The Church - Gods Original Purpose

Yeah, when Brother Mike gave that announcement, I thought it goes well with my sermon. We can put it into action. I was back at a minister's meeting a couple of weeks ago, and there was a fellow minister, I think he was from Blessed Hope Christian Fellowship, and he asked, he had heard my background, asked some questions, some others had asked me at different times during meals.

What was, you know, they found out that I came from Baptist background, and they wanted to know more about that, and why I'm in the Anabaptists. And one of the questions they asked that I found interesting is, he said, this, he was a younger minister, he said, Brother, what is it we need to do to attract more people like you? Like, what kind of boundaries have we set up that maybe need to be brought down? Culture, and I was, I was kind of getting the concept that he was struggling. Do we need to maybe drop some of our cultural identity? Are there things that maybe would make it easier for you to come in? And I just looked at him.

I think the Lord gave me this answer. It was one of those split-second answers, and I just looked at him, and I said, you just need to love each other. You need to show the love of Christ.

Keep your culture. Don't throw it out. Be different, but show the love of Christ.

And his eyes got really wide. Like, I was making a very profound statement, which didn't feel that profound, but it is really profound. In fact, in the early days of the Christians in Rome, the Romans hated the early Christians.

They would not take part. The early Christians would not take part in their social events. They would not go to their festivals.

They would not go to their gladiator games. They would not go to the theaters. And so therefore, and they would not pinch any incense to Caesar.

And therefore, the Romans hated them because in their minds, they weren't Roman. They weren't full citizens. They weren't acting like they should.

But they did have this statement about the early Christians. They said, see how they love one another. You know, there was a statement.

There was a testimony there of love for each other. And so this morning, the burden that was on my heart, to preach was, I titled it, The Church. And I put God's original purpose.

Now, maybe that's not the best title. I don't know. But I had heard another brother preaching a sermon when I was going back to Idaho.

And he was going through and showing how the church was God's purpose. And it wasn't some afterthought. And that stuck with me.

So I want to take a really high overview thought here and think a little bit about what do we exist for? What is the purpose of even living? Why did God put us on this planet? As I think about Catherine and she's in pain and agony as she sat there in that office and heard the words, you have cancer. And you better get your house in order because you may not live much longer. And I think about Catherine as I think about those thoughts and she grapples with that.

And as she lays there and thinks back of her life, as we all will do, each one of us, it says, are appointed once to die. And we will all lay there and once think back when you hear those words, maybe it will be for you, cancer, maybe, maybe it'll be a split second for it like it was for Amos. But when you think back, what kind of regrets will you have in your life? What things will matter to you in that moment? What things will you say, I'm sure glad I did versus what things will you think, that was a waste of time? And what things are God's purpose, his plan, his goals for us? We think through the beginning of time.

We think through how God created the earth. He created Adam and Eve and he started history and he had Noah and then he had Abraham and then he had Moses and then he had the children of Israel and ultimately Jesus came on the scene. And then he had the church and now eternity.

What is God doing? What is his objective? If you would turn to me, with me, to Matthew chapter 21 and I want to look at a parable here this morning. In verse 33, the parable of the vineyard, Jesus says this here, another parable, there was a certain householder which planted a vineyard and he hedged it round about and he digged a wine press in it. He built a tower and he led it to husband men and went to a far country.

And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husband men that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husband men took his servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first and they did unto them likewise.

But last of all, he sent unto them his son saying, they will reverence my son. But when the husband men saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and let us seize on his inheritance.

And they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard and they killed him. When the Lord therefore of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those husband men? And they said unto him, he will miserably destroy those wicked men and will let or rented out his vineyard unto other husband men, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus said to them, did you ever or never read in the scripture, the stone, which the builders rejected the same as become the head of the corner.

This is the Lord's doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof.

And whoever will fall on this stone will be broken, but on whoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and the Pharisees had heard this parable, they perceived that he spake of them. Notice this, this parable.

It says here that he planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it. He took a lot of time to set up this vineyard.

He had a plan. He had a goal in this vineyard. He was hoping it bring forth fruit.

He even set up a place to process the grapes once they were to full fruition. He even put a wall or a hedge around the outside, possibly to keep animals out, to keep robbers out. He built a tower that they could keep an eye on things, keep an eye for people coming from far away, maybe keep an eye on for fires to protect his vineyard.

