Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / God’s Body-Building Program Msg 1922 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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God’s Body-Building Program Msg 1922 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: A typical American family was driving home from church. Dad
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Speaker 1: was fussing about the sermon being too long and sort
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Speaker 1: of boring. Mom said that she thought the organist played
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Speaker 1: a little too loud during the second hymn we sang. Sis,
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Speaker 1: who was a music major in college, said that the
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Speaker 1: soloist sang about a half note off key during most
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Speaker 1: of the song. Grandma said she couldn't hear very well
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Speaker 1: They were sitting in a bad place. Little Willie listened
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Speaker 1: to all of this and started to fuss about the
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Speaker 1: woman who sat in front of him with this big
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Speaker 1: hat he couldn't see around her. Then he nudged his
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Speaker 1: dad and he said, but dad, you've got to admit
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Speaker 1: it was a pretty good show for a nickel. Pretty
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Speaker 1: good show for a nickel. More people than we would
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Speaker 1: dare admit Think about those things when they think about church.
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Speaker 1: They want to be entertained and the entertainment stays good,
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Speaker 1: they keep coming. It begins to wane off and get
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Speaker 1: a little sluggish, a little slow, a little downbeat, then
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Speaker 1: they're going to find some other place. Most people feel
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Speaker 1: completely at ease complaining and fussing about the most petty
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Speaker 1: of things you can imagine. And yet you've got to
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Speaker 1: admit the price of admission is still pretty hard to beat.
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Speaker 1: All of this is true unless, of course, you get
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Speaker 1: serious about this thing called church. And then strange things happen.
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Speaker 1: Before you know it, you don't want anybody entertaining you.
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Speaker 1: because you didn't come to see a show. In fact,
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Speaker 1: you find yourself resentful of people who try to perform. Secondly,
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Speaker 1: you don't feel the freedom to fuss and complain about
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Speaker 1: petty things, because you're now seeing the big issues. And
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Speaker 1: this is life and death stuff. And furthermore, you're investing
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Speaker 1: in it. your time, and a lot of your treasure.
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Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, you've begun to see this
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Speaker 1: is really the only eternal thing you're messing around with
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Speaker 1: on earth. And it is this thing called church that
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Speaker 1: in fact gives you a filter system through which you're
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Speaker 1: able to view all of life with the right perspective.
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Speaker 1: Do you know that our God is involved in only
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Speaker 1: two worldwide construction projects? Only two. Only two. The first
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Speaker 1: is called evangelism, where he reaches around the world with
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Speaker 1: his big arms and using all different kinds of people
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Speaker 1: like you and me. He continually, every day of every
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Speaker 1: calendar year, He continues to reach and to win and
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Speaker 1: to recruit the lost. This is called God's world program.
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Speaker 1: The church calls it its mission. The second worldwide program
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Speaker 1: that God is involved in is this construction project called
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Speaker 1: the church. And you know, the materials he uses are,
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Speaker 1: for building the church were the materials he won when
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Speaker 1: he reached around the world and won the lost. So
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Speaker 1: these two programs are like the one-two punch, I guess
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Speaker 1: we could say. He reaches the lost and then he
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Speaker 1: implements those who come to know Christ in this building
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Speaker 1: project called his church. Now, I don't have in mind
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Speaker 1: some independent local church as I talk on it today.
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Speaker 1: Understand that. I have no denomination in mind. I don't
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Speaker 1: have any geographical location in mind. I have no color
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Speaker 1: in mind. I have no nationality in mind. I have
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Speaker 1: no language in mind. I'm talking the worldwide church. The
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Speaker 1: whole world universal program of God Called his family. And
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Speaker 1: the longer I live. The more I believe in him.
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Speaker 1: The more I admire what God has done. And the
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Speaker 1: more I want to be involved in it till the
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Speaker 1: last breath out of my lungs passes. Because it is
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Speaker 1: the most exciting thing I have ever studied. or do
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Speaker 1: anything about. I'm going to come right up front and
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Speaker 1: tell you, before I go any further, that my hope
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Speaker 1: is to elevate your appreciation for his family. Just in
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Speaker 1: case it's been sagging a little lately. In case you've
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Speaker 1: gotten a little more involved in the world system, and
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Speaker 1: that happens so easily, I understand. In case you've lost
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Speaker 1: the edge of And begun to get a little bit
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Speaker 1: petty in your view and. And all I just want
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Speaker 1: you to know ahead of time, I want to sell
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Speaker 1: you on some propaganda. Because I want you to get
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Speaker 1: back on target. I have to confess to you, I'm
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Speaker 1: I'm a prejudiced spokesman. I don't hide that from you
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Speaker 1: all my life. I've been involved in church. To be sure,
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Speaker 1: it's been with local churches, but I. I cannot remember
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Speaker 1: a time where our family, my immediate family or our
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Speaker 1: present family, has spent a week without addressing sometime at
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Speaker 1: length something pertaining to God's world program. I'm in it
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Speaker 1: up to here. And so I'm absorbed with the thoughts
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Speaker 1: of it. It is my life. I think of it
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Speaker 1: in the daytime and I dream of it at night.
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Speaker 1: My creative energies are all poured toward the work of
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Speaker 1: the church because I believe in it 100%. And therefore,
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Speaker 1: my hope is to sell the product everywhere I go.
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Speaker 1: And the price is right. It's free. But once it
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Speaker 1: gets a hold of you, I have to warn you,
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Speaker 1: you're addicted. Addicted. And compared to it, nothing, nothing seems
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Speaker 1: that important. I notice, by the way, that people who
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Speaker 1: look upon the church as a pretty good show for
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Speaker 1: a nickel spend a lot of time thinking about what
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Speaker 1: people wear and what kind of car they drive or
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Speaker 1: how they look or color of skin, or background, or
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Speaker 1: problems they have in their life, or sins. And they
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Speaker 1: haven't lifted their vision above that level to see the
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Speaker 1: big picture where all of those things, I mean all
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Speaker 1: of those things, become insignificant. So, As I share with
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Speaker 1: you that objective, I think of the words of Lewis
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Speaker 1: Sperry Chafer in one of his fine books, Major Bible Themes.
