[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our
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[00:00:24] Speaker B: Well, good morning, everybody. I'm glad you are here. And it's a very special weekend in that we want to recognize and honor a group of people who are certainly worthy of that honor. The Bible says you pay honor to whom honor is due. And we had a group in the church that we certainly want to honor on this weekend we did in the previous service. We want to do in this service, and that's all of our teachers and educators, our coaches, those who are in school administration.
If that is your role and you are preparing for a new school year, would you stand and let us recognize you and thank you and just remain standing? I want to pray over you.
These folks are often underappreciated. They're definitely underpaid. We need to get them some more money, and we want to pray for them that they'll have a wonderful year. Would you join me in prayer for these folks? Father? Thank you for our teachers, these educators, these people, Father, who really will impact the lives of our young people.
We're grateful for each one of them. We know that teaching and being in education is really a calling. It's more than a job. It's a life's calling. So I pray, Father, you'll meet their deepest need, that you'll give them an incredible year. Bless their families. Lord, I thank you for the role that they play in the lives of our children.
Every one of us in this room can look back and remember a teacher, a coach, someone in that world that made a difference in our lives.
And, Father, I pray they'll never underestimate the impact and the difference that they make in the lives of our children. Help us to be faithful, to pray for them, to encourage them, to help them, and I just pray you would bless them on this very special weekend. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen again. Would you give them another big hand? Thank you. Folks, we have a little gift for you out at a table in the lobby. I hope as you leave, you'll go by and pick that little gift up. Just a token of our appreciation for you.
This year we've been in a series of sermons where We've been talking about health, the importance of emotional health, of physical health, of spiritual health. Because the bottom line is healthy things grow, healthy churches grow, healthy businesses grow, healthy families grow, healthy individuals grow. So throughout the year, all of the series that we've been doing, we've just kind of been weaving that theme throughout those series.
And this morning in this new series is no different at all. Because in this weekend, in this series, we're going to be talking about some essential things that truly make a healthy church. There are some things that we are to be in agreement on. There are essentials. There are a lot of things that we can disagree on. There are non essentials. And someone as well put it this way, in essentials, we ought to have unity, and non essentials, we ought to have liberty. But in everything, we ought to have charity. Cut each other some slack. But on these essentials, as we look at them, in this next series, we're going to be looking at things that the Apostle Paul set out as being some absolute necessary essentials in the life of a healthy church. These are kind of pillars. These are things that you build a church on. These are things, when properly, properly understood, will help you build your system of belief on as a Christ follower. Because what you and I believe is very significant.
What a person believes will determine what that person, how that person behaves, and that ultimately determines who that person becomes. The Old English word for believe is by live. It's the idea that I live by my core beliefs. The things that I believe about my physical health will change how I how I live. The things that I believe about my emotional health will change the way that I live.
And the things that we believe about our spiritual health will change the way that we live. And so we're gonna look at some seven essential things that bring about a sevenfold blessing in the life of a church. If you have a Bible, look with me in Ephesians, chapter 4. If not, we have this for you. On the screen, Paul was writing and said in verse one, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, I beseech you, I encourage you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.
With all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing one another in love, endeavoring, he said, to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Now let me stop long enough to say that only the Holy Spirit of God can create unity within the life of a church.
We have so many people who come from so many places and so many different backgrounds. We're a diverse church with Cultural, with economic, with life experience, with political views. We're a very diverse church. And so how do you then take a very diverse group of people and create unity? Well, you can't.
It's the work of the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit can make unity out of diversity because we all have our opinions, and we have strong opinions. So how do we then set aside our opinions? And we consider one another. We love one another. We by love serve one another. And we find ourselves united with one another in our mission and in our cause. And that is the work of the Holy Spirit. And so what I'm suggesting you is he's saying here in this particular verse, verse three, he said, we are to endeavor to keep that unity. I can't create it, I'm supposed to keep it. So that's the challenge before the church, is to keep the unity that the Holy Spirit has created. That's why anything that creates disunity is something that we ought to fight against. Anyone. Anything that divides people, that ought to be something that we fight against. So there ought to be a unity and a unity of the Holy Spirit, and there ought to be a commitment to keep that unity. And then in verse four, he picks up these seven things that we're gonna be talking about. He said, in the life of a healthy church, these are seven essentials. Number one, one body. We're gonna talk about that for a few moments next week.
