Charles Stanley - A Strong Church
There are hundreds and thousands of buildings all across this country and around the world called churches. And some of them are large, some of them are small, some of them are weak, some of them are strong. The truth is that these church buildings are not the church. The church building houses the church. For example, there was a time when we were downtown in a whole different building, this church. Then we had to come out this way because of traffic and so forth, and still, we still have the same church. And so there are many, many churches of many, many different kinds and some of them are not all Christian churches. Some of them belong to other religions, they call them churches. Some of them have other names for their churches, but that's what they call them.
And so when you think about that and you think about millions of people belong to a church, some people are saved and they don't belong to a church. What is a church anyway? And so when you think about that, you think about well what kind of church do I want to belong to? Do I want to belong to a weak church or do I want to belong to a strong church? And so the title of this message is a strong church. You may say, well you know what? I came in here this morning and I don't even know that I'm interested in church. Well you're getting ready to get interested for the simple reason when Jesus said, I will build my church, anything that he builds, I have to be interested in. I would want to be interested in, I must be interested in.
So I want us to read, watch this now, I want us to read a passage of scripture that I want to give a little explanation for in order that you won't be thinking about it when I move from it. Now that sounds sort of odd. Turn if you will to the sixteenth chapter of Matthew and I want us to begin reading in the thirteenth verse. Read through the twentieth verses. And then I want to talk about this whole issue of the characteristics of a strong church. In the thirteen verse of Matthew, sixteen, "Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he was asking his disciples 'who do people say that the son of man is?'" speaking of that part of his life which is, which is human, "And they said, 'some say John the Baptist: others, Elijah: but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.' he said to them, 'but who do you say that I am?' Simon Peter answered, 'you are the Christ, the son of the living God.' And Jesus said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church: and the gates of hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.' Then he warned the disciples that they should tell no one that he was the Christ".
Now I want to explain what this says, what it means so you won't be wondering about this when I come to the eleven characteristics of a strong church. So let's go back up when Jesus said to him, "Who do people say that I am"? He said, "You are, Christ, the son of the living God". And so when Jesus said to him, "You are Peter, and," you didn't think this up. God revealed this to you and he said to him, "I, say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church". Now, listen carefully. Jesus was not saying that he was going to build his church upon the apostle Peter. The apostle Peter was far from being perfect. In fact, he was one of the most ornery of the disciples. In fact, Jesus said to him one time, you're, you're just like the devil. And said, get behind me. When he was in the church later on, Paul had to bring him to a realization, and he said to him, Peter, you're compromising your conviction because you don't want these folks to think that you're fraternizing with, with the gentiles.
And so, Jesus would never have founded his church on an imperfect apostle. So what did he mean? He said, this is the foundation of the church, this, that Jesus Christ is the son of the living God. That's what the church is all about. That's what the church is founded upon. Listen. If you take any building, cathedral, whatever it may be: and whatever's going on in there, if you remove that truth, that Jesus Christ is the son of the living God, it is no longer a church. It may be an institution. It may be a beautiful building or cathedral, but it's not a church. The church is built on the truth, the fact, the principle that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that's how it is to be built. Then he says, of course, and he says, "The gates of hades will not overpower it". And what he's simply saying is this. All the forces of evil will not be able, listen, will not be able to withstand the onslaught of the church, the work of the church, the movement of the church. Likewise, it means that death, no matter what satan may do, death cannot destroy the church.
Jesus said, if you'll recall in this eleventh chapter of John when he was talking to Mary and Martha, he said, "I am the resurrection and the life: he who believes in me," listen. "He who believes in me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this"? And so what he's saying is this, this, hades, that is all the, all the works of darkness and the devil will never overcome the body of Christ, the church. And if you'll think about it, just in our lifetime and before two thousand years ago, all kinds of people have done their best to destroy the church. But you know what? This is the body of Christ, the son of the living God established his church. It will not be overcome by anything or anybody. Rome tried their best to destroy Christianity, everything they could possibly do. It only made them stronger. And that is the blood of the martyrs strengthens the body of the church.
And so the church is very important. There are people who say, well, I can be a Christian. I don't, I don't have to belong to a church. You don't have to, but I can tell you this. If you don't belong to a Bible-believing churches, church that teaches the Word of God, you're missing out on something in your Christian life and I don't believe that you are obeying Almighty God if you're deliberately making that decision. I understand that there are people who live in places that it's very difficult to get to church. I understand that. This is why we have in touch, so that anybody and everybody who wants to hear the truth of the gospel can hear it and see it if they choose to do so. The church is very important in the eyes of God and he said, "I will build my church: and," nothing is going to destroy it, nothing will overpower it. There may be times of persecution when they shut them down and they're destroyed, but only for a season of time, because it is God's church and God is absolutely omnipotent.
