Church of God, Part 1

To begin the sermon today, I'd like you to turn with me to Matthew 16 and verse 18. Here is a profound statement that Jesus Christ made concerning His Church. His one Church. His only Church. His true Church. Which you and I, hopefully, are a part of.

In Matthew 16 and verse 18, Jesus said, And I also say to you that you are Peter, an insignificant pebble, a little chip of a rock. But He says in continuing, And on this rock, the Greek word, patra, or a massive rock, or it can mean a person that is like a massive rock. I will build my Church. Jesus Christ built the Church on Himself. He is that rock. And He says, Down in verse 19, Some construe this that Peter was the head of the Church, that Peter was assigned the head roll, that Peter was given the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth is bound in Heaven.

In actual fact, if you look at the Greek and the nuance of the way the Greek works, what is being said here, Peter, you're an insignificant pebble. But on this Church, He was saying about Himself, On this rock, this rock, the stature of rock, solid substance, which doesn't change, I will build my Church. The gates of the grave will not prevail against it. And I will give you, talking to the Apostles there, the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth, where it says will be, in the Greek, that can mean whatever you bind on earth will have already been bound in Heaven. And whatever you loose on earth will have already been loosed in Heaven.

Why? Because you will seek to do my will. And those things that are bound and loosed are already written in God's Word. The principles of God, His will, His way, is already founded. And Jesus Christ came and explained what the doctrine was. And the true Church of God would be built upon Jesus Christ and His teachings. And what the ministry, what the leaders would be making and deciding would be based on what God has already bound. And the principles of God that are timeless, down through eternity.

So Christ said, I will build my Church myself, and my leaders will follow my will as I follow my Father's will. Today, there are many churches. There are many splinters off of what was once called the Worldwide Church of God. Even splinters off of the Church that you and I attend, and splinters off of every other splinter group that's of any size, as splinters off of that. Which is the true Church of God?

That's the title of today's sermon. Which is the true Church of God? You know, Jesus tells us, will you listen to what Jesus says? Will you let Him tell you which is the true Church of God? Or do you have a preconceived idea, some notion that you've come up with, some idea that you formed in your mind, or listen to someone else? Let's get into the topic today, which is God's true Church. What criterion did Jesus give that would identify His one and only true Church? Irrespective of what other people come up with criteria, what single criterion did Jesus give that would identify His one true Church?

Government? Do they vote? Those things I'll be dealing with in Part 2 of this message on the Church of God, which is going to be dealing with the governance. What is the governance of God's Church, His true Church?

What is the biblical governance for God's true Church? But what are the other... what was the criteria that Jesus... Do they preach prophecy? Maybe that identifies the true Church. Sacred names? Special little names? Did they say Yahweh or Yaweh or Elohim or, you know, whatever for God? Maybe that's the identity of the true Church. Jesus gave us the identity, by the way, the criteria, the criterion, that is.

Was it postponements in the calendar? Well done, you good and faithful servant. You didn't let the Jews change the calendar from what the Jews changed it from the last time they changed it. Philadelphia! Did you call yourself Philadelphia? Or did no one else call you Laodicea? Therefore, you can come in or you can't. What was it, you know? How can one know what is God's true Church? The one true Church. Well, we actually find Jesus telling us in Matthew 7, verses 15 and 16 the answer to this. Because people would be looking, they would be wondering.

He says, beware of false churches with false prophets, because there's one true Church. We know there's one true Church because it says there's one true Church in Ephesians 4. One faith, one Lord, one baptism, one body, one Father, one Spirit. But he says, beware of false churches, false prophets, false teachers. A prophet, you see, isn't just a forecaster, it's a teacher. Who come to you in sheep's clothing. Oh, they look good.

They look clean, they look white, they look really good. Beware of them. But inwardly, they are ravenous wolves. What does a wolf do? It does its own will, doesn't it? It is on a mission. It is on a mission. Verse 16, you will know them by their fruits. You will know them by their fruits. That is their criteria. The fruits are the criteria or the criterion for determining the true Church of God. I don't need to tell you that back in Galatians 5, verse 19, all the way through verse 23, shows two baskets of fruit.

And by their fruits, you will know them. He says, is fruit of one kind taken off a tree? Fruit of another kind taken off a tree? Two kinds of fruit taken off the same tree? I mean, let's talk about fruit for a minute. What is common to one tree will indicate what's on that tree.

