Well, I wonder if maybe you have been in a church I'm about to describe. I've been in a couple of them over the 40 some years that I've been walking with the Lord. And this this church was a small country type church that put a lot of emphasis on family. In fact, being a family was kind of the driving focus of the church and the highest good that seemed to be sought after. The pastor was therefore viewed as a teacher and viewed as a guide who is supposed to step on a few toes now and again with little jabs like smile at that bad driver that cut you off and Things like that, but generally it was supposed to make everybody feel happy and feel good and leave church feeling better about themselves. The pastor was viewed more as an outsider than an insider. The church had gotten so used to pastors coming and going that they really didn't put a whole lot of stock in the pastor as being one of them. Nor did they really view the pastor as having any form of authority over them at all. The deacons in the church had been there forever and had much of the authority in the church, if not all of it. Keep them happy and things went well, but make them mad and things would go very poorly for you. No one had grown into leadership for decades and the same deacons that were there 30 years ago were still there running the church. They were seen as the patriarchs of the church and the ones in whom the church would go to, the true leaders. But there was a couple of women in the church who also had a lot of power and a lot of sway. They made their pleasures and their displeasures known and everyone knew when they weren't happy because they grumbled and complained in a spiritual way. Well, I just don't know if the pastor is real authentic or not. I saw him before preaching checking his phone. I don't know, just a thought. That type of thing. The congregation knew it was best to not interfere with them, just stay out of their way while at the same time always trying to vie for their good graces. The congregation saw themselves as merely recipients and consumers. None aspired to leadership. None took initiative in discipleship. None were evolved in evangelism. They viewed the problems in the church as problems for the deacons to take care of or maybe the pastors to solve while they watched and tolerated. But when it came to decisions, they wanted all in. They wanted all to say. They wanted everything brought forward, whether it was what color we should paint a wall in the nursery to whether or not we should hire another staff member. They were nice for the most part, but largely uninvolved and disinterested in speaking God's word into one another's lives other than the simple coffee cup sayings. Consequently, the church spun its wheels for decades, really in no other place than they were 30 years prior. What's going on in that church? Where are the authority structures to be? What would happen if this church actually sought to look at God's word and see what God said about authority in the church and then sought to be faithful to it? That's what we're going to look at this morning. Now, last week we looked at the definition of the church from the book of Ephesians. We went through chapters 1 through 4, and I put forth this definition. The local church is a gathering of redeemed sinners destined for eternal glory who reflect the glory of God to all of creation as they strive in unity and love. for Christ's likeness and the faithful proclamation of the gospel. That's a good definition, I think, of the church. We saw that the local church is far more glorious than most Christians even realize. The church is made up of saints, the children of God, the bride of Christ, and when they gather, they are proclaiming to all of the principalities and powers the manifold wisdom of God. We looked at Ephesians 3 10 through 11 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. And we talked about how God has designed the local church to display for all of creation the manifold wisdom of God being the gospel. that in a nutshell is the glorious church. And so then we need to ask the question, well, who then is in charge of the church? Who's in charge of the glorious local church? So we're going to look at that this morning. The first point on your outline is this. Who is in charge? Jesus is in charge. Ultimately, he is the one who is over the church. We read in Colossians 1.18, he, which I read this morning, he, Jesus, is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. Likewise, as we saw last week in Ephesians 1, Paul says, and he put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things in the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. The church is Christ's, for he bought it with his blood. This is true of the church universal. It's known as the big C church, all of God's people, but it's also true of the local church. Paul uses the term church in the book of Ephesians, both in the grand universal sense and the local sense. Paul, when he was ministering to the Ephesian elders, in Acts chapter 20 we read this, Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among whom the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. There Paul is talking about the local church, the church at Ephesus. Consequently, because the church is Christ's and he bought it joyfully with his own blood, he cares for her and preserves her. It's important that we understand this text from Ephesians 5. We get so used to thinking of it from husbands and wives, which is appropriate, but we also need to see Christ here. Paul writes, husband, love your wives. Just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her that he might sanctify her and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. Paul