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"The Church Jesus Built" by Hiram Kemp · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples,
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who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they gave various
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answers. Some people thought that Jesus was John the Baptist,
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reminded them of Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.
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But then Jesus, he posed the question to the disciples more specifically,
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and he said, but who do you say that I am? And that's the reading
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that Chuck gave us a moment ago. In verse 16, he says, Peter responds,
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you're the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus says,
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blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. Flesh and blood has
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not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say
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also unto you, you're Peter, and on this rock I'll build my
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church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
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And I'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on
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earth would have already been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth would
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have already been loosed in heaven. Jesus is asking a question about his identity,
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and I think it's important that in this section dealing with Jesus's
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identity that Jesus also has some things to say about the church, because people
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have always been confused about the identity of Jesus.
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But you could say equally, and maybe even more so, people have been confused
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about the identity and really the structure of the church.
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A lot of people would be surprised to know and to learn that Jesus actually
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built a church, and still more people might be confused
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and surprised by the components included in the church that Jesus actually
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built. And then in Matthew 16, Jesus gives us both.
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The term church, or the Greek word ekklesia, at one time was thought by
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religious people to be a special word, a compound word. The first part
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of this word, ek, meaning out of, and the last part, klaseia, to call.
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And for a long time, people said, you know, this word church, this Greek
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word ekklesia, it means we're the called-out people of God, the special
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people of God. But you start reading Greek literature around
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the time of the New Testament and even in the New Testament itself, and what
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you find is this word church, this word ekklesia,
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it just means assembly. It means group of people. I mean, that's how it's used
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even in the New Testament. In places like Acts 19:32 and
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Acts 19:40, the word church is just used to talk about an assembly,
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a congregation, or a group of people. When it's used to talk specifically
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about people who believe the same things about Jesus Christ, the word church
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throughout the New Testament is meant there to specifically deal with people who congregate
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and who represent an assembly based on our shared belief on the person
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and work of Jesus Christ. So, when you think about the word church,
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don't think about a special word or even a special place, a building.
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Instead, think about a special people. People and a special family. Titus chapter 2
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and verse 14. When you read the words that Jesus promised to build
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his church, don't think of a building or pews or construction.
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Instead, think about believers. Think about people. Think about
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a community. Because when Jesus is talking about the church, that's exactly what
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he means. And Jesus has some things to say about the kind of church
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that he would build. And this makes a difference because if Jesus promises
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to build a church, then it means we need to be looking for the things
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that Jesus says are going to be true about the church that he builds.
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And it also means for whatever else we might say, people that don't
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have these components, it's not the church that Jesus built and that Jesus assigned.
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Jesus promises to build a church, and this morning I want to talk to you
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about several of the things that are true about the church that Jesus built.
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And here's the first one: the church that Jesus built is owned
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by Christ. Maybe you know of people who have this idea that they
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love Jesus, but they're not really that concerned about the church, or they really like
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Jesus, but not a fan of organized religion. This perspective
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fails to account for the fact that Jesus is actually the one that organized
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religion. I mean, read his words again. Look at Matthew 16:18,
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on this rock I will build my church. Jesus is the
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one saying he's going to establish the church. The passage on the screen in Acts
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chapter 20, Paul calls the elders from Ephesus up to the island of Miletus,
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and he starts talking to them about their duties and their responsibilities
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as elders. And tucked in that passage, he says, I want you to
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take heed to yourselves and over all the flock of God,
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over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed or shepherd
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the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. He says there
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about the church that the church is ultimately— it's owned by Christ.
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The church that Jesus built, in that church and over that
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church, he is the owner. Maybe you're familiar with
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the idea of someone being a squatter. A squatter is somebody that
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goes into somebody's dwelling place that's vacant, that's empty, that's been abandoned.
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They don't own it, but if they go through the proper legal channels,
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they can take up ownership. I mean, if the people that own it leave it
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vacant for a long time, if they occupy it for a certain length of time,
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pay the property taxes, and then win a lawsuit, a will-settled
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silent lawsuit, they can take ownership of the property even though it wasn't theirs
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to begin with. And I think sometimes people view the church this
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way. It's this idea that, hey, Jesus promised to build a church, but Jesus
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is gone. He's ascended into heaven, and now we're like the spiritual squatters. We can
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take control and ownership if we start please and do our own thing,
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failing to realize that Jesus is the owner of the church and he's ever-present
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in our midst. In Matthew 26 and verse 29, he says,
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I will drink the fruit of the vine with you new in the church,
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or in the kingdom of God. In Hebrews 2 and verse 12, he says,
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in the midst of the church, I will sing God's praise along with you.