And so what is the fruit? We would know them by their fruits. Apostle John talked about many people who were part of the Church or had been part of the Church in his days, but he said they went out from us, showing that they were never of us, he said. There was something in their life that was different. Oh, it looked the same. It looked the same. I remember Mr.

Herbert Armstrong saying, half of you people don't get it. I don't know how many times he said that when I was present, but he said it a lot. And he was wrong.

80% didn't get it. 80% are somewhere else doing something else. Actually, a little more than that, perhaps. Maybe it's more like 85%, but at least 80%. It was kind of a surprise. There are different fruits. There are different mentalities. There is one mind of God. There's one set of fruit that comes from the Holy Spirit. Though it can look sheepish, it can look right. But Jesus Christ is leading his Church.

He's alive and he's leading his Church his way. Now, you and I come along and somehow we get the idea that, well, we ought to determine, we ought to have a say, we ought to know, etc., etc., but let's remember this fundamental principle. Jesus said, I will build my Church my way, and my ministry will follow my voice, and they will do those things that are bound in heaven. It's not a poll.

It's not open for input. It's not open for you or I to contribute to that. Jesus Christ does the will of his Father, and his servants do his will.

In John 10, verse 3, he says, To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice.

Something else about the sheep, in the true Church, in the true flock, they hear the voice of Jesus Christ.

When he said, love one another as I have loved you, with that kind of magnitude, that kind of depth, to repent of any other mentality and to follow the will of God and Jesus Christ. And he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. Notice, leads them out. Leads them out of what?

Leads them out of the world. Leads them out of any other way, any other mentality. Leads them out of sin.

They hear his voice and they want to repent. They want to overcome. They are led. They follow to a different way of life. For they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger because there's something about that wolf and sheep's clothing. It looks the same. It kind of sounds the same, but there's something about it that's just not quite right. Not quite right.

Not quite according to loving one another with the depth that Christ came to this earth with.

So they hear Christ's voice. They'll flee from a stranger, for they do not know the voice of strangers. Self-centeredness, selfishness, internal hostilities, problems, holding grudges against people, coming up with slander against others, gossip rumors, feeling better and more superior. These things are something not right there. I don't hear that voice so well, you see. Not hearing that voice. They'll flee from that, for they do not know the voice of strangers. Verse 27, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

They follow Me. And I give them eternal life. Why? Because they follow Me. And they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. And I and My Father are one. So this group is fairly secure because there's something about this group that is locked in tight. It is fixed. You're going to see what that is in just a little while. What is the goal of this shepherd? What is the goal of Jesus Christ? You'll read of it over in Ephesians 5, 25-27, but I won't turn over there right now, but you can read of that.

His goal is for His sheep to hear His voice and to make godly decisions. Not just to be sheep following along, being told every step of the way, do this, do this, do this, do this, but in their own life, once they understand the principles, to begin to let those principles spring from inside and have an obedience that's of a will, a different will, a different mind, a different mentality. Obedience because they want to obey and desire to obey with a different mindset, a mindset more like God. We're to be, He said, like our Father in heaven is. Perfect!

In order to do that, decisions have to be made by an individual. We have to decide thought by thought, action by action, what we will do in being like God and being like Jesus Christ.

Jesus is shepherding His flock today through physical shepherds, the ministry, servants, humans, imperfect, but seeking to be godly and with God's inspiration and help, doing a pretty admirable job, though not without complaints and not without imperfections.

I think we can all see and expect that, but God appreciates and supports those who are trying to do that quickly. We go to Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 12. We see that Jesus Christ established this church and called leaders and placed leaders in the body where He wanted them.