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Speaker 1: Listen to what he said. Next to salvation truth, it
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Speaker 1: is vitally important for the believer to know the Bible
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Speaker 1: doctrine of the church. Now that is quite a statement.
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Speaker 1: Right next to Our salvation and knowing our salvation, having
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Speaker 1: it firmly entrenched in truth, is the knowledge of the church.
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Speaker 1: Let's learn a little history together. Let's keep it interesting, okay?
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Speaker 1: So I'll keep it brief. The church in the first
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Speaker 1: century was a pristine object of God's love. It was
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Speaker 1: purified by persecution. It was on the move like a
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Speaker 1: sweeping flame across a wheat field in Nebraska. It just
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Speaker 1: permeated every little nook and cranny of the known world.
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Speaker 1: The Roman Empire, much to the embarrassment of its emperor,
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Speaker 1: began to buy into it. And before long, there were
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Speaker 1: pockets of believers here and there, none of them with edifices,
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Speaker 1: but all of them with a heart for God. And
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Speaker 1: spokesmen that had walked with Jesus. and had heard his
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Speaker 1: words and had been handed the mantle or the torch,
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Speaker 1: and now they ran the race till martyrdom. Many of
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Speaker 1: their followers became the spokespeople of the church, and they
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Speaker 1: too were martyred. And that went on into the second
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Speaker 1: century and somewhat into the third century. And something strange
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Speaker 1: happened in the third century. Church became a formal thing.
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Speaker 1: It took upon itself an organization that changed authority into power.
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Speaker 1: Power causes someone to force other people to do something
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Speaker 1: because they are intimidated. Authority creates a following because people
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Speaker 1: respect the leaders. But the authority was shifted to power.
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Speaker 1: And before long, there was the voice of the church.
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Speaker 1: And people were manipulated and intimidated. And finally, the church
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Speaker 1: lost its excitement and its zeal. And before long, it
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Speaker 1: was shrouded in the dark ages. And the Bible was
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Speaker 1: chained to the pulpit in the language of the clergy.
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Speaker 1: Great edifices were built that pushed people away from the
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Speaker 1: pastor and kept them at bay, kept them ignorant, stone ignorant,
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Speaker 1: so that before long you could live your life and
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Speaker 1: die and hardly hear the scriptures ever declared in your
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Speaker 1: own tongue. Men could stand that only so long and
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Speaker 1: by the 14th, 15th and into the 16th century, a
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Speaker 1: band of straight-thinking, tough-minded men called today the Reformers, broke
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Speaker 1: with that, decided to bring authority back in place of power,
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Speaker 1: and they broke with tradition, and they spoke for God,
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Speaker 1: and the doctrine of soteriology, salvation, began to take its
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Speaker 1: place again in the mind of many believers, and these
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Speaker 1: Reformers became again martyrs, as history repeats itself. But their
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Speaker 1: vision caught on. And before long, this growing body of
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Speaker 1: people who protested against the church and became the Protestants, Protestants,
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Speaker 1: stepped into their own rank and began to move in
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Speaker 1: another direction. And to the frowning and dismay of the
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Speaker 1: prelates of the church, they became a body that had
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Speaker 1: to be dealt with. Couldn't be ignored. It swept across
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Speaker 1: England in a great awakening. And it came across to
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Speaker 1: America as our forefathers believed in the scriptures and in
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Speaker 1: the God of the scriptures and the Savior as the
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Speaker 1: Son of God. And children were again taught the things
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Speaker 1: of God. And then a wonderful time of enlightenment came again.
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Speaker 1: As the church began to write itself, as it began
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Speaker 1: to develop its ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church. That's
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Speaker 1: history is written. It seemed like history's acting out Schaeffer's thoughts.
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Speaker 1: Right next to soteriology, there ought to be ecclesiology. But
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Speaker 1: I observe in our day a lot of fuzzy thinking
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Speaker 1: about the church. A lot of critics, most of them
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Speaker 1: on the outside, not really churchmen and churchwomen, but from
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Speaker 1: the outside throwing rocks and taking shots at the church. However,
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Speaker 1: there is also at the same time a growing body
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Speaker 1: of men and women committed to this church, this project.
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Speaker 1: And all through the years, God's program has been like
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Speaker 1: a crescendo mark on a musical score. From the point
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Speaker 1: which would be the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit
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Speaker 1: of God came, right up to the present day, it
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Speaker 1: is ever-expanding, ever-enlarging. And you could even put a little
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Speaker 1: dotted line for the future. It will continue to enlarge.
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Speaker 1: The church is larger today than it was yesterday. It'll
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Speaker 1: be larger tomorrow than it is today. Because even this day,
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Speaker 1: God is reaching into lives and bringing them into his family.
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Speaker 1: I'm getting ahead of myself. Matthew chapter 16. Not only
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Speaker 1: is the church developed late in history, as far as
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Speaker 1: doctrine is concerned, it appears late in scripture. Never once
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Speaker 1: in the Old Testament... And not until Christ is well
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Speaker 1: underway in his ministry does it appear in the scriptures.
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Speaker 1: Matthew 16 is one of the earlier references to the
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Speaker 1: word church. It appears at the end of a dialogue
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Speaker 1: between Jesus and his disciples. The dialogue starts at verse
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Speaker 1: 13 of Matthew 16. Now when Jesus came into the
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Speaker 1: district of Caesarea Philippi, he began asking his disciples saying,
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Speaker 1: who do people say that the Son of Man is?
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Speaker 1: And they said, some say John the Baptist, some Elijah,
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Speaker 1: and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Jesus said
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Speaker 1: to them, plural, but who do you, who do y'all
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Speaker 1: say that I am? All of y'all. What is y'all's
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Speaker 1: opinion of me? Now, the reason I'm emphasizing the plural
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Speaker 1: is because Peter speaks in We take a lot of
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Speaker 1: shots at Peter, and he has to handle a lot
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Speaker 1: of our flack and comment, but Peter's never been more right.
