Involve Your Family in a Christ-Centered, Bible-Preaching Church (Part 1)

We are looking at some of the practical principles of what it means to build a biblical marriage. In doing so, tonight we're gonna cover what I believe of all the 26 I'm going to give you, I've already given you some, they're at the top of your page, but of the 26 I'm going to give you totally, I believe that the one this evening is the most important of the 26. And you're gonna think, well, how could that possibly be? How can involving yourself in a Christ-centered Bible teaching church be the most valuable principle for my marriage?

Well, that's what I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna show you that this evening in the scriptures and explain to you why it's so important. Back in 1997, I preached a series of messages on how to choose a church. And then we put it into a little booklet so people could understand what are the things you should look for in choosing a church. In the introduction of this booklet, we say these words, the greatest decision you ever make may very well be the church you decide to attend. Your choice of a church will affect your spiritual health and the health of your children and your children's children.

If you choose wrongly, you will lead another generation and possibly several succeeding generations down the wrong road. I stand by that statement. I've always stood by that statement. For 44 years of pastoral ministry in five different churches, I've stood by that statement. I believe that the church you choose to attend makes all the difference in the world concerning the health of your marriage and your family. MacArthur has written a little book called Your Local Church and Why It Matters. It's brand new, just came out not too long ago.

In his introduction, he says these words that I think are rather significant. He says, what's so important about your local church? In a time when there is more Bible teaching than you could ever consume available through radio, television, and the internet, why should it matter how or where you're taking in God's truth? What's wrong with virtual web-based congregations for the digital age church? Why can't you worship from the sanctuary of your smartphone? The answer is simple. That is not the means God designed and decreed for his people to worship him.

We have not been called to an individualistic religion shaped and defined by personal interests and tastes. The Lord has a much loftier design for his church. And he goes on in this little pamphlet to explain why being a part of a local church is so incredibly important. I read this past week a man by the name of Carl Truman. He's an ecclesiastical historian. He studies the history of the church. This is what he says. The church is losing its young people because the parents never taught their children that church was important.

How true that is? The church is losing its young people because the parents never taught their children the importance of church. For most parents, education is more important than maturation. Getting a proper education in most parents' minds is more important than them growing in their walk with the Lord. That will always be a problem. For some parents, you realize that their children's physicality is more important than their children's spirituality. That too is a problem. For a lot of parents, their children's credentials are more important than their children's character.

That again breeds more and more problems because the emphasis is not on the eternal. The emphasis is on the temporal. And whenever you deemphasize the eternal and overemphasize the temporal, you only get temporal results. You don't get long lasting results. So it's imperative that we understand the importance of the local church, not just any church, but a Christ-centered Bible preaching church. You don't wanna be like the church in Ohio who this past week, this mega church of 34,000 people, this past weekend had what they would call a Super Bowl preaching series in which the Bible was punted from the stage into the audience.

The pastor's wife, who also was a pastor, held the Bible and their husband, the other pastor, drop kicked it into the audience. They had play-by-play announcers, color commentary, a referee, a stage covered in AstroTurf to make it look like the stadium in Las Vegas. The pastor said, after the coin flip, when asked, would you like to kick or receive the Bible? He chose to receive the Bible. In another sequence, the Bible was kicked yet again, this time a shorter distance as the rest of the players on stage, the other pastors, jumped on top of the book as they tackle one another.

Today, the pastor says, you are tuning in for a church service that is unlike any other. No joke. He says, no matter what you believe, you might be a little confused at some point, but I believe you will and can experience God and church in a fresh new way. You might be wondering why on earth would we do something like this? One of the reasons, said the pastor, was because we believe that church can and should be fun. You're going to experience hilarious commercials filled with middle school humor, really great music and some good old fashioned smack talk.

But secondly, we believe that there are spiritual truths and realities that can be drawn out from sports.

And that's what each of our teachers are going to be doing today. 34,000 people have chosen wrongly, not wisely. That's not church. I'm not sure what that is, but it's not church. As God designed the church to be, drop kicking the scriptures into the audience is not the way we are to treat the inspired authoritative word of the living God. The church, as we said on Sunday morning a number of weeks ago, is the priority of the people of God. The church that's committed to the truth of the word of God, that's committed to the worship of God, the honor of God, esteeming God, making sure that those who lead in the church by truth, Proverbs 23, 23, never sell it, never compromise it.

