An Independent Church

Speaker 2: All right. Chef, 20, if you're there and you wouldn't mind standing in honor of reading God's word, we're going to read verse number twenty eight. Of course, a passage that we looked at in our study of acts, but we'll be looking at it again a little bit tonight. Acts Chapter 20 version or twenty eight, the Bible says take heed. Therefore under yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers to feed the Church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood. Let's pray, dear father, help us now as we look into your word, please give me the the words you me to say of the folks that are here to listen and apply with you here to their lives for in Jesus name. I pray.

Speaker 5: Amen. Thank you. May be seated. All right.

Speaker 2: So I love you realize this or not. You probably do. But you are sitting in an independent

Speaker 5: fundamental

Speaker 2: Baptist church. Yeah, that's exactly like elicit a whole bunch of enthusiasm, I understand. How many of you have seen maybe a news story or an article or or maybe you've heard some kind of derogatory statements about the i f b movement?

Speaker 5: Anybody. You guys got to get out more. I mean,

Speaker 2: you just look at Google B movement and half the things that pop up are going to be negative. I think there's a little bit of a misunderstanding about what it means to be an independent fundamental Baptist church. It almost feels like it's a bad word or something. Or perhaps maybe we we should all just be embarrassed and ashamed of the fact that we're involved in this kind of church. You may talk to your family members or your friends or your social circle about being at an IFB church, and they might treat you like you're in a cult. But there I was laughing. He knows it's true. I believe with the proper perspective, being a part of an independent fundamental Baptist church ought to be one of the most liberating experiences ever. I also believe this is only realized when we actually live up to our name,

Speaker 5: independent Fundamental

Speaker 2: Baptist Church. Unfortunately, the meaning of our name is lost when we start to deviate from how we identify ourselves. Just because you identify as an infant, fundamental Baptist Church doesn't mean you're actually doesn't mean you actually are one. Not everyone that says to Jesus, Lord Lord is actually a Christian. Not every independent fundamental Baptist church is actually living up to its name, not actually living by what it claims to be. Names ought to have meaning. Otherwise, they're worthless. Imagine your dismay if you walked into the Tractor Supply and found that they didn't have tractors parts, nor did they have supplies like, what's the deal? You'd be confused when you go to Home Depot, you expect to find a depot

Speaker 5: of home goods.

Unidentified: Right, right. Thank you.

Speaker 2: People come to this church and IFB church and expect to find our name means something. Unfortunately for many IFP churches, the name doesn't mean anything. So what we going to do over the next three weeks if we want to define what our name means about who we are? Tonight, we're going to start with that first word independent. We are an independent fundamental Baptist church. But what does it mean for us to be independent and is it biblical for us to be independent? Because we have to determine whether or not the kind of church where a part of is the kind of church we should be a part of? If it's not, then what are we doing here? I wouldn't be a pastor of IFP Church if I didn't think I should be a pastor of an IFP church. If I thought I should be something else, I'd go be something else. You thought you were supposed to go to a different kind of church, I would hope that by conviction you would do that. Well, I believe there's a strong biblical case for independent churches and throughout the New Testament, there are more evidences than what you and I can look at tonight, given the time restraints that lend us to believe that, yeah, churches are supposed to be independent bodies to start with you already in x twenty twenty eight. Once you look at this again with me about what Paul says to these pastors that have come together, and if you recall from our study of acts, this is something that took place the last time these men saw Paul. So even though it's X 20 and there's still several chapters left in the book, these are Paul's last words to the pastors that we're here in this city, I believe, was the city of Ephesus, he says to them. Take heed, therefore unto everyone else. No, it says take either four unto yourselves into all the flock over which the Holy Ghost Ghost has made, your brother and overseer has made you overseers to feed the Church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood. Paul is telling this group of pastors here that they are to tend to the unique flock that God had given them oversight. They had a group of God sheep that they were supposed to be responsible for, and that was the group that they were supposed to look after. If you would take your Bibles and turn the first Peter, you don't have to hold your place. It acts. But looking first, Peter at Chapter five, verse number two verse Peter five verse number to see if this doesn't sound familiar. Says Feed the flock of God, which is among you taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly. Not for filthy lucre, but of already mind. All right, the flock of God, which is among you use. Do you catch that geographical limitation to the flock that they're responsible for? They're not responsible for the flock that's over there, the flock that's over there. They're responsible for the flock that is right here among you. There is a limitation to their oversight. Praise the Lord. Responsibility of church leadership is limited to the church where God has placed them. I am not responsible for what any other group of God's sheep are doing, except this group of sheep right here.

