Welcome to the Valley Baptist Church sermon podcast.
We're so glad you're here, and we hope this message inspires you,
builds your faith, and moves you toward a deep relationship with God.
Today, you'll find great insight into the Bible
and learn how you can apply it straight to your life.
So welcome and enjoy the message.
If you have your Bible, please open it with me to 1 Thessalonians.
We've been going verse by verse through this book.
We're coming towards the end.
Now, the title of the message this morning is Church Done Right.
Now, that doesn't mean that a church can do everything right, though.
There's no such thing as a perfect church.
And if you ever find one, please don't join it because you're going to mess it up.
No perfect church out there.
Church is not made up of perfect people.
Far from it.
The church is made up of sinners.
Sinners who have been saved by God's amazing grace.
It's been said that a church is the only organization
where you have to admit that you're all messed up
before you can join in.
Well, that's us.
That's Valley Baptist Church.
We have a wide array of backgrounds represented within our congregation,
a wide array of sin and addiction and brokenness and pain.
But as you step onto our campuses, what you'll experience is love.
joy and peace. Why? Because of Jesus.
Jesus has rescued us and that's
what church is all about. A church isn't a building, it's not a
campus, it's a people. God's people. God's people whom He has rescued, God's
family. Now no one in our church
became part of God's family by how good they were.
No, far from it. It's to the contrary. It was while we were still sinners
that Christ died for us.
We love God and we love one another because he first loved us.
And so church is made up of a bunch of sinners who have been forgiven,
a bunch of guilty people who have been declared not guilty,
a bunch of dead people spiritually who God has made spiritually alive,
and a bunch of broken people whom God is healing.
But while we're saved in a moment in time, a moment of faith, the transformation process of us becoming more and more like Jesus, that takes time, doesn't it?
Which means church life is pretty messy because it's filled with people.
Linus in Peanuts cartoon, he said, I love mankind.
It's people I can't stand, right?
Sometimes we feel that way.
We love people.
Well, when it gets down to it, sometimes it's hard to love people.
Now, I've learned that there's a lot of church hurt out in the world today.
Some of you were hurt by a church.
Some of you were wounded very deeply.
Maybe you're watching online or by television, and you're not here with us because you were hurt in a church.
And so you're wanting to keep your distance a little bit, and I understand that.
But I would encourage you that love
is worth the risk of being hurt.
And I would also encourage you that while churches
can often do church wrong,
there's a way for churches to do church right.
Not in every way, but right in a way where the church
becomes this wonderful blessing instead of a burden.
Now, Paul ends his letter in chapter 5 in this rapid-fire succession of command after command.
It's almost as if he gets to the end of his scroll and he's running out of scroll.
And so he's got more to say, so he just starts firing off of these one-liners, these commands, these exhortations.
Now, I would encourage you not to see this primarily as a list of do's and don'ts.
No, these exhortations are simply the natural outflowing of the gospel.
This is a natural outflowing of a church who knows and walks with Jesus.
This week, we're going to just look at verses 12 through 15, talking about church life, our relationships one with another.
And then, Lord willing, next week, we're going to finish up the book by looking at our individual, personal relationships with God.
And I just want to encourage you, next week's verses are some of the most wonderful, warm verses you'll ever read in the Bible.
But let's begin, beginning of verse number 12.
He says,
to recognize those who labor among you
and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,
and to esteem them very highly in love for the work's sake.
Be at peace among yourselves."
Now, Paul calls the Thessalonians here brothers,
reminding them that they're family.
You see, believers, we, you and I,
we are brothers and sisters in Christ.
The Bible says we are family.
Now, the word church, ekklesia in Greek, it appears a couple different ways.
It's used a couple different ways within the New Testament.
Occasionally, the word church refers to the universal church, which is the ultimate church of eternity,
made up of believers throughout all of history, throughout all of the world.
This is the body of Christ.
Right?
However, most of the time, the word ekklesia is used to refer to a local church,
which is a community of believers who are in a particular place at a particular time.
Valley Baptist is a local church, for example.
River Lakes down the road is a local church.
Olive Knolls down the road is a local church.
