First Baptist Church Jan 2, 2022

And then okay foreign oh foreign so well good morning welcome to first baptist church this morning please stand and join us as we praise our Lord and [Music] praise to Savior Lord the Almighty the king of creation o my soul praise him for he is high health and salvation [Music] all ye who hear now to his temple draw near [Music] praise him in glad adoration [Music] shelters beyond [Music] there have been [Music] can do if with his love he defended [Music] praise to the [Music] in me Lord him all that had life and breath come now with praises before him [Music] let them again gladly for all we adore him [Music] you can have a seat well good morning we'd like to welcome you all to first baptist church if you're here and you're new please take some time fill out the prayer card in the back of the seat in front of you and let us know how we can pray for you and even if you're not new do the same thing we want to be able to pray for you specifically if you're watching online drop us a comment and let us know you're

Here let us know how we can pray for you too let's all take this time and pray over our service together that we might be worshipful this morning that we might be unified in heart and mind and voice together let's pray dear Lord we come before you God we gather here to praise your holy name God we gather because you're worthy Lord help us to recognize how worthy you are help us to learn more about who you are Lord help us to be the people that we've been called to be not because not because we are special but God because you're worthy Lord help us to worship you help us to put aside everything that might hinder us from doing that this morning it's in your name we pray amen [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] we're not the right man on our side the man of God's own choosing just as good as maybe Christ Jesus Lord of hosts his name from age to wage the same and he must win and all this worldly devil still should threaten to undo us we will not fear for God hath will his truth to triumph through us the prince of darkness grimm we tremble not for him his rage we can endure for lo his two missions one little word shall be [Music] the king of glory forever amen [Music] the king of glory forever amen [Music]

No thanks to them [Music] his kingdom is forever [Music] it's forever [Music] the king of glory forever [Music] the king of glory forever amen a mighty four dress a rock conveyor [Music] enthroned in praises the king of glory forever [Music] this next song might be a little new for us but I promise you the tune is not you'll pick up on it quick it's called all glory be to Christ and basically what we're saying here today in this song is no matter what happens whether it's good or bad when the bad times roll along all glory is to Christ our king in fact I want to take a minute and just kind of talk through this first verse today should nothing of our efforts stand no legacy survive unless the Lord does raise the house in vain its builders strive to you who boast tomorrow's gain tell me what is your life a miss that vanishes a dawn all glory be to Christ all of that is taken straight out of Scripture from the psalms and the proverbs and what it's saying is even if the end of your life comes and nothing you've built stands up even if you feel like today your life isn't amounting to much what your life amounts to is that you can call yourself a child of the king you can call yourself a creation of the most high God and that's a beautiful thing

It's a beautiful thing and it's something we so easily forget so join me in singing all glory be to Christ [Music] survive unless the Lord does raise the house in vain it's builder's stride to you who boasts to my tell me what is your life [Music] to Christ our king all glory be to his rule and reign will never sing all glory be to Christ his will be done his kingdom come on earth who is himself our daily bread praise him the Lord of love [Music] yes [Music] glory be to Christ our king all glory be Christ his rule and reign will never all [Music] the truth the lamb who was horse inner strength is making all things new behold our God shall live with us and be ourselves light and we shall be all glory be to [Music] is [Music] glory be to Christ all glory be to Christ our king all his rule and reign will ever sing all glory be to Christ in the book of first corinthians 12th chapter we read this for just as the body is one and has many members and all the members of the body though many are one body so it is with Christ for in one spirit we were all baptized into one body jews or greeks slaves are

Free and all were made to drink of one spirit for the body does not consist of one member but of many if the foot should say because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body that would not make it any less a part of the body and if the ear should say because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body that would not make it any less a part of the body if the whole body were an eye would there be the sense of hearing if the whole body were an ear would would where would the sense of smell be but as it is God arranged the members in the body each one of them as he chose if all were a single member where would the body be as it is there are many parts in one body [Music] the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of you nor again the head to the feet I have no need of you on the contrary the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor and our unpresentable parts are treated with the greater modesty which are more presentable parts do not require but God has so composed the body giving greater honor to the part that lacked it that there may be no division in the body but that the members may have the same care for one another if one member suffers all suffer together if one member is honored all rejoice together now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it and God has appointed in the church first apostles second prophets third teachers then miracles and gifts of healing helping administrating and various kinds of tongues are all apostles or all prophets or all teachers do all work miracles do all possess gifts of healing do all