Speaker 5: It's not. I'm, you know,

Speaker 2: I'm not different than the sheep. I am one of the sheep. I'm one of God's sheep, so we're all sheep, right? It's not like I'm some higher level of being than you because I'm the pastor. I'm just another one of God's flock. We have a limitation to the leadership that God has granted to us. Oversight is given to the church leadership of each individual local church. It is not granted anywhere in the Bible for leaders of one church to also

Speaker 5: be

Speaker 2: in control of another church. See, though nowhere in the Bible will you find any mention of a denomination or a convention or a fellowship, you have local churches that are directly accountable to God. You talked about Presbyterians, bishops, pastors, overseers, shepherds. These are all terms for the same office. There is not pastors and then bishops and then God. No, it's pastor and the Church

Speaker 5: God,

Speaker 2: we are not accountable to any other group besides Jesus Christ. He is the head of each church, according to the Ephesians five twenty three, where he says for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body. When you go through the New Testament and you start reading the different letters that Paul and Peter and James and John others wrote, you will see several different audiences that are specifically called out and you don't have to go far into a book to find out who it was written to. Paul usually identifies himself, and then he says, who is writing to some letters were written to the saints of a city. Some letters were written to specific churches. Inner city Corinthians was written to the church at Corinth. Thessalonians was written to the church at Thessalonica. It's interesting Galatians Galatians was not written to a single church. It was written to. The church is of Galicia, which was like a region, a state which, you know, always kind of baffles me about that whole universal church thing. Because if it was a universal church, wouldn't he still just say the church in Galicia? Why would he be specific and say the church is in Galicia? You go and look and you read it for yourself. See what if I'm not making this up? James James was written to believers regardless of location, so we have a lot of different audiences here. But when he's writing to a church, he's talking to that church when a specific church is addressed. We know that that church is responsible for acting upon the truths that have been pointed out. And so when he talks to the church at Corinth, he doesn't threaten them with denominational representative coming in and taking their property as anybody would follow in what's going on in the United Methodist Church. They aware of what what's happening there, they're sure they're trying to split it. That there would be a United Methodist Church and a Global Methodist Church. The United Methodist Church would fully accept and endorse not only the LGBTQ movement, but also LGBTQI pastors leading churches. The Global Methodist Church wants to remain conservative and traditional in the definitions of genders, as well as the definition of marriage. You know what? The problem with all of this is

Speaker 5: money

Speaker 2: who owns the property? Does the church on the property or does the denomination own the property? If the people decide to go off and do something that's not approved by the denomination, does that denomination get to come in and take their building? Well, that's what they're fighting over, and the United Methodist Church keeps delaying and delaying and delaying the vote, and so it's at a standstill. That's one of the dangers of denominations, fellowships, conventions as you lose

Speaker 5: who

Speaker 2: God wants you to be because of your desire to be connected to others. All right, let's move on. Look at the revelation. Would you turn to revelation? Some of you were like, we haven't turned a revelations since he became the pastor. No joke, yeah. Do you want to preach the Rev.? It's like a minefield. If the end of chapter one. First, 119 says right to things which now has seen in the things, which are the things which shall be hereafter. That's the rough outline for the Book of Revelation, the mystery of the seven stars which are sourced in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks. Seven stars of the Angels of the seven churches. The seven candlesticks which thou saw are the seven churches under the Angel of the Church of Ephesus, right? These things say a that hold it the seven stars in his right hand who walk it in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. If you were to go through and read chapters one through three and you've probably heard series preached on the seven churches of Asia, you'll see that each church was individually addressed with specific things that they either needed to change or continue in. You'll not find any other authority coming in to make sure they're doing what they're supposed to be doing. Besides Jesus, Jesus is the one who walks among the candlesticks walks among the churches. These churches are individual, self-governing bodies, and they are directly accountable to Jesus Christ. There is no hierarchy that separates us from our savior. We don't believe that when it comes to individuals, we don't believe that when it comes to churches, you have direct access to God, don't you? Mean, if you have a problem, you have a need. You have something to talk to God about. You don't have to come to me or anybody, any other man, to have direct access to the throne of grace. You go directly to him through Jesus. The same is true as a church. We are a self-governing, autonomous, self-perpetuating body that does not answer to any other man. We answer to Jesus Christ. That's why we are a independent church, the local church is referred to in terms that promote the idea that it is a complete and independent unit. It talks about it being a body or a building, but it also talks about being a body

Speaker 5: like a baby.

