Meaningful Church Membership part 2

Well normally this is when I tell you to take your Bible. Most all the time I say please take your Bible and turn to usually what we have is the passage that will be the foundation of our message. Now this morning is going to be a little different. I don't have a foundational passage. I'm gonna ask you to write these passages down. Many of you who have been here for quite some time you've heard various messages on this subject. You know these verses and that's good. But we have a habit here. We want to take good notes. We want to study throughout the week. We don't want to just be hearers of the Word on a Sunday morning.

We want to digest it and study it all week and get all that we can get. Now for several weeks we've been studying subjects, multiple subjects that pertain to one particular subject that I'm calling life in the body. Everything that we're studying it all pertains to life in the body of Christ, life in the local church. And in the body of Christ we are many parts. Haven't we seen that over and over and over? We are many parts but we are one body. We are unity in diversity. You should know that phrase by now. Unity in diversity and diversity in unity.

As born again Christians we are spiritually baptized into Christ and baptized into the body of Christ the local church. And we saw these phenomenal spiritual realities explained to us in 1 Corinthians 12, verses 12 and 13. Oh I really want you to know those verses. I want those to be stuck into your mind. Because really these verses are part of the foundation for the entire series.

Notice what Paul says, "For just as the body, there's the unity, is one and has many members, there's the diversity and all of the members of the body, there's the diversity, though many are one body, there's the unity, so it is with Christ." And I pointed out that that term, "so it is with Christ" could seem odd because we could say, "so it is with the church." But what we saw is Christ is forever more connected to the church as head of the church. And then verse 13, "For in one spirit we are all baptized into one body." Think about that. We are baptized into the body of Christ, the local body of believers.

"For in one spirit we are all baptized into one body. Jews are Greek, slaves are free, and all are made to drink of one spirit." We're in one spirit, the spirit of Christ. The purpose of all that we're studying is that we would all know our proper place in the body and that we would all know how we are to act and how we are to live and how we are to function in the body of Christ. That's the local church. With Christ as the head of the church. You know I can't say it enough how vital this information is. We need God to help us to get this. We need to absorb all of this. It needs to be a part of our thinking and our understanding.

We've all had some very good conversations with what we have been studying. Well last week we started a two-part study of church membership. I called it "Meaningful Church Membership." I shared with you that that's the title of the message. I know I picked up that title somewhere so if you run across it you just know that I borrowed it. You might call it plagiarism. I borrowed it because it does fit with what we are studying. Last week at the beginning of this study I did two things. I helped to see the reality of the local church, the reality of the local church, simply from the book of Acts chapter two all the way to the book of Revelation.

The New Testament is all about the local church, not a parachurch organization, not really the church universal. There's very little Scripture that speaks to the church universal, not even the idea or the philosophy of the church, but the tangible, functioning, struggling, succeeding, living, breathing local church. And then I helped us see the existence of the church letter. That surprises some of you, the existence of the church letter. Simply there are several examples of letters of recommendation which speaks to the validity of certain Christian individuals.

There are letters of recommendation concerning certain individuals from churches and leaders to other churches and bodies of believers. And these letters basically say three things. First, these recommended individuals are in the faith. They are truly born again. And then second, these recommended individuals can be accepted into the local body, the local church. They can be taken into the family of God, we could say it like that. And then third, these recommended individuals, they can be put to work. See, they are worthy of and ready for kingdom work. And I believe I made the case for the biblical church letter.

These examples from Apollos in Acts 18, and then in Paul in 2 Corinthians 3, in Phoebe in Romans 16, as well as the organization of the church from Acts to Revelation, speak to an identifiable church membership. Now think about it. How can a pastor, how can the elders of a church be held responsible for the local body unless they know who the local body is? See, that identifiable church membership. And how can a local body be responsible to the leadership of the church unless they know who they are as the body? So we see the case for an identifiable church membership and a letter that represents that church membership.

And this church letter or letter of membership should mean something. At its basic level, the church letter or membership should represent a truly born again individual, one who is worthy of life in the local body, life in the local church, and one who is worthy of and ready for kingdom work. And at its basic level, at its basic level, our church membership should represent those three realities in our life. Think about that. Now last week I shared with you the church membership definition that we borrowed quite a few years ago from John MacArthur. It is a part of our church membership covenant, our church membership document.

