In this sermon, Trent Moody discusses the duties of church members within the context of a church covenant. He emphasizes the importance of unity, love, and obedience among believers. Moody explains the concept of the universal church and its relation to local churches. He highlights the role of worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines in the sanctification of the church. Additionally, he emphasizes the responsibility of believers to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel to all nations.

� with true and pure hearts that we love the church because we love our Lord. That's really the whole thing right there. Ephesians chapter 4 and I want to read verses 1 through 6 which we have read this morning but they are worth reading again. The Apostle Paul writes here to the church and he says this under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It says, � ye to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. Let's pray. Our Father, we ask now that you would please make effectual the reading of your word, that your spirit, Lord, would teach us and guide us into all truth. And as we consider this subject of our duties together as members of Hope Baptist Church, that we would consider well what the Apostle Paul has said here, that we would consider well all that the Holy Spirit has inspired for us to understand, and Lord, that we would grow thereby and bring glory to Christ. We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. You may be seated. � So as we begin this message it is a topical message which does put me like a fish out of water a little bit I'm very expository in nature and preaching and I really love going verse by verse and line by line but there are times in which I believe that it's very helpful and beneficial for us to get a big picture of what God is doing and what he has called us to do as his people and so really what we are focusing on if you're visiting here today you're gonna you're gonna hear what we believe our duties are one to another among the members of this church, those who have made a covenant to walk together in love and obedience to our Lord. That's what this is really going to be about. Our church covenant has recently been placed on the back wall, not in the sanctuary but in the hallway there.

It describes nothing new, nothing unique other than what the word of God teaches us � and shows us is our duties one to another. And so the church covenant is just that. It is listing our duties that we hold very near and dear because we love the church, because we love our Lord. And if we love our lord, we will love one another. And that's really the description of what the covenant is, how we are going to love one another.

So, as we begin this message, I believe that it will be really helpful for us and important for us to define what the church is, and then by necessity and necessary deduction what is the local church known as Hope Baptist Church. So what we were singing about is singing about the universal church and we want to also understand what that is and then also how that relates to this local body of Hope Baptist Church. So I understand that we could spend quite a bit of time going down deep into the meaning of what the church is, but that's really not the main purpose of what I want to do today. I am going to touch on that, but our main purpose is understanding our duties as members one to another. I find that it's very important that we understand what God requires of us and what he would have us to do.

So I want us to get the main point and that is to define and understand what our duties are to one another. But before we get there, what I want to do is have us to consider what our confession of faith teaches us about the church so that we get a good picture of what the church is. Our confession of faith is simply a written down statement that we profess to be accurately describing what God's words �𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘺. So if you're visiting or even if you're new here, I want you to understand very clearly we hold no documents above the Word of God. The Word of God is our sole authority in life and practice.

So I don't want you to think because I'm teaching on our church covenant that we somehow hold that higher, or have more authority than the Word of God. The Word of God is our sole authority for life and practice. Our confession of faith that we hold in this church is the second London Baptist confession of faith of 1689, and we hold that because we believe that we need to tell you what we believe the Bible says. Every Christian that I know says I believe the Bible but the question is what do you believe about the Bible? What do you believe about the Lord Jesus Christ?

What do you believe about salvation? What do you believe about the church? And that's what we want to do as we look at this. What do we believe based upon our public confession of faith about the church of the Lord Jesus Christ? So again, we turn here because this is what we believe the scripture teaches.

So I'm going to read a few paragraphs for us in chapter 26 in our confession of faith entitled Of the Church. So first in the first paragraph our confession states this the Catholic or Universal Church which with respect to the internal working of the spirit and truth of grace may be called invisible consists of the whole number of the elect that have been, are or shall be gathered into one under Christ, the head thereof and is the spouse, the body, the fullness of him that fills all in all. What he's saying here, what they're saying here as they write this is that there is a universal nature to the church. It is all believers in all places, those who have been born again by the work of the Spirit of God in their hearts and this � ḍḣḾ ḔḤᵒ ḍḣḽ ḡᵍ Ḥᵒᵒ ḡᵘᵒ Ḥᵍ. Because I can't see into your heart, and no other man can see into your heart, but God knows everyone who are His.

So that's why it's called the Invisible Church. We can't see it with our eyes, but God knows. So even in our midst today, there is a mixture. This is the visible church or or part of the universal church that is visible to us but within this group here today there are those who are part of the true invisible church who are truly born again and yet there are also some here who are not born again. They are actually unbelievers.

