Amen. We're in Genesis 35 and we went through the first couple verses so I'm not going to go through those again. I took those off the sheet. We'll start in verse 1 and just read all the way through verse 5. just for context, and God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there. He was just leaving the place. Chapter 34, you know, we spent a lot of time on it, is that chapter where carnage takes place, where the boys take up the cause of their sister, even though I do believe that her sister was guilty of participating consensual acts. And yet they being family there, you're not going to treat my family that way. And we rise up. We all do that. We all get our ire. We hear about other people's situations. It doesn't bother us. But when it comes close to home, boy, that really bothers us. And that's what they did. And so now they're leaving. And Jacob is being told by God, mercifully, very mercifully, get back to the house of God. That's Bethel. That's the definition of Bethel and dwell there and make there an altar unto God. And that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. Basically, God is telling Jacob here in verse 1 to get back on track. And, you know, if God's ever done that with you, then you might want to heed that warning and just get back on track. You know, there are some things that, you know, pastors have been preaching lately that, of course, there's a law of sowing and reaping. And we're always going to have that. That law is always going to be there. And you know, the idea that you reap later than you sow, right? When you sow a seed, it doesn't come up tomorrow. It comes up maybe sometimes months later. And sometimes in our lives, things that we sow come up years later. And there will be repercussions here. But at this point, and maybe at some point in your life, God says, look, just get right back on track. That's the mercy of God when that happens. Some people, when things go wrong, they flee and they go another direction. And they never come back and they leave the house of God. They leave the people of God. They leave the word of God. They leave prayer. They leave God altogether. Well, that's the wrong path, that's always the wrong path. And if God is allowing that, in this case he is, and he's allowing them to continue to be the promised seed and have his name be Israel. Then Jacob said unto his household, in verse two, and to all that were with him, put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments, and let us rise and go to Bethel, and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods that were in their hands, and all their earrings, which were in their ears. And Jacob hid them under the oak, which was by Shechem. And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them. And they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. Now you can imagine that if there's the law of an eye for an eye, which there is at this time, but whoso shedeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, Genesis 9. is when that law was put into place after man came off the ark. It was the idea of civil government being put into place. And so you can imagine the surrounding cities after witnessing what just took place where all this massacre of all the men of the city and then the pillaging of all their goods, the taking of their children, taking of their wives, and now this caravan of people. You can imagine the surrounding countries, they may want to take vengeance. or just if nothing else, take a countermeasure to say, we're not going to let these people come in and do that to us. We're going to go after them first. But the Bible says the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. So what I'm going to tell you and what will come up later in the chapter and what will come up really as a theme throughout the Bible. Is that God takes a situation even and again, God is merciful. He says, look, after all that, after Dinah going out into the world and becoming a worldly person and causing all this problem and all these unintended consequences that we dealt with last week. And then the brothers wanting to take vengeance and pillaging the land and causing what Jacob calls a stink. You've caused my name to stink. And by the way, I know we said it last week, no man is an island. When you do things, you have unintended consequences. It does affect other people. It's a very selfish person who only thinks about, well, it doesn't hurt me. It doesn't bother me. Well, I don't have a problem with it. And you're not thinking about the other people and their lives. and the emotions that they have and the things that they feel and the way they have to live from that day forward. Well, Jacob had to live with the idea that he had to look over his shoulder, not just from Esau, his brother, from what he did, but now what his sons have done in terms of a mass murder so that people may want to come and come after him and his family. But God took that situation, and this was my point, God took that situation, a terrible situation, and he is able to turn it around for good. Do you realize that if these men were able to kill that entire city and trick that entire city and pillage everything that they have, that that might strike a little fear in the in the people around them? Yeah, they may want to come after them. Yeah, they may want vengeance and retribution, but they also may have a little fear. And God, I think, helped this thing along. And he put the terror of God into their hearts so that surrounding cities wouldn't come. All I'm telling you is all things do work together for good. God can take a bad situation like what happens in Egypt in the coming, you know, later on as they get into the book of Exodus and God gets them into Egypt and they go under that hard bondage and they're in that cruel taskmasters and all the things that takes place there. And he can turn that thing around for good. You know, we read that we read the verse, I think it was in Hosea, where out of Egypt came my son. The son was born. Israel was born out of that land. And God used all that. So God is using this again, a terrible circumstance to bring about what he wants. But just because God used it. You understand, we talked last week and it's on your sheet. Simeon and Levi were the ones I believe responsible for the killings. The rest of