Making Our Congregation Spiritually Stronger

It was just a few weeks ago that we had our anonymous congregational survey. Thank you so much for all of you who contributed to that survey. I appreciate your input and the many valuable responses we had. It was the first time that we did it online rather than on paper, and the number of responses were the highest that we ever received. There were 27 responses, and when you eliminate all the children from our congregation, that's probably about 90 percent of the adults that attend. Again, thank you so much. There's one question that I want to cover today as part of the sermon. I think it perhaps is the most important question, and it was asked in a survey. There were a lot of technical questions. What do you think about the activities, the frequency of this, the frequency of that, and all that's good and valuable information. But there was really one question that I think was the most important and the most valuable, and here it was. It said, please provide one suggestion to make our congregation spiritually stronger.

And indeed, I think that is a very important question. And today, I would like to give your answers just how you had them, because I believe in transparency. And then I would like to discuss some of the things that we can do, give some suggestions, and some of the things that we can do, indeed, to make our congregation spiritually stronger.

Again, I'm going to read all the comments that were submitted, and they basically fall into three groups. So we're going to cover each of the three basic groups, and I'll read the responses that I feel fell into that, and then we'll make some additional comments. Along with the three groups, there were a few who said no comment, or not sure, or simply made a nice compliment. I appreciate the compliments, but there's no need to comment on any of those responses. So everything else fell into one of these three groups. I want to start out by saying that as a congregation, I believe we're very spiritually strong.

And I don't say that lightly. I've lived in California, and I attended church congregations there. I lived in Texas, and I attended church congregations there. I lived in North Carolina, and attended church congregations there, and I've attended a number of incarnations of church congregations, obviously, in greater Cleveland. So when I say that I believe we're spiritually strong, I don't say that lightly, or just to flatter you. I know what some struggling congregations are like.

So under the area of service, that's what we're going to start out. That's the first group we're going to start out with, the area of service. Here were some of the things that you said, and then we'll take a look at some scriptures, and I'll make some suggestions. And I'm going to tell it like you wrote it. Now, personally, I may have been a little more tactful in some ways, but again, I believe in transparency, so that's okay. All right, so we'll read those that I feel fall into the category that we call service. Again, we're answering the question to provide one suggestion to make our congregation spiritually stronger.

One individual wrote, we need more people to contribute. 10% cannot do 90% of the work on a continuous basis. This is burning out the volunteers physically, financially, and spiritually. We also need to have more producers than consumers.

Frustrating that financial assistance is constantly being asked by a select person or two without a real need or being properly vetted. Now, I'll comment on that last sentence a little bit more in a few minutes. Another answer. Getting the outliers involved. Service is a part of the worship each week. Another comment. Continue community outreach.

Another comment. Trying to get people to be more open to serving others and not just coming to services for their own benefit would make a more cohesive church family. Tough job. Not sure how to accomplish it. So those were all the comments that I feel fall under this area of service. So let's talk about serving one another. What our calling is. Let's go to Ephesians 2 and verse 8. We'll start there as our first scripture. Ephesians 2 and verse 8.

And we will see that we were created as spiritual creation. Once we're baptized, we receive God's Spirit. We become a spiritual creation. The Spirit of God is indwelling in us. And we have a new reason for being.

We have a new life with a new purpose and hopefully a new attitude. And that's what Paul is going to address here in Ephesians 2 beginning in verse 8. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8. He says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.

You see, when we are converted and we receive God's Spirit upon baptism, we now have a new life. We have a Spirit that dwells within us, something that we never had in our lives before. And that spiritual life has a new purpose. We've been created to do something. What Paul says here, we've been created for good works.

Now, those good works don't save us. He just mentioned earlier that we are saved through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. But a byproduct of that salvation, you see, a byproduct of being deeply converted is a mindset that I am in this world to serve. Serving is as natural as breathing in and breathing out when you have a full measure of God's Holy Spirit. It's what you are. It's what you do. You don't even have to think about it. Involuntarily, you just have a mindset and an attitude of serving your spouse, serving your children, serving the brethren, helping the neighbor out, the guy across the street, who can't get his car started, whatever it is, you just have a mindset of wanting to serve others.

