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[0:00] The early church and what they were about.

[0:13] Acts 9 and Saul, yet breathing out, and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord went unto! and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if any he found it!

[0:28] And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there was shining around about him a light from heaven.

[0:38] And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.

[0:49] It is hard for thee to kick against the cricks. And he trembling in astonishment said, Lord, what would thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

[1:00] And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul rose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man, but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

[1:13] And he was there three days without sight, neither did he eat nor drink. And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias, and to him, said the Lord in a vision, Ananias.

[1:23] And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and join the street, which is called Straight, and inquiring the house of Judas for one, called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he prayeth.

[1:35] And he hath seen a vision of a man, named Ananias, coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. And then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem.

[1:50] And here he hath authority from the cheap pieces of Brian, all that call on my name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way, for he hath chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.

[2:09] And it goes on to say how Ananias put his hands on him, and he rose, and he saw, and he received food, and straight away he went preaching. Verse 20.

[2:20] And from verse 20, straight away he preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed, saying, Is not this he that destroyed them which called on his name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them down unto the cheap priests?

[2:37] And he said, But Saul increased the morning stream, and confounded the Jews which dwelt in Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him.

[2:48] And the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.

[3:01] And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he was saved, or he tried to join himself to the disciples. But they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

[3:23] And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem. And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians. But they went about to slay him.

[3:36] Still going about to slay him, it says there. And just from verse 30, Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Damascus, and sent him forth to Tarsus.

[3:49] Just concentrating on this one verse now. Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, and were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.

[4:03] Okay? We've seen the context there. Saul was saved. A dramatic encounter with Christ on the Damascus road. The disciples, afraid of him, because of the time of persecution and suffering, and great testing amongst the saints of God.

[4:21] And in verse 31, this is the verse that I'd like us to concentrate on, some of the characteristics of the early church. In verse 31, then have the churches, a number of things.

[4:32] Number one, rest throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria. And number two, were edified. And number three, walking in the fear of the Lord.

[4:44] Number four, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. Number five, were multiplied. Five things we look at, the characteristics of the early church, we can learn from today.

[4:56] We see something, the Bible model of the early church. The characteristics of the early churches of the New Testament. Number one was rest. There was rest here.

[5:07] Even in the midst of all this turmoil and torment, and suffering, and conflict, and persecution. The disciples, the people of God, the brethren had rest. The churches had rest. The peace of God was there.

[5:19] And friends, in the midst of trying times we can find rest. You know, this is the day of rest, the Lord's Day. A day we can find the peace of God, the heavenly climate control in operation.

[5:33] Now we've got the earthly climate control, trying to make it a bit cooler in here today. But the heavenly climate control, heaven's climate, heaven's context is in our lives, in our living.

[5:44] Heaven's rest and harmony was in action, even though all about them was turmoil and persecution. The peace of God was there. And God wants His churches to be rest homes.

[5:55] He wants us to have a rest home. A place of rest, a place of sanctuary. You know, there's a light church to ours called Sanctuary Baptist Church. And we want to be a place of sanctuary.

[6:07] A place of escape. To escape from the busyness and the rushing and fussing of life. Where we can experience that real lasting and true peace. Not so much in the building, but in our fellowship together.

[6:21] Where does that mutual support, where does that rest and there's that fellowship. Where does that linking arm in arm. Where we can come apart, as the Lord said, and rest a while. Where we can come and hear that still, small voice of the Lord.

[6:36] We can hear Him. We can listen to Him. We can spend time with our spirit getting touched and refreshed and moved on by the Holy Spirit. And how can we have, how can we enjoy this blessed rest, this blessed peace.

[6:51] It's eternal peace. In Romans 10, it tells us, And how shall they preach, except they descend, as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of Him that preached the gospel of peace.

[7:04] The gospel of peace. There's that same word, rest or peace. And bring glad tidings of good things. Now God has chosen the foolishness of preaching. The foolishness of a preacher.