They are here with maybe an interest or a desire or a curiosity. They may be young little children who have not trusted in Christ yet, but we have a mixture here this morning and so that is part of the visible church, but the invisible church is fully been born again and are safe �. The second paragraph states this. I'm not going to read all of them, but just a few. The second paragraph of our Confession says this.

�'i, according unto it, not destroying their own profession by any errors, inverting the foundation or unholiness of conversation are and may be called visible saints and of such alt all particular congregations to be constituted." So what we have here is speaking about what I referenced, the visible church. I'm looking at the visible church right now, and you're looking at me. We are all part of this visible church of those who have made professions of faith, those who, in this church, who have stated the covenant in membership and that they are professing Christ and so we understand this to be the visible church and this congregation of Hope Baptist Church. In paragraph 5 our constitution says � of the world unto himself теб� through the ministry of his Word, by the Spirit, those that are given unto him by his Father, that they may walk before him in all the ways of obedience which he prescribes to them in his Word." ག཮ Those thus called, he commands to walk together in particular societies or churches for the mutual edification and the due performance of that public worship which he requires of them in the world." This is really getting to the heart of what the message is going to be about.

This is all under the execution of his power, the Lord Jesus Christ, over his church And it is by sound reason that when we understand the duties of church members, my duty in one sense is to pray for the universal church all across the world. We did that this morning. We're praying for other churches and other nations around the world. But when it comes to living in a community I cannot live in community with someone some Christian who is dwelling in China or Africa or wherever it may be I'm living in community right here I have a greater responsibility because we are walking together in Christian love and that's This has been laid out for us through the ministry of the Word, he says, by the Spirit of God, all those that are given unto him by the Father and we are to walk before him in all of his ways according to what the Bible prescribes for us and God commands of us. And then lastly in the confession of faith I want to read paragraph 6.

It says the members of these churches are called saints, visibly manifesting and evidencing in and by their profession and walking." So it's not only what we say, but how we walk. "...Know obedience unto that call of Christ, and do willingly consent to walk together. According to the appointment of Christ, giving up themselves to the Lord � So there again is a big part of what we're talking about. We do willingly consent to walk together according to the appointment of Christ. That we would give ourselves up to the Lord and to one another.

This is what the Bible teaches us and this is what we believe, that it is our duty to walk together before the Lord in Christian love one with another. And so as one pastor has remarked, Christ has created us by a covenant to be his people. Not just individuals, but a people, a body, a bride for himself. To fulfill that covenant calling demands that we form assemblies called churches, visible churches, which in some way make a covenant together to be the body of Christ for each other, for the world, and for the glory of God. So that was his understanding of that and I agree with what he is saying, that in this Christ created a covenant people.

We see in the old covenant he created a covenant people, we see in the new covenant people, and by I believe sound reason and deduction of the word of God we see individual local churches walking together voluntarily in covenant one with another that we vow one to another that we will walk in the ways of God that we will love God and that we will love each other. That is what this is all about, that we would be helped by God's Word and through a verbal and written covenant that we would live together in unity and Christian love. So what is it that constitutes a church, a local church? What makes this local church different and particular that Hope Baptist Church is different than another Baptist Church or a Baptist Church or another church around the world because we do believe that there are believers not only in the Baptist denomination but in all denominations that profess Orthodox Christianity. There are many believers around the world but that is different and distinct than what we are practicing and participating in here this morning.

We have a greater responsibility one to another as we live together in covenant. So what is it that constitutes a church? So one historian writes, and this is very interesting, that back in the early 1600s in America and you can think about this, you have all of these different groups and different people from all over the world coming to this pre-nation if you will, it wasn't America yet but they were coming here to this nation and as a result the early congregationalist and Baptist struggled with the formation of new churches. They were wrestling he says with what made up a group of people, what made a group of people into a local church. What is it that said this is a local church?

The answer given again and again was that what made up a group of persons to be a church was a covenant. That they made a covenant or a solemn pledge to one another that they would believe in Christ and worship and minister in common. In other words, one to another. So, in fact, it has been noted early in 1649 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the reasonings of John Cotton, you may have heard of these names, John Cotton, Richard Mather, and Ralph Partridge drew up a model of church government. This is what they said.

They said, this model of church government which reasoned like this, God wills for his people to gather in visible local churches, this is clear from the New Testament. For example, from the letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor which were all very different. We read in the book of Revelation chapter 2 and through chapter 3 that it was the church of Ephesus, the church of Sardis, the church. So we see here distinct churches all made up of the universal church, but each one of these churches that were called the church were in different locations and they had some way in which they were constituted to be that church. And so we want to understand what that is.

