What Is The Church? | I Love My Church - Week 2 | Pastor Mike Signorelli
V1 Church
What Is The Church? | I Love My Church - Week 2 | Pastor Mike Signorelli
(upbeat music) So I'm gonna attempt in the next several minutes to peel back all of the layers of culture, all of the layers of the American church experience that you've had, or if you're watching online from another country, peel back those layers, and we're gonna go all the way back 2,000 years to the inception of the church, and I'm going to try to establish what is the church. So I want you to get your notebooks out, or if you have a device and you wanna take notes, turn off your notifications, and let's just immediately jump in. But do I have your commitment to go all the way through this teaching to the very end with me? Come on. So, what is the church? Is the church a building? Because according to most Christians, we talk like it is. So we say, hey, would you come to church with me? Or let's go to church. And so with that kind of language, it would insinuate that church is in fact a building, but we know, according to the scriptures, that it's not a building. So what is church? Now write this down, I'm gonna give you a definition, and this is the biblical definition. So you're going to have to unlearn so that you can learn according to the word of God today. That's why I think this is one of the most important messages I've ever preached. Write this down, church is the organized gathering of believers with the biblical prescription for the structure instituted by Jesus Christ. That is what church really is. Now, church is the organized gathering of believers with the biblical prescription for the structure instituted by Jesus Christ. Now let's look at our first scripture. You can write this reference down. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25, not neglecting. Everybody say that phrase with me, not neglecting. Come on, you sound real good in New York City, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some. So in other words, already in the very early church, some had made a habit of not gathering together anymore. And the apostle is saying, don't neglect to meet together, but encouraging one another, and all the more, everybody, let's say that phrase together, all the more, come on, you sounded great in Miami, all the more as you see the day drawing near. This is the return of Jesus Christ. So as you get closer to Jesus Christ returning, you should gather together more and more. So we do know, I'm gonna go back to my definition, church is the organized gathering. So we need to make sure we understand this. It's the organized gathering of believers with the biblical prescription for the structure that was instituted by Jesus Christ. Now, I know it's really popular, and I wanna say this in love, very popular to say something like, well, you know, we're all the church. No, we're all the body of Christ. But the church is the organized gathering that is structured with the structure that Jesus Christ prescribed. So we're all the body of Christ, but we must gather, but when we gather, we can't gather however we want. We have to gather with the structure that we see set in motion by Jesus Christ. And so that is why having a Bible study at home, although it may be beneficial, that's not church. That is why just watching from home right now, and if all you do is watch this and you turn it off, that's not church. In one setting, that's a Bible study. If you just watch this to receive a sermon, then that's preaching. But church, I'm gonna keep going back to it. It's the organized gathering of believers with the biblical prescription for the structure that was instituted by Jesus Christ. Okay, we're only about six minutes in. Now, do you see why I challenged you to stay all the way till the end? This is very important, very important, but you've got to stay with me. Now, the structure of the gathering. Now, remember, I'm gonna peel back all the layers of your cultural experience with church, and we're just gonna use the Bible as the basis for what church is. So this is gonna be hard for some of us because we have years and years and years of programming, of previous church experiences, and some of them lined up with scripture, and some of them didn't. And so we're gonna go back and we're gonna look at scripture. So write these down. I'm gonna give you the four things that apostles do to establish church. Now, what are apostles? Apostles are sent ones. So Jesus made disciples. And then those disciples became apostles. After Christ ascended to heaven, you see in Acts chapter two, they received the Holy Spirit to dwell inside of them, and they became apostles. And all believers have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit after Acts two, that moment in the upper room. And so number one, these apostles, this is what they did. Now, I do believe that there are men that function in today in an apostolic manner, meaning that that gift is still operating in the earth. And you can identify men by these four things that are operating in an apostolic gift. But this is the structure. This is how from the ground up, we're gonna build a church together in this teaching. Number one, come on, are you right notes? Are you following me? Apostles break territory and establish new churches in regions. So the first thing they do is they're the sent ones, and they go into a territory, and they break that territory open, and then they establish new churches, new