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….
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Friends, because the Church is called out by God… Because that’s true of the local Church,
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not one of us here today is here by accident.
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It is God who gathers the Church together. It’s never you,
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me and a few friends who we’ll choose between us.
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The congregation is gathered by God, not by us.
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The Church belongs to Christ, and in the New Testament he adds to it daily.
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Welcome to Open the Bible with pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick and today we’re continuing
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the message about what the Church is and why it matters? And Colin, as you pointed out,
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the Church matters because it matters to Christ. And then, if so, it ought to matter to us.
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That’s right. And yet I think that it’s often the case that Christians would ask the question,
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well, why would I want to get involved in a church? I mean,
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there are a lot of problems where there are Christians gathered together and so forth.
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Why would you want to get involved in a local church? Well, let me ask you this question – why
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would Jesus want to get involved with the Church? And yet He did. He loves the Church and gave
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Himself for the Church. And you want to be more like the Lord Jesus Christ and part of that
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is that you will become like the Lord Jesus Christ in your love for the Body of Christ
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and in your commitment to the Body of Christ. You know, for all of its many faults – and
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every Christian has many faults and failings – one day the Body will be redeemed and made perfect.
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You want to be part of it then and you sure want to be part of it now. So I want that today’s
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programme will help folks who perhaps are detached a little from the Church,
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to see that Christ is honoured when we identify ourselves with His Body.
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So join us if you can, as we continue the message,
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What is the Church and Why Does it Matter? Here’s Colin.
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When Jesus speaks about the Church here in Matthew chapter 16, He speaks about what is
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sometimes called the Church universal. That is, the entire body of believers in every time
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and in every place. It’s important to remember folks, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the One
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who knows these believers. We don’t know them and sometimes we can’t discern if someone is a true
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believer or not. If they’re the real article or if they’re just sitting in church and a hypocrite.
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But Jesus knows. Third observation, just before we move on. Since the Church, as Jesus speaks
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about it here, is the full company of all true believers from every age and in every place.
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It follows that only Christ right now can see it. None of us has seen this. None of us has met seen
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every believer in every place so many with the Lord. But the Church in all of its glory is going
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to be unveiled on the day when Jesus Christ stands with his people in this vast unimaginably vast
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congregation. John saw it in the vision, in the book of Revelation. He said it was a multitude
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that no one could number. And they’re drawn from every tribe and language and nation.
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And they’re saying salvation belongs to God. And they’re there John says because they have been
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washed in the blood of the lamb that is Jesus Christ, the lamb of God who laid down his life
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as a sacrifice for our sins. And there they are and the lamb himself stands at the center of the
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throne. And he’s the one who leads them into springs of living water. And God wipes away
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all tears from their eyes. That’s the church. All believers, from every age, in every place.
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I want you to turn over in your bible two pages to the second time that Jesus spoke about
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the church. It’s in Matthew chapter 18 and we pick it up in verse 15.
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Our Lord is speaking here about a situation where there is a dispute between two believers. Someone
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has wronged his brother and he says, verse 15 if your brother sins against you, go and
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show him his fault just between the two of you. And then if he won’t listen, verse 16 take someone
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else along. And then verse 17 is our focus where Jesus uses the word church a second time. He says,
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if this person refuses to listen still even to these people, tell it to
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the church. Matthew chapter 18 and verse 17. Tell it, that’s tell this problem to
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the church. Now think about it, folks. That cannot possibly mean tell it to all
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believers who have ever lived in every age, in every place. It cannot possibly mean that.
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So many of them are in heaven. So what is Jesus referring to when he speaks
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about the church here to whom a situation is told when it has not otherwise been resolved?
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And the answer is surely that Jesus is speaking here about a local congregation of believers.
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So what I want you to grasp is that there are only two times when the word church is used in
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all of the four gospels, only two times when Jesus used this word from his own lips, and
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on these two occasions, he defined for us what church is,
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one, that it is the body of all believers who have ever lived in every time and in any place,
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those who are in Christ, and two, that the church is a local congregation of believers
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who are called out by God to worship and are sent out by God to serve.
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Now, let me explain the last part of that little statement that I put there before you.
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The word for church in the New Testament is the word ecclesia.
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It’s made up of two words, ecclesia, and these two words put together,
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the root meaning is basically called out. That’s what the word means – called out.
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The word could be used to describe a gathering, an assembly. We might say in our day a congregation.
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And in the Old Testament, God called out an assembly, a congregation of people, to worship him.
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This goes all the way back to the book of Exodus. You remember God said to Pharaoh,
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let my people go. Why? Why are God’s people to be let go? What is God redeeming and saving his people for?
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Answer, let my people go that they may worship me in the desert. I’m calling them out for worship.
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I’m gonna meet with them at Mount Sinai. That’s what God is saying.
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And you remember how God’s people believed the promise and they painted the blood of a sacrificed
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lamb over the lintels, the doorframes of their houses. And God brought them out of slavery
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and took them through the Red Sea. And then he gathered them at the bottom of Mount Sinai,
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where his presence was made known to them. So the great purpose of the Exodus—this is
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foundational to the whole Bible story—is that God is gathering a people for himself,
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a people who will worship him in a real place on the planet. And God says to Moses, Deuteronomy
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chapter 4 verse 10,
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You know that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, but
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in the Greek version of the Old Testament,
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the word that is used in Deuteronomy 4.10 and in many other places for assemble is ecclesia.
