[0:00] around us in the church being fragmented all over the world that there is only one true church of Jesus Christ. But we also saw a responsibility within that church is to have humility and gentleness and patience bearing with one another in love eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. And we saw that that responsibility was what Jesus gave us. Now we're going to go on to the actual function and the working, the operation of the church itself.
[0:34] And what I want you to notice is that that function is rooted and grounded on the ascension of Jesus Christ to the Father's right hands, which means in other words that the work of the church is a consequence of the work of Jesus himself. Look with me at verses 7 to 10. Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. In saying he ascended, what does it mean? But that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth. And there's no question of who this is talking about.
[1:12] It's talking about Jesus Christ and particularly his ascension. Sometimes I think we neglect his ascension and we don't give it the significance that it deserves. I want you to first of all, for a few moments, come with me 2,000 years into the past to a hill that's outside of Jerusalem and to watch Jesus as he takes his little crowd of followers and he makes his way up to the top of this hill. And there at the top of the hill, he stood and he spoke to them and he started to preach to them. Now, most of these people had been with him for the three years of his ministry. They had listened to them. Their lives had been totally transformed by him. And today, they were not the same people as they were three years ago. They have found the Messiah and they love him. And to him, to them, he is everything. Their sins have been forgiven. They know now that they stand before God having been forgiven. And then he says something strange to them. I'm sure he was always to them.
[2:15] He was always saying strange things, things that they found difficult to understand. But today is no different. And he says this, all authority, he said, in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
[2:27] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded to you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. What he's doing now is he's giving them what they call the Great Commission. He's sending his disciples to go into the world, all the world. And their job, their function is to make him known to the people in the world. And he told them that if they remained in Jerusalem, first of all, they were going to receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them.
[3:04] Then, having said what he had to say, the most astounding thing happened to him. Something that they really had never, I guess that they thought they had seen everything at this stage. They had seen all the astonishing things. Jesus had, he had healed the blind and the lame and the deaf. He had even raised the dead. He had walked on the water. He had changed water into wine.
[3:26] They had witnessed his death and his resurrection. They now saw him. They couldn't understand how he was alive again. But now they're going to see another, something that they've never seen before.
[3:38] And this was, he was going to rise, not this time from the dead, but he was going to literally be lifted up from the ground. If you can imagine, I don't want to be, I'm not being facetious. I'm just trying to help us to try and imagine this extraordinary scene. If you can imagine going up in a glass lift, where you can't see the lift. You can see the person, but you can't see the lift. And that's just what happens. He just ascends all the way up into the sky until a cloud, we read, enveloped him and they saw him no more. And they couldn't stop gazing. Their heads, their necks were creaked, gazing and gazing.
[4:25] I suppose part of it was the sheer expectation that when's he going to come back again? But he wasn't. And that's why as they looked into the sky, two angels appeared and they said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. So when they, it's quite an interesting question, isn't it? Why do you look, why do you stand looking into heaven? In other words, don't just stand there.
[5:04] You have a work to do. Your work is only just beginning. And that's the work that Jesus has given you to do to go into all the world and to make disciples of all nations. That's what they they were to do. But I suppose naturally they wanted him to come back the same way as the people wanted Elijah to come back when he was taken up to heaven, but he wasn't going to come back. It was the same, I suppose, something similar here. Jesus was to be seen no more. Now this event marked the end of his earthly life. He was to walk and live on the earth no more. Now he was going to return to heaven. And I think I've said before that we have to be careful before thinking that heaven is way beyond the blue, somewhere way up there. Heaven, we don't actually know where it is in relation to the earth, but in order to, in order to, for the disciples to understand what was happening to Jesus, he had to rise from the earth. And we believe the Bible tells us he went into heaven. It tells us also that he sat down at the right hand of God. Now we, again, these are concepts that we can only accept, and we don't know what that exactly means. But what we do know is that his sitting down at the right hand of God symbolized the finish, the end, the completion of what he came to do on earth.
[6:29] And so after he had finished laying down his life for our sins on the cross, he rose again and ascended and sat down and, uh, uh, uh, at the right hand of God. That's not the first time he had been in heaven. He had always been in heaven until that moment in time when he took that step of coming into this world from all eternity. Jesus had dwelt. So for him, it was going home to be with his father.