But this is what they said, this visible union cannot be established by mere faith now don't throw anything at me listen to what they say It's not by mere faith for that is invisible. I can't see your faith I can't see another person's faith around the world in a different location. They said, nor by a bare profession of faith for that does not make a person a part of one particular church or another. There's people all over the world who profess faith in Christ but that doesn't make us bound together wherein we function together. They go on and they say this, nor by cohabitation or living in the same community � ཾོོོ཯ོ཯཯཯ོ཯ོོ཯཯ོོེོོསྼི཯ེོ཯ོེླྀཪོའ཯ིོསོས཯ད཯ཱོོེོོི཮཰ྲྀཹའིཛྷི཰ཛྷོིོ཯ོཆཱོིེིསཪ཯ོ � and infidels may dwell together with believers, nor even by baptism, since baptism by itself does not make a person a part of a local church.

There are baptized believers all over this world, and I'm thankful for that, praise God, but it does not make them a part of this local church so what is it that establishes a local church what establishes this visible union that we have here this morning among the membership and this group of believers into a church he says or they say is that they make a covenant with one another to be a church that we will be the local expression of the church universal in this area in this place in which we live. It is rooted ultimately in God's sovereign call that creates a visible people for himself in fulfillment of the new covenant promises. In other words, what the Bible teaches us in the new covenant. And it is rooted secondarily in the biblical necessity of becoming local expressions of that one global covenant people. So as we think about this, we're looking at the global church, the universal church, and it's a glorious bride for our Lord and savior but now we're bringing it down and what is it to be a part of this local church.

This visible representation of the universal That's what we are. Hope Baptist Church. So I believe that these statements are very clear in their teaching that there is a universal church that consists of all believers all over the world and also that scripture is clear that there are also local churches that are called the church at Corinth the church at Thessalonica the church at Galatia and also the churches as I mentioned in the book of Revelation These are mentioned here as individual churches and comprised of individuals who have joined that local church. And those individuals are known by their leaders and their other congregants, and they are seen as local churches. So this is seen early on in the book of Acts and if you want to turn there or just write a note I'm just going to read it quickly.

Acts chapter 5 verse 13 says this, Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. Now this word join here is interesting. I'm not trying to stretch the meaning beyond what it allows within the text, but this word join means to glue together. It means to cement. It means to fasten together and universally this to join or to fasten firmly together.

I get in my mind because I'm a contractor I'm thinking about taking liquid nail and gluing two boards together. We are joined together. In fact if you were to try to rip those two boards apart after that dried, you're actually going to rip some of this board and some of that board as you pull it apart. This thing is joined together. We see here even early on in the book of Acts people that were outside of the church dared not join them.

They didn't glue themselves together. They didn't come in and join in this union, if you will. They saw it and they feared, but yet God was still adding to the church daily as he saw fit. It was the work of God in the life of these believers that joined them together and made them into one body. So again, I'm not trying to stretch this too far, but I also don't want to minimize that this is a clear teaching of the New Testament that local churches are joined together with a form of covenant it I'm sure it didn't say all of the things that our church covenant says but they were bound together with some form of agreement that was a covenant that they were going to dwell together.

We also see this in I Corinthians 5 and a lot of times you'll see these passages regarding church discipline that will actually help us see this whole idea of a body being joined together with a covenant and even a membership even though the word membership might not be used and neither is the word trinity as our brother told us last week. So we do see the concept there we do see the teaching there � in the principle is there. In 1 Corinthians 5.13 he says, therefore put away from among yourselves that evil person. How can you put someone away from yourselves if you don't know who you are? So a body of believers know who they are, they know who are theirs and they also know that if someone is willingly and defiantly continuing in sin that that person was to be put out of that local expression of the global.

Okay. That's what we're looking at as a local church. So really the rest of this message will be based on this presupposition that there is such an entity as a local church made up of those who have repented of their sins, professed their faith in Christ and have voluntarily joined into covenant with one another. That's my presupposition. I'm going to tell you up front.

Most people don't tell you their presuppositions. That's mine. I believe in the local church and that a local church would be gathered together voluntarily by covenant and wherein I say, I'm going to live this way with you and you say, I'm going to live this way with me. That's what the covenant's all about. We are declaring to one another how we are going to live one with another based upon what God's word tells us in the scriptures.