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God says,
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Notice how he says that, Exodus Deuteronomy 4 verse 10,
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So God’s pattern for Israel is that his redeemed people, who he has brought out from slavery,
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should enter into this purpose, that they assemble before him,
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in his presence, placing themselves under his word, so that God’s people may learn
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to worship him and learn how to live under his authority. But there’s more.
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The ecclesia – the church –
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of believers called out by God for worship and sent out by God for service.
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See, God’s people in the Old Testament, it goes right back to the beginning,
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they were not only called out by God to worship him, they were sent out by God to serve him.
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That’s why, for example, in Isaiah, in chapter 49, God says to his people,
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I will make you a light to the nations, so that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.
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I’ve redeemed you, not only so that you may worship and live under the nourishment of my word,
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but so that you, as a people, may be sent out. I’m not only going to gather you,
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I’m also going to scatter you. I send you out into the world.
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So, the ecclesia, the assembly, the congregation of the redeemed in the Old Testament
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was called out by God to worship and sent out by God to serve.
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And Jesus takes this word with all its rich background of Old Testament meaning
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and he says, I will build my ecclesia. I will build a community of people called out by God
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to worship and sent out by God to serve. And that ecclesia will be visible on earth,
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Matthew 18, in local congregations of living believers.
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And so writing to the church later in the New Testament, Peter says,
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you are a chosen people. He’s writing to us. You are a royal priest!
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You are a holy nation. You are a people belonging to God!
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For this reason, that you may declare the praise of Him who
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brought you out of darkness and into His wonderful light.
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Once you were not a people, you were just a bunch of individuals, but now you are the people of God.
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Once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.’
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Think of it folks! As a local church, here in this community,
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we have been called out
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by God for worship,
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And we are sent out by God for service
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Jesus says, as the father has sent me
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So I am sending you. So if you want to understand the church, try and get hold of this. John Stott calls it
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our double identity. He says, we come to Christ in worship
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and we go for Christ
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in mission
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Think about this apply it to yourself friends because the church is called out by God because that’s true of the local church
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Not one of us here today is here by accident
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It is God who gathers the church together
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The church is not a self-selecting group of individuals. That’s very important in our individualistic culture
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It’s never you me and a few friends who will choose between us
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The congregation is gathered by God not by us
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The church belongs to Christ and in the New Testament
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He adds to it daily the New Testament says such as He is saving
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So again Christ uses the word church on just two occasions
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Once to refer to all believers and every time in place
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One’s to refer to a local congregation of believers called on by God for worship and sent out by God for service
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You’re listening to open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and message called. What is the church?
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And why does it matter and this has been one of our most popular
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And we’ve bundled it up with the other most popular and requested programs under the title
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Don’t forget you can always come online to our website open the bible dot org uk
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Go back and listen again or catch up with any of missed
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Back to the message now. Here’s Colin
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So again Christ uses the word church on just two occasions
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One’s to refer to all believers in every time and place
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Once to refer to a local congregation of believers called out by God for worship and sent out by God for service
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That is what the word church means on the lips of Jesus. It’s never used any other time
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There’s no other definition that is given to us by the Lord. Jesus Christ and
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Therefore, I’m suggesting to you that that defines the meaning of the word church for us
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So next time you hear someone chatting loosely about Church and you know, or saying hey we’re the Church, you know
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Just think to yourself now which of the two ways in which Jesus used. The word is this person?
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Speaking is is he saying we are all believers everywhere. We’ve ever lived can be that
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Or is this person
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saying that we are actually a local community of believers who are called out for worship and sent out for service or
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Or maybe this person just needs to learn what is meant by Jesus in the word
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church, I
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Hope you’ve got it
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Hope it’ll be clear for you hold. We’ll stay with you
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that you know what the church is
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Because we can’t begin to understand what the church does or what it should do
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until we know what God says
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it is
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One more comment before we come to a conclusion here
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It’s very fascinating to me and surely very significant
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that a local congregation of believers is
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Never described in the New Testament as part of the church
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it always speaks about the church in Corinth or the church in Antioch or
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the church in any particular locality a local gathering of believers gathered by God for worship and for service
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Alan Stibbs who is a very insightful
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Writer has a helpful picture of this
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He points out the fact that if you go out at night
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And you’re looking at the sky, and there’s just a thin sliver of the Moon showing
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You don’t say oh look. There’s part of the moon. You say oh look at the moon, don’t you and
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Let me quote to you from siblings he is so helpful here. He says
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that the part that is visible is
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genuine Moon and
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What is more it is actually though to us invisibly united with all of the rest of the moon?
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He says similarly a local Christian congregation. That’s what we are is
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Genuine Church become visible it is body of Christ and
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and
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invisibly one in him
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With the whole of his body
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Now I want to close then with two very simple questions the first is this
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Do you belong to the church?