He put a lot of effort and thought into this vineyard. But then the parable goes on that every time he would want to come to get his fruit and send somebody for the fruit, they would kill him. They would, they would beat him up.

And finally he sent his own son and they killed him. And Jesus made a statement. He said, you have rejected the cornerstone.

And therefore, because you haven't brought forth fruit, the kingdom will be taken from you and given to another nation that will produce fruit. I believe this is a picture into God's overall plan of what he was trying for. He wants fruit.

He wants workers to be working in his field and bringing forth fruit. And over and over, when he came for it, no fruit was to be had. And therefore, even after they killed Jesus, it says, God took the kingdom, this picture of this parable of vineyard, and he gave it to a whole other nation.

Now, who is that other nation? Anybody have a thought? Who's the other nation? The church. Peter said, you are a peculiar people. You are a holy nation.

The kingdom of God has been taken from the children of Israel and given to the church. We are grafted into the vine. Why? Because they didn't bring forth fruit.

But what does that show that our God's desire is? His desire is that the church would be brought in to bring forth fruit. Kind of like when you plant a garden, what is your desire at the end of the harvest time? What's your desire that'll come forth? Vegetables, right? When you plant an orchard, what do you expect to come from it? Fruit. God has a desire, has a plan, and it's called the church.

And we have been given the kingdom of God for a purpose, to bring forth fruit for his glory. As I was pondering yesterday and thinking, this burden came on me. I couldn't help but think about a group that Timothy and Dennis and myself are part of.

It's called Search and Rescue. It's a called out group of people that are dedicated for a purpose, and they are called out from regular society. They have meetings.

They have bylaws. They have address code. They have minimum requirements.

They have trainings. They have committees. Very interesting.

Very similar to the church. Now, let me ask you this. Somebody be honest with me.

What is Search and Rescue's main purpose to Search and Rescue? Find the lost. In your darkest hour, can you imagine, and this has happened, we heard stories of people out in the Jefferson wilderness with their children and got separated from their children. And they come looking, looking frantically.

They finally come down. And this was back in the day, the story that was told us before cell phones. They had to come out miles to get to a phone.

The evening was coming on. Their children weren't dressed for the evening. Can you imagine the terror you would go through thinking, my child is lost in the Jefferson wilderness.

I've got to find somebody to help me. And can you imagine if you called Search and Rescue and they were all too busy to come? You know, they were enjoying the comforts of their home, their bed. And let me tell you, Dennis and Timothy can attribute to this, the pages always come in at the worst time.

I mean, sometimes I'm just getting into bed with my wife and it's looking so cozy and the page goes off. Somebody's lost out here. A series or even worse is like three in the morning.

But they come in, it seems like the worst times. Yeah, it tends to happen in the worst weather too. And can you imagine, you're the parent, you're the one separated from your child.

You call up Search and Rescue and you're hoping they're going to come, but they're too busy and they're in their beds. They're too busy because they've got other things they need to do. But hey, they've come to all the meetings.

You know, they're keeping the requirements. They've done their training, but they're too busy to do Search and Rescue as the main purpose. And I want to make this parallel.

Maybe it's a Jeremy parable. You know, we as a church, we have requirements. We have a dress code.

I mean, why do I wear certain clothes on Sunday morning and not others? We have a dress code, right? We like to look a certain way. We have a dress code for our ladies. I brought this to illustrate.

This is the dress code for Search and Rescue. They have a logo on the back. They have what we are.

They have strips so you shine in the dark. Now, you know what's funny about this? It's less about the clothes and more about the confidence that it gives the parents. Think about, okay, I'll give you a story.

We were all out. Right after Academy, we got called out to these kayakers who flipped over in the water. And we were all new, you know.

None of us had any dress clothes to look like Search and Rescue. And they stationed us along this creek where they thought these people drowned. And they said, we're going to let all the water down.

And as the water, we're going to cut it off from up above. And as the water goes down, watch for bodies. So here we are, all stationed along the river, just sitting there for hours.

Well, the family was there. And they didn't like what they saw. They didn't see people in professional attire.