So we will be doing, what we'll be doing this morning is looking into our church covenant as the document that lays out for us our duties or our responsibilities one with another as members of Hope Baptist Church. So now that we have this working understanding of what a church is, I want us to take just a moment to look at what a church covenant is. So what is this covenant? Matt Schmucker writes this, a church covenant can be described in five different ways. He says, a church covenant is a promise.

A promise made to God, to a local church and to oneself. Secondly, he says, A church covenant is a summary of how we agree to live. I'm telling you this is how I agree to live with you and you're telling me that's how you agree to live with me. That's part of this covenant. While our statement of faith is a good summary of what we believe.

He says our church covenant is a summary of how we agree to live. So it's almost the difference between what we profess to believe and actually how we're saying we are actually going to work this out and live it one with another in unity. So more importantly he says it is a summary of how God would have us to live. It does not include every explicit command in the scriptures regarding obedience but it does give us a general summary of what it means to live as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thirdly he says a church covenant is a biblical standard.

A church covenant is helpful in a church that is practicing biblical church discipline. As members of a church we exhort one another to live holy lives, and we challenge brothers and sisters that are persisting in sin. We challenge them to turn away from their sin. That's what a church covenant helps us to do, and that's why we have a Church Covenant here at Hope Baptist Church. So, let us look into the very text of our Church Covenant.

You should have a copy of that and let me go ahead and say this right off the bat. I have noticed in my studies a few of these references might not be exactly right when it comes to the scripture references. I'm working to clarify a lot of those. But generally these are good references that you can look to see why are we saying this? Why are we saying that the first one, having been led as we believe by the spirit of God to repent, believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior and profess our allegiance to him, having been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we do now, so here's our covenant �.

So, there's no way I'm going to get through this whole document today, so go ahead and prepare that we're going to quit about halfway through. And we'll finish up on the rest of it next time, but I do want to get down through, I'm hoping the first five paragraphs if you will. So first and foremost, we see in our covenant that this covenant is between believers. It is between professed believers who are professing one to another that we're going to walk this way, and look at what he says. He says again, Ihaving been led as we believe by the Spirit of God to do what?

To repent, to believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior and profess our allegiance to him. This first part of the church covenant, it lays down for us our foundation of the covenant because again, this is the spiritual glue if you will this liquid nail that binds us together in our common faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our church covenant is intended for believers who have repented and believed and received the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. That's what this is about. It's believers coming together saying, let us live this way because this is what God says to do.

The covenant also is for those who have taken their first step of obedience. You don't become a member of Hope Baptist Church until you've been baptized, until you've taken that first step of obedience to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And I'll reference you back to Robert's message last week, and I think he has a few more on the topic of the Trinity. We believe in a Trinitarian baptism. We believe it's the work of the Father Son and Holy Spirit.

So also this covenant is in the presence of God and of His holy angels and one another when someone joins this church if you've never been here when someone joins this church we have that person first meet with the elders, we discuss their salvation, we hear their testimony, we talk to them about the first part of this. Have you repented and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? And Are you professing him to be your Lord and your Savior? We hear their testimony and we talk to them about these things. Then after that takes place, they come before this congregation and we read together the Church covenant that declares one to another how we believe that we should live with each other based on again God's word.

So it is a public profession in the midst of this congregation that takes place and we understand that God is witnessing that. And then this covenant is serious and joyful and uniting. I really love this part of our church covenant because it speaks there that this is something that is voluntarily done, it is something that is willfully done, and it's something that's joyful. When we joined this church over four years ago, I was looking out at this body of believers that I was becoming and growing more endeared to. I loved you and I love you still and I was joyful to join this congregation and I'm thankful for it but I also recognize that there was a seriousness to it.

It's not something that we should enter into lightly because it is a covenant. And this covenant is one that we enter into with one another as one body in Christ. When I consider you, Hope Baptist Church, I have to consider you as part of the body of my Savior and my Lord. How I deal with you and how you deal with me matters. How we speak to one another, how we treat one another, how we talk about each other not in each other's presence, all of these things are very important as we consider this covenant because guess what?

We are saying that we're not going to backbite. We're not going to gossip. We're actually going to love. We're going to be long-suffering. We're going to be patient.

We're going to be kind. And these are all laid out for us in the Word of God and we're reminded of these things in our covenant. But it is one of the challenging aspects of any relationship is unspoken expectations. Now if you're married here, you entered into that covenant of marriage with unspoken expectations. You didn't tell your spouse all that you were expecting.

You didn't think you had to. Let's be honest, we all have them. What we are trying to do is to remove as many of those unspoken expectations when you enter into covenant with this local body as possible. So that you know what we expect and we know that we're all on the same page in this. How helpful would it have been to sit down before you get married and talk about all of the expectations that you have.

