Ephesians 4:11-16

Speaker 1: And then. Hey, man, thank you for that, brother. Matt. You asked me earlier you said he'd be okay if I sing a special tonight. I said. Yeah, I thought so. There can be a nice treat for everybody on a Wednesday night. I mean, we don't normally get to have a special on Wednesday night, and so not because we're against them. Just getting people to you willing to do it is the only obstacle. And so I always appreciate that. Take your calls if you haven't turned to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter four is where we're going to be tonight, continuing on with our series called Refresher Course. And just some refreshing refresher topics. Some things that are not new to anybody, just reminders as we are making our way through another year. Ephesians chapter four, verse number 11 is where we're going to be as you find your place. If you wouldn't mind, join me in standing in honor of reading God's Word Ephesians Chapter four, verse number 11. The Bible says this says he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ. Till we all come in, the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait you to see, but speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply is according to the effectual. Working in the measure of every part make the increase of the body under the edifying of itself in love. Let's pray, Lord, thank you for the opportunity. We have to be together. I prayed you'd give me the words you tell me to say tonight. You help the folks that are here to listen loud, to hear their lives. It's in Jesus name. We ask these things. Amen. Thank you. May be seated. A quick update on some things you probably had noticed, but maybe hadn't put like numbers with it yet so far this year? Not quite yet through the third month of the year. We've already had 19 new members join the Collinsville Baptist Tabernacle, which is really cool. We've had nine come by transfer of membership. We've had ten come by baptism, which is absolutely great, very encouraging. Now, some of those have gotten saved this year. We've had six people get saved so far this year. And so that is a great blessing to see so many decisions being made for the Lord God adding to his church here in the Collinsville area. I have to ask you, isn't it fun to see so many people coming and making the decision to become a part of our church? It really is. I mean, I'll take that over. Nobody come in. All right. Wouldn't you be kind of a bummer? Maybe year after year after year, it doesn't seem like anybody's getting saved. Nobody ever hardly gets baptized. And nobody's joining the church. That would get kind of discouraging, wouldn't it? Yeah, it sure would. Someone said recently that I in order to qualify as a fast growing church, you have to add 50 or more new members a year for at least three years. Well, COVID messed that up, right? We can blame COVID for that. We only added 35 in 2020, so I guess we don't qualify. But God has been very good to us in bringing new, new folks here to our church, adding to the membership here. And I think there's a there's a great blessing in that. There's also a danger because it would be very easy for us to think that numerical growth, the kind of numerical growth that we've seen, must automatically mean that we are a healthy, growing church. But that is not always the case. I'm not here to tell you that that's not the case for us tonight. But I do want us to think about some things tonight as we think about this matter of being a growing church, because right now we are in a season of numerical growth, but we can still be a growing church, even if the numerical growth slowed or stopped. I believe God intends for our church to never stop growing. I believe He has given us everything we need to grow. I believe he intends for us to grow together as a church body. But I also believe that God cares a lot more about spiritual growth than numerical growth, though that's not to say God doesn't care about numbers either. I mean, there's a whole book in the Bible called Numbers. Okay. So I do think numbers do matter, but there are some things that are more important. And in tonight's passage, we're going to learn about what God says about church growth. And so we're going to make our way through the verses that we read from verse 11 of chapter four down to verse number 16. The first thing that I want us to see in verse number 11 is that God gives us the leaders that our church needs for growth. In this passage, we see that part of the role that the spiritual leader is to play in the Ministry of the Church is to foster growth in the ministry. Other passages that we could look at that talk about the office of the pastor, the office of the Bishop, the office of the elder, whatever term you want to use to describe the