[7:16] To be His means of reaching our world. When we come and hear the word of God. When we come and gather and receive that blessed gospel message. We receive faith in our soul. It creates faith.

[7:27] It creates peace. Deep down within. And His peace in our heart. Is that wonderful resting in His almighty grace. You know, as a Christian, there's a resting in what He has done.

[7:41] In that finished work. In everything that Christ has done for us. It's not a trying. It's a trusting. It's not a doing. It's a done. And if we stayed at home, we wouldn't have this blessing of fellowship.

[7:55] This blessing of that mutual peace and support and encouragement of one another. Try as you might, you can't fellowship with your TV set. You know, whatever program might be on, some good and bad.

[8:09] Even the good ones. You can't fellowship with your TV set. Something happens when God's people get together. There's a peace. There's a rest. There's a gathering place. And church is a place.

[8:20] It's a gathering of people. Where people can meet God. And where God's message of soul peace is delivered and received. Where there's that soul saving gospel of peace that can be preached.

[8:33] And Colossians 2 verse 2 talks about the believers having a comforting. Being knit together. Knit together in love. There's that wonderful sense where as God's people, as my brother and my sister, as we gather together.

[8:48] As God's family. There's a knitting together in love that happens. And God willing, we can be that close-knit family of God. A biblical family.

[8:59] Where we can experience peace. God's peace. And peace amongst ourselves too. There's a wonderful peace that we can be at peace among yourselves. As it says in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 13.

[9:13] You know, some churches are full of cannibals. Full of cannibals. It says in Galatians 5 verse 15. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

[9:28] Some churches where there's backbiting and gossiping. And people whispering about other people. That's not what God wants. He wants his family to be a family where there's peace.

[9:40] Where there's harmony. Where there's that godliness. Julie's had people say for example, Oh I've heard. I've heard.

[9:51] You know. Where do I hear that? Gossip. I've heard that your church doesn't believe this. Or doesn't believe that. Or believes this. Or believes that. Having a go at her.

[10:02] Christians can be savage and hurtful. Often spreading things that are not true. We're called to experience peace aren't we? Peace and freedom and rest from hurtful and hateful conflict.

[10:17] Sometimes Christians can have pasta at Sunday night tea time. You know, have a go at the pasta. Or maybe it could be. Have a go at the Sunday school teacher.

[10:29] Or whoever's. The one that you're sitting next to. Sunday morning. You talk about them later on. Cannibals. Christians who are cannibals. God willing we're not like that here.

[10:40] Cannibals. Christians biting and devouring one another. We're commanded to love one another. Love one another. Not bite and devour one another. Get together prayerfully. As was mentioned by Dennis about the prayer time.

[10:52] Let's pray together. Let's meet together. Have fellowship one another. Make the effort to get together. Where there is peace. God is. And of course that is not to say we're promoting peace by surrendering and compromising our stand.

[11:08] But there is a true peace and rest that is found in the finished work of salvation. As we experience him who is the Prince of Peace. And we can be a resting church.

[11:20] A resting peaceful church. And secondly you see the church was a people that were resting and they were edified.

[11:31] They were edified. Someone rang me in the week. They saw our website and they heard this statement about our church that we edify the saints. They had to explain what that meant.

[11:42] You know. That we edify the saints. God willing we edify the saints. And by saints we don't mean you've got to wait until you die for someone to make you a saint. As a Christian you are a saint.

[11:54] Amen. We've got Saint Don here this morning. We've got Saint Don here this morning. We've got Saint Roy, Saint Margaret, Saint Lyle. If you were a believer today, if you were a real born again Christian, the Bible says that you're a saint.

[12:08] You're a member of the family of God. You're a holy one. And the Bible says that church should be a place where the saints are edified. Where God's people are edified.

[12:19] What does edify mean? It means to build up. To construct. To develop. And it says in Romans 14 verse 19. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace.