We are local expressions of the body of Christ.
Now, in verse number 12, Paul addresses the relationship between pastors and the church,
the people in the church.
And we see that God's plan is for church leaders and church members to have this healthy relationship
one with another.
Some of you, unfortunately, have been in churches where it felt like it was the people against
the pastor and the pastor against the people.
What a horrible thought, right?
I praise God that I've never personally been in a church like that where the pastor and the people,
they're constantly battling and bickering over every little thing.
That's not church done right.
And I can promise you in situations like that, everyone loses.
More than likely, everyone also gets hurt.
God's plan, His perfect plan within His church
is that every local church of His would have godly leaders
that would lead the people.
Now, things can go wrong though, can't they?
They can go wrong in a couple different ways.
Sometimes a church has a leader
who is not fulfilling their God-given responsibilities.
Other times there's a congregation
that's not fulfilling their God-given responsibilities.
In either case,
that creates incredible problems for the church.
Now, whenever we talk about church leadership,
it's important that we recognize that church leaders
Church leadership is appointed by God
and then affirmed by the congregation,
at least in terms of pastoral leadership.
Now, a church like ours, the size that we are,
we have got a lot of staff.
We've got a wonderful team of staff
who serve as leaders in various ministries
with delegated authority from the pastors,
and we praise God for them.
Valley Baptist would not be the church we are
without our wonderful staff.
But more than likely, in verse number 12, Paul is referring specifically to the pastors.
Now, the pastor, the position of pastor,
is described in the New Testament
using three different descriptive titles.
It's kind of like when we refer sometimes
to the President of the United States,
sometimes we might call him Mr. President,
other times we might call him Commander in Chief,
and other times we might call him Chief Executive.
Same person, same position, different nuances,
different roles.
Well, for a pastor in the New Testament,
sometimes we're called
Elder. Other times we're called pastor and other times we're called bishop or literally translated overseer.
We see this in 1 Peter chapter 5 when all three descriptive titles are used of the same person, the same position of leadership.
It says in verse number 1, it says the elders, and I have it underlined for you so you can see it.
The elders who are among you I exhort.
shepherd, literally pastor, the flock of God,
which is among you, serving as overseers,
not by compulsion, but willingly,
not for dishonest gain, but eagerly.
Elder, pastor, and overseer,
different nuances describing the same position.
Now, in our passage today in 1 Thessalonians 5,
Paul points out three different things that pastors do.
Now, we do a lot, but he kind of sums it up here.
He says, first of all, they labor among you.
The word labor sometimes is translated as toil.
It was a word that was used of a hardworking farmer.
But while a farmer sows seeds with his hands, the pastor sows seeds with his life and with his words.
Now, there's a certain exhaustion that comes with that labor of physically, emotionally, spiritually that accompanies a pastor's labor.
Paul also says, though, that they serve as overseers to you in the Lord.
Now, this has to do with them being an overseer within the church.
He oversees the ministry of the church.
Now, does he do all the ministry of the church?
No.
no he oversees the ministry of the church and that gives him a certain level
of authority within the congregation now not an ultimate authority because it says here
he oversees you in the lord those are some important important words his authority is
only derived from the lord jesus you see a pastor is not in charge of the church but
Jesus is in charge of the church.
It's his church.
There's only one head of the church, and his name is Jesus.
But we know from Scripture that Jesus, who's our chief shepherd, our chief pastor,
he has appointed under shepherds, under pastors, under him and his leadership within his local body of believers.
Godly men who are to lead under his leadership.
So that means for a pastor like myself, the goal is for me to lead and oversee exactly how Jesus would want me to.
Now let's look at 1 Peter chapter 5 again.
I want to read verse number 2 again.
It says,
Now look at verse 3.
Nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
So while God has given a pastor a sense of authority within the church,
he isn't to lead from that place of authority,
lording it over the people as I'm in charge.
No, instead he's to lead from a place of love, example, and influence.
So a pastor labors, a pastor oversees, but Paul also says they admonish you.
Now this word admonish literally means to place into the mind of.
