(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) Amen. Right, as you know we've been doing a Sunday morning series called What We Believe where we've been going through our Statement of Faith. We're now in a fully independent church and as a new fully independent church I thought it would be a good idea just to make it very clear as to what we do and don't believe here at this church and we've inherited our Statement of Faith but I wholly believe our whole Statement of Faith so there's no need to start chopping and changing it and what I've been doing is grouping some of the statements on our Statement of Faith into subjects. So far we've looked at salvation, we've looked at the Bible and we've looked at the Trinity and today we're going to look at the church. So the title this morning is What We Believe About the Church. What We Believe About the Church. I'd like to pray before we get started. Father thank you for your word, thank you for this church Lord, thank you for you know all the many good churches around the world Lord and we thank you that we have one here in this nation Lord down here in Southend and we just pray that you bless our church Lord and bless this message that I'm going to preach today Lord please just fill me with your spirit and help me to preach boldly and accurately Lord about what your word has to say about the church. I hope everyone have attentive ears please in Jesus' name for all of this. Amen. Okay so we've just read a great passage of Scripture comparing a godly marriage to that of Jesus Christ's relationship with a church. It says in verse 22, wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord for the husband is ahead of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but it should be holy and without blemish. So meant to love their wives as their own bodies he that loveth his wife loveth himself for no man ever yet hates his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it even as the Lord the church for we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and should be joined unto his wife and they too should be one flesh. This is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless that every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself and a wife see that she reverence her husband and many will go to that passage of scripture to preach the importance of wives submitting to their husbands and the Bible's very clear about that isn't it? The importance of husbands loving their wives the Bible's very clear about that too. There's something else in that passage which jumps out as being very important as well that's the church yeah it's very clear that the church is an important thing it's an important institution in the Bible. Some say you don't have to go to church to be a Christian and you know what you don't have to go to church to be a Christian you're right you just have to put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to be a Christian right you put your faith in his death, burial and resurrection, paying for your past, present and future sins. That's all it requires to be a Christian however to be a disciple to serve the Lord to be sent out to be sanctified to be cleansed to be made holy like we've just seen in that passage you need a church okay you do need a church for all of that and not just any odd place that calls itself a church you need somewhere that is a church in God's eyes it has to be a legitimate church doesn't it and there are some obvious criteria for that according to 1 Timothy 3.15 you don't have to turn there the church is a pillar and ground of the truth I'm sure many people know 1 Timothy 3.15 and the church is described as a pillar and ground of the truth in that verse so if a church didn't have or doesn't have the inspired preserved words of God or for those in nations without it the closest thing okay that the closest thing they could possibly get to the inspired preserved words of God it's not a church is it how could it be a church if it rejects the inspired preserved words of God it's meant to be the pillar and ground of the truth and you don't have to turn to John 17 17 Jesus said sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth now God's word is truth his word has to be there for it to be the pillar and ground of the truth doesn't it and that should be quite obvious but again so many people just don't seem to get that point there are people that know the King James Bible is a word of God that sit in places around this nation around the world English-speaking nations in churches which aren't using the word of God I mean how it's not the pillar and ground of the truth how can that be a church if it doesn't even have the truth in the first place in John 14 6 it says Jesus saith unto him I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the Father but by me if a church doesn't believe the gospel it's not a church if it doesn't believe the gospel it is not a church and when you say well of course it believes the gospel if it's claimed to be a church no no no okay there's a lot of place out there that claim to be church to have the King James Bible that preach another gospel which is not another because there is only one gospel they just preach some different so-called version of the gospel but how can it if they don't believe the gospel how could it be the pillar and ground of the truth if they're preaching you've got to give up certain sins to be saved you've got to turn from sins you've got to you know have a deep remorse for sins you've got to make Jesus Lord of your life all these different ways they add a little bit of works in salvation it ain't a church how can it be a church if it's meant to be the pillar and ground of the truth and if a church does it to some form of soul winning now maybe they use different terminology okay but if they don't do some form of soul winning they don't go out and preach the truth how's it the pillar and ground of the truth because again you'd have to turn there but second Corinthians 5 18 Paul said to the Corinthian Church and all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us us that's the church the ministry of reconciliation so how is it the pillar and ground of the truth if it doesn't declare the truth for the lost it's not okay and they should be they should be pretty clear points right but a lot of people will sadly maybe they feel they need to make do with somewhere that doesn't tick that but if it ain't a church you might as well go to another social club because that's really what it is if a so-called church fails on some or all of those points you have no business being there and look that's not oh see you just get them all to here look I hope there are churches out there I hope I really do I hope that in the UK they're a place that you can say no this is a church they've got the gospel right they've got the King James Bible right they're going out and doing some form of outreach they will at least not stop you or ban you from going out and preaching the gospel okay great brilliant if you're around the country and you've got a church like that good on you go there make it a great church I honestly mean that okay however the reality of it is that there are very few places like that in this whole country