We'll talk about one Spirit, even as you were called into the next week, one hope of your calling. And then verse five, one Lord. And then we'll talk about one faith. Then we'll talk about one baptism. And we'll close with one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all. And I think Paul was a Southerner in you all, in y'. All. And so we're going to be dealing with those seven things that we're going to be talking about the importance of those. And this morning, I want to talk to you about the significance of one body. Now, what does he mean when he talks about what is one body? What is that? What he's speaking of? The body of Christ. The body of Christ. In First Corinthians 12, the church is often referred to as a body of Christ. And the most significant thing is to be connected is the first idea connected into the body of Christ. Well, understand there is what is called the universal, mystical, spiritual body of Christ.
That's the body of Christ that every Christ follower, every child of God, regardless of where they live on this planet, we are connected universally, mystically, spiritually with one another in the universal body of Christ.
The brothers and sisters we have in Uganda, in that ministry that we support there, or in Belize, in the ministry we support there, or any other of our mission endeavors, those brothers and sisters are just as much a part of our family and our body as those in this room this morning. We are connected with every Christ follower, regardless of the church they attend, regardless of the place that they live.
If they know Jesus as we know Jesus, we're in the body. We are connected through this baptism called the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The moment you receive Jesus Christ as Savior, through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we are connected into the universal, mystical spiritual body of Jesus Christ. In fact, 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, for by one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, regardless of that cultural background, we were all, all baptized and made to drink of that same Holy Spirit. Now listen, when it comes to being connected to God, when it comes to receiving Jesus as Savior, you cannot be a Christian without Christ and you cannot have Christ without His Holy Spirit.
In fact, the Bible says, according to Romans chapter 8 and verse 9, if anyone does not have His Spirit, he is none of his.
You cannot have Jesus without His Holy Spirit. The Bible says there's three in heaven. Those three are one. You cannot have one without the other three.
The three are one. You can have Jesus and not have the Holy Spirit. Some people believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The reason I'm talking about this now, some people believe that that's a second work of grace, that that does not happen the moment you receive him. That you can have Jesus and not have His Holy Spirit. Well, that's foreign to what the Bible is teaching here. The Bible says again, Romans 8, 9. How do you have the Spirit? You can have Jesus without His Spirit. In fact, listen to John, chapter 3, verse 34. God does not give His Spirit by measure. By measure, he doesn't mete out the Spirit. Meaning you don't get Jesus now and get the Spirit a little later on.
You have all of the Holy Spirit you're ever gonna receive the moment you receive Jesus. That is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And it is through that baptism we are connected into the body of Christ. That is absolutely mystical and universal. Then there is a second baptism that connects us not to the church, that is universal, spiritual and mystical. This baptism connects us to the church that is local and that's water baptism. That's when you receive Jesus as your Savior and You take the first step of obedience and you follow him in baptism. The verse I've got for you in Acts, chapter 2 41, those who gladly received his word were baptized.
And they on that day about 3,000 were added unto them. That church went from 120 members according to Acts 1 to Acts 2. The day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came, Simon peter preached and 3,000 people joined on that one Sunday. That's a Pretty good day. 3,000 people were baptized on that one Sunday. Now the mode of baptism that is indicated in the scripture is the word baptize is baptizo. And that gets to the mode of baptism, which means to dip, to plunge or immerse.
Now I have some people, I have some friends who baptize by sprinkling. Kind of like that old Brill cream advertisement said little dab will do you, you know, sprinkling. But the thing of it is, and I don't fault anybody if you've been sprinkled. I'm just saying we at the church here, we baptize by immersion because I believe that is the mode that the Bible teaches. When the Bible says, concerning the baptism of Jesus, he came up out of the water and the Spirit of God descended on him like a dove. You cannot come up out of something. You didn't first go down and keep in mind what baptism, water, baptism, what it represents, it is a picture of the gospel. When a person is in that baptistery and they go down into the water, that pictures his death. When they come up out of the water, that pictures his. And go down into the water really pictures his death and burial. When they come up out of the water, it pictures his resurrection. And so it's a beautiful picture of the gospel. And when you bury someone, you don't just sprinkle a little dirt on them, you immerse them.