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Speaker 1: He stands alone at this moment. Even though the question
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Speaker 1: is addressed to all of them, Peter's response, verse 16,
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Speaker 1: you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
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Speaker 1: Jesus' response is first a blessing and then a promise.
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Speaker 1: And then a prediction. The blessing is, blessed are you, Simon,
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Speaker 1: son of John, bar Jonah, son of John. Blessed are you, Simon.
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Speaker 1: Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. You've
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Speaker 1: been talking to my father. You got that in prayer, Peter.
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Speaker 1: That came right from heaven. Blessed are you, Peter, for
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Speaker 1: that insight. You didn't get that information from other people,
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Speaker 1: but from my Father who is in heaven. Now look
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Speaker 1: at this. I say to you that you are Petros. Boy,
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Speaker 1: that must have been wonderful for Peter to hear. We
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Speaker 1: can't appreciate it today because we don't talk that language.
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Speaker 1: But he gave him a nickname. All of his life
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Speaker 1: he's known as Simon, which I guess if you pressed
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Speaker 1: it to the limit would mean vacillating one. Shifting, moody, changing.
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Speaker 1: And now Christ says, good job, rock. That's the way
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Speaker 1: to go. That's the right answer. Peter, you're like a rock.
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Speaker 1: And upon this Petra, he plays on that nickname. Not
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Speaker 1: the same word. Some have taught it to mean that
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Speaker 1: Jesus built his church on Peter. No, Jesus built his
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Speaker 1: church on a rock like truth, which is Petra. Upon
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Speaker 1: this rock-like truth, which is what? You are Jesus. You
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Speaker 1: are Messiah, the son of the living God. Verse 16,
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Speaker 1: that's the Petra. Good for you, Simon. That's Petras. And
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Speaker 1: upon this truth, I will build my church and the
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Speaker 1: gates of Hades shall not overpower it. The risk of
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Speaker 1: being a little pedantic. Let's just dissect that prediction, I
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Speaker 1: will build my church. Note first, to whom the church belongs. Jesus,
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Speaker 1: I will build my church. You say, come on Chuck,
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Speaker 1: how elementary can you get? I could probably get more
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Speaker 1: elementary than that. And sometimes I need to, because it's
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Speaker 1: easy to forget that. The church is not the work
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Speaker 1: of the pastor. The church is not the work of
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Speaker 1: a body of elders. The church is not the work
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Speaker 1: of a body of seminaries. The church is not the
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Speaker 1: work of a denomination. The church is not the work
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Speaker 1: of the Pope. The church is not the work of
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Speaker 1: any person on earth. It is Christ's body. Those who
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Speaker 1: are weak at this point are weak in their ecclesiology.
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Speaker 1: If I may use today's terms, Christ is our boss.
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Speaker 1: If I use the terms in the first century, Christ
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Speaker 1: is our Lord, Kurios. And we are his servants. That
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Speaker 1: has never changed those centuries have passed. He holds the
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Speaker 1: patent on the church. It was his genius that originated it.
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Speaker 1: He deposited it into the truth of heaven and he
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Speaker 1: revealed it to Peter and he carried it out through
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Speaker 1: the lives of the disciples. And it's still going on.
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Speaker 1: It's his church. That's why you will never, I seldom
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Speaker 1: say never, you will never hear me call you my people.
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Speaker 1: You're not my people. That's ownership. Christ owns you. We
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Speaker 1: are his people and the sheep of his pasture. He
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Speaker 1: is our Lord and we are his people. That's his
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Speaker 1: right to call us my people. Not a pastor's right.
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Speaker 1: It's helped me a lot to change that habit that
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Speaker 1: I fell into early in my ministry. As long as
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Speaker 1: I owned them, I was responsible for them. But it's
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Speaker 1: God's responsibility, this church. What a relief. I will build.
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Speaker 1: Look at the next one. The dictionary says to build
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Speaker 1: means to form by uniting materials by gradual means into
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Speaker 1: a composite whole to construct Another definition, to develop by
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Speaker 1: a definite process. Now that's what's going on right now.
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Speaker 1: It's been going on since the first century. It will
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Speaker 1: never stop until Christ comes for his own. And we've
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Speaker 1: studied that in days past. You remember that. We are
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Speaker 1: called the bride. He is called the groom. Sounds a
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Speaker 1: little humorous to say it, but the bride's getting heavier.
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Speaker 1: Waiting for the groom to come. She's enlarging her size.
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Speaker 1: Every day she's getting bigger and bigger and bigger, waiting
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Speaker 1: for his arrival. And the groom will someday come and
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Speaker 1: say to the bride, you're mine, come on home. Until then,
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Speaker 1: he's in the building process. It's made up of all nations,
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Speaker 1: all cultures, all creeds, all languages, all colors. In fact,
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Speaker 1: the white church, if we could call it that, known
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Speaker 1: in America as fast becoming the minority. as His work
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Speaker 1: is being built all around the world. You talk about
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Speaker 1: being exciting in some particular program, get involved in the
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Speaker 1: mission program of Christ, and you are on the front
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Speaker 1: edge of what He's doing. He calls us the church.
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Speaker 1: I will build my church. You've learned a little history,
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Speaker 1: and I learned a little Greek. The reason you're going
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Speaker 1: to learn a little Greek is because I don't know
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Speaker 1: a lot of Greek, so I'm just going to give
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Speaker 1: you a little bit of Greek, okay? This word church, ekklesia,
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Speaker 1: comes from two words, ek, which is a little particle
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Speaker 1: meaning out from among, ek. If you pull a credit
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Speaker 1: card out of your wallet, you pull the credit card ek,
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Speaker 1: your wallet. Out from among 20 other credit cards, you
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Speaker 1: pull one out, okay? That's ek, out from among. Klesia
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Speaker 1: is from a verb kaleo, K-A-L-E-O, meaning to call, to
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Speaker 1: call forth, to call out, to call aloud. Various ways
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Speaker 1: of saying it, but it means to call out from among.
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Speaker 1: This word, ekklesia. I will build my called out ones.