They stick 100% to the truth of God's holy word. So important. Turn back with me if you would in your Bible to the book of Joshua. Joshua chapter 23 and 24, Joshua gives a farewell address. To the leaders in chapter 23 and to the nation in chapter 24 and he wants them to understand the importance of following the word of God. Now remember, God told Moses to choose a successor and Joshua was that successor. Joshua would lead the nation of Israel into the promised land, but God never told Joshua to choose a successor.

Because the elders of Israel and the parents of the children of Israel were to make sure that their children followed the Lord. So in chapter 23, it says in verse number six, be very firm then to keep and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses. Remember now he's speaking to the leaders of Israel. So you may not turn aside from it to the right or to the left. So you will not associate with these nations, these which remain among you, or mention the name of their gods or make anyone swear by them or serve them or bow down to them.

But you are to cling to the Lord your God as you have done to this day. Verse 11, so take diligent heed to yourselves to love the Lord your God. For if you ever go back and cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, know with certainty that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you but you will be a snare and a trap to you and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you.

So he speaks to the leaders and he wants them to understand the importance of leading the nation properly. And then he addresses the nation at large in chapter 24 and talks to them about their responsibility. In the first few verses, he reviews the history of Israel, wants them to understand where they've been and what God has done and how God has blessed them.

And that whole famous verse, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you're going to serve. And three times, Israel says, we are going to serve the Lord. That's in verse number 18, verse number 21, in verse number 24, we will serve the Lord our God. They have made a commitment and Joshua erects a memorial stone to their commitment. And it comes in a book of Judges in the second chapter.

It says in verse number six, when Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land. The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord, which he had done for Israel. Then Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord died. Verse number 10, all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which he had done for Israel.

How did they not know? How did they not know what God had done for Israel? How did they not know the work of the Lord? There arose a whole generation that knew nothing about the Lord. So it says in verse number 11, then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were among them and bowed themselves down to them.

Thus they provoked the Lord to anger. So they forsook the Lord and served Baal and Asherah. The anger of the Lord burned against Israel and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them so they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil as the Lord had spoken and as the Lord had sworn to them. So they were severely distressed. Now, I'd like to say that things would turn for the better when the judges came on the scene and then the kings came on the scene and then the prophets were on the scene.

And you would think that that would lead the nation in the right direction, but they kept going back. They kept forgetting. They kept failing to honor the Lord. They kept failing to teach their children the truth of the Lord. And the Lord came, He lived His life. He died and rose again. And the Lord began to do something He's never done before. He began to build something. He began to build the church. He is currently still building the church. He said, I will build my church and the gates of hell should not prevail against it.

And since the day of Pentecost and Acts chapter two, our Lord has been systematically building the church one living stone at a time. He continues to build the church. And in His grace and His mercy, God has given the church, His people, one another in order that they might not be like His people, Israel. In order they might be able to have what Israel didn't have, Christ dwelling in them, moving in and among them in a way that would allow them to, as sheep in a flock, to be able to have one shepherd.

As a family of God have one heavenly father. For a bunch of living stones making up the building, the household of God, having one cornerstone, one chief stone, the Lord Himself. And the church family is so important that it was our Lord who placed the spiritual family above the physical family. When He said these words in Mark's gospel, the third chapter, verse 31.

Then His mother and His brothers arrived and standing outside, they went, they sent word to Him and called Him. A crowd was sitting around Him. They said to Him, behold, your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you. Answering them, He said, who are my mother and my brothers? Looking out at those who were sitting around Him, He said, behold, my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother. It was our Lord who elevated the spiritual family above His physical family.

The family that will last forever, the eternal family of the living God. And the Lord has placed us in a body, in a flock, in a family that we might be able to nurture and care one for another. And that body becomes such an intricate part to all that we say and all that we do. And yet for a lot of people, they don't understand the importance of the church. So we've said, if you choose wisely, there'll be great delight in your family, in your marriage. Choose wrongly and there's a great potential of devastation and discouragement in your marriage and family.