[12:33] And things wherewith one may edify another. Find things that you can do to encourage another. To uplift another.

[12:44] I know there's some lovely people in our church that send a card to people. And that's a way of edifying isn't it? Encouraging one another. Yeah. I know people tell me, oh I want to know who's sending these cards because I want to tell them how wonderful they are.

[13:00] But it's a secret ministry. We don't want people to, you know, people that do things. If we get too many praises down here, we might miss out on some upstairs. So we've got to do some things without blowing our trumpet.

[13:13] And it's edifying isn't it? It's encouraging one another. It's being constructive and blessing and lifting up another. In Romans 15 verse 1-2 it says, We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.

[13:28] Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. There's that word again. 1 Thessalonians 5-11 it says, Edify one another.

[13:40] Church is about edifying. It's not about an edifice as in a building. That just happens to be the place that we meet. The edifice is not so much the thing.

[13:51] It's the edification. It's the building up of one another. As believers want to build up one another. Build up those spiritual muscles. Go into the gym and build up those muscles and have a workout.

[14:03] Work out your salvation. Church is about edifying. Edifying one another. We don't come to church for our own selfish benefit alone. Sure we come to church hopefully we get a blessing to take in our kit bag home with us.

[14:18] But we come to church together for one another. So that when we're ministering, when we're talking, when we're sharing, when we're eating and drinking some coffee afterwards and having a chin wag, it's about edifying.

[14:32] It's about building up one another. We come together for the purpose of seeing others grow. Seeing others blessed. Seeing others built up their faith and walk in God.

[14:44] It's like some people, I've heard, and I've said this before, they complain, oh I didn't get anything out of that. You know, they leave church and they have a whinge. I didn't get anything out of that.

[14:56] But it's not about getting all the time. It's about giving, isn't it? What did you give to church today? What did you bring to church today? Yeah. What did you say to others to bless them today?

[15:09] Who did you share with? Who did you minister to? Who did you edify today? In 1 Corinthians 14, 26, it tells us, How is it then, brethren, when you come together?

[15:20] Every one of you have a son, have a doctrine, have a tongue, have a revelation, have an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. That's the sense of it there. Whatever we do, we want to bring edifying, we want to bring encouragement.

[15:34] And it says, let all things be done unto edifying, whatever it is. You know, when you're putting the chairs out or putting them away or trying to get this technology to work.

[15:45] You know, just try to make it something that is edifying. It's something that you want to build up and encourage other people. Pour someone else a cup of coffee. Give someone else a, offer someone else a bickie after church instead of, you know, feeding your face.

[15:59] Think about someone else. Think about blessing someone else. You know, say hello to a visitor, to someone you haven't met yet. And edify, edify. Let everything that is done, everything that is done, be done unto edifying.

[16:13] So that people will be built up. So that we as an assembly here are a place that is building up other people. That's our paramount aim. In Colossians 3.16 it tells us, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching, and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.

[16:36] Even our singing and our worship. You know, there are some people with a lovely melodious voice here, and I can think, and bless me, I hear them singing. It's a lovely sound. It makes up for my voice.

[16:47] And even when we're singing and worshipping together, there's a special godly purpose. That's why we love these old songs with the message in them, the doctrine in them. There's teaching here.

[16:58] There's admonition. There's instruction. There's warning. Even our songs teach valuable eternal truths and eternal realities. They aren't meant to be just a catchy tune and some shallow words.

[17:11] They are part of God's truth. Because there's scripture in these songs that we sing. There's scripture in the songs that there's truth being communicated. And we all can play a part in this.

[17:22] Bring a testimony. Bring an encouragement. Share with others perhaps a Bible verse. That's spoken to you. And bless others. Touch one another. Swap prayer requests.

[17:34] Pray together. And with and for one another. And be an edifier. Be an edifier of this church. Be an edifier of your fellow believers. Find practical ways to help one another.

