The Church—The Household of God

This day is extremely significant, especially for us in the household of God, because on that first Pentecost after Jesus' death, God established the New Testament church through the giving of His own Spirit. I have to pause and consider that action. Mr. Dean and I were talking about that over a cup of coffee. I was drinking coffee, and he was just letting me talk this morning. I take for granted more times than I should what God has done. In His perfect wisdom and knowledge, He chose to share His own Spirit with His creation. He loved us so deeply that He didn't even hold that back. I mean, we know His plan. We know what He has in the future for us.

We know what He wants for us. But He said, I'm going to give you even something that is so precious to me. His own power, His own presence, the power that created the universe that you and I are part of, the power that created us individually as humankind, the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, the power that will raise everyone from their graves in the future. And God said, I want to put this into my creation. Because He said, then they can live these transformed lives, this plan that I had all the way back to the garden, all the way before the garden, all the way when the Word and the Father created this plan that you and I are part of today.

And so as the church of God, we have a commission. We have a job. We have a responsibility that's been given to us by our Lord and Savior to bring the good news, that hope, that love that our Savior gave His life for, to bring this good news of the kingdom of God. And then as He calls and He chooses who will become part of our family, we have to look after one another and we have to care for one another.

What is the church? What is special about the church? What makes up God's church? Before getting into, further into the message, I got to follow Mr. McGuire's admonition and use a couple of illustrations to keep the room lively and awake, right? I read of a father who was in his study reading and he heard of a commotion outside his window.

It was his daughter who was playing in the yard with her friends. And it got louder and louder and more heated and more argumentative. And finally he could restrain himself no longer. He pushed open the window and he said, stop it! Honey, what's wrong? And after the reprimand, she quickly responded, but Daddy, we were just playing church. You guys know the answer to this one. If you want to join a church with no problems, do you guys not know it?

Make your own? Well, don't. Don't join a church with no problems because you will ruin it. I thought you guys had knew that one before. Leadership magazine shared this in the summer of 1981, known for its cartoons about churches. It made us smile with the understanding of a scene of a grim-faced preacher pausing during his sermon to read a note that was brought up to him and delivered to him that said, we interrupt this sermon to inform you that the fourth grade boys are now in complete control of their Sabbath school class and are holding Miss Mosby hostage.

I don't know if that really happened or not, but back in my years of being in some of my Sabbath schools, I don't know, it could have happened. Here's the last one. Too often, church services are the kind pictured in the story of a father who was showing his son through a church building. They came up onto a plaque on the wall, and the little boy asked, Daddy, what's that for? His father said, Oh, that's a memorial to those who died in the service. And the little boy said, which service, Daddy, the morning service or the afternoon service? So I'll try not to keel any of you over this afternoon. I'll try to keep everybody awake. But these are funny because a joke's funny.

Why? Because there's a little bit of a truth element to a joke that makes it funny, right? There's an element that we can relate with. There's an element that brings reality or realism to the joke. I can talk to you personally, like I talked to Mr. Dean this morning, mentioning how often I take for granted. I don't mean to, but I don't really think that when we consider the power of what God has placed within us, and we start living life, and we get into the flow, and we're doing this and we're doing that.

We've been in the church 10 years, 20 years, 5 minutes, and we realize we have God's Spirit, and then we go on with life, and it can become natural, right? It's kind of like maybe an article of clothing. Your favorite sweater. It feels good. It's comfortable. But do we always appreciate that gift? I think sometimes I go through life and just things are going better, or I have that helper along the side that says, Mike, strain yourself, or don't do that, or work on those thoughts.

I can take that for granted. I can also take the church for granted. I don't mean to, again, but I've grown up, as you know, as a kid in the church, as Mr. Dean did. The church has provided stability to me. It's provided a place where I could be safe. My earliest memories as a kid have woven into those memories being part of a congregation, a church, where at times we laughed and played with friends, times I was disciplined or corrected by a deacon for running, times I saw examples of marriages that were strong.

Sometimes we saw heartbreak, too, right?