Speaker 2: Church bodies start connected to another. A mature adult body that is capable of giving that baby body what it needs, right? I mean, you're all adults here. You know how childbirth takes place. I mean, that's you know how it works. Well, the church being born is pretty similar to that. An adult church, a mature church, is going to care for and provide for this baby church so that it can grow and mature and become independent and autonomous by itself. Our church is not connected to any other church, any. At one time, it was. But now we are our own body. You're united in Christ and accountable to Christ alone. Now, like I said, we could continue on in the New Testament, but I want to spend the rest of our time talking about the implications of being an independent church. One of the drawbacks, quote unquote, that somebody would say about an independent, independent church is the matter of accountability. They're not accountable to any other governing body. Is that really a drawback? Should we, as a church, be accountable to some outside group that tells us what we should or should not do, who we should or should not support? Or has God given this church everything it needs to function? Are we a complete body? Or do we need life support from someone else? I don't see that as a legitimate drawback, but that is what some people would say, well, what does independence mean? I can tell you what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean get this place doesn't mean we don't cooperate with other churches. Right. We just had brother Londo here last week. The challenge, though, is sent out of the Hillcrest Baptist Church in El Paso, Texas. He's not sent out by us. We send him money every month now to support his work there in the continent of Africa. We are cooperating with his sending church

Speaker 5: to get

Speaker 2: him out on the

Speaker 5: field.

Speaker 2: We have church planners that come and visit us. I think a brother, Aaron Horn down, I think it's Hilltop Baptist Church in Helton, Oklahoma. We are cooperating with his sending church, Tabernacle Baptist Church and Altus, Oklahoma, to support them, getting that church up on its feet. We're cooperating together, right? I mean, so we're not we're not an island independent doesn't mean we don't cooperate with other people. Somebody made this point an independent church if we write all of our Sunday school material.

Speaker 5: No.

Speaker 2: So are we cooperating with a publishing group to get material to teach here on a regular basis?

Speaker 5: Yeah.

Speaker 2: All the kids are out there doing what is right now. We didn't come up with honors. We didn't produce all that. We're cooperating with somebody else. It doesn't mean independence doesn't mean that we don't participate with potentially fellowships, schools and other organizations. What it does mean is we don't lose who we are by participating with them. We don't become them and lose who God made us to be, because that's the way they are. It doesn't mean we aren't friends with other churches. Can we can our church be friends with other churches? Absolutely. But that church does something different than us, does that mean we have to follow them?

Speaker 5: No, we're independent.

Speaker 2: It doesn't mean that we can't learn from the examples of other churches. I'll give you a small glimpse into how sad my life is sometimes. I watch other churches live streams.

Unidentified: Yeah, I do.

Speaker 2: And I get jealous over the video quality that they have. And there's a lot of a lot of more creative people out there than me. I've always said I'm better at taking what somebody else has done and adapting it. I'm not real good at coming up with something new. We can learn from other churches. Being independent doesn't mean we don't have anything to do with anybody else. But it does mean that we are not accountable to any other church. In nineteen fifty five, the Tulsa Baptist Temple sent a group of families to Collinsville to start our church once the Baptist Tabernacle was chartered. We were no longer under the authority of the Tulsa Baptist Temple. They sent us out. They are our mother church, but we are not accountable to them. We are completely self-governing. I don't call up brother Paul Gentry and say, Hey man, I know you weren't there when the church was started and I wasn't there when the church was started. But you're our mother church. What should I do?

Speaker 5: We don't do that.

Speaker 2: Even when brother Clifford Clark was still alive, Pastor Cape may have called him for advice, but he didn't have to have brother Clifford Clark approve every point of business that was passed by this church. We are self-governing and autonomous and independent. Jesus is the only head of this church. Right. We follow him above all else. His word, the Bible is our primary and ultimate guide for our church. We don't follow the traditions of men. We don't teach men's creeds. We follow God's word. Being independent means that we need to realize that we are a unique church. We have a unique community. We are a unique collection of people. Our ministry will and should be unique from someone else's because we're not the same. We can be independent. I mean, nobody else is situated at 13, 13, three hundred and two hundred and Thirty Sixth Street. This is our property here. God has placed us here. No one else meets for church here, except for us. Nobody else has this building except destiny, life church. And everybody looks a lot like ours. It looks pretty similar, but nobody has this exact building. We've got a gym. They don't. So ha. I talked to their pastor. He's a nice guy. He's like, Man, I really wish we had to put the gym on like you guys do us like, Yeah, I bet you do. Sorry, that's not nice. I mean, let's just be honest. No other church has. Gary Boyd is the pastor.