I did that one time with a couple that was getting married this was years and years ago in another state and I was asking them about their expectations, and as the young woman was describing her expectations, her future husband looked over and like, what in the world, I didn't know that she was expecting that so we want to make it clear these are the things that we expect from our church members these are our responsibilities and duties one with another secondly and this is really really where it gets into the the kind of the the rubber meets the road the feet to the pavement this is this is where we're getting into And we see this as Christian unity. And this is our goal, that we would be unified. We read that in Ephesians chapter four, that this desire and the purpose of God giving elders and evangelists and all of these people that work in the church and even our deacons they're there for the point that we would all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God so that's our great desire and our great goal is unifying this body in one faith.

So this first duty of ours says this, we will work and pray for the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and by the aid of the Holy Spirit to walk together in Christian love. We see a few things here. First we see our desire and our goal in this covenant is that we will work towards making this church unified in the spirit. That's our goal, that we would be of one mind. And that's what Paul prays in the scriptures for different churches, that they would be of one mind, that you would all think the same thing, he says.

This is not possible, however, without what is said in this next part by the aid of the Holy Spirit. Because you know what, guess what, we still have a lot of flesh left in us. We have fleshly thoughts. Almost without exception, if there are disagreements among this body or any other body it's because we are not walking in the spirit not because we are when we walk in the spirit there is peace and there is unity that is just a fact of scripture and that's what our desire is is that we would walk together in unity but listen by the aid of the Holy Spirit don't miss this point the entirety of this covenant is only by the aid of the Holy Spirit so there are some of us � and I myself have struggled with repeating this covenant because sometimes we read it and we think, man, I can never do all those things. What if I mess up?

Well, guess what? When you make a marriage covenant, You're going to mess up. You will not perfectly fulfill that marriage covenant. And guess what? When the Lord Jesus Christ came, that's why the covenant from God to us is a one-way covenant.

He doesn't mess up. We will time and time again. But you know what? I've found that even when I'm unfaithful, he is faithful. He is always faithful.

He's always patient. He's always loving. He's always kind. He perfectly fulfils the covenant even when I don't. Praise the Lord.

So we see here it is by the aid of the Holy Spirit. So in other words, these are things that we are striving to obtain, that we want to see unity of the body, being able to do this. So I want you to know that this covenant is not something that we do in our own strength. Nor are we testifying that we will perfectly do all of these things, but rather these are the things that we are aiming and striving to do by the aid of the Holy Spirit. And next within this second paragraph here it testifies that our great desire is to walk together in Christian love and when we don't this covenant is very helpful and instructing on how we get back to walk in Christian love.

You see our Christian love is something that we voluntarily agree in this covenant that we will be confronted and corrected when we're not walking in love. We're actually stating that. That when we need discipline, I voluntarily submit to biblical discipline. That's what you're stating. You see in Ephesians 4-6, I read that this morning, that it is in this vein, if you will, that as the, Paul says, as the prisoner of the Lord, I beseech you to walk worthy of this calling with which you were called with all lowliness and gentleness with long suffering bearing with one another in love endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.

Why does he use these words? These words are, he says that we are to be long suffering. Why would he say that? Because guess what? It's not going to be easy to live with me.

And it's not going to be easy always to live with you and we will suffer long one with another he tells us these things endeavoring to keep the unity why why are we why should we endeavor to keep the unity because unity is a slippery thing because when we do not walk in the spirit we are walking in the flesh and that unity becomes very difficult. So John 13 34 will help us. A new commandment I give you that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. That is going to be the real glue that binds us together, that we would have love one for another. Next, we are agreeing that we should have an aim to or striving towards the evangelization of others.

Listen to what this next paragraph says, or you can read it there with me. � in Christ, to be in prayer for the spiritual awakening of the lost in our community, and to be a faithful witness of the gospel, both here and to the remotest parts of the earth. I'm just going to ask you a question you don't have to answer out loud. Have I said anything within this covenant that is contrary to the scriptures? It's all scripture.

These are the things that God has commanded us to do and we're just writing them down saying we will endeavor to do them. So this point is very important because it's about our responsibility to share the gospel. Not only in our families, not only with our neighbors, but we actually have a responsibility throughout the world. But how in the world do we do that? When we live here around this area of Wake Forest?

