Here's The Church

HERE’S THE CHURCH

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2022, 11:15AM

ED YOUNG

I don't know if you realize it or not, but during these tumultuous times, there's a shortage of building supplies. Have you heard about that? Maybe you're trying to build your dream home and you're realizing, "Woo, it's costly." I mean, the manpower, what's happening in our culture? Yeah, most of us still diesel on and we go, "I'm going to build that dream home. I don't care how much it costs, I'm going to have the courage, I'm going to build my house." Yeah. Well, there's another house being built, and it takes courage and it's very costly, it’s God's house, this dream home. I'm talking about the church. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, "…I will build my church,"

Now and then people will ask me this question, they'll say, "Ed, how was Fellowship Church built?" And normally when they ask me that question I think, "Well, are you talking about bricks and sticks and real estate? Are you talking about numbers?" Then though, I end up giving them some biblical concepts, some building blocks, the material that God has used to build Fellowship Church.

The Bible says in Acts 2:42 (NIV-1984), these words, “They devoted themselves…” “they” being the early church. “…to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” It's a pretty good name for a church, right? Fellowship. Fellowship is not just who we are, it's what we do. As I've been saying for a long time, the church is not just a noun, it's a verb.

When I say church, what do you think about? Some will go like, "Oh church, I'm a Catholic" No. "I'm a Lutheran." No, that's not the church. "I'm a Baptist." No, no, no. No. Some think it's in his institution, others think it's a building. You say church, there's Fellowship Church in our different locations, it's a building. I hear you. The church though is the body of Christ. The church would be those believers who have been baptized, those believers who have followed Christ, those believers who've made a mutual commitment to glorify God and to help one another become all they can be. That's the church.

The church, we go to buildings, the church though is you and me. You might be here and you're like, "You know, I'm not a part of a church. I'm thinking about becoming a part of a church." Great. This is a perfect time for you to show up at Fellowship. Others are like, "Well, I've been a member of Fellowship Church for a long time." Good. Thank you so very much for your activity and your presence and your involvement. Others of you are like, "I don't even know about church. I don't even know if I even believe in God or the Bible." That's fine. You'll discover the brilliance of the church; you're going to see the brilliance of the family of God.

Fellowship Church is built on 10 principles. Please take out that drawing I did of a church. The first word I want to talk about is FOUNDATION. What is the foundation of Fellowship Church? Jesus. We're built on Jesus. The church is the bride of Christ, the church is the body of Christ, the church is the family of God.

How many people work out here? Okay. A lot of people go to a gym. Have you ever seen these guys run a gym that look like martini glasses, big upper body and low martini glass legs? You know what I'm talking about? Those guys have always puzzled me. They have a poor foundation.

If you're going to have a solid foundation, you've got to be solid. In Matthew 7, Jesus said we have a choice, we can either build our lives on the foundation of sand. You want to live in a sand trap? You have an opportunity to build your life on the rock. The church is here to glorify God, the church is here and will be in forever, forever, and ever, and ever. The church is here for you and me to do life in community together. There's nothing like building the church. It's the only thing Jesus ever constructed, the church. Our foundation is Jesus.

There are over 2.2 billion believers worldwide. They're more believers worldwide than in India and China combined. We have the Jews, the sauce, don't we, to truly go after the world's problems. Universities don't. Governments don't. Parachurch organizations don't. The church does. The church is the hope of the world.

The church has this ENERGY. Kids, I'm going to write in cursive. I'm not writing in Hebrew, it's called cursive, okay? Energy. The energy of Fellowship Church comes from the Holy Spirit of God.