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Speaker 1: What a wonderful thought. Since the beginning of the church,
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Speaker 1: our Lord has been reaching down into the ranks of humanity, selecting, choosing, calling,
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Speaker 1: drawing to Himself people, men, women, boys, girls, teenagers, older folks,
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Speaker 1: all different sizes, all different kinds. He continues to call
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Speaker 1: them out from among. And He places them where? He
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Speaker 1: places them in His presence. Family. Remember the little chorus?
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Speaker 1: I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God.
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Speaker 1: I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood,
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Speaker 1: joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod. I'm
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Speaker 1: so glad I'm a part of the family of God.
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Speaker 1: Every person who is in the family can sing that.
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Speaker 1: Because we've all come the same way. That means the
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Speaker 1: group is exclusive. In the right sense, it's exclusive. The
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Speaker 1: only way you become a member of this body is
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Speaker 1: to believe in Jesus Christ. Sincerity won't get you in.
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Speaker 1: Church going won't get you in. Paying your bills won't
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Speaker 1: get you in. Being a good leader in your community
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Speaker 1: won't get you in. This group is reserved for believers
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Speaker 1: in Christ. If you're a believer, you're in. If you're not,
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Speaker 1: you're out. It's exclusive. How permanent is it? Is it
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Speaker 1: going to fade as time passes? Look at what he says.
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Speaker 1: The gates of Hades open. shall not overpower it. At
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Speaker 1: times like that, I wish I had a deep voice.
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Speaker 1: It seems like that fits the voice of many waters,
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Speaker 1: doesn't it? Because it has such authority. If Christ were
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Speaker 1: to open the gates of Hades and let all the
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Speaker 1: evil powers pour out of that one source, it wouldn't hinder,
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Speaker 1: it wouldn't interrupt, it wouldn't stop. It would never destroy
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Speaker 1: the church. It's a permanent building process that will never
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Speaker 1: be shut down. Now then, what we really need is
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Speaker 1: a definition. Having said all of those things, my definition
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Speaker 1: will last about 25 minutes, so get ready. No, not really.
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Speaker 1: Here's the definition. A definition. The ever-increasing body.
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Speaker 1: Of born-again believers. This is the church. The ever-increasing body
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Speaker 1: of born-again believers who comprise the universal family of God
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Speaker 1: over whom Christ reigns as Lord. That's the church. The
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Speaker 1: ever-increasing body of born-again believers who comprise the universal family
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Speaker 1: of God over whom Christ reigns as Lord. It's universal
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Speaker 1: in scope. It's continually in process. It's exclusive in membership,
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Speaker 1: and it's impervious to destruction. I want to be a
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Speaker 1: part of that kind of project. Had a wonderful conversation
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Speaker 1: with an engineer several months ago who had decided in
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Speaker 1: recent months to change his whole career. He got excited
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Speaker 1: about God's world program, He was prompted by his particular
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Speaker 1: local church, not ours, but another. We were at a
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Speaker 1: conference together. He had made a big decision regarding his future,
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Speaker 1: was going to move into another whole realm. And I
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Speaker 1: asked him, why would he do it? He said, well,
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Speaker 1: to tell you the truth, I had to face the
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Speaker 1: fact that everything I was building was going to be
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Speaker 1: burnt up. Every project I was involved in had a
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Speaker 1: termination point, but this one was eternal. that it just
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Speaker 1: turned my whole mentality around. I'm not saying God leads
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Speaker 1: everyone that way. I'm saying he led him that way
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Speaker 1: when he got that perspective. You see, when you begin
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Speaker 1: to realize, this is why I started like I did.
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Speaker 1: When you begin to realize it isn't just a pretty
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Speaker 1: good show for a nickel, but it's a passion for living.
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Speaker 1: It revolutionizes your whole frame of reference. Your world suddenly
27:29
Speaker 1: changes from this tiny little tube called today and where
27:34
Speaker 1: I live to his world. And you're a part of it.
27:41
Speaker 1: It's ever-growing, ever-increasing. Let me show you the growth. Acts
27:47
Speaker 1: chapter 2. Let's go from Matthew 16 over to Acts
27:51
Speaker 1: chapter 2. Verse 41. Verse 41. We've now moved in
28:00
Speaker 1: time from Jesus' prediction to the point where the church begins.
28:05
Speaker 1: This is the day of Pentecost. His spirit has come.
28:09
Speaker 1: He has ignited that small body of people in that
28:12
Speaker 1: upper room, and they've come pouring down into the streets
28:15
Speaker 1: of Jerusalem, and Peter has become their spokesman. And this
28:20
Speaker 1: is the result, verse 41. So then those who had
28:23
Speaker 1: received his word were baptized, and there were added that
28:26
Speaker 1: day about 3,000 souls. That's the first little body of people. 3,000 souls.
28:33
Speaker 1: And here they were out in the streets of Jerusalem.
28:37
Speaker 1: I love the thought of this. They have no church building.
28:41
Speaker 1: They have no pastor. They have no constitution. Probably the
28:45
Speaker 1: reason they got along so well, they didn't have a constitution.
28:48
Speaker 1: They had no board members. They had no direction. They
28:52
Speaker 1: had no understanding of what the future held for them.
28:57
Speaker 1: But they had Christ. They had the enthusiasm of Christ's
29:01
Speaker 1: presence in their lives. He was now bringing their inner
29:05
Speaker 1: beings to a boil as they heard the message of
29:09
Speaker 1: Christ's love and forgiveness and his resurrection following the cross,
29:15
Speaker 1: they believed, and they're baptized. And here they are, verse 42,
29:21
Speaker 1: continually devoting themselves to teaching and to koinonia, that's the
29:27
Speaker 1: word for fellowship, sharing things in common, sharing lives, caring
29:33
Speaker 1: for one another. They took the bread and broke it together,
29:37
Speaker 1: and they were involved in prayer. These are the essentials
29:40
Speaker 1: of a church, teaching, fellowship, the ordinances, and prayer. Previous
29:46
Speaker 1: verse mentions they were baptized. Well, that's quite a sheep dip,
29:51
Speaker 1: isn't it? For 3,000 souls. Can you imagine that community
29:56
Speaker 1: when these people were in the river being baptized one
29:59
Speaker 1: after another after another. They have no hymnal. They have
30:05
Speaker 1: no direction. And they're standing there getting dry, wondering, what
30:10
Speaker 1: do we do next? They fellowship, they are taught, they
30:14
Speaker 1: are breaking bread, and they pray. Before long, they begin
30:18
Speaker 1: to take movement. The momentum grows. Look at chapter 5,
30:22
Speaker 1: verse 12. At the hands of the apostles, many signs
30:27
Speaker 1: and wonders were taking place among the people. Verse 13,
30:32
Speaker 1: none of the rest dared to associate with them. However,
30:34
Speaker 1: the people held them in high esteem. Verse 14, all
30:37
Speaker 1: the more believers in the Lord. Multitudes of men and
30:42
Speaker 1: women were constantly added to their number. That's growth. Look
30:48
Speaker 1: at verse 7 of chapter 6. Next chapter, verse 7.