They just saw people sitting, just sitting, doing nothing. And one guy was walking up and down, cursing and yelling, these people know nothing about what they're doing. And I realized that in his grief, in his fear, he wanted somebody that he could look to, that he could say, those people are trained.

They wear the right clothes. You know, wearing the right clothes puts off kind of a, these guys are professional. You know, they show up with the right garb.

Your heart goes, I can trust these guys have been trained. And it's just something we do naturally. And so those guys wanted real trained people.

And you would too, if your loved one was lost, you would want people who have gone out and learned, and they teach this, how to look at the grass and see shine and say, somebody has walked right through here. I remember learning to look for a footprint, just a little bit of a rock move, and we put a flag in and jump to the next one. Okay.

And try to find a path. They want somebody who's spent hours to train a dog to go search this person out. They want professionals, right? And in the same way, they have their meetings, they have their dress code, they had their committees, they had their special gear.

But what really matters at the end of the day, what really, really matters is, do they show up to search? Do they show up on the scene? When that three o'clock call comes, do they get out of their beds and come? So what is God's purpose? Here we are the church, we're like this other worldly organization in many ways. What is God's purposes? Why do we dress like we do? Why do we come here and have sermons? Why do we sing songs? Is that the end? Is that the goal? That we just simply sing and hear sermons really good and feel good and go home? Is that what it's about? When we are laying on our death beds, when we hear the news, you have cancer, what things will you go back and think in your life? You're glad you did. Will you be glad that you focused on your hobbies a little more, that you focused on your work a little more, that you focused on your yard a little more, that you focused on your vehicles a little more? Whatever it is, fill in the blank.

Or will you look back and will you look at your life and be thankful for the places you did what God wanted? Here's another question. Are you excited about what God is excited about? God has a desire. God has an excitement.

He has a desire, and we read it here in this parable, from the beginning of time, that he would have himself a people, a special, his own people. He wants individuals, but he wants a people, just like you want search and rescue to show up. You don't want just one guy to show up.

You want the whole team to show up. You want them to roll in with their big command vehicle. You want the guy to get out with the walkie-talkies, pass him out, GPS, drones.

You want an organization, right? Don't you, if that happened? God wants the same thing. He wants a people on this earth, corporately, that are about him. Jesus prayed it.

He said, thy kingdom come. Remember, we just read the kingdom is being taken from you and given to another. For what reason? Because they will bear fruit.

They will bring glory and praise to my name. And that's why Jesus said, thy kingdom come. And he said this to his own disciples.

He says, I will build my church. That's what was important to Jesus. That's what he knew was important to his father.

So who is that? Who is the church? And what is the purpose of this nation? The purpose of search and rescue was to find people and then restore them with medical, if needed, to life and bring them back. What is the purpose of the church? Turn to 1 Peter. I can already see I'm going to go way too long.

So you can pray for me how to cut this down. Actually, Ephesians, I jumped way ahead. Ephesians, go back to Ephesians, please.

Chapter three. The first purpose I found as I studied this out was in Ephesians three and verse nine through 11. Now it's a little bit difficult to read it in King James.

Sometimes with King James English, we miss some of the wording is not how we word it and we miss it. So I'm going to read it here in King James, but I'm going to read it in, I don't remember what other translation this was, but, and to make all men see verse nine and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world have been hidden God who created all things by Jesus Christ to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heaven, heavenly places might be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God. Okay.

So in vert it, let me read this to you. Just, just think about, let's close your eyes for a minute and listen to what I'm saying. I, I was chosen.

Paul says to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the creator of all things has kept secret from the beginning God's purpose. And all this was, was to use the church to display, display his wisdom in its rich variety. You can look up.

He just said that his God's plan was to use the church to display his wisdom. Now in the King James is manifold. That's the idea.

I remember my grandma had a prism and it would hang up in the, up in the window and the sun would hit it. Have you ever seen these? And it would shine light in all kinds of directions because it had all these facets and there'd be pretty rainbow colors everywhere. That's kind of like God, the manifold wisdom of God, the many facets.

You think of a manifold on an engine, it's got many tubes coming out, right? Of the side of the engine that goes to the one exhaust, the many faceted. So God wants to display two. Did you catch to who, who does he want to display this to, to the unseen rulers and authorities in heavenly places? Did you hear that? God wants to use the church.

