The Church, The Whole Church and Nothing but the Church

Again, I really enjoy those songs about the church, especially that last one. Two or three of those phrases really gripped me. I'll have to go back in my own time and look at those and pray over those. We reserve the right to continue to sing that song. So rich, powerful, and right where we need to be. I appreciate that, Keith. I know that a couple of those songs were repeats from last week. We did that purposely. I feel like it really fits where we are in our series and where we will be this morning. Of course, you know that we are in our series called the Ten Pillars of the Church.

We have paused in our study in the Gospel of John right in the middle of Chapter 19. We are long overdue to visit this series. I believe this is going to speak volumes to where we are and move us along in our journey of being the church and what God wants us to be. Now, earlier we were in Matthew Chapter 16. I would invite you to take your Bible and turn back there to Matthew 16, Verse 18. This will be our prayer verse. You can stay right there. I will reference other verses throughout the message. My challenge is for you to jot those verses, those Scripture references down. In your own personal study, go back and look at those verses.

Maybe fill those verses in in your notes. Study over your notes because we want to retain what the Lord gives us on a Sunday morning, not just on Monday, but all throughout the week and the weeks and years to come. Now, last Sunday we became reacquainted with these 10 pillars of the church. Now, for some of you, this was a first time introduction. I understand that. I think I said that there are three types of people here, those who are very familiar with the 10 pillars. You were here some five years ago in that initial study. Some of you have been here long enough to know a lot of what we are looking at in this series.

And for some, this is some new material for you. And I would encourage you to write them down. Keep them permanently in your Bible. I know for me, I have a large post-it note in the front of my Bible. And there are many times I refer back in prayer and just keeping those fresh in my mind. And it would be good for you to keep them in a permanent place. I called you to write them down last week to study each of them. I shared with you that you could examine briefly, easily, two a day throughout the week on Monday through Friday.

Now, I will call you to do this more throughout the series because I want us to study these 10 pillars, study them in the Sunday morning messages together, study them on your own. We should be responsible enough to go and study the Word, dig deeper in the Word, and even look at extra biblical resources. And it's our responsibility. Now, in looking back at last Sunday morning's message, the heart of the message was Paul's teaching to the Ephesian church in 1 Timothy 3, verse 14 and 15. Paul called this church to be the foundation and pillar of the truth.

In their day, the temple of the goddess Diana was held up by strong, ornate, massive pillars. And they were supported by a solid foundation, these pillars. The Ephesian church was to be that strong pillar holding up the truth of God and supported by a strong foundation. We learned that this was the core mission of the church. As a strong pillar, she is to hold up the divine truth of God's Word. We then learned that out of this truth flows the 10 pillars of the church. These 10 pillars are essential to the health, function, and ultimate well-being of the church.

A few of these are so important, it could mean the difference between life or death for the church. I'll give you an example. A church might be weak in missions, a church could be weak in evangelism, and the church could be relatively healthy in many ways. But a church cannot waffle on the gospel because if the church loses the gospel, I'm telling you she is headed to the bottom of the sea. And so what I want you to see is these 10 pillars are essential to the health, function, and the ultimate well-being of the church. Now if each of these 10 pillars were a room and a house, we're going into each room as we progress into series.

Last Sunday morning's message was more of an introduction to the series. We could see it as the front porch on the house. This morning we're going into the front room of the house, and the front room is the first pillar in the series, the church. The church. Now I want to pause right here as you pastor, and I want to repeat something I said last week, but I kind of want to raise the bar. I want to tell you that we all must get these messages. If you missed one, I challenge you to go back. We make these available. They're available on our church website. There are many ways you can access that information. Challenge you to go back and study.

If you really want to be studious, you can acquire my notes. I'd be glad to help you in any way. We must all adhere to this teaching, and we must all adhere to this approach to the church. I've said this repeatedly. I'll say it again. I could not pastor a church that will not embrace this teaching, and you can't be a member here in good standing and reject this teaching. We will revisit this standard more and more and more as we progress through this series. Now this morning I'm sharing with you essentials for the church. These are five essential components for the church.

I say essential because if we alter what we find in verse 18, we cripple, maybe even kill the church. I say the church because there is only one true church. Sadly, there are many, many false churches out there today, but there is only one true church. Now here is how the message will proceed. I will share five essential components from Matthew 16 verse 18. I will reference other passages like I said as we divide and look at verse 18. I will then share some application out of the teaching, and then I will offer some pastoral thoughts and some challenges. So let's go back to our verse, just this one verse.