[7:01] There was a time when he was there before. What was the difference between him now and him before in heaven? Well, there was a vast difference before he was in heaven as God alone. Now he is in heaven as God and man. He is still a man. Don't ever, don't ever think that he left his humanity when he left the earth. He didn't. He continues to be God and man in heaven. So the man at the right hand of God, the Jesus at the right hand of God is a man. Our nature is sitting at the right hand of God, God in our nature. And that means there's a connection between there's a, there's an even greater connection between us and Jesus. He is still a man. He knows what it is to be a man. He knows what it is to be a human being. He still has that body, even although we believe it's a glorified, indestructible body that will never die again. But what Paul is talking about, he wants us to gaze then. He wants us to, to think about this action, this ascension of Jesus when he ascended to heaven.
[8:18] And he wants us also to compare it with his descension, his descending into the world. And he does so by using the words of this Psalm in Psalm 68. We've just sung it and we've just read it in Psalm 68. You remember how I said that it was originally written at the time when David was marching slowly into Jerusalem with the Ark of the Covenant with thousands of people with him.
[8:44] But it describes the scene of a king who's returning after a battle and he is victorious in battle.
[8:56] And normally the scene would be all his people would be out. They would be showering gifts upon him and he would be showering gifts on them. And that solves the problem where you may have noticed it, that the Psalm actually says, you ascended on high leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men. But when Paul talks about the Psalm and he quotes it, he says that when he ascended, he gave gifts to men. How do you reconcile these two things? It's quite easy because a king not only gave gifts, but he also received gifts. And that again is a picture of the gospel. I don't want to go into that in too much detail. But what the Psalm looks forward to was this very event in the life, at the end of the life of Jesus, of the earthly life of Jesus. You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train. Jesus' death and his resurrection were a victory.
[9:55] The Bible describes it as a victory. And receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious that the Lord God may dwell there. Now, the reason why people would bring gifts to the king would be that they recognized his authority over them. We too, by faith, we come to him bringing ourselves this evening and recognize his authority over us. And I hope that none of us here tonight is only doing that on the outside. I hope that every single one of us comes here and worships on the inside from our hearts. And our worship begins when we come into God's presence and we recognize his authority over us gladly and willingly. And we say to him, yes, Lord, I want you to be my savior.
[10:44] I submit and surrender to you completely and wholeheartedly with all my heart. And I want you to be my Lord and to lead me and guide me throughout my life and into eternity. So that's the scene then, the victorious king coming back to his city and receiving gifts from men. But as I said, he also gave gifts to men. The whole point here is that when Jesus ascended to heaven, that he gave gifts, he gave gifts as a mark of his work, his death on the cross.
[11:23] And the first gift that he gave was the Holy Spirit. Poured out his spirit 40 days afterwards. On Pentecost, he poured out the Holy Spirit. And the church, the newly formed church in Jerusalem, they were filled with the spirit and they spoke in other tongues. And by the power of the spirit, Peter was able to stand up and preached. And he preached the gospel and 3,000 people were saved.
[11:55] But Paul also wants us to see the contrast between Jesus descending into the world, into what he calls the lower parts of the earth. Verse 9, the lower parts of the earth. Now, what does that mean that Jesus came into the lower parts of the earth? Well, when you think about it, this we've already seen in the letter to the Ephesians that Paul contrasts, he contrasts, particularly in chapter 2, he contrasts how the people in Ephesus, they used to live with how they now live.
[12:30] And now he's contrasting Jesus himself between where he was before and where he came, the place where he came.
[12:41] In other words, what Paul is talking about is what we call his humiliation and his exaltation. Now, what does it mean by his humiliation? I'm not going to spend very long on that. Paul says he descended. He descended.
[12:53] Now, that means his humiliation into the world. Now, again, this is absolutely mind-blowing because we spoke about this this morning. And those of you who were here this morning will know that we spoke about the power of God. And we spoke about the knowledge of God. We spoke about the presence of God. And we spoke about the majesty of God. Now, here is Paul. And he is telling us, let's look at it in terms of what we spoke about this morning. We spoke, first of all, about the knowledge of God. And we said that God knows everything. There is absolutely nothing that God doesn't know. He doesn't even have to think about it. Any question at all, he knows.