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Jesus is still present and preeminent and practicing ownership over
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the church. No spiritual squatters allowed. Sometimes a person
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says, you know, God spoke to me and he told me to build this church.
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I know that's not true. Jesus never told anybody to build a church because
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that's his job. 1 Corinthians 3:11 says,
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other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is
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Jesus Christ. Appreciate that Jesus doesn't just
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introduce the idea of a church, he promised to build one
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specifically himself. And so what this means is
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the church at its heart doesn't belong to any preacher, any pastors,
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any popes, or any people. Jesus is the Chief
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Shepherd, 1 Peter 5:4. Anybody that has any authority
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in the church, whether it be elders or deacons or preachers, it's all delegated
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authority that ultimately belongs to Jesus. It means the church is not
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just another religious organization in the world among the many because its founder
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is not just another religious leader in the world among many. Muhammad taught the
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5 Pillars and Buddha spoke of enlightenment. Confucius pointed
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to the way, but Jesus, he pointed to himself. He says, I'm the way,
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the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by me,
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John 14:6. And the church that Jesus built,
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he's supremely the owner and the head over the church. Colossians 1:18
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says Jesus is the head of the church. He's the firstborn, that in all
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things he might be preeminent. And I don't
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think it's overstating it to say that at this point, with Jesus being the owner
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of the church, literally changes everything about how we should be viewing church,
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how we should be viewing this new kind of assembly that Jesus promised to build.
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Think about this. Maybe you've had somebody do this for you before. Maybe somebody's house
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sat for you before. Maybe you've been a house sitter and you know how this
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works. If you house sit for somebody else, it's your responsibility to go into their
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home and really to look after it in their absence, look after the
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home and any pets that they might have. As a house sitter, you do not
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have permission to do any home renovations. You can't
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start pulling down family photos that you don't think they smiled just right in.
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You don't get to pull up carpet. You can't throw a house party or forbid
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anybody entrance into the house that the owners previously said could
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come in. It's not your house. In fact, house sitters are not even
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chosen for their taste. They're chosen for their trust. And if you were
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to do that and then the homeowners were to come back, they would look at
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you like you were crazy and say something along the lines of What have you
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done to my house? I left you here to look after it and to care
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for it, but not to wreck it and to ruin it. And listen,
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that's us in the church that belongs to Jesus Christ. We can't just start
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practicing spiritual renovations, getting rid of whatever doctrines we don't like,
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pulling down practices and teachings that just don't suit us,
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just doing our own thing. Jesus does not need our creativity.
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He wants our compliance. Luke 6:46,
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he says, why do you call me Lord, Lord, but then fail to do the
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things that I say? If we do our own thing in his church, he'll come
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back with disappointment and rebuke and look at us and say, what have you done
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to my house? I left you here to build it up and
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to do your part to maintain it, but not to renovate it and to ruin
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it. Because the church is owned by Christ, and so that means in the church
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we should do only that which is authorized by Scripture, so that when
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Jesus comes back, the church looks like it's his house and not as
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if we've kicked him out and made it our own, because it doesn't belong to
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us. The church is owned by Christ. Here's the second thing: the church that
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Jesus built is loving. Sometimes a
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person visits a church, visits a congregation like this one, and when they leave,
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they'll say, oh, those people are so nice, they were so loving. And sometimes
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it's said almost in a sense of like surprise or almost
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astonishment. Hey, I went to a church and people were actually nice and kind to
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me. That should never be the case, because in the church that Jesus built,
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love isn't a plus, it's a must. Listen to John 13:34-35.
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Jesus says, a new commandment I give to you, that you love
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one another as I've loved you, that you also practice love toward one another.
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By this will all people know you're my disciples, if you have love
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one toward another. In the church that Jesus built, he expects his disciples
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to be loving. And if Jesus says something one time in Scripture,
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that ought to be enough to arrest our attention. But on this point,
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Jesus returns to it so often and so regularly that it needs
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to be a high priority in the minds of all of those that would be
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a part of this new family. This new assembly which Jesus promised to build on
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earth. Before he went back to the Father in John 15:12,
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he says, I give you a new command to love one another just
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like I've loved you. In John 15:17, he says,
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I've given you these commands so that you can love one another.