I read verses 13 on down to verse 20 for context earlier in our scripture reading, but look at verse 18. And I also say to you that you are Peter. That word means small stone, and upon this rock or large stone, I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. Now I said earlier we are going to be looking at five essential components. This is all out of this one verse, verse 18. Again, I encourage you to take notes, write down these essential components. They should be easy for you to follow. As we progress through the message, I put them here on the screen for you. So let's dive right into the message.

Let's look at this first essential component. The church has a permanent foundation. In our outline, number one, the church has a permanent foundation. Now here we see the first component for the true church. If this permanent foundation is removed, you are left with a church that is built on a myriad of other things. Church can be built on a man. A church can be built on music and entertainments. A church can be built on social needs or agendas given by man. The list really goes on and on and on. If we were to begin to make a list of things that the church are built on, we would just keep going on this morning.

But that is not the case with the true church. Here in verse 18, we learn of this permanent foundation. Go back to the verse. And I also say to you that you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church. Now in the verse, we have two similar words. We have Christ naming Peter. I said earlier that this word Peter, it means stone. And then we see Christ referring to Himself. We have Jesus naming Peter as a rock and we have Christ referring to Himself as a rock. These words are similar, but the meanings are different. The word for Peter here, it means a small stone. It means a piece of a stone.

The word for Christ here, it means bedrock or foundation stone. It means a large immovable, a permanent stone. Now contrary to what our Roman Catholic friends may think, Jesus was saying that the church is to be built on Himself, not Peter. We see this fact taught all throughout the word of God from Old Testament to noon. In the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah, the promised Messiah is called the foundation. We see that in Isaiah 28 verse 16. In the apostolic preaching in the New Testament church in the book of Acts, Jesus is called the foundation. We see this in Acts 4 verse 11 and 12.

And then in Paul's writings to the Corinthian church, he calls Jesus the foundation. We see this in 1 Corinthians 3, 11. Now going back to last week's message in the verse that we divided. In 1 Timothy 3, 15, Paul says, "And I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the support of the truth." This word support in the New American Standard can accurately be translated as foundation. We did not discuss this last week, but this support, this foundation is Christ.

So last week we learned that the church's core mission is to be the pillar of the truth with a solid foundation. That foundation is Christ. Christ is the permanent foundation of the true church. John MacArthur adds another layer here and I like this. I will borrow it and build on it. He says, and I quote, "Since it is virtually impossible to separate the testimony of Christ from the reality of Christ, we can identify the rock as Christ himself in the fullness of his deity." And that is what we must see here. Christ is the foundation upon which the true church is built in borrowing from what MacArthur gives us.

This is fact because of his words and because of his reality. So number one, the church has a permanent foundation. Number two, as we continue in our outline, the church has a mighty expectation. The church has a mighty expectation. Here we see this second component for the true church. Now it is sad. It's a sad truth, but today we see all types of people and personalities that are involved in the church. Now we must see that the church's people, not only that, but the leaders within the church, they are people as well. So people are involved in the church, but here we will see a different personal involvement.

Notice who Jesus refers to after he speaks of Peter. Go back to the verse. You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. Jesus says I, he says I will build my church. We learn that we are God's household. We are God's people. We know that we are commanded to do the work of the church, but we are not left alone to do this work. We need to see the two sides of the work of the church. Christ expects, Christ commands his people to do his work, but also Christ says that he will do this work. We see both of these in the passage, the Great Commission passage in Matthew 28, verse 19 and 20.

Let me read this verse and I think you'll see this. Jesus says to those apostles, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you." See, he is commanding them to do the work of the church. And then a transition. "Behold, I am with you always." He is with them in this work. Now go back to the Matthew 16, verse 18 passage and he says, "And you are Peter, upon this rock I will build my church." So Christ is doing the work and Christ is doing the work through his people. Now an important warning here.

Oh, this is where so many make a drastic, a catastrophic error. This is not man partnering with Christ to do the work of the church. That is what so many people are doing today. This is Christ himself working in his people to do the work of the church. I have a great yet simplistic illustration here. I've been meditating on this all week as I've been studying, but brought with me this morning a pair of my old work gloves. Now I'll warn you, you don't want to get too close to them. They smell like grease and diesel.

This week I did some bush hogging on my granddad's old place and filling up the old tractor with diesel and greasing the implements and rotting that tractor. You know my wife asked me, she said, "You think you'll ever get over that kind of stuff?" And I explained to her that a sore back from a tractor is fairly therapeutic. But you know this is a beautiful illustration of what we've seen here. See as we are doing the work of the church, it is Christ, now listen, within us. Now these old gloves can't do much work unless my hands are in them.