And we have a lot of people that are baptized. We have a class for people who want to know more about baptism. But the baptism class is not a requirement in order for you to be baptized. My dad's old church, we would offer baptism at the end of every weekend service. And we would structure the worship where we'd have time at the end of the service to baptize those who were wanting to come for baptism. And so we'd do part of the set up front message and then we'd leave a little time on the back end. So if you wanted to be baptized, you just came forward with, we took you back. Men on one side, women on the other side. We had robes. We had, y' all ready to go. And Pastor went in there and baptized. I remember I was baptizing one time at the old church and had a lady that I've known for a long time, and she came forward for baptism on that Sunday morning. And so she had this. The robes that we provide for them that she was wearing. And we get in the Baptistry and then there. And I'm talking a little bit about her, kind of bantering with her a little bit. I've known her a long time. And so I'm going back into the water, you know, baptized, name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And as I'm going, taking her back into the water, under the water, her, her baptistery robe starts heading north.
And so I'm going, boy, the church doesn't need another scandal right now, do we? I mean, good Lord.
So I immediately did what any, what you ought to do. I, I, I looked up and, and my eyes were all, you know, and, and brought her up out of the water. And so didn't think anything of it. After church, she came up to me, and she was a little upset, and not mad, but just a little upset. I said, well, what's the matter? She goes, when you were baptizing me, you didn't get my face under the water. And I thought, well, that makes sense. Cause I looked up and I wasn't watching whether or not she was completely immersed. And so she said, you didn't get my face under the water? And I went, oh, no.
And she went, what? And I went, you're gonna be in heaven without a face?
Is that terrible? So I've said that. And then I let her off the hook. I'm just messing with you. I said, if it bothers you, go splash a little water on your face. You'll be good to go, right?
But it's a symbol. It's symbolic. You can go to heaven without being baptized.
You don't get baptized in order to be saved. You get baptized because you have been saved. And I know people look at that verse in Mark that says, he who believes and is baptized will be saved. But the next verse says, but he who believes not shall not be saved. It didn't say, who believes not and is not baptized shall be saved. In fact, you have the thief on the cross. He was never baptized, didn't go to a class. And Jesus said, today you will be with me in paradise. But there are some denominations that believe that's part of it. And that's an element that you have to we're not of that because I don't think the Bible teaches that. I think a proper understanding is baptism by water is an identification with that local church. And on that day when 3,000 people testified that they had received Jesus in their heart, they were baptized. Baptism. Now get this is an outward testimony of an inward transaction. It's me going public with my faith saying I'm not afraid or ashamed to be identified with these other Christ followers. And I'm going to follow the example of Jesus and I'm going to typify his death, burial and resurrection by my commitment to him through baptism. Now, what am I drawing at driving it? I'm saying that the connection into this body, the connection is through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which happens at salvation through water baptism, which happens with that first step, obedience. When you choose to go public with your faith and let everyone know that you know Jesus. Now, what that does, secondly is not only does it involve a connection, but it also involves a contribution. A contribution.
We are now connected with one another so that we can receive ministry. And we're in a place to give ministry.
It is giving and receiving. We are contributing to one another. We're contributing to our society. A church is a contributing community of committed people. We are committed to contributing all that we have received of God and all that we're doing for him. Acts, chapter 2, verse 44, verse 45.
Those who were believed were together.
There's unity, unity of the Holy Spirit. And note now had all things in common. It's interesting that expression in common is where we get the idea of koinonia in the Greek. Koinonia is to share something with someone or to share in something with someone.
When I talk to you or you talk to me and you go, hey, Bill, pray with me about this thing going on at work or in my family, you're sharing something with me. And that's one level of koinonia. But when I then say to you, hey, how can we get together this week? How can I help you through this? What can I do for you? And I actually physically help you through a time, a hard time that's sharing in something with someone. You see the two levels share something, share in something. And what was happening in that early church was that dynamic. Now, the reason that was important. In fact, keep reading there, if you will. In Acts 2, 44, 45, it said they even sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all, as everyone had need. Now, let me tell you, that's not teaching socialism. That's not Saying that you sell everything you have and you give it to help other people who are in need. This was a church that was facing a crisis and they were helping people through the gifts and the abilities that they had to help people.
Some people will use that as a basis for socialism and say, well, that's what the Bible says. Jesus was a socialist. No, he wasn't. And that's not what it's teaching. Don't go find a tooth and try to build a dinosaur off of that. That's not what's being taught. Understand the culture of that day. They were serving in a church, this new church that was literally outlawed by the government of Rome. Rome would not allow corporate gatherings like we have today. This meeting we're having this morning, and the one we had before this would never been allowed. In first century Rome, you couldn't have a corporate gathering like this.
