Good Soil in the Early Church

Good Soil in the Early Church

Verse number 41, that we see, then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls. The church was growing, right? In that day, there was a responsiveness to the preaching of the word, and we see that that body of believers, certainly we see the day of Pentecost, we see the response, the saving of souls, the adding of those souls to the church, and then they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. I alluded to that this morning. And fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. I believe in the Sunday school hour, I referred to that verse right there. And verse 43, and fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles, and all that believed were together, and had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and… And breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

There's certainly more characteristics about this early church than we simply read in these verses. We read things like… Even when they were threatened, the apostles would say, We ought to obey God rather than men. We're not… Kind of like the three Hebrew children in Babylon said, We're not careful to answer this matter, King. We're going to serve God. We're going to do what's right in God's sight. They were testifying with boldness, weren't they? They were testifying with boldness. And they were… And when they were cast in prison, when they were brought… For counsels, they cried out to God, Strengthen us again, so we can do this again. So that we can embolden your servants, empower us to make the stand that we need to take. To have the spiritual courage to speak the truth, to do what's right, even if it's not well accepted. Of course, it wasn't well accepted by the religious leaders of their day, but yet we see that there were souls that did respond well to that.

You know, it's often said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. The more Christians are persecuted and even die for their faith, it's almost as if, spiritually speaking, their blood is… Fertilizing the ground, almost. It's as that happens, God really begins to move in hearts, and even more were saved as we see the church going on. But we see the spirit of that church. It was not an organization in that day. It was not a man-centered organization. It was a God-honoring organism, we might call it. It's a church, but it was alive. We see there was a responsiveness and a responsibility and being answerable to the head, the Lord Jesus Christ. We see sincerity. We see clear conscience. We see Holy Spirit empowerment. We see unity and fellowship. We see boldness, not in and of themselves. These same people were puny before Pentecost, but we see an emboldening. We see an emboldening of hearts to do what is right in the sight of God and to encourage one another and to build up one another and to edify.

The early church, I think about that church, but I think about our lives. As we saw this morning, the key is, is my heart right with God? If my heart's right with God, then, and only then, can I be used by Him? Then and only then can I be the brother in Christ, the pastor, the father, the husband. And then and only then can I do those things which are pleasing in His sight. But the ground has got to be right. You know, like I said earlier, you know, in our garden, if the ground's not right, you can just kiss it goodbye as far as any meaningful fruit coming. From that, those plants. Those are the same plants I planted in that one area that I tried them in. I really didn't spend much time amending the soil just a little bit. And I just, I had to hurry up and throw them in the ground and I really wasn't expecting much and I didn't get, and we're not getting much from those particular plants. It's okay. But, but, compare that to plants that are 10 feet that way that are growing lydia. Lydia has some plants. There's lydia. Lydia's got some tomato plants that are producing very well. Well, they're actually, those aren't actually in the ground, are they, Lydia? They're in a container. But they're doing very well because of the type of soil that's in them.

We think about the early church. And what is a church? A church is a body of born-again believers, right? It's a body of believers. And we all have our soil, don't we? We all have our soil. You know, the thing is, we saw this morning, good ground is having heard the word, we, in a good and honest heart toward God, having heard that word, we keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. Now, we're members one of another, aren't we? We're members one of another of the same spiritual body. And so, as members one of another, we don't live unto ourselves. We certainly are to live unto the Lord, but we live, well, we are to minister one to another in a variety of different ways.

So, as we think on that, if we, as we look at the early church, we see a picture here of, I believe, people with good soil, people, individuals that had good hearts toward God, and we see a picture here of people with good soil, and we see a picture here of people, and it was not really until, I'm not saying that there were no issues at all, but generally speaking, there was a unity. We see there was Holy Spirit empowerment here.

We see that there was not any mention of lying to the Holy Ghost in a not a good and honest heart until we got to Ananias and Sapphira. That was the exception to the rule when that came along. And it was a problem, and it caused problems, but it was dealt with by the Lord, obviously, and made an example of that situation, but that was the opposite of a good and honest heart bringing forth fruit, right? It was a, instead, why have you lied to the Holy Ghost was the question that Peter asked.