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Peter was present when he said that, and evidently he was listening closely
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because later on in 1 Peter 2:17, Peter will say, honor all men and
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love the brotherhood. And these words had such an impression on John that in
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just about everything that the Apostle John wrote, his response was love
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one another. 2 John verse 5, love one another because he loved us first.
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1 John 4 and verse 19. The church Jesus built is loving,
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but this ultimately springs out of the love that we've received from God.
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You see, 1 John 4 and verse 8 says that God is love.
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He's modeled it for us, and then we practice it. And it's
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at this point that maybe some people, depending on your experience, start pushing
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back and start saying things to themselves internally or even
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out loud like, no, not— no, not so. I've been to churches, and Hiram,
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let me tell you something. Christians, religious people, have been
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the most hypocritical, judgmental, harsh, and unloving
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toward me. I know you say that Jesus built a loving church, but I'm telling
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you, I've been around religious people and that's not the case.
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A few years ago, there was this post going around on social media. You could
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call it a meme, but it was more like a post where This is how
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it was described. I don't know, I believe it was fictional, but it was described
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this way. A person went into a church. They were late.
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They were a little awkward when they got there, and even their phone went off
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during the service. They were a little fidgety, and the summation of it was they
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were treated poorly as a result. This same person went
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later into a bar, and they were late, and they were fidgety,
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and their phone went off. The same, same thing across the board. And the
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whole point of this post was they were treated better in the bar than in
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the church. Listen, I haven't been to many bars, but I've been to churches,
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and I'm telling you, that's a misrepresentation of the facts.
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I hate that that's been some people's experience, but I'm telling you,
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the Bible says the church that Jesus built is loving. And no,
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this isn't a commercial to apologize for all the wrongs that religious
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people down through history have done, but it does serve as a corrective
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where we get it in our minds that there are no righteous people actually
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trying to do the right thing. And doing their best. Acts 2:47 says that
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in the first century, the early church had the favor of all the people.
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And there's a sense in which that can still be true today because the church
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that Jesus built, it's loving. It serves to correct our
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notions that sometimes think to ourselves the most loving people in the world that will
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accept you without judgment and receive you as you are are the people that are
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furthest away from God, when the Bible actually says that the church Jesus built will
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hold you closest because they're the closest people to God.
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Ephesians 5:1-2 says, dearly beloved, follow after
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Christ as dear children who loved us and gave himself as a sacrifice
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for us. The church that Jesus built is loving. And I know all
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about church hurt. I've read the books, the blogs, the articles, and let me
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say, church hurt is a real thing. It is.
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But so is church help. And we ought to make church help more
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popular than church hurt, because the Bible says the church
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Jesus built is loving. But in order to do this, in order
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to see church help as more powerful and more prominent and more of the
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norm than church hurt, you're gonna have to get off social media, and you'll have
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to get off the blogs, and you'll have to get off the internet. And when
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you want to see church help, you're gonna have to go into some hospital rooms.
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You'll have to go into some waiting rooms. You have to go into some living
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rooms and some nursing homes to see the church at her actual
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best doing the exact things that God says that she should.
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I'm sorry for religious people that sometimes claim to do things in the name of
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Jesus, but they fall short. But that's no reflection on God, on love,
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or the church. Maybe they've fallen short, or maybe they're not the people of God
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at all, though they may claim to be. But the church Jesus built, by its
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very nature, is loving. In what ways? It's a place where you can confess your
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sins and your wrongdoing and be forgiven, James 5:16. It's a
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place where other people will sing the truth of God to your heart to encourage
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you, to admonish you, and to build you up, Colossians 3:16.
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It's where your joys become the joys of others as if it was theirs,
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and your sorrow becomes their sorrow, Romans 12:15.
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It's where people put your needs above their own as we in honor prefer
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one another, Romans 12:9-10. And it's where people will lovingly correct
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you even where you're wrong, Hebrews 12:7-11. Because that's
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the way Jesus built his church. Somebody says, come on, Hiram, keep it real.
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You know the church doesn't always perform like they should. This is as real as
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you can keep it. The church is not just loving. So far as the New
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Testament is concerned, the church introduced love into the world. In a
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society where nobody was concerned with the nobodies, the have-nots,
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the losers, and the failures, Jesus taught his disciples,
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love your enemies, do good to those who mistreat you,
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pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you. Luke 6:27-28.
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Love covers a multitude of sins. 1 John 4:8.