But the church was always there.

Every Sabbath, it was there.

And thinking back on now 50 years, I turned 50 in December, and considering today this topic of the church, of God's church, and how much of a blessing this has been for my life.

I just appreciate everybody just kind of walking with me through this message.

The church obviously is special. It always has been. It always will be.

And I want to take some time in today's message of diving in on this holy day about the great blessing that God has given to his people by providing us a church.

There's some promises that God shared with his people that relate to this day, and it relates to the promise of the church. Let's turn to Matthew 16.

Concerned about myself in the future, because as my father has aged, he has become much more emotional. And so now that I've hit 50, and you guys already had an emotional pastor, and now my father, giving prayers over the family at Thanksgiving and things, can't make it through it. And so, you're going to have to ride with me for the rest of the time. I'm your pastor, because I think my lot is already set, that as I contemplate life, I contemplate God's blessings, I contemplate his grace and his love. I'm probably going to have to pause with you guys a few more times in Massagie, because our God has held again nothing back from you and me.

He could have came up with a plan that would bring salvation, maybe another source. Maybe it wouldn't have involved his son. Maybe he would have held back his son, because that price would just be over the top. But he didn't hold that back.

He could have held back or provided us a different power, maybe a second-tier power, that still would have been much greater than anything this world could ever offer. He didn't hold that back. And what we see here in the promise of a church, a group of people, God didn't just say, I want you to be my individual church.

I want you individually to be a church, and you to be a church, and you to be a church. He says, I want to give you something greater. I want to give you a collective church. And when Jesus here in Matthew 16 verse 13, he asked his disciples a question. He said, it says, when they came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, who do men say that I, the son of man, am? And so they said, sure, some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.

I think Jesus already knew the answer to this question. He had heard and things, but he was setting them up for a greater question, which we see in verse 15 when he said, but who do you say that I am?

I want to know what you believe. You've walked with me. You've talked with me. We've journeyed together. Who am I to you? And Simon Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said to them, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. Why? Because flesh and blood did not, has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. What an amazing declaration and reminder that Jesus shared with the disciples, and in turn, we internalize today.

You and I are sitting here, not because we woke up one day and finally the light bulb went off, not because our friends or family finally convinced us that something was true that was in Scripture, not because we read through it enough times that it finally started making sense. We're sitting here through the grace of God because it was our Father who revealed His truth to us.

And then in the next verse, Jesus establishes the church and saying, and I say to you that you Peter, which is the Greek word petros, which means a stone, He says that you Peter, and I also say to you that you are Peter, a small stone, and on this rock, talking about Himself, which is a Greek word petra, which means a large rock or a large stone, He says, I will build my church.

And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it, one of those promises that we still internalize and keep on our heart today. As God is the one who revealed Himself to us, and He gets all the credit and all the glory for doing so, God is also the one who established His church. He's the maintainer. He's the supporter of the church. And this is God's church that is referenced here in Matthew 16 that we are still a continuance and part of today, because it's built upon the rock, which is Jesus Christ. The word church is used throughout the New Testament to refer to a group of people that God has called to receive salvation through Jesus Christ.

Therefore, the church, in its most generally applied term, is God's people in the New Testament. It's under the New Covenant as well. It's the body of people who are special to God because they obey His word and accept His Son, Jesus Christ, as a Messiah. So what is the meaning of the word church used in the New Testament? It comes from a Greek word that has two parts.

The first part is, well, the word is ecclesia or ecclesia. It's made up of two parts. The first being ek, which means out of, and koleo, which means to call. So to call out of or to call out from.

From Thayer's Greek definitions, it means a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place or an assembly. We use this term church as a society much too casually today.

People will say, well, where do you go to church? What church are you part of? Or we'll drive by and we'll see churches in our neighborhood, in our communities. We'll see them on the street corners. We'll see them fancied out. We'll see them very plain. But people just throw this word of church around almost as a gym club. Where do you go and work out? Where do your kids go to school?