What was the purpose of this leadership? Humans don't like leadership. We all have in us a little bit of rebel, a little rebellion. We always pick away and criticize and try to compare and whatever, whatever. Next thing you know, people get rid of the church. There's a new George Barna book that's just come out, and it really stresses why people should abandon any kind of formal religion and really encourage them just to be with Jesus on their own out of their own heart. It's kind of the new American way. 20 million Americans, it said, now are no longer going to church anymore, but it's because the church just isn't supplying what they need. They can get it at home in a few minutes and be off to work on a Sunday or whatever. Just those big bands, I guess, after a while, you know, get to be routine. And there's just, I don't know what you do after that. Well, anyway, is that what we are to do? Ephesians 4, 12. The ministry is for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, which is serving, for the edifying of the body of Christ. So Jesus has placed those within the church to lead and guide for the equipping of the saints. Notice the saints can't be equipped without them. The edifying of the body of Christ can't be done without them. Till, verse 13, we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That's where we're headed. That's his goal for us, and that's the purpose of the church. Now, what's the purpose of the ministry? Pull the sheep, follow the sheep, be told by the sheep how the church ought to be and what the church ought to be and what the church ought to teach and what the church ought to believe. You'd be surprised how many papers we get all the time, how many people have ideas and doctrinal things they come up with and procedures and how they think the church service ought to be run and how the doctrine should change and how the counsel should be run and the government should be run. This is very common. It's typical for humans to come up with other ideas. Is this what ministers are to do? To follow the sheep, to seek the spiritual ideas and understanding of the members? Verse 14 tells us that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. Every wind of doctrine will be blowing around inside of you, inside of me, inside of any and everybody because we all come up with these cool ideas.

We'll see a little later a lot of people have left the church with other ideas. What should we do with those ideas? Should we allow them to brew and steam and grow in our life and get bigger and bigger and we get more and more and we push them more and more and finally when nobody sees it our way, we go out and we start the church of our way. And here everybody sees it our way until somebody else comes up with an idea and then you have the church of his way. But you know, the ministry is placed here that we're no longer to be children tossed to and fro carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning, craftiness and deceitful plotting. You know, you can take this Bible and you can hook this to that and this to that and this to that and come up with some, you know, wow, this I am the real thing over here because this and that come together and that conspire and this is in the news and that guy said this and therefore it's me. Ha! I mean, it's me!

And that's the cunning and craftiness of men. But there's a simplicity of the Gospel of Christ. There's a straightforwardness to it. It applies to everyone. It doesn't take cunning, craftiness or deceitful plotting, but verse 15, speaking the truth in love. This is the truth is to be spoken in agape love from the heart of God to the minds of men without human intervention, without human twisting or any self deceitful plotting so that the church may grow up into all things into him who is the head, Jesus Christ. The minister's effect and responsibility is to try to stabilize willing members from being tossed to and fro. We can all be tossed to and fro. I have those in the ministry that I will call above me when I get tossed a little. And it's amazing how by going through the authority that God has placed, the understanding is there. But if you step out from that authority, you'll want that authority, you'll want that input, you just have your own little thing out there, and someday it's like, well, it's just me. I'm the only one that understands this. Imagine that. I must be special. Is that what it is?

Or is it that we've just detached ourselves from the thinking that comes from the Father through Christ, through the ministry, down through the ranks, to the membership, to the people, to the children, and that's the way it flows from God's head down through the church.

Humans are susceptible to winds of doctrine. Some will tug at church members who have left, they'll start rival groups, they'll start tugging. Honestly, if you're going to go out and start a church, where are you going to look for members if you keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days? Where are you going to mine? You're going to go out to Greater Phoenix, start running advertisements, get on TV, and find that one in 325,000? What will it cost you to find two or three? Why not just mine right here in this congregation or elsewhere? Just throw a little twist at them.

Peter kind of felt this way. Over in 2 Peter 3, verse 16, he'd seen a lot of mining going on, among church members. Here's some comments that he made. 2 Peter 3, verse 16, breaking into the verse, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, referring to the writings of Paul, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. So you see, we had all this twisting and these clever little adding together and twistings by people who were unstable and untaught. Verse 17, But you therefore beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness.

This is a warning to us. Being led away, led away with the error of the wicked. What is the error of the wicked? Well, what is wickedness? It's the act of love. It's the act of following God and God's mentality. So the error of the wicked would be doing something that's self-centered, something that exalts the self, makes one feel bigger and better and wiser and, I don't know, more special. Verse 18, But grow in grace. You didn't say, but get into the church that has the right name, right corporate name, claims to be the only Philadelphia and era church. No, he didn't say that, did he? He said, No, you grow in grace. You know what grace is? Pardon and blessings.

Grace and knowledge. Truth, right here. Truth. Grow in blessings and knowledge from God and the truth of God, that of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. One religious leader who was on television told me not too long ago, as I wanted to call and kind of mend a relationship that we once had, and he said to me, he said, Well, now, I said, Well, we see things so similarly. We have the same doctrines there. What's the difference between us? And he said, Well, of course, United Church of God does an excellent job proclaiming the truth. Okay? But then he continued, But you don't have the right government. In other words, our man is not in charge. And that was the end of it. Phone went right down. That was that. Now, when a person departs from the main body of believers and starts a rival group, I would encourage you to ask this question. For what godly reason did he or she go out of the body and start a rival group? What godly reason? Proverbs 6 and verse 16 jumps out at me whenever an individual has left the church and started his own group. And this has taken place ever since I was a kid.