30:53
Speaker 1: The word of God kept on spreading and the number
30:56
Speaker 1: of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem. And
31:01
Speaker 1: a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to
31:04
Speaker 1: the faith. Look at that breakthrough. All these months the
31:08
Speaker 1: priests have been standing back with their hat in their
31:10
Speaker 1: hand thinking, what's happening to these folks? What's this momentum?
31:14
Speaker 1: What's this change that's come over them? And they begin
31:17
Speaker 1: to listen. And then they get involved. And then of
31:21
Speaker 1: all things, these formal religious leaders tear away the masks
31:27
Speaker 1: of religion and they turn their lives over to Christ.
31:31
Speaker 1: And even the ranks of the priests are invaded with believers. Again,
31:37
Speaker 1: we can hardly appreciate that today, but in those days,
31:40
Speaker 1: that was a wonder. That was amazing. Yet again, in
31:44
Speaker 1: chapter 11, verse 19, it now spreads beyond Jerusalem. because
31:52
Speaker 1: of persecution, 1119. Then those who were scattered because of
32:00
Speaker 1: the persecution that arose in connection with Stephen made their
32:06
Speaker 1: way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word
32:12
Speaker 1: to no one except to Jews alone. But there were
32:15
Speaker 1: some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came
32:18
Speaker 1: to Antioch. and began speaking to the Greeks also, preaching
32:23
Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus. Let me interrupt our thought here for
32:25
Speaker 1: just a moment. We've all seen televised pictures of volcanoes
32:31
Speaker 1: that have erupted. And this molten lava pours over the
32:35
Speaker 1: lip of this volcano and runs as bright red as
32:39
Speaker 1: a poinsettia, right down into the valleys and crevices of
32:43
Speaker 1: the world around them. And wherever it goes, it makes
32:48
Speaker 1: an impact. Wherever it goes, there's this smoldering, smoking, as
32:54
Speaker 1: it were, living stuff moving and changing and pushing. I
33:01
Speaker 1: think of that when I think of this. And the
33:03
Speaker 1: persecution was Stephen Stoning. It looked at the moment like
33:07
Speaker 1: a terrible tragedy, but it forced the church out of
33:11
Speaker 1: itself and into the ranks of humanity. That's the heartbeat
33:17
Speaker 1: of church. It's not something we keep to ourselves. It's
33:22
Speaker 1: something we release. Sometimes it requires persecution to burst our
33:30
Speaker 1: own little balloon and to send us outside our own world.
33:34
Speaker 1: And here's an example. Here are some people who decide
33:38
Speaker 1: that the Greeks need to hear also, so they preach
33:41
Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus to them. Verse 21, And the hand
33:43
Speaker 1: of the Lord was with him. A large number who
33:46
Speaker 1: believed turned to the Lord. The news about them reached
33:49
Speaker 1: the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and so they
33:51
Speaker 1: sent Barnabas off to Antioch. Look at 23. When he
33:55
Speaker 1: had come and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced
33:58
Speaker 1: and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to
34:01
Speaker 1: remain true to the Lord. He was a good man,
34:03
Speaker 1: full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. Look at
34:05
Speaker 1: this last sentence. Considerable numbers were brought to the Lord.
34:11
Speaker 1: And it's still going on. If I had time, I'd
34:14
Speaker 1: read to you from chapter... Chapter 19, and on into
34:17
Speaker 1: the 20s, you'd see it again and again. This spreading flame.
34:23
Speaker 1: When you trusted Christ Jesus as your Savior, many things
34:27
Speaker 1: happened to you, but these two significant things, I'm going
34:31
Speaker 1: to tell you, were automatic and immediate. First, something happened
34:38
Speaker 1: within you, and second, something happened to you. Within you,
34:44
Speaker 1: 2 Corinthians 5.17, you became a new creation, a new creature.
34:51
Speaker 1: If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature.
34:54
Speaker 1: Old things are passed away. All things have become new.
34:58
Speaker 1: You have new motivation, new interests. Your mind is no
35:02
Speaker 1: longer blinded to the truth of Scripture. Your interests shift
35:06
Speaker 1: from yourself and often from others. A body of people
35:12
Speaker 1: who aren't doing you any good at all to the
35:15
Speaker 1: things of God. And a new group of people come
35:18
Speaker 1: on the horizon of your life. You begin to be
35:21
Speaker 1: more vulnerable, more open, more willing to confess the wrong
35:26
Speaker 1: of your life. You keep short accounts with God from
35:29
Speaker 1: whom you were running all the other years of your life. Why?
35:32
Speaker 1: You're a new creature. It happened to you down inside,
35:37
Speaker 1: down within your life. Second, you were automatically and instantaneously
35:45
Speaker 1: placed into the family of God. You didn't feel any different.
35:52
Speaker 1: You didn't hear something. You didn't see something. But that
35:56
Speaker 1: happened to you. The moment you believed. 1 Corinthians chapter
36:01
Speaker 1: 12 is where I want to spend the balance of
36:05
Speaker 1: our time. Because that develops the whole thing. theology of
36:11
Speaker 1: the church as far as my emphases are concerned. Sometimes
36:18
Speaker 1: I have people say, do I have to join a
36:20
Speaker 1: church to become a Christian? My answer is no, but
36:23
Speaker 1: God always joins you to his. He always joins you
36:27
Speaker 1: to his church. You don't have to join some local
36:30
Speaker 1: church that comes later on as he leads you. He
36:33
Speaker 1: wants you to be, but you don't have to be
36:36
Speaker 1: a member of a local church to become a Christian.