Speak with tongues do all interpret but earnestly desire the higher gifts and I will show you a still more excellent way please stand and join me as we sing together [Music] the splendor of the kings [Music] [Applause] [Music] all the earth [Music] and darkness tries to hide and trembles as [Music] how great is [Music] is our God [Music] engaged he stands and time is [Music] the lion and the land [Music] how great is our God [Music] my heart will sing how great [Music] all is you are worthy Lord worthy of all praise is our God [Music] how great is me how grace is our God [Music] how great [Music] is [Music] sing my soul [Music] my Savior [Music] oh

[Music] God [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh Lord my God when I an awesome wonder consider all the worlds thy hands have made I see the stars I hear the rolling thunder thy power throughout the [Music] great is art how great the heart then sings my soul my Savior [Music] Lord you are great God we praise you this morning Lord help us to remember who you are and what you've done for us help us to praise you ceaselessly help us to pray without end because God you are all there is Lord help us to remember that you are our everything let nothing else get in the way but Lord let us earnestly seek you always it's in your name we pray amen bear it's cold if feels a little chilly in the sanctuary it's because we discovered this morning that the thermostat is not registering and so bundle up find someone close to you be sure to snuggle I see a lot of snuggling going on out there so praise the Lord if you have your Bible and I hope that you do please turn with me to the book of acts we're starting a new series today it's called marks of a healthy church marks of healthy church we're going to be talking about today what a church is what it's supposed to be like and why

It is that way over the next 12 weeks we're going to be talking about all sorts of different things from theology to the Gospel to evangelism and leadership prayer worship much more and the reason why we're going to be talking about this is because we have a final copy of our constitution it has been unanimously supported by the constitution team the ministerial staff the deacon body and praise the Lord for that amen and I just want to the copies of that of the proposed constitution are going to be available to you in the coming weeks after church council has had a chance to read over it and ask questions pertaining to it but over the next couple of months we're going to be talking about those changes not only why they're Biblical but why they're beneficial to us as a congregation and we're also going to have time for questions and answers and I just want to thank the constitution team who has done such a fantastic job over the last year and like four months or so I mean it's been a long time and I appreciate you guys being very detail-oriented and if you've got any questions direct them to spencer he loves asking questions and following up with more questions [Laughter] no just kidding I love that team it's a great team of individuals that have put that together a lot of hard work and dedication has gone into that most important project now if you have your Bible and I hope that you do turn with me to acts chapter two throughout this series we are going to be in the book of acts you're going thought if we were to look at

Church history and ask ourselves what is the most authoritative book on church history it is the book of acts and the author of this book he's a guy by the name of Luke and he's going to be teaching us today on three core characteristics of a Christ honoring church and why that's supposed to be the case I don't have notes it's it's hard during the season to make notes when I don't know if I'm going to be preaching and so be praying for amber she's streaming right now so hey babe text me now if you are going into labor be praying be praying for her be praying for miss jackie over there they're both at that like turkey's done it's time to get out of this oven kind of deal and just pray for relief pray for peace for them and you know pray that good weather so that way we can get where we need to go when the baby does decide to come let's stand in honor of God's word as we read acts chapter two verses gonna read verses 41-47 and God's word says this so those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about three thousand souls and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need and day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes they received their food with glad and generous hearts praising God and having

Favor with all the people and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved Lord we just are so thankful for your love and your mercy that you have toward us and as we set apart this time especially over the coming weeks and months Lord where we talk about what your church your bride is supposed to look like and how it functions sort let us do away with my own thoughts and our own thoughts and it goes solely to what your Scripture and your word has to say because it is the most authoritative and the most best and the most wonderful and help us to conform into the image that you would have us to look like God we love you when we thank you for your mercy in Jesus name amen now what we just read about was the birth of the church and it is a blessed birth amen an amazing gift of God's grace that he has not just saved us as individuals if you're here and you think that you can do Christianity all by yourself you're wrong you can't you're you are not designed to exist in the walk with Christ all by yourself yes you have a personal relationship with Jesus but it's not a private relationship with Jesus this is why we encourage you constantly take the next step to take the next step into from the congregation into community groups and from community groups into core groups it's time to take those steps for those of you who have never done so I love my community group I love spending time with those people they are friends of mine and if I have a problem I call them and they're a great sounding board and I know that for many