Well, as we see this church here, what do we, we read, we read, as we look at this church, we certainly do see that it says there in verse 42, they continued steadfastly. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. Oh, there was a, there was a fervency among them, wasn't it? They were fervently serving the Lord. They were, they were, they were, they were serious about this. They were not heaping to themselves teachers having itching ears. No, they were, they said, preach the word, brother, we want to hear more of it. They were hungry for the word of God. We want to hear what the word of God has to say. We want to hear what the teaching, the apostles' doctrine is. And that fed their fellowship and their times together.

And then we see that fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the Lord. by the Lord. by the Lord. by the Lord. by the Lord. by the Lord. by the Lord. by the Lord. by the Lord. by the Lord. by the Lord. by the Apostles. They were all, all that believed were together and all, had all things common. There was a unity, a purity, and a unity among the believers. They had one heart, one mind to please the Lord.

We see here a church, not a church that's hanging on by a thread. We don't see here a church that is barely surviving. We see a church that is thriving spiritually. spiritually. And there is a wonderful example here for us. There is, this is not an accident. This is not a, well, it's just a fluke, you know. No, this is, this is, I believe the Lord gives us the details about this so we can look at the heart that they had and say, even though we may not have the same circumstances they had, we can have the same circumstances. We can have the same heart toward God and the same health spiritually.

We talk about healthy, we need healthy soil in our own hearts before God. So, you know, physically speaking, talking about physical health, you need healthy people to take care of people that are sick. What about people coming into the church? What about people getting saved? They're coming from a background where they need, they need spiritual, examples, don't they? I think about these young people, they need spiritual examples, you know. Oh Lord, even when I'm old and gray-headed, forsake me not until I have shown thy strength to thy power to this, or thy strength to this generation and thy power to everyone that is to come. I want, you know, I want to see another generation of Christians coming along in this church.

Well, my, my soil, my heart, and how I live with God, and how I respond to God is going to have, directly or indirectly, an impact upon all those that are coming along. They're, they're watching, they're hearing, they're seeing, they're learning, they're imitating. They're, they're, they're coming, they're, they're being burped and bottled on these things by the example that they, they see.

We have things given to us like the aged men be sober, the, the aged, women, you know, teaching the younger women good things and all of this, all those examples. The, the, the bishop, the pastor is to be, is certainly to be the husband of one wife. He's to be grave, you know, he's to be sober, all of these things. You know, he's not to, not to say one thing in the pulpit and then set a terrible example or he's got, have rule of his own household and all of these, there's to be this example, right?

Because our actions, our actions speak maybe, I don't know, ten times louder than our words, don't they? Our actions speak more loudly. Sometimes, I've heard the statement said that your actions are speaking so loudly I can't hear what you're saying. I can't hear your words because what your actions are showing are different.

Well, we see here that this church, this early church, one of the things they did, look back in Acts 1, verse 14, is they continued in prayer together. In prayer. Acts chapter 1, verse 14, they continued, these all continued with one accord in prayer. They were all looking to God for the same thing. Lord, there's none of us that are so special we don't need to pray. There's none of us that are so, have so arrived that we, that we are not in need before you. We're all in need. We're all needing your grace, needing your, your out, the blessing of your spirit, and here they continued the one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. Well, we just read over in our text as well that they continued, among other things, in verse 42, they continued in prayers. Isn't that what we read? Continued in prayers. And, we notice that the blessing of God was upon them. The blessing of God was upon them. They continued in prayers.

Well, they continued steadfast, steadfastly is the word there. Now, that means in a fixed way. Steady. Steady, not off and on, off and on, off and on. They were, this was, this was their continued habit, their continued practice. Let's pray. In other words, prayer was not their last resort. Prayer was their first resort. I think that was both private and public. They prayed in prayer. They prayed about everything. You know, when we don't pray about everything, we tend to do the wrong thing, don't we? We tend to say the wrong thing. We tend to think the wrong thing. We tend to do the wrong thing. But we don't pray. Ere you left your room this morning, did you think to pray? As the song says. It was their continual resort.