Now I'm going to put that on the screen. Don't try to write that down. Just put your eyes on it on the screen. I'm going to read through it and then reference the purposes attached to it. Notice the definition. "To become a member of a church is to formally commit oneself to an identifiable local body of believers who have joined together for specific divinely ordained purposes." And John MacArthur lists five purposes, but I've altered it. I have changed it. I've made it six purposes. Now last week I began to flesh out what this meaningful church membership should look like.

In all that we have studied, I gave a foundation for a church membership and I have sought to build on that foundation. Yes, at its basic level, a membership should represent one who was born again, one who is worthy of living life in the local body, and one who is worthy and ready for kingdom work. But there is more that should be in our lives if we possess and live out meaningful church membership. Last week we covered the first two, a commitment to assemble together and then a commitment to instruction from God's Word. And we really used two passages of Scripture, Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 and 25.

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and to good works, not neglecting to meet together as it is the habit of some, but encouraging one another in all the more as you see the day drawing near." And then 1 Timothy 4, verse 13 and 14. "Until I come," Paul is writing to Timothy, "you devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching." That's preaching and teaching in the church.

"Do not neglect the gift or the gifts that you have which was given to you by prophecy when the counsel of elders laid their hands on you." So from Acts 2, all the way through the New Testament, it is a given that Christians assemble together with who? A local church, a local body. And from Acts 2 on through the New Testament, we see example after example, teaching after teaching, that show us that Christians should assemble to be taught God's Word there in the local church by those appointed leaders. Now something important that I said last week, needs repeating.

If you in your church membership, if you are committed to just these two, if you are committed to do these two, the rest of your spiritual life in the body, it will work itself out. You see? Because if you come week after week, week after week, to be taught God's Word, the Spirit of God, along with the Word of God, in your obedience, God will work out how you should live life in the body. But this morning I want to pick up right where we left off. Remember, we have six purposes that come out of this church membership.

So number three, I want us to see meaningful church membership should represent a commitment to serve through spiritual gifts, or with spiritual gifts, a commitment to serve through spiritual gifts. Again, these are divinely ordained purposes. As born again believers, we should serve, and we should edify each other through our spiritual gifts. Now question, what are spiritual gifts? Does that mean you have musical talent and you use it in the life of the church? I'm not against musical talent. Does that mean you have certain, maybe artistic abilities, and you use that in the life of the church? See, spiritual gifts are not physical talents.

They're not. Spiritual gifts are of a spiritual nature that come from a work of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives. Spiritual gifts are of a spiritual nature. They come from God. A couple of verses that will help us here. Ephesians 4, verse 7. "But grace," Paul's writing to the church at Ephesus, "but grace was giving to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift." He's speaking about spiritual gifts. More specifically, 1 Corinthians 12, 1.

"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed." And then on down at verse 7 in chapter 12, he says, "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." Now what are we seeing here? This word gift from Ephesians. It speaks to an endowment from the Holy Spirit of God. It is a gift from the Spirit. Again, these are not natural talents. These are not natural abilities. Christians and non-Christians can have the same natural abilities and talents. These are spiritual gifts given to true born-again believers and they are to be used within the life of the local church.

Notice what 1 Corinthians 12 says. These are for the common good. You need to note that. These are for the common good. This means the gifts are meant to be used in the life of the church, the local church, for the good of all in the church, the common good. In 1 Corinthians 12, we see the gifts listed out. This is kind of a broad breakdown. We have the speaking gifts, the public gifts, such as prophecy, knowledge, wisdom, teaching and exhortation. And then we have the serving gifts, the not speaking gifts, such as leadership, helps, giving, mercy, faith and discernment.

And all of these gifts are given for one purpose, for the common good, to be used in the life of the church. So here we see that spiritual gifts are given. They're given by God and they're given to every true born-again Christian. And they are to be used within the life of the church for the common good of the church. They are to be used for service, for edifying brothers and sisters, service in the body. Remember I talked about our place in the body and how we live and function in the body. Now, in application, we must see, we just must see that spiritual gifts are not physical talents and abilities.

