The Field Series, Week 1: Come & See

Tonight, we are beginning a new sanctuary series entitled The Field, and my assignment this evening is to speak to you on the subject of the local church. Ephesians 3 and 10 says, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. One translation says it like this, God's purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Paul is speaking to the church at Ephesus about what he says was hidden in times past, but that mystery has now been revealed. He is speaking of the fact that there was a set point of time in human history when God dealt exclusively with the Jewish people. But now this man, Paul, who was what we know as the Apostle to the Gentiles by way of establishing local churches and preaching the gospel of

Jesus Christ, he makes way of invitation for Gentiles to be grafted into the covenant. And in doing so, he says that it was God's intention from the very beginning. It was hidden from us, but God's intention was always to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety. That's beautiful language. That tells me that God has purpose for his church, that from the very beginning, God destined his church to be such a beautiful display of his wisdom that everybody would take notice both the spiritual world and the natural world. So merits the question tonight, what is the church? Now my specific assignment is to talk to you about the local church, but we have to take a moment to understand what we could call the dual nature of the church and scripture. First is this, the church is universal. No doubt you may have heard the scripture from Matthew 16, where Jesus is speaking to Simon Peter. And he says, upon

this rock, the revelation or the understanding of who I am, that I am the Messiah, I am the Son of God upon this revelation that I am God in Christ coming to reconcile the world unto myself. Upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. That is a good promise. I will build my church. Now, I trust you understand this tonight, but when Jesus said that in Tera Hote, Indiana, he's talking about what we call the church triumphant. This is the church that we read of in Acts 20, when it's talking about the church that was purchased by God's own blood. He's not talking exclusively about a local church in Tera Hote, Indiana or in Halifax, Nova Scotia or somewhere in Europe. He's talking about the church universal. But Paul writes of the church universal, which he said was the body of Christ, and he said this, of which each of us are members.

And so we individually become members of the church universal. In fact, that is what the church is. It's the body of Jesus Christ made up of believers from times past and times present, made up of people that are gathering tonight in Tera Hote, Indiana and people that gathered hours ago somewhere in another country in the world. This is the church universal. Now, Paul is clear that we're baptized by one spirit into one body. When he speaks of the body of Christ, he's talking about the church universal. When you are baptized in Jesus' name and you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit just like Jesus taught in John 3, just like Peter preached in Acts 2, when that happens, you're not joining the local church. Now, I believe you should be a member of this local church. But when you get baptized in Jesus' name and you receive the baptism of the Spirit, you are not joining New Life Fellowship. You are joining

the church that is universal. Amen? But this is not to say that the local church is of no importance. And so the second element of the church where we will direct our focus this evening is the local nature of the church. The Greek word for church is ecclesia. It simply means that there is a gathering or an assembly of called out people. So the very word church or ecclesia implies that there is some sort of gathering. Now, as we see in the New Testament, this gathering can take on many different shapes or forms. We read how they gathered house to house. They gathered in the courts of the temple daily. And so the function or the form of the gathering may take many faces. But in order for the church to be the church, the church must gather. It's what the word means. Now, when we look into the New Testament, I have already emphasized this universal church. This is what we read

in Acts 2. We talk about the birthday of the church on the day of Pentecost. That is the universal church, but that is not where God's work in the world stopped. As you read throughout the remainder of the New Testament, you would find that biblically a local church is identified by the city it is in or where the people are from. And by the year 70 AD, there is record of at least 33 specific local churches identified by location in your New Testament. And so what we are seeing is that the universal church, God's birthing of a church in Acts chapter 2 now gives birth to numerous local churches all over the world. Local churches must practice the spiritual discipline of coming together. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul is admonishing the church at Corinth. He says, when you come together, there should be no divisions among you. And we often focus on the latter part because he is addressing the subject of division.