They prayed for wisdom. They prayed for power, as I already mentioned. Remember how they prayed for power? Lord, behold their threatenings. And, give unto your servants the, you know, boldness that we need to do the right thing. They prayed, they prayed about the selection of deacons, didn't they? In Acts chapter 6, they prayed over that. They prayed, even the leadership was a praying leadership. They dedicated themselves to the ministry, the teaching of the word, and to prayer. We see that they prayed, for their persecutors to be saved. Stephen prayed for his persecutors in Acts chapter 7, one of those early men in the church. They prayed for miracles in seemingly impossible situations. They prayed about everything. That's what we need to do. We need to pray about, pray about these things individually and to pray as a church. That's a good sign. That's a healthy, that's healthy soil. That's healthy, that's a healthy spirit in the church.

Then we saw also in our text that they not only continued steadfastly in prayer, but they continued steadfastly in doctrine, right? In the apostles' doctrine. What is doctrine? Again, it's teaching. It's healthy, sound doctrine is healthy doctrine. You cannot be spiritually grounded and steadfast if you're not eating good food, right? It's spiritual food. If you're eating, you know, physically speaking, if you eat, you know, if you eat McDonald's every day of the week, three meals a day, you're not going to be physically healthy, are you? Well, the same thing, spiritually speaking, we have to eat good, good things. We have to feed on God's Word. Make, you know, feed on God's Word. But we notice that there's some that I know this is not the only place we're fed. In fact, it must not be the predominant place we're fed. We need to be feeding on God's Word daily, but we come together to feed on and study God's Word together and then, you know, go out and study it and feed on it on our own. There are some times where, you know, people can't be here. I just, I'm going to miss being in church. I'm sorry. We're going to, you know, we need to go here. We need to go there. I'm sick or that. That's wonderful, you know, that we all have places to go and things to do.

But is there something in our hearts where we just miss, you know, miss being in God's house and being in God's Word together? That's, you know, and yet there's others that may never, may never say, well, I really miss being in the Lord's house. Or I didn't, you know, maybe, I guess, what I'm thinking as a pastor tonight is I just think there's some that, that really, it seems like I wanted to be there, you know, kind of thing versus, well, take it or leave it, sort of deal. You know, there's a difference, isn't there? If you, if you were not, I'm thinking about tonight Lydia. Lydia was sick when my birthday and my dad's birthday was, and there were tears rolling down her eyes, down her cheeks. She wanted to be there to enjoy that time together. And you could tell, she really wanted it. And she missed it. I'm not saying that you should come bawling because you missed church necessarily, but there needs to be, you know, when we had COVID and we had to meet in the parking lot, I remember Brother George said, when we got back in the church, he says, it is good to be in the house of the Lord. I missed being in here. It was, it's good to be back in the house of the Lord. The parking lot, that was fine. But this is better. I want to be together with God's people.

I don't want to miss out on this. Thank the Lord for that. And the Lord is the one that puts that hunger in our hearts for God's word. He puts that desire. Sister Pede shared a story that she read some, a little illustration she read a while back where there's an older lady walking with a cane and she somehow seemed to kind of be steadfast and regular. Coming to church, even though she had all her aches and pains and all those kinds of things. And somebody asked her, how do you, how do you keep, how do you keep coming to church, even in your age? And she said, my heart gets there first. My heart gets there first. I want to be there. Pastor Peacock often said people do basically what they want to do. Do we want God's word? Do we want to feed on his word? That's, that's a good sign of a, of a healthy church. Prayer is the foundation. We got to continue in prayer. Hunger after God's word. Lord, give us wisdom. Teach us. Make us wise. And then Lord, help us now to, to go out in the week and put it into practice. Help us to put it into practice on the job. As a husband, wife, father, mother, daughter, son, employee, help, help us, Lord. We're, we're trusting that you're going to give us the wisdom and the strength to, to do these things that we're studying.

To put it into real life. People are watching us. People are watching to see, does he really believe that? Is he just going for performance? You know, he dresses all up. He looks nice. She looks pretty. They go to church. They do their thing. Are they any different? What, was there something different about them? There should be. There should be, right? There should be because the, our lives should adorn the doctrine of grace, right? Our lives, we should show forth the praises of the one who's called us, called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. And if, and when we sin or fail to do those things, even if it's an unbeliever, if we've done something wrong to them, let's make it right. How many people are going to humble themselves and ask for forgiveness now? Not many, I can tell you that. People, it's kind of a dog-eat-dog world, but we need to do what's right in God's sight. People need to look at us and say, that man has a conscience. That woman, that woman is, is guided by something other than, you know, selfish desires in her life and what she does. There's a difference about them. What's, what's the difference? Well, the early church, the early church was, was one of prayer and one of hunger for God's word.