That gets so convoluted in many people's minds and hearts. This isn't singing, this isn't music, this isn't creativity, this isn't even a charismatic personality. This isn't a position that you have or power, or you just have this natural power, I'm the boss attitude or persona. No. Spiritual gifts are given by God and they are beyond us. They are larger than us. They can't be explained by man. If they're from God, they're larger than man. But a question, this is real popular in the life of many Baptist churches. Matter of fact, the Baptist churches I've been associated with, you know, the spiritual gift test.

We take those spiritual gift tests and at the end of it, while we know exactly how God's gifted us and we're ready for service. Well, to be honest with you, I'm not a big fan of spiritual gift tests. First of all, you have to be a true born again Christian. Second of all, you've got to be walking in obedience to the Lord. And third, you've got to be plugging your life into the local church. Spiritual gifts are meant to be used in the local church. But this is how you approach it. This is just my view of how we approach it. First of all, you get in 1 Corinthians 12 and you study those gifts.

Maybe you need myself, maybe you need Brother Keith to help you understand what those gifts are. And then you pray over those gifts and you pray over your life. "Lord, I want to be used however you want me to be used." And then what you do is you roll up your sleeves and serve in the local church. You serve in the local church. You get busy. And if you're asked to sweep before, you do it for the glory of God. You do it with a cheerful heart. And then you look around the local church and you look at where you feel drawn. A lot of times you'll feel drawn to an area. "Oh, but then you counsel with the leaders of your church.

You counsel with your pastor and your elders. And you ask them what they see and how they react to what you're saying. And see, there's this natural work of God whereby God will bring you to that place where you need to be serving in the life of the local church. And your elders, your leaders will recognize that. And then lo and behold, other people in the life of the church will recognize that." And old folks, when you get to that place, you have a joy that is larger than you. You do. So a church membership should represent a commitment to serve the local church through those spiritual gifts that have been given to you.

And then number four, meaningful church membership should represent a commitment to participate in the ordinances. Again, we see one of these divinely ordained purposes. Now, as a church, we are commanded to participate in two ordinances. These are not optional. Although the ordinances have very specific and serious spiritual meaning, they do not have any saving qualities. Just stop there for a minute. If you participate in baptism or the Lord's Supper, that is not salvific in any way. It will not help you be saved in any way. Participating in these ordinances do not impart saving grace. But first, we have the ordinance of baptism.

First, we have the ordinance of baptism. Now, within this famous Great Commission passage, we know this passage, Jesus commanded his disciples to go and to make disciples and to baptize. Matthew, Chapter 28, specifically, Verse 18 and 19. That would be believers baptism. Believers baptism meaning it comes after conversion to Christ. If we continue through the book of Acts, we see that the apostles practice believers baptism. In Acts 2, at the great end gathering of souls there at the day of Pentecost, those who were converted to Christ were baptized according to this command.

And if we read passages like Colossians 2.12, we see believers baptism explained, spiritually explained. It is an outward symbol of a spiritual reality. It is an outward profession of what is taking place in our life spiritually. We are dead and we are buried with Christ in our conversion. And the water is a symbol of that grave and a symbol of being buried with Christ. And we are raised out of the water to live a new life in Christ.

You know, it's kind of comical with the name, "Grace Life Church of Brookhaven." One of the first questions people ask is, "Well, are you a Baptist church?" Many people associate the word "Baptist" in the title of the name of the church. They associate that with being "Baptistic in your Doctrine." Well, our doctrinal statement that we're working through on Wednesday nights clearly states that we are "Baptistic in our Doctrine." The second, we have the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. We see that Christ instituted the Lord's Supper at the last Passover meal. He was with his disciples. It's recorded in Luke 22, verse 14 to 20.