What area of the city do you work in? These general questions that help describe who we are is also how often people refer to the church or what we're part of. But that's when we talk about the church is not what the church is because I've never been called out of life to join a gym.

I should have been, but I haven't. I've never been called out of my community to go to a school.

But you and I have been called out to follow God. And when he did that, he established you as part of his church. This is unique from everything else, really, that goes on in society. Because we could talk about our citizenship, that we are Americans, and that sets us apart from everybody else. We could talk about being a Michigander, and that sets us apart from definitely Ohio.

Okay, I have to apologize to my family, my upbringing, our Ohioans that are in the room. That was a Michigan joke that I feel empowered to be able to share here in front of this audience, right? Anybody online? Oh, man, I forget my mom sometimes tunes in.

We're often sometimes even noted by our cities that we are from. But all of this pales and comparison to this calling out that God has done to make us his church.

Physical buildings, church buildings, didn't exist during the New Testament time. So, the word that we see when it refers to the church or the equisia never means a physical building or physical organization. It literally means an organized body of specific people.

And in this instance, a specific people that God has called out himself to place his spirit within and to become a new spiritual organism. I didn't get that as a kid. A organism, that's like a bacteria. That's something weird, right? When you think of organisms, that's like you get into biology, you get into plants and animals. But this is what separates out the spiritual aspect of what God is doing today is he has created a spiritual organism that is made up of this this this just rainbow this this this quilt pattern of uniqueness of beauty of specialness to him.

And when he brings us together, it creates a family, right? We're children of God. We are already children of God today because he poured his spirit out and he established who his people are.

And then that sets the tone for how you and I then go forward with our life.

Turn with me to Ephesians 2 and verse 10.

They say every pastor is a one-message pastor, right? You guys have been with me long enough to know this is probably my one message, right? This is when we talk about family, we talk about church, we talk about the closeness of relationship, we have the attitudes in which which were to interact with each other. This is my one message that I'll probably plan to share with you for the rest of my life because the reality is if we can figure this thing out, everything else falls right where it needs to, right? Because so many doors get knocked off the hinges when we behave and operate as God's church and as his family. And I don't know that I can beat this drum too much and I don't think I can ever stop beating this drum because the reality of what we see in Scripture is this truth. And we see it time and time and time again throughout Scripture and even Paul references it here in Ephesians 2 and verse 10. He says, for we are his workmanship.

This is why we can't get too big for our britches, as my heritage would sometimes say, right? We can't think that we have figured this out or that we're better than one another because we have, we're more spiritual or we've been in the church longer or we've battled through trials more effectively because we are his workmanship. He's the one that's crafting and creating us. Created in, what? Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

And so we can't think that we have figured this out or that we have somehow created this workmanship ourselves because the church collectively is his workmanship. Paul goes on to say, therefore, remember that you were once Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands. And at that time, you were without Christ being aliens of the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. This applies to every single one of us, whether we were called a year ago from our past, whether we were called five or ten years ago, from not knowing about the depth of what God was doing, whether it was 20 years ago, whether you picked up a magazine at one point, whether your family member told you about it, whether you just recognized that something was here in God's word, that you couldn't turn off any longer and you had to start searching and then God led you to his church, or whether you grew up in the midst of other churchgoers. But a time came when you finally had to say, is this my church or my parents' church? It was my parents' church for a long time, right, because they took me to church, and they made sure I had a little suit, which looks so cute on kids when they're small, but when you get to my age, you can't pull that off anymore, right? Those little, like, suits with the shorts. Can we bring those? Can the council? Can we bring those? Is that okay for pastors? Because the shorts, I like that. Put that as a note, maybe, Mr. Dean.

Parents brought me to church, met other kids who kept the Sabbath, went to summer camp.

Laura and I joke now, as it was referenced and mentioned, about being a camp director. We went to camp just to have fun, and we were there, and everything was humming along. Somebody picked us up at the airport. We had meals when we arrived. We had counselors assigned. There was activity staff. We were having a blast, and then it all came to an end, and somebody took us back to the airport. We flew home, and then we told all of our friends and everything about it.