[13:33] Any numerical question, any calculation, he knows. Any formative question, he knows. He knows the end from the beginning. We saw that. And yet, look at this. When Jesus descended into the world, he had to learn everything from his mother and his earthly father and his school teacher. He had to learn to speak. He had to learn to walk. This is the one who knows everything. He knows what's in the future. And yet, this Jesus in our nature, when he was a baby, he had to learn every single thing.
[14:14] He sets aside his omniscience for the sake of his humanity. And it's the same with his presence.
[14:26] We said this morning that God is everywhere. There is no place where God is not present. And yet, in Jesus, when God came into the world, he was in one place at one time. He's in his mother's arms in Bethlehem. And he's in his home. And he's in one place when he's walking the streets of Jerusalem or Judea or wherever. He's in one place at one time. He limits his presence. And his power, we saw again that God is capable of anything. There is no limit to God's power. And yet, when he came into the world, he became weak, tired, hungry. He felt pain. He subjected himself to the same limitations as you and I are subjected to day by day in order for him to be one of us. You look at the majesty.
[15:16] You think about the infinite majesty of God that we simply cannot comprehend and we're not able to even appreciate. And the Bible tells us that he who being rich, yet for our sakes, he became poor so that we might be rich through him. And finally, he became dead. God, who is life in himself, became dead.
[15:46] Isn't that extraordinary? But that is what God was willing to do for his people, for to die in order for us to be saved by faith in him. He became buried. That's what it means. The lower parts of the... He couldn't descend any lower than to die on the cross and to be buried in the grave as the sacrifice for our sin. But afterwards, as the consequence of this work, he couldn't ascend any higher because not only he was raised to life again, not only did he come out of the tomb, but 40 days later, he ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven itself. And as a consequence of that ascension, the apostle tells us that he gave gifts. Now, this is what the apostle, I'm just going to run through this very, very clearly, because his gifts were given to the church.
[16:50] Now, the whole theme of this chapter is the church and the life of the church and the unity of the church and the origin of the church and what the church is. And so, he, from verse 11 onwards, as a consequence, having described the ascension of Jesus and why he ascended, he then connects it with the life of the church. And he says this, he gave the apostles and the prophets and the evangelists, the pastors and the teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry. In other words, the church is the membership.
[17:27] And despite the fact that there are some apostles and prophets, let's look at this question about apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers. An apostle was someone who was sent and who saw the risen Jesus. A prophet was someone in the Bible who heard the voice of God and who spoke the word of God. And again, this is slightly controversial, but I hope you'll accept what I'm saying. And that is to say that there are no need for apostles anymore and there are no need for prophets anymore. Why is that? Because the 12 apostles did their job. They saw the risen Jesus.
[18:05] They went out into the world and they set things going, if you like. They set up, they established the church as far as lay within them. And after that, there was no need for them to do that because other people took it over, elders and ministers and deacons and members. They all took it over and that God's power and by spirit, he worked through the church. And so the gospel spread. Apostles are no longer needed in the church. Neither are prophets. Why were prophets there in the old times? Because there was no Bible. Simple as that. There was no Bible. And now that we have the Bible, we have everything that we need. We have the word of God in our hands. Therefore, we don't need to hear the voice of God. We don't need to hear someone who claims to have the voice of God. They did in the New Testament church because they didn't have their Bible the way we do. But we do now. We have everything that we need. So when it says apostles and prophets here, we can assume that these two offices are now finished. I'm not entirely sure what an evangelist was. I know what an evangelist now is, a person who goes into places where they don't know the gospel and preaches Jesus.
[19:16] I do know what a pastor and a teacher is. And the Bible tells us that those of us who lead in a congregation have to be pastors and teachers. We have to be apt to teach. We have to lead by example.
[19:27] And a pastor is someone who takes care of the flock. It's as simple as that. A pastor simply means a shepherd, someone who knows his sheep and who knows where they are and who knows their circumstances and who's able to help them and to support them and encourage them. But then look at this. Look at this.
[19:46] Verse 12. What is their function? Their function is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. Now let's stop there. The whole point of the work of the church is to equip the saints for the work of ministry.
[20:05] Who are the saints? I am. And so are you if you love Jesus. I am no more of a saint than you are just because I'm a minister.
[20:21] Neither are any of these men here. We are saints. A saint does not mean a super Christian. Or a person who has lived his life in poverty for the sake of others.