the brothers were there to take to take the the goods, the the the children, the women, all the all the money, everything that they took and ran with it. And just but but Simeon and Levi, they were not innocent because of it, because that God turned this around. Oh, look, well, I guess we did a good thing because God went ahead and blessed it anyway. God, God didn't chastise me. My my sowing, my reaping from my sowing hasn't come in. And in fact, what happens is look at all the good that's coming out of it. Well, be careful. Just take that as the grace of God, as the goodness of God. But what happened, the consequence for Simeon and Levi still happened. Go to Chapter 49. Chapter 49, as Jacob is dying and giving his blessing on his boys. This is a different time, you understand? We're going to read the Bible here about what Jacob said over his sons. And this is how God did things back then. God spoke to men in dreams. We're going to get to Joseph in chapter 37. And Joseph, immediately God spoke to him right away at 17 years of age in a dream. And he gave him prophecy that we can look, and we'll get into this next week, but we'll go over to the book of Revelation and see the prophecy that's coming to pass in the life, in the dream of Joseph thousands of years later. And God speaks through these men, and when they named back in Israel, or even in the Old Testament times, even in this time, they would name a child based on their future. Now, I don't mind that. I like that. I think that's not a bad idea. Be careful what you name your child. I remember a karate instructor back in Michigan. I don't know why. Maybe because the TV series was on and there was a, I forget what it was called, that guy that traveled around. And if you're old like me and you watch TV and you, what was that show called? Kung Fu. Boy, you're on my wavelength. That's why you're sitting in the front row. The guy's name was Kane. So he named his son Cain. And when I heard he named his son Cain, I'm like, oh my goodness, why in the world would you name your son Cain? That's like a curse. But he was thinking of a different Cain. But we ought to be careful. And I get on this. And I shouldn't right now. But people may name their kids the stupidest things. And I don't mind saying it in general, because now I'm not thinking of any one of you. And you can't say, well, he was talking to me, because I'm talking to all of you. But I'm telling you what, people name their kids some of the goofiest names. It's like you understand the unintended consequence. Well, it doesn't bother me yet, but it might bother him for the rest of his life. And he might get teased over that for the rest of his life. Right. And anyway, but so here, when we get to Genesis 49, you've got Jacob putting a blessing on his children. And it's and it's as if God was doing it in Israel. Now, back in our text, back in Chapter 35, they seemingly get away with it because nothing happened. The other countries didn't come and there was no eye for an eye. There was no tooth for a tooth. There was no blood for blood. But what did happen is later on in Chapter 49, when their when their father was dying, he put the curse on them on behalf of God. And they were scattered in Israel and they lost their inheritance. So moving on verses 6 through 7 of chapter 35. So Jacob came to Luz, which was in the land of Canaan, that is Bethel. He and all the people that were with him, and he built there an altar and called the place El Bethel, because there God appeared unto him when he fled from the face of his brother. Now El Bethel means the God of Bethel. El meaning God and then Bethel, the house of God. So it's the God of Bethel. Now I'm just going to make practical application here for a few minutes. And we'll talk about the church here for a few minutes. And I realized that, well, two things. I realized that there are always people coming into the church, and Pastor brought it out on Tuesday, about some people needing milk and some people needing meat. And I always assume when I get up here that everybody's heard everything I have to say, and everybody knows everything I think. Because I do repeat myself quite often, and I am up here quite often. But I understand also that there are new people that come in. And there are people that don't know a lot of things. So if you know what I'm about to give you today, just bear with it a little bit and understand it's for the benefit of others who don't. And there are a lot of people. Dare I say that this is an elite group of people this morning? First of all, you're here at it's 10 o'clock and you're here in Sunday school, you know, Sunday school doesn't exist anymore. People don't go to Sunday school. And most people, if there is a Sunday school, they don't go to it. They just come after it's over. It's an option. I've been to churches where it's after church. And I give them credit for still doing it. But they say, no, if anybody wants to stay for Sunday school, then we'll just have it. Everybody, whoever needs to go can go. And whoever wants to stay can stay. And you know what happens? About 95% of everybody leaves because you just told them to. First of all, and second of all, I guess we're not interested in learning the Bible. We've got better things to do. It's my day off. It's Sunday. I already gave you an hour. What more do you need? So I would say this is a pretty good elite group, but here's the thing. Most people, the people that I just mentioned, don't have Sunday school, they don't understand the Bible, they don't care about these things, and they don't even know where they belong inside of the world of Christianity. They don't know that they're a part of the body of Christ and how they're a part of the body of Christ and what their responsibilities are as a Christian. So he gets here, he gets to the place where God tells him, and he calls it El Bethel. So what he's doing is he's stressing not just the place, he's stressing the God of the place, God of the house of God, the God of Bethel. So a Bible-believing Christian should realize that the house of God is important, but the God of the house is more important, right? We put Jesus Christ first. That's why, now I know we're a Baptist church, And I don't want, I could go in many directions here and we could park here for the rest of the hour, but I'll