Choose wisely, why? Because God uses a church in unique and special ways that we can even begin to understand in our lives. This week, and probably next week, I wanna give you 10 principles that will help you understand why this point is so important to your marriage and family. To help you understand how God uses his church, the body of Christ in your life and mine in ways that sometimes we don't even consider. But hopefully you will see this. Now, I haven't lived forever. I've only lived for 65 and almost 66 years.

That's not a very long time. But in 44 years of pastoral ministry, the one thing that always rings true in every counseling situation comes down to where the married couple goes to church and how involved they are in that church and the ministry of that church in their lives. Why? Because God has designed the spiritual family to be of utmost importance in our physical family. So let me show you through the scriptures why it's so important to be a part of a Christ-centered Bible-preaching church.

You just can't go to any church, right? There's thousands of churches all around the country. There's one on every corner in every town. You got to choose the right one. And it's got to be a Bible-preaching church, a Christ-centered church where the word of God is lifted high and held in high esteem. And the leaders of the church understand the holiness of God and represent that holiness and can proclaim the truth of God to the people of God. Where the gospel's not compromised and the truth is always presented with clarity.

So let me give you 10 principles. Each one will be two words. I've already given you the first word in your outline, okay?

The reason you involve yourself in a Christ-centered Bible-preaching church is because number one, it provides identity.

It provides identity. When you become a child of God, when you become one of God's own children, there is something so unique about that that it provides the quintessential identity of the believer. Everyone is looking to be someone, to have some kind of significance, to have some kind of identity. Let me read to you again from what John MacArthur says in this little pamphlet when he says these words.

Our society is suffering from an identity crisis, collectively and individually. People today don't have a strong sense of who they are or what they should pursue. They drift anchorless through life, following the whims and fads of the world instead of accepting responsibility and growing in maturity. Christians don't need to struggle with that kind of identity crisis. We've been redeemed and cleaned by Christ, brought into his family and are being transformed to his likeness. To some degree, it should be difficult to tell where he stops and where you start, so to speak.

As Paul says in Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ. There's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That glorious truth describes the spiritual state of every believer. We are no longer isolated and alone. The Lord bought us with a price and granted us into his family. We bear his name and our transformed lives are a testimony to his love and power. Christ's sacrifice on our behalf establishes our new identity for eternity. We are his church, his body. We are his bride. We are his.

The identity of the believer is wrapped up in the fact that we are children of the living God. In fact, we are sons of the most high God. And everything about who we are is wrapped up in who Christ himself is. So turn with me to your Bible to Galatians 2.20.

Let me explain this verse to you so you understand how Paul understood his identity in Christ. And what the church does is it provides every believer with a clear, solidified identity. You not only identify with a local assembly, but you identify with the people of God, the saints of God, those who are called by God, the assembly of the redeemed, who have been purchased by God and owned by God. So let me tell you about the distinguished life, okay?

Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ. The very first thing he knows about Paul is that he lives the extinguished life.

The extinguished life. I have been crucified with Christ. In other words, he was buried in the likeness of his death and raised in the likeness of his resurrection. That's what we do when we baptize people to help people understand that they've crucified the flesh, right? And Paul says, I am crucified with Christ. So understand this. The Bible says in Luke chapter nine, verse number 23, if any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.

That's what Paul did. That's what we call the extinguished life. Your life doesn't exist anymore. In fact, you are a new creation. There's been such a transformation of your life. You become now a new creation. You're a brand new person. All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become brand spanking new. Why? Because your whole life has been turned around. It's been transformed because now Christ lives in you and everything about your life has changed. And Paul says, you've died to sin.

You've died to self, right? Why? You have crucified the flesh. I am crucified with Christ. I have died to my hopes, my dreams, my aspirations. So I might live according to God's dreams, God's aspirations, because now I serve him. The distinguished life is the extinguished life. And the extinguished life is the relinquished life. For Paul says these words, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That is the relinquished life. It's no longer I who live, but it's Christ who lives in me. That's why Paul was saying in Galatians chapter three, verse number four, when Christ who is our life appears.