[20:34] Or whatever. A saint simply means a person who loves the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you love the Lord Jesus Christ tonight, you are a saint. And I can come to you and I have every right to call you, good evening Saint John or Saint Peter or Saint Donald or whatever.
[20:51] It is quite legitimate for me to say that. That's what the Bible, in fact, perhaps we should use the word more. The Bible uses it. We tend to talk about Christians. We tend to talk in Lewis about people who are following or professing.
[21:05] Well, all of these things, you can easily say that that person is a saint. Because that's what the Bible tells you. Now, here we go. Their job was to equip the saints for the work of ministry.
[21:17] What does this tell us? It tells us that if you're a saint and I'm a saint, we are actually also ministers. You're a minister. As well as I am.
[21:30] Your purpose is not to stand in the pulpit and to preach the way I do. But that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm the only minister in this congregation. We are all to be ministers. Why is that?
[21:41] Because a minister is simply a servant. That's what it means. When someone ministers to another person, he's supplying the needs of that person.
[21:54] You remember when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness? We read that after the temptation of the 40 days, that he was really hungry. He must have been hugely hungry.
[22:05] And angels came and ministered to him. What does that mean? It means that they gave him food. They gave him water. They gave him what he needs. That's what a minister is. Someone who gives a cup of cold water.
[22:18] That's what Jesus said. All you need to do to be a minister is to give a cup of cold water to one of your fellow believers, your brother or your sister in Jesus. We are all to be ministers.
[22:30] And we are to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Jesus, the body of Christ.
[22:42] So the first thing that this passage tells us is that every member of God's church is a minister. And the church is created and constructed out of its members.
[22:53] The second thing I want us to notice in this great passage is that the word is key in pastoring. The word is key in pastoring.
[23:05] Remember what I said before, that pastor is someone who simply looks after the needs of someone else. Now, what we're talking about in church is spiritual need. And in order to look after somebody's spiritual need, you need to know that person.
[23:20] Just like a shepherd, even the Lord Jesus said, I know my sheep. And someone who is a pastor ought to know his sheep. Let me give you a real problem in this congregation.
[23:35] I am physically, it's impossible for me to know everything about everyone in this congregation. It's the same with Kenny I. Neither of us are able to know.
[23:47] And time and time again, somebody will tell us, did you know so and so was in hospital? And we'll have to say, I didn't know. That person's been in hospital for the last, they're already out, they're already home.
[23:58] And we don't know. Or did you know that person's been diagnosed with some kind of illness or whatever? We don't know. We haven't heard time and time again. For the most part, we do here and we're able to. And then it'll be, the visitation schedule in this congregation is absolutely impossible.
[24:14] I think I've said that to you before, absolutely impossible. Now, how do we get over that? Here we have it. Every one of us has to be a minister. Every one of us.
[24:26] And that means that it's your duty and your responsibility to know, and I don't mean that you should know everybody, but you should know at least some people and know them well enough to know when things go wrong and when they need encouragement and when they need a word here and there of help and to pray for them and to pray for one another.
[24:46] And it's no use talking, no use looking at someone who you think is needy. You need to think of people who you think are strong as well because even those who appear to be strong, sometimes these are the very people that need to be prayed for.
[25:00] Everyone needs to be ministered to, and everyone needs a minister. And you don't need to be a theologian to be a minister.
[25:11] You don't need to know all the big theological words. All you need to do is to show the love of Christ to a person in practical ways, even as a tiny wee thing. You have no idea how much spiritual good you can be to someone just by a little token of help and friendship and encouragement in practical ways or a word of encouragement or something like that.
[25:39] It doesn't have to be anything great. It doesn't have to be anything big. Just a wee word every so often. Just you see that person needs something and I can supply that person's deed. I'm going to help that person.
[25:50] You have no idea when you do that, that person will thank the Lord. And that person will come to a new vigor and a new enthusiasm as a Christian because he will see or she will see that you've been sent by the Lord for them.
[26:07] They will see God's hand in it. That's the way we're to operate. And if it's true for a small congregation, it's even more important for a congregation like this.
[26:18] Now, we can't always do everything for everyone. But we can do some things for some people. As much as lies within us and as much as we can.
[26:30] And that's why it's so incredibly important to commit ourselves to the body of Christ in every possible way. And to not become discouraged.