aren't there and if it doesn't if it doesn't tick those boxes it's why would it why would a man woman child of God go there if it doesn't have the King James Bible it's not it's not a church it's not the pillar and ground of the truth if it doesn't preach the gospel it's not a church if it doesn't encourage you to go out and preach the gospel in one way or another have some form of going out and reaching the lost it's not a church so that's look that should be obvious stuff and and again I say that because there are people that know this know these truths and they'll go to places that they know that they're yoking up with false prophets that they know that those people are not saved they're not just saying they're preaching a false gospel if your pastor around the nation preaches that you can lose your salvation and you're going there and calling pastor what on earth I mean that's one of the most scummy vile people in the world he's teaching a false gospel but no business going there and yoking up and being a buddy with him whatever you think you're going to achieve there or anything else I mean that's wicked isn't it I mean talk about being unequally yoked right but even if it's not even if you're literally just hanging around in the non inspired social club even if while he seems to have the gospel right but he's reading from the NIV this week and ESV that week and the RSV the other week what a waste of time you're not going to church I mean cool if you just don't want to call it church go well it's quite a nice place to hang around well it's better than being somewhere completely wicked but at the end of the day what a waste of your time right now with that in mind there are some things that we do believe though about a genuine church as well so they're just a criteria to be a genuine church because a lot of people get confused they just see a billboard saying church and oh that must be a church well it says church okay yeah it's the church in in terms of in the world's eyes and maybe you might even we might talk about the Catholic Church we might talk about the the Pentecostal Church but in God's eyes those places are not a church are they okay they're in fact the opposite of that but there are some things that we do believe about the genuine church keep keep something in Ephesians chapter 5 and turn to Acts chapter 9 our first statement about the church that we're going to look at today on our statement of faith is this well you turn to Acts 9 that keeps something in Ephesians 5 our statement is this we believe in the local church we reject the teaching of the universal church and our references at Acts 9 31 Acts 15 41 Romans 16 4 and Romans 16 16 1st Corinthians 7 17 and 1st Corinthians 11 16 and we're going to look at those today now there are many out there that believe and teach some sort of universal church of all believers that there's this one big church that we all play a part in you probably will have all heard that out there in one way or another and you could see for what on one hand how maybe the ecumenical types would love this we're all just different believers making up one big body of Christ yeah going in our different routes in different ways to Christ and everything else but it's not just them that believe this as well there are those that seem to be against ecumenicalism that still believe in a universal church but is it what is it what the scriptures say now they would take passages like we've just read in Ephesians 5 I was talking about the universal church right and you'll hear people in all sorts of circles saying similar I saw some comments recently it was even on one of our sermons and someone talking about the state of the church the church like it was kind of this big universal church and look it might just be bad terminology you know some people it's a turn of phrase they're referring to multiple churches but they just use the word the church and again because they will hear it a lot as well so some people do that doesn't mean that they necessarily have bought into this universal church nonsense but the the church is an individual church when we see that okay when we see that in Scripture Christ loves every single individual genuine bona fide a church and in Acts chapter 9 and elsewhere we see churches referred to in plural just all over the Bible you see this in the New Testament in Acts 9 it's speaking of Paul soon after his conversion he'd been part of the persecution of the church at Jerusalem and it that results in a scattering abroad of many and and actually it results in churches planted elsewhere and often persecution does that it results in actually growth and it results in in in more churches planting in Acts chapter 1 just gonna look briefly sorry acts 1 if you want to flick back it's acts 8 sorry acts 8 and verse 1 it says and Saul was consenting unto his death and at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem I look see one universal church right and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the Apostles now it's referring to that specific church in Jerusalem but then in Acts 9 after he got saved Saul now Paul was in Jerusalem and it says in verse 29 in Acts 9 when he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Grecians but they went about to slay him which when the brethren knew they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus then had the churches plural rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria okay that seems like there's a few churches right and were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied definitely multiple churches at this point would you not say 100% multiple churches and not referred to by the narrator the Holy Spirit as some sort of a universal church did he say then had the church throughout all these places rest no he said the churches individual churches and this is a great verse because it contains some great truths that's why it's our verse a week something to think about for the week church is plural is one truth in that verse they were edified on the back of the persecution another great truth in that verse and and it was walking the walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost which is the reason they were multiplied they were walking it says I'm walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied so when you when a church actually behaves as God wants it to behave and it walks in the fear of the Lord it you know when a church when a church isn't compromising when a church isn't thinking right I know how we're going to grow and multiply and plant new churches and get people really involved in the things of God we need to become more worldly we need to have the disco lights we need to have the drum kit we need to just get them in we need to get the teenagers in so let's get a little bit more street in here you know I could like dress down a little bit and maybe we're you know sideways baseball cap or something that'll get them all in you know they're gonna think I'm a right plonker they're past that they try that stuff don't they they're like any yeah no I just sound a little bit more Street the way I talk and everything else that's not how the church is gonna grow is it the church grows a real church a bona fide a church a genuine