gatherings in regions. Number two, apostles, in that new gathering, they begin to train and disciple those with a grace for local leadership. So apostles have the ability to look at that gathering and see gifting, and they start to see how God has graced people to do different functions, and they identify that ability, and then they begin to nurture it and train it, okay? So number three, apostles observe the behaviors, the character or integrity of leadership candidates, and they apply necessary correction and encouragement. So this apostolic leader is nurturing and training these leadership candidates and observing their behaviors, and they're actually dealing with character and integrity issues, and they're applying correction and encouragement so that they can grow in their gifting, in their character, in their behaviors, and become more of a reflection of Christ. And then number four, apostles, when the time is right, they move on to break more territory in another region, and then they designate those disciples that they made locally as elders in the previous region. So that's number four, apostles, when the time is right, they move on to break open another territory and start another congregation, and then they designate those previous disciples, and they raise them up and officially install them as eldership in that region, okay? So now let's begin to explain this biblically. I'm gonna give you some verses. Let's start with the first one. Apostles break territory and establish new churches in regions. In Acts chapter 13, verses two through four, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I've called them, then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them, and they sent them off. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to another region in Cyprus. What does this mean? They were the sent ones. They were sent by the Holy Spirit, but they were also sent by a council of other apostolic leaders into this new region. That's very, very important. They didn't come up with the idea. They didn't just do it on their own. They were sent, okay? They were sent by the Holy Spirit, and they were sent by other apostolic leaders, okay? Now let's talk about apostles' train and disciple local leaders. Not apostles don't make followers, apostles make leaders, okay? In second Timothy chapter two, verse two, it says, what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust this to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. So this is what Paul was saying to Timothy is, everything I've taught you, now I want you to entrust it with faithful men who will be able to teach it to others who will then probably raise up other men because it's leaders making leaders who make leaders. That is the heart of the kingdom. We don't make audiences. We make an army. We don't make audiences. We don't make followers. We make leaders. Leaders that make leaders that make leaders. In Titus chapter one, verse five, it says, this is why I left you in Crete so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. Now we gotta stop there because, and I'm gonna try to contain myself because I feel that sass coming out of me right now and I'm trying to stay in a teacher, but this is the word of God. Can we all agree across every V one location in every home that the word of God is the standard by which we make every decision that we're supposed to make? What Paul was saying is this is why I left you. So first of all, he's going to another territory to break it open, which is what apostles do. And he says, so that you might put what remained into order. So apostles always desire that local gatherings are put in order. It cannot be chaos. There has to be designated positions and there has to be order to it. And then it says, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. So apostles give directions. They give explicit directions. And then the people locally that are in leadership have to receive those directions and actually carry them out. In Acts chapter 11, verse 25 and 26, it says, then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year, they met with the church and taught a great many people and in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians. So if you call yourself a Christian, this is the very first mention of a Christian and it's in Antioch. But you see that Barnabas and Paul were breaking that territory open and it wasn't just the teaching, but it was the installation of a structure that has appointed elders and leaders that are all working in the gifts that God has given them. And there is a structure of hierarchy. Hierarchy means there are people over people, over people. And this is the church. It's not just a gathering, it's an organized gathering, okay? Now let's continue. Apostles observe and correct leadership candidates. Now let's go to 1 Timothy chapter three, verses one through seven. The saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer. So there are some of you at our locations right now that are aspiring that you would become an overseer. See that, that's the word hierarchy. That means they see over, they're here looking down. That's what, you know, that's what it means. But it says, okay, if you aspire for that, that's okay, that maybe that's a godly desire that you wanna be in leadership, but here's the qualifications. You must be the husband of one wife. Sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard. Hello, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome. You