They were continuing steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine. We want to learn more. We want to learn more. We want, we have a hunger. And that was a, it was a church that ministered. We said they had all things in common. They ministered one to another, didn't they? They weren't just about, well, what can the church do for me, you know? What, what can the church do for me? What's in it for me? You know, they didn't view church as a babysitting service. They didn't view, view church as a, a slush fund or, you know, something. They didn't view, they didn't view the church as a, you know, a soup kitchen merely. They thought, how can we minister to others? I see somebody over here that has need and I have something, I'm going to help them out. Because of what the Lord's done for me. Saved me from a life of sin. Called me into a newness of life. And I get the opportunity to be part of His family. And I, I want to live for Him. And so we see, like, like James would say. Look in James chapter 2. James chapter 2 verse 15. That, that tells us there in verse, he tells us in verse 15. James 2 verse 15. He says, That's pretty bad. They don't have any clothes and nothing to eat. I don't think any of us have that problem here.

I think we're all, you know, we're at least getting the groceries and the clothing covered here. But, if someone is that, we're off and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace. Be, be warmed and filled. Notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body. What doth it profit? Why did you even waste your breath? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone. How, how can you say, be warmed and filled, but you have the means to give them something and you didn't do it? Well, we don't see that happening in the early church. We see quite the opposite happening. They said. It was more of this attitude. This attitude of, I just want to serve the Lord and I want to, I want to please Him with a good and honest heart. I want to keep the word that we've been learning. The apostles doctrine. And, and, oh, there's brother so and so over here. Here's someone over here that has a need and I have the ability to help them. I want to do that. I, you know, it's the difference between having to be told to do something. What good is it if you have to be told to do something or wanting to do it, right? I know I've, I've probably warned someone. Some of these illustrations out over time, but my parents telling me when I was a child. All right. You know what?

You ought to do this. You ought to do this. And yet the hope is that one day you'll come to just do it without us telling you. You just know you. This is something that I should do this. I want to do this. I want to do it because it's the right thing. And so that's the difference. That works by love that operates by love, right? So the early church ministered one to another. They were the same mind one toward another. They did unto others as they would that others should do unto them. What a, what a wonderful concept that we learn in God's word. It's that one of the greatest commandments to love the Lord thy God with all our heart, soul, mind, strength, and love. Your neighbor is yourself. Do unto others, do to your neighbor like you would want your neighbor to do to you. Do you want your neighbor to lie to you? No, you don't want your neighbor to lie to you. Then don't lie to your neighbor. Well, because, well, because the Lord has told you to as well, and you love him because he first loved you, but don't lie to your neighbor. Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Do you want others to speak kindly and graciously to you and minister grace? Well, then you ought to minister grace in your words to them as unto the Lord.

Um, James will say that we ought to confess, James 5, 16 here, he says, confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man. Amen. Chorus 1, Availeth much. You know the little song that you'll really learn. Be kind to one another, be tenderhearted too, forgiving one another as God's forgiven you. Well, Ephesians 4, 32. Be kind one to another. Tenderhearted. Forgiving one another. He didn't say, hold out as long as you can and wait to see if somebody else has gone beyond your strength. going to forgive. Note, forgive as Christ has forgiven you. As Christ has forgiven you. Be merciful as your Father is merciful. We're to have all lowliness and meekness of heart and mind, forbearing one another in love, as the Scripture tells us. We're to use hospitality one toward another. They had all things common. They had all things common. And that just means that they did not view them merely as their own, but that they were stewards of the time, the talents, the treasures that God had imparted to each of them. And that I am a manager, a steward of these things, so long as God shall give me breath. And I want to use them in a way that will edify, will help, that I can minister these things to others.

Now, we see also that early church, going back to our text in Acts chapter 2 here, as they were doing these things, as they were continuing in this unity, one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house to house, they were there in the temple court, worshiping the Lord. Solomon's porch. They did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.