Well, we're going to find out. This paragraph should really go without saying that we endeavor to evangelize the world. That's our great design right. The Christian faith is one in which you cannot be a true christian and not want everybody else to have it because we understand that because we have this faith in the lord jesus christ because he has saved us and redeemed us by his blood and we don't work to earn it we don't have to do some jumping through hoops he saves us by his grace how could we not want to tell everyone about it unless we don't understand it or don't have it so we want to do this this paragraph exhorts us to speak the gospel to others At the very heart of being a Christian is a desire to see everyone. It's interesting here, almost humorous, in Acts 26-29 it says, and Paul said, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me today might become both almost and all together such as I am except for these chains he wanted them these these civil leaders to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ He wanted them to have the gospel.

He wanted them to have everything he had except the chains. In Acts 5 28 the high priest said to Peter and the apostles did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name and look you filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Now listen to what Peter says. But Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. That was because the gospel had so affected Peter and the apostles that they were willing to disobey civil authority to obey God's authority because it was within them it's like Jeremiah there was a burning fire within his bones.

He had to proclaim the gospel to others because he knew it would set the captive free. He knew that it would redeem them from the curse of the fall. He knew that it would save them from hell. And so a true believer will have an earnest desire to see others come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But how can I witness, I'm a single man, how can I witness to the remotest parts of the earth?

Well, I guess I could hop on a plane and head off. But what about the other remotest parts that I'm not going to? How can I keep this covenant? For individuals who are very concrete in their thinking, they struggle with this. With making a statement and being sincere and truthful in their heart that I will evangelize to the remotest parts of the earth.

So how do we do this? What does it mean? It means that we understand that we have a duty before God to spread the gospel not only To those that we are in contact with locally but also supporting others who take the gospel to the remotest parts of the earth in other words We desire all peoples to come to the knowledge of the truth as paul says in in timothy in first timothy 2 He says he's speaking in regards to God who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth for there is one God and one mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time We will pray and we will give and we will support and if God calls we will go that Christ may be testified to all peoples in due time. That is our commitment. That's part of our giving that we'll talk about later.

That we would actually give for the ministry and for ministries that would go to the remotest parts of the earth. One of the things that we have that our brother Paul Carenan is working on are these Bible apps and this app in which it is having good solid Christian literature that is breaking through these national barriers where the gospel is not easily taken and they are getting in. That's part of our support in this church is going to help the gospel go into the remotest parts of the earth. It's amazing to live in this time, in due time, guess what? In this time, God has enabled us not that we all have to go, but actually we can still send the gospel through the air.

Isn't that wonderful? That it can go and reach people. মേുত്য് লাআয്যു തিয് আকോ পതিযাযു দ്য് ত്লുন് পതিয് পതিয് পതিযাযു ত്ল് ত്য്য് পത്য് পതিযায് পതিয് পതিয� �. I'm not gonna read all of them because it would we would literally be here for days. But we see also in Acts 1 3-8, to whom he was presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs, speaking of Jesus.

Being seen by them during 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God and being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, "'You have heard from me, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put into his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses, be witness to me in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And God is fulfilling that promise. And he has been fulfilling it and he is fulfilling it and we are to have part in that.

It's a glorious thing that we can actually be partakers in that. One man sows another man waters and God gives the increase. Praise the �. Next, we desire the sanctification of those within this local church. Guess what?

Right now I'm working for the sanctification of this local church. Here are just a few moments when we eat together. All of you are going to be working for the sanctification of one another. It's going to be beautiful. I love to watch it.

I love it when I hear people praying together. I love people encouraging one another. I love it when I hear people discussing the topics of the message that was preached or quoting scripture to one another. I love it because you are partaking in the sanctification of this local body. It says, we will strive for the advancement of this church in knowledge, holiness, and comfort, to promote its prosperity and spirituality, to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines, and to submit to its leaders as they are faithful to Christ.

The goal is that we desire all of God's people to grow in grace and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what Peter said in his ending words there in 2 Peter, he said this, but grow in grace and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what Peter said in his ending words there in 2 Peter, he said this, but grow in grace and in knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.

This was Peter's desire and it should be ours. That we would desire to see the growth of the body. That she would be beautified in holiness. So this means that God not only is aiming at an end and that we are aiming at an end goal but there's a means to that end goal there always are means to an end the means don't justify the end the means should be in line with the end goal so the end goal is that we would be sanctified. Well how do we get there?