In other words, Christ now is our life. Our identity is Christ's identity. That's why we're called Christians, because we're followers of Christ. We're disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only way that happens if there is an extinguished life leading to the relinquished life, which leads to the distinguished life. This is what Paul says. He says, I now live in the flesh. The life that I now live, I live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

The life that I now live is a very distinguished life. Why? Because it's Christ's life. He gave himself up for me. So it's a very dependent life. It's a very devoted life. It's a very directed life. Why? Because Christ lives in him. See, our whole identity is wrapped up in Christ's life. And what the church does is it truly emphasizes the identity of the one who's given his life to Christ. And when we gather together as an assembly of people, as an assembly of redeemed people, as a flock, we gather together as sheep who have one shepherd who follow his direction, who are led by a heavenly father because we're a part of the same body, the same family.

And therefore, we all identify with the fact that Christ is our life. We have all died to self. We've all died to sin. Therefore, our extinguished life now becomes the relinquished life because now Christ lives in me. I give everything to him. And because I give it all to him, now the life which I now live, I live by faith in the son of God, living by what he says, the directions he gives because I want to honor and glorify his name. And the church, the church is the one that provides that identity, the assembly of the redeemed that gathers together.

You know, it's so important to realize that the Bible speaks specifically to who we are. And sometimes I think that we forget this. So let me give it to you really quickly.

I could spend a whole month on this, but I'm not going to do that because the identity of the believer is wrapped up in the fact that you're a soul created in the image of God, right? Genesis chapter one, 26 and 27. We are a soul created in the image of God. But because of sin, our identity is wrapped up in the fact that we are sinners that have been converted by the grace of God. It's God's grace that converts us. Then we become sons that are called by the love of God. First John chapter three, right?

The Bible tells us, oh, what manner of love the father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God, the children of God. And now we're sons of God. And those of us who are sons of God are saints conforming to the son of God. You know, we're called saints. First Corinthians one, one and two.

Paul writes to the church of Corinth and calls them saints by calling. Do you know the Bible never refers to you ever again as a sinner. Once you're a Christian, you're never referred to as a sinner. Do you sin? Yes, but you're not a sinner. That is, you're not characterized as a sinner. You're called forever in the epistles, saints, holy ones. Why? Because of what Christ has done. So we are saints conforming to the son of God. And on top of that, if you're a saint that's been conformed to the son of God, you become then, are you ready for this?

A scroll conveying the work of God. Did you know that? Did you know that your identity is wrapped up in the fact that you are a scroll, a letter being read day in and day out? Second Corinthians chapter three, Paul says, are we beginning to commend ourselves again?

Or do we need as some letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter or scroll written in our hearts, known and read by all men, being manifested that you are a letter of Christ cared for us written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. You are a scroll that conveys to all who read you the work of the living God in your life. The Bible goes on to say that we're students that are consumed with the study of God.

Second Timothy two verse number 15, we're slaves committed to obeying our God. Philippians chapter two, we're singers who celebrate and praise our God. Psalm 40 verses one to three, we are speakers who communicate the word of God. First Peter two, nine and 10.

We are soldiers commissioned in the service of God. Second Timothy two, three and four. We're sojourners confident in the return of God. That's who we are. As believers in Christ and the church provides that identity, it proves the identity of the believer. And you know what? As a family, as husband and wife and your children, the reason you bring them to church is to help them understand who they are in Christ. And you can teach it at home and you can model it at home, but when you bring them to church and they're with other believers and they assemble with other believers and realize that you have people of like precious faith who gather together and people who are committed to the same God you are, serving the same father that you serve, looking to obey his commands and follow him, it begins to build a sense of strength and unity in your church family as well as your personal family.

And your children are searching for identity and they will find it only in Christ because Christ is the one who created you. He knows what's best for you. And therefore, when you follow him, you understand your true identity in the living God. Okay, number two, not only does the church provide identity, but it promotes maturity.

It promotes maturity. In other words, you can't grow spiritually on your own. You can't do that. You're gonna try, but you can't. Why? Because you're members of a body, okay? You're part of a spiritual family. You're just one of many living stones, right? So you can't isolate yourself and grow. You come together and you grow as a unit. You grow as a family. That's why the Bible says these words in Colossians chapter one, Colossians chapter one, verse number 28, Paul says, we proclaim him admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present every man complete in Christ.