Laura and I joke now. Like, we had no idea that all the work that went into it ahead of time. All the people that were, like, sweating it when we're running around like crazy people, hoping that all the connections on the flights made it. They had our name on a list. Somebody had to be organized and to make sure that we were going to be okay and get back to our parents at the end of camp, and we just went to have fun. And so when our campers show up at Pinecrest now, and they're there just to have fun, I said, that's exactly what you should be doing. You don't need to worry about anything that I've been sweating about or the lack of sleep or the gray hairs that you've added to me. You don't need to worry. That's not your problem. Your problem is to have fun. And the church provided that for me when I was a kid. Provided a college that I was able to go to. I'm thankful that we have ABC now still as a institution, an opportunity for learning. Provided Holy Days, Feast of Tabernacles, amazing sights that I've still have in my memory as a kid that I would have never explored if it wasn't for God's church. People who have propped us up.

People we've walked on journeys with. People who would at times pull us aside and say, you can do better.

And then providing us opportunities to then offer hope and help to someone else. Because we were without hope at one point in our lives. And that's why we can't look at society around us. We can't look at the people going to and fro on a day that God says we should be here together. We can't look at them in a negative light. Because it's not us versus them, right?

As Mr. McGuire mentioned in the sermon at God is going to offer all of humanity an opportunity to know Him when the time is right for them. Our enemy is not our neighbors. It's not our communities. It's not our leadership. Our enemy is our adversary, Satan. And he's the one that continues to put false hope in the hearts of mankind that we can figure out this thing called life. And we can seek after our own way and our own desires and go our own path.

But God in His mercy and grace gave us a church to help shape that truth and where we should be and what we should be doing. Paul goes on in verse 13 to say, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Verse 18, for through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and the members of the household of God.

That calling out, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building being fit together grows into a holy temple and to the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. While we are here as the household of God, and as it is referenced as a building, you know you and I are not a physical building in the strictest sense of the Word.

We are flesh and blood made in the image of God, but we're special to Him because we are His spiritual people, His spiritual believers, and we are all parts of the stone structure of that spiritual organism with Christ being that chief cornerstone. This is why a physical building or organization such as the United Church of God cannot be the church in the strictest sense of the Word. As those come to God as He calls them and they're baptized, a minister of Jesus Christ baptizes someone not into the United Church of God, right? None of us should have been baptized into any church of God because that's not what we are to be baptized into. The wording that we use is, I now baptize you not into any sect or denomination of this world, but I baptize you into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for the remission of your sins.

Being baptized into the family of God is what God has called you and me to be part of.

And so this is the promise of the church that we see outlined in Scripture.

We've talked a lot today about the second promise of the Holy Spirit. We've talked a lot about this over the past several weeks locally. In John 14 verse 15, let's go ahead and turn there. There we'll read three verses. John 14 and verse 15.

Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. That's our part, right? To try to love Christ with all of our heart, to love God and to follow Him and to keep His commandments. And He says, and if you do, I will pray the Father and He will give you another Helper that it may abide with you forever. The Spirit of truth, which the world cannot receive. So all of our neighbors, all of our community, God is saying they can't receive this right now because they neither sees, because it neither sees Him or knows Him. That's the problem. He has not revealed Himself to our neighbors. But He says, but you know Him, for He dwells with you and the Spirit dwells in you.

We know after Christ shared these words and other words with His disciples, that His life came to a close. He was arrested. The disciples scattered out of fear, out of concern. They turned their back in a sense on Him because they were afraid of being arrested themselves. They knew what crucifixion was and it wasn't pretty. But Jesus suffered through the mock trial.

He endured a speakless beating and punishment and ultimately gave His wife on a stake or on a cross for you and me.

And I think this, and we've talked about it recently, this has to have been the low moment for the disciples because they gave everything up to follow Christ. Their families, their jobs, their livelihoods, they slept near Him, they walked with Him, they ate the same food.

He performed miracles that they were able to witness firsthand and now He's taken from them.