Speaker 5: Aren't you lucky? It's unique, I guess, your unique

Speaker 2: way it goes for you, too, nobody else has all of you in the church either. We have unique talents and abilities and strengths and weaknesses. So yeah, our Miss Ministry ought to be unique from everyone else's, and that's OK because we are independent. Will there be similarities? Yes. I mean, if every church says they're following the Bible, then you would hope that there be some similarities between us. But there are going to be some differences. Some tweaks when we cooperate or fellowship with other churches, we need to make sure that we do so and we stay in the driver's seat. So I don't like the way that sounds. I know I could tell it's written on your face. If we're going to go and fellowship with someone, we don't turn in our autonomy and become just like that. You're watching one of the sci fi shows or a cartoon for kids, and they've got like a cloning facility. And you know, you've got this long line of diverse and various creatures, and they go through this like little portal thing. And when they come out on the other side, they all look exactly the same like he. Everyone comes out an exact replica and clone of the last person. That's what happens to some people when they get involved in an organization or a fellowship or denomination.

Speaker 5: We don't want that.

Speaker 2: We're trying to reach a unique community. We're going to be unique. We don't lose ourselves in what other people think we should do. We keep in mind that our loyalty ultimately lies with Jesus. And this brings us up to tailor our approach to ministry. I'm telling you, if we were to live out this independent fundamental Baptist thing, the way the name presents it, it would be a very liberating experience because we are not loyal to

Speaker 5: man,

Speaker 2: we are loyal to Jesus. And if you study the book of acts we did, we did it together. You'll see that even Paul, the same preacher, varied his approach from city to city based on the people he was trying to minister to. You see, what worked for someone else may not work for us. You know, some pastors pastor in a city where there is only one independent Baptist church in town. I don't know if you know this or not. That's not the case here.

Speaker 5: I mean,

Speaker 2: biocides just down the road, we could basically walk there altogether. I couldn't do it. I'm too old. No, it's pretty close. I think you could make it. Grace Baptist is 15 minutes away there in Athens between us and them, that's. It's another in a Baptist church, friendships just down the road. You got Eastland. I bet most of Iceland's members probably live closer to us than they do to them. You got the old tbrt, which is now new heights. They're not that far away. I mean, there's there's a bunch of independent Baptist churches in this area. We're not all the same. And, you know, they're all they're experiencing success in some areas that wouldn't necessarily work for us. And the pastor that's pastoring in a town where he's the only show in town is going to be able to do some things that might not work for us. And so just because it worked for somebody else doesn't mean it's going to work here. Just because something works for us doesn't mean it would work somewhere else. And independent church as an independent church. We are able to focus on what is most needed to reach our community. Sometimes I'll somebody will point out to me here in Collinsville, like the Red Zone, I guess familiar with the Red Zone. It's a hangout spot for teenagers. One of the local churches is responsible for it here in town. There's also the refuge. Another church is responsible for that. They said, Well, we need to have something like that. There's already, too.

Speaker 5: Why would we

Speaker 2: do another one? Let's find what nobody else is doing, and let's do that. You know, understanding our role as an independent church. It also frees us up from needless distractions and drama. And when you get to OK, how about this, what do you think the phrase came from? You know, you don't want to see what's going on in the kitchen? Why? Because there's probably some things going on back there that would make you not want to eat there anymore. Have you heard that before? That's not exactly how it goes, but that idea. Nobody wants to see what's going on behind the curtain. Plus, you get some groups more like, Oh, this isn't what I thought it was. That's Thomas Tammy Fields since we hired. Oh, he

Speaker 5: just. Maybe not.

Speaker 2: Fellowships organizations, they go through periods where everything's going great, everyone's united, everyone's on board, everything is moving forward. But then personalities get in play and somebody wants to go this direction with it and somebody wants to go this direction with it. And there's drama real irony that that never happens, does it? I mean, it's just it's everything's always peace and kumbaya and all that stuff. I don't know about you, but I've got enough going on right here at the Baptist Tabernacle. I don't need to add somebody else's drama to it.