But the earlier part of that verse is quite significant. It's what we would almost say is just implied behavior. Paul doesn't go to great lengths to explain to them why they should gather. He just says, when you come together. So this tells us that the early church practiced, they had a discipline of coming together. And so I tell us tonight, local churches must practice coming together as a form of worship. On your handout, you'll see a small diagram, the universal church and the local church. Sometimes we make the mistake of trying to put these two dynamics against each other as if there is some sort of conflict. But I want you to see tonight the pattern of Scripture. When God birthed the universal church in Acts chapter 2, he didn't just leave it at that. As you go throughout the entirety of the New Testament, what do you find? Particularly after the diaspora or persecution, push those early believers beyond the borders of

Jerusalem. And God raises up this man named Saul who becomes the apostle Paul. And what does he do? He moves all throughout the known world preaching the gospel and establishing local churches. So we cannot downplay the significance of a local church because the pattern of Scripture is that the universal church, what God started in Acts 2 is perpetuated. It is continually expanding by people who assume the burden of responsibility to plant or start local churches. I would tell it to you like this, right under the diagram on your handout, people become a part of the church, capital C, through a church, lowercase c. I could say it like this, people become part of the universal church through a local church. The local church is of critical importance. In fact, over 50 times in the New Testament, do we find the phrase one another or each other? Things like this, you are commanded to love one another, pray for one another, encourage one another,

admonish each other, greet each other, serve one another, teach one another, accept one another, submit to one another, honor one another, and forgive one another. You cannot fulfill the commandments of Scripture if you try to live in the reality of the universal church and neglect the importance of the local church. Now, somewhere in China there is somebody who is baptized in Jesus name, filled with the Holy Ghost, living faithfully to God, who is as much my brother in Christ as Brother Ryan Wallace is sitting here tonight. But even though I share the brotherhood by virtue of the universal church with somebody in China, because we don't share proximity, I can't really love them, I can't encourage them, I may never meet him this side of heaven. I can't greet him, now I know technology permits us some things, but it does not permit us the entirety of this. I can't submit or honor him. How will I have an opportunity to have conflict

or forgive or to resolve differences? So you see, all of the commandments that we are finding in the New Testament church can only be fulfilled in the context of faithfully living and serving in a local church. These commandments cannot be obeyed without interactions and relationships that are nurtured within the context of our faithfulness to a local church. So if we become part of the universal church through a local church, that's what happens here. People come into the local church called New Life Fellowship, hear the gospel preached, get baptized in Jesus' name, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and they're not joining the local church, they're being born into the universal church. This was God's plan. This is precisely what Paul did throughout his missionary endeavors in the New Testament. So because of this, I would tell us tonight the local church is the hope of the world. I know there is much fixation on conferences and events, and thank God for them.

But I would tell you the local church is the hope of the world. I could take you back seven or eight years ago in my, call it ministerial development when I was captured by the allure of conferences and platforms and opportunities. But I kind of lived through that season and I probably still got a little growing to do, but I've grown past that point. And I can stand here in the fear of God and tell you unequivocally tonight there is nothing that compares to the power and the beauty of a local church. Nothing. I thank God for the local church. So I want to talk to you for a minute about my attitude toward the local church. The attitude of the first century church we read in Acts 2 was such that Luke writes, they continued steadfastly. That means to be devoted to something, to be constant in your affection towards something. It means to show yourself courageous for something. Modern translations will

actually use this rendering of these words. It will say they devoted themselves. Meaning it was an internal motivation, not external. And this is significant. Because an external motivation is somebody always getting on your back telling you, you got to do this. You got to do this. You got to be a church on Sunday. You got to be at midweek. You got to clean your room. You got to pick your toys up. And there's nothing wrong with external motivation in the process of somebody's development. But there comes a point when that individual should embody the values that you're trying to teach them. That they don't need somebody standing over their shoulder telling them, do this, do this, do this, go there, come here. But they're driven by an internal motivation. And this is what the early church possessed. They devoted themselves. They weren't going around knocking on the door. There wasn't text messages or daily phone calls saying, hey, you got to be here.

You got to be here. You need to do this. This is necessary. This is important. Come on. You got to make this a priority. There was an internal motivation. They lived this life because they believed in it. Their values drove their behavior. I heard a story years ago that I have never forgot. Pastor Hargrove, pastors in the Dallas area in Texas, he has a church. I've never been there. But in estimation, I would say it's comparative to New Life Fellowship and Sunday attendance somewhere in the vicinity. It's comparative. I say that simply to communicate the effect of this story. He told a story years ago how early on a Monday morning, he had walked into his church office. It was six or six thirty in the morning. He said, I looked down the hall and I noticed there was some lights on and I just thought to myself, well, evidently they forgot to turn the lights off when we left the building yesterday.