As a pastor, one of my main responsibilities is to teach God's Word and to serve as a spiritual counselor to our congregation.
Placing God's Word into your mind.
As I preach, in a sense, I'm doing counseling just at a large scale.
Now, my favorite form of counseling is what I call preventative counseling.
When I teach God's word in such a way, I'm hoping, I'm praying that you pick up some of that.
Some of that goes into your mind so that I'm doing some preventative spiritual counseling
so you don't end up in the crisis in the first place.
But the word of God is so beautiful and multilayered and faceted in such a way
that if you are in the crisis, you also are able to be pulled out of it.
So Paul says, he says, pastors, they labor among you.
They oversee you in the Lord.
They admonish you.
And here's the deal.
If a church is not receiving that from their pastor,
it's going to create a lot of problems within the body.
Now, what about the people's responsibility to the pastor?
Well, Paul addresses that.
First of all, he says, recognize them.
Acknowledge them in your life.
There was a time when attending church was the measuring stick of a person's relationship with God.
But now Christians have, I think, rightfully realized that there's a whole lot more to the Christian life than attending church.
But now I'm afraid we have a different problem,
a different error that has surfaced.
And that's people who think that attending church
doesn't really matter.
It doesn't matter if I go to church or not.
It doesn't matter if I have a pastor or not.
That I can be just as good of a Christian
without God's family, that I don't need God's family.
Now, if that's you,
I am very sorry that you've been deceived.
And it's a very dangerous thing, that deception.
You do need God's family.
You're wrong about that.
God has created and designed his church how he wants it to operate.
And so don't feel like you don't need us.
We all need one another.
The book of Hebrews says,
Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as is the manner of son.
That's speaking of attendance.
Do not forsake the attending, the gathering, the assembling of yourselves together.
So Paul says here, it's important for you to recognize and acknowledge that you have a church family
and that you have pastors who oversee you in the Lord.
A pastor who labors and oversees and admonishes you, that is God's plan.
Now, it's very important to state, because sometimes there's a separation between the clergy and the people.
That's a very dangerous thing.
A pastor is no better than the people.
We are all equal before the Lord.
I mean, you have as much access to God right now
as I have access to God.
You see, Jesus is our great high priest.
We are a priesthood of believers.
We all have equal access to the Lord.
But while we are equal, that does not mean we're the same.
I mean, men and women are equal,
But we're not the same, are we?
We've been created differently.
And God makes each and every one of us unique and different than one another.
And he does so for the edifying of the body.
He gifts us in different ways.
He calls us to different roles within his church.
And some he calls to be pastors.
So Paul says, recognize it, acknowledge it, that you have pastors over you in the Lord.
But then he says, I want you to esteem them highly in love.
Now notice he says, esteem them highly in love for their works' sake.
Not because they have the title pastor,
not because they've been elevated
and put on some pedestal they don't belong on,
but because of their labor,
because of their work in the Lord,
because of what they're doing in the body of Christ.
Now, I praise God that we have a congregation
who esteems her pastors highly
In fact, I don't know of a church that loves her pastors more than you do.
You love my dad and pastor feels so very well.
I even sensed that and experienced that and knew it as a kid.
My dad was dying.
I saw it firsthand, the love and the honor that poured out from you.
It was truly remarkable and amazing.
And now I get to experience it and sense that love from you as one of your pastors.
Thank you.
for treating us better than we deserve. Thank you for treating us with love and respect and honor.
It's a humbling thing. I don't normally, I don't feel like I deserve it, but I'm thankful for it.
And it really does make all the hard work of being a pastor more enjoyable and a whole lot more fun.
Now Paul says in verse number 13, he says,
be at peace among yourselves.
I think this is what Paul is saying.
I think these are the dots that are being connected.
Remember, he's saying pastors, work hard,
treat your people.
with the way that God wants you to be treating them,
with what he's called you to do.
Congregation, acknowledge the pastor's role,
show him love and respect.
And when you do that, both the pastor and the congregation,
when you do that, you're choosing peace.
You see, when a pastor and congregation
both fulfill their responsibility
and they have these healthy relationships with one another,
that makes for a very peaceful church
that's united in Christ.