And I've always used the same criteria. There's something wrong here. I don't care what the issue is or how hurt the person is or what the doctrine is, but you go to Proverbs 6 and verse 16. I don't know if this makes sense to you, but it makes a lot of sense to me.

These six things the Lord hates. Yes, seven are an abomination to Him. A proud, which is a headstrong, a me-focus or my-focus, an arrogance, a superior knowledge. This proud look is me being lifted. Something special about me. Second thing, a lying tongue. Untrue statements.

Hands that shed innocent blood. Accusations pointed, targeted at somebody, running them down, belittling them, or actually accusing them of having done something wrong. 18. A heart that devises wicked. What is wicked? Wicked just means self-serving against the mentality of God, which is giving. A self-serving plan. A heart that devises self-serving plans.

Feet that are swift to running to evil. What is evil? It's the opposite of love. What's the opposite of love? Get. Receiving. Focus on me.

19. A false witness. Again, inaccurate accusations. This person did that. Well, that's a false witness.

Who speaks lies. Not the truth of God. But there's error. It's not absolute rock-solid science. It's not truth. And one who sows discord. Discord meaning confusion or division among the brethren.

Now tell me how a person can leave the church of God in a godly fashion and start a rival group without stumbling over one of the seven things that God hates.

These are the opposite of godliness. These are the opposite of love, of concern, peace, long suffering, kindness, gentleness, patience, unity, healing of relationships, oneness that we're all called to. How do you mentally excuse yourself for doing something like that?

The question that you could ask is, what always results when a leader disagrees with the church? You've got a leader who's in the church and he disagrees with the church.

And he doesn't have the spiritual maturity to reach a consensus. A lot of leaders disagree in the church. Many of the ministers disagreed in the New Testament and they had the Acts 15 conference and they all came in with disagreements. They all left in unity.

Well, a person who doesn't have the spiritual maturity to reach a consensus, I don't care how it works out or what the reasoning is, but that individual always ends up as the head of his own church. No humility required. Always ends up as the head of his own group.

Should tell you something. How about a term like self-will, self-appointed, self-approved, above the rest, headstrong, high-minded, proud, arrogant? Those issues, instead of humility, instead of self-abasement, instead of preferring one another, fasting, coming to the will of God, consensus, the unity of the Spirit, the oneness and the bond of peace.

Now, which is God's true church? That's the title of the sermon today. I'm going to let you pick.

Ready? Many groups splintered off in the last 40 years or so.

We'll start 40 years ago. We'll start 20 years before Herbert Armstrong died.

Here are the names of some of them. Not all of them. Some of them. These are the ones that started splintering off the church beginning in 1966. The first one was called Church of God on this list. Then, top of the line. Restoration Church of God. Church of God, a certain town.

Sabatarian. Fountain of Life fellowship. Restoration fellowship. The total truth.

Church of God's seventh era. Wait a minute. That'd be late to see you. Oh, well.

Church of God, another city. Another city, Church of God. Great Lakes Society for Biblical Research. Foundation for Biblical Research. Association for Scriptural Knowledge. Association for Biblical Christians. Associated Churches. United Church of God, 1978. Family of God. Church of God Eternal. Church of God Sonoma. Giving and Sharing Ministry. Bible Study Association. Universal Church of God.

Intergalactic Church of God. No, that's not on there.

Liberty Foundation. Seek and Find Ministries of the Church of El Shaddai. Finally got the name right.

Church of God Church Light. Family Church of God. Mystery of the Kingdom Ministry. Church of God International. And 24 break-off splinters from that church. Including Assembly of God and Jesus Christ. Disciples of Church of God. Church of the Savior. The Pure Truth. Church of God Evangelical Association.

Church of God Messengers. These are back to other splinters off the world right now.

United Church of God, 1979. One year later from the first United Church of God. Got another one.

Christian Church of God. Biblical Church of God. Scriptural Church of God. Christian Biblical Church of God. Christian Church of God. Church of God Within. House of Yahweh.