So he said I made my way down the hall and I began to hear somebody in the restroom. When I stepped into the restroom, I stepped a man in our church. A very wealthy man. In fact, he was a very prominent doctor in their city. He called him by name and said, what are you doing here? He said, oh pastor, I'm just cleaning the restrooms. He said, but doctor, we pay people to do this. We have full-time cleaning staff that cleans our entire facilities every week. He said, as I'm explaining this to the doctor, his seven-year-old son steps out of the stall behind him. He said, kind of, was shocked. Doctor, what is he doing here? He said, oh pastor, I value what happens here. And I'm teaching him how to value it too. But we pay somebody to do this and he said pastor, I've been doing this for a long time. But on most Monday mornings, he's not

there until office hours, so he's come in with his son cleaned and left and nobody even knew. What would possess a man to do that? He's moved, he's driven by value. It's an internal motivation. Nobody's standing over his shoulder saying, hey, you need to come do this, or you need to be here, you need to go there, or this needs done, or that needs done. There's something inside him. In fact, Lynn Jewett, just a phenomenal missionary, highly effective missionary, made this statement years ago and I have never forgot it. She said on the mission field, we only have room for one kind of person. She said, I've learned there's three kind of people, but we only have room for one. She said there's the kind of people that you tell them what needs done and they don't do it. She said, I don't have time for them. Then there's some people, you tell them what needs done and they happily do it. She

said, I'm thankful, but I really don't have time for them. She said, but there's another group of people that just sees what needs to be done and they do it. That's what I'm talking about. About the embodiment of a value system that understands this church is here because Jesus gave his life for it. And if he gave his life for it, it's not too much to think that I should maybe give mine for it too. Now I'm not advocating, we shed blood. I'm not advocating anybody here dying across. That work has already been accomplished, but I am advocating that we look inward tonight and consider our attitude towards the local church to make sure that our values are such, that it drives our behavior in a way that values what we have, that cherishes what we have and that seeks to fulfill the purpose for which God has given it to us. Psalms 122 and 1, I was glad when they said unto

me, let us go in to the house of the Lord. I'm talking about our attitude right now. Listen, I'm in a season of life where God has blessed me, where I'm unable to do what we call full time ministry. But I spent 10 years as a church planner juggling three jobs at the same time. I know what it's like to get off work tired and still show up to church. I used to get off work a Sunday morning at 7 a.m. sometimes, go wake my family up, go to the storage facility, take equipment out of the facility, set it up in a hotel, have church, take it back to the storage facility, go have lunch, go home and sleep for a few hours before I went to work at 11 p.m. again. You know why I did that? Because I believe in the local church. And I didn't do it begrudgingly. I was thankful for the opportunity to be a part

of a local church, to invest in a local church. I was glad when they said, listen, I know you might be tired. You might have worked a long day. You might have not slept well. But I'm just telling you, there is nothing that brings me joy like coming to the house of God. I might be tired. I might be a little bit sick or under the weather. But I'm telling you, I am glad every time the doors are open and I get to come into the gathering of the local church. I love the church. I love my church. I love this church. Listen, when I look over my life, there's a lot of things that happen in the local church. I was baptized in a local church. I received the Holy Ghost in a local church. God called me to ministry in a local church. God began to develop my ministry in a local church. I was called to plant a local church.

I'm telling you, I love and I live for the local church. I've got friends that travel full time similar to me, who sometimes can't reconcile the reality that I'm not just trying to fill my calendar. I have self-imposed restrictions that I'm always at new life at least one weekend a month, sometimes two. Well, Brother McLeod, how do you live? How are you going to do that? Well, I'm just going to trust God because I don't think it's God's will that anybody have a life or a ministry that detaches them from a local church. I'm telling you, I love the local church. Hey, my 11-year-old son got the Holy Ghost right there in a local church. This is the power of the local church. Now, I thank God for the universal church, but I wouldn't know anything about that had I not been introduced to it by way of a local church. I love the local church. Our attitude towards it

must be as such that we are thankful for it, that we rejoice over it, we cherish it, and we hold its purpose before us at all times. The importance of my local church, moving forward, serves our worship. I know there's kind of ideas floating around. It's the 21st century. We've got great technology. Thank God for live stream that's working here tonight. You can just click and watch it on Facebook or YouTube, and I'm going to tell you something. Yes, God can be worshipped anywhere. Yes, he can be worshipped anytime, but a lot of what's happening in the 21st century is nothing more than superficial views and shallow spirituality. And so I must tell you tonight that it is still God's will that believers gather in a local church. If COVID taught us anything, I hope it taught us this, that gathering the church's right to gather is something worth fighting for. Gathering to worship is not optional. And I know there's some who