[17:46] It's one of our principal reasons to meet together. See if you can find some ways to bless others. Bless others. Instead of being selfish. Gimme, gimme. And becoming a self-satisfied kind of Christian.

[18:00] And is all feeding yourself. Think about others and feeding them. Blessing them. Building them up. And find a brother or sister that you can build up today. Come with something to share when you come to church.

[18:13] Not just coming to get. But to give. And not only is God's kind of church a spiritual kind of rest home. It is also a busy building site.

[18:25] It's a building site. Put your construction hat on. Get your gloves on and your work boots on. And let's start doing some building here. It's a place where we can be constructed and built up in our faith.

[18:38] Built up in our love. Built up in our walk with God. Built up as living bricks. As lively stones. As bricks that make up the construction of the church.

[18:51] And to be built up as a spiritual house. That's what God wants his people to be. God wants us to come together. And bring something to build up others with.

[19:03] Now we're hopefully going to be having some construction activity. Going on. But what really matters is the constructing of. The building up of your faith.

[19:14] That you will be strengthened. That you will grow. And really every Christian is under construction. God's not finished with us yet. We're not that glorious church without spot or wrinkle yet.

[19:28] You know one day we will be. But in the meantime we're progressing there. And the question arises. What are you going to do? To make this church more like that? What will you do?

[19:40] To be more of an edifying Christian? Like it's meant to be. Not a cold informal collection of people. Not relating. Not working together.

[19:51] Not working together. But a church that is warm and growing. That's knitted together in love. That's got that harmony. That's got that building process going on.

[20:02] You can play your part. You can make a difference. You can make this church more like that. It's going to take stepping out of your comfort zone. Saying look. I want to get involved more.

[20:14] I want to have something to do in this place. Amongst this congregation. I want to get involved and participate. And go and say hello to someone. Step outside of your comfort zone as I say.

[20:27] Maybe it's introducing yourself to someone. Maybe if you're seeing someone who looks a bit downcast. So come alongside them. And share a word of cheer. Of courage.

[20:38] Of encouragement. Give them your name. It says greet one another. It talks about a holy kiss. You know. In our culture we're a bit different from that.

[20:49] But there's that closeness meant there. There's a closeness meant there. Of coming alongside. Of that brotherliness. Of that picture of family life. Of that friendliness.

[21:01] And that closeness. Take the time. Make the effort to meet one another. And maybe take the trouble to pass on your phone number. Make that more closer contact.

[21:13] If you get the chance to. It's up to you to edify one another. Every one of us. It's not that the pastor has to do everything. It should never be the case. But that edify one another.

[21:25] One another. That every one. Edifies one another. And so let's be that kind of church. A constructive church. So we've seen. A church that's resting. In God.

[21:36] A church that's constructive. And thirdly. Another. In this verse we read. Is walking in the fear of God. Walking in the fear of the Lord. A church that God's people.

[21:48] The family of God. Should be a place where people. Where believers can be spurred. To holiness of life. And walk. Walking in the fear of the Lord.

[21:59] There's a wonderful sense that we're walking in a different plane. In a higher level. We're spurred. To press on. To be stirred. To more earnest faith. To repent.

[22:10] To be revived. In our love and zeal. Walking in the fear of the Lord. That means we realise. Who the Lord really is.

[22:21] Who he is. And we can't really conceive of it can we. To think the creator of the universe would come. And be our friend. Your friend. My friend.

[22:32] Your friend. Isn't that great to have. That closeness with him. And yet. He's so great. And majestic. And almighty. And we need to have that sense of our.

[22:43] Need before him. Of our. Conviction before him. Being broken over our sin. And wanting that. That closeness renewed. And church. We need that.

[22:54] We need that holiness again. We need that. The more of the fear of God. And less of the flesh. Of man. More of the awe and majesty. Of the almighty.

[23:06] And his worship. And less of man made methodology. More of the glory and honour of God. And less of the pride. And display of man. More of the wonderment.