church grows by walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost being being a spirit filled church walking in the fear of the Lord what's the fear of the Lord how do we walk in the fear of the Lord according to his word God he wants us to behave according how he wants us to live and that's all a bit oh it's a bit strict that's a bit what well yeah that's how a church grows God wants us to be separate doesn't he he wants us to be holy and touch not the unclean thing he wants us to be different to the world out there not to become like the world to get people in it's a great great truth there I think in that verse there whilst talk about multiple verses multiple churches sorry it's not by snazzing up the service okay it's not by trying to just find some way to make it more attractive and everything else it's just walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost and those churches plural churches pull when they multiplied weren't they they were multiplied because it was not just one universal church now this is something that we see time and time again in Scripture okay multiple churches jump forward at Acts chapter 15 Acts chapter 15 now this is before splitting with Barnabas over John Mark Paul wants to visit the cities that they had preached in okay so Paul wants to visit these cities that they've been going around and preaching in he says in verse 36 of Acts 15 so Acts 15 and verse 36 it says and some days after Paul said unto Barnabas let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached a word of the Lord and see how they do and Barnabas determined to take with them John whose surname was Mark but Paul thought not good to take him with them who departed from them from Pamphylia and went not with them to the work and the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the other and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed under Cyprus man what a carnal bunch eh can you believe it actually had contention they actually had an argument I mean I can't believe it why weren't they just telling each other how much they love each other all day and talking scripture because they're just real people aren't they they're real people as sometimes real men of God will have a will fall out with each other sometimes have a problem have an issue about something have a disagreement okay that's just life isn't it okay and you know what it shows you that they actually have some genuine feelings right rather than these people that are just frauds and fakes well it says here after that Paul chose Silas and departed being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God and he went through Syria and Silas here confirming the church or the churches the churches churches individual churches another way of saying that is that he was making firm or strengthening those churches those individual churches he was confirming or making firm strengthening those churches but but again that they are clearly distinguished as individual churches jump forward to Romans 16 to see the Apostle Paul doing the same bit of a Bible study here we're going to go through the the verses we have on our statement of faith Romans 16 now I like to call Romans 16 the hall of hard workers this is a great chapter of the Bible just to see just all these hard-working people in an in a legitimate church when you read this chapter you don't come away going church is just a social club church is a good social club for believers it's great to have the fellowship but we're also here to serve God aren't we okay and here we see that in Romans 16 verse 3 he says this greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus who are for my life laid down their own necks under whom not only I give thanks but also all the churches of the Gentiles so you've got all the church to the Gentiles giving thanks to them even though they're all in unison in terms of the gratitude there's some unity there they seem to all be giving thanks they all appreciate Priscilla and Aquila but they're still referred to as multiple churches aren't they not the church of the Gentiles the church is and then he mentions the church singular that's in their house he says likewise greet the church that's the singular church that that is in their house salute my well beloved a pine eaters who is the first fruits of a chiron to Christ so they've got a house church okay nothing wrong with the house church if you if you're you know if you can fit them in your house great right but it's one of many churches around isn't it okay it's not the church as in talking about plural churches then in verse 16 Paul continues to talk about multiple churches and says in verse 16 verse 16 now salute one another with an holy kiss the churches of Christ salute you now is this some special denomination you've probably seen these Pentecostal Pentecostal churches out there called Church of Christ and all this sort of stuff it's just Christian churches real churches that believe in preach the gospel that's all they are churches of Christ are real churches but they're individual churches aren't they they're individual churches the churches of Christ salute you now Paul's in contact with them all he planted a lot of them in the first place they're all greeting each other it's great to be able to fellowship with those for genuine churches isn't it but there are still individual local churches they're not one universal church now turn of 1st Corinthians chapter 11 for one of our last two references whilst I quote the other one the other reference is 1st Corinthians 7 you're turning 1st Corinthians 11 1st Corinthians 7 Paul's talking about marriage issues unbelieving spouse etc and he says in verse 17 but as God has distributed to every man as the Lord has called everyone so let him walk and so ordain I in all churches so ordain I in all churches again plural churches he's saying that he's passed on these instructions to all churches plural and in 1st Corinthians 11 Paul is teaching the men not to grow their their hair like queers and the women not to get those silly crew cuts you know I'm sure there's nothing you understand I'm sure this stuff was going on 2,000 years ago women trying to butch themselves out men trying to feminize themselves and he says this in verse 14 does not even nature itself teach you if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him he said even nature just teaches you that doesn't it like you should you don't need the word of God to tell you that most people know that don't they it is a shame unto him but if a woman have long hair it is a glory to her for her hair is given her for a covering definitely not talk about veils and berets is it anyone see anything about a veil or beret there or any other weird covering that they do in these strange Calvinist churches and others how you misread that is beyond me absolutely I mean that's pretty simple isn't it if a woman have long hair it is a glory to her for her hair is given her for a covering right ladies get out the berets it's just amazing isn't it anyway but if any man seemed to be contentious we have no such custom neither the church or the churches the churches of God he's saying not the Corinthian Church neither any of the church is plural and you go well wait a