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The church Jesus built, the one he built, the assembly of his people is
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dominated by love. But here's number 3, the church Jesus built is
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spiritual. Turn your Bible to 1 Peter chapter 2.
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In 1 Peter 2, Peter says some things about the people of God that I
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think are helpful, and it'll shape the way we ultimately view the church. Because if
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you want your physical person fed, you should go to a restaurant.
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If you want to be amused and entertained, you should go to
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an amusement park. If you're interested in knowledge and learning,
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you should take a seminar or a class. But if you want the inner person
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to be fed and to be motivated in the right way,
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the church is interested in the spiritual aspect of who you are.
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Notice what Peter says in 1 Peter 2:5. He says that the
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church is to engage in this idea of spiritual sacrifices.
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He says we're to offer up spiritual sacrifices because we're the spiritual
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people of God. In 1 Peter 2:9, he says you're a holy nation.
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He says you're a holy race, a chosen race, a new priesthood. In verse 9,
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it's our responsibility to offer up God's praise and excellencies because
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he's called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Everything that
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Peter says in 1 Peter 2:5-9 says the focus of the church primarily
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and above all else is to be engaged in spiritual endeavors.
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This means that the church is primarily concerned about building up the
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inner person and the inner man. And it's good to be honest about
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this up front because some people— sometimes people come to church and
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they're disappointed, they're disenchanted, and they say things like, you know, church just
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really isn't for me. I went, I didn't have any fun. I wasn't
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entertained. And to be sure, the church does physical things.
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The church even has fun, but the primary focus of the church
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that Jesus built is to build up the inner person,
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the glorification of God, to cultivate and develop holiness. That's why
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Paul can say in 1 Corinthians 10:31, whether you eat or drink, whatever you
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do, do it all to the glory of God, because the church is interested in
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the spiritual person, the inner man. And so you should expect
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to come to a building like this, an assembly of God's people, and hear about
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your sin, the things that you're doing that are not in line with God's Word,
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because the Holy Spirit through Scripture is trying to attack our sins
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to shape us into the people that we're supposed to be. Romans 3:9-23.
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You should hear about your salvation and what Jesus has provided as
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he came into the world to save sinners. 1 Timothy 1:15.
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You should expect to hear about sanctification and that God expects you to grow
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in godliness and have your mind shaped by Scripture and be renewed in the
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spirit of your mind. Ephesians 4:23. Because the church that Jesus
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built at its core And at its heart, it's spiritual.
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And we need to appreciate this. I mean, people that are members of the church,
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we need to realize that we are distinct on purpose. To ask
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the church to cave to the age and to the current culture is like asking
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the cure to cultivate and to cave into the disease.
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We're supposed to be the solution for the world's ills. When you come into the
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church, God has structured his family in such a way that you will finally
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say to yourself when you enter it, This is the ache that
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I could never soothe. This is the itch that I could never scratch because it
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was more than skin deep. Everything else in my life is designed to amuse me,
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to entertain me, and to distract me. But when I come among the people of
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God, hear God's Word preached, sing these songs about
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the things that ultimately matter most, it's here that I can finally be
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made whole. That's why Paul says to have your mind transformed,
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Romans 12:2. Because the church that Jesus built is
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spiritual. Here's number 4: the church Jesus
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built is singular. In Ephesians chapter 1,
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Paul describes the body of Christ as the church and the church as
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his body, and metaphorically he says that Jesus is the head of the church,
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Ephesians 1:22-23. The whole thrust of this is,
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is stressing our interconnectedness to Jesus. We're tied to Jesus in
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an inseparable way. But then in Ephesians 4:4, Paul says, there is one
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body. According to Paul, there's one church. That means there's one assembly,
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one group of people that are pleasing to God in all the world. That's what
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Jesus built. That's what he promised to do. And the church that Jesus built,
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it's singular in nature. There aren't many. Paul says there's one.
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Denominationalism was never a part of God's plan.
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Different groups with different practices and different styles and different doctrines,
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was never a part of what Jesus wanted. In fact, Jesus prayed against
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it. In John 17:20-21, Jesus was praying
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for the people that would believe in him. That's you and me, based on the
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apostles' teaching. And he says, neither do I pray for these alone, but for
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those also who will believe in me through their word, that they might all be
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united as one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they
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also might be one in us, that the world might believe that you sent me.