try not to do that. But we're a Baptist church for a good reason. Do you understand why you're a Baptist church? Let me just give you a little twist on maybe what you didn't know. You are a Baptist church because another denomination called you that. See, if you don't understand that the God of the house is more important than the house. you'll put your emphasis on the house. And you'll say, well, boy, you guys don't even, I was with somebody one time and they're like, this place doesn't even have stained glass windows. I'm glad you have that response because most people, they look at, well, I need a pew. If I'm gonna sit in a church, I want it to have a pew. I want there to be a pipe organ here. I need there to be stained glass window. I need to be in the mood. I need to be put in the situation where I feel like I'm in a place of worship. Where's the statue of Mary? You see where it goes all different places, right? I mean, what are you used to? You're all worried about the house. Where's the children's program? The children's program? Are we required to have it? Wait, what chapter and verse? I think it's not in here. the children's program. Well, where's the this program and where's the that and where's the class for me? And what do you have, what kind of this and what kind of that? And so people are putting emphasis on the house. the place of worship, the facility, and we call that kingdom builders. Catholics are kingdom builders because they're trying to take over territory in this world. Everywhere the Pope sets his foot on the ground, he's declared that ground for Rome. Do you understand that they're a government? Do you understand that they're spoken of in Revelation 17, that they're the harlot? Do you understand that they're a world system, that they are not a religion? But they are the religion, they are the denomination who called you a Baptist. Because they said, no, we need you to be a part of our house. And so we're going to put you into our house through infant baptism. And so they take your baby, which is totally unscriptural. You cannot find that. The children's program and infant baptism, those are two things you're not going to find in here. And then they're going to take and put a little cross on your baby's head, which we could tell you what the cross symbol really is. The cross is a curse. Oh, well, Jesus hung on a cross. Yeah, but did you read your Bible why it's on a cross? Because it's a curse. Because he became sin for us who knew no sin. And so he was put on a curse. So everybody having the curse hanging around your neck, and kissing the curse, and doing it, and doing it. Do you realize what you're doing? Well, no, I just mean this. Well, you can mean it all you want. Anyway, that's a side note. But that denomination says, along with that, we're going to baptize your baby. We're going to put a sign of the cross on their heads with our holy water. I can't find that one either. And they're going to become into the house. into the denomination. But Brother Gordon on the front row says, no, that's not right. I read my Bible. You have a Bible? You're not supposed to have a Bible. And to this day, they tell you that. To this day, they say, you've got no business reading the Bible. How do you think you can understand the Bible? After all, we've had 2,000 years of mastering that book and understanding what really has said. And we have all this oral tradition behind us. And we have the Council of Trent, that back thing we've ever taught up. And so we go by that and you expect, you expect Roger that you're going to read the Bible and you're going to trump all of that. He says, well, that's what I did. And the Bible says that, uh, I just, I need to trust in Jesus Christ to be saved. And then I get baptized. And then he would go down and get baptized in the water by another heretic. And so they would kill both of them and they would call that person he would. They would call him an Anabaptist, a re-baptizer. You have no business doing that. You are not respecting the house or the denomination. What about the God of the house? The God of the house said, No, I just believe on Jesus Christ. And so that's the idea. You were called a Baptist, so you were called that by another denomination. So what the house is more, the God of the house is more important. In this age, every believer is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Go to, go to first Corinthians six. And again, this, this, this is a milk doctrine. And the reason why it's a milk doctrine and not a meat doctrine, and everybody should know it in this room, is that it's because this is exactly what happens upon salvation. You understand when you get saved, everything up to getting saved is not a meat doctrine. It's not difficult. It's the simple plan of salvation. It's easy to do. And so when you get saved, there's many things that happen to you. And one of the things that happens to you is you enter into the body of Christ and you become now unlike the Old Testament tabernacle that hasn't even been set up yet. But this is a shadow of it, and we're in Genesis 35 where the house of God is being named, the place where God dwells. You in the New Testament, there is no more temple. So Christians don't go to temple on Sundays. Now Paul went into the synagogues and Paul went into the temples to witness. He didn't go there to have church. And we don't go into temples. And we don't go into synagogues. And we don't, and may I just give you a piece of advice, we don't go in Catholic churches. Now you may have been invited to a Catholic wedding, and that's up to you if you want to go. I've been in one. I've been to a couple of Catholic funerals. There's no choice. I was in the Philippines, and every time I go, someone died. And they said, John, you're bad luck. Every time you come, someone dies. And I'm like, yeah, well, I guess I am bad luck. So I went to their funerals, not to be disrespectful. But it's wicked what they do in those places at those funerals. The things that the satanic things that they get away with in those other countries that they would never get away with here because they can. But because too many people know their Bibles here at least I'll give us that that much credit. But First Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 19. What? Know ye not, this is a milk doctrine, what? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. So here's the idea, this is what I prayed this morning, that when you come in here this morning, you bring Jesus Christ with you. because you bring the Holy Ghost with you, because if you're saved and on your way to heaven and thank God I am right. But but are we thankful that we carry around the Holy Ghost with us? Are we thankful that we carry around Jesus Christ with us? Because everywhere we go and everything we do, he's present. Right. Unlike the Old Testament, where he's back there in the temple, where the in the Holy of Holies, where the priest is at. All right, and so that's, again, just giving you some foundational truth here, milk doctrine. The church is no longer a location or an institution, but a living organism. Now, when you read about church in the Old Testament, you read about assembly, I told you about, we're going to hit that word assembly, and you read about the church in the wilderness, and you read about the temple back then, and you even read in the Gospels, we're here in the book of Matthew, and Jesus is talking, giving instructions to the church, Matthew 18. is one of the famous passages in the Bible where the Lord talks about, if you have aught against your brother, then go straight to your brother. And if he hears you, then you gained your brother. Right. And if he doesn't hear you, then I can go grab my brother Gordon again and say, hey, would you help me go talk to my brother? Because there's a problem and he's not listening and we really want to help him out. You understand that the context of Matthew 18 is to help somebody out. It's not to expose them or to take vengeance on them or to make them look bad in front of everybody. The idea is to secretly, privately go and straighten the matter out before it ever escalates to the point where it's in front of everybody else. All right, so that's just another aside. But Matthew 18, all those references in the Old Testament, even up till then, are just institutional. It's the form of what we're doing here this morning by meeting together. We are meeting together here kind of institutionally. But you understand that we all know, this is a basic milk doctrine as well, if you don't, that this building is not the church, right? This is the place where we meet, but we are the church. Every one of us, we just read 1 Corinthians, is the temple, right? So when we walk out the door, the church leaves with us. We don't leave it behind and say, well, I'm glad to be out of church. No, you're always in church. You're always with the Lord. He's always with you if you're saved. And so the church all the way up to that point was an institution. Now the church is a living organism. The church is a living organism. Go to First Corinthians if you're still there and look at chapter 12. And look at verse 12. It says, For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. This is what Christ is. You see that where it says, so also is Christ? What is Christ? He is a group of people. I listen, this is a mystery. I can't explain how some of you can be an eye for Jesus Christ and some of you can be a toe for Jesus Christ. I'm the brain, I think I'd like to think. Well, maybe I'm the jokester, maybe I got you to laugh on that one. But no, seriously, how can you how can you be that? But the Bible is very literal about that. It's not just figurative. There's a when we get when we sing these songs about when we see Christ, when we see what we really are, when the creature is, when the manifestations of the sons of God are is complete. It were. Thank God I have a glorified body and glorified mind, because otherwise this one would just go. It would explode because we wouldn't handle it. But anyway, for as the body is one, and I'll read it again, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. That never happened before. You can read back here where the God of the house is there, the God of Bethel, and you can read Abraham's story, and you can read what happened with Adam, and all the way to Moses, and Ezekiel, and all these guys. You can read all the Old Testament, the temple, the law, all that stuff was given. Never before was anybody ever baptized into Christ's body. By the Spirit, by the way, for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. That is a Holy Ghost baptism. Hey, if you're charismatic tendency this morning, if you want to go to the charismatic church because they told you to get the Holy Ghost baptism, you can just tell them, no, I already had that. I had that when I was five years old, when I was seven years old, when I was nine, when I was twelve. Whenever you got saved, that's when you got Holy Ghost baptized. according to right here. Whether we be Jews or Gentiles, it doesn't matter, whether we be bond or free, and have been made all to drink into one spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the ear shall say, because I am not of the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And you go on and read from there. We are members, and the Lord puts it in context that, yeah, foot, hand, eye, ear, brain, Whatever. Why? Because I believe it's literal. And I can't explain that, and I don't even want to try. I've looked at that many times, but I'm just telling you that's what happens. So you're in the body of Christ. The church is no longer a location or an institution, you understand? It's a living organism. It's the body of Christ. Every believer is in Christ's body or the church. Look at Colossians chapter 1. If that's not enough, you can look at the actual wording in the Bible, Colossians 1, verse 18. Hey Catholic, maybe you might want to read the Bible with us this morning. Maybe you want to start Sunday school. I'll come teach it for you. I would love it. You say, would you teach in a Catholic church Sunday? I sure would. If I can teach in a jail, I can teach in there. Right? It's the same thing to me. So Colossians 1, look at verse 18. And He is the head of the body, the church. That's your definition right there. The body is the church. You read about how you're baptized into one body. When you get saved, the body is the church. That's the definition. Look at verse 24. It says, Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body's sake, which is the church. Go back a few pages