Then when he speaks down here later on, he says, "I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth," watch this, "Whatever you bind on earth shall have been," already, past tense, "Bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth shall have been," already, past tense, "Loosed in heaven". He says your authority is going to be those things that I, God says that I've already decided. Jesus says the decisions have already been made and he was simply saying to them, to the apostles, that they will be making decisions, but they're making, be making decisions under what? Under the authority of the living God who's already made those decisions in heaven. Nobody can lock anybody else out of the kingdom. People choose to be lost, die without Christ, out of choice, not because they have to. There are people, for example, who've never heard yet. We'll come to that in just a moment.
So with that in mind, and I want to clarify all of that so you wouldn't be wondering well what's that all about while I'm talking about something else. So, let's talk about what is it, what are the characteristics that make for a strong church, wherever you may go and whatever your church may be. And the first thing is this, Spirit-filled leadership. If you have leadership in a church that is not filled with the Spirit of God, you're starting out already with weakness. Because, if you'll recall Jesus said to his disciples, you're not ready to do what I called you to do. He gave them the great commission but he says, I want you to stay in the city of Jerusalem until you be filled with the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit comes upon you because he knew that they could not do what he called them to do unless the Spirit of God was in them, empowering them, enabling them, energizing them, giving them direction and guidance to do what he called them to do.
Because think about this. He gave twelve men, one of them had to lay, be laid aside, Judas, and then another one took his place, Matthias. And then the hundred and twenty, he gave them the challenge to get his truth to the entire world. Can you imagine how absolutely ridiculous that may have sounded in his day? Today we can say we have radio, we have TV, we have, iPhones, we've got everything. In that day it was word of mouth. And he said, but you're not ready. You're not ready till you have been filled with the Spirit. And the truth is the same today. No staff of a church is adequate to do the work that God calls them to do unless they be filled with the Holy Spirit. That is, not only the pastors, but the members of the staff. And so if you're going to have a strong church, then the leadership of the staff must be filled with the Holy Spirit, listening to him and depending upon him for direction and for guidance and for the power and the energy and the know-how to carry out the work of a church. Churches and what we attempt to do does not just happen. There's a lot that goes on in the midst of it all.
So, first of all, you have to have Spirit-filled leadership and in their lives, out of their life there should be the evidence that they're filled with the Spirit, which Paul gives us in Galatians chapter five, of love and joy and peace and all the rest he mentions. So, that's number one. That's the beginning. That's first. Strong church, pastoral leadership, all the staff, are people who are filled with the Spirit. Secondly, their doctrinally sound message that they have that meets the needs of the people. Now, I think about how many people go to church week after week after week, never carry a Bible. So think about this. They go to church. They sit and listen, usually for twenty minutes or twenty-five, thirty. If you want that kind of sermon you have to go somewhere else. But they sit and listen to sermonettes and, and then they get up and go home.
Well what do they carry with them? Somebody says, well you can remember. How much do you remember? Listen, I sort of drive it every Sunday to some degree because I want you to remember it, and yet, you don't remember a lot of that. That's why you should carry your Bible to church. And as somebody said to me after the first service, you know what? If I carried my Bible to some churches, I guess that he'd been in those kind of churches, they'd wonder what I was doing with it. I intended to preach. And you'd think about churches you go to, nobody has a Bible open. And I can remember this and God knows I'm not taking any credit. I'm simply saying to my knowledge, and as I looked and watched earlier in the ministry and I'd watch the TV and I never saw a single church on television where the people had a Bible in their hand. I didn't even hear of it.
And so one Sunday I was thinking and I said to our folks, I said, you know, you're going to come listen to me for fifty or fifty-five minutes or whatever it was then: and you're not going to remember much. And I said, you need to start bringing your Bible and a pad and taking notes. Why do you want to sit and waste your time listening to somebody who's not going to remember anything he said? So, little by little, probably in a couple of months, I'd say, well, how many of you have your Bible? Raise your Bible. Well within two months you brought your Bible because you're just embarrassed not to have one. And people started bringing their Bibles. Here's what I noticed. Other churches started doing the same thing. This is God's handbook. And if you don't, listen, if you don't have the handbook, then all you have is somebody's opinion.