And see when Christ is in us and we are doing that work, yes we might get worn, we might get dirty and we might get stinky, but look we can't do that work unless Christ is in us. Just like these gloves will never perform any work without hands in them, we can never perform any of God's work without Christ in us. You see the two sides of the work. Now let me restate what I said earlier. Christ Jesus is personally involved, so this should produce a mighty expectation, a mighty expectation. That's why I call this, this second main truth, a mighty expectation. Christ is always victorious. His work does not fail.

And this personal involvement will be seen more clearly and more seriously in this next major truth. So number three in our outline, notice we see a sole owner. Number three, the church has a sole owner. Here we see this third component of a true church. Now we live in a day, a sad day when it seems that so many different people or families or groups, they seem to own the church. That has been a problem all throughout the ages. If we go back in our study of John, we just learned that the Jewish leaders during the Jewish trials and the Roman trials, they thought they owned God's work, did they not?

We know our church history, we know that during the Protestant Reformation, there was a revolt against the Catholic churches, seeming ownership of the church. But we need to see who the owner, the true owner is. Go back to the verse and also say to you that you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church. We need to underline that word my, we need to circle it, we need to highlight it. Now there are two passages that will help us see this reality. First Acts chapter 20 verse 28, notice what we see here.

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God which He obtained with His blood. Here the Apostle Paul is warning the Ephesian church elders about the troubles that were coming their way. Troubles that were coming to that great church. Notice he says that Christ purchased the church with His own blood. This phrase He obtained, it is in the emphatic, it places a heavy emphasis on the fact that He purchased the church. Second verse that will help us here, Ephesians 5.25, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.

Paul here is teaching on husbands and wives, family, situations. He uses Christ's purchase of the church as an example and here we see the same truth that is taught back in Acts 20 verse 28 and in Matthew 16, 18. This is Christ's church. So we see that Christ is the paid in full sole owner of the church. It is His rightful possession and that is why He said my church. Again underline that word, highlight that word, we need to know that word is there in this verse. We see this language all throughout the New Testament, this ownership language. First Corinthians 3.23 we see that Christ is the church's redeemer.

In Ephesians 1.22 we see that Christ is the head of the church. John chapter 10 verse 14 and 15 we see that Christ is the chief shepherd. So He is the owner, He bought us with His own blood. Now think about this sole ownership along with this mighty expectation through His personal involvement. He owns the church, He declares that He will build it. I ran across a good little book here a while back that has been helping me here. It is a book by an author, his name is Richard Mayhew and the title of the book is What Would Jesus Say About Your Church. I reserve the right to use this little book more in the future.

It could become one of our small group Bible studies but I like how He says what we have been dealing with. I like what He uses, the language. He calls this a positive expectation, a powerful advancement and a paid in full ownership. Don't you see how it builds? We have a positive expectation in approaching the church. There is a powerful advancement and it is a paid in full ownership. What does He say? I will build my church. Then notice number 4. Number 4 in our outline. The church has a people priority. The church has a people priority. This is that fourth component for a true church. Now notice there is a little shift here.

There is a shift in the verse. It has been all about Christ so far. He is the foundation. He will build the church. He is the sole owner. But now we have a shift to who the church is. Now there are three ways I want to see this fleshed out. First of all just the word here, this word church. Go back, what does He say? I will build my church, this word. Now this is the first time this word has been used in the New Testament. The meaning of this word means those who are called out. It can mean a called out assembly. Now the New Testament pictures the church as those who have been born again.

They have come to a place of believing in Christ as the Messiah. They have been delivered from sin and the kingdom of darkness and they have been delivered to the kingdom of Christ. They are called to Christ and they are called to one another as an assembly. Simply this word means a called out assembly. And then second, second I want us to remember our passage from last week. First Timothy 3.15 Paul referred to these people within the Ephesian church as the household of God, the church of the living God. Now this language here has the flavor of ownership. They were His household.

Remember that last week I said this phrase can be accurately translated, the living God's church. Hear that flavor of ownership? And then third, the entirety, almost the entirety of the New Testament. The book of Acts, it records the birth and the story of the church. The book of Romans. Who is the book of Romans written to? It is written to the church. What about the books of 1st and 2nd Corinthians? Who were those letters written to? The church. What about the book of Galatians or Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians? Who were those letters written to? What about 1st and 2nd Thessalonians? Who were those two letters written to?