[23:17] For God. His majesty. His greatness. And glory. Of who he is. And less. Of the techniques. Of our. Entertainment. Oriented society. We need that.

[23:28] More grace. More holiness. It talks about. 2 Corinthians 7. Verse 1. Having therefore. These promises. Dearly beloved. Let us. Cleanse ourselves. From all filthiness.

[23:39] Of the flesh. And spirit. Perfecting holiness. Perfecting holiness. In the fear of God. As we more closely. Lean. Hand in hand. With the Lord.

[23:50] We'll have that fear of him. And. In the fear of God. Sometimes. We can get caught up. In the lightness. And levity. Of the society. That we live. And.

[24:01] You know. There's a place. For good humour. But. There's also. That needful sense. Of the awe. And reverence. Of God. You know. Churches.

[24:12] Becoming. A bit like a circus. Or an entertainment spectacle. And they've lost. That awe. That reverence. That holiness. That majesty. We shouldn't have.

[24:23] A carelessness. Or prevalency. About the things of God. We should take him. Very seriously. And tremble at his word. That the real. Holy presence of God. Would invade this place. That the real.

[24:34] Holy presence. Of the Lord. Would fill our lives. Our hearts. The temples. temples, your bodies would be filled with who the Almighty God is. And that we would serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear like it says in Hebrews 12.

[24:51] If you want to serve God acceptably, there's two ingredients here. With reverence and godly fear. That's Hebrews 12 verse 28. How we need that closeness with Him. To be set apart. To be holy.

[25:08] To bow to His will. So not only is the church, God's people, God's family, the church, meant to be an assembling of God's people in a rest home, in a sense where there's a rest here, there's a sanctuary here, there's a peace here.

[25:27] Not only is it an active construction zone, a building site, it is also a sacred site. A sacred, a hallowed place.

[25:37] That is, in a sense that we as a family are meant to be a holy people. The saints of God. Holy ones. When I typed this out, I typed out the word sacred site.

[25:53] Now, the Lord talks about sacred sites, supposed sacred sites in Australia. I typed out the word scared site. I got the words around the wrong way.

[26:04] And when we get together with God's people, sometimes we can get scared. Scared to be found not right with God. We should be walking in the fear of God, shouldn't we?

[26:16] You should be scared not to be right with God, not to be found in His will. Scared of unresolved sin in the light of His righteous judgment.

[26:28] Scared to be found one thing before Him. And so, we can deal with sin, make it right with God, and seek His cleansing and forgiveness. It's a special time. Church, when we gather, wherever it may be, where we gather, when we gather, it's a sacred time.

[26:47] It's a sacred set-apart time. It's where we're meant to be the called-out ones, separate, to make business with God, and where we dedicate ourselves to Him. Where we put time aside, to spend time with Him, and God's holy people.

[27:02] So, thus far we see, it's a godly church, a biblical church, a holy church. It's a church that's resting in God. It's a church that's been constructed, that's building up, that's edifying a church that has a walking in the fear of God.

[27:19] And fourthly, it's walking in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. Church is a place, it's a gathering, where believers can be comforted, encouraged, exalted.

[27:30] In 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 11, the same word of comfort here, wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also you do. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 11.

[27:43] That word comfort, means encourage. We can receive comfort, as we gather. Comfort and encouragement. Perhaps you've had it, rottenly. You know, someone says to you on Sunday, oh, how are you going?

[27:55] And you, you know, you might say, oh, fine, but really, it's been a terrible week. It's been awful. But it's good to be here. It's good to be with our brothers and sisters, isn't it? Kind of makes up for it.

[28:06] When, you put aside the cares of the week, and all the things that went wrong, and we can come to church, and get that encouragement, have that smile, and share your smile, and share that joy, that is within, and receive that comfort, and give that comfort, to another, and encourage one another.