office, there's there's there are two offices in the church, pastor and the deacon, pastors and deacons. Those are the only two offices you'll find in the Bible for a church. And and so here we see Paul dealing with this matter of spiritual leaders that God has given to the church. Now, it may not always seem like it, but the pastor is a gift to the church. You say, Yeah, I don't really know if I agree with that or not. Well, then you perhaps may not have been through a time where you were in a church that didn't have a pastor. A lot of the longtime members of this church know what that's like. And if you've been in churches for any length of time, I would assume you've probably experienced it too. You know that when a church is without a leader, it can be a very dangerous, risky time where the church walks almost on a knife's edge and you wonder, is it going to survive or is it going to fail? But when there's a pastor, especially one that loves the Lord and loves the people, it can be a wonderful, beautiful thing. And here in a Vision Chapter four, Paul is detailing for us just one aspect. Of what God expects the person in this position to provide to the people that are there in the church. You see, the pastor of the church is given to that church by God, in order to help that church grow. And you're like, okay, well, yeah, we kind of figured that it's your job to bring in new people. That's where he covered that in the introduction. That's not exactly what we're talking about here. A pastor helps the church to grow by doing what God intended for him to do. As detailed in verse number 12 says that he is to come and he is to work to perfect the saints for the work of the ministry and for the edifying of the Body of Christ. And so the pastor labors alongside the church members to help perfect them. He puts a priority on the work of the ministry, and he always seeks to edify the body of Christ, not to work through those three things really quickly. Just help us understand what that say. The first thing that you may look at, that perfecting of the saints, that word perfect sometimes trips us up when we see it in this context, it's really talking more about completeness than it is senselessness. Perfection has to do with complete completion, not senselessness. And if the Saints require completion, it means there are things that are lacking, right? If. If something is not complete, then it means it's incomplete, which means there's something missing and said, Well, what am I missing as a Christian? Don't I have everything I need? Well, for certain, if you're saved, there are things that you don't lack. For example, you're not lacking any part of the Holy Spirit moment. You get saved. You get all of the Holy Spirit you're ever going to get. The question is how much of him or how much of you does he have? When you get saved, you gain instant and unfettered access to the throne of God. I am not here to complete your access to God. You have total access to the Lord. You don't need me to go to the Lord in prayer. When you get saved, you receive total forgiveness. You don't need any sacraments that I would extend to you or perhaps withhold from you. You get saved. Your salvation isn't lacking until you go through the baptistery waters. And then all of a sudden you're like, Oh, I'm complete. That's not what is talking about. You received total forgiveness. Forgiveness when you put your faith in Jesus Christ. One other matter in which you're not lacking, you're not lacking when it comes to your adoption, into God's family, when you get saved, regardless of the sins that may still be a part of your life, regardless of your closeness or distance from the Lord, you will always be a part of God's family. Well, I look at my life. I do find myself lacking in some areas spiritually. For example, I find myself lacking in the matter of spiritual discipline. I would be lying to you if I told you that every day I spend the appropriate amount of time reading and praying, reading my Bible and praying. That would be a lie. I find myself lacking. I find myself lacking when it comes to the application of biblical principles. You could pick anything and I would say, yeah, I'm. I'm lacking in that area. Uh, Pastor, how are you doing with harboring bitterness in your heart? Are you. Are you perfect? Are you complete in that area? The answer is no. Pastor, how are you doing with not provoking your children to wrath? Are you perfect? Are you complete in that area? The answer is no. I need help in being perfected in those areas. My focus on spiritual matters. Don't you know that sometimes I get distracted by carnal matters? Just normal temporal concerns that all of us have to deal with. I'm not always walking around here like on a cloud saying God will.

Speaker 2: Take care of me.

