Sunday. And you're going to start thinking things, okay? You're going to start having thoughts, okay? And if you're outside of the will of God, it's possible for you to carry out some of those thoughts. But since I'm the pastor here, okay, I had the thought to just buy tartar sauce to keep it in the fridge so that I don't have to get so angry and flip out when either me or Kaden doesn't get tartar sauce. But anyways, again, when people pull this verse at you, it doesn't have power, okay? People that are not saved, right? Like the devil can yo-yo them wherever he wants, right? I mean, they have no protection from God, okay? But after we're saved, we are removed from that power structure. But the presence of the world and the world's wisdom is still there, and we have to fight that daily. That's what Paul's talking about here. But again, nobody wants to read from chapter one up to this verse here, right? They just want to be, you got to turn from your sins. You have to repent of your sins. You just have to do it. If you're really saved, you'd be just like me. Shut up. Verse 25, if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit, okay? Verse 26, let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another. So there's a time to provoke people, okay? And that time is when you're in church, and you've got tact, and you're able to provoke somebody unto love and to good works. Exhortation, that's the point of going to church, right? What happens when you get removed from church, you don't go to church? Well, the vainglory comes in. You will start to seek that, and then you will start provoking one another and envying one another, okay? That's the point. That's what's going on there. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number seven. So again, point number one, understand that sanctification is a work of God, and with that means we have to go to church. We have to be reading the Bible. We have to realize it's a daily thing. It's a daily struggle. It's a daily battle, but it's God that does it. It's not us, right? All he wants us to do is to be subject unto him, and he works everything else out for us. That's what he does, okay? We don't have to sit there and fret and worry and like, oh, I'm such a dirtbag. He's already paid the sin debt. He knows the struggles that we have. You just worry about your sanctification. You just worry about you. You do what you know God wants you to do. Read the Bible. Go to church. Pray for one of them. You start doing these things, and he takes care of everything else, okay? That's what we are promised. So let's move on to number two, which I've already hinted at. Second Corinthians chapter seven, look at verse number one. So Paul says this. He says, having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Now you have to divide that with what we just read in Galatians chapter five verse 16, where he says, walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. How do you walk in the spirit? Well, you just decide, you know what? I love God, and I want to serve him, okay? You have to start there, okay? Because some people will say, oh, I got to get everything right in my life, and then I'll come to church. I got to stop saying this. I got to stop doing this, and then I'll come to church, and then I'll be able to serve God. No, you just need to start coming to church. You just need to crack open the Bible and start reading. Read a paragraph if that's all you can do. Read one proverb a day. I mean, do something, right? And you know what? By doing that something, you are now walking in the spirit, and fulfilling the lust of the flesh is going to become less and less and less. And so when you compare that to what Paul's telling the Corinthians here, verse one, having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. What we have to understand is point number two, sanctification involves our cooperation. Okay? Again, going back to that story I told you earlier, God is not going to come down and grab you out of bed. He's not going to pick you up by the locks of your hair like he did to Ezekiel in the spirit and show you what to do. Okay? He's not going to do that. You have to be the one that says, yes, I'm going to follow him. I'm going to get up. I am going to go to church. I'm going to read the Bible. I am going to be with God's people, despite of what the world has thrown at you the day prior or the morning prior or whatever it is, you have to cooperate. Go back to second Corinthians chapter number six, just one chapter back and look at verse number 14. Sanctification involves our cooperation. Look at verse number 14, second Corinthians chapter number six, verse 14. So Paul says this, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness. Now, obviously we have to go to work. Okay. And there's always a bunch of clowns and people that are just whacked at work, whatever. We understand that. Okay. That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about being in union with unbelievers to where when you get off work, you're like, man, I'm going to call up so-and-so from work and see what's going on. And you know, this person doesn't like the things of God. Doesn't believe the Bible doesn't believe like you, but for whatever reason, man, you want that person to like you. So you're like, you know what? I'm going to hang out with this person. It's going to make my life easier. And God wants me to just love everybody and love my neighbor. He's not your neighbor. Okay. He's not your neighbor in the spiritual sense. And when you do that and you yoke yourself up with those people, they drag you down. You don't drag them up. It doesn't work like that. It does not work like that. Verse 15 and what Concord hath Christ with Belial or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel. So again, we've spent a lot of time talking about how to navigate in the world and how to keep peace in the world and, and, and have relationships with people that don't believe. And look, those are the people you need to social distance from. Okay. Seriously, you know, work with them, you know, talk with them, you know, try to live peaceably with them as much as possible, but don't yoke up with them. Okay. Look, I have zero friends at work. Zero. Okay. And you know, and anytime it gets to like, ah, we need to get together. No, not happening, man. It's not happening. And I've never really had much trouble from that ever. I've never had a boss like you really need to, you know, I've had some of them say, if you want to get promoted, you got to come to this, this party. And I still didn't do it. And I still got promoted by God. So eat that pal. Verse 16 and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols. So again, look, we understand this, right? We are indwelt by the Holy Ghost. You understand that if you're saved, the Holy Ghost dwells in you, Christ is in you. You understand that? So what in the world are believers doing, yoking themselves up with idolatry and looking at the celebrities of the world, looking at these high profile people of the world and saying, I want to be like that. Okay. You know what that's going to bring? Trouble. That's idolatry. People say, oh, you can't really commit idolatry today, unless you got a Moloch out in your yard. That's weak-sauce idolatry. That's stupid stuff. Okay. That's just, that's whatever. No, idolatry is when you're looking at the world like, I want to be like that. I want to be like that, dude. I want to make it to that