The Church

Ephesians 2:1-10 1/18/26 a.m.

My Aunt passed away last Sunday evening. She was a good woman, and I’m gonna miss her. She was 88 and she was a sweet lady. Don’t tell my brother Mike but I think I was her favorite nephew. Please keep her son Brian in your prayers and also pray for me as I preach her funeral on Tuesday.

She died on January 11, 2026 but she shouldn’t have lived as long as she did. You see, back on April 19, 1981, she was at the Liberty Heights Free Will Baptist Church down off of South Sheridan. It was Easter Sunday and she was there at their Sunday evening service. Back then weather forecasting wasn’t as good as it is today. Well, that evening an F3 Tornado came roaring through. It LEVELED that church, flattened it, but inside, just before it hit, the people, including my aunt, had crawled underneath the pews. NO ONE in the church died that day but a family of 5 were killed just down the road. Very sad.

ILLUS: And can I make a little side note here . I’m glad we still have PEWS because I don’t think FOLDING CHAIRS would have taken the ROOF FALLING on top of them and it would have been awful hard to crawl underneath a FOLDING CHAIR!

And so, my old aunt, lived ALMOST another 45 years.

And our Sister Church, the Barnsdall Free Will Baptist Church was hit by an EF4 Tornado back on May 6, 2024. Do you all remember that? It was damaged so badly that all they could do was bull doze it down. That’s sad but what’s worse, 2 people were killed in the neighborhood next to the church.

In Matthew 16:18, Jesus told Peter and the rest of the disciples,

“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

I guess some might say, “Well the GATES of HELL sure prevailed against those two churches. Wiped them out. Flattened them. They’re GONE!!!”

And they would be right IF the CHURCH was just a BUILDING. But it’s NOT. Those two CHURCHES, the Liberty Heights Free Will Baptist Church and the Barnsdall Free Will Baptist Church weren’t BUILDINGS. They were a GROUP of people meeting together to worship the Lord. And both of those CHURCHES are still alive today. Both of those churches REBUILT their buildings, their meeting place, and they are ACTIVE TODAY. Why? Because the CHURCH is NOT a BUILDING. It’s a GROUP of people.

And the Skiatook Free Will Baptist Church is NOT a BUILDING. It is YOU and I. We make up the CHURCH.

And listen, we are just a small part of the WORLD WIDE CHURCH. You and I are PART of that group of people that WORSHIP and PRAISE GOD all around the world.

And so that’s what I want to talk to you about today. THE CHURCH. So let’s turn in our Bibles to the Book of Ephesians and we’ll look at Chapter 2. Alright, Ephesians 2 and we’ll read Verses 1-10.

“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

So let me ask you THREE QUESTIONS today. Who is the church? Where is the church? Why is the church?

But before we get into the message let’s go to the Lord in Prayer.

Brother ______, would you lead us?

I. And so WHO is the church?

Well, I already hit on this a little bit. The CHURCH is PEOPLE. It’s NOT a BUILDING. It’s NOT CONCRETE, WOOD and DRYWALL. It’s PEOPLE.