goes on and says, For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." So we see in that text not only how husbands and wives are to relate, but we also see in there how Christ relates to the church, that Christ cares for the church, and that Christ is central in the life of the church. And thus what we see here is the gospel is on full display in the church. The reality that Jesus came and died on the cross for our sins, giving himself for us, that we might be restored to him. The church is formed by the gospel, it is maintained by the gospel, and it is central to the life of the church. We never move beyond the gospel. Because it's only through the gospel that we make progress in the Christian faith. It's only in the gospel that we grow in Christ. You may remember when the Galatians started looking for other means by which they might grow in holiness, or grow in their standing before God, besides the gospel, Paul gave them one of the most stunning rebukes in all of scripture. He says this, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Paul is saying you are saved by the gospel. That's how you progress is by the gospel. We only move forward with faith in Christ. And so Christ is the head of the church. And the reality of the gospel are the means by which Christ grows his church, which we saw in Ephesians five. Yet, it is also appropriate to say that the church is God's, for scripture says this as well. So, for example, we read in 1 Timothy 3.15, a text we'll come back to here in a little bit, I write, so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God. which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth. Likewise, in 1 Corinthians 3, 16, Paul writes, do you not know? You, he's talking to the church at Corinth, you are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. Thus we could put it this way, the church is God's creation through Christ and he has made Christ the cornerstone and head of the church. He is the authority in the church. Thus, Paul, also in 1 Corinthians 3, says this, Jesus is the foundation of the church. Likewise, Peter wrote this in 1 Peter 2, 5 through 7, you also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is also contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. So Christ is the foundation. He is the cornerstone of the church. Now, why is this important? Well, this is important because the church is God's built upon Christ and ruled by Christ. Christ is in charge of the church. Therefore, we need to submit to Christ regarding what he says about how his church is ruled and functions. And this is critical because we are so prone to our own ideas, our own thoughts and desires and our individualism. Back when I was teaching high school in a Christian school in California, one of my students, a really bright young lady, got this job at California's famous burger chain. Some of you know of it, In-N-Out Burgers. Some of you have been there and have experienced that glorious, juicy burger. But In-N-Out is known for one thing, and that thing is burgers. Like, you don't get there and order tacos or chicken wings or anything like that. The menu has always been the same and continues to be the same. You can get a hamburger, you can get a cheeseburger, you can get a double cheeseburger, you can get fries, shake, or a drink. But they're also known for their uniformity in simple restaurants and uniforms. This is what every In-N-Out you walk into, this is what you will see. Every one. They wear white shirts, white pants, red apron with the silver held on by a giant silver pin and then the In-N-Out hat. Well, this young lady, like so many young people and old people, disliked the uniformity and felt like it was squelching her personality. And so she petitioned to use a large gold pin instead of a silver pin to hold her apron on. And that was denied, and she got upset, felt like her personhood was being squashed. But she did submit, but not without disdain and complaint. Now, what would In-N-Out look like in five years if everyone working there dressed however they wanted, and prepared things however they wanted, and designed things however they wanted? It wouldn't even be recognizable. And this young lady needed to learn to submit to that which is above her. And likewise, we need to continually be reminded of our need to submit to who is above us, which is Christ. Ultimately, the Journey Christian Fellowship is not ours. It is Christ's, and He is the one who says what happens here. He owns us, to use language that is very unpopular today. He owns us. He bought us. He loves us. He shepherds us. And so there's two points of application we need to make here. The first is this, Jesus loves us, and I'm talking about us here at the Journey Christian Fellowship, Jesus loves us and shepherds us perfectly. Our hope, listen very carefully here, our hope is not in having a perfect church, our hope is in having a perfect savior, a perfect shepherd, that is our hope. And when facing trials as a church, we can remember that Jesus loves our church and cares about our church far more than you and I ever will. And so we can trust Him with our church. He knows far better than you and I. what we need. The second thing we need to recognize is we are obligated to obey Jesus and what he commands for our church. He doesn't give us optional things. We need to obey what he says. I sometimes hear people saying things like, well, we need to be doing such and such at the journey. We need to be doing such and such here at the church. And yet, those are not things that Jesus commands of us. And so we need to be very careful to not elevate our desires for church above the commands of Christ. You may have loved a particular