Speaker 1: You know, that's that's not always my my attitude. You know, when I'm following brother Matt and he's got his big old truck and I'm behind there in my little go cart, and the rock comes flying out and it's my windshield. You know, I'm not real spiritual at that moment. You know, there are things where Jerry comes to me and he says, Hey, how's the toilets leaking? My. My answer is not usually alleluia. Praise the Lord. You know, there's just there's times where my spiritual focus is not complete. Am I the only one? Or can you identify with some of these and probably others? And so so part of my position as the pastor is to work, to perfect the saints, to help you grow in these areas to a place of completeness or perfection. Not senselessness, but perfection. A pastor can help with these things. And I want you to notice for just a second, he says, for the perfecting of the what? Saints, plural. The saints plural. I would be negligent if I only ever focused on a saint or a group of saints within the larger group. Let's say I only ever spent my time with the teenagers. And I said, If you're over the age of 20, you're not my responsibility. I would be negligent. I would be negligent if I only ever spent time with the seniors and said, if you're middle aged, you're not my responsibility. I don't want to help you be negligent in those areas. My responsibility is to the saints, plural, the whole church to help perfect them. The work of the ministry that he talks about secondly is the carrying out of the great commission. And we recently did a sermon. A sermon on this. We won't spend a whole lot of time, if you'll think with me for a second. He tells him to go and teach all nations. Plural. Not a single nation. All nations using the acts. He talks about going to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the outermost parts of the earth. Not first Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria. And if you cover all those, then the other most parts of the earth, it's all okay. There is a unity of responsibility. There's it's it's not broken down into segments. And you give attention to one, you give attention to the other that ties go and teach all nations. Then he says, baptizing them plural and teaching them, teaching you them to observe all things. And so there is this broad responsibility of the work of the ministry. Thirdly, he says, edifying of the body of Christ, the body of Christ. Here is this local church, Collinsville Baptist Tabernacle. We are a complete body. Our church is not the hand of the body. We are the body. Jesus is the head of this body. We have everything we need to survive within this body. If we were just a hand, well, that means we'd have to be connected to another church. That would be the arm. And they would tell us what to do and they would move us around. That's not the picture of the body of Christ, the body of Christ. It's a complete unit. Everything we have here at this church is makes up the body of Christ here in Collinsville. The body is the local assembly that makes up the church. And so when it says edifying the body of Christ, we understand that the church as a whole needs to be edified. So you follow with me here. Are you catching that? There's this. There's a pretty important aspect of this passage dealing with all of us, the plurality of our responsibility when it comes to church growth, to focus on not just one group or one person, but all who say, okay, yeah, I'm getting that. What about that word? Edifying. What does that word edifying mean? Well, that supports the idea that this is talking about church growth because edifying the body means to build it up, to build up the body of Christ, to strengthen the body of Christ. You ever seen a leader that did more to tear down than he did to build up? Isn't that a sad situation? Pastor is to be a helper in the effort of the church's growth. But as we're going to see starting in verse number 13, the pastor alone cannot accomplish this task because in verse number 13, we see that church growth is a group effort. Paul says, till we all come in, the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man under the measure of the stature of the usefulness of Christ. Paul says that we should all seek to grow together. We see the community in this command in that it includes we all till we all come in the unity of the faith. You. You're familiar. I'm not gonna talk politics with you. But you're familiar with the educational term No Child Left Behind. Okay. You can debate the quality of that scheme all you want, but just that term, the title. Can we just take the title and apply it to our situation in this ministry here at the Baptist Tabernacle and maybe tweak it a little bit and say, no saint left behind, no member left behind, no matter how small the man, no matter how old. No matter how rich, no matter how poor. No saint left behind. Till we all come together. Come in the unity of the faith. We see our dependance on each other, not only the community, but our dependance upon the community, in that we are to grow in the unity of the faith. If if we had a bunch of different doctrines here in the church and we had people who believe one thing and people who believed another, some people believed Jesus was the only way to heaven. Some people didn't. Some people believe that there was, you know, that Mary wasn't a virgin. And some people said she was. And some people believe that the Bible is inspired and some people believe it wasn't inspired. Could you see how that would maybe cause some problems? Okay. There needs to be a unity of faith here at our church, within the body to where we are all growing up. Maybe at different rates, maybe we're at different spiritual levels in our in our growth. But we're all growing. There is a unity in faith. We're all moving towards the same direction, maybe just not at the same speed. There's a dependance upon each other. If I'm the only one growing, then our church isn't doing what it's supposed to be doing. The only ones growing are the teenagers that our church isn't doing what it's