It is a byproduct of conversion of itself. The good works don't save us. Again, only the shed blood faith and the shed blood of Jesus Christ and God's grace can save us. But understanding that, we have been created in good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So as new creatures in Christ, we've been spiritually created for one major specific purpose for the rest of the physical days that we live, and that is to constantly be doing good works.

And when that becomes your mindset, it's very easy. You don't even consciously think about it. You are. You just do it. So what are good works? Well, these include, obviously, obedience, respecting God's commandments and God's law, living a moral life. Those are good works. Faithfulness, holding tight to the faith of God, being faithful to God, faithful to his church, faithful to your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Good works includes a personal transformation, knowing that God wants us to become less carnal and lessen who and what we are as selfish carnal human beings and develop more of the mind of Jesus Christ. That's also good works. And it also includes service to others. I'm reminded of something that Jesus stated in Mark 9 and verse 35. It says that, He sat down, He called the twelve, and He said to them, If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all. Is that how we look at ourselves as being servants?

Servants of Jesus Christ? I think that's an important question to ask. You see, to God, serving is not an option. It's an expectation. Genuine service is contrary to our own human nature. And I certainly understand that. Carnally, you know who we want to serve, carnally? We want to serve ourselves. And usually, before we're called, we are willing to serve others if there's a cookie at the end of that service. In other words, before we're converted, we will serve others if there's a personal benefit to be gained from serving them, like maybe receiving attention, or getting a promotion, or being able to control others because we have special knowledge or we do something.

God is far more interested in why we serve others than how well we serve them. You see, God looks at the heart. He's always looking at our hearts. And He wants to know if we're serving willingly and if we're serving outwardly out of love for Jesus Christ and gratitude for all that God has done for us, or if we're always looking for that benefit to serve. Again, I think a very important question. Let's take a look at a prophecy in Matthew, chapter 25 and verse 31.

I want to emphasize, because one of the comments made in the surveys that you folks would like to hear, some of you would like to hear more about prophecy, we're going to take a look at a prophecy. I want to emphasize this is not a parable. This isn't some story. This will really happen. And here's the good news about this prophecy. You get to choose which of the two groups are discussed in this prophecy.

That's absolutely going to happen. And you and I get to choose which one of these two groups we fall into. Matthew, chapter 25, verse 31. It says, When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.

Again, that's a prophecy. This is talking about the return of Jesus Christ. Jesus is saying this event will absolutely, positively occur when I return. Verse 32. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, as the shepherd divides the sheep from the goats, and he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left, then the king will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink, and I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me, and I just love this answer from the righteous. They're oblivious to these things. Why? Because they never did anything to get a reward.

They just did it. For them doing these things was a way of life. For them doing these things was as involuntary as breathing in and breathing out. Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty, and give you drink? I don't remember doing that. When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick in prison and come to you? And the king will answer and say to them assuredly, I say unto you, it is as much as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren.

You did it to me. You see, they're oblivious to it. They just did it. They didn't think about, wow, I'll get a sugar cookie at the end of the day if I all do all these good things. No, they knew that that was part of who and what they were. It was their mindset.

It was their calling. They were created in Christ Jesus for good works, and those kinds of good works just came natural to them. Verse 41, then he will say to those on the left hand, depart from me, you cursed, and everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me no food. I was thirsty. You gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and you did not take me in.

Naked, and you did not clothe me sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me. And they will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick in prison, and did not minister to you? Then he will answer them, saying assuredly, I say unto you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

Pretty powerful prophecy, I think. And again, we get to choose which one of these two groups we fall into. What category we fall into. The correct definition of the least of these, my brethren, primarily includes those in the church, but secondarily it also includes our service to those in the community that we live in. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works. Remember what Paul said we were newly created for? See your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. And in this scripture here, he says, let your light so shine before men. Men is from the Greek word anthropos, and it means human-faced. So it goes beyond just people in the church. Let your light so shine to the world that everyone sees you and says, wow, that person is refreshingly different. They're moral. They're honest. They're friendly. They're kind. They're respectful. That's what Jesus is saying here. So I'd like to give a few suggestions of some things that we could do in talking about the topic here of service. I want you to think about asking yourself a question. And here's the question that only you can ask yourself and only you can answer. And here it is, in what major way am I continually serving others in the church? I'm going to read that again. In what major way am I continually serving others in the church?