What about 1st, 2nd Timothy and Titus? Who were those letters written to? You might say well pastor, those were written to Timothy and Titus. No, they were pastors there at those churches. And I think you get the idea. You can't understand the entire New Testament unless you understand the entire backdrop or the context is the church. What should we really see right here? The church is people. The church is people. They are called out ones. They are the living God's church or the living God's people. They are people. The church has a people priority. I like how Richard Mayhew says that. Christ is Lord of the church but the church is people.

And notice all types and sorts and flavors of people. Let's continue. Number 5. Truth number 5 on our outline. Notice the church has a victorious future. It has a victorious future. This is this 5th component for a true church. Now if we take a look at church history, we will see the ebb and the flow of the church. We need to be students of history. We see the struggle of the church and we must always remember that the church is flawed here on earth. She is comprised of redeemed yet sinful people. And while on earth the church always faces struggles. Now there are two primary types of struggles that she faces.

External struggles and internal struggles. External forces such as persecution and the world, they are always working against the church. Now internal struggles such as bad doctrine which may come into the church, false converts that can come into the church and even false leaders or teachers, they may disrupt the church internally. But at times it seems like we see the defeat of the church. That is the ebb and the flow of the church. But we must see that the church is victorious. Now there are two ways I want us to see this fact. First Jesus stated, "I will build my church." That's a definitive statement, is it not? I will build my church.

This is not a maybe. This is not a hope so. Christ is not wringing His hands hoping that these words will come true. Jesus and His words cannot fail. His words never fail. His words live forever. He said it so it is so. And then second He stated, "The gates of hell shall not overpower it." Now what do these words mean here? This can be confusing for some. In the Old Testament, the term gates of, it was commonly used in connection with the Hebrew word sheol. Now this goes back to the Old Testament understanding of death and of punishment and the realm of the dead.

Jesus is reaching back here to Old Testament language and belief and He is saying this, death cannot overpower the church. The grave cannot overpower the church. Punishment cannot overpower the church. Nothing can overpower the church. So here we see that Jesus promises victory. Jesus declares that His church has a victorious future. This victory is secure because He says it. This victory is secure because He personally brings it about as He works through His people, His called out individuals. Just as His person is real, so are His words and His actions. He will do this work.

Now here I want to transition from dividing this verse, verse 18, other scripture references, and I want to make some application from these five essential components. We should react to this teaching properly. Many times I will make application throughout the message and sometimes I just feel the need to make application altogether. That's what we're doing here this morning. So first in this application, Christ is this permanent foundation, you could say eternal foundation for His church. Now here at NOLA I do believe that Christ is the foundation of this local church.

If there was anything or anyone or anything else that was the foundation in the past, it is long since gone. It is faded away, it is dyed, it is rotted away, and I'm very thankful for that. I don't know much about the years gone by, but if there was ever anyone or anything that supplanted Christ as the foundation, we believe it is gone, and I'm thankful for that. And second, we must have a mighty expectation as the church here at NOLA. We must have a mighty expectation because Christ said, "I will build my church." Our desire must be to be that people He works through to build His church, and that needs repeating.

Our desire must be to be that people He works through to build His church. And listen, we may have obstacles, but they are minuscule, they are minor compared to many. Recently I have helped a friend in ministry, went through a difficult time, left the church through great difficulty, great heartache, lots of pain. Now I'm not an expert at His church, but from what I have learned from a distance and heard from His life and seen, that church has major obstacles, major obstacles to victory in the life of the church.

A pastor who leads in an unbiblical manner, leaders, some of them are lost, some of them are unqualified, and what you see in the life of that church is men who are in the way. You can't have a mighty expectation when men stand in the way. We don't have that here. We should have a mighty expectation when it comes to the church. And then third, as God grows, and continues to grow NOLA Baptist Church, we must see that Christ is the sole owner of the church. He paid in full for this ownership. And we dare not tamper with this institution that was bought by His blood. It's not my church. It's not Brother Keith's church. It's no one's church.

And look, we must not add to this, nor what must we take away from this church. We must be very, very careful to do what? To be the pillar of the truth in all that we do emanates out of the truth of God's word with Christ as that solid foundation. So we must always remember that He is the owner. We're just to be good stewards. Faithful and responsible with this institution called the church. And then fourth, we must remember that people are the priority of the church. Christ's church is people. Now one of the things about NOLA Baptist Church is buildings are not a problem. What I mean by that is we do not worship a building.