supposed to be doing. And so. Well, that's the youth pastor's fault or that's the the young marrieds class fault. No, no, no, no. Unity means it falls on all of us. We all come in the unity of the faith. Well, you know, my family has a rich heritage. My family is doing really well spiritually, even though the rest of the church is on its way to hell. Hopefully that's not true, but. Well, that's that's not good. That's not something to applaud yourself over, because as a member of the church, as a member of the body, if one part of the body is sick, the whole body suffers. How many men sinned when Israel defeated Jericho? What? Who suffered? Everyone over a million and a half people. Well, that's Israel. That wasn't the church. Okay, fine. Have it your way. Be stubborn about that. The principle remains. There's one that's struggling. And you're a group. It affects everyone. So unity of the faith. And I want you to take that unity and extend it then into the next phrase and of the knowledge of the son of God. Unity is to apply to both of those unity and faith. Unity and knowledge. I think of unity. Of faith. I think of unity of of action. We exercise our faith. Faith without works is what? Dead. Knowledge, though. That involves what I know. And so not only are we united in our faith, but we're also united in our knowledge. And this knowledge is specifically our knowledge of Jesus. How do we learn about Jesus? Where do we go for knowledge about him? Sure, we can experience things about Jesus. Have you experienced the goodness of Jesus in your life? We experienced the forgiveness of Jesus in your life. But where do we go to learn about Jesus? The Bible. See in this way, our growth comes when we as a church family grow in the exercise of our faith and the increase of our knowledge of Jesus. Not everyone has to have the same level of faith, but we should all be growing in our faith and the exercise of our faith. Not all of us have to have the same level of Bible knowledge, but we should all be growing in our Bible knowledge. Doesn't that make sense? This is why we say that our church must be committed to the matters of teaching and fellowship. There's two big signs out in the fourth year about teaching and fellowship. We need to grow in our understanding of who Jesus is. We also need to grow in our ability to live by faith. God never intended for His disciples to do this on their own. He never intended for us to be Rogue Island believers. We do this together. When I am struggling, I should be able to rely on a brother to come alongside and help me when I'm doing well. I ought to be able to look around, get my eyes off myself, and try to see who's who's stumbling, who's who's struggling in their spiritual life. That I can be an encouragement to them. It's hard because it requires us to be able to be selfless, to take our eyes off of ourselves and to care about the struggles, hearts and trials of those around us. You've seen the videos. The race starts. Runners take off not too long into the race. One of the runners pulls up with a hamstring that's been pulled or calf muscle is pulled, an injury of some kind. They're on the turf, the track, you know, in obvious pain. All the other competitors are worried about finishing first. They're worried about getting the prize. But there's one person who stops. Maybe they go backwards in the race and they go back and they help that athlete up many times from another country and they help that person to the finish line. That is a picture of what you and I are do as church members as part of this body that we be looking out for one another. And when someone is struggling, someone is going through a trial, somebody does face a crisis of life. We don't just say, oh, bummer for them, I'm going to win this race. Oh, we go back and we help them. We help them make it to the finish line. Sometimes I think we're quick to do this for other people, just not for the people we go to church with. You see ours as we go on. It's not that I'm trying to finish first among the church members. I'm not even trying to race my own personal best. The standard or the measurement of of my race is is not how you're doing in the race. It's not how I've done in the race before. Jesus is my measurement. Jesus is my standard. And that's what Paul says at the universe number 13, that we are growing, we are moving, progressing under a perfect man, a complete man under the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Jesus is our goal. What would Jesus do if he was physically here and he saw a church member sitting alone? He saw a church member struggling, dealing with a crisis. Many times we saw Jesus being willing to stop what he was doing, to go out of his way to to deny his own wants and needs so that he could go to help somebody else. We're not in a spiritual contest with each other. We don't compare our spiritual growth to each other. We support one another as we all seek to become more like Jesus. You realize as our church grows means will become more stable versus 14 and 15 allows as we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and cared about with every one of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love, they grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. There are a lot of changes that sweep through Christianity on a regular basis. Some of you have been alive for enough time to see several different waves of change sweep through Christendom. You want to call it that? Paul specifically identifies these as a change of doctrine. Doctrinal change can knock a non growing Christian off track. I like to ride my bike when it's not dumb weather like it's been today. It's just behind that wall. There would be if you were super strong, you could punch through and grab it. I thought about bringing my bike up here, but I was afraid I'd fall or something. If you're gonna be on a bike, unless you're a really good balance in order to stay upright on the bike, you have to. What pedal? You have to be moving forward. And the more you're moving forward, the easier it is for you to stay upright