This is God's purpose. Okay. We live in the scene.

He lives in the unseen. We live in the physical. He lives in the spiritual.

He says, I want to use the church to display my many faceted wisdom to the unseen authorities. We don't even comprehend that, but we can at least know this much that God wants to use the church to display his wisdom. And even to the spiritual principalities, I'm going to write this down on the board, because I feel like we're going to get lost in all these purposes, but I wrote here to display his, I'll just leave out manifold wisdom and notice in that verse 12, it says that by your good words, which they shall behold, they'll glorify God in the day.

Actually that's Peter. Sorry. I missed that.

Okay. So let's go to Peter. Now we'll read that.

And maybe let me, while you're turning to first Peter chapter two, let me make this quick comment. You ever have children as a family and as you raise them and you take them out when they all fight, you're kind of embarrassed. You just want to go home.

You don't want anybody to see it anymore, but when they all get along and they say, yes, sir, to people, and they say, yes, sir. And yes, ma'am. And, and they're really kind and sweet.

There's a certain pride that goes on in a parent's heart. And he says, I mean, you have to resist the pride, right? But there's a pride that happens that you're like, and people come up and say, your children are, I remember as children, people come up and pay for our meal because, uh, they tell my dad, your children are so well-behaved. There's something that's just amazing about that.

And God wants the same thing. He wants that praise that comes to him when people look and see, look at this, this, these people, they love each other. Okay.

So he wants to display his manifold wisdom and first Peter chapter two, verse nine. He says, you are a chosen generation. You are a Royal priesthood.

You are a Holy nation, a peculiar people. That means a, a special treasured bought people, his own, that you should show forth the praises or this word could be the virtues, uh, the idea of his power. You should show forth his power, his PR the praises of him who had called you out of darkness in to his marvelous light, which in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

And then he begs them abstain from fleshly lusts like pilgrims and strangers. And then jump down to verse 12, that when they will speak against you, like the Romans did of the early church as evil doers, he says, but they will see your good works and they will glorify God on the day of visitation. That's a purpose of the church that, that as we are now a people, as people look in and they see, look at the power that God is doing among these people.

They will glorify God. So I wrote for the second purpose here. We can show his power or as it says in King James is praises.

And I'm going to put in parentheses, notice it said in verse 12 by good works. What's the third first Timothy chapter three, verse 15, just the end of the verse there. He says at the very last part of the verge, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of truth.

The church is God's pillar and ground of truth. Do we believe that? Do we actually believe that like when you're going down the road and you see the police station, you know, some countries you see the police station and you think, who corrupts stay away from that. But here we drive and see the police station.

I'd say comfort. I say, Hey, they're keeping disorderly people in conduct. They're keeping them under wraps.

Right. And, and I think to myself, there's an orderly place where people are, are keeping things under control. I would drive by the library and I think there's a place I can find truth and information.

And I can, I could learn history. And when I get to the church, what do I think there it's the pillar and the ground of truth. So one of God's purposes, the third purpose here is that we would be a pillar and ground just means foundation.

I don't know if I spelled that right. And we know this because Jesus is the truth, right? We're, we're all about Jesus. So therefore we know the truth.

We know Jesus. Chapter, first Corinthians, please chapter 14. And we're going to look in verse 24 and 25.

So, so far we've seen that we display his wisdom to the principalities. We show his power. We are a pillar and foundation of the truth.

And then, um, first Corinthians 14, verse 24, this is speaking about a church meeting and he's talking about how it should be done decently in an order and, and all the gifts should be taking part. But notice he says in verse 24, if everyone prophesies, and he's saying this instead of everyone speaking in tongues, and there come in one that does not believe or one that is unknowledgeable or unlearned, this person that came in is convinced or he's convicted of all. He is judged of all and notices what his response is.

And thus the secrets of his heart, the thoughts and intents of his heart are made manifest. And what does he say? So falling down as his face, he will worship God and report that God is in you of a truth. I put here number four, a place where they can see God.

I'll just put the world can see God and I'll just put convicted. Notice these people, they come in, these people are speaking the oracles of God among themselves, and they fall in their face and worship him and say, God is in you among you. And they say his own hearts and his own thoughts come out to where he realized his conviction before the Lord.