Well, in 1 Corinthians 11, 17 to 34, Paul teaches on the Lord's Supper at length to the life of the Corinthian church. And the Lord's Supper is a ceremony whereby we remember what Christ did on the cross for us. The bread is a symbol. It's a symbol of the body of Christ. It was sacrificed for us. And the wine of the juice is a symbol of his life's blood that was spilled out. And see, as born-again Christians, we partake in the Lord's Supper remembering, remembering the cross and the sacrifice that Christ made in our place. So we see that Christ commanded the church to participate in two ordinances.

Baptism and the Lord's Supper, he instituted or commanded these ordinances to his disciples. And through Paul's writings, we see that Christ expected these ordinances to continue in the life of the church. You know, earlier I made the comment about our church name, whether we were Baptists or not. Well, you know, you can say it like this. We're a Lord's Supper church as well. We're a Baptist church and a Lord's Supper church. We are. It doesn't matter what the name says. We're a Lord's Supper church and a Baptist church because we adhere to and practice these two ordinances. I want to briefly touch on the importance of them both.

First, baptism. Our Baptist forefathers back in the Reformation fought for believers' baptism because they rediscovered it in the Scriptures and they saw the true meaning of baptism. It is an outward symbol of a spiritual work and a spiritual reality. You know, I vividly remember when I was baptized. I vividly remember when I was converted to Christ and it wasn't just a religious act when I was baptized. No, I understood that it was my outward profession of faith. And I understood that that water was a symbol of the grave and the old Christ was buried in Christ, buried in that water, that symbolic grave.

And he came out of that water, a new man living a new life in Christ. And then the Lord's Supper. What is the Lord's Supper all about? Remembering, remembering, remembering, remembering. We're prone to forget, folks. Remembering what Christ did. Christ willingly gave his life as an atoning sacrifice for our sin. Simply he died in our place. He took upon himself the wrath of God for my sin. That was a holy wrath that I deserved. So we do this in remembrance, celebrating the Lord's Supper. And baptism. And then number five, meaningful church membership.

Meaningful church membership should represent a commitment to proclaim the gospel to the lost. It is a commitment to proclaim the gospel to the lost. Now, again, this is one of those divinely ordained purposes. I keep saying that phrase because this all comes out of the scriptures. Now, we see the commandment from God to his people, to the church, to proclaim the gospel message to the lost. Remember the gospel message. It should be the preeminent message of the church. Now we see this in two ways. You could add to this list. First in the Great Commission passage that I referenced earlier. Matthew 28.

In verses 16 to 20, Jesus gave his disciples this command as a part of preparing them for their earthly ministry to come. Notice what he says. "Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them." Verse 17. "And when he saw them, they worshiped, but some doubted. And Jesus, he came and he said to them," notice. "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples." Now Paul's there. Making disciples is evangelizing, reaching people with the gospel. And what does he say? "Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." So we see this Great Commission shows us the message of the gospel that we are to proclaim. And then second in the example of the New Testament church. The story of the book of Acts. Just that one letter. It is the story of the proclamation of the gospel and building the church. The apostles were faithful to proclaim the gospel to the known lost world. And they understood that it was the power of the gospel and only the power of the gospel that would save. This can be seen in Paul's letter to the Corinthians.

In 1 Corinthians 2 verses 1-5, Paul shared his evangelism strategy and his evangelism message. See folks, his only evangelism strategy and his only evangelism message. Now remember, Paul had come to Corinth and he was the one who had evangelized them. They were pagans and now they are blood-bought believers in a church. And notice what he says. "And when I came to you, brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Christ crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling.

And my speech and my message, that would be my preaching, were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in the demonstration of the spirit of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." We see the same thing from Paul to the Roman church. This is a little more clear and concise. Romans 1-16, what does he say? "For I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." So here we see that the church as an institution is to proclaim the gospel to the lost world. It is more than just the church.

It is the responsibility of every individual member of that church to be faithful to this call. Now, an application, I thought about it in three ways. You are personally responsible. We are personally responsible to proclaim the gospel at Walmart, to our neighbor, at the convenience store, in everywhere that we may go, every day, every week, as we live our life. We are responsible to proclaim the gospel. We are responsible to evangelize as individuals. And then as a church, we are responsible as a church to evangelize our community. And then we are responsible as a church to evangelize the world.