ministry from the church that you came from, but if Christ did not command that of the church, that is not an obligation that the church has to fulfill. And likewise, what Christ does command us to do, that we must strive for faithfulness in. All right, so secondly, who is in charge of the church? The members, the members are in charge of the church. The members of the church are those to whom Christ has given the responsibility or authorized for final authority in the church. Ultimately, the members are responsible for the church. The members are those who have the final say to ensure that the church is faithfully following Christ. This doesn't mean that the church is a democracy and everybody has to have a vote on everything, but rather we see these things from scripture. What the members are responsible, they are entrusted with the responsibility of guarding the gospel, caring for members, and carrying out the work of ministry. That is what the church is responsible for. Now, we're going to spend a lot of time on this over the next two weeks when we look at church membership next week and church discipline the following week. So I'm not going to spend a ton of time on this point this morning. But what we see is the church being entrusted with the gospel and ensuring there is faithfulness to the gospel in Matthew 18. So, for example, in Matthew 18, We read this, if he refuses to hear them, this is a sinning brother or sister, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to even hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. This is a really important word from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is actually one of the few times in the Gospels he talks about the local church. When someone is sinning, Jesus doesn't say you need to go get the pastor. You need to go get the elders. Not that those aren't right steps, but rather the final authority, Jesus says, is the church. This connects back to Matthew 16, when Jesus says this, That is the same phrase that Jesus then applies to the church. So he tells Peter, I'll build my church on you and the statement of what you have just said and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. What you loose on earth will be loosed on heaven on earth. And then that is transferred to the local church. The keys of the kingdom of heaven are held by the local church. The local church binds and loosens. Now what does that mean? Well, I preached through Matthew 18 a number of years ago. You can go back and listen to that sermon. But in a nutshell, The keys, so to speak, refers to saying what the gospel is and isn't, and who the gospel people are and aren't. So Jonathan Lehman puts it this way. He says, in short, the churches possess the keys of the kingdom to say, yes, that is or is not the true gospel confession, and yes, that is or is not a true gospel confessor. The church is responsible to know the gospel and protect the gospel. Thus, when Paul wrote to the Galatian church, that scathing rebuke that we looked at a few minutes ago, he did not write to the pastor, he did not write to the elders, he wrote to the church. And he said this in chapter 1 verse 8, Even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you, then what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. Paul is charging the local churches in the region of Galatia to guard the gospel. So the church is given that responsibility, but they're also responsible to carry out church discipline, declaring who is and who isn't a Christian. We just saw that in Matthew 18. This is consistent with 1 Corinthians 5, which is the passage that we'll look at here in two weeks. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul is addressing a sinning man in the church who is having an affair with his mother-in-law. His stepmom, actually. And Paul, though he is an apostle, he doesn't carry out the church discipline. And nor does he tell the pastor to do it. Nor does he tell the elders to do it. Rather, he tells the church to do it when they are gathered. So he says this in chapter five, verse four, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Paul charges the church to deal with the sin in their midst. We'll look at that more closely in a couple of weeks. Now finally, it's the church that's responsible for the ministry in the church. We looked at this text last week. There's repeating Ephesians 4.11. He himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry. for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So the pastors, the elders, are to equip the church to carry out the ministry. The church is actually responsible for the ministry. Paul concludes this teaching with this from verse 16. from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effect of working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. It's the members who are responsible to carry out the ministry of the church. They are to care for one another. They are to minister to one another. Sam Ahmadi in his book on This Says This, the local church then is the spokespeople of heaven. They do that work by overseeing a person's life and his or her confession to ensure that it's consistent with the gospel. Each church member must guard the gospel both in his or her life and in the lives of fellow church members. So who's in charge of the church? First, Jesus. Who's in charge of the church? Second, the members. Who's in charge of the church? Third point, the elders. The head of the church is Christ, who gives final authority to the church itself. And he commissions elders to exercise oversight in the church, shepherding and equipping the church. This is something we see consistently in scripture in Acts 14.23 we read, So