[28:24] In Hebrews 3, verse 13, it says, but exhort one another daily. It's the word encourage. Exhort one another. What it's called today. Encourage one another. And Hebrews 10, that familiar one, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the Mara Sun is, but exhorting, exhorting.

[28:43] It's the word encouraging. Exhorting, encouraging one another. So much the more, as you see the day approaching, it's all the more important, that we gather, that we encourage, that we build up, that we comfort one another, as we see the day approaching.

[28:58] Here's a few quotes. Don't point a finger, hold out a helping hand. Don't point a finger, don't come to church, to find what's wrong with everybody else.

[29:11] But come with a helping hand. Come to encourage. Encouragement is oxygen to the soul. It just lifts you. It makes you, walk a little bit higher.

[29:24] Oxygen to the soul. More people fail for lack of encouragement, than for any other reason. We need encouragement. So let's be that place, that people, that can ministers one another.

[29:36] A rest home. A construction site. A sacred site. And, a kind of welfare centre. Now don't get me wrong here.

[29:47] I mean by welfare, in the sense of being together with God's people, we get a sense of wholeness. There's a sense of wholeness. It's not a place for handouts. But it is a place where, we can have our needs met.

[30:01] Our needs can be met. We can be ministered to, and we can minister. There's a sense of wholeness, as we get together with God's people. Because we receive the preaching, we receive the word, the fellowship together, the enjoyment of worship.

[30:14] Talking about the welfare of our soul. The welfare of our soul. And that, when we leave this time, hopefully, we've got a little bit of a blessing. A little bit of, yeah, that was encouraging today.

[30:27] That made me think about, a few things I haven't thought about today. That you can leave this place, with a heart that's a little bit gladder. A little bit lighter. With a gift received. With something that you've taken in, to your soul.

[30:40] That truly we can be a welfare centre, for the very heart of man. That you can be well on the inside. That you can sing that song, It is well. It is well, with my soul.

[30:54] That there can be a wellness, a wholeness within. And so lastly, fifth point, a spiritual church, walking in the comfort, and the fear of the Lord. Walking in the comfort, of the Holy Ghost.

[31:06] And as a result, of all of this, what's going to happen? The church, is going to be multiplied. It says, church is a place of gathering, where believers, can grow together, abound together, increase together.

[31:19] So, wow, this church is really growing. It's not, not the numbers. It's your growing. Lila's grown, since I first met her.

[31:30] She's grown, in a, in a, in a, in a self, in a, in a spiritual life. There's, there's a growth there. Peggy, you, you, you're grown.

[31:40] You, you, you're so much more, there's more joy there. There's more, you're more like Jesus today, than when I first met you. You know, you can see that. There's a growing there. It's not, filling seats with people, so much.

[31:54] I mean, that, we'd like to see that too. But, but, there's a growing on the inside. There's a multiplication, there's an increasing, there's an abounding, there's a strengthening.

[32:06] We're more like, a saviour. And, God's people, as we get together, there's going to be a growing. There's going to be a multiplying. And God brings a blessing, as we're faithful.

[32:20] So, think about, how we can be, that kind of biblical, biblical church, a church, where God's rest is here, where God's peace is here, for the troubled soul, where we can build up, in faith and unity, where we can, be called out, in awe of him, in fear of him, and where we can receive, a blessing and comfort, as a kind of, welfare centre.

[32:40] And lastly, this one here, is really, church should also be, like, a maternity ward, a kind of maternity ward, where the people here, you know, have you ever been, in a maternity ward, or you walk past one, and the kids are there, screaming their heads off, and they're, crying out for their milk, and, oh, they're napping any change, not that they, can say it, or understand it, but they know, that something's wrong, they need a bit of, something decently dealt with, and, church should be, like a maternity ward, where there's Christians here, at different stages, of their Christian life, now, we can't all be, mighty, super spiritual, men, or women of God, some people have, got a bit of growing to do, there's, there's still, little babies in Christ, there's still newborns, maybe, maybe they're not, even quite there yet, maybe they're pre-Christians, they're not Christians yet, but they're on the way, there, there's a sensitivity there, they're like Lydia, the heart, his heart, Lord open, you know, there's an openness there, to receive, and, friends,