Of you have those same relationships in your community groups that's where your relationships are that's where your friends are and we thank the Lord for that but as we see here this is the birth of the church and when we think of a church we have to toss out like our 21st century ideas of what we think the church is what the misconceptions are and we have to go back to as the reformers would say in the latin the ad fonts back to the fount back to the source of what it's supposed to be and so let's ask that basic question of what is the church well church is a word that Christ coined for the gathering of his people it's a gathering of disciples disciples of Jesus Christ when a lost person comes to one of our services they get to participate as spectators okay when we sing worship songs and we sing them loud and we partake of God's grace through the application of God's word and we hear God's word expounded upon from the pulpit and we worship together they get to join in as spectators as those from looking on the outside in into what the bride of Christ is doing with one another when we fellowship with one another when we minister to one another when we take meals to one that is the bride of Christ ministering to one another likewise when you are a Christian and you come to service you don't come as spectators but you come as participants in the service that you have a key role in the bride of Christ right now right where you're at and so you encourage one another and you use your spiritual gift of encouragement or perhaps you have a spiritual gift of teaching and so you're a teacher and we are blessed with so many fantastic teachers who get to use God's word to minister to others perhaps it's whatever your spiritual gift is maybe

It's giving maybe it's ministry or administration or leadership the point is that you use those gifts to edify the body of Christ because you are a participant of it and you were saved to join in it now the Scripture it teaches that church when we talk about the bride of Christ is for believers it's for believers for years the church service on sundays has been the main evangelistic arm of the church but that's not the way that's designed to be the church's men as acts chapter 2 says for you and I to be devoted to the apostles teaching this means that we expound upon God's word and we do so unapologetically that we take God's word and we apply every single part of it as best as we can to our lives that we live according to God's word because we are people of the book you know that's what muslims call Christians around the world we are people of the book because we seek to live our lives according to the Bible it says that we're to be devoted to the apostles teaching so we read God's word we elevate God's word it's the level of preeminence my word is not authoritative as the final say on what happens and matters pertaining to faith in the conscience it's God's word so if I ever say anything contradictory to God's word who wins God's word right it's a great place to say amen that goes for you too right but the disciples they also fellowshipped in church it's impossible for a Christian to be satisfied in their walk with Christ while walking in isolation it's impossible

Shaking hands on sunday morning that's not what fellowship is talking about here fellowship in the greek it's greek word koinonia and it means to be devoted to one another to be participants with and to share with one another this is why community groups are so important to your personal spiritual health that's why you have to be a part of one to continue growing I'm not saying that you have to be one to be saved I'm not saying that but I am saying that if you want to grow in your walk with Christ and you want to be obedient to what his plan is you don't do it by yourself you get plugged in with other people for the first thousand years of Christianity there were three thousand three hundred years of Christianity there weren't church buildings so when we think of the church you'd say we're going to church most people think of this building but that's not what the first century author here Luke had in mind oftentimes they met in the jewish temples on sundays because saturday was the sabbath so they would gather into temples on sundays they would gather in people's home like in Philemon in verse one it says he refers to the church in your house and so let's let's have a working definition here it's kind of a long one and so if you've got your pen paper lipstick mascara or whatever you got to write things down it says a church is a local collection of people committed to Christ a church is a local collection of people committed to Christ to regularly assemble means to gather to get together to regularly

Assemble and have his word preached it means we take God's word and we say thus saith the Lord we preach the word and obeyed it means that we seek to apply God's word to our life including Christ's commands to baptize and to celebrate the Lord's supper a church is a local collection of people committed to Christ to regularly assemble and have his word preached and obeyed including Christ's commands to baptize and to celebrate the Lord's supper so that's kind of the working definition of a church it's very basic but what is it supposed to be like if we were to talk about characteristics of the church what would it be like and you can look at this passage and you can see some of the things that they did that there was there was teaching there was fellowship breaking of bread it means that Christians they regularly dined together they spent a lot of time they would eat together that was part of their actual church service was a meal a potluck and they shared praying sharing so much more but I think one of the best books in the Bible to go to when we're talking about like characteristics of a church is the book of first corinthians so if you could turn over to a book of first corinthians the corinthian church it had its issues most definitely and if you read first corinthians and then you read second corinthians you see a huge difference in you know the first letter to the second letter don't you we're going to talk about a few of them today but let's look at first corinthians chapter