say, well, I'm just going to gather in a little group in my home. Hey, you do that, but that better not be the only thing you're doing because a lot of that stuff is perpetuated or it's promoted by insubordination and a lack of submission. Let me tell you something about God. God said, I will give you pastors. God said, I will set the members in the body and your unwillingness to submit to the pastor or the angel that God said over the house is nothing more than insubordination and rebellion to God's pattern and plan for his body. It is God's will that every single believer, even though they are baptized into the universal church, born into the universal church, that we invest ourselves faithfully into the local body of believers. Every time I hear somebody try to tear down the local church and our freedom to gather and the necessity of this, I look them in the eyes and okay, I believe in

the house to house stuff is biblical. I think we could do a better job of some of that every now and then I'll see a picture of the the Elias doing their Bible study on Monday night or whatever it is and the house is full of people studying the world. Thank God for that kind of stuff. We need more of it. I'm going to tell you something. I'd like to get that person that tries to downplay the necessity of gathering in this house with one of our good brothers in China and see him try to explain to that brother from China who risks his life to crawl into some dirty basement and read a couple pages of the Scripture. We just don't really think it's that important. We just watch it online. We've got brothers and sisters in the universal church that would do anything to be part of a local church like this. I had a rough week. I was busy. No.

Your attendance in this house every Wednesday night and every Sunday and every special called service and every prayer. Your attendance in and of itself is an act of worship to God. Look at the language of the Psalms. Oh, magnify the Lord with me. It's a coming together. The psalmist and I'm not doing this by myself. I want you to come along with me and let us we're gonna do this together. Let us exalt his name together. This is the beauty of the local church you get to come together with people. Look at Psalms 42. My tears, he says, have been my meat day and night while they continually saying to me, where is thy God? The pain and the anguish, the suffering of life and the tears that rolled down my cheeks are tormenting me, taunting me and asking me, Oh, where where is your God? If God was real, you wouldn't endure this. You wouldn't feel this. And he says, when I

start to remember these things, I pour out my soul for look, I had gone with the multitude. I went with them to the house of God. You've got to learn how to deal with the lies that come your way. And it seems to me, one of the best ways to do it, scripturally, is to get together with the Ecclesia, get together with another brother or sister and the family of God that has been called out of the world and called to assemble and come into the house together and worship God. He said, Hope thou in God, for I will yet praise him for the help of his countenance. It means the help of his presence. He understood that when I get together with the people of God and I come into the house of God, there is a presence there that's going to help me because you by yourself, though you may have been born into the church, you by yourself are only

a member. You are not the fullness. But when member comes together with member and the body takes shape and now the function of the body can be fulfilled and we are built up, as Paul said in First Corinthians. But you don't get built up by the function of the body unless you submit yourself to the gathering of the local body. God deserves our worship. Since the resurrection of Christ, the early church adopted the pattern of meeting weekly. We don't gather as under the old covenant. We didn't have to bring blood sacrifices here tonight. But the New Testament does list the elements that comprise the corporate gathering of the New Testament church. It says we'll read scripture. We'll preach scripture. We'll sing Psalms and hymns. We'll pray. We'll celebrate the ordinances of baptism and communion. And when you do this, he said in First Corinthians 1426, God's body is built up and he is glorified. God deserves our worship. Number two, believers need discipled.

The local church is where we receive instruction. It's where we practice submission. It's where we have godly accountability. Paul said in Ephesians four, God gave us apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints. That word perfecting comes from a Greek word, which means it implies the furnishing of the house. Now, thank God for a house. Thank God for a sanctuary. I'm going to venture a guest that wouldn't be as many people in here tonight if there were no chairs to sit on. I'm going to take a guest tonight. You probably wouldn't enjoy going home when service was done. If you had no table to eat at, no chair to sit in, no bed to sleep on. Hey, thank God. Thank God for some framing, some sheetrock and drywall. You put your pretty pain on the walls and but until the house is furnished, it's not complete. And Paul is saying in the same way that a house is not