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That's why throughout the New Testament you read these passages of there being one body
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and one church. Listen, it wasn't about denominationalism primarily. A lot of
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times the New Testament is saying, hey, you guys, Jews and Gentiles,
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male and female, slave and free, you've got to get on the same page and
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squash your differences because there's nowhere else to go. Denominationalism in
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the New Testament wasn't just unauthorized, it was unthinkable.
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Nobody would have thought in the first century that they could do church better
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than Jesus. They wouldn't dare start their own. And so Paul regularly appeals
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in Philippians 2:2, be of one mind, be together.
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Ephesians 4:2-3, he says, in all lowliness
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and meekness and longsuffering, bear with each other in love.
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Keep the unity of the Spirit together in the bond of peace. You know why?
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Because the church Jesus built is singular. This doesn't
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mean everybody in the world has to be in one building together. It's sort of
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like, just think about the US Postal Service. Nationwide entity found
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throughout the world. Everywhere you find this though, they're practicing the same thing.
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They have the same purpose. They have the same mission, the same goal.
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One postal service throughout the nation in various places,
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all united in purpose. Singular entity. Think about Waffle
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House. Everywhere you go, it's the same. If you get outside of one, you're going
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to see the shoebox-type structure building. You go inside,
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there's the low-profile counter seating, the open grill
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concept, and the jukebox. Everywhere you go, that's Waffle House.
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It doesn't matter where you go. They're in different locations, different managers,
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different people, same building.
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Dollar General. Listen, you could be in the middle of the Sahara Desert, and you
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know what you'll find out there? You will find a Dollar General. And guess what's
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gonna happen when you go inside? It's gonna be the same everywhere you go.
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Listen, when you think about the unity of the church and the singular nature,
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we do not mean same building, same pews,
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same construction. What we mean is same beliefs,
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same doctrine, same practice. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4,
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Paul says, we believe these things about Jesus's death, his burial,
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and his resurrection. The church continued steadfastly
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in the apostles' doctrine, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers,
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Acts 2:42. And wherever you go, if a group of people is of Christ,
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or belongs to Jesus, it'll be the same thing. The church is singular.
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That means wherever you go, if you were to ask a group of people that
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claim to be a part of the assembly of Jesus, hey, how do I become
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a Christian? In every place, the answer should be the same in its totality.
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Believe that Jesus is the Son of God, turn away from your sins,
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and be baptized to have your sins washed away. Don't get creative.
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Don't say anything different because that's exactly what the New Testament says.
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What about how we're going to worship God and what God wants us to do
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in moments like this when we're gathering in worship? So many people think we've got
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options and there's contemporary and there's traditional. Paul would say,
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no, there's just scriptural. Do it in spirit and in truth,
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just like the New Testament says. The church is singular, meaning it's going
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to hold fast and firm to the gospel and the doctrine as it was given,
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2 Timothy 1:13. The church Jesus
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built is singular. This means Jesus did not ascend
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back into heaven and leave 100 different styles of churches, to confuse us and
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overwhelm us so we could try to figure out which one is right. Neither did
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he give us all of these different flavors of Christianity so that we could just
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kind of feed our egos, which was our problem to begin with, and pick
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the one that actually suits us the best. No, Jesus says, you're sinners,
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I love you enough to save you, and I also love you enough to create
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the family of God so it's the same everywhere with every person. And when
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you put your faith and trust in me I'll place you in it, and everybody
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in the world can be a part of it. The church Jesus built is singular.
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Here's number 5: the church Jesus built is eternal.
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This goes in 2 different directions. The New Testament says that the church was
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in the mind of God before the creation of the world. In Ephesians 3:9-11,
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Paul actually says the church is a part of the eternal purpose of God,
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which he purposed in Christ Jesus. That means before Genesis chapter
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1, or before anything was anything, God already had it in
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his mind, I'm going to build the church. But this also goes forward because in
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Daniel 2:44, there's a prophecy. And in this prophecy,
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Daniel talks about a kingdom that was one day going to be built and it
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was going to crush and consume all other kingdoms. And that is the kingdom
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of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 16, Chuck read that passage in
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verse 19, Jesus uses church and kingdom interchangeably.
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And the kingdom of Jesus Christ, it's going to stand forever. It's eternal.
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It's never going to leave. It's always going to be present because the
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church Jesus built is here to stay. Sometimes you go into an
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establishment and you'll see on this— on the wall, maybe there's a sign
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of some sort that says, we've been in business since, and you'll see the date.