second why is he kind of saying this for all churches how can he speak for all those churches because they're Bible believing churches and you could be sure that they're not telling the men to grow out their hair or the women to shave theirs and in the same way you could do that now couldn't you you could just go you could say look no genuine church is telling the men to grow their hair long okay let me tell you that now there's no genuine church out there saying to all the men you need to grow long hair and saying to all the women you need to get crew cuts let me tell you is I could say that right and I'm not the Apostle Paul who was who was basically relaying God's holy words to them right okay anyway just to make that clear okay but they're all still individual churches just because the Apostle Paul is giving those those instructions out he's giving those just truths out to them they're still individual churches are clearly called the churches of God right and by the way that we've just seen was also referred to as the churches of Christ because Jesus Christ is God yeah okay so that that's that's our statement about we believe that let me just read it one more time we believe in the local church we reject the teaching of the universal church okay and we've looked at our scripture references there now go back to Ephesians 5 why is it important why is this important if you think well who cares if they call it universal or individual because I'm not part of a body of Christ with backsliders sitting around doing nothing we're not all part of the body of Christ together with a lot of people sitting on their backsides at home making excuses not to go to church making excuses not to serve God we're not all part of the body together okay the body is a local church that's what it's talking about in 1st Corinthians 12 27 you're turning back to Ephesians 5 it says now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular so if you haven't ever read this before the Bible constantly talks about the local church being the body of Christ referred to as a body of Christ Ephesians 4 16 says after saying in you're in Ephesians you could turn if you want saying after saying in the previous verse that Christ ahead it says in Ephesians 4 16 from whom talk about Christ ahead the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love how on earth you fitly joined together with the believer vexing his soul down at liberal Baptist I mean how does that work how you fitly joined together with no believers out there those people you got saved yes so those people you got saved last week those people now and again you're knocking the door and they're saved and that you don't see and that don't come to our church do you think you're in the body of Christ with them well they're hanging around with the rock band and just going well I might as well make do because my family have been going here for years or something else of course not how's the body edifying of itself in love with random save people that you don't know around the world it's nonsense isn't it it doesn't make any sense at all no the body of Christ is talking about those local bodies in local churches working together as God builds us God builds the church he adds you know the right ingredients to the church and and we grow together with a body and some people are better at this some people are better at that we all grow together and help each other and that's the whole point right that's not going on with someone on the other side of the world that you've never met and never will meet okay until you're in heaven one day that's not the body of Christ and aside from this in the potential ecumenical nonsense a universal church would require what a universal leader and universal leadership underneath the Lord Jesus Christ wouldn't it because in every area of life we see that although we'll have God at the top there'll be some sort of chain of command there's always someone underneath and underneath and underneath which leads on to our next statement the statement is this we believe in the autonomy of the local church this means that we are independent of all denominations conventions and fellowships we have Jesus Christ and the Bible as the head of our church and not some Pope prophet president or board of directors and our proof verses are Ephesians 5 23 Colossians 1 18 Titus 1 5 1st Peter 5 1 to 4 1st Peter 5 1st Timothy sorry 5 17 now autonomy means a power or right of self-government in the terms of in we're talking about in the terms of no denominations conventions and fellowships telling us what to do okay now this is what makes our sort of church actually very rare in case you're wondering you're wondering how is it that just so many of these churches are so bad and so similar to each other because most churches have some sort of body of power that they're answerable to and the head of their denomination the fellowship that they're a member of and basically if they don't tow the line and in the right way or in a certain way they're out of the club and when it comes being out of the club look at the time that's the end of a church that's the end of that you can't they can't survive out of the club and they make that kind of that's part of the catch of it that's the way they they have them and they will usually affect them in the number of ways of that for example reputation so if you're you know you're reliant on people going well you're one of the fellowship of whatever churches and then you suddenly stop being that you're going to lose people that are only there because you are the fellowship of that church you they'll ruin your reputation at least amongst their sorts of people financially usually they're being provided for in some way if they're small enough church they're being provided whether it's a building being provided some sort of fund or something else or at the least they're being a lot of their promotion and everything else comes from the organization okay so they're in a bad way if they dare to go against it and get kicked out now you might sit this thinking but aren't you Baptist aren't we but isn't that a denomination many people think we isn't a Baptist Church part of the Baptist denomination no there is no organization of Baptists at least there shouldn't be okay that's not how it works at least not real Baptist being Baptist is just a way of identifying the core beliefs that we have we're not a denomination okay it's a way of identifying what we believe for example one of those being the autonomy and independence of the local church okay that's one of the beliefs that should be a belief of historic Baptist the authority of the Bible is something we believe as Baptist and that should be that should be apparent because we call ourselves Baptist that we therefore believe in the authority of the Bible believers baptism we don't believe in sprinkling babies okay we don't believe in just you know in baptizing people that aren't even saved Church being a gathering of believers so it's not just like the local church and everyone in the local area just comes and in like this Church of England parish or something else like that no church is a gathering of believers the priesthood of all believers okay we don't have priests and doing