Now, verse 14.
I'm very excited to get off pastors.
I don't like preaching on myself.
It's awkward.
Verse 14.
He says,
Now we exhort you, brothers,
warn those who are unruly,
comfort the faint-hearted,
uphold the weak,
be patient with all.
See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone,
but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.
Now, when Paul says here that I exhort you, brethren, brothers, that means he's talking to everyone.
The whole church family, brothers and sisters, not just to the leaders.
And now he rattles off a list of exhortations.
Warn the unruly, comfort the faint hearted, uphold the weak, and so on.
So here's what we learn.
The entire church family is part of helping one another live out the Christian life.
Not just for the pastor, it's for us all.
In God's design for his church,
the family of God cares for and helps the family of God.
That does not all fall on the pastors.
It should not because we cannot do it.
It falls on the people.
Every single member of our church
has something very, very important
to contribute. Scripture makes that very, very clear. Now, our church can be a great blessing
to you. I hope and I pray that we are, but you also can be a great blessing to us. That's what
Paul is saying. He's saying there's some people in your church who need some help.
They need someone to come alongside them and to love them enough to get involved in their life.
And you're responsible to be helping them.
Now, the first thing he says, the first category of people that need help, he says, warn the unruly.
Now, the word unruly could be translated as irresponsible.
It could be translated sometimes as lazy.
It was a military word that was used for a soldier who was out of step.
All the soldiers, they're marching in a certain direction, they're marching in a certain way,
but there's one soldier who's out of step.
He's unruly.
This refers to a person, I think, who's neglecting the responsibilities to the church family.
Maybe it's a lack of involvement altogether.
Or maybe it's a little more rebellious in nature.
They're a very challenging person who, no matter what's going on in the life of the church,
they're just going to be out of step because that's what they are.
They're unruly.
Paul says you need to warn them.
He's saying, you've got to deal with it.
You can't let bad behavior in the church just go on without being confronted.
You've got to toughen up.
You've got to address it.
Now, one of the great blessings of Valley Baptist Church is that sometimes we attract challenging people.
People who society often rejects and doesn't want anything to do with.
And I say it's a blessing because to me it's this very visible, loud sign saying we love everyone.
We love everyone.
And we're a part of a loving church.
And sometimes that means we love people who are difficult to love.
And so we've got all kinds of people within our church.
And included in that all kinds of people, we have some people who fall under this word unruly or irresponsible.
Now, if you're wondering, am I that person?
If you're wondering that, maybe you are.
Let me tell you, I'm glad you're here.
I'm so glad this is exactly where you need to be.
This is exactly where you want to be.
But for your sake and for the sake of all of us, we don't want you to remain unruly.
God desires to impact your life and to transform your life in such a way from the inside out
that you actually become a productive member of the church family.
Now, what about those of us who are not the unruly person,
but we're exposed to the unruly person?
The person who's out of step with the congregation, with our life group,
with our ministry, you know, that person that services in life group like that,
and that would never happen, but it does.
How do you deal with that person?
Well, first of all, they require patience.
We're going to get to that in just a moment.
That's one of the commands, be patient with them.
So it requires patience, but it oftentimes requires some form of warning to them.
A life group leader or some people might have to talk to them.
Maybe a life group, you know, they can't allow a whole group to be hijacked
by someone who's sowing division and causing a problem and different things.
Occasionally a life group leader or some people in the life group,
they need to love that person enough to sit down with them.
And to patiently, prayerfully, gently have a strong conversation of warning.
Behavior needs to change.
So he says, warn the unruly, but he also says, comfort the faint-hearted.
Now, the faint-hearted are those people who are overwhelmed with anxiety, I think.
These are the people that it's like weak of soul, I think, literally is what it means.
It's the people that are prone to discouragement.
Maybe they're overthinkers.
Maybe they're over-analyzers.
And every time I over-analyze something, I tend to get discouraged.
Or maybe they've just been beat up by life.
They're on the verge of giving up.
They're hanging on their last rope, and maybe they're overcome with grief.
Something's happened terrible in their life.