He's convicted the purpose of the church. We're displaying his wisdom. We're showing his power.

We're a pillar, a place people can find truth. We're a place the world can see God and be convicted. Remember, Jesus said, they will know you're my disciples because the love you have for one another.

Ephesians chapter five, and we're going to look in verse 25, Ephesians five, 25, husbands love your wives. Even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that he may sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but it should be holy and without blemish. I wrote here for the fifth thing, God's purpose is that he may have a bride.

Now, do you newly married people like your bride? Do you know that? Remember that fresh feeling of, maybe this could be my bride and the whole excitement of, will she say yes? And, and all that. There's, there's something exciting about having a bride and, and waking up every day and she's right there again. Right? He wants a bride just like we want a bride.

He put that in our hearts for, to give a picture of what he wants. He wants a bride that is what? Pure, radiant, without spot or without blemish, that is pure, holy. That's what he wants.

And then the last verse here, second Corinthians chapter six and verse 16, God says at the end of the verse here, I will dwell in them. I will walk in them. I will be their God and they will be my people.

And I put, I will dwell in them. I will walk in them. They will, I will be their God and they will be my people.

He wants us to be the hands, his hands and his feet. As I look at these verses and I think about God's overall purpose, I can't help but see that the church is a big deal to him. And I find it interesting that, how many of you have ever heard of Harold S. Bender? Ever heard of him? Okay.

He, years ago, I think it was in the forties, he did an essay about what are the distinct differences between Anabaptists and the other Protestants. What set this reformation, this radical reformation off versus some of the other views. And he boiled it down to three things.

Number one, Christianity is about discipleship. Many in the Protestant world of that day, back when Luther was around and others, took it to soul up faith. They took it to the idea that if you just believe, but the Anabaptists said, no, it's about discipleship.

It's about a way. It's about a lifestyle. It's about walking with God.

And so they wanted it, the essence of Christianity is discipleship. I find that interesting. That's still very important to us today, isn't it? It's not discipleship, something we constantly think about and that's important to us.

Number two, anybody want to guess? You won't be wrong. I mean, I won't get upset. Okay.

Obedience. Number two, the essence of the church is about brotherhood. And number three, to love and not resist our enemies.

But I found it interesting. The second one was about the church. Now in the Anabaptist day, back in the 1500s, during that reformation time, there was many ideas of what this brotherhood should look like.

The Catholics made it an institution. It's this big thing. You know, you just go, you do your mass, you take your tablet or wafer, and you support the organization.

As long as you keep in good graces, the institution goes on. That was a model of the church. The Lutheran said, sola scriptura, we're here to give you the word of God.

Come here. We'll preach you the word. We'll disseminate the word.

It's about the word of God. Come here. We'll give you the word of God.

That was the idea of the church. The Pietists, which came a little later, said, the church is an avenue for you to come and you to live out your personal relationship with God all week long. And it's about individualism.

You know, each one of us need to know God. And some Pietists would even go so far to say, you know, refrain from society, pull away, stay away from as many people as you can, and just you and God, commune with God. Some were called mystics.

And some of their writings are really amazing. But the Anabaptists said, it's not those things. They said, it's about a people who come together and through discipleship, learning from one another, learning from the Holy Spirit, create a society of people.

We would know it as the brotherhood that is showing God and the principalities and this world, get this, what society could be like if they were under the Lordship of Christ. And I like that model. I think that model is what Jesus was intending.

I think that's the model that we're looking for. I have here, it's like a bee versus a beehive. You ever look at bees? They're pretty amazing creatures.

But is it the bee that's amazing or is it the beehive that's amazing? One single bee, interesting. But when you watch bees as a whole, working together, dying to self, I mean, these things expend their energy to further the good of the hive. They will, when heat comes, they will all sit there and bat their wings to keep the hive cool.

When it's cold, they'll all hang together and act like a big blanket to keep the place warm. They will expend their energy for the sake of the hive. I think what we look at when we see that is we see structure.

We see unity. We see organization. We see them working together for the greater good.

Is that not what the Lord wanted with the church? Is it not what he wanted? If you remember that passage, that parable of the vineyard, he took the vineyard because they weren't bearing fruit, right? And he gave it to a nation that would produce fruit. It's about a fruit test. Jesus gave us some examples of a fruit test.