This is what he says in the second part of this. He says in the covenant it says to sustain its worship, like right now this is actually part of worship. We are actually being sanctified by the word of God. Praise the Lord. By its ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Discipline, actually you are sanctified by discipline. Praise the Lord. God disciplines children in a family, God disciplines his children in a church, and it's both of those, so that it will produce the peaceable fruit of righteousness, is what Hebrews 12 says. And so, not only in discipline, but also in its doctrines, and to submit to its leaders as they are faithful to Christ. So we'll look at that too.

We acknowledge that the way to accomplish this goal of sanctification is through sustaining, continuing on in the worship of God together. That when we actually come together there's something amazing that happens through the work of the Holy Spirit because every believer here is endowed with gifts of the Holy Spirit and we are walking in the Spirit we are worshipping in Spirit and in truth and that when we do that it works towards the edifying and sanctifying of this entire body That we will grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord. And so we acknowledge that the way to accomplish this is through worship. It's through the ordinances. It's something that God has ordained that someone is baptized when they believe and that actually encourages all of us what happens in this body when we watch someone be baptized every time we ask that question to a young person you know what they say?

Everybody claps everybody claps yes we're excited we're happy for this and it actually builds us It brings joy into our hearts that we're thankful. God is saving people. Praise the Lord. This is good. And then we also see it through discipline.

And we can read through these. There's many verses there that you can read through you know one of the verses they're regarding this sustaining its worship is found in Hebrews 10 24 and 25 says this and let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. That's actually your responsibility, to stir up love and good works in Hebrews 10, 24, and 25. He says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some. Did you know that some Christians have a tendency to begin to be less regular to the worship services of God?

But here the writer of Hebrews says you need to do it more as you see the day approaching. Guess what? The day is closer today than it was yesterday. And it's a week closer today than it was last week. Every day we see this day approaching and the more and more we should be together as the body of Christ.

So that's the last part. So the first thing I want to talk about is the obedience of the body of Christ. � because I receive edification by being with you. It helps me to be a better man and a better Christian. So Hebrews, again I want to hit that last part regarding the obedience, let's see here where he says it, and to submit to its leaders as they are faithful to Christ.

Listen to what Hebrews 13, 17 says. It says obey those who rule over you and be submissive. Why? What makes them so great? Listen to what he says.

For they watch out for your souls as those who must give account. That terrifies me. And then he says this, let them do so with joy and not with grief for that would be unprofitable for you. It's actually unprofitable for you if I do my job with grief. But if I do my job with joy, it's profitable for you.

Isn't that wonderful how God works all of these things? It's actually you loving me and me loving you and we can work through difficulties and trials and everything and it's actually this with jurisdictions of obedience and submissiveness and watching out for souls and I have to give an account and Scott has to give an account and it's all working together for the good and as notice as we are faithful to Christ this is not my show this is God's show And we want to be faithful to Christ. That is our great design. Next and lastly is this. Our covenant addresses giving.

So We would say ties and offerings. That's what it addresses. This is what it says. We will contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel through all nations. Just in case we forgot we want to say that one again.

It's like this is how this gospel ministry goes throughout the world. In 2 Corinthians 9'7, Paul encourages the believers with this statement, He says, God loves somebody who has just open hands. I want to give so that God's message of salvation can go. That it will run free and I'm a part of that. Praise the Lord and it's more important as we know that we're storing up treasures in heaven and not just on this earth.

You know so often years ago I used to say not so often but years ago a man told me this he said whenever you get a raise or whenever you get extra money what is the first thought that comes to your mind did you think man God gave me more so that I could have more or do you think God gave me more so that I could give more you see it's about this cheerfulness in giving and that's between you and the Lord ultimately why does God give you a raise for a better car or a bigger house or whatever or does he give you a race so that you can bless the Kingdom of God even more? Consider it. It's important to understand that giving is necessary for a local church to be able to accomplish the work of ministry. We're enjoying this beautiful building right now. We have heating and air conditioning, and we don't want any notes or comments about where you think that's right or too high or too low that's you keep that to yourself or see the deacons I'm just joking so God we give and it helps to support these these things that we appreciate but really the big picture is for the ministry of the gospel.

Paul makes quite the apologetic for this in 1 Corinthians 9 7-14. In this passage, he's specifically addressing the reasonableness of supporting ministers of the gospel so that they will be able and have the freedom to do the work that God has called them to do. Listen to what he says. Is it oxen God is concerned about? See here Paul what he's doing is he's using a lesser argument to prove a greater argument.

And so if you think about it he says the law says you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. What part of the Ten Commandments does that go with? What would you be breaking? Which commandment if you muzzled your ox as it's treading out the grain? Thou shall not steal.