So the church was forced underground. They had to go into homes and they met kind of as secret disciples all over the city. They were small groups that were meeting in the homes of individuals because you couldn't have. After the day of Pentecost, you don't read of another big corporate gathering called the Church. That was happening because Rome had outlawed that. They outlawed it as we'll get to in a few weeks, because the law of the land was, Caesar is Lord. There's no one you can swear an allegiance to higher or above Caesar, where every Christian knows Jesus is Lord. He's the Lord of our life, he's the Savior. And so that was in conflict to the laws of the day. And so the church then was forced underground. And it wasn't just the political establishment, it was also the religious establishment that came against the church. People who were in synagogues and who were in temples were being excommunicated because they were identifying with this new group of Christ followers. They were identifying with these people who believed that Jesus, who had been crucified, now was risen from the dead. And the religious order of the day viewed the church as cultic. In fact, some of the things they would say about the church is these crazy Christians, they, they believe in cannibalism.
They have services where they're eating flesh and drinking blood. Well, you know where we got that, that idea from, right? Where Jesus said, you're partaking of my body and it's called communion. It's the Lord's Supper. And they were interpreting that to be literal. And, and they were saying, these crazy Christians, man, they're like cannibals. They're eating flesh. And they're drinking blood. And so if you were identified with this new church that was getting started in the city of Jerusalem, not only were you in defiance of the laws of the land, you also could be excommunicated from the religious world.
You would be put out of the synagogue, you would be put out of the temple. Now you say, so what? Well, here's the so what if you were desynagogued or put out of the temple, you could not buy, sell, or trade with other people who were Jewish people, a lot of them would not do business with you anymore.
People lost their whole customer base. They could not do any business. They wouldn't even sell goods to you. They wouldn't take your money because they thought you were some crazy cult. They didn't want to have anything to do with you. Besides that, what you're doing is even illegal. And so these people were being ostracized and persecuted because of their beliefs. Now you're back to our text. What was happening then is the church was getting together through these small groups and helping each other. This person had just lost their job, and this person says, hey, I can help you. I've got some extra food. What do you need this week? Somebody else would say, hey, I've got something you could help me. I've got a job. We'll fly under the radar and you can help me and I'll be able to make. Help you make a little money. And so it was koinonia. They were helping people go through a crisis. And so it was a temporary situation. But the principle that I don't want you to miss is this church was contributing each person's. Their needs were being met, and they were being met through the life of that church.
They weren't turning people away. They weren't saying, well, I wish I could help you, and pat them under the head as they go under slowly and say, well, good luck with all that. They were saying, I'm gonna do everything I can to help you through this crisis. I that was the spirit of the church. It was koinonia. In fact, notice with me, it's a very significant principle. It's in Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 16, where the Bible says, this whole body, this body called the church, it's joined and knit together by what every joint supplies. What is a joint? A joint is a connection point.
He goes on to say, every part does it share.
He says, it causes the growth of the body for the building up of this body in love. Now he's saying that this body has parts. First Corinthians 12, there's a hand and an eye he talks about. He says, no healthy eye ever looked at the hand and said, I don't have need of you. The eye is a tender part. We have tender people. The hand is a tough part. We have tough people. We have people who are outgoing. We have people who are very shy, but there are no unimportant people. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 12, he said, when one member suffers, we all suffer with it because we're part of the same body. Let me illustrate it this way. Have you ever hit your head with a hammer, hit your thumb? I hope you didn't hit your head, but have you hit your thumb with a hammer? And you hit your thumb with a hammer. And did you ever look at your thumb and say, wow, I'm glad that wasn't me.
Or you ever got up in the night and hit that little toe on the coffee table or whatever, and you look at your foot as it's throbbing in pain, going, wow, I'm glad that's my toe and not me. No, it's never happened. Because that's all a part of the same body. And the point Paul is driving at is if one of us suffer, we all should suffer. If one of us is going through something, it ought to affect all of us. And look, and the principle of Ephesians 4, if the only way we can know is if those parts are connected, if the hand bone's connected to the wrist bone and the wrist bone, all that stuff has to be connected. And if it's not connected, it cannot give nor can it receive. My hand is healthy because my hand is connected to my arm through the wrist. And my hand receives everything it needs to be healthy and functional because of the connection. If I lose the connection, my hand dies. If you don't have a connection point into the life of a local church, if there's not some point where you're receiving ministry and you're able to give ministry, then part of your spiritual life will suffer. So what we try to do in the life of our church is what most churches do. We want you involved somewhere, just doing something. Not because we don't think you have enough to do in your life.