can't be fighting everybody verbally all the time. Not covetousness, you can't be desiring what other people have all the time. He must manage his own household well with all dignity keeping his children submissive, okay? This is the Bible for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God's church? Come on, this is the basics, this is the basics. And when you understand the structure, the more you read the actual Bible, the less you just wanna hear a good sermon. Because anybody can preach something that sounds good, but in order to be an overseer who also teaches, it's very clear and it says this in 1 Timothy, if you can't run and manage your own household, how much more can you even manage the house of God, it's not possible, okay? Are you with me? Remember I said, make a commitment to stay all the way through this message because this is the real church, which is in many ways very different than what we inherited in our own cultural context. Now let's move on to apostles, designate disciples as elders. In Acts chapter 14 verse 23, write these notes down, and when they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. In Titus chapter one, verse five, this is why I left you in Crete so that you might put what remained into order, remember this verse, come on, and appoint elders, and then 1 Timothy chapter four, verse 14, do not neglect the gift that you have, which was given to you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Now, for those of you watching at home or for those of you visiting, and maybe you just haven't ever joined a church because you've said the excuse of, well, we're all the church, we're all the church. No, it's starting to become more and more clear that you cannot access the fullness of what God has for you on your own. The number one is too small a number to accomplish the perfect will of the Father. We need others, but Pastor Mike, I've been hurt by the church. No, you have not been hurt by the church. You were hurt by a few people that were a part of the church, okay? And so don't just in the same way when I was a teenager. I actually got jumped by a group of guys from another race. I did not get beat up by entire race. I got beat up by a few guys from another race, but it would not give me license to be racist. Just like you being hurt by a couple of church people would not give you license to be churches. It's churchism, just like it's racism. It's like the church is God's plan through Jesus Christ and he's called you to this gathering and the structure. And for all of our human faults and failures, don't you think that God made provision for it when he was on the cross through Jesus. Don't you think he already factored in? Your pastor who is gonna sin. Don't you think he already factored in? The person sitting in the aisle that gossiped about you. He already knew we were gonna lack and that we were gonna actually operate in some measure of dysfunction, but he still said, I want you to gather. And as the time of Christ's return draws near, you should come together more frequently. And then I've given you leaders and I've given gifts as unto you for this thing called the church. And so locally elders, now we're gonna go back to the notes. Locally elders in conjunction with the apostle, they teach and train the flock. So sometimes the apostle is giving a word and then sometimes the elder is giving a word, but they're doing that in conjunction. And you see Paul working with Timothy. You see Barnabas working with Paul. It's an apostle, apostle, an apostle and an overseer. These are all cooperating together in unity. Number two, elders bring correction. They bring rebuke and they bring discipline to the local flock. They make observations and they say, okay, I was trained by the elder who established this work. And I remember when he was correcting me and now I see something in you and I have to correct you and it goes down the line. How many of you are thankful for godly discipline that works real true righteousness in our lives? And number three, elders raise up and train new leaders for the various functions of the flock. Okay, so I wanna break this down for you. Elders with apostles teach and train the flock. Now remember, if right now you're probably, I don't know if I understand this sermon. What did I get myself into? A lot of the way that I'm talking right now is probably foreign because we have heard pastors and these different words and we come in and we have the light show and we have the worship experience with the music, but much more of the scriptures that we have are more concerned with the structure than they are the actual menu of things that happen when you're gathering. And I think that the church recently has really concerned ourselves more with the church itinerary of events that happens when we're in our service than the structure, but mainly we have the structure in the scriptures and I think that's God's way of saying leadership over you is more important than the worship song. The leadership that I'm gonna raise up and install and the structure is more important than the chill bumps you're gonna experience when your favorite song comes on or the prophecy that you guys are prophesying to each other. That's not more important than the structure 'cause I'm gonna spend more time trying to give you the structure because the structure is what's gonna bring health. Oh, come on. So Acts chapter 20, verse 28. Pay careful attention to yourselves and