36:40
Speaker 1: But you do have to be a member of the
36:42
Speaker 1: universal church before you can say you are a Christian.
36:45
Speaker 1: That happens when you believe. I remember when my mother died,
36:51
Speaker 1: my father called me and spoke in sort of staccato
36:58
Speaker 1: fashion and very briefly said to me that he thought
37:02
Speaker 1: my mom was dead. He said, sis is on her way,
37:05
Speaker 1: can you come? And of course I jumped in my
37:07
Speaker 1: car and by the time I got there, They had
37:10
Speaker 1: already covered my mother up on the sofa. She died
37:13
Speaker 1: a very quick death and it was no pain at all.
37:17
Speaker 1: And looking back, it was a beautiful way to go.
37:21
Speaker 1: Seemed premature to us at the time, of course. Anyway,
37:25
Speaker 1: I said to them, have you called the doctor? And
37:30
Speaker 1: they said, no, no, we haven't. We didn't really know
37:32
Speaker 1: what to do. So we got on the phone and
37:34
Speaker 1: called her physician. And he said, now, Charles, there are
37:36
Speaker 1: some vital signs you need to look for. Let's make
37:40
Speaker 1: absolutely certain while the paramedics are on their way that
37:44
Speaker 1: she is in fact dead. So he gave me three
37:47
Speaker 1: or four or five signs to check and we did
37:50
Speaker 1: all of them and they all proved that she was gone.
37:53
Speaker 1: When the paramedics got there, I stepped back and they
37:55
Speaker 1: did the very same thing, much more professionally, but they
37:59
Speaker 1: did the same thing and it was clear she was gone. Now,
38:03
Speaker 1: when I think about a body and vital signs, I
38:07
Speaker 1: remember that in my past. I want to apply those
38:11
Speaker 1: vital signs to the church body, to the family, because
38:15
Speaker 1: I use that illustration, because Paul uses it in 1
38:18
Speaker 1: Corinthians 12. I want you to think of the family
38:20
Speaker 1: of God as an enormous body that reaches around the world,
38:25
Speaker 1: made up of millions of tiny members, organs, part of
38:31
Speaker 1: the body. If you think that way, you'll have no
38:34
Speaker 1: trouble understanding his analogy in this passage. I want to
38:37
Speaker 1: show you six vital signs of a healthy universal church.
38:44
Speaker 1: Verse 12, 1 Corinthians 12, there's the presence of unity
38:49
Speaker 1: and harmony. The presence of unity and harmony. Even as
38:55
Speaker 1: the body is one and yet has many members, and
38:58
Speaker 1: all the members of the body, though they are many,
39:02
Speaker 1: are one body, so also is Christ. First time I
39:06
Speaker 1: read that verse, I thought it sounded like a tongue twister.
39:10
Speaker 1: I remember distinctly as a young Christian wondering what that
39:14
Speaker 1: was all about. And then I was told to change
39:16
Speaker 1: the word member to organ, like the organs of the body.
39:21
Speaker 1: Let me do that for you. You'll see how much clearer.
39:24
Speaker 1: Even as the body is one and yet has many organs,
39:28
Speaker 1: all the organs of the body, though they are many,
39:30
Speaker 1: form one body, so is Christ's body. That's the idea.
39:36
Speaker 1: The point I want you to see is the harmony
39:38
Speaker 1: and the unity of the body. Many, many, many members,
39:43
Speaker 1: but one body. Secondly, another sign of good health is
39:51
Speaker 1: the absence of favoritism and status. Verse 13, For by
39:58
Speaker 1: one Spirit were we all baptized into one body. See,
40:02
Speaker 1: that happened when we were saved. We were identified with
40:05
Speaker 1: the body of Christ by one Spirit. Whether we were
40:08
Speaker 1: Jews or Greeks, whether we were slaves or free, we
40:12
Speaker 1: were all made to drink of one Spirit. In the
40:16
Speaker 1: Roman world, that was much more significant than it is today.
40:20
Speaker 1: And that day, there were definite castes, still familiar to
40:25
Speaker 1: the people of India, but not familiar to the people
40:28
Speaker 1: of America. In those days, there was nobility and there
40:32
Speaker 1: was slave. There was the slave owner and there was
40:36
Speaker 1: the tool of the owner, a slave. And these people,
40:41
Speaker 1: when they read from Paul's letter, in Christ you are
40:45
Speaker 1: neither slave nor free, said an enormous amount to them.
40:50
Speaker 1: Galatians 3 says there is neither male nor female significance
40:54
Speaker 1: in the body. God doesn't take you according to the
40:57
Speaker 1: priority of your gender or of your color or of
41:03
Speaker 1: your financial status. There is an absence of favoritism and status.
41:09
Speaker 1: It's true in this organism and it's probably true in
41:12
Speaker 1: no other on earth. You get a number of human
41:16
Speaker 1: beings together, you're going to have prejudiced You're going to
41:19
Speaker 1: have favoritism and status, but not in the body of Christ. Third,
41:26
Speaker 1: an emphasis on individual dignity and mutual variety. An emphasis
41:34
Speaker 1: on dignity, individual dignity and mutual variety. Now you'll find
41:40
Speaker 1: this in verses 14 to 20. I love this passage.
41:45
Speaker 1: There's a little humor in it. And I think it's
41:47
Speaker 1: supposed to be humorous. Paul writes with a little humor
41:51
Speaker 1: in mind. So don't miss it. Think of the body now.
41:55
Speaker 1: Listen to him describe it. The body is not one member,
41:58
Speaker 1: but many. That's true of the human body. It's true
42:01
Speaker 1: of Christ's family. But think of the human body for
42:05
Speaker 1: a little while. If the foot should say, that's a
42:08
Speaker 1: little funny, feet don't talk. But let's say the foot
42:11
Speaker 1: were to say, because I'm not a hand, I'm not
42:15
Speaker 1: going to be a part of the body. It is
42:18
Speaker 1: not for this reason, any the less, a part of
42:21
Speaker 1: the body. Feet can't go on strike. They're going to
42:24
Speaker 1: stay there. They're going to be a part of the body.