to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 22. And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things, talking about Jesus Christ, to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. So we believe that, right? We believe the Bible literally, that we are part, we are an ear, an eye, a hand, a foot, we are baptized into that body. This is milk doctrine, by the way. Milk. You know what that means, right? Milk doctrine, easy, fundamental, kindergarten doctrine. Right? But who knows this stuff? I don't know. Eight, seven and a half, more than, probably more like eight billion people in the world, they don't know this? They're not saved, first of all. But they definitely don't know what happened to them when they get saved, because most Christians who say they love Jesus don't even read their Bibles. and don't go to Sunday school. And most churches are guilty of not even offering it to you. I told you we get stuck in this place. Those who do not grasp this doctrine will find themselves holding to a denomination. I'm a Lutheran. I was born a Lutheran. I was raised a Lutheran. I'll die a Lutheran. My granddaddy was a Lutheran. And my kids are going to be Lutheran. I'm picking on Lutherans just because that's my background, my dad's background. Well, I'm Catholic. I was born a Catholic. I'll die a Catholic. You insert the denomination. I started this part of the lesson by telling you you're not a denomination. You were called a Christian in Antioch. In the book of Acts, everyone who followed Christ, you were called a Christian. That's why we call you a Christian today. You're called that. That's not a denomination. That's someone who believes in Jesus Christ. And you know what? You are called by another denomination a Baptist. And we wear that banner proudly. We don't have a problem with that. Yeah, we want to identify that we're anti. You know what that means? We're anti-Catholic. The very sign out on the roads that we might as well just put underneath anti-Catholic in brackets, anti-Lutheran, anti-Methodist, anti-Presbyterian, because they baptize their babies, too. Well, but that's just a sacrament. Well, in the Catholic Church, a sacrament is something really holy, but in the Presbyterian Church, it's something kind of, I don't even know how they, I really still, to this day, can't get a Presbyterian to fully explain to me what a sacrament is. Because they want to use the Catholic terminology, but they don't want to apply the Catholic doctrine to it. But you're a baby harlot, that's why. That's why you do it. You're not a denomination this morning, you are a Baptist. And so, if you don't figure this out, you'll hold to a denomination and you'll die that way. And you'll say, that's my religion. Well, you shouldn't have a religion outside of the word of God. I'm a Bible believer. I'm a Bible-believing Christian. That's a description. That is not a denomination. We do, however, believe in the local assembly. That's what we're doing this morning. We're a local assembly. And this is where Baptists go astray. Because Baptists begin to read the Bible differently because they're not rightly dividing the word of truth. Then they don't want to believe. Now, hold on with me. This gets a little bit more meaty. If they don't want to rightly divide the word of truth, what they'll tell you is salvation in the Bible was the same in the Old Testament as it is in the New. But they run into a little problem because in the first chapter of the book of Acts, and when Jesus was here, and when John was here, I could turn, I think it's in Luke chapter three. Hold on. Let me see if I can catch this real fast. Nevermind that. John said, there's one coming after me that will baptize you with the Holy Ghost. And the same thing, when Pentecost came in the book of Acts, they said, this is what He was telling us that one day we'll be baptized with the Holy Ghost. And if you don't want to believe that Old Testament salvation is different than New Testament salvation, even at least to the point where you say, yes, now we get this thing called the Holy Ghost, And now we that makes us indwelt with the Holy Ghost, which makes us the temple, unlike the Old Testament. And that seals us till the day of redemption. So we get that doctrine of we can't lose our salvation. And we understand that our body is no longer attached to our flesh. It cannot our soul cannot sin anymore. we're eternally secure in Jesus Christ, then that means that this is nothing more than a local assembly. That means that all of us just brought Jesus Christ in with us, and we sat down together intentionally, voluntarily, to be here this morning to just hear the Bible, and to know one another a little better, and to pray for one another, and maybe even go so far as to bear one another's burdens. And that's why we're here. It's totally voluntary. And this is called local assembly. OK, that's the word we we put on it. That's not necessarily what the Bible says, but it's a local assembly. But here's where Baptists go astray. They say, no, Old Testament salvation is the same. And so what they read there about the church back there and the church today, they can't if they're going to be intellectually honest, they can't separate the two because I'm not a dispensationalist. I don't rightly divide the Bible. I'm not one of those people. Well, I wish you were, because if you weren't, now that you're not, you know what, that's where we get this phrase, and you've heard us say it before, Baptist Brider. What that means is, who is the Bride of Christ? The Church. You are, if you're, now, it all mashes together, and there's no way you can get around this, even those people have to admit. Because if I'm saved and I am part of the the bride of Christ, but they'll say, no, it's the church, John. The church is the bride of Christ. So Bible believers, Baptist Church of Port St. Lucie. If you will be now, some of you just became members. Thank God, because now you get to go to heaven. I'm not kidding. Because in order to be the bride, the church is the bride. And so the church is this assembly. So what does that, if I'm the, I'm not the pastor here, but what, let's say I'm the pastor. So if I'm the pastor, what does that make me? That makes me Lord over the flock. And it goes from there, okay? I'm just going to leave it there, but I'm telling