all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Wait back up. I thought that some human decided to make another human a leader. No, no, no, it's not what it says. It says pay very close attention to yourselves into all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. I wanna stop for a moment. When you read the scriptures and many of you haven't yet and that's okay, and I wanna encourage you to begin to read the Bible for yourself. The problem we have today is too many Christians scroll but never read the scroll. And you spend more time scrolling than you do in the scroll. And the problem with that is when you're biblically illiterate, then you're gonna create opinions that are not based on the standard of God, but rather opinions that are based on some amalgamation of a few scriptures you know out of context as well as your own American or whatever country context. And you're not able to properly judge. And so the Bible says don't judge, it just says judge not lest ye be judged. So what the Bible's really saying is hey, be careful when you pass a judgment because you will actually reap judgment. And so our judgment must be predicated not just even on the Bible, but the Bible rightly divided. That is so important. And so authority according to God actually comes from God. And even an evil ruler, the Bible teaches was sovereignly allowed to come into leadership because in some mysterious way, God was gonna use that to work everything out for his chosen people. And that's why we're never given license and scripture to disobey and disregard leadership because we believe that ultimately God is in charge and that he will take that situation and work it out for our good if we remain humble and if we remain submitted. And this isn't popular teaching, it's actually counter-cultural teaching, but it's biblical teaching. And Acts chapter 20 verse 28 says, hey, the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God which he obtained with his own blood, okay? And I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not spearing the flock and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things. And it says to draw away the disciples after them, therefore be alert, remembering that for three years, I did not cease night or day to admonish every one of you with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. So what is this apostle saying? Saying, hey, I admonished you with tears. I cried for your marriage even when you wanted to give up on it. I cried for your purity even when you wanted to retreat back into sexual immorality. I admonished you with tears. I loved you like your own parents maybe didn't love you because you were neglected by them, but I showed up and I was present in your life. And listen, there are these wolves that are gonna come and try to draw you away from this structured gathering. And those wolves, the spirit of the wolf is still alive today. And it's seducing people out of the local gathering. It's seducing people out of the covering. It's seducing people to leave the structure that God has set up and you see it today. First Timothy chapter four, verse 13, until I come devote yourself to the public reading of scripture to exhortation to teaching. Let's stop there. This is a very important lesson. First Timothy chapter four, verse 13 says, until I come, so in other words, there was an apostle that broke that territory and left to go start another congregation in another territory, but he was gonna come back. And he said, hey, until I come back, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture to exhortation to teaching. But this is very important because teaching is separated from reading the scripture in this verse. Look at it, just look at it. It says, devote yourself to reading of the scripture to exhortation to teaching. This is very important. If we're gonna be biblical based Christians, we have to separate reading the scriptures from teaching. And I'm gonna go there in a few moments, so stay with me. But so many of us have assumed the responsibility for interpreting the scriptures and we attend a church based on whether we agree with the teacher or not, even though you're unqualified to be a teacher. As a Christian, you must read the scriptures, but that doesn't necessarily license you to teach them or even that your interpretation should be trusted by yourself. And we're gonna look at that here in a little while. Okay, now elders, they bring correction, rebuke and discipline. Matthew chapter 18, verse 15. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him. So in other words, he's just saying, hey, in this local gathering that's structured, here's what you do. If your brother sins against you, so somebody in the congregation, it's gonna happen, just go and tell him what he did between you and him alone. Everybody say alone, this is wisdom. It doesn't say go tell your friend and then get their advice on it and then go to that person with you and your friend's advice because what happens is the more you spread that situation, the more people have to get involved to rectify it. So if that person sins against you, then you go directly to that person and it's almost like saying, hey, if you feel like you were infected by that person's disease, don't go take those germs somewhere else to get an evaluation because in getting the evaluation, you're gonna spread the germs and the disease, just go back to the person and deal with it. And some of you have never fulfilled Matthew 18 because you