livable until it is furnished. He's saying the church is not living to its maximum impact if the saints aren't doing what the saints were designed to do. But the only way a saint of God can come to the fullness of maturity in their life is by coming into the local body in which God has set a government over them called apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers and evangelists. And so you've got to come into this local body, submit yourself to God's appointed leadership and receive the ministry that they bring in and doing so. The saints of God are perfected. That's why Paul would write later. He would talk about the ministry of the saints. He spoke of one group of people that they were literally addicted to the ministry of the saints. He's not talking about the universal church. He's talking about a localized group of believers that receive the instruction from God's appointed leadership in their life. They came to a place of maturity

where now they are doing the work of the ministry. And as a result, the process of growth is now exponential. In fact, the ministry of the saints is first introduced in Acts chapter six. Prior to this, we only have record. The scripture says that the church was added to. But when you look at Acts chapter six, it said that the number of disciples was multiplied. How is it possible for the rate of growth at New Life Fellowship to move from simple addition to multiplication, from small incremental bits to a more exponential rate of growth? It's when we realize pastor can't do it by himself. And we take his teaching and his wisdom and we submit to him and the word of the Lord that comes over this pulpit. And now we come into maturity and into alignment with the mission. And we assume the burden of responsibility for our local church. And now it's not just pastor that's ministering, but there's a few

hundred people every week engaged. It's the ministry of the saints. Believers need disciple. I would tell us tonight that there's nobody there's not a single person here me include. I could take you to some of the most pivotal moments of my personal growth. And I could tell you how it was deeply connected to the local church and submission to the authority God has put over my life. Nobody grows into spiritual maturity alone. And so if as Jeremiah said, God is going to give us pastors according to his heart, we've got to choose to come into the local body and submit. Listen, Pastor Harpal, Harpal is not just the pastor of this church. He's my pastor. I don't just talk to him like he's some distant figure like oh yeah, he pastors that no, he's my pastor. This is a value we embody. So when there's conversation happening around our home, how we refer to God given authority in our lives, even with my

children at 4, 8, 4, 9 and 11. We do it in a way that communicates the value that I recognize this office is set by God. Listen, you might have thought you voted a man. You didn't might make you feel good if you were here back then. But listen, you didn't vote a man. God sent him here. And my recognition of that shapes my perspective. It shapes my vocabulary. It dictates my values. And I'm telling us tonight, we need godly leadership in this hour. We also need each other. The early church was devoted to fellowship acts two and 42. I would tell you tonight that the depth of your connection to this local church must move past walking in these doors 15 minutes before server starts walking out walking in 15 minutes before server starts walking out. You don't see anybody the other five days a week. You don't talk to anybody the other five days of the week. Listen, if you don't

develop friendships in the local church, you probably ain't staying in the local church very long. We need one another. We this is not we have this you can't submit to one another unless you actually come to one another. You can't love one another care for one another or greet one another unless there is a coming together in relationship. We need one another Proverbs 27 and 17 says iron sharpeneth iron so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. So we're talking about coming into spiritual maturity. If we're talking about growing into a place where we are contributing to the ministry of the local church, we need both godly leadership and the submission to it. And we also need the coming together of fellowship and friendships in the local church because iron sharpeneth iron number three. Now all that was really just that this was the runway. This is this is really what we come to talk about tonight is number three. The lost

need to be reached. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost Luke 10 and 19. His mission must be ours. His purpose must be ours. 2000 years removed and our orders have not changed. There's no need to try to redefine the purpose for which we exist. Today, sad but true, many churches have become more about social justice, entertainment, and even the preaching itself. And the mission has gotten muddy. So tonight in light of the great commission that we are to make disciples of every nation, we've got to lift up our eyes and see the souls of our community as critical. The orders have not changed. The lost need to be reached. Second Corinthians five, 18, Paul writes and all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. He has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. So much beautiful truths and these words right here to it that God was in Christ. Beautiful truth, the oneness

of God. What Peter understood that had him receive the keys of the kingdom that the one true God that the Jews had worship for thousands of years that this God came in the earthly body of Jesus Christ for this purpose to reconcile the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. And now he has committed unto us the word of reconciliation. I want you to see the pattern here. Paul said, we, we have been reconciled to him by Jesus Christ. Paul says, Hey, because he died because he shed his blood because he rose again because of what happened on the cross and our obedience to the gospel. We repented. We were baptized. We received the Holy Ghost because of this. We've been reconciled to God. But now he says he has given us. He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. This is to say that that which we have experienced that which we have received we are now committed and