1 verse 2 it says to the church of God that is in corinth to those sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints together with those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ both their Lord and ours now two times in this passage we're we're asking this question okay what is the church supposed to be like what are the characteristics of a church we're going to talk about three of them in this passage twice in this passage that we just read the word holy is used in the greek now we look at this and we say well I don't see holy anywhere in here well actually it's there it's it's in that word sanctified and it's in that word saints sanctified is hagias menoy which means to make holy in saint which is haggaisos which means the first characteristic of a church if we were to say that a church is supposed to be any kind of way is that a church is supposed to be holy goats hate the preaching of holiness but sheep delight in it when we talk about being holy it means what the Bible says that it is it means that holiness is it means being strange to the world means being strange to the world look at first corinthians chapter 1 verse 18 it says for the cross for the word of the cross is folly it's foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God in verse 21 it says for since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe verse 25 it says for the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men holiness means being strange to the world

Does the world think that you're a stranger doesn't think that you're pretty normal just because weird doesn't mean that you're saved either or being holy holiness it means not just being strange to the world but also means being special to God look over at turn over to chapter 3 verse 16. It says do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you when it says do you not know that you remember that this is a letter to a collective church and while this is true of you personally yes it's true of you as an individual but Paul he is writing to a group and so he must understand this in the context of a group of believers do you not know that you we all of us in here are God's temple and that God's spirit really resides right here right now among us the church it is special to Christ because he resides here and he died for the church according to Ephesians 5. He founded the church by the power of the Holy Spirit according to ephesian or acts chapter 2. I mean he is the very foundation of the church look over look at first corinthians chapter 3 verse 11. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ holiness it means being strange to the world it means being special to God but you know it also means being pure in first corinthians chapter five we read there was a major sin issue in the church you can turn over there here's a major sin issue in the church and the prescription from Christ by the authority of the apostle Paul is for

That person to be excommunicated from the fellowship of the disciples I mean that's tough isn't it that's tough for us to read in our modern context because we ask where's the mercy where's the grace but Paul's concern is for holiness because look at verse 6 what does it say there first corinthians chapter 5 verse 6 your boasting is not good do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you really are unleavened for Christ our passover lamb has been sacrificed for the sake of Christ be pure that's true of us personally but remember that this is a collective letter and it's talking about us being pure congregationally as well be pure and if someone loves their sin more than obedience to Christ then they must be cast out of the fellowship according to what God's word says and those are heavy heavy words aren't they how many of you like you hear this and you read this and you're just like man that is heavy and hard look at first corinthians chapter 6 verses 9 through 11 do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who practice homosexuality nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor revilers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God and such were some of you but you were washed you were sanctified you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God I mean the church is to be holy

Which means yep I used to be a liar I used to be an adulterer an addict I used to swindle people out of their money and so were some of you but not anymore because we are new creations in Christ how many of you love hearing about being a new creation because what was once true of you is no longer true amen and so why is Paul so concerned with our holiness in this life well it's because of the resurrection the life that you live now impacts eternity I didn't say that it impacts whether or not you're raised or anything like that but it impacts your eternity perhaps the life that you live right now bears witness against you that you are in Christ I mean maybe you are still a liar or a drunkard or an idolater or maybe you're still sexually immoral or just overall unholy there is good news because you can turn away and repent of that sin and cling to Jesus Christ because he loves you and he wants you to walk in newness of life today right now amen but holiness is to be a key attribute of the local church we do this in our own lives when we pursue Christ in a God honoring way and this is why membership is important because through membership you give the local church you give the elders of the church permission to speak truth into your life and to hold you accountable it means that you submit you agree to submit to the elders and the authority that Christ has given to myself and other men that you guys will nominate to submit to them as shepherds of this local flock this is why the preaching of God's word in its entirety is so important in our church we're in a good habit of taking a book of the Bible and going through it and going through a series

Like this is really kind of awkward when you're used to doing that for so long and but going through God's word methodically systematically is the biggest thing that is going to help you and I in holiness because we don't get to gloss over or avoid texts we have to deal with them and that's good and that causes holiness but holiness is also the driving force behind church discipline church discipline it's always done with reconciliation in mind this man in chapter five he was committing sexual immorality very severely in verse chapter five verse five look what it says it says you are to deliver this man to satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord I mean think about just for a moment like the daunting task of what that looks like nobody wants to go through that but this church they agreed to follow what the apostle said about this situation and if you turn over to second corinthians go over there real quick in second corinthians he starts this pretty close to the beginning of his letter in first second corinthians chapter two this is verses six through eight he says this for such a one this punishment by the majority is enough so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow so I beg you to reaffirm your love for him this man who was caught in this act of grievous sexual immorality repented and turned away and as a result what happened reconciliation not just