don't like confrontation. And so you'd rather get comforted by your friend than confront your brother. And in that sense, the body of Christ gets dysfunctional, but this is just a quick example of how eldership, even in the beginning, was actually installing discipline and rebuke and correction because leaders will take you somewhere you wouldn't go on your own. The definition of leadership is I'm going to take you somewhere you wouldn't go without me. In other words, hey, you would talk about this with all your friends and never go to the person who hurt you. But I'm your leader and I'm gonna make you go to them. I'm gonna take you somewhere you never would've went on your own. That's healthy. This is why we need organized structures, not just a gathering, okay? Now, elders raise up and train new leaders. In second, let me give you another one. In Acts chapter 13, verse one through three, are you all catching these notes? Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who is also called Niger, Lucius, and they're actually naming them by name. And then let me skip down. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit set apart Barnabas and Saul. So in Acts chapter 13, this is the original template for the church. It says, now they were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers. It's not normal. Look at me in my eyes, I'll tell you this, 'cause I'm trying to remember I said, I'm gonna peel back all these layers of culture and we're gonna actually be like, whoa, this is what church was supposed to be. I think we got it wrong. I think we made it into our own thing based on our own preferences. It's not normal to only have a pastor. It's not normal, that's not normal. But why is that normal for most of us where our church only had a pastor? Well, because what we had was cultural Christianity, not biblical Christianity. It says in Acts chapter 13, it says, now there were those in the church of Antioch prophets and teachers. So who's the teacher? Who's the prophet? Who's the preacher? Who's the pastor? Who's the apostle? We must go back to the original design because that's the design that functions in full power. Okay, now we're gonna do something. I'm gonna break down something then we're gonna go to something else and we're gonna be done. And remember, you committed to staying all the way through and hopefully right now you're feeling the weight of this word. There are five ministry gifts that are listed in Scripture that work together to provide care development and nurturing for this church. The gathering, the structured gathering. Apostles, which we talked about, preachers, teachers, evangelists and shepherds, AKA pastors. These five ministry gifts are absolutely essential. Some individuals can actually possess multiple of these gifts. So for example, there are some apostles that can also prophesy. There are some preachers that can also shepherd. There are some teachers that can also evangelize as evangelists and there can be a gift mixing together. Now that we've established that, a healthy church, show me the prophets, show me the teachers, show me the evangelists, show me the apostolic leaders. Now I'm not saying that we all put these titles on our business card and I'm not saying that we even aspire to a title, but I'm talking about the function. And when you're functioning in this, there's health. When you're functioning in this, there's health. I think one of the reasons why we're seeing a rapid diminishing in attendance in the local church in America is because we burden one man with all of these gifts. And in their deficiencies, they've been overwhelmed and they've just been eaten alive by people and I believe we just share the burden of ministry. And I believe that the gifts need to be activated in others. Now, I want us to deal with this last portion. This is the last section of this teaching. The authority of the scriptures. First Timothy chapter four, verse 13 through 16 says, "Until I come to vote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching, do not neglect the gift that you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you, practice these things, immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress." So every single one of you in Miami and Long Island, New York City, New Jersey, Indiana, everyone watching at home that considers himself a member of this structured gathering we have called V1 Church, there should be people prophesying over you, a council of elders leading you, people laying hands on you and distributing gifts to you. You should be immersing yourself in these gifts. You should be practicing using your gift. And then there should be progress that everybody can see. That is health. And then it says persist in this for by doing so, you will save both yourself and you will save your hearers. You should be on the dream team. You should be serving at every location to use the gift. And you should be going from glory to glory in the higher realms of authority as you are faithful in what God's called you to do. But the problem is this and the Lord gave me this, it's a deep root that needs to be plucked out of many of us. The authority of biblical interpretation. One of the biggest perversions that's ever happened is this belief that you are authoritative enough to properly interpret the scriptures. Why do I say that? And I'm gonna show you history. We're gonna go back from 100 to 500 AD all the way to 2024. And what I wanna show you is, yes, you should read