[26:42] And to do what God has given you to do for the sake of his kingdom. And you'd be amazed at what you can do for his kingdom just even in something small.
[26:55] You don't have to do anything big. It doesn't have to be a big splash. You know, I'm looking at some of you tonight. And I know, I know that there are people here tonight and you're ministers.
[27:10] Because I know that you help one another. And if I was to go to you after the sermon and say, you're a minister. You'd wonder what I was talking about. You wouldn't believe me. You wouldn't be prepared to accept that title.
[27:23] But you are. But it needs to happen more. So that people don't feel left out. So that people don't feel alone. What about the housebound? There are a massive number of people.
[27:36] I'm on a guilt trip all the time. Kenny I's on a guilt trip all the time. Because we can't get around them. What are we going to do for them? They're part of the church. They can't meet with us on a Sunday. They can't get here.
[27:48] And some of the elders are able to visit. Some of them are not. They're busy and whatever. They have different circumstances. But this passage tells us that it shouldn't be down to me or to the elders.
[27:59] It should be up to every one of us. We are ministers. Helping one another. You know this? This is the mark of a strengthening, a strong and a growing church.
[28:09] It's when people get involved with one another. I don't mean busybodies nosing about in other people's affairs and criticizing others. I don't mean that at all. I mean seeing what we can do to help one another practically in practical ways.
[28:23] What can we do? That's what it is. It's very, very straightforward. Some to be apostles to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.
[28:37] And as you do so, look what happens. We all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
[28:48] That's how to do it. We're not an island. You cannot be isolationist. You can't be isolated from the work of the church. The way that God works within you is through other people.
[28:59] It has to be that way. And the way that God works in other people is through you. The word is key also in teaching.
[29:12] Pastors and teachers. Now what does that mean? It means that we believe that God has established a leadership consisting of elders and consisting of ministers in this congregation to bring to you the word of God.
[29:27] It's not because we are any more important or higher in any way. It's simply that our function, myself and Mr. McLeod, is to bring to you the word of God.
[29:38] And your responsibility in that is to listen to the word of God. And to absorb the word of God. And to come every Sunday.
[29:49] And to ask, what is God going to teach me in this word? Now I know how difficult it is to listen sometimes. I know because you're tired and the kids have been up all night. And because you're having a busy week and you're stressed at work and all that.
[30:03] I know all these things. How difficult it is sometimes. But is there not something you can take away with you? Something. Is there not something tonight that you can take away with you?
[30:18] Something that will challenge you? Something that will educate you? And something of the Bible? The word is central. And that is why the key area of every service is the Bible.
[30:31] That's why the Bible takes the central place. We read from it. And we preach from it. And it's the Bible that nourishes us. And that we feed upon day by day. Don't ever neglect it.
[30:43] Please don't ever neglect it. I know there are times when we're not able to come. But don't ever neglect it. Whether it's a Sunday service or whether it's a prayer meeting. Please don't ever deny yourself. Deprive yourself.
[30:54] The Bible. Of course it also extends to reading the Bible on your own. But remember this passage is speaking about the church. The place of the word in the church. And there's something about preaching.
[31:06] I don't know what it is. There's something about preaching in which God uses the preached word. To a particular effect. You can feel it sometimes.
[31:20] Sometimes more than others. You can feel that silence sometimes. Can't you? That special silence. When you know and when I know that God is speaking to someone directly.
[31:34] That's what we should expect. That's what we should pray for. Don't be surprised if it happens. And if you're not a Christian don't be surprised. When you feel moved. By coming to church. By hearing a truth that strikes you at the depth of your being.
[31:49] Goes right inside you. And if that happens listen to God. Don't ignore his voice. As he calls you. To trust in him. I hope you're not ignoring him tonight.
[32:03] Because he's the living God. Come to him. And trust in him. And bring yourself to him. And ask him to be your savior. Fourthly. The enemy is falsehood.
[32:13] Look at that. So that we may no longer be children. Tossed to and fro by the waves. And carried about by every wind of doctrine. By human cunning. By craftiness and deceitful schemes.
[32:25] There are so many different. There are so many different counterfeits. To the truth. Aren't there?
[32:35] In the first century. There were all kinds of heresies to contend with. Somebody. Some people wanted to merge the Bible with Greek philosophy. For example. Some people were tempted by what is known as gnosticism.