you we're not that. You brought Christ in with you. You are the temple. This is a local assembly, and the Bible, look at your paper because it's important. We do, however, believe in the local assembly. It's halfway into the first paragraph there, or the second paragraph. The word churches is found 117 times in the New Testament. Count it up yourself if you want. And refers to the local churches 107 of those times. So out of 117 times, only 10 times does the Bible refer to generically what we read already in Ephesians and in Colossians about the church, his body. The church, his body. Which is the church, right? That's what we read already. That is talking about what we would call, and this is a heresy doctrine amongst Baptists, some Baptist. This is what we call the universal church. Now you understand the word Catholic, according to a Presbyterian anyway, it just means universal. So when they give their creed, when they stand up every Sunday and read their creed and everybody quotes it, they use the word Catholic in there because the body of Christ, the Catholic Church, Maybe you ought to visit a few churches every now and then and see what goes on out there. But they talk about Catholic means universal. So you know what a typical Baptist writer would say? Oh, John, you don't even know it, but you're a Catholic. Because you're talking about the universal church as if that's a doctrine that's heresy. That's the Catholic church. No, no, no, no, no. The word Catholic may indeed mean universal. It's fine if it does. I don't care. But what it really means, the idea is that Christ's body, we read it, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. His body fills the universe, you understand? His blood, I believe, covers the universe. And so we are in the universal church. Every one of us who are saved in China, in Bulgaria, in Switzerland, and in Port St. Lucie, Florida, we're all in the same body. And I might be the ear, and that guy over in China might be the toe. but we're all in one body. Doesn't matter, Jew or Greek, bond or free, male or female, it matters not. But what's our responsibility then to get together? Because the flip side of that coin and what the Baptist Bride heard, the Lord over the flock would say, well, you know, what will happen is if everybody thinks that they're part of the, if everybody thinks that they're the church and you have this universal concept, then why would people come to church? And who's the pastor of the universal church? I had one pastor, Baptist pastor, ask me that. John, who's the pastor of the universal church? Who do you have to submit to? I mean, it sounds like maybe some of you think, well, that's a good question. I think that's a stupid question. I mean, where do you get that? Don't you read the Bible? Now, here's what I want to do. Go to Acts chapter 11. Acts 11, verse 26. I'm just going to give you a few of the 107 references that are about the local church. Overwhelmingly, the references in the New Testament to the church are local assemblies. In fact, the word assembly, if you want to get into Greek and Hebrew, ecclesia. Right? Ecclesia. However you want to pronounce it. That just means, and they'll say it means a called out assembly. Okay, fine. The bottom line is it just means assembly. And anybody who gets together is called out. I mean, we call, hey, we're going to have a tennis meeting this week. Do you want to come? Yeah, okay. That's an assembly. I can show you in the book of Acts where there are assemblies, and it's the same word, ecclesia, behind the assembly as it is when we reference the church here, when we read about the church. Okay, but that's just, you're just going to hear all this fancy talk, right, from these people. Well, it's a called out assembly, so if you're not saved, then you can't be a member. Well, I've got news for all you Baptist writers out there. I'm sure you've got many members in your church that aren't saved. and you call yourself the bride of Christ? See, what they say is our church is the bride. I didn't say that earlier, and I meant to. Our church is the bride. Wait a minute, wait a minute. If your church is the bride, I should join your church. Because I go to this church over here, and I'm a member of that church over there. Well, they're the bride too. Wait a minute, they're the bride too? Yeah, and how many brides are there? Well, anybody who has an official church, Now see this is where it goes. What's an official church? Well, the one that I set up. The one that goes by my doctrines. The one that has it right like me. Oh. And how do I become a member again? How do I become a member of your official church? Well, see the baptistry back here? You've got to get baptized. I do? Why? Because the Bible says, and we read it in 1 Corinthians 12, I'm the heretic Baptist now. Because the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12 that by one spirit we're all baptized into one body. And to them the word baptism isn't rightly divided either because to them it always means getting dunked under water. Because that's for all, that's what the Greek says. And so if you don't get dunked underwater by an official pastor, how do you become an official pastor? Well, you have to have hands laid on you. I'm telling you what they say. This is not the truth. Okay. You have to have hands laid out. Well, who lays hands on me? The other official pastors behind me and behind them and behind them? Well, What if there was not that succession? You talk about heresy, apostolic succession, and the perpetuity of the church is what they call it. The perpetuity of the church. I used to think that was okay. God has always had his church here on the earth. It's the perpetuity of the church. That sounds more Catholic than the word universal does. And we lay hands on one another and we give you the authority to become the pastor. And based on that authority, you can now baptize John Albrecht into the body of Christ through water. And I said to the man that told me all this, I said, well, wait a minute there, that by first Corinthians 12, it says we're all baptized by one spirit. Capital S. He goes, that's a mistake. Yeah. So this is how, this is why you don't change the Bible. And what that word really ought to be is, and it went from there. Why? Because they're holding to a denomination. Because they don't want to take the simple truth of the Bible and say the God of the house is more important than the house. El Bethel rather than just Bethel. And so it goes off from there. And before long, that church will be Catholic. Not me, independent Bible-believing Baptist, King James only. Now, where was I? Acts chapter 11, verse 26. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch, and it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people, and the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. Why were they called Christians? Because they assembled. You see? What's the name of that church? I don't know. Doesn't matter. They assembled. And because they assembled, they did what God told them to do. They were Christians. They were called Christians. Go to Acts chapter 13, just a page over. Look at verse 1. Now there were in Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon, that was called Niger, and Lucius, and Cyrene, and Manian, which had been brought up with the heritage of Tetrarch and Saul. All I wanted to get to was there is that now there were in the church, in the church, meaning that in the church inside of the local assembly there were these people. Now we can't do it today because we are going to be done. But what we can't do is to show you, based on the verses that you're reading about the local church, what was happening inside the local church, which is meaning what should happen inside of a local church. Well, John, when we get together, we sing, you know, you're gonna, after you're done with Sunday school, we'll have a 10 minute break, and then you'll get up there and you'll lead us in three songs, and then there'll be a special, and then pastor will come up and take an offering, and then he'll preach for an hour, and then we'll go home. That's what's supposed to happen inside of a local church. That's what happens inside of this one, but everything we're doing there is supposed to happen. It may not be in that order, it may not be for that long, it may be shorter, it may be longer, it may be in a different order, but those are the things that are supposed to happen in a local church. There's other references, I won't get to them because of time, but there's many references. And Hebrews 10 is the one everybody probably already knows. Forsaking not the assembling of yourselves together as a manner of some is, right? And that is what the intention, God's will. What's God's will for my life? I'm saved. What's God's will for my life? I can tell you right now what God's will for your life is, first and foremost, is to get to church. Well, I don't like church. Well, too bad. I don't always like it either. But I go. I told you before, I've been going for 56 years. You think I like going every time for 56 straight years? No. But you know what? I'm supposed to. And so do you think I like going to work every day? No, but I'm supposed to. Think your kids like going to school every day? No, but they're supposed to. You name it. There's a lot of things we're supposed to do. And one of the things God says, we read the verse, I bought you with a price. Now here's what I want you to do. Because I gave you a home in heaven, would you at least just go to church a couple times a week for me? Can you at least do that? Because if you do that, I told him, the preacher, to preach the word. And so you see how it all comes together? And I told you, and I told everyone in that church to get to know you, to bear one another's burdens. So that if you have a problem or a need or a prayer request, they can help you out. You see how, getting to see how it works? And I told them, and when you get together, you know, it sounds better than you singing alone, because when he sings alone, it sounds better when more people sing. And so get together and sing. Now you can bring up the volume, that's fine. But when we, so, and we can do that together? and we can encourage each other together and iron sharpens iron according to the Bible and we can sharpen one another that way and we can pool our money together and we can get we can get a few missionaries together and we can send them out to do things we can't do with our money and we can take up money for things like someone who gets taken captive in Haiti and needs money to get out of that and you know what independently we can't do any of that stuff because we don't know what's going on Listen, I'm just telling you, there's more that I could go into this morning and I wish I could, but the Bible lays it out very succinctly what the church's mission is supposed to be. It's not just, well, what do you have at your church? Well, what do you have at your church? Well, we have a softball league. Oh, I'm joining your church. I love softball. The Bible lays it out, what you're supposed to do. There are offices in the local church. If there are offices in a local church, and they are elders, bishops, and deacons, they are people that the Bible says are to watch for your souls. And they are the people that actually do the preaching and teaching of the Word of God to people who are new, who aren't able to do that because they don't know anything. So they can sit under that person who watches for their soul and teaches them a few things, which is a blessing by the way. And so I'm saying if there are offices to the church, then what about those offices? Well, I don't feel like going to church. I don't really want to, you know, commit myself to that place. Well, the officer committed himself to the place. You see, we take so much for granted. I mean, Christians today, well, I'll go to your church on Sunday, and Sunday night, I go to that church on Sunday night. And midweek, I like to go over to that Bible study. And then when that's done, I like to go over here on Saturday night, because they have a concert on their church. And then maybe Sunday, I'll try the next church over here, because I'm just not going to commit to any one church, because I am the church. And that's what the Baptist Brighters are afraid you'll do. They're afraid, well, John, if they don't come to my bride church, they'll just do whatever they want. Well, that's what happened when you got saved. When you got saved, all your sins were forgiven. You're on your way to heaven. Seal, sign, and deliver. You think God's up there wringing His hands? But