You know, many of you know our connection with a family of churches, Anchored in Truth, that is a family, a network of Baptist churches who have yoked together, linked together to do the work of the church. And see the Anchored in Truth ministry is about planning churches, reaching the lost, reaching the lost, planning churches. We really haven't talked as much about our connection with Anchored in Truth because we're dealing with so many foundational matters in the life of the church. But we are a part of a group of people. You are that are taking the gospel around the world. And that is a part of meaningful church membership.

And then number six, meaningful church membership should represent a commitment to submit to the elders placed over the church. Meaningful church membership, it should represent a commitment to submit to the elders placed over the church. Again, another one of these divinely ordained purposes. And that is the submission of oneself to the spiritual care, the authority of the elders in the life of the church. Now this is more important than you know. And to be honest with you, there are many misunderstandings here. See, some of you need to fully understand that elders are the God called qualified men.

God is given to the church to spiritually lead and govern the church. Now I know this sounds strange to many Baptist ears, elder leadership, but this is thoroughly biblical in every way. I have taught you throughout the years, the difference between elder leadership and Deacon leadership. I know that on our church website, there's probably some messages. I have taught on this and you can go dig that up. We can help you so that you can fully, more fully understand the difference in elder ministry and Deacon ministry. But there's several passages here. First Timothy five, verse 17. Paul's writing to Timothy, pastoring there at Ephesus.

What does he say? Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. Here we see Paul briefly mentioned two of the elders responsibilities in the life of the church that is ruling or governing the church and also laboring in preaching and teaching the word. But then Peter, the apostle Peter goes a little further. First Peter five one and two or one, two and three. What does Peter say? So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the suffering of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly and not domineering or with those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. As an apostle, Peter also fulfilled the role of an elder and he is giving instructions to the other elders within the church. He clearly lays out two of the three responsibilities for the elders in the church. First shepherd the flock, pastor the flock, get in life with them and shepherd them and pastor them. And then second exercise that oversight govern the flock.

But notice how not shamefully, not in a domineering way, not shamefully, not in a domineering, lordship kind of way, no, but eagerly and being examples to the flock of God in every way. But one more passage, Hebrews 1317, the writer of Hebrews says, obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy, not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Here the writer of Hebrews is calling these believers in the church to submit to the leaders God has appointed to them. He uses two words here, obey and submit, two words we might not like.

But notice why. God called and God qualified elders have the very authority of Christ when they pastor the people, when they govern the people, when they preach and teach the scriptures in the life of the local church. God called elders serve the church on behalf of Christ and for Christ. Therefore, the body or the church, the people in the life of the church are responsible to submit to the elders of the church. So here we see the oversight of elders that they have over the life of the church. They are gifted by God to govern and to teach and to lead and to shepherd the people and God's people, the church are to submit to their leadership.

And just as God's elders are to submit to Christ, God's church is to submit to the God called elders of the church. Remember God called, God qualified elders serve for and on Christ's behalf, His church, the body. And listen church, when I as a pastor, when I as your pastor here serve you, I am serving on Christ's behalf. And when I serve this church, I am literally serving for Christ and on His behalf. That is my service here. And I have been serving as a God called, God qualified, church affirming elder really since 2010. I was an interim back when this church was Nola Baptist Church for almost a year in 2010.

And I officially became the pastor in the fall of 2011. And I have been faithfully serving ever since. And some of you have been here for years and watch that service. And listen, just as I am responsible to submit to Christ, as I serve as an elder on His behalf, you as a congregation are to submit to the authority and the governance of the elders of the life of this church. Listen, that is God's way. It is clearly laid out in the scriptures and it is plain as day. You know, this is a difficult subject to grasp for many. I was reminded that God is forming this work at Christmas.

Someone in the life of the church came up to me and had a little envelope, gave me a little gift. It had a little money in it. And I'm thankful for the money. Paid a few bills. But you know what was more valuable than that money? Is what they said. Listen to what they wrote. "Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching." Then later I text, thank you. And this was the text back word for word. Our pleasure, period. We love y'all. In Mississippi, you got to use the word y'all. We love y'all. And notice, you have our full support. Thank you for your faithful service.