even commissioned by God himself to give to someone else what has been given to us. Why is this church important? Why do we build a new building? Why are there so many seats here? Let me tell you why. Because local churches do local evangelism. I thank God for the universal church, but our brothers in Europe aren't aren't reaching people in Terro Hope. Our brother in China. He's not reaching people in Vigo County. If the hundred and six thousand people in this county are going to hear the gospel and feel the love of God and be changed by the power of the spirit. The only way it happens is by the local church doing local evangelism. The local church, this local church is how God intends to accomplish his mission in this part of the world. And while the universal church is that church triumphant. Why it's unstoppable? Policy can't stop it. Democrats can't stop it. Republicans can't stop it. Hamas can't stop it.

Communism can't stop it. I'm telling you, the church is triumphant over every principality and every power and every government and every policy and every substance and every lie. The church will not be stopped. But if the church lowercase C, if a local church neglects this most critical mission, it becomes nothing more than another social club. And while the universal church might be triumphant and full of promise, I've been in my fair share of local churches that have closed or on their way to closing. How does that happen? When we have the blessing of unstoppable increase upon us. When it's God's will that nothing can stop us. How in the world does a church that baptizes in Jesus' name, that preaches the truth of God's word that has or should have the power of the spirit working? How do they put it for sale sign on the lawn? How do they close up shop? Let me tell you how because in the local now

the universal church it's steaming forward. But in the local church, we have an ultimatum evangelize or die. Listen, I've preached in my fair share of churches in rural towns that evidently at some point in the past had revival, little communities of 100, 500, 1000 people that had buildings that could seat two, three, 400 people. But today, just a few dozen, if that. How? How would you have the most powerful force in the world supposed to be working in your midst? How does that happen? Because somewhere, the local church stopped evangelizing. And while the universal church is steaming forward and they're coming by the thousands in China being baptized in Jesus' name, filled with the Holy Ghost and while communism can't subdue the power of the gospel, you know what can? A lack of evangelism. Now I know. I know sometimes we wrestle with fear and rejection. There's not one of us, if we're honest with ourselves that could say we don't wrestle with

that at times. The devil will lie to you. Well, you're not talented enough. You're not smart enough. You're not gifted like pastor. You're not you're not smooth. You're not, you know, he starts lying to you about all these reasons you can't contribute to the mission of the local church. Tell you, I find no, no more beautiful picture of evangelism in the scripture than John 1 and 45. Philip Fineth and Nathaniel and Seath unto him. We have found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did right. Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. We found him. This is it. And Nathaniel said, can't any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said, just come and see. Can't any good thing come on a new life? Can't any good thing come out of Terrahode, Indiana? Can't any good thing come out of Pastor Harpoor? Can't any good thing come out of your family? Can't any good thing come out of you? Is

there anything happening a new life fellowship? Hey, you don't have to have a doctorate in theology. You don't have to have a ministerial credit credentials or life. Oh, listen, if you can just master these three words, it's a good starting point to assume the mission of the local church. Hey, just come and see. Why aren't you penny costals crazy? Hey, just come and see. Well, don't you guys talking tongues? Yeah, you should come and see it. Well, what do you think about this? And what do you think about that? Can you give me your scriptural and geopolitical analysis on what's happening in the Middle East? When is the wraps are going to happen? What does him time prophecy look like? I'm sorry. You're going to have to ask somebody else. But this is what I can tell you. If you want to come Sunday morning at ten thirty, you're going to see something that'll change your life. You're going to see the power

of God working and the word of God speaking and lives are going to be changed. Just come and see. Just come and see. Hey, next time you're at the restaurant, just come and see. You might think we're crazy. You might have some just come and see. Just come and see. You don't have to be really talented. This is a great place for everybody to just come and see. What would happen if we would just purpose, if we would decide that, you know what, between now and the end of the year, at least one person every week or two people every week, I'm going to talk to them about new life fellowship. I'm going to talk to them about Jesus. I'm going to invite them just come and see to just come see what happens when the local body gathers together. Come and feel the spirit of God as it moves. Come hear what God will speak. Just come and see. There is no

more beautiful picture of the simplicity of evangelism in the scripture than this. And I know there's some who would ask the question, is this really necessary? Do we have to do all that? Well, you know this comment and that comment. Listen, come and see. I thank God for this sanctuary. I swear it's a beautiful building. Why all this? Well, we have 106,000 reasons within several miles of this address. I desperately need to feel the love of God and desperately need to hear the message of salvation. Now, Pastor has said it, so I'll echo it. This is not the end. If you think, because there's an occupancy certificate and we're in this beautiful building that the church is now finished, no, this is not the end. Isaiah 5 and 14 says of hell, therefore hell hath enlarged herself and opened her mouth without measure. God forbid that we stand idle while hell makes room for growth. God forbid that the Jesus' name Spirit

