"I Will Treasure Church Membership as a Gift" Rev. Reginald W. Sharpe Jr. Wednesday, July 20, 2022

2:13 So thank you for sowing. I pray you don't lack anything because of your sacrifices. God bless you. Tonight we're in Iowa Treasure Church Membership as a gift. Being a part of a church is a gift. It's a gift from God. And anytime you get a gift, you should treasure that gift. You should have some joy about that gift, some appreciation for that gift. Don't just act like it's a given. No, it's a gift. Church is a gift created by the Almighty God, built by Jesus Christ. Christ is the head of the church and we are part of the body of Christ we're connected to the body of Christ and that is a gift so he talks about in this book I'm gonna read a little bit of this but but the Lord gave me something that's not in the book for this one and I want to share what I got fresh off the press because yeah it's gonna be a blessing to you for real for real for real for real so here it is here it is tom rayner writes this how scripture demonstrates uh vividly that the local church is important this is why he says it consider the fact that the majority of the new testament books are written about or to local churches the book of acts mentions no less than 18 local churches consider also that the new testament books written directly are written directly to local churches. The book of Romans was written to a church. First and second Corinthians, the church of Corinth. The Galatians was written to a church, the church of Galatia. Ephesians was written to the church of Ephesus. The book of Philippi was, well, Philippians was written to the church of Philippi.

3:56 Colossians was written to a church. The book of Thessalonians, first and second Thessalonians was written to a church. Four of Paul's books were written to individual local churches first and second timothy titus and philemon or philemon the bible gives a clear message of the roles of individuals in specific local churches in other words don't tell me that you are spiritual and not religious that's why you don't go to church it is a part of our experience with god to be with people i know we live in a world where everybody wants to claim they're introverted I'm anti-social I don't want to be a part of that group I don't want to I don't want to I don't want to but understand that the local church half of the new testament was written to people who are in community together as a local church which means then oh fresh revelation off ding ding ding ding ding listen sometimes God does not speak to the individual he speaks to the institution so if I'm not a part of the institution if I'm not in a place in position to get the word from God that God sends to the church I can miss what God is saying because I'm content being by myself this is so good and I know I know y'all don't get excited about stuff like this but but that's something that you got to understand this whole individualized specialized sanitized spiritual walk everybody's on you burning sages around your house and got incense burning you got all your clothes stinking because you got candles going and you done put a dream catcher over your head because it better catch the bad dream you can do all of those individual spiritual practices that you want to that works for you let it work but don't let it work at don't let that work so well for you that you forget it's important to be a part of the body of christ to be in the community we still need each other that's we've been singing all the way through this series i need you you need me you are important to me we're part of the body of christ and that's a part of the gift

6:04 the first gift that the church offers is a gift of community somebody write that down the gift of community I'm not by myself I don't have to go through life by myself a few weeks ago Miss Tracy's mother passed she's a faithful uh part of our faithful member of our church she leads the ambassadors ministry and people showed up for her a lot of folk didn't know her mother individually but because Miss Tracy was going through we showed up for Miss Tracy do you know how lonely life is when you're not a part of a community that can show up for you when you're going through life's worst and that's what the bible says forsake not the assembly of of of one and another together here's what the message bible says i just gave you the remix version but here's what the message bible says i'm gonna start at verse 22 and go all the way to verse 25 where the real juice is so let's do it full of belief confident that we're presentable inside and out let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going he always keeps his word let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out watch this not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on especially as we see the big day approaching meaning we all go in heaven one day hopefully the end is coming but until the end shows up we're going to worship together and we're going to keep encouraging together and i like this and we're going to be inventive we're going to create ways to encourage each other to love each other and to help out each other the church has given me the gift of community i don't know where i would be without the church my home church the greater travelers rest baptist church the house open lanta i don't know where i would have been as a young man not having people pour back into my life I didn't even plan to go here, but literally I got a call just a few days ago about one of my former Sunday school teachers.