Him with the church but him to Christ which is a beautiful thing and that's always the goal of church discipline but when a Christian chooses sin over obedience the function of the church is to remain committed to Christ's command for holiness so the first characteristic of the local church is to be holy the second characteristic is to be united go back over to first corinthians chapter 1 with me it says first corinthians chapter 1 verse 10 it says I appeal to you brothers by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree that there be no divisions among you that you be united in the same mind in the same judgment for it has been reported to me by chloe's people that there is quarreling among you my brothers what I mean is that each one of you says I follow Paul or I follow apollos or I follow cephas or I follow Christ all of you agree that's what he says no division be united be in the same mind in the same judgment the fact is that we're called as Christians in our holiness to be separated from the world but we're not called to be separated from each other what causes division Paul he says this in first corinthians 3 he says for while there is jealousy and strife among you are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way for when one says I follow Paul or and another I follow apollos are you not merely being human it's because of jealousy it's because of strife conflict and divisions they arise in the church when people are more worried about building up their own kingdom than the kingdom of Christ the hallmark of the early church was

Always unity I mean where else could jews and gentiles slaves and free men male and female gathered together as one person and body other than the church it did not exist in first corinthians chapter 11 Paul he gives directions for the Lord supper turn over to first corinthians 11 with me first corinthians 11 verses 17 through 22 it says because there is one bread we who are many are one body for we all partake of the one bread oh let me let me go back to verse verse 17 but in the following instructions I do not commend you we'll start there but in the following instructions I do not commend you because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse isn't that tough isn't that tough to think I commend you in all these things but not in this because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse you imagine that could you imagine the apostle Paul saying hey guys first baptist church when you all get together it's not for the better it's for the worse verse 18 for in the first place when you come together as a church I hear that there are divisions among you and I believe it in part for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized when you come together it is not the Lord's supper that you eat they were going through the motions but they weren't taking communion for an eating each one goes ahead with his own meal one goes hungry another gets drunk what do you not have houses to eat and drink

Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing what shall I say to you shall I commend you in this no I will not this is why unity is so important to the bride of Christ yet we will never achieve unity without holiness holiness it's what provides direction under the Lord lordship of Jesus Christ with the shepherds of the church leading the way and everyone moving in that direction in unity it's what happens when everyone moves in that one direction unity is accomplished and God does incredible and wonderful things but there's another characteristic of a Christ honoring church and it's love the apostle Paul he really spends chapters 8 through 14 talking all about love I mean when we when we talk about like we just read chapter 11 and you see these people they weren't loving towards their neighbors which is why they were not concerned with their neighbors starving while they were sitting there at church eating there was no love there remember that knowledge it puffs up but love builds up if you want to grow the church and see it thrive then we must love God and love your neighbor it's that simple Paul in talking about how the church is to grow look at first corinthians chapter 14. First corinthians 14 turn over there with me look at verse one it says pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts especially that you may prophesy when we see that word prophesy it means to declare the word of the Lord to say what God's word says

And this leads to our holiness and also to our unity the issue for the church at corinth that Paul addresses is the gift of speaking in tongues Paul's recommendation is that for those who are speaking in tongues to be silent so that others may be edified by the preaching of God's word in the american context it could be a whole host of issues but I believe that with all my heart that my job as a Christian not as a pastor but as a Christian is that my brothers and sisters that are around me are built up that they are able to give thanks look at first corinthians 14 17. Talking about all this for you may be giving thanks well enough but the other person is not being built up so we should be building one another up for the sake of love that's why I'm so thankful for austin and how the songs that he selects he tries to minister to each and every single person that each and every person might be built up in this congregation so why are these three core characteristics well the character of the church is to reflect the character of God this means that as Jesus is loving you and I we should be loving as well as Jesus is united to the father and the spirit so should we should be united as well as Jesus was holy and blameless so should the bride of Christ be as well we have the Holy Spirit here he is right here among you and I today look at first corinthians chapter 2. We're going to go back to that look at verse 12. Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from God that we might understand the things freely given us by God so we are holy because God is holy we're