[33:43] God's people, amongst us, the son, that are very young, in their faith, the very, not knowing much, and not really understanding much, and yet, a simple faith is there, there's a simple trusting there, deep down, that God is doing a work, within, we should be, an eternity world, not a production line, so much, we're not a production line, where we can produce, perfect copies, or clones of one another, so that, whenever, Dom leads someone, to the Lord, there's lots of little, Doms walking around, no, that would be, that would be terrible, no, but, we can only have one Dom, there's only one of you, you're unique, you know, what I mean, that, if you witness to someone, they're not going to become, exactly like you, you know, and they're going to have, their imperfections, maybe they're going to be, a bit more perfect than you, you know, but we can't all be, clones and carbon copies, of one another, and sometimes, when people get saved, they're like little babies, they're yelling, and screaming, wanting to be cared for, there's tantrums, there's mess, there's constant, cleaning up, and supervision, and training, and some Christians, need telling off sometimes, you know, young Christians, need to be told, that's something, you need to drop, as a Christian, you know, or at least, point them in the right direction, so that they can see, that some change is needed, and it takes time to grow, but thank the Lord, we as a church, as God's family, we're all of different shapes, and sizes, different colors, and cultures, and backgrounds, but we can be people, that are willing to learn, willing to be trained, willing to grow, and that we can be coached, and encouraged, and thrive, and outreach, and increased, as a maternity ward, would be a place of life, a place where, people are born again, there's a newborn, there's a new life here, and that people can be, extended, that people can be, reproduced, that God's people can, that God's church can be extended, in this world, in this community, and that we can be, even a church planting church, wouldn't that be good, that wherever we need, we're just running out of space, we're just going to have to start, another church, down the road at Salisbury, or up the road at Gawler, or somewhere in the city, who knows, we might be, grow so much, that we're going to have to, plant another church, wouldn't that be great, yeah, it'd be great to have, more places, more families of God, and that we would, want to have that, in our lives, so friends, just very quickly, just to wrap up now, do you want to be a part, of this kind of church, a part of the early church, that had these characteristics, let's get that fresh sense, of God's peace, when we meet, a peace in our soul, a blessing, a salvation, a rest, in what Christ has done, at the cross, let's get a new sense, of God's constructing, edifying, building work, as we cement it together, as we knit together, in love, interlocked, in unity, in faith, there's a work, of holiness, amongst us, as we get, more and more messages, more and more truth, more and more grace, more and more like Christ, and more and more, set apart, there's a more, of a comforting, encouraging work, of the Holy Spirit, to meet our need, to bring us joy, and blessing, that we can share too, and there's an extending, there's a reproducing, there's a multiplying, there's an extending, of the work, as we see others one, as we see others, brought under the message, of salvation, as we see others, born, into God's family, and become, our real brothers, and sisters, in Christ, wouldn't that be great,

[37:31] I pray that, as a believers, as a body of believers, we'd be encouraged, to see that, and to be inspired, to realise that, let us pray, Heavenly Father, we thank you, dear Lord, for our time here today, help us Lord, to enjoy this, day ahead, and the time ahead, that you give to us, to use it wisely, as your stewards, Lord, that we would be, a church that grows, in spiritual ways, a church that is, stronger, and stronger, and stronger, Lord, as we get closer, and closer, and closer to you, and what you want us, to be, and do, Lord, that you would help us, to be, able to encourage, one another, as we see the day approaching, not to be selfish, but to be sharing, to bring, something to share, to give, as we share together, and Lord, that we would, have that peace of God, that passeth all understanding, and keeps our hearts, and minds, through Christ Jesus, in your wonderful name, we pray,

[38:32] Amen. Thank you.