the Bible. Yes, you should get better at the skills of interpreting the scriptures. But there's something fatally flawed with millions of Christians thinking that their opinion matters. Because then what happens is you attend a local church or a local gathering and you wait to hear something you don't agree with and then you leave and you say, well, I don't go to that church 'cause I don't agree with that. As if you are the authority on scriptural interpretation. Historically, now I know I just offended some people, just stay with me. Remember you committed to stay all the way through the end here. Historically, there was a level of humility in your average Christian that would say I read my Bible but I have not been designated in authority by the Holy Spirit and by local eldership. Therefore, I don't know if this interpretation is right. So I have to go to church on Sunday to hear from my pastor so that they can give me the proper interpretation. And if I was wrong, I was wrong and I change it. And if I was right, then praise God, I'm getting better at interpretation. And there was an authority in the house. There was a structure in the house. Now, let's go through the history. I'm gonna take you on a brief history journey. The early church, which was 100 to 500 AD, it's called the apostolic era. And what you had was the apostles and the disciples of Jesus, they interpreted scripture. And the early church fathers within that first 500 years, they interpreted scripture and they started establishing tradition based on those interpretations. Then we go into the medieval period, the Middle Ages, from 500 to 1500 AD. And that's when you have the emergence of the Catholic church, which is clergy and they hold the authority for interpretation. And scripture is primarily in this era in Latin, which limited the access to it. And church councils guided the interpretation. But then in 1517 to 1648, we have what's called the Reformation. Martin Luther challenged Catholic authority and starts to emphasize individual study. And then that's what you call the Protestant Reformation begins to happen. And the scriptures are now translated into the different vernacular languages. So it's not just in Latin. And so you have solo scriptura, which is scripture alone is emphasized. Then you have the post-Reformation, which is 1648 to 1800 AD. This is the rise of denominations. So there's all these different interpretations. And you see denominations start to be established. And many of you, if you were raised in church and you were not a Catholic, and you were on the Protestant side, you were probably within a denomination that began to emerge around this time. We also have the Enlightenment. Reason and science influenced the interpretation. But, Pietism starts taking off, which is this philosophical view that emphasizes personal experience in individual Bible interpretation. So that thought didn't always exist in the church. It started really around 1648 to the 1800s, this idea of individual interpretation. Now that brings us to the modern era. 1800 to 2000s. You have this historical critical method, which is this academic approach to Bible study starts to emerge. Then you have liberal theology that starts to emerge, which is questioning traditional authority. Then you have the evangelical movement that emphasizes the individual conversion experience. This is Billy Graham going from stadium to stadium, saying you must make a personal decision to serve and follow Jesus Christ as individual, which included individual Bible study. And these big stadium events in the evangelical movement was not always connected directly to a local church experience. And then that brings us to the contemporary era of 2000 to present, which is globalization. It's the internet. And this is all these diverse interpretations and perspectives all clashing right now. The digital age, access to multiple translations and resources to the individual without going to seminary training, without going through the eldership of a local church. There's no apprenticeship happening anymore. It's all decentralized because we all have free access to this information and there's a shift to this hyper individual reading and interpretation. And there's these key milestones along the way. So from 1526, you have Tyndale's English Bible translation. Then in 1582, you have the Catholic response to that. Then in 1611, you have the King James Version. Then in the 18th century, you have the rise of Sunday school and Bible studies. Then in the 20th century, you have the emergence of evangelical and even the charismatic movement, which we have some roots in. And then there's this massive shift to individual reading and interpretation. Pre-reformation was clergy dominated interpretation. Hey, I gotta go to church so I can hear what I'm really supposed to believe about what the text says. All the way to the 20th century, which is I'm leaving this church because I don't agree with what that guy said. Even though I have no training other than a YouTube university degree. Even though I just looked it up online and decided what I believe from my own perspective. Why is this dangerous? We are living in one of the most deceptive times ever in the body of Christ. And it's now no longer external deception, it's self-deception. I wanna believe that the Bible says this because it accommodates my presupposition and the totality of all my experiences. And if anyone says anything different, I'm leaving and I'm not