The reason I ask that question is, unless we're disabled by age or poor health, we can all do at least one major duty to serve the people of God.

And by doing that, we follow the example of Jesus Christ, who was a servant, and we fulfill the will of God. I think that's really important. We all need to pitch in because that's what we were newly created to do. That's what we are here for. And the more individuals that we have serving, the less often each person on a cycle has to bring food to the Sabbath or has to come here and clean the hall or has to be on the sound duty or usher duty or last person out duty or one of our other duties. The more that we all pitch in, the less strain there is on a small group of people to do more and more or do virtually everything.

If you see a need, just say, hey, how can I help? That floor needs swept. It's getting on. We've been fellowshiping in the social hall for an hour. Can I sweep the floor? Hey, can I wipe the tables down? Can I take the garbage out? Can I collect the garbage from the room? You see, these are all things that we can do.

And frankly, if we had a group of individuals clean up the food and drink after our fellowship time, then the people who bring the food and drink wouldn't have to do it themselves. You know, those who bring food here, which is probably the most difficult duty we have, frankly, oftentimes spend 10 to 20 dollars in buying food, cheeses and crackers and things so that we can go in there and eat and enjoy a nice little snack.

So they have already made a financial investment. They've prepared the food. They come here. They set the food out. It would be a big help to them if others said, hey, I'll wipe the tables down. I'll sweep the floors. I'll take the garbage out. What can I do? Is there anything that I can do? You see, again, it's a mindset of understanding what we were absolutely created for.

I'd like to also make a comment here about one statement that was made, and I think the statement was made in a very sincere way, but I think the person who wrote it probably lacks an understanding of what financial assistance is offered here. It's frustrating that financial assistance is constantly being asked for by a select person or two without showing a real need or being properly vetted. That's a pretty strong statement, and again, I believe the comment is sincere, but I believe whoever wrote this, and I guess that's one of the great things about an anonymous survey, is I think they just lack some knowledge.

So I'm going to be very candid. Again, I believe in transparency, so I'm just going to give you the facts, and here are the facts. We give assistance about an average of once every three months. We only give assistance when someone is going through a personal life crisis, and it has never been the same person.

It's usually, frankly, someone on a fixed income, and they come up with an unexpected bill. Their appliance dies, and they don't have anything in savings. Their credit card is maxed out, or maybe their car dies. No one individual that I know of is either asking or constantly receiving financial assistance. Now, it is possible that I'm unaware of the fact that one of you are writing checks to someone constantly or continuously who has a financial need, and if that's true, would you please start writing some out to Greg Thomas?

I would deeply appreciate that. But I don't think that's going on. So my point is that what we give out in financial assistance is really very rare. It's never the same person, and honestly, the people that are financially the poorest in our congregation have never come to me and asked for financial assistance. The people who probably need it the most for one reason or another, their reasons are their own, have never asked for financial assistance.

I've offered financial assistance to people who I knew absolutely needed it, and they said no, and I respect them for that. That's okay. So again, I want to emphasize this is not something that is constantly going on. People are certainly vetted. I ask lots of questions. The checks aren't that large. They're not a significant amount of monies, but sometimes it helps someone to get through a month. I'm trained and understand that there are government programs that I recommend people get on. If it's a long-term need they have for financial or other assistance, I will recommend that they contact various government agencies to get more consistent help.

Now, another thing that I just want to make sure we don't have any confusion on is festival assistance. Festival assistance is available to anyone who qualifies. If you're faithfully saving your second tithe, then you're on a fixed income or some type of government program, you're disabled or unable to work, then the United Church of God wants you to go to the Feast of Tabernacles.

We will give you money to supplement what you save so you can go and enjoy the feast. Enjoying the feast is one of our fundamental beliefs. It's probably already been covered by Mr. Lee in a previous program. We believe in God's feasts, and if you qualify, we will certainly help you. But that only happens once a year. And you talk about vetted, you should see the form that you have to fill out in order to get feast assistance.