In other words, we're concerned about everybody. We're not concerned about certain groups of people. We're concerned about everybody. So people will know that we're gonna teach them, we're gonna admonish them, we're going to instruct them. Why? Because they need to grow to maturity. Have you ever read Paul's prayers? Try to find Paul praying for somebody's, listen carefully, physical health. You don't find it, but he's praying for everybody's spiritual health, right? Now, Paul can heal anybody he wanted to heal because after all, he was an apostle, right?

He could do that, but he wasn't concerned about the physicality of people's needs. He was concerned about the spiritual needs of the head. Why? Because if the spiritual needs are set in order, everything else is set in order, but the spiritual needs need to be set in order. Think about our paralyzed. They're always centered around physical needs. Someone is sick, someone's having an operation, someone needs surgery, someone is hurting. So we pray about all those things. And you know what? There's nothing wrong with that.

We should do that, but don't do it to the exclusion of praying for people's spiritual needs. People need to grow spiritually. When you read Paul's prayers about the different churches that he ministers to, boy, he's concerned about how they grow and in the knowledge of the Lord and how they're able to be patient one with another and love one another and serve one another and understand the love of God in their own lives and be able to experience the power of God in their lives. He's concerned about their spiritual health because that's what matters the most.

You see, spiritual health is eternal elements versus physical health. That's just temporary. And sometimes I think that we overemphasize the physicality in our prayers and de-emphasize the spirituality in our prayers. And we need to reverse that. I'm not saying you shouldn't pray for people's physical needs, you should. We pray one for another. But how we pray for one another is very, very important because Paul was concerned about people's maturity. And so when he wrote letters, he wrote them to churches.

And if he wasn't writing to churches, he was writing to pastors who led churches, right? Timothy and Titus. And when you go beyond that and you read, there are seven letters in the book of Revelation given to seven literal churches. Why? Because it's all about the church and the growth of the church and the people of the church together. And so Paul says these words in the book of Ephesians that are so important because they help us understand the importance of spiritual growth. Paul says in Ephesians chapter four, verse number 11, and he gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ.

God has given gifted men to the church to equip them. Cartar Tidzo. It's a word that deals with the mending of nets and the setting of broken bones. And the only way your life has ever mended together is through pastor teachers who equip the saints for the work of ministry. And the only way that happens is by the preaching and teaching of the word of God. How do we know that? We know that because of what the Bible says in second Timothy three, and you know these verses very well.

All scripture, verse 16, is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, training and righteousness so that the men of God may be adequate, may be, next word, equipped. Same word used in Ephesians four. The inspired word of God is that which mends people's lives together. So God gives gifted men who know how to handle the truth so that when they preach the truth and teach the truth, what you're hearing is taking a fractured life and tying all the loose ends together, taking the broken lives and mending them back together through the preaching and teaching of the word of God.

That's the only thing that does that. And the Bible speaks very clearly about that. So it's the church that promotes maturity in your life and mine. I've told you this story, I don't know how many times over the 30 years I've been your pastor, that the foundation of everything I learned, theologically, I learned in church, not in Bible college and not in seminary. I learned it in church, sitting in row number two because that's where my parents made me sit every week, row number two, taking notes because we are in a Christ-centered Bible-preaching church where the word of God was held in the highest esteem and my parents made me take notes.

So I took notes. And that's where the foundation of all of my theology stems from, the church, not Bible college, not seminary. That might've fine-tuned some things. That might've taken away some of the rough edges of things. But the things I learned about the gospel, the things I learned about eschatology, ecclesiology, pneumatology, harmoniology, all those things all came from the church. As I sat there, took notes and listened, and then my parents would quiz me about those things on the way home.

They'd ask me questions about those things to make sure I was paying attention, not doodling on my page, but actually taking notes. You see, that's where the foundation is. I was saved when I was 14. When I was in junior high school, I was saved. And I began taking notes early on. And the growth of my own spiritual life took root in the church. And that's what happens when the family gathers together and says, we're going to church. We're gonna worship the Lord. We're gonna learn about the Lord. We're gonna grow in our walk with the Lord.