when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Likewise, Philippians 1.1, Paul and Timothy. servants of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and deacons. By the way, the term elder, pastor, overseer, and bishop are used interchangeably throughout the New Testament. Those are the terms that carry the same weight. Likewise, Titus 1.5, we read this as Paul writes to Titus. John MacArthur concludes this from these passages. He says the New Testament teaches that Christ rules His church through a plurality of godly men or elders. And so we could say that their authority is derived from Christ and affirmed by the members of the church. Elders, we could say, are sent by God to the local church for the purpose of overseeing the church and shepherding the church and equipping them to carry out the work of ministry. So, if we look at a couple of other texts here, Acts 20 verse 28, Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God. Likewise, first Peter five verse one, we read this, the elders who are among you, I exhort I am who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed. Here's his charge to the elders shepherd the flock of God, which is among you. serving as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly, nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. Now, we could spend our whole time on this, but let me draw out a few things here. The first thing we need to note here is that an elder is to shepherd the members of the church. Shepherd the flock of God, which is what? Among you. They are to serve as shepherds, representing Christ, the great shepherd. Thus they are to be among the sheep. They are to be present in their lives. They're not to be distant and away and aloof, but present and available. And their goal is to equip them for ministry and help them grow in Christ's likeness by ministering God's word to him. But the second thing we need to note here is this word, overseers. The elders have oversight of the church and they are to exercise that. That means they are vested with a real authority in the church. But it's not an authority of discipline. That is given to the members. But it is a real authority to lead the church in God's word, to ensure the gospel is faithfully guarded, protected, and proclaimed. And the church is responsible to submit to the elders and follow them as they follow Christ. So, for example, Hebrews 13, speaking to this issue, says, Obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch over your souls. as those who must give an account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you." This is an important text to help us understand this relationship of elders and members in the church. First, the members are responsible to obey the elders and to be submissive to them. This is not the half-hearted submission that is so often seen in churches where members will follow the elders if they agree, but they'll grumble and complain if they don't agree. And then they use church language to complain and slander. So, like, for example, well, I just wish we could sing some more of the older hymns. I mean, I just wonder, you know, maybe the elders just don't really seem to revere God that much. I don't know. It seems like if they did, we'd sing more older hymns. I don't know. I'm just saying, just voicing some thoughts here. Is that joyfully submitting? It's incredible to me, if I think about just being a dad, it's incredible to me how I see in churches members submitting to their elders in a way they would never let their children submit to them. But for some reason they think it's okay for them to act like that. That's a problem. Paul wrote this to the Thessalonian church. Again, remember, he's writing to a local church. We ask you brothers to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love because of their John MacArthur writing on this, he says this, The church's obedience is a living testimony to the world. He goes on and he says this. There are many things that hurt a church and destroy its testimony. The primary one is poor leadership or false teachers who fail to build the church on the word of God. Another thing that weakens a church is a congregation that won't follow its leadership. Second thing we see here is that elders watch over the souls of church members. And they do so knowing that they will stand before Christ to give an account for how they shepherded them. They will stand before Christ for their faithfulness to that. So there's a tremendous weight here upon elders. Something that is often forgotten by grumbling church members is they don't have to stand before God for their grumblings in the sense of what they want. They don't have to give an account for their ideas and their thoughts, but the elders do. And it's very easy to complain about a decision elders make when you're not the one that has to stand before God for that decision. There's a responsibility placed here upon the shoulders of an elder and a weight that they must feel and they must respond to. The elders are to humbly lead and the members are to humbly submit. Mark Dever, writing on this, says this. He says, it is a serious spiritual deficiency in a church either to have leaders who are untrustworthy or members who are incapable of trusting. You as a church member either need to trust your leaders or replace them. But don't say that you acknowledge them and then not follow them. Likewise, Sam Ahmadi writes this to this this tension that exists here. He says, knowing our roles and following our leaders helps us maintain the unity of the church. If you have a congregation that's constantly at odds with the elders, you either have ungodly elders not worth following or an ungodly congregation unwilling