That terminology reminds me of Daniel in Babylon. God gave him favor with the princes, with the king, with all those in the court there that he came in contact with. God, he had favor with them. God granted him that.

These men, these folks in this early church, it says that they were having favor with all the people. And as they were, they had this good ground and they were praying, feeding on, studying, continuing steadfastly in the word of God, and as they were ministering one to another with love in their hearts for God and for each other and doing one to another as they would have others do to themselves, we see that they were having favor with all the people and the Lord was adding to the church because can we just say because the soil of individual hearts was right, the soil of the church was right, and there was a fruitfulness, there was a blessedness here. There was a good kind of contagious, contagion, if you will, of this the spirit of God working in their midst. There was a joy, there was a contentment there in that early church. They were praising God, having favor with all the people, and the Lord was adding, added to the church daily on a regular basis such as should be saved.

Now, I think of what we've been looking at in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, and I think about that church there. Remember how much persecution they faced when they received the word, they received it as it is in truth, the word of God, not the word of men, they received it well, and because they received that word, and they got rid of their idols and things like that, they put them in the fire, wasn't it, and they got rid of those things. They received the word with joy, but with much affliction too, because there were others there that were not happy that there was this change that had happened. And because of that affliction that came that came to them because of their newfound faith, we would think naturally, well, you know, what did we read this morning? The seed that was sown on that rocky soil, that rocky ground with just a little bit of soil had no root and it just withered away when tribulation came, right? No. That's not what happened with these Thessalonians. There was good ground here. They received the word, not as the word of men, but as the word of God. God has spoken to us through this messenger and we recognize it. This is God.

Notice in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Turn there with me. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse number 8. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse number 8. It says, and for from you, from you Thessalonians, from your church, from you as a body of believers there in Thessalonica, sounded out from you, sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, the whole area of what is modern day Greece now, but also in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad so that we need, not speak anything.

You know, we've been doing a little little farm stand in our front yard for a few, well, we did it in the spring and then we've been doing it for a few weeks with the produce now. And we said, you know, there's a lot of ways the word can spread about this, but word of mouth is the best thing. And the word of mouth was spreading quickly about the gospel, the good news, the best news of what the Lord can do to change hearts and lives.

And we see that as, even though they were being persecuted, their faith was fervent. Their faith was obvious to all that they had turned from idols to serve the living and true God. And then it says here, for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you. The word is spread quickly. How you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

They experienced and exhibited joy in the midst of trials, didn't they? They turned from the world and idols to serve the living and true God. And they, they, the Thessalonians continued like the early church did, steadfastly in in the word. They continued steadfastly in their testimony. And people could look at their lives and see God had made a wonderful change in them. There was a difference. There was a difference in the way they lived, the way they lived together. There was a difference in their lives. They demonstrated, they demonstrated as a body of believers that the Lord can do a 180 degrees in your life. He can turn your life around.

And it also says that they were motivated here in verse number 9. We just read it there in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse number 9. I already turned away from it, but in verse 9 we just read that they, let me get the words in front of me again here. In verse number 9, I'm sorry, verse number 10, and that they had turned not only to God from idols to serve the living and true God, but they were waiting for his Son from heaven. They were waiting for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. They were looking forward to, they believed the work would come back. They believed the Lord was coming back. And he still is. But they were looking forward to that.

We're told a lot of things, aren't we? In light, John tells us about the coming of Christ and says every man that hath this hope in him purifyeth himself even as he is pure. You know, as children, I remember the thought coming to my mind a number of times as a child Dad's coming home. We better bathe. You know, sometimes Mom would have to correct us over something and then she would put the correction device up there on the top of the refrigerator so Dad would see it when he came home. He'd know to ask us, what have y'all done? Well, we want to meet the Lord with joy, don't we? We don't want to meet him with fear. But at the same time, there was that there was that consciousness. We're going to stand before the Lord one day. It's the joy of the Father. It's the joy of the Father. It's the joy of the Father. It's the joy of the Father. We thought, we'll be with the Lord. There's also that we're going to stand before the judge. Behold, the judge standeth before the door. Don't grudge against one another, brethren. The Lord could come back at any time. We do not want to be found. We do not want to be found fighting against one another, devouring and biting and devouring one another. We want to meet the Lord with joy when he comes back.