The Dallas Congregation of the Almighty. Church of God Kelowna. Transworld Publishing. Universal Church of God. 1985. Now, none of the above, I should say all of the above, left the church during Herbert Armstrong's lifetime.

Other churches. Church of God. Jessamine. Whatever that is. The Berean Church of God. Hey, they like to study their Bibles. Evangelical Church of God. Alpha and Omega Christian Foundation. Family Church of God. Community Church of God. Congregation of the Seventh-Day Association. Talented Ministries. Ah, Talented Ministries. Church of God Fellowship. Fellowship Church of God. Unity Christian Fellowship. Christian Education Ministries. Church of God Philadelphia Era.

1987. Patriots of the Kingdom. Philadelphia Church of God. 1989. The Scattered Brethren.

Okay, sorry. Now, here's one that gets me. The 20th Century Church of God.

What do you do with that? Anyway, maybe it got renamed, I don't know. Church of God of the First Fruits. Church of God Philadelphia Era. Church of the Great God. Church of God in Truth. Everlasting Church of God. Global Church of God with about 10 splinters off of that, including Living Church of God, Church of God, Pathway, Restored Church of God, Church of God, Church of the Eternal God, Church of God Fellowship, Sabbath Church of God, Churches of the 21st Century. There you go. First Century. Bible Education Services Midnight Ministry, common with Publishing Church of God in the Netherlands, Reformed and Reorganized Worldwide Church of God, United Church of God, 1995. Then split offs from that, United Church of God in various cities. Church of God Faithful Flock, Church of God Churches of God. Splitting from them are Church of God Faithful Flock, Churches of God EIM, Church of God Several Cities, Common Ground Ministries, Life Resources Ministry, Christ Church of Grace, Friends of the Brethren, Worldwide Church of God Texas, and Barnabas Ministries. Now, which one? You know, which one? And that's the shortlist.

You know, there are many others. In 1974 alone, I remember some 25 ministers going out from the conference that disagreed with Herbert Armstrong and some of the decisions that were made at that time. What about that? You think it's just a simple thing? You think, well, it's maybe us or them. Why so many splinter groups? What would be the result? Now, here's a question for you. What would be the result of any and all individual splinter group heads humbling themselves?

Or themselves? If they just said, you know, it's not about me. It's not about my. It's rather, it's about us. It's about our. What would happen? What would happen if all the splinter group leaders said, you know what, we really should be together? You think there would be just a great rebellion by all the members? No, we shouldn't! I think you would find, quite often, the members of all these splinter groups ask the question, why aren't we together? And I lay it at the feet of the leaders, because that's where it belongs. Because it takes a leader, a head, to convince someone else to follow him instead of following Christ. In Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 1, in this chapter that talks about the church, we're told by the Apostle Paul here, walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. What if all of us, in all of these groups, and all of these guys who decided that it was time for them to start something that could be the head of, walked worthy of the calling with which we were called, all of us now? I'm not putting anybody down or putting myself up. Verse 2, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit. Not endeavoring to keep my special version, you know, better or different, but endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who's above all and through all and in you all. The answer is, if everybody did that, there would be consensus. Just like in Acts 15, people with differing ideas would come together and God would lead them to understand consensus. But as long as an individual leader claims a personal preeminence, there will be splinter groups. The Bible teaches us about being pulled at by others. For instance, Ephesians 5 and 6, let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the Son of disobedience. And it's not about us and them, it's about us, all of us. People sin, people make mistakes. And we should not be sons of disobedience. Because the clue here is that the sons of disobedience are those who disobey the command or the will of God, which is to love one another. Instead of loving one another, they separate, they divide, they will point fingers. Pretty soon, you have a schism. How can people stay divided if there's no schism? You can't.

We have a ministry of reconciliation, not a ministry of division. God hates division. Satan's the author of division. So there's sin involved. Rather than pointing around and saying, these are not, these aren't, these are, and these aren't, and trying to figure out this and that, why don't we just recognize sin is sin, and wherever anybody causes schisms or divisions and is not in the bond of peace, that is sin. That is wrong. God is not the author of that. He hates the seven things that caused that type of thing, and it should be repented of.