Because you can't grow on an island by yourself. Can you read your word? Yes. Can you pray? Yes. Can you practice spiritual disciplines? Yes, you can, okay? But you can't grow without the body of Christ. The body functions together. And you need gifted men to be able to preach to you the truth of the living God, that you might understand the things that God wants you to know, that you might grow in your walk with the Lord. Paul said, I commend you to God. Acts 21, verse number 32 to the Ephesian elders.

He says, I commend you to God, and the word of His grace, which is able to build you up. You as elders need to understand that I'm commending you to God, the word of His grace, because that's the only thing that's gonna build you. And as you are being built, you then build the church at Ephesus. Build them strong, build them deep. How many times have we quoted Proverbs 24, verses 3 and 4? By wisdom, a house is built. By understanding, it is established. And by knowledge, all the rooms are filled with precious and pleasant riches.

Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. And that's what builds your family. And as you begin to grow in your walk with the Lord, your marriage begins to grow. Your family begins to grow. And the next thing you know, things are working out a lot better for you because you understand what God is doing. And you're growing in your own walk. And as you do, it affects how you live in your family. It was the Lord who said to the nation of Israel, to the prophet Hosea, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

People, families, individuals, they're destroyed because they don't know me. They should know me, but they don't. So God in his grace has built and is building the church. As he builds the church, this conglomerate of assembly of redeemed people who gather together in local congregations, God uses each of them in unique and special ways to infect and to affect your family that you might grow every day in your walk with the Lord. The church provides, improves identity. The church promotes maturity.

Number three, the church prompts accountability. It prompts accountability. Hebrews chapter three, verse number seven, remember those who led you, spoke the word of God to you and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Verse number 17 of Hebrews 13, obey your leaders and submit to them for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief for this would be unprofitable for you. God has designed the church to be a place where there is continual accountability.

In fact, over in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verse number 16, or verse number, excuse me, 15, Paul says this. Now I urge you brethren, you know the household of Stephanas that they were the first fruits of Achaia and that they have devoted themselves for ministry to the saints that you also be in subjection to such men and to everyone who helps in the work and labors.

In other words, subject yourself to the household of Stephanas. Why? Because he is devoted to the work of the ministry. There was a sense of accountability that the church at Corinth had to have with someone who was more mature, who would follow Christ, because Paul would say imitate me as I follow Christ, right? There's a level of accountability that's so important in the church. Listen, accountability is inescapable, it's irrefutable, and it's absolutely invaluable. And the church provides accountability.

That's why God designs leaders of the church that you might follow their leadership because they hold you accountable to the biblical standard. What does the Bible say? And what do we do to follow that? But there's something about the church that prompts accountability. That in large churches, because I was a part of one, 10,000 in Orange County, it's very hard to be accountable in a 10,000 member church. It just really is. Because as a pastor there, I didn't know everybody. I only knew a few people, right?

I'm not even sure I knew 500 people in a church of 10,000. And so you realize that there are a lot of people that are there, and you can easily sneak in and sneak out without anybody ever... Oh, I'm sorry. Did I mess it up? Is that better? Sorry. Sorry. But it's hard to be able to hold people accountable because you don't know who they are. They slip in, they slip out, they slip in and slip out. Church our size, if you're not here, we know. Right? Where were you? We call you up. How come you weren't here?

You sick? You know, do we need to pray for you? What's going on? We know, right? Which is really a good thing because if somebody doesn't call you, you wonder if anybody ever cares, right? But the sense of accountability is so important. Why? Because, you know, listen, if you're a young married couple, you need to find older married couples to follow and to emulate and to sit down with it and say, hey, listen, you know, how did you guys handle this situation? How did you handle that situation? We're having this thing in our marriage and our family.

What would you do? Did you ever find things like this? How did you handle these things? You see, for young families to learn from young families, it doesn't work because you're still going through the rigmarole. They're still going through the daily grind. You need to find the older, more mature people. If you're looking for answers on what to do with your children, right? Don't be asking the person who's going through the same age group you are with their kids. Go to somebody whose kids have grown and are walking with the Lord.