42:27
Speaker 1: If the ear should say, because I'm not an eye,
42:29
Speaker 1: I am therefore not that significant. I'm not a part
42:34
Speaker 1: of the body. It is not for this reason, any
42:37
Speaker 1: the less, a part of the body. And now he
42:39
Speaker 1: goes to the ridiculous. If the whole body were an eye,
42:44
Speaker 1: I just picture that. Six foot, three inch eye. How useless,
42:54
Speaker 1: how unattractive. You couldn't kiss it. You wouldn't have anything
42:59
Speaker 1: to kiss with. Unless you bat each other when you
43:03
Speaker 1: got up close. You get dirt in your eye all
43:06
Speaker 1: the time. You couldn't move around. Think of trying to
43:08
Speaker 1: drive a car. There's a lot of things you could
43:11
Speaker 1: just imagine. If the whole body were an eye. Where
43:15
Speaker 1: would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, here's
43:18
Speaker 1: another one. Five foot, nine inch ear. Just an ear.
43:25
Speaker 1: Where would the sense of smell be? Now you're laughing
43:29
Speaker 1: about this and you're supposed to, but the point is obvious.
43:34
Speaker 1: We make six foot, three inch eyeballs out of people.
43:41
Speaker 1: We make five feet, nine inch ears out Out of
43:44
Speaker 1: certain people. We make them our stars. Celebrities. Big time folks.
43:57
Speaker 1: They're just ears. They're just noses. They're just lips. No
44:08
Speaker 1: one person in the body is the whole body. Stop
44:13
Speaker 1: making idols out of people in the body. Just stop it.
44:21
Speaker 1: Just talk straight to yourself about that. We need heroes,
44:26
Speaker 1: people we admire and love and respect, but we don't
44:30
Speaker 1: need six-foot eyeballs. We need a body. Verse 18, I
44:40
Speaker 1: love this. God has placed each member in the body
44:43
Speaker 1: just as He desired. You came into His family, He said,
44:49
Speaker 1: you'll be a nose. You're going to be a foot.
44:55
Speaker 1: You're going to be a toe. Part of a foot.
45:00
Speaker 1: Inside a sock. Inside a shoe. Oh, shoe. I want
45:07
Speaker 1: to be an eye. Ever tried to operate without a toe?
45:14
Speaker 1: Ever had a little problem with just a little part
45:17
Speaker 1: of your foot? Just a little tiny corn? Just a
45:22
Speaker 1: little callus? I know a lady that can hardly get
45:26
Speaker 1: around because of a very, very tiny part of her
45:30
Speaker 1: foot that needs attention. And the longer she waits, the
45:35
Speaker 1: more pain she feels. And sometime it hurts so badly
45:41
Speaker 1: she just has to sit down. It isn't just her foot.
45:44
Speaker 1: It's her whole body that hurts. You know that's true.
45:48
Speaker 1: Ever try to walk with a little pebble in your shoe?
45:51
Speaker 1: You take it out, you're sure it's that big. And
45:54
Speaker 1: you drop it out, it just goes clink, little tiny speck.
45:59
Speaker 1: Little tiny thing. But your whole body hurts. God has
46:05
Speaker 1: placed the members, each one of them just as he desired.
46:08
Speaker 1: And if all were one member, where would be the body? Now,
46:11
Speaker 1: there are many members, but one body. The eye can't
46:14
Speaker 1: say to the hand. Now, here we go to the
46:16
Speaker 1: fourth one. A de-emphasis on independence and self-sufficiency. That's another
46:22
Speaker 1: mark of health in the body. A de-emphasis on independence
46:28
Speaker 1: and self-sufficiency. Hear this, Western-minded Christians. Listen to this. Pioneer stock. entrepreneurs,
46:40
Speaker 1: strong-willed leaders. Listen to this. The eye cannot say to
46:46
Speaker 1: the hand, I don't need you. The head cannot say
46:49
Speaker 1: to the feet, I don't need you. On the contrary,
46:53
Speaker 1: it's much truer that the members of the body which we,
46:57
Speaker 1: which seem to be weaker, are necessary. The members of
47:03
Speaker 1: the body that we deem less honorable on these, we
47:06
Speaker 1: bestow more abundant honor Our unseemly members come to have
47:09
Speaker 1: more abundant seemliness. My daughter has a little trouble with
47:12
Speaker 1: her pancreas. It's called pancreatitis. And the little duct that
47:18
Speaker 1: leads into the pancreas is too tiny. And every once
47:22
Speaker 1: in a while, something will plug that up in Colleen.
47:26
Speaker 1: And a little tiny, it's a stone maybe, or something
47:30
Speaker 1: gets in that tiny little duct. And her whole body
47:37
Speaker 1: goes into a kind of a spasm of pain. And
47:43
Speaker 1: you'd think it wouldn't be that big a thing. You know,
47:46
Speaker 1: I often want to know if it's not big, why
47:49
Speaker 1: is it a problem? Little tiny thing, just poke a
47:53
Speaker 1: toothpick in it and open that thing up. Aren't you
47:57
Speaker 1: glad I'm not your surgeon? Just put a toothpick in
48:00
Speaker 1: there and open that thing up. So the doctor goes
48:04
Speaker 1: in there and he goes down the throat and works
48:05
Speaker 1: around and gets into this little area and just tries
48:09
Speaker 1: to get into it. And he says, I can't even
48:10
Speaker 1: even get my scope in there to see. That's what happens.
48:15
Speaker 1: Who would think a pancreas would be that big a deal?
48:17
Speaker 1: I don't even know where it's located in the body.