Speaker 5: You know, I've got

Speaker 2: enough work to do here without having to go somewhere else looking for more work to do. It's like the guy that's, you know, just standing around on the job site and the boss comes up and he says, Hey, you're looking for something to do.

Speaker 5: You no. No, I'm

Speaker 2: busy. Yes, sir. No, sir. Being an independent church, having a healthy view of these other groups, it saves us. Maybe more saves me from needless drama. It may be

Speaker 5: on that note

Speaker 2: that the independent nature of our church applies to me personally more than anyone else at this church. You know, sometimes pastors struggle with their identities in the ministry. They don't feel accepted or approved by their church. Maybe they feel like they're facing constant criticism, they can't do anything right. And so they have to look for that acceptance and approval somewhere. So they turn to an organization instead of turning to God. They turn to an organization that is outside of their church for acceptance and approval. Perhaps they seek approval and acceptance from their alma mater. Well, if I could just get, you know, the president of the college to try to tell me I'm doing a good job or my professors would just tell me that that I'm accepted, that I'm doing a good job. Well, then that would be fine because, you know, those church people, they just really don't even know what's going on. Wow, that's really cynical. Yeah, that's real life for a lot of pastors. They're looking for approval from their college, they're looking for approval from the fellowship that they're involved in. They're looking for approval from the convention or the denomination. If I could just get an office at the state level or the national level or get put on some board. Then I will have arrived. So while you pastors are really insecure.

Speaker 5: Yeah, kinda.

Speaker 2: But it affects you, too, is a church member. Your friends go to other churches, don't they? Your family goes to other churches, so you get together for a special occasion or for a holiday, and you're talking to people about what goes on at church and they tell you. Well, my church does. X y z. You think, Oh, wow, we don't do that. I bet our pastors never even thought of that. We're not doing God's will.

Speaker 5: We're not being effective.

Speaker 2: I must tell them that they are wrong. We must be like this other church. Because if your church doesn't do x y z, they got to add x y z. Not you personally right, but but somebody needs to. This is where independence becomes very practical. Because for me, as a pastor, do I give up our independence just because I'm seeking approval or acceptance from men? Do I? Most of you I don't ever talk about this, but most of you know who my wife's grandfather is, but the same Davidson was the president of the college that we attended. Very large personality. Very successful in his ministry for ever heard about the Collinsville Baptist Tabernacle, a candidate at a church in Perry, Oklahoma, the same church that brother Sam Davidson grew up in. That church decided they did not want us to be there because if we went there, we would just be puppets for Sam Davis.

Speaker 5: They didn't know me. So whatever or

Speaker 2: what they thought was I would be willing to give up the independence of that church for the approval of a man.

Speaker 5: Right. But a lot of people do that

Speaker 2: if the fellowship or the college says you have to do it this way, it doesn't matter if that church doesn't have the facilities, personnel finances to support that model. They will go all in giving up the independence of that church to model it after somebody else, just so that someone will come along at a fellowship meeting and pat them on the back and say, Well done, good and faithful servant. That's that's what we're all after, right? Some man to tell us. Well done thou good and faithful servant. Can I live in minister in freedom, knowing that God approves and accepts me, even if men don't? And it's not so much that men disagree with me or whoever. A lot of times it's just because you're anonymous. They just don't know. And if you're just looking for a pat on the back from somebody, then anonymity is going to be really bothersome to you. You're you're going to sell out your church to follow someone else's model of ministry. And then when you don't get the accolades? Well, that's going to crush your identity. Because it didn't come through with what you thought it was going to come through with. May I ask you this question? Do you desire for our church to maintain our uniqueness? Or would you would you rather us jump into the homogenous pool of the mainline denominations? Should we maintain our unique ministry? Or so we just try to be like everybody else. Anything about that? Because sometimes I think when you look at everybody else and say, well, why can't we be like them? Because if we were just like them, who would be like us? I don't think we really want to be like everybody else. Is Jesus able to guide our church? Or do we need a manmade hierarchy, formal or informal to tell us what we should do? Is Jesus sufficient? Is he capable of guiding the pastor of this church, whoever that may be the deacons of this church, the trustees of this church, the families of this church? Is he able to lead us to be who we

Speaker 5: need to be? OK.