on the bike. Right. But as soon as you stop pedaling, if you're trying to just balance the bike, that gets pretty hard, doesn't it? I mean, if somebody could just really easily come over to you and just give you a little nudge and you fall over, nudge you on the left shoulder, you fall to the right and the nudge on the right shoulder, you fall to the left, which really is to get those pedals moving and move on. You can find it wasn't so it wasn't as easy for you to fall over. Well, some people spiritually are not moving. They're not moving forward. They're not growing or progressing. And so every doctrine that comes along and gives them a nudge to the right, they fall to the left. And every action that comes along and nudges them from the left, they fall to the right. This is in my notes for much later, but I just realized it fits right here, so I'm going to insert it here. Can we all please just be careful with the fact that there are dangerous beliefs on the conservative and the liberal spectrum of things these days? The real measure of how you're doing in life as a parent, as a spouse, just a decent human being is not necessarily tied to whether or not you're a conservative or a liberal politically. I mean, there's you look at a road, there's a ditch on this side and a ditch on that side move too far to the right. Guess where you end up in the ditch. Move too far to the left. Where do you end up? The ditch. So this before just trying to stay in the middle beam of normal. Be balanced. Don't be extreme this way. Don't be extreme this way. Because there are problems on both sides. It goes back to what is our standard? What is our measure? It's not man, it's Jesus, an ongoing Christian. Here's something that sounds good. And they chase after it and they hear something else that sounds good. So they chase after that. Or they see this one person who's really respected and and they're doing this and it seems to be working. So I'm not going to bother checking with the Bible because that person seems to be pretty spiritual, so I'll follow them. We throw our lot in with someone without ever wondering whether or not what they're doing or what they're proposing is even biblical. Growing Christian is a Christian that is growing in their walk with Jesus and their understanding of the Bible. And so they are becoming more and more familiar with what is authentic. So when they're exposed to something that is inauthentic, inauthentic teaching that is trying to pass as biblical teaching, they'll reject it. You're familiar enough with the genuine article. Then a counterfeit really stands out to you. People who pass these doctrines around are pretty adept, though, at what they're doing. So you've got to be a mature, growing Christian in order to not be persuaded by the deceitfulness of men. Bible says that they use sleight of men to deceive. They use cunning craftiness to wow you. By these tactics, they sway many immature Christians. This is where a community of Christians comes in to help protect and promote growth. What is the next phrase in verse number 15? But speaking the truth in love. We see a fellow believer and we start out at struggling, falling behind. We see a fellow believer that is taken by the craftiness of men, and they begin to drift to one side or the other. Then it is the duty of their fellow believers there in that local body to not just have their eyes on themselves, but to be on the lookout for who they need to help and minister to. And so they see someone that is starting to drift and they come alongside them and help them by speaking the truth in love. Not I told you, if you went that way, you were going to fall. I told you. Did I tell you? That's not helpful. Church rallies to the believer. It helps them refocus. Look at the rest of us. Summer 15. What happens when a believer it's tossed by a new doctrine? Growing Christian comes, speaks truth into their life, not because they're a goody two shoes or a no at all, but because they desire for our church to grow in unity. So Paul says reinvigorates it here. Speaking. The truth and love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. We help one another by refocusing the attention of our brothers and sisters on Jesus. He is the head of our church, isn't he? Which means he is the head of this body. So as the head of this body, we know that he wants this church to grow. He does. He wants this church to grow. He has placed us all here in this church, quoting verse number 16, in our perfect place within the body. We are fitly joined together according to version 16. And in the next phrase. I wasn't really sure about what this meant, and I think I've preached on it before and never even bothered to look it up. So I'm a little embarrassed by that. But he says and compacted by that which every joint supply it. When you hear compacted, you probably think of your dad, or at least I do, who would regularly tell us that he was assured as he was, because he was carrying the weight of the whole family. Said I used to be a lot taller, but, you know, bearing the burdens of this family, it just compacted me. It's not really what that word is talking about. It says we are compacted. It means we are connected or held together. What are we held together by? Well, according to the verse, we are compacted by that which every joint supply. So we are members of the body. I would include the joints. We're each a part of this body. What is it that, according to this verse, compacts us or holds us together? That which every joint supplier. You see? Yes. It is God that brings us here. God placed it in his body. But we rely on each other in order to grow. I'm relying on you. And you're relying on me to have your back, to uphold you in prayer, to speak the truth and love to you. When you start to drift. If you start to drift. And I'm like, well, you know, their their heart's in the right place, and I really don't want to offend them, so I'm just not going to say anything. They go off the edge of that cliff and, you know, they end up in, you know, a world of hurt. Did I really love them? Did