Maybe it's a series of things, and they're just barely hanging on.
Now, at any moment in the life of our church family, as large as we are, we have hundreds of people who are fainthearted.
And it's our responsibility, collectively and individually, to comfort those people.
to love them enough to see it, to love them enough to recognize they're kind of faint-hearted,
they're discouraged, they're prone to anxiety, they're prone to get down.
We've got to come alongside them in order to encourage them and comfort them in the Lord.
Now, Paul also says, he said, I want you to uphold the weak who are among you.
Now, this could be referring to the physically weak, right?
Although I think more than likely Paul has in mind the spiritually weak.
A person who is weak in faith.
Maybe they're a new believer.
Maybe they're just weak in faith.
Sometimes a person will get saved out of drugs and alcohol and a very promiscuous life.
And there's this radical transformation that takes place in their life very, very quickly.
We praise God for that.
But other times, there's a person who gets saved and the battle is on.
There's this intense battle with their old lifestyle.
And sometimes it's three steps forward and it's two steps back.
And they're falling a whole lot more than it seems like they should.
They're weak.
My dad used to talk about sins of rebellion and sins of weakness.
And I used to wonder, you know, is that really a thing?
I've come to realize that, yes, it's a real thing.
Some people are much more prone to addiction.
They're weak in that area.
They get saved, and just like a toddler is weak,
and they're a little wobbly as they're walking,
they fall down a lot.
And they keep falling down.
And Paul is saying...
Don't let them stay down.
Grab a hold of them.
Love them enough.
Pick them back up.
Lift them up.
Uphold those who are weak.
Now, Paul also says, I think a general statement, he says, be patient with them all.
We all need patience, don't we?
I praise God that God is patient with me, but I'm thankful that many of you,
certainly my wife, is patient with me.
Pastor Brian said one time, he says,
patience is the grace that keeps a church running smoothly.
He said, without patience, the gears start grinding against each other.
Isn't that the truth?
Whenever you minister to people,
whoever it is in whatever situation or problem that exists,
it always requires patience.
Always.
The unruly person requires a lot of patience.
The faint-hearted and discouraged person, they require a lot of patience.
The weak person, they require a lot of patience.
Now, Paul says in verse number 15, he says,
See that no one renders evil for evil, but pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.
Now, I love how he says pursue what is good both for yourself and for all.
Whenever I'm facing a difficult decision or judgment call involving multiple people,
sometimes it feels like I'm facing a decision that's good for one person and bad for another at first glance.
Well, my goal is to make a decision that's good for everyone, right?
Let's have a win-win kind of a decision.
So sometimes I'll pray, even in the midst of a counseling, Lord, in my mind, I'm just, Lord, would you give me wisdom?
to be able to navigate this complex situation
in such a way where I make a judgment call
that if everyone responds the right way,
we're all gonna draw closer to Christ.
Because if that happens, guess what?
That's good for everyone.
You may not think it's good on the surface
based on what I decide, but that's good for everyone.
That should be our goal,
that we pursue not only what's right for me,
that's normally what we pursue,
but what's right for me and right for all.
Paul says, also, he says, don't retaliate.
Don't render evil for evil.
No.
That's easier said than done, though, isn't it?
That's against human nature.
If you push me, I want to push you back.
But Jesus said, no, no, no.
If someone strikes you on the cheek, you turn the other cheek to them also.
God says very clearly, vengeance is mine.
I will repay, says the Lord.
In other words, no one's going to get away with anything.
But it's not your place to retaliate.
You don't have the faculties to judge that situation perfectly like I do.
And you don't have the means to exercise justice like I do.
That's my responsibility, God says.
So what's our responsibility?
Our responsibility is to do everything we possibly can to live at peace with people.
In fact, Romans 12, verse 18 says,
"...if it is possible."
as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.
Now, sometimes it's not possible.
A person is just coming at you and they're not going to let you be at peace.
But you are responsible, absolutely responsible,
to do everything in your power, in your control,
to live peaceably with them.
You know, sometimes...
we can try to warn the unruly
and comfort the faint-hearted and uphold the weak.