Let's see if we can do it together. What's going to be the fruit test on judgment day? Now, only one of you can give one answer, and then that's it. Somebody else.

In Matthew 25, when all the nations are brought before him, what will be the things that Jesus will say, you did these things or you didn't do these things? Just name one of them. Okay, we'll put prison, hungry, sick. That's, I think, in James, but thank you.

We'll put that over here because I was thinking of talking about that too. That's over here in James, but that's good too. Okay, what else? Can we get these right? I said naked.

Yes, naked. There's two more. I'm making a big deal because I don't want us to forget it.

No, but that's a good thing to do. Yes, I think it is a stranger, and one more. I see Roger Hertzler.

He's whispering it. I know. I set up a rule.

Oh, when? Anybody else? Okay, you can cheat. You can look at Matthew 25 if you want. What is it? Thirsty.

Did we get the stranger right? These are the things the Lord is going to look from us, and not just individually, but as a church because He wants to see a people, a group doing these things. Listen to this. When the early Anabaptists were being baptized, a Protestant came on the scene to watch one of them be baptized, and this is the statement, the committal he had to make.

The question was asked him whether they, the person being baptized, if necessary, would require it, would devote all their possessions to the service of the brotherhood, and would they not fail any member that is in need if they were able to render aid. Would you be baptized with that clause? It's pretty strong. That's a pretty strong commitment that you would, what did it say? You would, if necessary, required it, would devote all your possessions to the service of the brotherhood.

Remember, the Romans hated the early Christians, but they said, see how they love one another. That was their testimony. So I'm going to ramp this down here.

What my goal in this is to realize that the church is not some afterthought. It's not some add-on. It was God's purpose.

It was his plan. Jesus said, I will build my church. It was the way he would receive glory and honor.

It was the vessel in which he would receive that wine. If you remember the parable, he was looking for what? He was looking for the fruit of his vineyard, and they wouldn't give it to him. So he finally just gave the kingdom to somebody else that would give him the fruit.

The church is made up of each one of us walking with God. And so it is about our own individual walk with God. We're nothing as a church if we're not walking with God.

But it's no different if you spend day in and day out reading search and rescue books and training and all that. But then when the time comes to do search and rescue, we don't do it, right? Meetings are good. Sermons are good.

Dressing up is good. Singing is good. But if they are not accomplishing the ultimate purpose of God, of what he wants that fruit to come from us, then will we at our day of our final days of death look back and regret? So many churches in the book of Revelation lost their way.

So many lost their first love, became lukewarm, had a name that they had power, but they didn't. They're dead. So let's do this.

Let's do a little experiment. I want everybody to close your eyes, and I want you to ask yourself, are you excited about the things God's excited about? He's excited about his church. And on a scale of one to ten, just be honest, on a scale to one to ten, how excited are you about the church and his bride? And then I want you to ask this.

I want you to ask the Lord if there's one thing you could change. Maybe you don't know of anything. Ask him to show you what's that one thing.

Maybe you don't even have a desire for the church. You could ask him to give you the desire. Okay, you may look up.

I'm hoping that if all you remember from this sermon, if all you remember, whatever the Lord just spoke to you, whatever the Lord showed you just now, that you would take that home, because that's far more important, that you would go home and not just be convicted, because convicted is good. But what are we going to do about it? What are we going to change? I guess another way to say this is, how are we matching up? How are we doing as the church? Are we fulfilling God's ultimate purpose? Are we giving him the fruit that he's desiring? I'm going to ask the song leader if we could sing it, but I want to point out one, the second verse. The first verse talks about loving thy kingdom.

I love your church. I love the walls that you've set up around your church. I see that this church is the apple of your eye, and it's even graven on your hand.

And then verse two, for her my tears are falling, and for her my prayers are ascending. To her my cares and my toils are given. The things I'm concerned about, the things that I put my energy towards, my focus is towards the church.

Till toils and care shall end, beyond that my highest joy, I praise her heavenly ways, her sweet communion, her solemn vows, her hymns of love and praise. I guess my question is, can you sing that? And is that truly where you're at? Is that truly where you're at? And if not, then spend some time with the Lord. Ask him to give you that love for his church.

Thank you for your time.