Speaker 2: So then why would we ever sell out to a man-made hierarchy formalized or in formalized, real or imagined? Does that work on a personal level, some of you have been to churches where the pastor was God. Whatever he said is what you did. Relationship with Jesus? No, I got my pastor. He tells me what I need to know. I mean, I don't I don't if you think that's what I'm after, I'm not. I don't want to be a god to you.

Speaker 5: OK. I don't

Speaker 2: I don't want to be the stand in for your spiritual

Speaker 5: voice.

Speaker 2: My goal is to connect you to Jesus, and that's as the best thing I could do. It doesn't work on a personal level. Then why do we think it would work on a church level? I realize some of you make your living now to be in the middle man. You know, you take from this group and you hand it off to the next group and that's how you make your money. It's great. I'm glad you can do that. Spiritually, though, Jesus is the only middle

Speaker 5: man winning you

Speaker 2: to Jesus, to God Jesus and got like, kind of on the same page. So it's direct access. You know who the people are, who don't like the idea of an independent church, people who don't have enough power

Speaker 5: don't have enough money.

Speaker 2: They need independent churches to go away because then we'll be forced to join their group, whatever group may be. That boosts their numbers, it boosts their offerings, makes them look

Speaker 5: better or an outlier.

Speaker 2: Not as much of an outlier as you think. We're an independent church, and so because we're independent, they don't get any of this pie.

Speaker 5: And that bothers them.

Speaker 2: I was on the staff earlier today. You realize at one time the largest churches in America were independent Baptist churches, the largest. At one time, there was the 10 fastest growing churches in America. Nine of them were independent Baptist churches. You know why? This is convicting because they were passionate and creative in their evangelism. They were sold out about reaching people with the gospel, and they were creative about how they were doing it. Why? Because they were independent

Speaker 5: of

Speaker 2: all the mainline denominations, were stuck and doing what they've always done. Independent churches came in and said, You don't have a ride to church. We got this bus. We'll come pick you up. Oh, you don't have a church you go to. We'll come invite you to our church. They were doorknocking, they were doing bus routes, they were doing radio programs, they were doing things that other people weren't willing to do.

Speaker 5: You say, Oh, so we should, we

Speaker 2: should do OK more and and have a bus route to get back to that? No, not necessarily. What I am saying, though, is we can be creative in getting the gospel out to people. We need to be passionate about getting the gospel out to people when we come up or when God leads us to an opportunity. We don't have to send it up the line to denominational headquarters to find out if it's OK. We're an independent church. God lays it on our heart.

Speaker 5: We do it.

Speaker 2: You see, God is still dealing with independent churches. In the judgment, we will give an account for what we did together as the Baptist Tabernacle. We won't give an account for what some other church did. So don't worry about them. Worry about the church you're a member of. No one else will give an account for us. So don't think we can pass this off on Brother Clark or anybody else in town. We're the ones that are going to have to go and account for what happens here. We're an independent congregation. We are directly empowered and guided and accountable to our head. Jesus Christ, the great commission, Jesus said. Matthew, twenty eighteen.

Speaker 5: All power, all

Speaker 2: authority is given unto me in heaven and Earth. Jesus does not share that power with any other organization, so therefore we are loyal to him

Speaker 5: and him alone.

Speaker 2: That's why we're an independent church. We want to have Jesus as our head, not some middleman. It gives us liberty and freedom to be a unique ministry guided by the gospel and counted accountable to Jesus Christ. That's good, isn't it? It's not something for us to be embarrassed or ashamed of. I'm glad that I'm an independent church pastor. I'm thankful for

Speaker 5: it. I hope

Speaker 2: you are. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day. Thank you for this time that we've been able to spend together.

Speaker 1: Help us, Lord to take these things and just allow them to seep into our minds, Lord and to affect the way we view the church that we're a part of. Perhaps there's somebody here that doesn't necessarily agree with the conclusion. Lord, I just pray that if they want to talk about it, they need, they'd schedule the time for us to talk about it. I'd love to talk it over with whoever would like to. But Lord, I do believe that this is the the type of church that that you intended. And Lord, now we're

Speaker 5: just

Speaker 1: sometimes we don't take advantage of the liberty that we have, the freedom that we have to be an independent congregation. So Lord, I ask you to help our church to be passionate about serving you and to take full advantage of the freedom that you have given to us, to minister and to reach the area in which you've placed us. Lord, thank you for the unique congregation that you have placed here, the unique talents and abilities that are here within our church body. Lord, I pray that you'd help our church body to continue to grow so we can reach more people with the gospel. To Jesus name. I pray. Amen

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