And again, that only happens once a year. We have camp assistance, a scholarship for those parents who are sending children to camp. It's available to anyone sending their children to camp. The total amount of children going to camp, the amount of dollars donated, and we divide it equally, and everyone gets a scholarship. And again, how often does that happen? One whole time a year. So again, I'm going to give the person who made that comment the benefit of the doubt and assume that they just didn't have the information that I shared with you.

So that was point number one. Service, having an attitude of service and realizing that from God's perspective, service is not an option, it's an expectation. And it really becomes easy when we get the right mindset and we begin serving with the right heart, it becomes as natural as breathing in and breathing out. All right, let's go look at the second area. Healthy worship and fellowship. That was the second area. Healthy worship and fellowship. And here were some of the comments that you made. Don't be fake in church. Getting to know one another one-on-one as opposed to seeing another as just a name and a directory is so helpful, fellowship opportunities are key.

Okay, another comment. The heart announcements Mr. Thomas makes are what I believe makes us spiritually stronger, simply facing the truth. And some of you may consider today's sermon as one of those heart announcements. Another comment. Building bonds with one another.

Another one. Demanding that kids leave the electronics at home. It's very distracting when a child is playing on them during sermons and mumbling, laughing about what he's watching. Highly inappropriate during service. Another comment. More people should come to Bible study. I can't argue with that. I believe that what we are on the inside means more than what we wear on the outside. And I believe that 100%. I'm going to give that a little bit of time. That went on. The comment continued. It was very long in a situation that I have handled properly with now receiving more information and we can care of that person's concern. But let's go start out in Psalm chapter 5 and verse 3. If you'll turn there with me. We actually read this scripture last week but we'll go a little bit further. A few more verses this time. Again, this is the second group held to the worship and fellowship psalm chapter 5 and we're going to begin in verse 3.

The psalmist, perhaps David himself, wrote, My voice you shall hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning I will direct it to you and I will look up the theme of our sermon last Sabbath. Verse 4, For you are not a God who takes pleasure and wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand in your sight. You hate all workers of iniquity. You shall destroy those who speak falsehood. The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and the deceitful man. Remember, one of the comments is don't be fake in church. In other words, come here humbly, in sincerity and truth, without an agenda and without an intent of manipulating or deceiving people. Verse 7, the psalmist writes, But as for me, I will come into your house in the multitude of your mercy, in fear of you. I will worship toward your holy temple. Now, two things I'd like you to notice about David's approach to worship and his comment about the house of God. And house of God is a place of worship, and this is our place of worship. We have a building here that God, through his grace and mercy, has blessed us with and provided us with, and this is where we worship. This is, for us, the house of God. So, two things I want to mention. I want you to notice the word fear. In fear of you, I will worship towards your holy temple. And I don't want you to think of fear as having a sense of terror, but I do want you to think of fear as having a sense of deep sobriety, awesomeness of God, deep and profound respect for who and what our Creator is, and being respectful when you come into his presence. So, that's the first thing I'd like to pull out of this verse. The second thing is, according to David, where God's presence is, there's holiness. We believe that between the two amens, we are asking for God's presence to be among us. You may have noticed, if you've observed our services for a while, we start off with music, and the music is intended for us to quiet down and say, oh, you know, go and find our seats. Today we struggled with that a little bit, and I try to be very patient because we just get so excited after not seeing each other for a week that it's natural that we want a fellowship. But the music should indicate to us it's time to find a seat and quiet down and sit down, and that's why we have the hymns. But a very important thing happens after the opening three hymns. We ask an opening prayer, and someone comes up, and they ask for God's presence to literally be in our service. And we believe that time is holy until the end of the service, when we ask someone else to come up and close that service with prayer. We believe His very presence is among us through His Holy Spirit, uniting us together as we all worship Him. Now, obviously, anything that distracts or takes away from a worshipful environment is not acceptable. We already saw here, of course, in verse 6, that God abhors deceitful people, so we should come here humble with an open heart and a hope in mind willing to listen and learn. We should come to Sabbath services eager and with an attitude of in spirit and truth wanting to worship God and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. In church services and fellowship afterward, should be positive and uplifting, not negative or discouraging. Psalm 99, let's turn there quickly.