to follow. And so we may ask, well, how does this work? How is Christ over the church? How do the members have authority in the church? And how do elders have authority in the church? How do all of these things work together? Well, I think Jonathan Lehman is very helpful here. He says this, And so what he's saying there is, is the ultimate authority falls to the members of the church. And the elders show them how to carry out that authority that has been given. So, if we look at this a little more closely, how can we define an elder? Well, I've used this definition in the past here. I think this is helpful. An elder is an exemplary man with Christ-like character who leads shepherds and governs a church through the teaching of God's word and prayer so that the people of the church are profited spiritually. Now, we have to understand that that term exemplary does not mean exceptional. or incredible, amazing. It actually means one who is a good model, one whom you can follow. Now what are the qualifications? Well, let's turn to 1 Timothy 3.1 and let's look at this. We don't have time to look at Titus as well, but if you want to, I preached through Titus not long ago. You can go and that's the other passage that contains the qualifications of elders. And I worked through those as we went through the book of Titus. You can go back and listen to that. But let's look at what Paul writes to Timothy. 1 Timothy 3 is just a fascinating chapter, and the whole thing is on what does life in the local church look like? And so let's consider here what is being said by Paul to Timothy. Paul writes this, this is a faithful saying. If a man desires a position of a bishop, and again bishop, overseer, elder, pastor, those are interchangeable terms. He desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous, one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence, for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the Church of God? Not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Now we don't have time to work through every single one of these qualifications. I did that when I preached through Titus. Like I said, you can go and listen to that. But what we need to see here is how incredibly simple and unimpressive the qualifications are for an elder. These are not super Christians. These are not the amazing scholars of the world. These are not the greatest leaders that the earth has ever seen. Rather, these are, as D.A. Carson writes, shockingly simple because the role of an elder is to be a shepherd who represents Christ and can be followed. Notice again, 1 Peter 5.3 says, not as being lords over those, speaking of the elders, entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. The elder is to be an example to the flock. An elder is one who can say, follow me as I follow Christ. Jeremy Rennie, in his book on elders, he writes this, And we need to recognize there are often just simply unhealthy, unrealistic, and unbiblical qualifications put upon elders. Some say an elder should have a lot of experience in leadership. He should be a dynamic, engaging speaker. Some say an elder should be a strong theological person who can parse Greek verbs and describe the differences between post-millennialism, amillennialism, and premillennialism. It's often disguised by someone saying the elder is not very doctrinal. Some say an elder should be someone who is very likable, just a friend to everybody. Everybody loves them. And we could go on and on by qualifications that might be nice, but are not given by God. However, the primary overarching qualification of an elder. Is a man who is blameless and above reproach. That term covers all of the other terms. Paul uses it both in 1 Timothy 3 and when he writes to Titus. If we look at Titus 1 verses 5 and 6, this is why I left you in Crete, that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you if anyone is above reproach. That term above reproach or blameless is essentially the umbrella term over all of the rest. It means. That an elder is a man who lives faithfully to Christ, and if someone made an accusation against him of a great sin, that just would not stick. So David Mathis in his book on church leadership writes this, he says, And that's true, if you look at the qualifications of elders, you look at the qualifications of deacons, those are things we're all to be striving for, with the exception with the qualification of teaching. So the overarching qualification of an elder is they must reflect Jesus and help others more faithfully follow Jesus. There's an interesting thing to note here. If you would have been with the apostles, you would not have been impressed. I'm convinced of this. In fact, I am certain that many of the people in our current day and age who complain about the elders in their church would have been complaining about the apostles as well. Oh, they're just not very knowledgeable. They're not very gifted. They put their foot in their mouth sometimes, and we could go on and on. Now, why would I say that? Well, there's a statement in Acts 4 that is stunning to me. And it's this, verse 13. These guys are on trial. And when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were what? Uneducated, common men. They were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. Do you see what was most important? that they were really up high socially, that they were really educated, that they could parse all of these things, that they were engaging speakers. No. They had been with Jesus. They were simple men. And likewise, the elders should be men who have been with Jesus. They should smell like Jesus because they are with Jesus. And thus, because they are with Jesus, the task of the elder is to guard