Go to them and ask them. See, what happened in your family? How did you work these things through so we know how to work them through with our family? Why? Because you're to imitate their faith, follow their leadership, understand their lives. We want our children to come to us when they're older and they get married and they have their kids. They're going to come to us and ask us those questions. But the family of God is such a valuable resource for young families, young couples, so that you might understand what to do in your situation.

And there's a realm of accountability that's there that really helps you at a very young age understand how do I handle this situation? What do I do with this problem? Right? Working through those things is so important because God has designed the body of Christ to function that way. And you have leaders in the church, you're to imitate their faith, follow them as they follow Christ. And therefore, you realize that the realm of accountability, we know the Bible says, for one day we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, 2 Corinthians 5.10.

Romans 14.12, one day we will all appear before the Lord God. Matthew chapter 12, by your words you shall be judged and by your words you shall be condemned. We know that, why? Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, so the words become the very clearest indicator of the heart's condition. And therefore, we realize that there's going to be a day of judgment. One day we're all going to be held accountable to God. One day every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

There's a day of reckoning coming, there's a day of accounting that's coming. So what does God do? He puts you in the body of Christ. He puts you in a family of God where there are, Lord willing, in your church, godly men who lead by example, who pray for the flock, who seek to honor the Lord in their overseeing of the flock, that they might hold that flock accountable to the truth of the living God, that they might obey the living God and follow his word. And every one of us needs that. Every one of us needs that.

If you're married and you have situations in your family and your husband goes off and has an affair, what do you do? Where do you go? You go to the elders of your church and you ask for help. You ask for guidance. And I can't begin to tell you over the 30 years that we've been together, that the marriages that have been saved because the wife or the husband came to the elders and said, look, pray for us. Please help us. Will you work this thing through for us? And we sit down with them and work it through.

Sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes the husband or the wife, they don't want to make it work. They're just done. They're already checked out. They're gone, you know? And then we go through church discipline. Why? Because that's what God's called us to do. That's what we do. And so we seek to honor the Lord by holding people accountable to the standard of the scriptures. So we can say, thus saith the Lord, thus we do. And so just to begin our time together, I've only covered three of them. I have seven more.

Hopefully I can cover them all next Wednesday night. But if not, we'll have the next Wednesday night unless the Lord comes back again. But the bottom line is simply this, that why is it so important to be a part of a Christ-centered Bible teaching church? Number one is because it proves and provides the identity of every person in that assembly.

Number two, it promotes maturity. Number three, it prompts accountability. And number four, and this is really good. Not out of time to do it. It produces clarity. It produces clarity. You ever been confused? People get confused all the time, right? I get confused. But the church produces clarity. Listen to Psalm 119. Psalm 119, verse number 130. The unfolding of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple. What a beautiful verse. People get confused. They get confused about Genesis chapter one.

Is it six literal days or is it six ages of time, periods of time, you know? Is it an old earth or is it a young earth? Is there a gap between Genesis 1-1 and Genesis 1-2? A lot of theologians believe in what's called the gap theory. Is that what the Bible teaches? It is. When you come to Genesis chapter six and you ask yourself who are the daughters of men and the sons of God, what does that mean? And why is it God destroyed the earth? And was it a global flood or was it a local flood? How do I know that?

Things we get confused on. We don't know necessarily. And you ask questions concerning eschatology and the end times, you know? What does it mean to be premill or postmill or all mill? What does that mean? People get confused. They get confused about the book of Revelation. Is it symbolic? Is that literal? Was it all fulfilled in 70 AD? Was Matthew 24 fulfilled in 70 AD? Was it not? How do you know that? How do you explain that? People have all kinds of questions and they get confused and they wanna know the answers to those questions.

They wanna know how to deal with their children and how does the book of Proverbs deal with disobedient children? And how do I come to an understanding and how to discipline my children? You see, the church produces clarity on those issues because the church is designed to teach you and admonish you in the truth of the living God. And next week, I'll show you how the church does that. Let me pray with you.

Father, thank you, Lord, for tonight and a chance to be together in the things you teach us. For truly, Lord, you are a great God. And my prayer, Father, is that every one of us would realize the importance of the church, how it plays an integral part in all of our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.