funny little things and everything else again and then also separation of church and state okay we don't believe that we should be in any way linked with the state dictated to by the state or anything else now there is a denomination though in this country which was previously called the Baptist Union and they are a denomination okay let me just make that clear they now call themselves Baptists together and I preached on this horrible bunch several months ago it might even be coming up to a year ago now time flies when you're having fun and they might not that sermon if you ever wondering about that if you're sitting you go I don't know what you're talking about it was called Balaam's Baptist Union of Great Britain which I thought was a fitting name for you guys Balaam basically just another word for the devil and this is it this is a bunch of devilry going on there okay these lot a wicked bunch and and you know what they have I can't remember the amounts but we're talking like to the tune of thousands of churches in this nation are known as Baptist Union or Baptists Together Now is a new sort of slogan type of churches and and what happens with that for example one of the things they've managed to incorporate after pulling them all into the Baptist Union now they say you have to have a Baptist Union accredited minister you have to as a Baptist Union Church you have to you have to have someone that's basically been trained by the Baptist Union so if your minister isn't they have to go and be brainwashed and basically agree with the Baptist Union wicked heresies and everything else to be part of the Baptist Union that's a denomination that's not just a union of like like-minded churches no that's a denomination okay so do and it's a wicked denomination as well with some wicked witch at the top of it it's female leadership it's sodomites everywhere it's it's an absolute mess all right okay that's that's Balaam's Baptist Union of Great Britain and away from the Baptist Union now and that one is an obvious one you do have amongst independent professing Bible believing Church so for example evangelicals will be part of the fellowship of independent evangelical churches for example and there are many of these types of fellowships and unions and things like this and what they do is they'll have criteria for joining them they'll then slowly start to push well to be part of our member churches you have to agree to these statements and you have to agree to this way of doing things you have to agree to this inclusion of all types and you have to in it and I had a look quickly on the FYE see that interested me so I originally went to a church many years ago when I was first saved it was part of this bunch and they seem on the outside to not be too bad you know they do the classic on the statement repentance and belief but they don't say repent of your sins but you know what they really believe right okay however it's a little bit sketchy and then what happens is then when you when what they'll do with this church is they'll say oh no no we stand on the Bible we don't agree with for example women preachers yeah okay amen at least they're making us out we don't believe on having sodomite marriages I mean however we just believe that it's just a sexual lust thing you know like any type and we need to give people grace and love and support and all this so basically they're going bring them all in bring them all in bring in people that absolutely hate God hate the Bible and bring them into the church and so but if you're part of the fellowship you have to agree with this stuff right that's part of that's on part of their sort of membership criteria that you agree with their with their statements on this stuff so then so you've got that sort of stuff and that's kind of in the Bible believing type Church that claim to be they claim to at least be independent okay but really they're not then on the opposite end of the scale you have things like the Roman Catholic Church and at the top of the pyramid of power sits the Pope you know stroking his cat and you know I think here plotting world on world domination and things and with the Anglican Church it's it's very similar it's just a smaller setup and instead of a Pope it's an arch villain or Archbishop whichever way you want to call it the arch villain of Canterbury and and and if it's not if it's not an arch villain with some denominations it's a president directors they like have the director of the church you've got some so-called prophet plotting and planning from his private island somewhere you know was sailing there on his private yacht or flying on his private jet and again just plotting some sort of you know Pentecostal world domination so you've got all these different types and the obvious issue when you're thinking about it is corruption isn't it yeah corrupt look at the end of day you're just gonna get you're gonna get corruption but you're gonna get infiltration because the problem is it's one thing having look having power over an individual church people are like your power mad because you're a pastor and it's like come on man we're an independent Baptist Church but when you're going into being having power over tens hundreds thousands of churches you can imagine what sort of people will be going to that position how much power and influence they can then exert and just destroy thousands of churches at once with false doctrine with all this sorts of stuff right and the problem is then is instead of instead of preaching the Bible doing things as close to God's way as you can you're governed by the overlord so if we had some sort of denomination over us we had people that are exerting influence on us over the top of us well then suddenly I'm I'm not free to just preach what I want to preach am I okay and and you get all sorts of influence all sorts of issues with that okay so who should be in charge then who should be in charge well look at Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 22 Ephesians 5 22 where the Bible says wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord for the husband is ahead of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the Savior of the body so if we believe in the local church how can we make Christ ahead if we're answering to the rules of some denomination is anyone getting wound up by that noise up there if anyone fancies giving them a knock that would be great if you don't mind sorry guys just asking this to leave it out for another half hour thank you okay so I think you'd have to go there it's going to be the flat on the staircases here for the flat so you can go around if you want sorry thank you okay so how can we make Christ ahead like I said if we're answering to the rules of some denomination well now some will say something like this well as long as it's only dictating some of the rules so maybe they're just kind of keeping you in line making sure that you're you know doing the cross you know dotting the I's crossing the T's doing the right things well verse 24 says therefore as the church is subject unto Christ so let the wives be to their own husbands in some things say that or did it say in everything everything and just quickly yes wives you're to be subject to your own husbands in