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Do you belong to the church
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I’m asking today
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Do you belong?
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to the great company of men and women and boys and girls
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from every age and in every place
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Who confessed with Peter and believers all over the world?
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That Jesus is the Christ the son of the Living God
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Have you come to the place of saying to Jesus your word is truth for me
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Your will is the way for me
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Your grace is life for me
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Have you come to the place of turning away from wickedness in your own life deliberately consciously determinedly and persistently
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Are you ready to come to that place today?
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Would you be ready to come to the Lord Jesus Christ and submit yourself to him today
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Would you be ready to come to this Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God?
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Would you be ready to come to him and say receive me as the rebel who surrenders to you today?
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Would you come to him and say will you embrace me as the skeptic who believes in you today?
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Would you come to him and say Lord Jesus bring me home as the lost sheep who has been found by you
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today
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You belong to the church by being joined to Jesus Christ
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I’m asking are you joined to Jesus Christ in the bond of living union of faith?
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Is it your Savior?
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Is your Lord is his life within you?
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Are you one of those who will be on the last day in that great
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uncountable
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number
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In heaven, I urge you to put your faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God just as Peter did
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those many many years ago and
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As for him, it was the beginning of a whole life of following Jesus
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So it will be for you
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Today, my last question is simply this if you really are a Christian
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Do you see today the privilege of belonging to the church
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If you’re in Christ
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do you see what has happened that God has released you from
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the tyranny of
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Sin and of death and of hell he has set you free through a new
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exodus in Jesus Christ
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And he’s called you out and here. He’s gathered you with brothers and sisters who are around you right now
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To be a community of people for you to be part of a body that
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Worships him and lives under the authority of His Word in a world that cares nothing for him
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Except he used his name as blasphemy
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Do you see that not only has he called you out for worship
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But that wonderfully he is the one who sent you out into the world you say
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oh Pastor I live and work in an incredibly hard place yes, but you’re the light there and
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It may be that if it wasn’t for you there wouldn’t be any light he sent you to be the light there
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Do you see the dignity of that?
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By God’s grace the church has been called out to work
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into worship
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By God’s Spirit the church is sent out to serve
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And the day is coming when by God’s son the whole church will be taken up into Glory
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Don’t you think it is marvellous to be part of that
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one court more done
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The Heidelberg Catechism that sounds heavy doesn’t it hang with me
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It’s an old document that some of you were perhaps brought up with it has some wonderful words in there
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And I’ll tell you just reflecting on these words has moved me to the core of my being this week
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That’s why I read them to you
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It asks the question. What do you believe about the church and
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It gives the answer that a true Christian believer can give today
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What do you believe about the church
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Answer I
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Believe that the Son of God through the Spirit and the Word
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Out of the entire human race
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from the beginning of the world to its end
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gathers
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Protects and preserves for himself a community of people
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chosen for eternal life and
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united in faith and
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Of this community I am and always will be a living member
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I
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Cannot imagine a greater privilege than that
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Of this community
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Redeemed from the entire history of the world and
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From every culture
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By Christ through his shed blood
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Through the word by the spirit of
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this community I am and
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always will be a
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Living
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You’ve been listening to pastor Collins Smith on open the Bible and a message called what is the church?
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This has been one of the most listened to messages of the past year
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We went back and bundle together some of the most popular programs under the title
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Listen of favorites and we’re airing all of those on this station all this month
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If you ever miss one of our programs
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You can always come online to open the Bible org
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UK and there you can listen to any of the previously aired broadcast
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open the Bible is
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supported entirely by our listeners people just like you and
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If that’s something you’ve been considering doing we have an offer for you this month to say
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Thank you for your support
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If you’re able to set up a new payment to the work of open the Bible in the amount of five pounds per month or
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More this month. We’d love to thank you by sending you pastor Collins new book flying through the Bible
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Colin why did you use the flying metaphor to describe this book?
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Well, suppose you were making a visit to the Grand Canyon and exploring it for the first time
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I mean
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I guess you could hike down and you’d get a sense of the depth of the Canyon you could drive around the rim
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you’d get a sense of the length of it, but perhaps the best way to get an overall sense of the vastness and
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Beauty of the Grand Canyon would be to take a flight over it now when it comes to the Bible
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To get a high altitude
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Overview of what the Bible story is all about seems to me to be the best place to begin
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The Bible really is one story
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It begins in a garden that ends in a city and all the way through
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It’s about the Lord Jesus Christ and fly through the Bible is kind of cookies on the bottom shelf to a change the analogy
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it gives an overall picture an
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Introduction to the scripture that I hope will help and encourage people to want to explore more when they get on the graph
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Well we’d love to send you two copies of pastor Colin’s book flying through the Bible
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To say, thank you for setting up a new donation to the work of open the Bible in the amount of five pounds per month
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or more of this month full details on our website and
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You can give on line as well
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for pastor Colin Smith and open the Bible I’m David Pick, and I hope you’ll come and join us again soon
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The hardest trials are not always the ones that hurt the deepest but often those which endure the longest
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How do you keep praying and not give up when you’re in agony of soul?
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Find out next time on open the Bible