Really, we're not going, huh? Let's give them something else to do. No, it's not that. It's just. It's the only way we can track members. It's the only way we can know where people are. It's the only way we can help them Receive ministry when they need it, and. And they can help us minister to other people as they need it. We were just looking this past week at just how many people who call the Met Church their church home. I was just curious about it.
And so we pulled up the information, and I was astounded. I was astonished by how many people who currently, as of today, consider the Met Church their church home. Now, that doesn't mean they're here all the time. It may be they're poinsettias and lilies.
We may see them at Christmas and Easter. They may just do touch and goes with us. We may not see them hardly at all. But they still. If you run into them, and I run into them all the time, I'll see em at Kroger. Bill, how you doing, Pastor Bill? Oh, you know, Covid. We're gonna get my go. Come on.
We're so past Covid. You gotta play. You gotta do something else. I'll watch you online. No, you don't.
No. You know, that's. That's adorable, but I know, you know, that's sweet. I love it. But anyway, but the point is, you know, I was curious. So how many people do we have? You know how many people we have who call this their church home? It's going to blow your hat in the Creek. We've got 28,000 people that call this their church home. Yeah, okay, that's.
Considering we started with 25, that's pretty amazing.
But the next question is, where are they?
But the grocery store, of course that's where they all are. It's where I'll see them. But no, the point is, let's say those records are off.
Say we're off by 20,000.
That's still 8,000.
That's a lot of people. And I'm just suggesting to you that the only way we can know what the needs of those people are at any given moment is if there's some connection point. This church outgrew me at the high school. The average church in America runs about 125 to 150. You know why?
Because statistics. Statistics say I brushed my teeth. I can't do anything with them. Statistics say that that's about how many people that the average pastor can effectively personally Minister to. About 150. When he gets bigger than that, you gotta have help. You gotta have help. And so I'm just saying this church outgrew me a long time ago. So what is the answer? The answer is it to me. Stand at the door and go, we're Full go down the road. Sorry, we're all full in here. No, I can't explain the dynamics of the growth. But you know, Jesus said, upon this rock, I will build my church. So Jesus keeps sending them, and we just keep trying to accommodate them. But I do know this Based on Ephesians 4, the only way we can properly minister to people is to get them connected where they're in a place to receive ministry and to give ministry to help other people. So the challenge we've got is, and we're going to be addressing that as a staff, and is, how do we account for these folks? And are we offering enough to try to get these folks connected? And are we sure that we're offering them enough to try to get them engaged and connected back into the life of the church? It's a job that's just never done. But I'm saying that when you're a part of a church family, it is a contributing. It is a contributing society. We're giving ministry, we're receiving ministry. So one of the things I love about our largest home mission with the crc, and we got a lot of our staff here this morning that work over there tirelessly. Many of you volunteers that work over there tirelessly, we never have to turn someone away and say, there's nothing we can do for you. We can always help them, and we always try to be there for them. And it's a wonderful thing because when we started the church, we'd have people almost every month who would say, I need help with my. With my mortgage. I need help with a car payment. I need help with utilities. I mean, we ran into that at the high school. And so there were things that we just simply didn't have the money to do. We had the heart to do it, but we didn't have the resources to do it. And we started realizing early on that that was just a continual problem, that people were going through a crisis, and the first place they would go was they'd go to the church for help.
And can I tell you, you know why so many people have turned to the government for help instead of God? Because in many cases, the church has let them down.
The church hasn't been there.
And so the only social net that's left in society anymore when somebody's in trouble is to go to the government.
Well, part of what we're trying to do as just simply a little microcosm, and as an example of what I wished every church would do, is try to be the example of how we can get people with a dependency on government, but back to an independency or an interdependency is a better word on God.