Field Church would ever come to a place of complacency where we are content with what we have while hell is continually making accommodation for more room and more growth. I say tonight, if hell wants to keep making more room, then new life's going to keep making more room. I thank God for a few hundred more seats, but this can be all because there's 106,000 reasons. And every day, hell's adding on, hell's carving out space, fighting for the souls of 106,000 people. So if hell wants to go into a building campaign, honey, I'm ready to fight. I'm not content. I'm not done. It's not over. I thank God for what we have, but I'm not content and I'm not complacent. If hell wants to keep building, then we're going to keep building because there's 106,000 reasons. Can any good thing come out of new life? Just come and see. Come and see. Just come and see. Stand together with me. I

close with this last point. My church needs my commitment. My church. That's not just a church. It's not the capital C church, but together with all those other local churches. It is. But in this area, in this city, and in this county, it's not just a church. This is my church. Hey, I take ownership of this place. I hope that's okay. I know I've only lived here for like 14 months, but I take ownership of this place. I park in that parking lot and I'm walking through my eyes or scanning the ground trying to find a piece of garbage. Why? Because I'm compelled by this value driven system because my life was changed in a local church. I'm raising my kids in the local church. I believe anybody's life can be changed in a local church. Oh, you don't believe? Just come and see. You go find an alcoholic and bring him in here on Sunday. You go find the person whose marriage

is falling apart, whose kids are messed up and on drugs. Bring him in here on Sunday and see what God will do. Let's see. My church needs my commitment. I'm not. Listen, I think it'd be great if we all picked up a piece of garbage, but I'm not asking you to do what I do. This is my commitment. We were sitting home the other day and look, I know there wasn't jobs for everybody in the church to do, but I just, I said, Hailey, look, there's people working at the church. I, we can't just sit here and enjoy this Saturday and do nothing. There's things to be done. Here's Sister Pam Hoopengarner. God knows she needs a replacement. If there's anybody who's got a burden for the house, she didn't ask me to say this, but I'm just telling you, she served long enough and she'll probably keep doing it when she finds a replacement. But it's about time somebody assume the transition.

So we bring my kids in here. So we'll go find something to do. Go ask so-and-so. Go ask so-and-so. Sister Hoopengarner's got, got soya with one rag, walking up the stairs, wiping the railings and cleaning the silver on the door in the sanctuary. Carson's got the rag and the polish, washing the the steps out in the atrium. Why, why do you do this? Because I'm trying to teach them we value this place because of what happens here. Look, I know we can't do everything, but, but I'm talking about being intentional about cherishing and valuing what we have given and keeping the purpose of it in the forefront. We didn't add all this space, so discipleship for us would be more comfortable. We didn't add more parking, so you wouldn't have to squeeze out of the door next to you, come into the sanctuary where there ain't nobody sitting beside you, so you can really sprawl out. We added this

space for them, not for us. This is about making room for the loss, because every day that rolls by, every hour that ticks on the clock, hell is in a building program fighting for 106,000 souls that are on our doorstep. I'm titling you tonight, local churches do local evangelism. There ain't no other church in America that's going to get it done in Terro Hope but us. There ain't no other, there's no church in California, there's no church in Missouri, there's nobody in the South, this is our burden, this is our calling, this is my church, and my church needs my commitment. So in obedience to the commandment of Scripture and in consideration of the most pressing need and the hour in which we live, I come to provoke you tonight to good works. Scripture says in Hebrews 10, let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of

some is. I know there's some who minimize the local church, I know there's some who think YouTube is a sufficient substitute for a local gathering, I know there's some who thinks they can just pop on listen, no you, you listen, not every preacher on YouTube's we're listening to and listen you, I'm talking to somebody in the Holy Ghost right now, even a good preacher in the wrong years or at the wrong time can say good things that become a voice of confusion because he's speaking something that's not in sync with the season that your pastor or your local church is in, not everything on YouTube is worth listening to, it is not an adequate substitute for the local church, so while there's some that want to minimize it, the Scripture is clear to us tonight, we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching, well I don't