and proclaim the gospel of Jesus. We see this multiple times in the New Testament. Titus 1.9, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine, this is the gospel, both to exhort and convict those who contradict. Likewise, 1 Timothy 6.20, O Timothy, Paul's writing to an elder, guard what was committed to your trust. Avoid the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. By professing it, some have strayed concerning the faith. Likewise, let's go back to Acts 20, a very informative passage for us when we think about elders. Here's Paul, he's leaving and he's going to Jerusalem. He knows he's going to be arrested, and he's ministering to these elders at Ephesus that he's very close with, and he charges them with this. He says, I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them." What were the elders to do that Paul charged him with? To protect the gospel, to care for the church, and to watch over them. Now, what's the focus of all this? Why does it matter? Why does God care so much about authority in the church? Why must we care about this? Well, have you noticed a common theme with it all? It's the gospel. It's a common theme. It matters because the gospel matters. God's means for protecting and growing us all is the gospel. His means for us growing in the gospel, protecting the gospel, and proclaiming the gospel is the authority structures he has given to be rightly carried out by the church. This is what we're to be united on. This is what we're to be passionate about. This is the core of the church because the gospel alone is a power of God for salvation. Paul wrote in Romans 1 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is a power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And then Paul writes chapter after chapter after chapter in the book of Romans about the gospel to who? Believers. It's the gospel that is the power. Mark Devere and Paul Alexander in their book, Deliberate Church, state this. The gospel itself is God's constructive power for building the body of Christ. The word builds the church. Our power is not in having small groups or meeting the felt needs of our target audience or using the right evangelism program or having funny skits or providing plentuous parking or targeting our ministries to post-moderns. Our power is our unique message, the gospel. That's where the power is. That's our foundation. That is our hope. And so this must be the central focus of the church. It's the foundation of the church. Now, I said earlier, First Timothy three is fascinating about the local church. Let's jump ahead to verse 15 in it. Paul says this, I write that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God. So that means there is a right way and a wrong way to conduct yourself in the local church. He says, I write that you ought to know how to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. And then notice how Paul, summarizes the gospel. God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory. The church is the pillar and ground of truth, and the truth here is the gospel that Paul is talking about. Dave Mathis states it this way he says the church we could say is the pillar and buttress of the gospel the church exists for the presentation and protection of the gospel of Jesus Christ for the advance of the gospel and its defense. That is our number one goal. That Christ would be magnified. That the gospel would be protected and God would be glorified. So why does authority in the church matter? Because the gospel matters. Thus, we must faithfully and joyfully follow God's authority structure in the church so the gospel can continue to be taught, proclaimed, and protected. For it alone is the power of God for salvation. These things matter because the gospel matters. Let's pray. Father God, we praise you that you have not left us to our own desires and whims. What chaos would happen? if that were so, and we see it lived out in our day over and over as we watch churches begin to follow their own desires, do what they want to do, they remain stagnant for decades, or worse yet, they just abandon the gospel altogether and embrace the theology of our culture. God, help us to be steadfast. Help us to be faithful to you. May we be faithful to obey you, not just with the OK, so obey, but with a joyful heart as Christ, who for the joy set before him endured the cross. May we in that way joyfully submit to the structures that you have ordained in the church, and may we take up the responsibilities that are ours. And may we be faithful in them. So, Lord, would you help us to grow into these things? And would you help our church to be faithful in the gospel? That for decades to come, the Journey Christian Fellowship would faithfully proclaim the gospel. That we, as a people, would be growing in the gospel. That we could look back on the last ten years and say, I am different because of the gospel. I have grown, and in another 10 years, may we continue to grow. Lord, please do that work in our midst. We praise you for how you are saving people in our midst, and we ask that you would continue to do that, that the gospel would continue to be faithfully proclaimed. And Father, would you help us to faithfully live in the gospel? knowing that one day we will be with you, singing this endless song of praise of the glory of our Lord and Savior, who is the head of the church for all of eternity, praising his name because of the work that he has done for us. So, Lord, would you please do this work in us for our good and for your glory? And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. The guys are going to come forward and take the offering. We're going to close with a song just reminding us of the future.