United because God is one and he has made us one with his spirit we love because he first loved us and Paul he wraps up the letter to the corinthians in chapter 16 verse 14 in this way he says let all that you be that you do done in love this is the Mark of the church that we should be holy that we should be united and that we should be loving and it's with that framework in mind that we proceed from here in talking about very specific topics in our church and what the marks of a healthy church are and where we're going as a church to be conformed into the image of Christ to be holy to be united and to be loving head hand heart head I want you to know that Christ has called his people to be holy united and loving so how are you involved in those different characteristics of the local church and I want you to consider joining our church there's so many people that have like been here for years that and it's time for you to join it's time for you to say you know what this is my church I'm gonna this is where my family is where we're gonna be if you haven't had a chance to join the new members class we're starting one next week you can get on the church center app sign up we'd be happy to have you and we'll talk about how you can help fulfill this holiness and unity and love heart I want you to believe that each one of these core characteristics is vital to church growth it's vital it's absolutely important you can't have one without the

Other because they all depend on each they can't exist without the other and so let us do everything that we can to make sure that we are holy united and loving firstly to God and then to each other and so God we love you and we thank you for this day and we ask Lord that you would just bless us as we respond to you in this time Lord you are good help us to be holy to be united and to be loving seeking out the benefit of our brothers and sisters that are here and ministering to those that maybe can't get out and Lord maybe be equipped with your spirit God that we might go forth with a difference in our lives that the Holy Spirit would just saturate every part of us where folks can just tell that person is saved and I want what they have God you have saved us not just to minister to each other but to minister to this world God and as we talk about what it means to be a holy and united loving church God I pray that we would also be focused on missions and evangelism and outreach God that we might see your kingdom flourish and grow in Jesus name amen let's stand and let's worship together [Music] the splendor of the king [Music] in majesty [Music] let all the earth rejoice [Music] he wraps himself in light and darkness tries to hide and trembles at his voice

[Music] how great is our God sing with me how great is our God and oh we'll see how great is our God seeing that again how great is our God great is our God oh sing with me how and oh we'll see how great is our God [Music] God is good amen you can have a seat I've got a few announcements for you guys firstly I love y'all thank y'all so much for bearing with me this morning and listening to that I know that some of those things are hard to hear but it's God's word and it's living inactive and profitable right and we need it I need it hey wednesday we got cal that we want to start up but listen guys we've only got two track leaders we need a minimum of four in order to make it happen and so if we don't have enough track leaders we're gonna have to can it until february which might be a part of what God's doing it's our first year doing it so we're learning new things but if you're interested in being a track leader you need to text me today otherwise we're going to make the call tonight okay we got to give families an opportunity to register we've had a lot of folks say hey I can help but I can't lead a track until february and that's kind of the consistent thing and so if you want to be a part of it those of you online you can text me too you know my phone number it's nine zero three five zero five zero eight zero seven so text me call me whatever you need save the date we've got february 5th we've got a men's conference it's called no regrets it's going to be right here it's going to be a fantastic time a

Few of the guys that are here in our local church body have said hey I want to help put this together and I'm very thankful for those men and if you're sitting there and you're like hey I am kind of interested in helping make this a reality come up here and talk to me or you can see randy demitz back there wave your hand real quick there all right and you can talk to either one of us we'll get you plugged in with some of our other guys that are helping put it together let's see here there's nathan right there and there's justin over there who'd be willing to get you all plugged in as well let's see here we are on january 16th right in here we've got a mission trip meeting to oaxaca mexico for our vision 316 eyeglass clinic and so if you're interested in going to oaxaca mexico you need to be there at that time there will be a deposit that's due very soon afterwards the dates for the trip are april 24th through may first be sure to get that all down also there's a Biblical citizenship class that's going to be happening during the dates of cal january 12th through actually it goes until march and there'll be some more information about that in your bulletin if you're interested in that also new members class you can go online and you can register for that as well through the church center app church I love you so much and be sure to grab one of these it's got a lot of great information in there I love you so much and how about we just spend some time praying as we go out into this world and be sure to drive safe Lord we love you and we thank you for this great day and I just ask that you would be with us all of us as we seek you as we seek your face

Lord help us to be holy help us to be united and loving because we want you we want you to have your work in our lives Lord I pray for your peace to be honest I pray that you would guide us that you protect us and shepherd us God we just give you our church and we just ask that you would lead us in the path that you would have for us we ask that you give us Gospel conversations with people that we come into contact Lord help us to share the Gospel with great hope and great joy that many might be brought into your kingdom and Lord we just ask that you will protect us until we all come back together give us safety while we travel in Jesus precious name amen you