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That date is designed to say to people that come in, we've been around a
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long time, we know exactly what we're doing, and we're not going anywhere.
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Jesus promised to build an assembly, a group of people that would be based on
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their belief and faith in him. And when somebody comes in and says, how long
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have you guys been at this? Don't think about the Cumberland Trace Church of Christ,
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and don't think about 2 years ago. Jesus says, you've got to go back further
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than that, and you've got to go back even further than Acts chapter 2,
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and then you've got to go forward into eternity. How long has the church
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been at what she's been doing? As far as God's concerned, the church
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is eternal. It's always been in his mind. In Acts chapter 2,
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it came into physical realization, and it'll always be here. For eternity,
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and it's not going anywhere. And here's the 6th and final thing: the church that
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Jesus built is inviting. At the very end of the New Testament in
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Revelation 22, John says, the Spirit and
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the bride say, come. And let the one who hears come. And let those that
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are thirsty come and take of the waters of life and drink freely.
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John echoes a passage from Isaiah 55:1, this prophetic
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picture of God offering salvation, which is described as water.
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And he's saying that it's free. Really, it costs you nothing because it's by God's
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grace through faith, Ephesians 2:8-9, and it's offered to
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everybody in the world. The call of the New Testament is whosoever will,
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let them come, Acts 2:21. Whosoever calls on the name of
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the Lord will be saved, Romans 10:13. The church is inviting. The last
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passage about the church in the New Testament, Revelation 22:17,
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has the church and the Holy Spirit singing a duet together
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to the whole world saying, everybody in the world is invited.
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Jesus wanted to impress this point on people so strongly that in
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his earthly ministry he once told a parable and he says, the kingdom of heaven
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is like this. It's like a great party and God's the one throwing this
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banquet. And he sent people out into the world to call in all the crippled,
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the lame, the blind, and the poor to take part in this banquet.
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And they go out and do it and they come back and they say,
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It's still not full and it hasn't reached capacity. He sends servants
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back out and he says, you go into the alleyways, you go into the streets,
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and you find the worst and the most broken and beat-down people you can find,
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and you bring them into my house because I want it full to its capacity.
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And I'm not done yet. Luke 14:22-25.
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The church that Jesus built, it's inviting. What does that mean?
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It means you're supposed to be here. It means
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everybody in the world is on heaven's most wanted list, and God expects—
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he demands your presence here. He wants you to RSVP for the kingdom,
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not just for a Sunday worship service, but to literally be
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a part of his family. But the church is inviting, and so that
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also means scoot over, scooch down, move over,
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because more people are coming. It means that we haven't reached
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capacity, not this congregation and not the kingdom of God throughout the world, because the
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church is still echoing this call from Revelation 22:17.
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The Spirit and the bride of Jesus Christ, which is the church,
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says, come, and whosoever will— this literally means anybody.
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You don't know anybody who's off limits because
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the church Jesus built is for everybody. No wonder the sinners and the tax collectors
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flocked to him in his earthly ministry, because as far as he's concerned, that's exactly
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who he came for. And he came for me. And he came for you.
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When we think about Jesus building the church, it would be a misunderstanding
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to think about hammers and nails and Jesus pulling permits. That's not what he did.
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The word church, it just means assembly. It's a group of people that believe in
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Jesus as the Son of God who faithfully responded to the gospel, and now they're
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part of this new kind of community that God has in the world. It's owned
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by Jesus, but it's open to everybody. Jesus became
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owner of the church when he died on the cross and purchased
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it with his own blood. It's not ours. We don't get to spruce it up,
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make renovations, or change anything, but we do get to be a part of it
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and to the best of our ability invite everybody into the world to do
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the very same thing. That's what we mean at the end of sermons here at
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the Cumberland Trace Church of Christ when we say heaven's invitation is open. It's not
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ours. It's God offering anybody and everybody an opportunity
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to be a part of the new kind of community that he's placed into the
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world to permeate all of creation and change things as they were always
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designed to be. If you believe that Jesus is the Son
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of God and you want to turn away from your sins, Acts chapter 2 and
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verse 38 says you can be baptized to have your sins washed away,
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rise in newness of life, and God will add you to the church and
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you'll be a part of his family. And then you go from the invited to
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the one doing the inviting. Mike's going to lead us in a song to encourage
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us. If you need to accept that invitation, Or if we can pray with you
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or pray for you or help you in any way, let us know how we
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can do it as together we stand and as we sing.