And with Sredin Uber at reference this morning, they went back fishing, right? What else are we going to do? Our Savior's gone. Might as well go back to what we did previously.

But Jesus promised that they would not be alone and in turn He promised we would not be alone when we would give up things from our past and those that made us comfortable for that time.

And this is why today, Pentecost, back in AD 31, is so special as the church received God's own Spirit. There was a promise that there would be a church and there was a promise that God would pour His Spirit out onto mankind. So we carry responsibilities, you and I do today, being part of this church of God. And I'd like to quickly kind of move through some of these responsibilities just to remind ourselves as we go forward from here what we have to go forward in. The church today stands as the light of the world.

That's why we're in the Gospels. Let's go to Matthew 5 and verse 13 so you can just note it in your notes, in your eyes. Matthew 5 and verse 13. This is in the Sermon on the Mount, pretty close to the beginning of it. Jesus brought this out early on. Before He laid down all those difficult parts, right? The hard things of life that were to do that even the listener is like, wait, you want us to do that? We have to go that far? Turn the other cheek?

We have to do these hard things? And He says, yeah, because this is what you are. Matthew 5 verse 13. You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?

It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. He set the stage at the very beginning of the sermon to remind them that this is the expectation. This is what we are. Not what we want to become, not what we, well, the rest of the congregation, they're really good people, but I'm not that great.

No, that's not how it works. If you are the called out ones, if you are His people, if you are the spiritual organism that makes up the church, then you are a light. Just like I'm a light, just like our families, and collectively we are a light. God commissioned His church to set the example of His way of life to the world that desperately needs that light.

And over all the years of seeing the church transform or be moved here or there, or suffer challenges or difficulties, sometimes we've dimmed our light a little bit. The deans and we were talking about that a few times. I appreciate their example and their steadfastness over the many years because they've seen a thing or two that's not always been the best.

But what has prevailed is God's people then overcoming and continuing on.

And that's the reality of what He has called His people to. Because when the disciples all went and went back fishing, was that the end of their story? It wasn't. When Paul was running around from town to town because he's being chased out, and when he ended up in Athens and he started talking to the philosophers, his story didn't end there either. When Peter denied Christ, his story didn't end there either. We can go example after example of those who walked after Christ with flaws and with problems, but they didn't finish their story in that moment. They continued on. This is why we look to Christ to lead the church. This is why we look to Christ to lead our lives. So that when we make mistakes, we can go to our brother or sister and we can apologize and say we can do better, and I'm going to work to do better. Because even Peter said that we're in, you can put this in your notes, 1 Peter 2 verses 11 and 12, that we are to have our conduct honorable among the Gentiles, so when they speak evil against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they observe glorify God in the day of visitation. I try to keep this in the forefront of my mind as often as I can, and I'm not perfect, but I know that we're going to run into people someday in the future who will rethink back. I sometimes wonder if God is actually going to hopefully change us into a being that we're not recognizable. I kind of hope that, because there's times where my light has not shown in the way that I wish it would have, and if I wore a sign that said pastor on it, like if I wore a name tag everywhere I went that said pastor, I would have been ashamed a few times because my human nature got the best of me. My lack of patience in that moment overrode my willingness to submit to Christ. And at times, I kind of hope that maybe God will just transform us into people that they don't recognize, because then they can be like, oh that's a nice guy, not be like, oh that guy, that guy, that guy, really.