I really do my part as a member of the body to help watch out for them? No. You know why a lot of people leave the church? It's never felt connected. She never found my place. It goes back to that word compacted. They were not compacted. Connected to the by how I'll just get connected body. Well it's every joint playing what they're supposed to be doing. All of us seeking to grow together. Me realizing that it's not just my responsibility to grow. I've got to help you grow and you need to help me grow. We're going to grow in unity and faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ. It's going to happen as we all come. This is what and this is what God intends for every church that they would grow together in unity in Jesus. This church is the local manifestation of his body. God wants us to be a growing church. Don't you believe that numerical growth is great? But there are other ways to grow. Spiritual growth for our current members is a vital part of the Ministry of the Baptist Tabernacle. Light the shines farthest, shines brightest at home. I believe that we talk a lot about being outward focused, reaching into our community, showing them God's love. In order for us to do that and for us to be effective. We have to be developing our own spiritual walks. Community outreach is not a replacement for spiritual maturity and what's going to happen if we're really adept at community outreach. But then they come here and they're like, This is the vaguest bunch of people I've ever met. Bunch of cliques. They don't care about each other. No one seems to love Jesus or their church family. I'm not going back. There would do us no good to draw a huge crowd for Easter and fill up both services and for people to walk away and say. Well, Paul did a great job with the breakfast, but really get anything out of the message. Really shallow. Nobody really greeted me. They didn't seem like they were happy I was there. I didn't sense any love for each other. I don't know why I'd go back. This is not God's intention for our church. He intends for this body to be united in growing. This means we need to be in agreement as to how that will happen. The early church gave us a formula of teaching and fellowship. We need the teaching of the Bible a regular basis. You can certainly find Bible teaching through other avenues. Remember, God has given you personal Bible. Teachers have this church in mind when they prepare their lessons. You know, I'm not thinking about any other church in the area. When I go to God and I ask him, what does the Baptist Tabernacle need to hear this Sunday? It's specific to us. Feed the flock of God that is among the flock of God that's out there. He's got other flocks, you know, in other areas. This flock, though, needs God's word. And we are we've said this before. We are a unique church and a unique community. So yeah you could go to tick tock brother which likes tick tock is spent a lot of time on tick tock it's favorite thing to do. I'm just kidding. You know, tick tock is. Oh, he does. Okay. Well, that's. Well, that's one step. Okay. You can go to social media, you can go to YouTube, you can listen to the radio preachers or the TV preachers, but none of them have you or your church in mind. And they're preparing that message. You're listening in. You're you're crashing someone else's dinner party. We need to grow together in our relationship to God's word, in unity. We also we need to be united in the model that we are moving towards. We're not moving towards another church member. We need to move beyond using or basing our faith off the example of another human. Jesus is the only reliable model for us to follow. He intends for us to be dependent upon one another in our growth process. This is anti common opinion world tells us that faith is a private matter. No one else should ever ask about your spiritual life. That's none of their business. That is just not true. As a Christian, you would not be able to defend that with the Bible. Instead, we see throughout Scripture that God intends for us to find fellowship and support from the other believers that are part of the same body as we are. Jesus is the head of this church. We are His body, and he wants us to grow. We were each placed here by him. You're not here by accident. We are connected to one another by what we offer to each other. And we grow through what God is doing in each of us, in our faith and in our knowledge of Him. We have everything we need to grow. We have to decide whether or not we really want to grow. Do we want to improve our capacity for serving him as a church? I'd say the answer would be yes. Do we want to become more like Jesus? I would hope the answer would be yes. Do we want to become more stable and mature so that whether the shoves come from the right or the left, we stay focused on the Lord. So the answer is yes. If so, we were meant to find much help in this endeavor through our church. Those that are in it when it comes to the matter of being a growing church. Yes, we can talk about numbers, but just as important, if not more important, is the spiritual growth of God's people. Here at the Baptist Tabernacle. Let's pray. Finally, Father, we thank you for this day. Thank you for the good attention of your people. Lord, thank you for those here at our church who are committed to not only growing themselves, but also investing in the spiritual growth of their fellow church members. God, I pray that we would have unity here at our church as we seek to each become more like you. Lord, you know that all of us are at different stages and levels of spiritual growth. God, I pray that you would put a very passionate and sincere hunger in our hearts to become more like you. With each passing day. God, I pray that as you bless our church numerically, you would also help us and use your Holy Spirit to convict us. We also need to be growing in our spiritual maturity with you. God, we love you so much. Thank you for all you do for us. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen

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