That's right. You shall not steal. I shouldn't steal from an ox. That's what the law says. Because that ox is laboring.

Don't muzzle the ox. That's his wages. Don't muzzle the ox as he's treading. He's treading out the grain. Is God just concerned about oxen?

He put that law in there just so we'd know that we need to feed our dogs and feed our cows and no. He says here, or does he say it all together for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partakers of this hope. If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? If others are partakers of this right of you are we not even more?

Nevertheless we have not used this right but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ." So what he's saying here is Paul says only the only person who can say, I'm not going to receive the wages, is the one who is supposed to receive the wages. The ox can say, no, I'm not hungry. The minister can say, no, and this is what Paul did in this case. Paul said, no, I don't want there to be any reason whatsoever to handle the message because in his day there was many people going around and they were garnishing money unto themselves because they were given these you know fabulous speeches and rhetorical skills that they had and they were gaining money says no I'm not even I don't even want to be attributed as being one of those and so he continued to be a tent maker Think about all that Paul accomplished while he was supporting himself in many ways. Now other churches did help him but in a lot of ways he was supporting himself.

Think of what that man could have accomplished if he didn't have to be worried about making tents. Isn't it amazing how God he supplies these things according to the goodness of his wisdom. And so this example that he gives us is just one aspect of giving. It's not just about helping supporting the monies for missionaries and for pastors and for those who are taking the gospel and those in full-time ministry, but it is for other things as well so giving to the church also helps to relieve the poor There are those who are in need. It helps the spread of the gospel to all nations.

So what we do with our money is really one of the clearest pictures of where our heart is. Jesus taught us this, that where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So if you were to take a look at your expenses and at your savings, where would your heart be? Or should I say where is your treasure? My encouragement to you regarding giving is to give with a cheerful heart give because you have been the recipient of such grace if we gave everything we had it would not be anything compared to what we are all received God is so good to us if you're not giving then I would strongly urge you to examine what what are the motivations �e not giving?

What's the reason for this not giving? Is it lack of faith? Is it other bad decisions that you make? It could be a host of different things, but consider what the scripture says regarding giving. Listen to what he says in 2 Corinthians 9, but this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.

He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver and God is able to make all grace abound toward you that you always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance for every good work as it is written he who dispersed abroad has given to the poor his righteousness endures forever and that he goes on from there talking about the sower and sowing the seed. How are you sowing that seed and the opportunities for the gospel to go and be shed abroad? Now, in conclusion of this first half of our covenant, I just want to read a couple things to you regarding some things to be thinking about and to consider. There's just two things that I want to talk about.

One is that church covenants should be a challenge. You shouldn't read the church covenants and say, ah, no problem, I can do that in my sleep. But it should also be a blessing. Okay, so first the challenge. It's a challenge simply because there are times that living a godly life is hard.

Anybody notice that? It's also a challenge because each member of this church bears responsibility one for another. It's a serious responsibility because guess what? We are our brother's keeper. It's a serious and challenging thing because we actually do have a responsibility to confront, rebuke, exhort, love, patience, peace, all of these things.

It's a challenge. � It's hard sometimes to go to people and- and ask them difficult questions. But we do it because we love. Because guess what, because sin is like leaven and a little leaven leavens a whole lump. Your sin does not only affect you, but it actually affects everyone in this congregation.

And so it is important that there are things set in place that we would be obedient to the scriptures to have church discipline or have some form of discipline and it can be in different levels depending on the situation and also how the person responds. The next thing is this though to consider in conclusion. This covenant isn't just about challenging us and challenging each other to be better Christians. Our church covenant is also for the blessing of everyone who's in it. That's how you need to think about it.

It is a blessing. How is it a blessing? It's a blessing to know you're going to be cared for and prayed for, not perfectly, but faithfully. The blessing is that by joining a local church and covenanting with other believers you now have brothers and sisters in Christ who are going to build you up when you are down. You have a family who is committed before God to walk with you, to pray with you, and to serve you.

You have brothers and sisters in Christ who are so concerned about your walk with the Lord that at times they may, in a spirit of gentleness, come to you and ask you hard questions. This is our goal. By God's aid we will strive to keep it. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the word of God that instructs us in such ways.

Lord, we believe not only have you given us every individual word as being inspired and infallible, but Lord, even the meanings of the words are inspired by you that we would know what you would have us to believe and how you would have us to live. I pray, O God, that you would build up this church in the most holy faith, that we would be unified in the spirit of peace and in this bond � O God, bring us together in one body and make us a glorious church, because our groom is glorious.