But he says that in their day of visitation, that they'll say, we saw symbolences of your people here and there. We saw them doing good things. We saw them stop when we were broke down on the road and we had no idea who they were, but they were concerned. The church stands as a light to the world. We can never lose sight of that. Another responsibility, the church is the household or family of God. We've talked about that quite a bit and we have already looked at that in Ephesians 2 verse 19. But let's look at Romans 8 verse 1. Romans 8 and verse 1. Paul says, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. And verse 5, for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Verse 9, but you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. So God's Spirit is what makes us the household or the church of God. So if we are the family of God, then there's an expectation that we reflect the character of that household that we are part of. I think in all of our homes growing up, there's an expectation that we carry ourselves and operate in a way that doesn't that didn't bring embarrassment to the family or that preserve the reputation of our family. I know there is an expectation as a father who is a police officer, you don't want your kids getting in trouble, right? That doesn't bode too well. So there is an expectation we carry ourselves. I had two older siblings that went through the same school district that I did ahead of me, and they were good kids, and my the teachers knew my parents. There is an expectation that I better not mess this up. I better not embarrass my parents because they can see you they've trained up two kids well and then get too tired or worn out to train up number three and four. So there is an expectation. My dad has shared stories about his father. His father grew up as the oldest in their family of a whole bunch of kids, to the point that when my father was born, he actually had some uncles that were younger than him, my grandfather's brothers and siblings that were younger. So he kind of grew up with his uncles, and my grandfather's, I don't know if it was his youngest brother or second to youngest, was running around town causing problems, and everybody knew who the Phelps's were in town, right? This is a small town, country town. Everybody knew who they were, and when they started getting in trouble, community started talking. My grandfather grabbed my great uncle, pushed him up against the wall, and said, you either join the Navy or I'm going to kill you.

And I asked dad, my grandfather was not in the church, I asked dad, would he have really done that? And dad says, I'm not sure. He might have done that to his younger brother because reputation was important in their family, and then our family had a good reputation in that city that my grandfather and my great grandfather and my great uncles and all of them lived in.

And he's like, you're not messing up this name, so join the Navy and straighten yourself out. My uncle, or my great uncle joined the Navy, just so you guys know. He did. He went into the military to straighten up his life. God has placed the expectation that we live according to his instructions and to represent his household well. It does not mean that we're perfect, right?

Because God has invited imperfect people into his family, and he's provided an avenue for us to repent and to change. But this does mean that we have to forgive each other when someone doesn't operate the way that they should. It means that we have to be patient and long suffering with one another. It means we have to think positively, and we have to think the best in each other, not to impute motives or thinking the worst of each other, but thinking the best.

This is one of the reasons God has given us these specific holy days, starting all the way back with the Feast of Passover and then the Days of Unleavened Bread and bringing us up to here.

As a reminder to how we're supposed to be before God, the humility that we're to have before him, and then with that same humility that Christ gave his life, that we should be humble with one another as the Church of God. With these reminders, we should remember our place in the household and our responsibilities that we have individually that leads to our better collective well-being.

Another responsibility, the Church is the mother which nourishes God's sons and daughters.

The Apostle Paul symbolically characterized the Church as a mother in Galatians 4 and verse 26. You can put that in your notes. And as we've already, I think, looked at today in Revelation 19, verse 7, the Church is seen as the betrothed bride of Christ. It is clear from Scripture that God, through his merciful and loving instructions, has provided his children with a nurturing environment through the Church. This is why building internally the love of God is so vital to the Church. And this is why I hope that all of us in our time thinking back can think on positive aspects of what the Church has provided for you and for me. The stability, the foundation, the chairs being set up, being able to, as a child, to just show up and have a message shared with me, to have someone who was willing to teach in a Sabbath school, someone who was willing to coach a basketball team, all of the structure that God provided as well as just spiritual examples to follow, having an elder that would anoint me when I was sick as a kid. All of these things that the mother, the Church, provides to God's children and to his family. This is why love is so important and why this bond that we have through God's Spirit dwelling in us unites us and makes a bond that just can't be separated and a bond we have to continually fight to maintain. Therefore, the Church, each of us, must also be this source of love for one another so that we can nurture and raise and continue to be that support for one another that he has called us to be.

Another responsibility. The Church functions as the pillar and ground of the truth in a world that is very spiritually confused.

It's exhaustive to do a survey of religion. If you ever take a college course or an academic course where it's a survey of something, that's where you get a little bit of a sampling of a whole bunch of a broad topic and a lot of different aspects of it. But if you were to take a survey of religion class, it really goes on and on and on and it doesn't end because the different ideas, the different theologies, the different mindsets, the different gods, the different ways that these gods are supposed to interact with us, the different afterlife effects, what happens when we die, where do we go, what do we become. All of this is just exhausting to try to study if you were to sit down and try to study it today because they all take twists and turns, they all have different paths, they all have different origins. It is information overload.