And that might actually cause them to lash out at us.
Did you know that?
That actually is pretty common with people.
It's common even within the church family.
People who are hurting and wounded
sometimes respond in anger,
even to those who are trying to help them that love them.
So sometimes there's people
in your ministry or within your life that you're loving on.
You've poured your life and you've invested time and energy and blood, sweat and tears.
You've loved on them.
You've invested.
And they're the ones that hurt you the most.
Feels like they stab you in the back.
You're thinking, where did that come from?
Listen, if that happens, don't retaliate.
Do not retaliate.
Here's what you do.
You just treat them in a way that's good for them and good for all.
Now, I think there's another principle that just jumps off the pages as I read this passage that we learn.
And that is that every person in every situation calls for very unique ministry.
It's not a one-size-fits-all kind of a situation within the church family.
Some people think, well, I've just got to treat everyone the same.
That sounds noble, but it's short-sighted.
It does not recognize the complexity and the diversity of people and situations.
Parents, this certainly is the case for you as you parent and as you raise your kids.
You love each and every one of your kids equally, but that does not mean that you treat them the same.
Why? They're all different.
God made them and wired them and created them very differently.
Each one of them has unique strengths and they have unique weaknesses.
It's our job to get to know our kids so well that we know exactly how to parent them.
We know exactly how to minister to them specifically.
And it's the same within the church family.
Unruly people, they often need a strong hand of warning.
Fainthearted people, they often need a comforting hand, soft hand of comfort.
Every person calls for unique ministry.
But did you also know that every situation calls for unique ministry?
This is where we've got to involve the Holy Spirit.
Occasionally.
Occasionally the unruly person doesn't need
a strong hand of warning.
Sometimes they need encouragement.
Sometimes there's a reason they're unruly
and they're beat up by life, they're beat up by people.
They need someone to know, man, we love you
and we're encouraging you, we're calling you up in the Lord.
And as we walk in the spirit, God's gonna give us wisdom
to know what kind of ministry each person needs
and when they need it.
As Christians, we need to learn how to love all kinds of people in all kinds of ways through all kinds of situations.
Now, this passage is about life inside the church.
And what I mean by that is life among God's people.
Paul's going to conclude the book.
Lord willing, we're going to look at it next week.
Talking about a personal walk with Jesus, a personal relationship with him.
But today's message is about church life, God's family.
I think the question becomes for some of you, what do I do if I'm not part of God's family?
I'm attending today, I'm tuning in, but I'm just here.
I'm not really a part of this family.
Is there a way I can join God's family?
Absolutely.
You must be born into it.
Now, that does not mean that your parents or your grandparents needed to be Christians.
No, no, no.
No one is born a Christian.
But we are born again a Christian.
That's what Jesus said.
He said you must, if you want to enter the kingdom of God,
you must be born again of the Spirit.
You must be given new life by the Spirit of God.
And the only way that we're given new life is through receiving Jesus as our Savior and our Lord.
See, we have a big problem.
Our problem is sin.
And sin deserves death.
The wages of sin is death.
The Bible makes that very, very clear.
Physical death, but also spiritual death.
When we're spiritually dead, our spirit is separated from the spirit of God.
And what we need most is for the spirit of God to touch our spirit in such a way that we have new spiritual life and are born again.
And the only way that that happens is through faith in Jesus.
It requires faith.
The book of Hebrews says that without faith, it's impossible to please God.
You can't even begin to please God.
without faith. And here's what we must believe. We must believe that Jesus is. We must believe
that He loves us so much that He died on the cross for our sins and that He rose on the
third day and that He has victory over death.
John chapter 1 verse number 12 says, but as many as received Him, that's Jesus, to them
He gave the right to become the children of God to those who believe in His name.
Let me ask you, do you want to be given the right to be the child of God?
There's nothing like being in God's family.
There's nothing like having God as our personal loving Father.
The Bible says that God is a father to the fatherless.
Maybe you've known about God, but you've never personally known him as your Savior and your Lord.
Let me ask you, do you want to get to know him?
There's only one way that you can be called a child of God.