And one of the ways we decided to do that is, look, if we could take care of your groceries, if we could help you with that, could you pay your car payment? Could you pay the house payment? Could you pay the rent? Is this something. Could we lift that off of you and make it possible for you to pay your bills if you didn't have that bill? 9 out of 10 of those families, unless they're working the system, 9 out of 10 of those families said yes. If we didn't have to feed these four little, you know, crumb crunchers every week, we could absolutely.
They don't call them that, but anyway, they could. Absolutely, they could make it if they didn't have that. And so now when you, Pastor Corey, told me yesterday, just at the Mega Mobile on Saturday, not counting what was happening at the market this past week, there was 1,000 families that showed up. And yeah, that's a woo. That's a good one there.
And what's amazing is when you think about 10001500 families on average each week, that's families, that's not individuals in those families.
When you break that apart and you figure a family of three to five, and then you do the math on 1,000 to 1,500, how many people that is five, 6,000 people every week roll through this property and they get help that's getting them through another week while they're trying to get back on their feet. I'm saying this is something that's called koinonia, and that's something that we're doing. And we have a host of people that are helping us and we're gonna expand on it, we're just gonna continue to do it. And the goal is to get these people to a place where they don't need us anymore, where we can help them out, we can get them back on their feet and get them moving again. But it's the largest home mission of our church. It goes to this second point that I'm making to your heart. And that is a contributing society.
A church is to be connected and we are to be contributing. And the best that I know how, we're trying to keep our church postured in a way that we're contributing. And the way we can contribute is through a network of people who are connected where they are giving and receiving ministry and. And we can account for the people that God has given us. Here's a third thought.
And this is just as important as the other two. And that is the continuation.
The Bible says in Acts 2:42, they continued and they continued steadfastly. It wasn't just a one shot. It just wasn't a one and off deal. It wasn't a touch and go with God. What made that church so dynamic? G. Campbell Morgan was a great scholar. And G. Campbell Morgan said before the church at Jerusalem was reached its APEX, that over 250,000 people were identified with the First Church at Jerusalem. Amazing. How did that happen? Everybody continued steadfastly. What did they continue in? Look at four things. They continued in the Apostles doctrine. That's Bible study. We have a lot of Bible studies that we offer for people. That's important.
And then notice not only that and fellowship, fellowships is just connecting with people. We have opportunities through service and other means, serving at the crc. We try to have opportunities so you can meet people.
Your closest friend was at one time a stranger to you. And I know sometimes when you look at a church this size, you think, how in the world do you get connected? Well, you never know. Your best friend may be sitting in the same room with you at some moment. So we try to have events and we try to have activities so that we can get you connected in fellowship.
So it's in doctrine, it's in fellowship. Notice what else they continued in. In the breaking of bread, that was just eating with each other, that was just having fun with one another, that was just, you know, playing and doing life with each other. And then the fourth thing they continued in was in prayer. They prayed for each other, they prayed for people they hadn't yet reached. That church was a place of prayer. And as a result of all of those dynamics, the Bible says the Lord added daily to the church, those who were being saved. They didn't just grow on the weekends, they grew every day because these people were absolutely committed to the mission of that first church. So, folks, when we talk about one body and the significance of it, the greatest thing you and I can be a part of is this body of Christ here on the earth is to see God working in and through our lives to make a difference in the lives of. Of someone else. The Bible says Jesus loved the church and he gave himself for it. And if he loved it that much, we certainly ought to love the church and commit to it as well. Let's pray.
Father, thank you for your word.
Thank you, Father. That it instructs us and encourages us to do the things that Lord you expect of us.
And so Father, as we think about the significance of the church and being involved and and being connected into the life of the church, help us to realize the benefit and the blessing of being connected.
I pray, Father, we would see even greater ministry in the life of this church as we look at ways to reengage some of our folks that have fallen by the wayside and engage some of the newest people that are coming into the life of the church.
What exciting and how exciting is that prospect?
So, Father, guide us in all of those things and help us to create and to be a part of new and dynamic ways to see this church connected in a in a larger way going forward.
And finally, Lord, I pray for my friends here who may never have trusted you'd as Savior. There may never been a moment when they humbled their heart and received you. I pray this would be that moment where they just swallow their pride and right where they are, they just say, Lord Jesus, with everything I know about me, I now trust all that I know about you.
Come into my heart. Forgive my sin. I receive you now as my Savior. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
[00:34:03] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.
[00:34:17] Speaker B: Sa.