This is the society that has to try to swim through all of that muck to be able to find and see the truth that we have in Scripture. This is why it's a miracle that our minds were open and we were able to see what God has provided and it's through His calling that we're sitting here today.

But this is why our prayer has to be that this message continues on in a strong way, that the work that we've been asked to do, the messaging that we share from the pulpit or from our writings as a church, the work that we're doing is a work that is huge because society needs God's Word and this light to see through the darkness.

Turn with me to 1 Timothy 3 verse 15. This is why you and I have to continue to be this pillar of truth, this ground of truth, and the church serves us that for the greater good for our lives and for the greater good of humanity. 1 Timothy 3 and verse 15.

Paul writes, But if I'm delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth. This is why it's sometimes difficult to consider another vantage point from the scriptures we have in the church. We have a doctrinal review process that if something that we teach or believe maybe isn't fully right or—let me rephrase that—maybe there's a different perspective on some of our teachings. We have a review that we can go through and someone can submit a paper and they can be considered. And many different elders have touch points in that. And it's to preserve the pillar of truth, because it is so vital for the church and for you and for me. This is what we're called to do. This is why we don't preach another gospel. This is why we don't stretch things and say, well, it can also mean this, and so you can have your own little pet idea over here. We collectively—it's not to squash ideas that others may have. It's to protect the truth so that we can stay focused and stay organized and continue going down and then teach next generations the same truth that we see in Scripture. That Jesus followed, that the apostles followed after him, that the early church established on that Pentecost in 31 A.D. followed, that we continue to hold the line, that we continue bearing this responsibility upon us all, and then hold us all collectively responsible, too. I have been corrected by some of you and some of the messaging I've shared because I misunderstood something. That was exactly what you should have done. I didn't put the pieces together on a few topics, and I shared this and shared that and said, this is what it means. And somebody says, are you sure? That's okay. I'm a big enough boy. I can take a little bit of feedback. And you know what? When that came in, the next time I gave that message, I fixed it because they were right. This is the responsibility that we have to each other. I have towards you and you have towards me, as I have told you many times before, because there's a finish line out there for you, and I want to help you get to that finish line. But that same finish line is out there for me, too. And I need you to help me get there. If we ever lose sight of this reality, we've got a problem. And that's why I'm so passionate today about this topic. And again, you guys, you're going to have to just put up with me.

Because this is what we have been called to do. And there is no ceasing. There's no end. We can't get tired. Because we do get beat down. We do get overwhelmed at times. We do get frustrated. And I've already apologized to one person today because I was a little short before church this morning because my mind was on sound and other things. But that's the reality, is we have to stay together. And we have to build things that get broken and damaged and bruised at that time.

Because that finish line out there that God has called us to is so vital for each of us. And there's no difference whether it's you or whether it's me. This is that responsibility that we have to get each other to maintain the truth is pillar and ground of truth so that we can each finish our journeys and our races. Another responsibility we find in 1 Corinthians 12. 1 Corinthians 12. We see how we are to function, work together for the benefit of all of us. I've kind of covered this multiple times already, not meaning to.

But Paul talks about the uniqueness of this gathering that God has brought together in verse 4. 1 Corinthians 12 verse 4. He says, there's diversities of gifts but one unique spirit, the same spirit. There are differences in ministries but one unique, one same Lord.

And there are diversities in activities but one unique God, one same God who works in us all.

And the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one, not for only our own good.

But Scripture says, for the prophet of all. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the spirit, another the word of knowledge through the same spirit, to another faith by the same spirit, to another gifts of healing by the same spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kind of tongues or languages, to another the interpretation of those languages. And one and the same Spirit works in all of these things distributing to each one individually as God, as He wills. For as the body is one and has many members but also the members of that one body being many are one body. So also is Christ.