level. That's my idol. You don't come out and say that, right? Believers almost never come out and say that, but in their hearts, that's exactly what they're saying. I want to be like this person. I want to get to the NBA and be like LeBron James, or I want to, whatever, right? I'm going to make it to the NFL and be like Marshawn Lynch or whoever, you know, whoever's popular. I used to hear all these names living in Washington, but you get the idea here, right? With the believers, with God's people, man, it doesn't work. He doesn't like that. And there are consequences and that's not superstition, man. That's reality. Do you understand that? That's reality. Verse 17, wherefore come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing. And I will receive you. So what happens when you, the believer says, you know what? I will touch the unclean thing. He won't receive you. And then I get accused of leading a cult and being superstitious. Verse 18, and we'll be a father unto you. You shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord almighty. So obviously Paul's quoting Old Testament scripture and making application like, hey, look, we're already in the family, right? And we need to have respect to our father, right? Just like we teach kids, you know, these children, these kids, our children, like, hey, you got to respect your parents, right? You got to do what they say. No back talking. No, I'll get you later. None of that garbage, right? Look, it's the same with us and God. Go to Colossians chapter number three. Colossians chapter number three. So again, sanctification involves our cooperation. It involves our cooperation. We need to understand that we should not, we are expected to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Colossians chapter three, really similar type thing that Paul's preaching here. Verse nine, look at verse nine, it says this, lie not one to another seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds. Verse 10, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. And so again, that explains the idea here. What's the idea? What's the point of going to church? It's for sanctification. It's to become more and more and more Christ-like so that we can be that beacon of light to our community and to the world. Go back to Ephesians chapter number five. So that's point number three, the goal is to move us towards being more Christ-like. Because again, you know, it's not like you get saved. Oh, you're just automatically Christ-like. Okay. You're just automatically holy without spot and without blemish. No, you need to have that continual washing of water by the word, which are the oracles, which is the Bible. You remove that, you're done. You're done. The next thing you're going to be doing is seeking vainglory and provoking and envying the world. And then the father will not receive your prayers and you will be in a world of trouble. So again, I know we already read these verses, but this really applies to what we're talking about here. Point number three, the goal is to move us towards Christ-likeness. Verse 25, husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Look, God cares about the local New Testament church. He cares about this church right here, about this group of people right here who are saved. They have the oracles. He cares about what we do. He cares about our vision and he cares about what we do to one another also. Okay. He cares about that. He gave his life for the church. Verse 26, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. Verse 27, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. And we're almost done right here. Bottom line, there are three kinds of people in churches. There are people that wonder what's going on, right? And there are people that know what's going on. And then there are people that make things go on, people that make things happen. And the goal is sanctification. And through that process, the idea is to get the wanderers to the knowers and get the knowers to the doers. That's it. That's the, that's the idea here. Okay. This is why we have to come back to the basics every so often as a church. This is why we have to revisit certain doctrines because there are new people that come in. There are people that leave. And so you have to constantly have this wheel going, right? Bringing people through the advanced stages of Christianity to why? To be more Christ-like. And so all that to say this, no oracles, no church, right? Well, guess what? No oracles, no church, no sanctification. It's that simple. What's the point of going to church? It's for Christ. It's for him. He cares about it. He does. I'll let people, oh, he doesn't really care if I wake up and go. Yes, he does. He really does care. He really does care. And we ought to thank him that he's been long-suffering and gracious to us because we've all probably been in this boat where we're like, yeah, I'm saved, but I'm not going. Look, I've been there back in the day, right? I have. We've all gone through that. But to those that want to turn their back and start running their mouths, he will deal with that. And I'm not saying you should pray for it. I'm just saying you don't even have to worry about it. He's going to take care of it. Why? Because he cares about his church and he gave himself for it. Church is a very big deal. Like I said, this is just the beginning here. This is just the, you know, last week we talked about the oracles. That's what makes up a church. No oracles, no church. Today, we're just talking about the main point. And we're going to push this thing out for a few weeks and really get into the meat and potatoes of why we have church, how to behave in church. What does the church do? All of these different things. We're going to talk about this and we are going to learn about this. So again, the main point of why go to church is for sanctification. He wants us to be sanctified. He wants us to be set apart. He wants us to be blameless. He wants us to be without spot, without wrinkle, right? Without the damage that the world causes to us. And you know, by Wednesday, whether you go to work or not, you know, by Wednesday, those of you that love God and everybody in here does, you know that it's a breath. I'm not going to say that. For those of you online, just email me and I'll explain the situation, but it is a refreshing time. So I'll explain. So we have this thing where we've had people come in here and say that this church is a breath of fresh air and they always turn out to be heretics and crazy. So we try not to say that around here. That might be a little superstitious, but it's funny to say the least. It's just something with that phrase. It's, I don't know. It is what it is, but the whole point is to be set apart and to grow for him, to preach his message to the world. You can't do it on your own. Okay? Sanctification comes from God. It comes from this book, the King James Bible. If you speak, read and write English, it involves our cooperation. And the goal is to be more Christ-like and without the oracles, without the assembling, none of that takes place. And he's not happy. Bow our heads, have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for your word, for your sanctification process. Lord, I just pray that you would help every single one of us, Lord, to grow in you and to not lose sight of the point of going to church, Lord, which is to become more like you and to be set apart from the world in Jesus' name. I pray. Amen.