[32:46] Which is a kind of a weird belief in the first couple of centuries. Some held various views on the Trinity. They didn't believe that the Father was equal to the Son. And the Son was equal to the Spirit. And some people believed that the person of Jesus.
[32:58] He wasn't eternal at all. That he just was a man. That God promoted to the Son of God. And nowadays you have just the same kind of things. They're a little bit different. But there are cults.
[33:09] And those who want to merge the Bible with other faiths. And it appears so sincere. Doesn't it? You have those who twist the Bible. To make it say what it doesn't say.
[33:19] And you have those who preach the health and wealth gospel. Some of the most articulate preachers in the world. Their message when you listen to it. It's not centered on the death of Christ at all.
[33:30] It's centered upon what you can do with your life. If you take up the challenge that's in front of you. And that you go ahead and make life what you want. And you'll be successful. And God wants you rich. That's not the gospel at all.
[33:43] That's a false doctrine. It's a false message. Don't listen to it. Anything that's not centered on Jesus and his death and resurrection is a false gospel. And so on.
[33:54] I was going to go on. But the time has gone. Maturity and strength is the objective. We have it within ourselves.
[34:06] As God's people. To grow. Or to shrink. To grow stale. Or to fragment. Or to break up. I said that last week.
[34:16] God has placed a huge responsibility on all of us. To. Listen to his voice. And to act. And to live in a way that's obedient.
[34:27] To him. For the sake of his people. And for the sake of ourselves. And for the sake of his church. I believe tonight.
[34:37] That the effective church. Is the one. In which his members. Are active. In their love for one another. By this. Shall all men know.
[34:48] That you are my disciples. If you have love. One towards another. That's what impressed the outside world. In the early church. It's all about relationships. And people will see.
[35:02] Our relationships. And if the relationships. Are good. And genuine. And caring. If we're doing what we read in this passage. Go home and read it again. If we're doing this. The world will notice.
[35:14] There is no way you can't notice. When the church is acting. As it should be. I was talking this morning. About wildlife programs.
[35:24] I saw another one. The other day. And I was talking about. Ants. And it was one of these. Fantastic programs. Where there was these tiny cameras.
[35:35] And it went right inside. An anthill. And the first of all. As the camera zoomed in. You saw the anthill. There was this massive. Great mass.
[35:46] Of black. And the first question you asked yourself. Was what's it made of? Is it mud? Is it some kind of secretion. That comes from the ant itself?
[35:56] Like a beehive? But as the camera moved closer and closer. Do you know what? You saw that the actual. Structure itself. Was made of ants.
[36:13] Every single one of them. Was connected to another one. One ant was connected to three others. And then another one was connected to three others.
[36:25] And another one was connected to three others. And it made this massive. Great structure. These guys really knew what they were doing.
[36:37] And that's the way the church needs to be. And it means this. That God has given you a responsibility. He's not wanting you to be connected to everyone. But he wants you to be connected to some.
[36:51] You have no idea. How life changing. Your connection can be to that other person. And let me tell you this. Be very careful.
[37:02] You have no idea. Of the harm that you will do the gospel. If you decide. To sever. To sever. To sever. That connection. Two responsibilities.
[37:18] The church is about people. And relationships. And there are all kinds of threats. And arguments. And controversies. We've got to put these to one side.
[37:31] Because people depend upon us. And we are there. For the sake of the kingdom. And for the gospel. So we have to be there for people. For the glory of God.
[37:43] In the strength and the unity of his people. And we have to. Be obedient. In him. In loving one another. As he. Has loved us.
[37:54] Let's pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Our father in heaven. We pray now. That you will bless. Your word.
[38:04] And your work amongst us. We ask. Oh Lord. That we will be very aware. Of the importance. Of your church. It is. It is a.
[38:16] Structure. And a body. That will. Never fail. The institutions. And governments. Of mankind. Will always. Will come to an end. Sooner or later. And yet your church.
[38:27] Your promise. Will always be there. We pray Lord. To make sure. That we fulfill. Our responsibility. Our tremendous privilege. And responsibility. To one another.
[38:38] To. To minister. To one another. And to give a word. Of comfort. And encouragement. And to pray for one another. In the Lord. And so. Show forth the love.
[38:49] Of Jesus Christ. Amongst us. In his name. Amen.