That's the spirit of the early church. We want to be as Hebrews 10.25. That's how many times have we said it. Let's not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, but as the manner of some is, but more and more as we see the day approaching, let's every opportunity we can, let's be together. I know I'm preaching to the choir here tonight. Literally. I mean, you know, y'all are here basically every time the doors are open. But what a blessing it is to get together and to come together in blessing as God's people. We want to speak one to another and comfort one another, as we said this morning in the Sunday school hour. The Lord is coming back. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. The Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout. You know, the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, he shall descend.

We'll be called up together to meet the Lord in the air. The dead in Christ will rise first. Comfort one another with these words. When we come together, let's encourage one another as bad as this world gets. The Lord is coming back. The Lord is coming back. There's never a day so dreary. There's never a night so long. But the heart that is trusting Jesus shall somewhere find a song. Wonderful, wonderful Jesus. In the heart he implanteth a song. Oh, there's so much to praise the Lord for, even though we're living in a world full of, well, the devil's walking about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He wants to get, you give him a crack in the door, he'll bust it wide open and come in and just put so many, so many discouraging thoughts in your mind and fill you with despair.

We are a flock, aren't we? A flock of sheep. And as a flock of sheep, well, we number one, need to follow individually in our heart, hear the word of the shepherd and follow him, right? My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. I give unto them eternal life. No man shall pluck them out of my Father's hand. No man will pluck them out of my hand. Follow the Lord. But as we follow the Lord, we stay together. We we go together as a flock. And, you know, the easiest way for the, the easiest way frankly for the devil, for the roaring lion or the wolf or whatever, to pick off the vulnerable sheep is for him to get away from the fold, isn't it? To get away, it's not any power in you or me, but it's God's plan, right? His plan is for the church to continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and breaking of bread and prayers, looking for the Lord to come back. Looking up our redemption draweth nigh. Exhorting one another, comforting, edifying one another. We tend not to realize what we're missing out on. Not so much from Brother Daniel or you know, Brother Andy or Sister Brenda. What a blessing it is to fellowship together. I'm just saying, when we follow the Lord's plans and do, and keep our, and have the right kind of soil towards Him, we can come together as a body of believers in blessing.

And the Lord, it's not just for ourselves, but also now to minister to others. And the Lord, the Lord, you know, by this shall all men know you're my disciples, if you have love one to another. And may that be true of this church. May we, may we have, may we see that if we are to, if we are to be a healthy, prospering, spiritually prospering church, I'm not talking about merely numerically, I would like to see the Lord add to this church, but, but if we're to be the healthy church the Lord would have us to be, we've got to individually have the right kind of soil and we've got to follow the Lord's pattern and the Lord's plan that He's given to us. We can't improve on His plan. We can, we can obey His plan. We can follow His plan. And you know, those who, those who have followed, followed the Lord's way have never been disappointed. He, His way is best. So may we be, here we are over halfway through this year, in July 2026, may we be the church, individuals, may we be the church that the Lord wants us to be. We don't know when the Lord will come back. That's not our, that's not our answer to give, but we need to be looking up. We need to be continuing steadfastly in prayer and in the study of God's Word in ministering one to another. Looking on the things of others, not looking only on our own things that the Lord may be glorified.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for these moments we've had in your Word tonight. Thank you for the church, the body, local church, the local body of believers that we have here. We thank you for other churches that are standing upon your Word that are looking for your coming, that are preaching the Word. They're not tickling, merely tickling ears and as we heard said of a funeral recently, how the preacher supposedly said something about so and so's up in heaven enjoying a beer with Jesus now. No, this is that's not what you've told us to do. You've told us that you've called us out of this world. You've saved us from sin. You've saved us from sin. You've saved us from that rioting and excess of drunkenness that we used to see in the world, Lord, and you've saved us to serve you, to live for you. Help us to do that, Lord. Help us to share the good news with others as we go this week. Help us to serve one another by love. Help us to minister. Help us to pray for one another. Help us to confess our faults if there's any faults. Help us to confess those one to another. And that we may be healed. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Lord, may that be the pattern. May we have a good and honest heart sincerely desiring to keep the word that we've heard and put it into practice in our day-by-day lives, in our interactions with one another, with our families, in our workplace, Lord. Help us to do your will, we pray and ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.