And all those names that I read off of all those organizations are nothing but corporate structures for tax purposes. Right? The names are corporate structures for tax purposes. You can't be a church and not be registered. You can't give tax-deductible receipts in this country without being a, what, 403c chapter corporation or whatever they call it. So you have to register, and in order to register you have to have a name. In order to have a name, of course, you've got to follow John 17 where Christ said, keep in your name those who you've called. Therefore, it's got to be a church of God something. And people are pretty creative when it comes to trying to find something that they can tack church of God onto. So here we are. Therefore, do not be partakers with them, verse 7. For you were once darkness, not in darkness, you were once darkness, but now you are in the light in the Lord. Love, joy, peace, long suffering. Walk as children of light. Notice verse 9. For the fruit, remember the fruit by you know them? The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. If you go over and look in the love chapter there, 1st Corinthians 13, the definition of what love is. Love doesn't seek its own. It doesn't vaunt itself. It doesn't look for evil in others. It believes and hopes all things and doers all things. It never fails. Verse 10. Finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. That's the goal of the church. It's the goal of the ministry. We don't lead this church with our own doctrines. We lead them with the doctrines of God and we find and we seek what is acceptable to the Lord.

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, which is the lack of love. Anything to do with the lack of love. Don't have anything to do with that, but rather expose them. Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 6, But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us. We're not to go mix in with that crowd. We're not to spread the rumors and the twists and the lies and get everything trumped up. And that's not the way God's Spirit works. Verse 14. And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with them that they may be ashamed. You get all this stuff or some other ideas and you say, you know, this isn't quite what my shepherd, I'm not hearing his voice here. Don't have anything to do with it. Withdraw yourself. I'm a closed-minded person. I tell people this and they want to start arguing. I have a closed mind. Don't you have an open mind? Nope. Nope. It's not right here. I don't want to hear about it. You know, I've proved this. I know this. I trust this. My life depends on this. And you're bringing me something else and your papers and no, I'm not going to read them. I'm not going to hear them. It's nothing new. No, I'm closed. Closed mind. I'll read anything in here and study it explicitly and I'll share it.

Don't bring me anything else. Now for the big question. Which one is the true church? The one true church? Got to know. Can't leave here today without knowing. First, some interesting questions I've got to ask. What constitutes the church of God? Is it the name?

What name did the apostles give the church when they were alive? Anybody know?

When the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Galatia and it said, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Why have you so soon gone to a different gospel?

They had different gospel, different doctrines. They had been led astray.

Why was he referring to them as the church? What was he referring to them as the not-church, the false church, Laodicean church? Why did he write to the brethren at Laodicean, tell them that he loved them? When they had indeed gone off to a different gospel already.

Could it possibly just be that you and I in corporate America are so used to anything that has a name wrapped around it as seeing that thing as being the church? The church. The church is ringed by a registration or a copyright mark. We're very familiar with the United Church of God and International Association. Well, I do belong to the United Church of God and International Association, but I also belong to a church by a different name. I know this is going to surprise you. It's called the United Church of God East Africa and it's incorporated. Well, it's a different name. So is the United Church of God Philippines? United Church of God South Africa? United Church of God Canada? United Church of God United Kingdom? You know, what is it? Those are different corporations registered in different countries, slightly different names.

So I'm just getting here to the true church.

Maybe the governmental structure determines it. You can't be in the true church unless Person X is over the church or whatever. Why did James preside, by the way, over all the apostles and all the ministers in Acts 15 when the final decision came down? Why did James preside over that?

Why did Paul correct Peter? And Peter humbled himself under Paul's command.

And Peter humbled himself under Paul's command. And once they all started dying off, and they did die off except for John, and finally John died off, who was the head of the church then?

Hmm. Well, anyway, just questions. All right, let's go now instead of our own thinking, and me kind of coming up with something that sounds really good, just locks right in there. Let's see what the Bible says. What does the Bible say? Which of those groups or which church is the only true church? There is a single and only criterion given by the Bible as to what the true church is. Can you name that criterion? Do you know what it is? Your eternal life could depend on it. Do you fool around and listen to what people say and these ideas and go through the list and try to pick one of the groups and hope that's the one? Or do you listen to God?

Here is that criterion. It's Romans chapter 8 and verse 14. Romans chapter 8 and verse 14.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. The children of God are those whom the Father has called into the ecclesia. They've been called out. They're called out of the world. Come out of her, my people. And it's a simple fact. The Bible tells us that as many as, notice, are led by the Spirit of God. Didn't even say those who have the Spirit of God. You didn't notice that? Didn't say those I put my Spirit into, they're the children of God.