8:06 We back in that time had every every child stayed in their age group and their grade level. So if you're in preschool, you go to Sunday school with the preschoolers. You're in second grade. You go to Sunday school with the second graders. Well, my fifth grade Sunday school teacher was Miss Norma Moore. Miss Norma Moore had one of those high soprano voices Elder Vassar she used to lead order my steps and hit all the notes she's saying he lives I mean to him he lives and hit all the notes there's a bright side somewhere and hit all those high notes that had this amazing voice but her spirit was more beautiful than her voice and Miss Norma Moore used to nickname me when I was in fourth or fifth grade y'all preacher man I wasn't nobody's preacher but she saw something in me and that lady called me her preacher man and she just passed a few days ago and I think about people like that who spoke life into me I think about people who would see me and they didn't know I was broke but they said baby put this in your pocket you trying to finish school you get more house here's twenty dollars it's the gift of community when I've had to bury loved ones deacons showed up deacon wives showed up people showed up somebody say the gift of community come on come on say it with me the gift of community but not only is the church a gift because it gives us the gift of community it gives us the gift of confirmation have you ever been going through something in your life showed up to church and it's like the pastor or the preacher have been all in your business like somebody let your email get loose let your text thread get loose let your group chat get loose and this is if the preacher is speaking exactly what you need on time we call that rhema r-h-e-m-a rhema it means it was right on point it couldn't have been more on point if you made it sharper it was on point because the church gives us the gift of confirmation often I'm not saying something new I'm just confirming what the Lord has already

10:13 told you in private but sometimes a song can confirm something that's been wrestling in your spirit the preached word can confirm something somebody who's not even on the pulpit can speak to you that Sunday at church and say something to you and it's a word of confirmation the spirit has already released it but you just needed confirmation i'm moving in the right direction or i'm going in the wrong direction but the church gives us the gift of community the church gives us the gift of confirmation the church also gives us the gift watch this of education all through the bible we keep seeing jesus in some temple teaching folks teaching his disciples the bible says love the lord your god with all your heart your mind and your soul we don't like that mind part but when you come to church you can't leave your brain in the parking lot no you are a whole person you are trichotomous being which means the church ought to have something for your mind the church ought to have something for your body and the church ought to have something for your soul so when you come to church you ought to grow my pastor Dr. E. Dewey Smith Jr. used to open the doors of the church and ask this question do you go to church and then he would ask are you growing where you're going if you are not growing where you're going it may be time for you to go somewhere else you are you growing mentally do you walk in church and you hear something you've never heard before you're able to consider something and you may not always agree with what's being said but are you at stretched to grow it's the gift of education matter of fact that's what we call some of the ministries right here the christian education department because the ministries at our church are supposed to be teaching you deeper insights and revelation of the word or helping you be a better person in the world either i'm gonna learn more about the word or i can be a better person in the world which is why I don't run away from subjects about suicide I don't run away from subjects about mental health I don't run away from subjects about politics or controversial subjects

12:23 because you've got to grow we've got to grow and we ought to be able to dip into God's word and say now Lord we haven't reached the bottom of this ocean but while we're waiting trying to get as much as we can speak to us God so I can grow speak to me so I could be a better father I want to go to a church where the men's ministry makes me a better man. The women's ministry makes me a better woman. The music ministry pours into my life. The men's ministry makes me a better human. I can go to church no matter who's preaching, no matter who's singing and I grow, I learn, I'm stretched, I expand, I evolve, I change. There's a transformation and be not conformed to this world, Romans 12, but be ye transformed by the what? The renewing of your mind a good church gives the gift of community a good church gives the gift of confirmation a gift a good church gives the gift of what education but here's the last one here's the last one i want to share with you a good church a healthy church gives the gift of corporate worship oh yes corporate worship corporate worship i ought to be able to come in the house of the lord and i'm able to worship God together yeah I heard Richard Foster back when we were walking through that book in January do y'all remember one of the spiritual disciplines was worship and he said when you come to worship you come in community you come in unity because God has not just been good to one of us God's been good to all of us and something happens in worship when everybody comes together and starts reflecting on what God has done in our lives. I'm about to jump out of this seat, but I'm trying to stay seated. I asked him to look up for me. What was the scripture? Oh, magnify the Lord with me. And in Psalm 34 verse three, put it up on the screen. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. There's something powerful that happens when we do it