What am I showing you? That person gets this. Now church, I want to give you a little warning here. You need to remember these words, okay? Now visitors, I know you might not get some of this. Be patient. But we must get this. One day you'll be around someone, maybe a couple of people in the life of the church. A couple of years from now, five years from now, three years from now. I don't know when. But one day you'll be around someone, maybe a couple of people in these halls. And you know, they will seem to be very solid. They will come across as very, very godly. They will even seem to be very useful in the life of the church.

And they will say something like this. You know, our pastor is good and all. But he doesn't know this new way. He's a little old fashioned. And you know this new way, I know about this new way. And it's the best way for the church. And if you watch them, they'll begin together, two or three people around them. And those two or three people will say the same thing. Yeah, I think you're right. Could be a little bit different. They could say something like this. You know, our pastor, he preaches and teaches well and good. But he does not teach these special doctrines. He does not stand for these doctrines and teachings.

Oh, that we really, really need. These doctrines and teachings are really what the church needs to be, what the church needs to be. And if you watch them, they'll gather one or two people around them to try to say the same thing. Listen. Listen to your pastor. If you're in that circumstance one day, you ought to be as afraid of those people as you would a bucket of snakes. You mark it down. Number one, if you're around people like that, you should be as afraid of those people as you would a bucket of snakes. And number two, if you find yourself in that circumstance, you come to me.

Brother Keith will have other elders in the life of the church soon or one day as God directs that. And you come to the leaders and you tell them what's happened. You need to take note. God called a quip, qualified elders or God's prescribed plan to govern the church, to pastor the church and to feed the flock. There is no other plan. Any other plan is a perverted plan. It is an illegitimate plan. And I don't care how high and spiritual somebody else's plan may sound. Now, listen. If you go over to the book of Revelation, we find seven letters to seven churches. Some of those churches needed great correction. Isn't that right?

We've studied these seven churches through the years together. Some of them needed a lot of encouragement. But notice, Jesus had the perfect message for each church, right? He knew just what he needed to say to those churches. And notice where he starts in every church. He starts with the pastor of every church. At the beginning of each letter, Jesus addresses the angel of the churches. In the original Greek language, that meant messenger, scholars. All scholars agree that the messengers were the pastors, the elders over the church. And listen, folks.

If I'm walking with God, and the other elders in the life of the church are walking with God, God will give his instructions for his church through those appointed men. And if someone tries to circumvent that plan, that way, that structure, you better run because you might be right next to the devil in blue suede shoes. What do we learn about division and divisive people? See how it all comes together? Now, what have we been studying? Meaningful church membership. Meaningful church membership. I think it's biblical church membership. At its basic level, a church membership should represent a truly born again individual.

One whose life is worthy of life in the body, life in the local church. One who is worthy and ready for kingdom work. And remember our definition. To become a member of a church is to formally commit. Is that too much? No. Formally commit oneself to an identifiable local body of believers who have joined together for specific divinely ordained purposes. Committing to assemble together. It's not a chore. It's a joy. Committing to assemble together. Committing to receive the instruction from God's word together. We need all of the word we can get, folks. And serving and edifying one another through the proper use of spiritual gifts.

Listen, folks. When you find your place in the body and you understand your giftedness, and oh, you use those physical talents as well, you will have joy upon joy of serving the body and participating in the ordinances. And then proclaiming the gospel to the lost all around the world. And then submitting to the care and the authority of the biblically qualified elders and pastors in the local assembly. And folks, when you boil it all down, this is just my calling. Every bit of it. I've been living this since God saved me. Even when I didn't understand these things. Why? Because it was supernaturally put into my heart.

And this is what we teach. This is what we expect. Some of you that have been here for a while, you know this. It's a reminder for you. You've been trying to live this through the years. And listen, we should throw our life into this. We should throw our life into this. So what have we looked at? Two parts. Part one last week. Part one this morning. Meaningful church membership. This is all about life in the body. Let's pray. We'll commit this to the Lord. And then we will sing a song of worship, closing out the service. and then we will dismiss.