No? For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. See a church name in there anywhere? Corporate structure? A governmental structure? You know? If indeed we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified together.

So the answer is to who the church is, the true church, the one and only true church, it's those who are led by the Holy Spirit. The question then becomes who is being led by the Holy Spirit? Who has the fruits of the Holy Spirit in their life? Jesus said, by their fruits you will know them.

Because by their fruits He knows them. Who are those being led by the Holy Spirit? Now some will make claims about who the true church is using their own criteria. Here's some of the criteria that people will come up with. The name of the church, got to have the right name. Or an administrative style, the sacred terms, the works that the church is doing, or the preaching of the Gospel, whether or not it's on television. Whether or not they stand up and they say, you are Laodicea, we're not. That's one qualifiers to the true church.

We belong to an organization, we call it the United Church of God, and it's filled with people who are being led by the Holy Spirit. However, not all are. Some in this room are not. Does that mean just because you receive literature from and are on the roles of United Church of God, you are in the true church? No, it does not. Obviously. If 80% of those who are in the former association are adrift today, you cannot say that that was the true church of God, and everyone who was in it was in the true church of God. We're sort of looking at an empty shell, aren't we? And trying to identify with it. Because what the person sitting next to you does in his or her life has little to do with your acceptance by God. It's what you and I do in working out our own salvation according to the criteria that God has placed within his church. That's what's important.

We belong to an organization that is filled with people who are being led by God's Holy Spirit.

Today we have thousands of eclaecia. What does that mean? Well, that's the word for, you see, church in the Bible. It's eclaecia. It just means those called out, those who were specially drawn, as it were, by the Father, called out, separated, a congregation of people who used to be there, but now they're over here. That group includes hundreds of ministers. And I take confidence in the fact that everywhere people have always been, you have the largest bulk of members who didn't follow anybody but had a look in their own Bibles and figure out what was right and what was wrong and heard the voice, the shepherd's voice, and came where we are.

And hundreds of ministers who went back to their Bibles after being fired or pushed out.

And also convened, just as the disciples did in the first chapter of Acts, which we'll talk about next time. And here we are. I take comfort in that, though that's not proof of anything of and by itself. But we're incorporated in the United States as the United Church of God International Association. The United Church of God does not claim to be the only corporate organization that has people that have God's Holy Spirit. It would be silly for us to do that.

Now, some want to say, oh, but this has to be the only church, the only group, because there's only one church. Well, get past the name thing, because think about this. Many years ago, too many years ago, about 10 years ago or some, some ministers left worldwide. And then among them, they split off and one group of them, who was part of a church by a different name, eventually realized that what they were doing was not right. What they had said about the United Church of God was not accurate. They thought it was, but it wasn't. They began to have a relationship with us. And today, some of those ministers are pastors in United, and one of them is a council member. Okay? If they didn't, if some other group could not have God's Holy Spirit, what are they doing in this church preaching the truth, doing a wonderfully admirable job, obviously led by God's Holy Spirit?

So let's, let's get past this. One corporate group must be the only one, and get down to what Jesus said. My sheep will hear my voice, and my ministers will be doing my will. They will be doing what is bound in heaven, and they will be bringing growth to the body through love and edification and following God in humility, humbly serving. And a fashion, as we'll see in the next message that I hope to give, that is much like what took place in the New Testament Church, and absolutely in every way is according to the Bible and its instructions. And I know that's hard for some to understand. I don't plan to change any minds in doing that, but I will show you from the Bible how accurate the structure of this organization is. In fact, when United was first formed, I got a letter of congratulations from an individual who studied New Testament history and the structure of the Church, and it said, congratulations to the ministry of the United Church of God. You have formed a church based on a governmental structure that is the closest of anything I've ever seen to that which was the New Testament model. So just because others want to say that's not the case, we'll take another look at that next week, or not next week, but for most of you, perhaps the week after. See, the Church is not about individuals. It's not about you. It's not about me. It's about God. It's about Christ. It's about His Spirit. It's about His calling. It's about His salvation. And rather than you and I dividing up and having our little walls built out of sand and paper, which are sort of irrelevant, we need to remember what Paul said the Church at Corinth. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 16 says, Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? This is where the rubber really meets the road.