maybe they'll sin. But maybe they'll go ahead and do wrong because I forgave everything, and maybe they won't serve me like they ought to. It's the same idea. You are responsible to not sin and to serve the Lord Jesus Christ because the Bible says in Romans 6, God forbid, shall we sin that grace may abound? And shall I not go to a church because I don't have to? You see, we're supposed to want to. And when we go, we take for granted that this guy prepares a Sunday school lesson for you. And he spends his whole day putting it together and reads books and does all these things. And then you just waltz in whenever you want. I don't know about Sunday school this morning. You know, I was up late last night. Listen, I'm not promoting me or Sunday school. I'm talking just in general. You know, I don't I don't need to do that because I am independent. I am. We're so independent that we can't even do what someone asks us to do. Our Savior asked us to do it. And he set officers into the church so that we would have some organization to it. And he lays it out what it's supposed to be done. And we show up when we want. Well, let me just stroke you a check there, Pastor, how much do you need for that? And that takes care, absolves me from all my attendance issues and all my other obligations around here. I'm just having a good time up here because I've been in church for 56 years and I've seen it all. Right? I've seen how people behave and how they treat church and what the pastors all say and where I've been and what the conversations and the lunches and the dinners I've had with people. Not just people, I'm talking about pastors and that kind of thing. And go to 1 Timothy chapter 3 because I'm done. I say it every week. We'll get to the rest of it next week. See, this is not the Old Testament, is it, this morning? But it came out. It is the will of God. Let me just read my sheet so I'm not off track. It is the will of God for believers to assemble in an organized way, not just a random haphazard as you come as you are, come if you want a way. The local church has offices of bishops, elders, and deacons and has the responsibility of being the pillar and ground of the truth. 1 Timothy chapter 3. Look at just verse 14. 14 and 15. These things write unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. Why? Why are you writing these things, Paul to Timothy? Why? But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. I have a whole sermon on just the idea of what is a church supposed to be and what a church is not supposed to be. And it's not supposed to be an entertainment center for your family. It's supposed to be, according to Paul, to Timothy, if I don't come, if I don't ever make it there, because I've been hindered before from going certain places, and if I don't ever get there, read what I told you, because I told you about setting up the officers in the church, and I even told the people in Corinthians that the, oh, how's it go? The ox is worthy of, help me out, somebody. of his reward, something like that. I mean that verse always comes to my mind except for right now. But his hire, the labor is worthy of his hire is not the verse I want but that will do. And so the idea that the ox treads out the corn and so the preacher preaches the word and he's supposed to be supported There's supposed to be money coming in. It's not, oh, that church just wants my money. Yeah, they want your money. Okay, can I just be blunt and tell you that Paul, I can show you over and over and over where Paul criticized the churches. He said, well, just keep your stinking money. Because if I have to pry it out of your wallet every time I come, then just keep it. The Lord will get along without your money and you just won't have the reward in heaven for it. But I'll tell you what, you support your local, whatever it is you do with your money, And you make sure that that organization is going, and you make sure your school system is going, and you make sure everything else is funded. But the church ought to get along like a poor little, you know, limp along with no money. But the Bible clear, and so he says, look, I've already told the churches to give the money, and I've laid out what you're supposed to do to be a pastor. and to have deacons, and to have organizational structure. And here's, if I don't ever get to you Timothy, here's what I want you to know. That church, first and foremost, is supposed to be the pillar and the ground of the truth. So, preach the word. The word is the truth. Sanctify them through thy word. Thy word is truth. And that's your number one responsibility, Timothy. It doesn't matter if you have a roof over your head, because many churches don't even have that. They may have four walls. It doesn't even matter if you have windows inside the windows, glass in the windows. It doesn't matter if you have a dirt floor, or a cement floor, or a carpet. And this carpet is filthy, by the way. I wiped up this carpet with a little napkin the other day, and I was like, oh my goodness. So I'd rather not have carpet, just have a regular floor. But never mind. But it doesn't matter all those things. It doesn't matter if you have pews or chairs. What matters is that the church is the truth. It's supposed to be the ground, the pillar and ground of the truth. When people walk in that door, they better get truth first and foremost. And so this is the idea. And we'll get into the rest of the chapter, I promise, of course, next week. But every believer is in Christ's body. and you are Christ's body, but that does not take you out of responsibility of being in a local New Testament assembly. You say, well, you know, and I'll finish on this. A couple people just joined the church last week or the week before. People joined the church. You say, well, where is that in the Bible? I can't show you that in the Bible. I can't show you where you're supposed to join the church in the Bible, but I can show you where you're supposed to be there. and there's just a practical sense in which a church membership matters. Okay, it's just a practical thing. It's just the idea that I am putting my name down and saying that I am, so for those of you who join, I'm just putting my name down and saying that I line up and I am aligned with Bible Believers Baptist Church and with Aaron Hunter and with the