Same book, a little farther back here in chapter 99. Psalm 99 verse 5. David wrote, Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool, for He is holy. Moses and Aaron were among His priests, and Samuel was among those who called upon His name. They called upon the Lord, and He answered them. He spoke to them in a cloudy pillar. They kept His testimonies in the ordinances He gave them. You answered them, O Lord your God, you were to them. God who forgives, though you took vengeance on their deeds. And what the psalmist means here is forgiveness does not necessarily exempt us from the consequences of the dumb things that we do. All right, so God forgives us, but that doesn't eliminate the consequences. Verse 9, Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy hill, for the Lord our God is holy. So again, proper worship is a form of holiness. And what does that mean? That means that there should be no separate personal conversations going on during the worship service. That's disrespectful to God, and people around us who are trying to listen to what's being said and done during the Sabbath service. There should be no loud games or loud noise during services. That's disrespectful to God, and it's certainly disrespectful to other people who are trying to listen. There should be no unsupervised children during the worship service. The children should be in the same row as mom and dad or responsible adults. They shouldn't be on their own, deposited in another part of the building, or in a separate row, acting up and doing what they want to do during services. Why? Because it's disrespectful to God and others who are trying to listen. So it's just a matter of having an attitude of respect, of deep awe and fear of God and that it's holy time when that last Amen is made. I have plenty of time to talk to other people. I have plenty of time to do things that are noisy or distracting, but during those two periods of prayer, that's holy time. That's God's time, and it's the time when He wants me to focus on what's being said and to learn from His Word. I want to make just a few comments about dress and church policy. It's a question that comes up a lot. In any organization, you have to have rules.

Where you don't have rules, you have chaos and confusion. Where you don't have rules, some people will take everything past the limit to the point of absurdity. And if you don't believe me, just take a look at some people who are candidates for the presidency and some of the words and ideas that are coming out of their mouths and what they say. Again, if you don't have rules, once the rules have been degenerated and broken and pushed away, then things get to the point of absurdity. A good leader creates balanced standards and guidelines and then manages legitimate exceptions. That's what you do when you're a good leader. Now, due to health and other valid reasons, some of our brethren dress down, and that's okay. If you're in constant pain, if you're struggling with the way that you feel and you decide that you want to dress down, that's okay. But what about the rest of us? I want to make a... I want to talk to our hearts. The rest of us who don't have a chronic illness or aren't struggling with something for a need to dress down, I want you to think of something. I'm going to draw an example from Genesis chapter 4 and verse 4. Cain and Abel came to worship God. Abel came to worship God, and he offered his best, his first fruits. So he came to God and he said, God, I'm giving you my best. Now, on the other hand, that was Abel. Cain, he brought his second best to God. And then he wondered why God didn't respect his second best. We come here to Sabbath services as a living sacrifice. And again, God is interested in our heart. If the best thing that you own, if the best thing you have are blue jeans and a t-shirt or a dress with stains on it that you got from the Goodwill store, God bless you. Come here. You're welcome. I'm not going to judge you, and neither should anyone else. If that's what we have and that's our best, then certainly come and worship God in your best. But on the other hand, if we're just coming to church to be casual or comfortable, I just want to be comfortable. What does that say?

I'm going to tell you something. Christianity is contrary to being comfortable. Christianity is a counterculture. There's nothing about the Christian way of life that is comfortable.

It's a constant daily struggle against ourselves and our own human nature, or a world that is stacked up against us and has no values and no standards and doesn't have any rules anymore. So again, if we're coming to church just striving to be comfortable or casual, like this is a luau or something, what does that really say? I want to ask you a question. If the governor of Ohio came to you and said, Monday, I'm going to give you an award and I'm going to invite your whole family and the media is going to be there and I'm going to give you an award, Ohio Citizen of the Year, how would you dress to greet the governor of Ohio if you were receiving an award in front of your family and the news media were going to be there? Isn't greeting God and the Sabbath more important than receiving an award from the governor of the state of Ohio? I think it's really important for us to understand that, yes, I believe that what's in our heart is more important than what we wear.