Quit talking about corporate names for a minute and realize you are the temple of God and that Spirit dwells in you. If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. That's what's at issue here. 1 Peter 3 will tell us all about that. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

Let no one deceive himself if any among you seems to be wise. Think you've got it? You know, think you've got some spiritual, exciting thing or you put all the Scriptures together? If you think you're to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. Find in 1 Corinthians that we're to let the wisdom of God be our wisdom, not our own. Therefore, verse 21, let no one boast in men, not in their special leader, not in their special group, not in their special understanding or their little doctrine. No? Let no one boast in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul, Apollos, or Cephas, Peter, Barnabas. You see, these are all yours.

Or the world or life or death or things present or things to come. All are yours, and you are Christ, and Christ is God's. That's the wonderful overview of the church right there.

Final question. Do you want to be in God's church? Well, I do, and I'm here. I intend to remain here.

I fully, fully, fully believe and trust that God is working very solidly in the United Church of God, though everyone is unique, individual, and we all make mistakes just as leaders drawing others from us make mistakes as well. The ecclesia, the body of Christ, the church of God, is defined this way in the Greek. Ecclesia from Thayer's lexicon is a gathering of citizens called out from their home into some particular place. It just reminds me of Revelation 18 where it says, come out of her, my people. Other places say, you are a special people to God. You are called out, remain, come out of the world, you know, be separate, the Bible says. That is what we are. You and I are one of those that has God's Holy Spirit. Christ knows a sheep, and his sheep knows his voice. We know his voice. Other voices just, they don't generate as much fruit, or the fruit gets mixed up a little bit. It's like my neighbor's lemon tree is so excited to have a lemon tree. Put my two fruit trees next to the wall so that he get fruit, oranges and grapefruit, and I was looking forward to the lemon tree. My wife was talking to him the other day, and he says, you know what? The lemon tree is spoiled. The fruit, it looks like a lemon, but no one can eat them.

It's nasty. It's not the kind of fruit we want to produce. And sometimes that's the kind of fruit that's being produced in God's name, and that's not right. But we don't have to complain or compare or get involved. Jesus said, you know, if that's going to succeed, it'll succeed. If it falls, it falls, let it be. Just let it be. He didn't get excited about others that were doing things in his time. And he also said in some places in the Bible, you know, there are others who you don't know about, like to Elijah, you know, and in the New Testament to the apostles. And there may be people on this earth that we don't know about and workings that God is doing in people that we need to pray for and hope that things go well, that God will bring them into his kingdom.

Jesus said in John 15, 16, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain. That's what's important, brethren. The bearing of the fruit. The fruits are obvious in the body of Christ, and that body is not built on seven sins. That body is not built on corporate names. That body is not built on personalities. It's not built on petty little doctrines or new ideas. That body is built on Jesus Christ.

And we follow him, his words and humility, repentance, meekness, carefulness, truth, in order to produce godly fruits. And if any one of us steps outside of that, humility, repentance, meekness, and the pursuit of truth and producing the godly fruit, then we're moving outside the body, and there's something wrong. There's really something wrong.

In conclusion, turn with me, if you will, to Hebrews 12, verse 22.

Hebrews 12, verse 22.

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels. Verse 23, to the general assembly, the general ekklesia, the general ones who have been called out from their homes to a special place.

To the church of the firstborn, who are registered in heaven. This kind of moves it above what group you know you're registered in, huh? Doesn't it? To the church of God, registered in heaven, whose names are in the book of life, you see. To God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who speaks. We all want to live in the right place. We all want to be doing the right thing when Jesus Christ returns.

Some will build on that and try to use fear tactics and scare tactics to move people around.

They'll try to be effective with ploys that affect people with limited spiritual understanding. However, spiritual understanding is not certain structure components, administrative things, which tools the ministry uses. It's not some of the picky little things that people will decide and put scriptures together and come up with. That's not spiritual understanding, you see.

Spiritual understanding is not which era the church may be in, or one group calling another a different era, like Mr. Armstrong assumed, but that the Bible doesn't state, by the way.

Spiritual understanding is God's Holy Spirit in us. That's where the understanding comes from. Spiritual understanding is God's Holy Spirit helping us perform acts and decisions of righteousness, doing his will on earth as it is being done in heaven. It's developing the holy righteous character of our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, sacrificing human passions, attitudes, desires, selfish ambitions, even our possessions in the process. It's a giving of oneself for the work of God. So, brethren, know God. Know your shepherd. Don't get fleeced.

Don't miss out. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.