know about you but the last four or five days you can certainly see the time on that clock moving a little bit closer to midnight the day is getting closer, listen it's not a time to be spiritually lazy it's not time to be complacent, it's not time to be slack, I'm telling you what God is asking of all of us, we need to pour our lives into the local church, pour our commitments into the local church, we've given we're going to keep on giving and thank God for money, thank God for bills, thank God for provision but I'm moving beyond the realm of finances right now, I'm talking about the burden of responsibility, thank God for money but this is really about mission that's why these chairs are empty, that's why there's space in this house, it was not to make discipleship more comfortable for us, it was to make space for the lost that need to be reached, so obedience to the

Scripture, I'm provoking you to good works and I'm challenging us tonight that our attendance to this church, our attitude towards this church and our actions in this church in this season are of critical nature, it's a scary reality I know it'll never happen because we got great leadership but it's a scary thought to think that we could have such a beautiful building and a room for lost people and appear just 15 or 20, 25 years into the future and think if we don't evangelize, if we don't reach, there'll be a for sale sign on that front lawn, listen the church triumphant, not even hell itself can stop it but it's a sad reality that there have been truth preaching churches in great number, they have closed their doors and moved on, closed up shop, how does it happen? It happens because people start believing the like and any good thing come out of and instead of saying hey come and see, you know

what I know you've got some questions but why don't you just come with me on Sunday morning, why don't you just meet me here, I'll meet you at the door at 10 o'clock, we'll grab a coffee, why don't you, I'll pick you up at 9.30 and we'll come and I'll introduce you to some friends and we'll grab a snack at the cafe and a coffee and we'll go into church, you can just see what this is all about let me show you what changed my life because it was when I got in a local church that I was introduced to the church triumphant, when I got into the local church I met Jesus, I saw it for myself, my church needs my commitment and while the building is beautiful it's not the mark of a finished work why because there's what 1300 seats in here there's 106,000 reasons we didn't make this room for us we made this room for

them well they drive up and down this road and they watch construction and they know the raising of the walls, trucks coming in and out is a testimony that something is happening what they really need is to meet you to feel God's love and to hear you say come and see, listen I've said it before I'll keep on saying you can't meet anybody in this town that doesn't know about this church, hasn't heard a pastor, doesn't know about new life we were in the hospital business sister Anita the other day and doctor on the nurse came in and she said I've we've never had a patient that has so many visitors so yeah we got a good church well what church are you all part of new life fellowship she said oh that's that one over there on the east side that you're building right yeah we're building but it's not for us we're making room for them so all this is is

to make sure that the Great Commission isn't stifled by lack of space that's what this is would you lift your hands to the Lord Father we thank you I thank you for such an awesome local church I thank you for a great pastor and wife I thank you Lord for a beautiful church family I thank you for every member of this local body I thank you for the the campus that you've given us I thank you for these buildings I rejoice over this beautiful new sanctuary the Lord I don't want to be so captivated by a building that I neglect the purpose for which it stands this is not for us it's for them and I'm asking Lord Jesus right now that there will be a burden and awareness that comes upon our hearts that allows us to see differently and think differently that we would be moved by values driven by a burden I pray Lord in the days to come in

the next few days before this week is out that you would order our steps and you would initiate conversations where we would be extended God-given opportunities to tell somebody about what you're doing to tell somebody about who you are and while I might not have all the answers I might not be well spoken I may not be able to wax eloquent about theological things and the deep things of the scripture I can say come and see come and see I pray Lord that there would be a love that would fill our hearts that would silence the voices of fear and rejection there's 106,000 reasons we're not done we're not finished yet God we're just getting started in the name of Jesus Christ we're committing tonight we're committing our commitment to our church to our mission to the purpose for which this exists we're asking God for your help guide our steps orderly my pray in the name of Jesus Christ in

the church said amen some things we can keep on praying about but there comes a time when you've got to say amen and you just got to go do the work my challenge to each of us tonight is before Sunday find one person just one come and see why don't you come to new life with me and see the great things God is doing in our local church the Lord bless you thank you for being at midweek