14:28 together now we can do the individualized worship sometime I sing in the car by myself and I and sometimes I worship by myself and sometimes I can thank God by myself but do you know how powerful it is when the whole and you felt it if you've ever been in church and it happens you can feel the shift in the room because somebody on the left side shouts out hallelujah somebody on the right side shout out glory and all these testimonies and all these miracles and all these different life experiences start coming back to our memory and worship becomes ignited worship becomes powerful because we're doing it together let the redeemed of the lord say so whom god has redeemed from the hand of the enemy that's the whole scripture so if you're in worship you're receiving a gift that i'm not just thanking god by myself i'm doing it together i want to read psalm 100 to you because because I want to just paint this picture of how powerful corporate worship can be I'm in the message bible psalm 100 and then we're gonna wrap up watch this on your feet now applaud God bring a gift of laughter sing yourself into his presence know this God is God and God God he made us we didn't make him we're his people his well-tended sheep enter with the password thank you make yourselves at home talking praise thank him worship him for God is sheer beauty all generous in love loyal always and forever always and forever I can't sing I ain't got no voice today but but that's what it is when i come into god's presence it gets better when we do it together and i think there's a song we sing around here fellowship let's do it together let's praise together let's worship together let's learn together let's grow together let's give together let's work and serve and be the kingdom of god together because we are given the

16:38 gift of corporate worship and there's nothing like when people come together on one accord Matter of fact, that's when Pentecost happens, but I got to stop because I'm about to get happy. That's when Pentecost happens. When we all get together and get on one accord, then the wind, the rushing mighty wind of the Holy Ghost can come in and do some miraculous things. When we understand that we are given the gift of corporate worship when we come to church. Oh, yeah. I will treasure church membership because it is a gift. I'm given the gift of community. I'm given the gift of confirmation. I'm given the gift of education and I'm given the gift of corporate worship. I hope this blesses you and I hope you understand whatever church you are a member of. You're not just there because this is the popular club to be at. It's not a social club.

17:33 No, no, no. It's a gift. It's a gift that God gave you to make your life better, to make your life brighter, to make your life more meaningful and more necessary, more consequential. So never take advantage of the church of God because nobody's perfect, including the pastor, including all the people. But we do serve a perfect God and we can serve him as perfect as we can. I want you to lift your hands tonight as we close out this series, because this is actually the last chapter of the book right there where you are. Lift your hands tonight. And I want you to lift your hands as high as you see yourself going. I want you to lift them high and repeat after me. God, I thank you for my church. Thank you for the gift of my church. Thank you that I am not alone because I have a church home. I pray, God, that you use me to add value to my church.

18:30 may my church be better because I'm a member in Jesus name amen somebody ought to give God praise for your church come on if you love your church you ought to give God praise for your church ain't nothing wrong with saying hey I'm proud of the church I'm a part of I thank God for my church this is the sixth and final pledge let's read it together and it's coming up on the screen This membership is a gift. When I received the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, I became a part of the body of Christ. I soon thereafter identified with a local body and was baptized. And now I am humbled and honored to serve and to love others in our church. I pray that I will never take my membership for granted, but see it as a gift and an opportunity to serve others and to be a part of something so much greater than any one person or member. And that's the pledge that you're making when you agree to be a member of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, a.k.a. Fellowship Chicago.

19:40 I thank God for you tonight. If you need Christ and you don't have a personal walk with Jesus Christ, I want you to right now to know that you can join online. Send us a text. Contact us. It's right there at the bottom of the screen. Whichever way, send us an email. You can text us. Whatever way is most convenient for you. But more than the gift of the church is the gift we've all been given. And that is the gift of salvation. And through the church, we can access that gift of salvation. I want you to have that gift today if you don't know Christ come on if you need an opportunity to sow again and this word blessed you it ministered to you it spoke to you go ahead and so right now go ahead and so go ahead and so the seven ways to give are coming up on the screen I love your fellowship I'm grateful to be a part of my church I went to a church conference once while the seven ways to give is up just listen to me I'm just talking I went to a conference one time and it was a bunch of pastors there and the leader that was teaching us asked us a question and the question was if you were not the pastor of your church would you want to go there and the challenge was well if the answer is no then don't stop working until your church becomes a place that you would want to be a member of and i want you to know something i would proudly be a member of fellowship chicago even if i wasn't a pastor that's the kind of work we're doing that's the kind of love, that's the kind of fire that's the kind of intentionality and compassion and worship and preaching that goes on in this place. I would be a member if I wasn't a pastor and that's a major thing to be able to say and I hope that you're proud of your church and you're proud to call this place home I thank you for giving. If you accepted Christ or joined the church tonight, welcome in