everything however that's exactly the same as a church should be unto Christ everything we're to be subject to Christ in everything okay we should we should therefore see Christ as the head of our church and we're subject to him in everything how can we do that if then a denomination is the boss and telling us what to do and everything else instead now turn the Colossians chapter 1 which says the same thing how on earth could we make some Pope the boss the final authority right how could we do that well Colossians chapter 1 says this for by him talking about Christ for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things are created by him and for him and he is before all things are by him all things consist and he is the head of the body the church who is a beginning the firstborn from the dead and in all things he might have the preeminent so Jesus Christ created everything he created the secular leadership in our lives as well but he created everything and you know what he didn't create and he didn't ordain at least he didn't ordain a Pope he didn't ordain a grand leader of all churches in fact he didn't ordain some final authority in the individual church either he is the final authority so he is he is the boss he's a fun authority he's ahead of our church he's ahead of that individual body the local church how does that work though because he's not physically here he's not in the flesh running the show if anyone thinks he is you're confused okay he's not here telling he's not here behind me right now kind of telling me what to say and what not to say in that way but we do we do have a way that he does talk to us so turn of first Peter chapter 5 he tells us how to do things through his inspired and preserved words see and here's the thing it just all goes hand in hand clear like correct doctrine all works together because how can Christ be the head of this church if I decide what I believe he said it didn't say you said I mean if we didn't believe in the preserved inspired Word of God and we believe that well there's no such thing as a preserved Bible anymore we'll just take a bit of this one a bit of that one a bit of everything else and I'll just decide what I think is probably the best version that's gonna suit my doctrine suit the way I want to do things in this church so how I want to deal with church disciplines suit our want to do with X Y & Z well who's the final authority then me I've become the final authority because I don't believe that I even have Jesus Christ's words to tell me how to do things see without without the inspired Word of God without the preserved inspired Word of God you don't have a final authority in it in a church or you do the final thought he becomes a pastor and that's not a biblical Church he's ahead how could he be the head if we if we can't hear what he's got to say but we can hear what he's got to say cuz he preserved his words and we have his words right if every single word we have in front of us in our King James Bibles he's the final authority our statement said we believe in the autonomy of the local churches means that we're independent of all denominations conventions and fellowships we have Jesus Christ and the Bible as the head of our church and not some Pope prophet president or board of directors because you'll get all these liberal churches out there that go yeah yeah Jesus Christ is the head of our church he's a final authority but they don't even believe that they have his words so how does that work do you know what should I tell you how it works they'll constantly come out with statements like this we've been really praying to Jesus about this one I prayed to Jesus before I made a decision that that now like you know my wife's gonna start preaching I prayed to Jesus before I made the decision that we'd have the rock band in and and he just let me know in a dream that in fact the rock band is going to really really improve the church and get more people into it we all prayed about it that's this is what it comes down to doesn't it you know no no I've really prayed hard about it now what did he actually say but you don't believe what he said because you don't believe you have what he said all goes hand in hand right so Jesus Christ heads our church through his living words however there is then beneath Jesus Christ and under Shepherd okay so don't get confused about this but either in 1st Peter 5 Peter said the elders the elders which are among you I exhort whom also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed now an elder is a word that is used interchangeably with Bishop in the New Testament it means the same as a more commonly understood word from the Old Testament that we use which is a pastor okay we use the word pastor it means the same as an elder or a bishop Peter is addressing the elders or pastors as we would use now which I just think is a word that helps people to understand more what it means right without having to do a Bible study to see a pastor kind of indicates that it's an under Shepherd of some ways shepherding the flock the pastor keep a finger here and turn a Titus one but keep a finger of first first Peter five Titus one you turn to now in case you're wondering if the elders are a group of electric members that sit in the shadows controlling the passing because they're a so-called Bible believing church that have that they'll have the board of elders a group of elders well what do the elders say there'll be people that have like been somehow nominated or voted into being one of the ten elders in a church or something you know and it changes depending on the sizes of the church who even are you what have you got to do with it right well Titus 1 5 Paul is writing to Titus and says for this cause left IV in Crete that thou should have set in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee he then goes on to give the exact same qualifications pretty much that he gives to Timothy and 1st Timothy 3 for Bishop which literally means overseer okay it just means an overseer the word elder being an Old Testament title carried over being a leader of the people but not a king an elders not a king he's not like this ultimate ruler he's not a lord it's like the interchangeable bishop it's an overseer it's an overseer he said in back in first Peter 5 and verse 2 he said feed the flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy Luca not for filthy Luca but of a ready mind neither as being Lords over God's heritage but being in samples to the flock so he said to take the oversight so the elder or bishop or pastor is to take the oversight he should be willing to do the job it's saying here not forced into it not just feel pressured that he's just got to do it he shouldn't be in it for the money clearly and he's not there to Lord it over people either okay he's not there to kind of you know boss people around like feel like he's the top man you know that's not his reasoning for being in that's not what he's there to do Jesus is the Lord and ultimately we still got Lord in over people it's all about outside of the church as well so it's that what you do in your private life as long as it doesn't go against sort of clear church discipline things everything else that's your business right so if you