Now I know people who worship a church building. I've seen it and some of you have seen it. We must see that the church is people. And I think we need to be reminded of two things here and I want you to listen close to your pastor. First of all, God brings all different types of people in the life of the church. Let me repeat that. God brings all different types of people in the life of the church. Now there are three types of people that God brings in. First of all, God brings lost people, what I mean by end of the church, among us and around us and they fellowship with us. And many times those lost people come and then they leave.

They don't like what's taught. They don't like the Word of God. They might not like the counsel that they get from the elders in the life of the church. I'm sad to say that there have been people who have come and they've come for counsel and we've given them the truth and they leave. They don't want it. I know of people who have said in these pews and they heard the Word of God taught and they came and they left. They didn't want it.

Then there are those lost who come and they fellowship among us and they're receiving the Word seemingly and what we have is God's working, God's drawing, God's bringing them and then ultimately they come to faith in Christ. And many times we do not know how that goes on. We do not know what that looks like. We can look in church history and see some of that. One of the greatest examples too, one of them is the story of John Bunyan. Oh, his journey to faith in Christ was so laborious.

He spent five years under heavy, heavy, heavy conviction coming to church and staying in conviction studying God's Word and reading the old Puritans and what do we see? Five years of laboring, lost and finally coming to faith in Christ. We see it in one of the greatest missionaries that America ever produced, the story of David Brainerd. Just heavy conviction and what do we see? Lost who come in contact with the church and around God's people and ultimately they get saved. There are some of you here, you're lost and God's dealing with you. God's pulling back the layers. God's opening your eyes. God's softening your heart.

God's working and here's what I say to you, do not give up, do not give in. You might be saved the next day. Keep where you are. Then that third type of person is those of us who are saved. Here's where it gets interesting. God brings all kinds of saved people in the life of the church. All types, all flavors. We all have different strengths and weaknesses and hang ups. We're all different and see the longer we're here together, living life together, doing the work of the church together, we begin to see how we are, what we are, our flaws, our hang ups, our strengths and our weaknesses.

You know, it can try our patience many times and what am I trying to show you? God brings all kinds of people in and around the church. But the second thing that I think we need to see here, this is that people are priority of the church. There are more people that God has out there. Now I don't mean God has people out there for us. God has people out there for him. Be careful. Listen, Nola, be careful not to be selfish. Be careful not to think that we have this church for us. I had a conversation with a man one time and he said he loved and he literally loved the intimate fellowship we have and the size that we have and I understand that.

Oh, but that can be a selfish mentality if we're not careful. How many people are just like you out there? And look, I'm not trying to fill the church with numbers, no. But I want all that we can get for the glory of God. God has many people out there and I just want to find his people. God is the one who saves. He is the one that brings lost sinners to faith in Christ and I'm so glad there was a church back in the 1980s who believed that God could save a sinner like me. We must remember that people are the priority of the church and you know it can get tough when it comes to people. One of the jokes I've always heard in ministry is this.

You know ministry would be easy for what? For all those people. You get that? I've heard preachers say that. Ministry would be great for what? For all those people. Oh, but we've got to be careful there. Those aren't just people. God's people. Fifth and application. We must see that we have a victorious future. The church has a victorious future. Listen, death and hell and Satan nor his demons can stop the church when it is in control of Christ. Drugs can't stop Christ's church. Broken homes can't stop Christ's church. Too many dirty children running in the life of the church. They can't stop Christ's church.

Culture, no matter how wicked it may become, it can't stop Christ's church. Homosexuality in the LGBT community, they can't stop the advancement of Christ's church. Laws formed by government against us, that can't stop the work of the church. Democrats can't stop the work of the church. Republicans can't stop the work of the church. Christian Republicans can't help the work of the church. Oh, but listen, we must be careful not to squander our opportunity given to us by Christ. Listen, we can squander our opportunity. We can miss the work that God wants to do through us.

And listen, if we will not be all that God wants us to be, I firmly believe He will raise up someone else. And I don't understand how all that works out with man's responsibility and God's sovereignty, but His church will be victorious. Now I want to share some thoughts from just me. And this will culminate in a challenge for you. Now I know Brother Keith is on board with all that I'm going to say. We are totally unified in what I'm about to share with you from my heart. First, the church is the only institution that Christ died for. The only one. He did not die for the earthly family. He did not die for earthly government.

And all three are instituted by God. God instituted the family. God instituted civil government. And God instituted the church. But listen, it is the church that He bought with His own blood. Second, the church is the only institution He entrusted with kingdom work. Christ did not give kingdom work to the denomination. I'm not against the denomination. It can do great things. But Christ didn't give the work of kingdom work to the denomination. Christ didn't give kingdom work to a particular mission society. Christ didn't give kingdom work to a particular theological movement.