going to be in relationship with them. But that's why I had to take us back. Back to the beginning. That's why I spent the last 35 minutes trying to help you understand what it was in the beginning from Jesus Christ who looked at Peter and said, upon this rock, I will establish my church and not even the gates of hell will prevail against it. And this is why we've got to say, well, what was he talking about? What was he establishing? He was establishing a gathering with a structure and then men that were actually trained by apostles to become overseers and elders that then begin to raise up other leaders. And we have this rich heritage of apprenticeship, accountability, rebuke and correction and encouragement. And that is what I'm fighting for in our generation. Now I'm gonna end by giving you 10 powerful things that a true church provides. And I'm asking you, would you step out of all of your 21st century cultural Christian experiences into the true gathering now? Would you be willing to say, Lord, take me back to the original design? Take me back to the way things were supposed to be. I wanna humble myself and I wanna receive 'cause this is what will happen. There's 10 powerful things that the true church provides. Number one, spiritual guidance and teaching. Matthew 28, 19 and 20 Ephesians chapter four, verse 11 and 12, you get spiritual guidance, not someone's opinion from their home Bible study, not someone's opinion from their denomination, that's only a couple hundred years old, not someone's opinion from something they saw on a YouTube video, you get true spiritual guidance led by the Holy Spirit and sound teaching, rightfully dividing the word of God. Number two, you get true belonging. You cannot get true belonging at a Christian event, a Christian event can give you inspiration, but it cannot give you true belonging. Belonging happens when you sit in that seat and you're fatherless and another man that's older and the faith comes to you and puts his arm around you and says you may have been abandoned by your biological father, but I'm gonna love you with the love of the heavenly father because this is not a Christian event, this is the church and I am an extension of the heart of Abba Father for you and I'm telling you it's been a healing that's happened for me in the true church, you get true belonging and something in your soul says I don't belong anywhere else. I'm an alien outside of, but when I come together in this gathering I feel like I'm sane again and y'all know what I'm talking about, we gather together on Sundays and there's something inside of you that says, oh, for my weary soul because I was working with all of these people who were spiritually dead all week long, but when I came together with those who had the Holy Spirit dwelling on the inside of them, I just felt like I finally belonged. Number three, you get powerful worship and praise. This is Psalm 95 one through seven, but it's also John chapter four verse 23. I will tell you this, there ain't no worship like worship in the house of God. You know why? Because you're worshiping with those that are oaks of righteousness who get rooted in the house of God and say I'm not going anywhere, I'm not gonna be flaky, I'm not gonna be one of those that just runs away, I'm rooting myself in this house and just like tree branches that extend towards the sun, we actually lift our hands and extend them towards the sun Jesus and we are oaks of righteousness and the most powerful worship experience you'll ever have will happen in the house of God as the gathering, the structured gathering and you know what? You don't just see a revelation of Jesus, but you see Jesus, thank you for the gift of these leaders that you've given me that are gonna watch over and take care for my soul. And here's what you have. Number four, you have prayer support and intercession. James chapter five says, are there any sick among you? Come to the local gathering that's structured, come to the church and have the elders anoint you with oil and then you will experience healing. How do you do that if you don't have a church? You see, what God was saying is I've actually created a conduit for electricity to flow. I've actually caused this way that you can receive a greater measure of healing power. You've got to go to the local church and have the elders anoint you with oil and you receive intercession, Acts chapter two, verse 42. You know that the other people in the church are praying for you. How many of you are thankful for the prayers of people in this church who've called you up and said the Holy Spirit put you on my heart, who've actually texted you and said, I don't know why, but I keep thinking about you. You get that in the local church. Here's what else you get. Number six, you get an opportunity to serve and outreach to the city. And your sanity is in your serving. It's not strange to me that this generation is dealing with high levels of anxiety and we're medicated because we're obsessed with self. And God knew in his divine wisdom that he would give us the local church and when we serve others, we break the addiction to self and then anxiety begins to melt away and outreach and there's an opportunity to serve. Number seven, in the true church, you get leadership and you get pastoral care. I am thankful for pastors. I am thankful for the pastors of our church. I give honor from this stage to the pastors and the shepherds of this church. Some of you have family members that wouldn't