There's only one way that you can be a part of the family of God,
and that is by receiving Jesus as your Savior and as your Lord.
Let's bow together in an attitude of prayer.
This is a holy moment in the life of our church.
The Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,
that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
I want to invite you not to perish.
I want to invite you to have everlasting life.
And it's only found through relationship with Jesus.
Now, we have a wonderful church family here at Valley Baptist.
And I praise God, there's many wonderful church families, many wonderful local churches.
Maybe you say, I want to join God's family, so I'm going to come join Valley Baptist Church.
Listen, that's not how you join God's family.
The way you join God's family is by becoming a child of God.
through faith in Jesus, receiving him into your life,
receiving his presence, inviting him in to every area of life.
I want to invite you to do just that today.
There's going to be, as soon as I pray here in just a moment,
we're going to stand to our feet and there's going to be pastors and other leaders.
Prayer partners here at the front, we're just going to invite you to come as we stand.
Just walk down one of these aisles.
Walk down one of these staircases.
Say, I want to give my life to Jesus.
I want to receive him.
I want to be changed by him.
I want to be forgiven by him.
I want new life.
These folks will know exactly how to help you.
They're not going to embarrass you.
They're not going to ask you questions that you can't answer.
They're just going to help.
They're going to comfort you.
They're going to uphold you.
They're going to pray with you.
Maybe God is leading you to join our little local family here, Valley Baptist.
You've been watching from a distance.
You've been kind of on the fringes, kind of looking in, kind of maybe just waiting through it.
See if this is the place God wants for you.
But maybe God is making it clear that he wants you to be pastored by some people.
He wants you to be accountable to some people, the church family.
And maybe you want to formalize that today.
We'd love to receive you as a member.
We'd love to at least talk with you about that.
You can come forward and let us know, and we'd love to visit with you about that.
Or maybe you want to be baptized like the man who was baptized earlier in our service
and go public with your faith.
That's a wonderful, wonderful thing.
However God leads in just a moment.
Please come. Let's pray.
Father, thank you for your love and your grace.
We don't deserve it, but we are so grateful for it.
Thank you for our church family.
Thank you for blessing us.
Thank you for giving us peace,
using us.
Lord, I pray for those who are faint-hearted.
Maybe they're going through something that has them in that place where they're just hanging on by a thread.
Lord, would you comfort them?
Would you use your people to comfort them?
Would you encourage them?
Lord, in those who are weak, they keep falling down.
They keep face-planting.
And it's hurting them.
It's hurting those around them.
They're just weak in some areas of life.
Would you strengthen them, Lord?
Would you build their faith up?
And Lord, when they can't hold themselves up,
would you give them people in our church family
that will lay hands on them and hold them up for a time?
Lift them up.
Lord, I pray for some who are unruly.
They're out of step with your family.
They're out of step with the direction that you have within our church.
And Lord, maybe that's rebellious in nature.
Maybe it's irresponsible or lazy in nature.
Maybe it's apathetic.
I don't know, Lord.
You know who they are.
We pray that you help them.
Help us be patient with all like you're patient with all.
Lord, I know that as a church family, as much as you've blessed us there,
we are not perfect at all.
We're a long ways from it.
And there have been people whom you love,
your very children who have fallen through the cracks.
They have not been seen like they should have been seen.
They have not been comforted like they should have been comforted.
Lord, would you encourage those people today?
And would you help us become a church family
who does everything that we can, Lord,
to be a responsible church,
loving your children well.
Lord, please draw people to yourself.
If there are those that don't know you yet,
may this be the day that everything changes
and they get to know your love and your grace and your mercy.
Please pursue them.
We ask in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Thanks for listening today.
We hope you enjoyed this message.
And if you did, we would be so grateful if you left us a review.
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If you feel the Lord calling you to take the next step in faith
through salvation, service, or giving, don't wait.
reach out to us by texting podcast to 88988.
That's podcast to 88988
or connect with us on one of our social media platforms.
You can also visit our website, valleybaptist.org
to find even more great resources.
No matter where you are in your journey,
know that we love you.
We're praying for you
and we can't wait to see what God will do in your life.