Christ didn't give kingdom work to Christian media or Christian radio. He didn't give kingdom work to the fellowship of Christian athletes or campus crusade for Christ. He did, He personally handed kingdom work to the church. The church is the only institution He's coming back for. It's the only institution that He's coming back for. He is not coming back for the family unit. It's sad to say, there's some families, some are born again, and some are not. And there will be those who are not part of the church eternally. He's not coming back for kings or queens or kingdoms or governments run by men. He's coming back for the church. Now when?

I don't know. Now here's your pastor speaking to you right now. For me and my family, we're living and we're dying by the church. I've died a thousand deaths to a thousand things on earth. And I always end up back at the church. Listen, I have even been chewed up and spit out by some within the church. They were not the church, but wolves who had crept into the church. But with God's help, I stayed with the church. It is a work God has done in me. You know I've been developing this motto that speaks of this conviction. I think I've been meditating on this six, seven, eight weeks.

I finally brought it to a place where I feel like it accurately describes the work that God's done in me. And here's my motto. I'm shipwrecked on the church. I'm stranded on the island of the rock Christ Jesus. And my only provision is the Word of God. Listen, I say that again. I am shipwrecked on the church. I am stranded on the island of the rock of Christ Jesus. And my only provision is the Word of God. Now question for us. Question for you. Question for me. Why do I start with the church? Why is pillar number one the church? And people, it all starts and it ends with the church. It all starts with the church.

And some of you need to see this. Some of us need to be reminded of this. Now here's my challenge. We're all different. We come from different places. The challenge is this. Will you be willing to repent or reorient your life? And make radical changes in your life for the church. Let me repeat that. Will you repent in any way? Will you reorient your life in any way? Will you make radical changes in your life in any way the Lord would lead for the church? That's the big question for some of you here. A few specifics. Would you be willing to change jobs for the church? Would you be willing to change jobs to be more faithful in the church?

So pastor, you're kind of meddling here. I have. I've turned down jobs, lucrative jobs to be more faithful to the church people. Brother Keith, my wife is my witness. Here's my question. Would you be willing to change jobs for the church? I've heard stories of people picking up everything and moving to go help with a biblically church start. Would you be willing to change your family, your family structure, and your associations for the church? Some people can be burdened by family problems and associations. I've been there. I've had family I had to distance myself from. Why? Because they hindered my work in the local church.

Would you be willing to change your family and family structure and associations for a better commitment to the church? Would you be willing to change your philosophy of the church, your view, your expectation of the church? Listen good, strong Christians can have error here. I've been there. I can sit down with you over a cup of coffee and tell you about the erroneous philosophies I had for the church and God patiently and lovingly worked those things out in my life. But would you be willing to change your philosophy of the church, your expectations, your desires and your views?

Would you be willing to give sacrificially for the work of the church? Yes. Would you be willing to give sacrificially? You know, to date I don't think I've ever called any of us to give sacrificially. Some have given more than others. And here's a question that might stop some of you. Would you be willing to be biblically born again so that you could be used in the church? God births people into the kingdom, not just so that they can have heaven, so that they can be used on earth. In the place he desires to use people the most is in the church. Same statements. And then the title of the message.

I think there are some pastors that would close with something like this. God is looking for people to entrust with this work of the church. I think ministers can say that. I think there are some that would say God is looking for people to entrust with this work of the church. So we must see this is totally, totally wrong. The correct way to see this, God is choosing a people to entrust with this work of the church. What is the meaning of the word? They are the called out ones. And God is choosing people to entrust with this work the called out ones. God is doing that this morning. You're being called to the church.

You're being called to what's been said to you. You were drawn to that motto that I gave you. I am shipwrecked on the church, stranded on the island of the rock Christ Jesus, and my only provision is the word of God. God is drawing some of you to this place. And my encouragement is this. Let him work. Yield, surrender, let him do this work in you. No matter how painful it may be. Now I close with the title. You could call the title Five Essential Components for a True Church. Some of you might have written that down. I don't think that's enough. This is what's been on my heart all week. It's the church. It's the whole church.

Nothing but the church. That's my heartbeat. It's got to be our heartbeat. It's got to be what we live and breathe and die for. It's the church, the whole church, and nothing but the church. And if that's our heartbeat, we will be busy doing his work as he is working in us. Let's pray.