help you. People with your genetic lineage who wouldn't help you, but then there's shepherds with your spiritual lineage who say, I'll be there in the midnight hour. I'll come to you when you're in the hospital. I'll visit you. I am thankful for the shepherds and the pastoral care of this house for those who have led us. And this is what you get number eight, forgiveness and restoration. See, when I went through the history, when you're in a stadium event and Billy Graham was saying, repent for your sins and accept Christ, that's only one part. The scriptures also say, confess your sins one to another that you would be healed. So in the evangelical movement, you got confession to God, but you didn't necessarily get confession to others. We just had a men's gathering on Zoom for the Northeast and we had so many men there and they begin to confess their sins one to another and my campus pastors were there for it. You know what they said? They said, Pastor Mike, thank you for setting this structure up because I've never seen men get this vulnerable before. See, what happens is when you confess your sins to God, you receive salvation. But when you confess your sins to others within the community of the church, you get healing. And some of you have salvation, but not healing. And whom the sun sets free is free indeed, but how you access the fullness of his freedom is by accessing the fullness of his structure. You have to step into all that he has for you and you've got to immerse yourself in the house of God. Okay, number nine, you receive equipping for ministry and evangelism, Ephesians 4.11 and 2 Timothy 2. Let me just tell you, homie. If you think that coming to church is sipping on your coffee and eating that New York bagel and hearing me preach and going back home, I'm telling you, you have received a false version of what church is. You are here because you're a minister. I'm a minister. Everybody's listening to me as a minister. What do you mean, Pastor Mike? I'm not a minister. Yes, you are. The expectation of the church is that you pray for somebody. My daughter, Bella, was in Walmart. And can I just tell you, we don't have Walmart to New York City, but we do in Northwest Indiana. And you know, I'll tell you, every time we come back to Indiana, my family makes a hillbilly pilgrimage back to Walmart. And my daughter was in Walmart and she overheard a young woman talking about how much anxiety she has and she was saying this to her friend. And Bella said, I'm not gonna wait for her to come to the church because I am the church, the temple of the Holy Spirit. And I can have church right here in this Walmart. And my 17 year old walked over to her and said, I know the solution for your anxiety. It's Jesus Christ and I wanna pray for you right now. And as we begin to pray, as she begin to pray, that girl got emotional and the Holy Spirit met her right there. I'm telling you, my daughter is equipped for ministry and it's not about having a title. We all have the same title. We're a child of God. And the children of God disperse his power everywhere they go. Can somebody shout amen? Number 10, I'm done. The true church gives you hope and encouragement in times of need. They say that in the next two years, there's only gonna be 750 churches in America over 2,000 members. That's the newest statistic that just dropped. They estimate just under 800 churches in all of America. By 2026, we'll have over 2,000 members in regular weekly gathering. And I will tell you, that is the plot and the ploy of Satan himself. Because only the true church can offer hope and encouragement and perilous times of need. And I'm telling you, I'm here. The reason why I show up is not because I'm your lead pastor. The reason why I show up is because I believe the word of God. I love my church is not just a phrase that we say. It's the phrase that Jesus Christ said without stretch arms being nailed to a wooden cross. He was saying, it's by my blood that I purchased you. I love my church. It's Jesus Christ who said it. And so for every single one of you that's felt embarrassed to say, I love my church because you don't want people to think you're fanatical and you don't want people to think that you're drinking the bike signorelli coolator. You join the V one church call. Let me just tell you the phrase, I love my church. I waited a couple of weeks to flip it on you. It's not just a phrase that we say. It's a phrase that Jesus said first. Jesus said, I love my church while you are yet sinners. I died for you. I love my church and all I'm doing when we do this series, I love my church is I'm not being a voice. I'm being an echo of the voice of Jesus Christ because he loves the church. I love my church. I don't care what they think about it on Long Island. I don't care if nobody goes to church in New York City. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Somebody shout with me. I love my church. Now come on, jump up to your feet and let's pray this thing out. Let's lift our hands like oaks of righteousness. Come on and let's say this together with me. Come on everybody, get up on your feet and let's shout this out from the rooftops. Say it with me, heavenly Father. I thank you for the church. I thank you for leaders. I thank you for discipleship. Make me a reflection of Jesus. I thank you for your church. Now say this with me everybody. I love my church in Jesus name. Somebody shout, amen, amen, amen. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)