But if we're not giving God our best, whatever our best may happen to be, then I think we need to ask ourselves some serious personal questions about how important God is to us, how important worship is to us, and the environment of a holy service. So I'd like to give some suggestions regarding, again, this second point. God gave us the Sabbath as a tool to worship Him, and unlike some organizations, we do not worship the Sabbath, we worship God. The Sabbath is a tool, and I think that's very important to say. Within the Sabbath, He also encourages us to share a holy convocation of group worship. That goes all the way back to Leviticus 23, where all of the feasts are listed, and the very first one is the Sabbath, and it says these are holy convocations. So again, I think that is really important. So coming here and understanding that, do we realize what God wants from us?

Do we appreciate that being a holy convocation and group worship, that we should appreciate and honor God by our behavior during the Sabbath service time? And that means not getting up and going to the bathroom 12 times, and if we're just getting up because we're bored, again, maybe we need to have a little talk with our heart. If we're going out to our car two or three times during Sabbath services, then maybe we need to have a little talk with our heart. It's certainly acceptable to acknowledge someone passing by you during service, smile, nod, ah, happy Sabbath! Oh, that's fine! But if we get to the point where we're carrying on this conversation about my dog, or what happened to me on the way of church, during the Sabbath service, that's very disrespectful to God, and it's also very disrespectful to others who are trying to worship and trying to pay attention to the service. You know, bonding is a very important part of spending time together. We build bonds when we fellowship and spend time together. That includes the general fellowship we have out in a social hall after services. We do have Bible studies, being hospitable in our homes, outside picnics. Work parties are a great way to bond. Hint, hint, since we're having one tomorrow. Sharing church duties and working with a group of people, they tend to grow very close together because they're sharing responsibilities together. All of these are great ways to develop a close bond with others. The more we participate, and the more opportunities that we share with other people, the more we'll get to know them.

I'd like to quote from Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 24. Paul wrote, and let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. Remember what Paul said earlier was the reason that we were created in Christ Jesus, good works, in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the day approaching. So we try to create a lot of reasons for us to fellowship with one another. In the social hall, after services, responsibilities, teams we can work with, all kinds of things we can do to build a bond and assemble with each other. And Bible Studies is one of those. It's an opportunity to grow and learn through the study of God's Word.

We're presently going through Paul's writings in the New Testament. You might say, well, why are you doing that? Well, Mr. Thomas has a couple of personal philosophies. Number one, I believe that Bible study should be what that means. That is, you dig into the Bible. You just don't take a topic and pop around in five different scriptures. That's a sermon. A Bible study should be when you open the Bible, and you dig into it, and you pull out the meaning of verse after verse after verse. And our goal in our Bible Studies is to provide good Christian living principles that we can apply to our lives, much like our sermonette was, and, you know, not getting in debt, not causing ourselves to be in the bondage of financial slavery. You know, that was a Christian living sermonette, and it was very good. And we try to do that in our Bible Studies. We talk about some of the things that Paul says and what he was going through, and we apply them to modern times, and we think that that is very important. So we want to encourage everyone to participate in the events that we have. All right, our third and last group. Meaningful, godly relationships. Meaningful, godly relationships. And here were the comments you made. Be patient with one another, and remember we are all humans who are still striving to overcome. Amen to that. Another person just said forgiveness. Someone said work to stop some of the infighting and arguing among brethren. And that's always a challenge. I'm going to give you a secret to how to screw up an organization. Here's how to screw up an organization. Put at least one human being in it.

In other words, we're all human, and wherever you put human beings, you're going to have a certain degree of conflict. That's called being human. So our goal is not to have some unrealistic goal, that we're not going to have any conflict or differences, but to minimize it, and to learn to treat each other with respect and high esteem so that we don't let these differences bother us. We don't let these differences become a conflict. Someone said healing day, and I'm not sure what they meant by that. So if you wrote that down, you'd like to talk to me later about what you meant. I'm assuming it may be to choose a day of the week in which we asked brethren to pray for those who need healing. Perhaps that's it. Again, that's all it said was healing day. So if you'd like to share more information with me, I'd love to hear it. Another comment. If a person stops attending, unless they're hostile, reach out to that person with a phone call or email and ask if there's anything you can do or anything they need. Primarily, we do this, and we have a... when someone misses a couple weeks, it starts out with a card that says, we miss you, and then it escalates from there. And eventually, I call people or I send them an email or I have a little card that I send out, but we do try to keep in touch with people who stop attending. I'll make a few more comments on that in a little bit. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 29 and see the heart and core of having meaningful, godly relationships. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 29.