This is why we have to fight for unity. This is why we have to fight for unity and consensus of Scripture. This is why we have to fight for this family bond that He has called us to become. Because when we do, we are one with Christ. Because Paul goes on to say, for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jew or Greeks, whether from Ohio, I know, I'm sorry, you're stuck with me as Michiganders, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves are free, we have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. He goes on in verse 18, but now God has set the members each one of them in the body just as He pleased. So I'm sorry you got kind of an emotional pastor because He placed me here. So if you're upset, you got to talk to the big guy upstairs. Because He has set each one of us in these positions of being this family, of being the Southeast Michigan Church of God, where we come together and we share of all these diversities of gifts that He has given us and all the passions and all the tools that He's built into us and the ones that He's continuing to develop in us. Because this is right where He pleases us to be. And it says, and if they were all one member, where would the body be? But indeed there are many members yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again to the head to the feet, I have no need of you. No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable on those we bestow greater honor. That there should not be, there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ and members individually.

Tremendous teaching that we have to continually try to keep at the forefront of our mind when our patience is running low, when we've had a bad day, when things are not coming together the way that we thought they would in our head, when we're exhausted, when we're battling and supporting other people and other health trials and journeys that other people are going on.

Don't ever lose sight that we are the body of Christ and that Christ gave his life for the church.

That's the beauty of God's plan, and that's why it was ordained that way. Because if it would have been anybody lesser that would have still been greater than us, but lesser than Christ, then then it would have diminished the sacrifice that was given for you and me. But because of the cost that was given for us, then we have no excuse but to battle through ourselves for the sake of the church and each other. And so, wrapping up, the church comes with promises from God and also responsibilities for you and for me. The understanding of the church as described in scripture is one of the reasons why this holy day that we're observing today is so significant.

As the Holy Spirit was poured out on this Pentecost roughly 2,000 years ago, the church of God was established by the setting apart of God's people. The holy day is not only a reminder of God giving his spirit in an open fashion to those who believe and follow him, but a reminder of what the church of God is, the body of Christ that we are all part of today. Generations of God's people have lived, committed their lives to, and died who are part of the same church that we are right now. It's so easy at times to take for granted this church that we are part of.

To take for granted that we have a spiritual organism that is made up of parts that God has placed right where he wants them. To take for granted that we have buildings, clean buildings, and hot coffee every week when we come to church. To take for granted that we have peace in this nation, that we have the right to gather on this day and worship our Father and observe his holy days. At times we can't take for granted the blessing that God has given us in the church.

Church is a word that is thrown around quite casually in society.

I hope it's not a word that is thrown casually around by us. I hope on this Pentecost, as we have again looked in and considered the origin of our church, that we can each take to heart who and what we are before God. We are not just some random collection of people who have wandered out of society and somehow just ended up here together. But as we examined from the beginning, God loved us first and then revealed to us an understanding that is not our own. And this revelation of his way and his life has empowered us to follow his direction and guidance in our lives.

We are the Equisia, the called-out ones. We are the church of God.

Let's close or use our final scripture in 1 Peter 2 and verse 9.

1 Peter 2 and verse 9.

Peter writes in a similar tone to what Paul was writing earlier, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. That's what touched me so much with today's sermon this morning. What God is doing is just unbelievable.

A holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people. I mean, that's the reality of it. We were not a collection of God's people at one point in our lives, but are now the people of God who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. At many times through history, the church established in the book of Acts has been under attack by our enemy Satan.

And at most of the time, the church has been a small group of people, at times oppressed and often scattered. But in spite of this persecution, the church and those who have followed after Christ have remained faithful, and the church has never disappeared. Jesus promised that his church would never die out and that he would never leave and forsake his people. He promised to be with his people even to the ends of the age. And that has not happened yet. When Christ returns to the earth to establish the kingdom of God over all nations, the called-out ones of his church will be glorified and made perfect. They will rise from their graves to meet the Lord in the air. And as the apostle shares in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.