if you you know you and look if you want advice on that and I'll preach the Bible I'll preach the Bible every week and preach on things that I think people need to hear but it's your decisions to make outside of this church unless it's stuff which which clearly affects church life right so they're not to be a lot they're not to Lord it over God's heritage what I'll do is I'll preach what the Lord says and hopefully let him Lord over you okay you should you should want God to Lord over you but we're gonna look that's your choice right okay it's not for me to load it over you but a pastor should be an example he should be showing a pattern to follow however it should be as he follows Christ it's how that he follows Christ is a pattern that you're that he is an in sample it says neither as being Lords over God's heritage but being in samples to the flock and then it says in verse 4 and when the chief Shepherd shall appear you shall receive a crown of glory that fades not away talking about the pastor the elder there so the chief Shepherd is a boss but what will happen in is that the liberals will then bend this to no authority in the church won't they okay so they'll look at this and go see look he shouldn't be a Lord he should literally just just there should be no one in charge right well no because Jesus is in charge yeah yeah Jesus is in charge but turn the first Timothy 5 there has to be authority in all areas of life I'm I'm the boss of my home but my wife is in charge beneath me the kids don't go well you're not in charge daddy's in charge I'll do what I want when he's not here no she she's in charge underneath me though okay underneath me and within the parameters that I set in my home and in first Timothy 5 we see that the in the church under Jesus Christ it's the pastor the overseer who is expected to rule but within the confines of the chief shepherds rule first Timothy 5 17 the key word we're looking for here is rule let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor especially they labor in the word of doctrine so elders or pastor expected to rule yes they're expected to rule but what is it that they're ruling according to well really the word and doctrine the word and doctrine they're subject to the word of God to Jesus Christ and make no mistake okay when it comes to legitimate church full of legitimate children of God the chief Shepherd holds his under Shepherd to high standards okay he's held to high stands he's to rule within the parameters that his bosses set okay and and look I'm for me look eventually he's going to get the sack in a very obvious way if he doesn't okay it's a serious job a really serious job we're not talking about the false prophets okay that's look they're gonna burn in the lower depths of hell but it's a serious job leading God's children and it can't be taken lightly and eventually he's gonna get sacked in one way or another by God but that's not by being slandered by online clowns or something else okay that's not how God deals with things you know he deals with things in a in a bit more of a legitimate way right but pastoring God's people is serious business which is why it's got to be according to what the chief Shepherd says not a deacon board not a group of elders you know not a church vote okay the church isn't voting no no it comes from the word of God through the under Shepherd yeah let alone you know some governing body president of an association or the Pope or arch villain okay that's not how it works but just to clear up what it means and last bit on this because I'll just want to I want to finish up in a minute what what it means that we're an NIFB Church because if you're sitting there going yeah but you are an NIFB Church isn't that a denomination don't they all say that's some sort of denomination or something else there's a dozen or so other independent Baptist Church around the world and also their satellite churches okay that have had to distinguish themselves and what was previously in areas a great movement of independent fundamental Baptist churches that unfortunately got infiltrated beyond recognition okay it got bit infiltrated many many years ago and now it's nothing like it's heyday it's nothing like the days of Jack Hiles you know John R Rice and others soul-winning campaigns Crusades going out preaching the gospel to everyone preaching the Bible hard you know standing on the word it's nothing like that anymore and it's a real shame it isn't right and and we refer to to them now as the old IFB okay rather than the in IFB they're the old IFB because shall tell you what sadly most of the old IFB now no longer do they don't soul win anymore anyone been to an IFB Church where they're telling you to come out with them and preach the gospel to every creature knock on doors and preach the gospel if you could persuade them at least in this nation and many around to go and don't go wrong there's still a few left okay but but it got infiltrated so much as hardly a church left like it now if you could persuade them go out and knock on doors they're more likely to just start trying to get into an apologetics discussion or just find any which way to invite some low-hanging fruit to church and then walk away I mean it's ridiculous okay and that's what you get now there's no soul-winning it's full of other Gospels the IFB movement isn't it full of other Gospels I mean you go to independent fundamental Baptist Church around this around this nation and you'll go from repent of your sins to well you got to at least like kind of repent of your sins to lordship salvation to just some version of work subtly or not so subtly shoved into their their services at some point or another you talk to the congregants of the churches the majority aren't saved that's the reality of it soft on the King James Bible I've been to independent fundamental Baptist churches in this nation which are like well we just think it's a good translation it's the best translation we have and then they proceed to just slander it and and you know try and discredit it to their people or they're just kind of a bit well yeah yeah we don't mind other church that don't use them it's like wait a sec it's the Word of God is it don't we stand on the Word of God let alone all the other heresies that they then put up with there as well and and and they literally look they all now stand on and hang their hat upon just false doctrine which yeah look they're the old IFB of the past the IFB of the past yeah they believed in a preacher of rapture yeah they were wrong about that yeah they believed in you know some form of Zionism to some degree but nothing like now okay not like now it's like they preach that stuff every other week and then for them it's like damnable heresy if you don't believe it they're nonsense so it's just got it's it's it's unrecognizable so therefore with that in mind there's now a group of churches called new independent fundamental Baptist churches where we do stand on soul-winning we do stand on the King James Bible like like the IFB of the past we do stand on the gospel we do stand on the gospel in its in its pure form and not start putting up with little little attacks on it little additions of work well it's just terminology no we believe the gospel