We are on the last of the three groups, meaningful, godly relationships. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 29, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers. Paul's saying there's no room for gossip. There's no room for putting other people down. The words that come out of our mouth, he says, should be edification. That's the Greek word of which we get an edifice. What is an edifice? It's something that's built tall and high. He said the words that come out of our mouth should build people up, should motivate and inspire them. There should never be words that tears someone down.

That it may impart grace to the hearers. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. And the Holy Spirit is our guarantee from God that if we continue on the right track, that we absolutely will be saved and be in his family. He says, be careful that you don't grieve it. And what he's implying here is if corrupt words are constantly coming out of our mouth, if we're putting other people down, if we're gossiping, if we're negative all the time, we are grieving the Holy Spirit of God. Verse 31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Then he turns to the positive. Here's what we can do, and be kind to one another.

Tender-hearted, not mean-spirited, not angry, not hard, tender-hearted, forgiving one another just as God in Christ forgave you. You see, there's an obligation. Paul's saying, God forgave you of all your sins. Who are we to hold anger or bitterness towards another person? God forgave us of all of our maliciousness and our lies and our distortions. Even if we're mistreated, because we certainly mistreated God and his law before we were forgiven, even if we feel like we've been mistreated, he's saying we have to forgive. So why do you think Paul wrote this? Well, he wrote it because this problem was obviously going on in the Ephesian congregation. These were God's people. They had God's spirit. They were struggling with some of the same things we occasionally struggle with. We're all flawed human beings. We're all in a constant struggle to overcome sin. We all carry baggage from the past with us when we come into the church. Some of us have a small overnight bag on wheels, and some of us come in with a trunk on a dolly.

And knowing that we come into the church of God with our own baggage should give us the perspective of patience and forbearance with one another. Because I've got problems, I should have patience with other people who have problems. And we're all at different levels of spiritual maturity, and it really doesn't matter how many years you've been in the church, by the way. I know some people, personally, I've known some people who have been in the church for 40 years, and they behave like spiritual babies. 40 years, and they still act like spiritual infants.

On the other hand, I know some who have been baptized in our congregation the last few years, who are very Christ-like. You can tell by what comes out of their mouth how they treat others, how they serve in the church, and how they live their lives, that they're very mature spiritually. And we're all across the board, so let's give each other some slack. Let's not expect everyone to be where we may feel like we are at at the time. We need to treat everyone with humility and respect, especially if you don't agree with them. It's easy to agree with someone if they're just like you.

That might actually mean there are now two dysfunctional people. But, humility and treating everyone respectfully is really important if we don't agree with them. And it's a hint that I would give people for marriage. Mrs. Thomas and I probably have four things in life that we agree on. All right, that might be an exaggeration. Maybe five. But the reason our relationship works is because I give her space. She has her own views and opinions. It's not my job to force her to think like I think. It's not her job to force me to think like she thinks. I allow her to be who God created her to be. She allows me to be who God created me to be. It's not about control. It's about mutual respect and appreciation for our differences in our marriage relationship. And the same holds true within a congregation of people. It's just really important that we understand that. Do we realize and appreciate that with the same degree that we forgive others, God has chosen to forgive us in what's often called the Lord's Prayer. Jesus taught his disciples in Matthew 6 and 12, and forgive us of our debts as we forgive our debtors. So Jesus said to the same degree that we forgive others, we're asking you, our great Father, to forgive us. So do we want God to forgive 50% of our sins? How about 90% of our sins? Or would we prefer that God forgive all of our sins? Then we need to extend that same courtesy towards our brothers and sisters in Christ who maybe have offended us. Maybe in some way we're different than they are. We have different backgrounds, different personalities, different likes and dislikes, just like a healthy marriage. But you learn to respect each other in spite of those differences. There's a reason when Jesus was asked how many times we have to forgive others. Someone said, hey, about seven times. That's a good number. It sounds like something out of the Bible. Seven times, Jesus? And he said, no, I do not say seven times. I say to you, 70 times seven. And he didn't mean 490 times. He meant unlimited when someone offends you that you just need to forgive them, because that's what we are called to do. Philippians, our last scripture today, chapter 2 and verse 3, our final scripture, Philippians chapter 2 and verse 3.