48:19
Speaker 1: It's down somewhere between the neck and the other parts
48:23
Speaker 1: down there. It's down in there somewhere. But on that
48:28
Speaker 1: little tiny part of the body, our whole family has
48:32
Speaker 1: happiness or sadness because he's a tiny little duck that
48:36
Speaker 1: gets plugged up, plugged up. The middle of the night,
48:41
Speaker 1: trips to the emergency room because of a tiny little duck.
48:46
Speaker 1: Some of you are the little tiny ducks on the pancreas.
48:52
Speaker 1: You don't feel like much. You don't think you're that important.
48:56
Speaker 1: But when you don't function, we hurt. We have come
49:02
Speaker 1: to value you. And if we don't, it's our problem.
49:11
Speaker 1: The emphasis on independence and self-sufficiency in the body of Christ.
49:16
Speaker 1: Nobody has a right to flex. Try to imagine. a
49:20
Speaker 1: strong person doing this. Nobody has a right to say,
49:24
Speaker 1: look how big I am. Look how significant I am.
49:29
Speaker 1: In Christ's body, we're all the same size. And we're
49:35
Speaker 1: equally people of dignity. This brings us to 25, the
49:44
Speaker 1: support of others, whether we're hurting or being honored. Look
49:52
Speaker 1: at 25, that there should be no division in the body,
49:55
Speaker 1: but that the members should have the same care for
49:57
Speaker 1: one another. If one member suffers, why all the organs
50:01
Speaker 1: suffer with it? If one member is honored, all the
50:04
Speaker 1: organs are honored with it. Isn't that great? Is it happening?
50:10
Speaker 1: You're at school. A classmate of yours, on the same
50:13
Speaker 1: level as you, gets the office you're running for. You
50:17
Speaker 1: applaud it? I hope so. Your roommate, who hasn't been
50:25
Speaker 1: all that great shakes, starts to hurt, has real pain.
50:29
Speaker 1: You hurt? I hope so. One member's honored. All of
50:35
Speaker 1: us are honored. All of us applauded. All of us rejoice.
50:38
Speaker 1: One member suffers. We're all sad. That's the way it
50:43
Speaker 1: is in the body. This is God's universal program. And
50:48
Speaker 1: when it's healthy, it works like that. Verse 27. Exaltation
50:57
Speaker 1: of Christ as head and Lord. Now you are Christ's body.
51:06
Speaker 1: Individually members one of another. Hey, I wish I had
51:14
Speaker 1: more time to tell you about the diseases. Maybe I
51:16
Speaker 1: could just kind of wrap it up quick. I don't
51:20
Speaker 1: want to be medically sophisticated about this because I am not.
51:26
Speaker 1: So I'll just put it in simple layman's terms. Some
51:31
Speaker 1: of the contagious diseases that affect the body. The head
51:36
Speaker 1: gets swollen with pride. The heart grows cold and indifferent.
51:43
Speaker 1: because of sin. The digestive system gets clogged by sterile
51:48
Speaker 1: theory and unapplied theology. So the body can't digest and
51:56
Speaker 1: eliminate what needs to be released from it. It gets
51:59
Speaker 1: clogged on theory and theology. And it's all sterile. And
52:04
Speaker 1: we start to fight within ourselves about it. Let me
52:10
Speaker 1: get even more specific. Eyes that are That feed on
52:13
Speaker 1: lust and greed. Tongues that wag. And ears that listen
52:19
Speaker 1: to that petty stuff from someone else. That's a disease
52:24
Speaker 1: in the body. I don't know of any disease that's
52:28
Speaker 1: hurting the body worse than a wagging tongue. Knees that
52:34
Speaker 1: seldom bend to the lordship of Christ. Hands that applaud
52:38
Speaker 1: the work of man more than the work of God.
52:43
Speaker 1: Minds that are closed to new ideas. Emotions that are
52:47
Speaker 1: either out of control or under rigid wraps. Muscles that
52:52
Speaker 1: are not exercised. Mental muscles that have stopped being stretched.
52:57
Speaker 1: Financial muscles that have stopped releasing generously God's riches to
53:04
Speaker 1: the church. Involvement muscles, faith muscles. Where are you in
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Speaker 1: that physical analysis of the church? What's your temperature? He's
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Speaker 1: the great physician. He's looking in your throat. A couple
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Speaker 1: of questions I think ought to be asked. Am I
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Speaker 1: even in this family? Am I even in the family
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Speaker 1: of God? Second question might be. Since I'm in, is
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Speaker 1: he really my sovereign? Is he really my Lord? You
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Speaker 1: really call the shots. Is he my boss? I guess
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Speaker 1: you could put it all under one question. My part
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Speaker 1: of the problem or part of the answer. The second
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Speaker 1: would be a statement of commitment. I wrote mine out. Today,
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Speaker 1: as a member of Christ's body, I recommit myself to
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Speaker 1: his goals for his glory. It's my commitment. I publicly
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Speaker 1: stated today as a member of God's family, I recommit
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Speaker 1: myself to my Lord, to his goals for his glory.
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Speaker 1: Will you do that too? Please do that. When you
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Speaker 1: do that, really, you won't want to even go to
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Speaker 1: the show for a nickel. It'll mean your whole life.
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Speaker 1: Let's bow together, shall we?
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Speaker 2: Father, thank you for the work you are continuing to
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Speaker 2: do in the body of Christ. Thank you for building
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Speaker 2: it up. Thank you for the way you have gifted
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Speaker 2: individuals to fill certain roles and to be significant others
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Speaker 2: in our lives. Thank you that no one person represents
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Speaker 2: the whole body. Thank you that your Son, Jesus Christ,
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Speaker 2: remains the head of the body. We've thought about all
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Speaker 2: different dimensions of this subject, and today It is a
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Speaker 2: pleasure to turn to you and to find in you
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Speaker 2: a reassurance about life now and life beyond. I pray
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Speaker 2: that you would continue to work through your body to
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Speaker 2: encourage others, to build up others in love, and to
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Speaker 2: give strength to those who need comfort and encouragement. Thank you, Father,
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Speaker 2: in Jesus' name for what you have taught us today
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Speaker 2: and how you will use it in our lives in
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Speaker 2: the future. Through Christ our Savior.
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Speaker 1: Amen. All rights are reserved worldwide.
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Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.