we stand on the gospel is there anything more important than the gospel surely not but we're not a denomination okay we don't have a head we don't have someone that that you know calls the shots from the top no one tells me what I can and can't preach no one tells me what we can and can't do as a church no one tells me do you know who tells me do you know who tells me that the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God we're not a union either okay there's not like sort of right you got to do this to be a part of the Union or anything else we're just independent fundamental Baptist churches that want to make it clear what we believe so we use the term new independent fundamental Baptist because we want to distance ourselves from what has become of the old independent fundamental Baptist and therefore we will fellowship with each other will fellowship with like-minded churches in as independent fundamental Baptist churches okay we have the autonomy to choose to fellowship with other like-minded churches yeah we can choose to do that and if there were any legitimate churches in this nation that were clear on the gospel had a heart for soul winning and with that you know obviously stood on the King James Bible up we'd be well up for the fellowship when we I mean not if half their church were unsaved heretics coming and trying to poison our church and stuff like that if there was just a solid church out there where people just believe believe the gospel believe the Word of God you know and just just wanted to go out and soul win and stuff great Amen brilliant be chuffed I would look we don't have to discuss end times theology we don't have to look just just other people that want to get people saved is is refreshing isn't it other people that actually believe the Word of God other people that actually believe that it's a pure inspired Word of God and want to preach the gospel and go out and do that and and stand firm on the gospel amazing that'd be great I haven't found one yet okay but that's not our fault okay and there aren't however there are NIFB churches around the world whose members are happy to fellowship but there's no leader there's no leader of that yeah there are there are preachers there are pastors up there that have been around the longest time there are people that there's you know obviously some would go a pass around since after the movement so I'm say pass around some passing minutes did what does it make any of them a leader we're just independent churches yeah we have a lot of respect for these people we have a lot of respect for these men of God however we're an independent fundamental Baptist Church and if there are other like-minded churches around great want to fellowship with them right and it's not and we use the term NIFB as well because it shows people exactly what we believe okay and we're not ashamed of any of those beliefs are we we're all independent individual bodies of Christ if anyone's ever got confused about that okay we believe in the local church we reject the teaching of the universal church we believe in the autonomy of the local church this means that we're independent of all denominations conventions and fellowships we have Jesus Christ and the Bible is ahead of our church and not some Pope prophet president or board of directors and if you're sitting there guy okay well I got all that past the tavern oh what what should I take away from this okay I already knew that well wouldn't you say it's therefore important if we're gonna if Jesus Christ ahead of our church and he reveals his will for us through his word isn't it important that we all know his word is it important that we know what the boss the ultimate boss at the top is telling us what to do how he wants our church to run how he wants us to behave and everything else make sure you read your Bibles right make sure you find out what he's got say cuz we're not getting it from our denomination sending us little newsletters telling us how we're gonna do things differently now okay we get it all from the Word of God and look if I if I make an error on something and I'm completely off on something and and you think it's important enough to come and say look I'm not sure about that then if you know the Word of God great you can do that can't you okay and and if no one knows the Word of God's here then we're gonna have a problem aren't we okay and if we and and the thing is what it should do as well as the more you read the Word of God the more confidence and trust and faith you'll then have in your church knowing yeah we're doing things as the Word of God tells us to do things right we preach what the Word of God says we're living hopefully are trying to live or preaching how to live at least how the Word of God says we're trying to run this church how we believe the examples we see in the Word of God and the clear scripture in the Word of God about it and there is look there's some leeway right okay you didn't say right a church has to start at this time they have to preach for this long they have to do this they have to do that but we do the best that we possibly can with that within the within the leeway he's given us right okay and if they're if we do things which we consider a completely unbiblical if you consider them unbiblical then you can come to me and say to me look I don't think that's biblical and we can sit down and talk about that but if you don't even know the Bible you don't know whether what's going on do you you might as well have a denomination because it makes no difference to you you're just sitting there going well that sounded good you know and I was hearing some of those guys say amen a couple of times and you know that was a good hour what we do next you know but but it's important isn't it it's really important because we're trying to do things God honoring and god-pleasing aren't we as a church here and that's why that's well that that's what we believe about the church that's what we don't believe about the church as well and hopefully you guys have you know understood a few extra things than that or at least you know it's it's at least reminded you of some things you hopefully already knew on that we're gonna finish in a word of prayer father thank you for your word thank you for this church Lord thank you that you are the head of our church you're the head of the body Lord that we're not a body of scattered parts all over the world but no we're a body with a body of Christ it's local independent Church Lord that's here to serve you not not not here just to pat each other on the back and tell each other what great body parts we are but we're here to actually go out and and and serve you as the body of Christ to work together to get more people saved to get more people serving you to edify the body to help the body to function the best way possible Lord help us to do that this afternoon help us to go out and find the lost and preach to the lost and find those that want to hear the gospel get them saved Lord and try and encourage people to be a part of this church as well that's trying to do great things for you in the UK Lord we pray that you just just bless our afternoon and help us to all return for the evening service in Jesus name for all of this amen