Philippians chapter 2 and verse 3, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, that means in humility, let each esteem others better than himself. You see, and that's the key to my suggestion to help us in building meaningful guided relationships. If you will treat everyone with more respect than you have for yourself, we'll all get along very well, because we all love ourselves. I don't see anyone purposely hitting their thumb with a hammer or doing anything to hurt ourselves. And if we give other people a tremendous amount of respect and esteem, we're going to have very little conflict. If we treat each other with patience and with dignity, we will have fewer problems. If every one of us respects and admires others more than we admire ourselves, we'll have a lot fewer problems in the congregation. It's only when our ego gets involved do those kinds of situations become a problem. Just a few comments on those who choose to leave. Again, we do make an effort to communicate with those who choose to leave. You're certainly also welcome to send an email, make a phone call, write a letter, and in the past that sometimes has been very helpful. But I have to be honest with you, again, I want to be transparent. And the truth is that 99% of the time people who leave purposely cut off all contact with church members. 99% of the time they make the decision to cut off church members not to respond to text anymore, emails, phone calls. That's what happens the majority of time. And in transparency, again, I'm going to be very honest, a lot of people leave because they have humiliated themselves by something that they said or something that they did. And then their human pride kicks in.

And it's easier to leave and start somewhere else than to deal with their ego and their human pride. Again, I'm just trying to be frank and honest with you on this topic. Human pride becomes a barrier.

Personally, we hold no animosity towards those who have left us. I love those who have left us, and I wish they would come back. I'll tell you what I personally believe. I personally believe that God is working with them, still working with them, just like he worked with the prodigal son from the day he left home and all that he experienced was the day he came back home.

And God worked certain things, too. He got to the point where he said, you know what? I'm getting tired of eating pig food. Even the pigs eat better than I do. I need to go back home. And it's my prayer that many who have left us will understand that we love them and come back home. So we hold no ill will, no malice towards those who have decided that they want to leave. As sad as it is, people come into the church oftentimes for many wrong reasons. Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 that there's only one sure foundation. A lot of people stumble over this, and we try to cover this in detail in our baptism counseling. There's only one sure foundation. That sure foundation is developing a relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul talks about that in 1 Corinthians 3. If we build an inferior foundation of idolizing a man, and I saw tens of thousands do that, and their foundations crumble. If we build an inferior foundation of superior knowledge, and I'm superior because I know truth, and that makes me better than everyone else, that is the wrong foundation. If our foundation is, I want to know these special doctrines, maybe important, but that's the wrong foundation.

If our foundation is, I want a deeper understanding of prophecy. That's what it's all about. It's all about prophecy. That's fine. I enjoy prophecy, too, but that is the wrong foundation. What did Paul say? Prophecies fail. So if our foundation is a prophecy that doesn't happen in the period of time we think it should, our foundation will crumble. If we put our foundation in mere men and idolize them and put them on a pedestal, we'll eventually find out they're human beings, and that foundation will crumble. There is only one foundation, and that is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

A test, I called it a few weeks ago, our personal Red Sea, eventually we are all going to go through a test that is going to see what our foundation is made of. If it's built on a relationship with Jesus Christ, or if it's built on all that other stuff that people get fascinated with, like a hobby and engaged in, that isn't the right foundation. Well, my time is up. Today we have reviewed your answers to the survey question. Please provide one suggestion to make our congregation spiritually stronger. Thank you for your comments. And again, I believe that overall we are a strong spiritual congregation. We can grow. There is room for growth. We can all do better, but this is God's church. But it's not only God's church, it's your congregation. Each and every one of you has a part to play in all of these three areas that we talked about. So I encourage you to serve.

I encourage you to have a healthy fellowship attitude, respect services, have a healthy attitude towards the worship service, and to work very hard at developing the right foundation, meaningful, godly relationships. Let's all work together to make the United Church of God in Greater Cleveland stronger than ever before. Let's work hard to build one another up. Have a wonderful set.