Now one of the reasons I don't seem to get a lot of joy out of listening to the Bible on video-on tape or CD or something is because first of all, if I'm listening, my mind and my eyes, there's conflict. I ought to keep my eye on the road or whatever it might be. And so I'm sure part of it's because I grew up reading the Word of God, seeing the words and as a pastor, checking out the tense of verbs and these things and, and being sure I understand how this verse relates to the next one. But I think about people who just go to church and don't carry a Bible, how do you know if what he said is the truth or not? And you have a right: it's your privilege, it's your responsibility to question, have I heard the truth or have I not? So to be doctrinally sound means that we have doctrines, that is, we have beliefs that are fastened to the Word of God. They are born from the Word of God. They're taught in the Word of God: and that we're to teach others the same. And so to be doctrinally sound means that we believe the truth. The truth is taught by God's word.
Somebody says, well now, what about people who don't agree with us? There'll be people who don't agree with you about what you believe. For example, there are some people who believe that you can be saved and be lost and no matter what you tell them, they'd still think they're going to be lost. And of course, we don't believe that because the Bible doesn't teach it, period. It doesn't teach it, but they still believe it and from their interpretation, that's what they believe. So you have to decide what you believe. And you don't decide what you believe by what you feel. You decide by what you believe by what the Word of God says.
When we talk about the coming of Jesus, there are some people that say, you know, he's already come. Or, he's not going to come anytime soon or all that kind of thing. And so you can come up with most any doctrine and find people who do not believe it, or people who believe it strongly. So listen. We're not always, always going to agree with each other about some particular verse of scripture. This is why I say you need to read it and you need to compare this verse with other verses. For example, if I read some passage of scripture and it's a contradiction to something, that's an issue. But the truth is, there are no contradictions in the Word of God. The Old Testament is the Old Testament. The New Testament is the New Testament. A greater, a longer revelation in the New Testament than we had in the Old Testament. And so, that we won't always agree exactly about some things, but most things we ought to agree on because most of it is clearly given to us in the word.
And so you should have a personal doctrine, here's what I believe about Jesus Christ. Here's what I believe about heaven. Here's what I believe about sanctification, justification. Here's what I believe about the church. Here's what I believe about the devil. Here's what I believe about all of these things. You should have your own personal doctrine based on the Word of God. If you don't, somebody will come along and teach you something that is absolutely false. And there are lots of false teaching going on, no question about that. And so when somebody says, what do you believe? Well ask them why do they believe it. If they pull out some pamphlet or something somebody's written, mm-mm-mm. You say, let's see: what does the Word of God say? And so you should know what you believe and why you believe it. And not only that, you have a responsibility to teach your children what you believe about the Word of God. When they grow up, they should grow up believing if you believe the Word of God. Their doctrine should become a part of their life early in life because it's what you believe.
Now, there's going to come a time when they're going to test that. And they're going to say, well, I know that's what you believe but I'm not sure that's what I believe. You know what? That's okay. They can test it. If you have taught them the truth, the truth will not only survive, but it'll conquer. And then of course, uncompromising in their convictions. If a strong church is a strong church it's because people have convictions. They don't lie, they don't lay aside and they stand by them. For example, if you have a conviction that you should not drink alcoholic beverage, and somebody comes along and says, well, I mean, a little bit's not going to hurt you and the Bible, mm-mm-mm, on and on they go.
And you say, well, I, you know, I believe that but I don't guess it'll hurt me too much or I don't want to be an oddball, so forth. Now you just compromised your conviction. When you compromise your conviction, what you do is you lay aside what you believe in order to please somebody else or please yourself, knowing that you're doing the wrong thing. Compromise of the truth is a sin against Almighty God. And I just happened to name drinking because here lately I'm hearing about pastors who are beginning to say to their church, it's okay to drink wine. Well listen to what the Bible says about strong drink. And somebody says, well I don't think that's going to hurt you. I'm here to tell you as a pastor, and I've been a pastor for fifty-some years. I can tell you many people start out with a conviction, a little wine's not going to hurt them, and end up alcoholics. And I can still call names.
So if you have convictions, for example, if you have convictions about what you watch. If you have convictions about who you associate with, who your friends are, places you go, things that you do, how you spend your money. You should have convictions about all these things that you absolutely will not compromise. A church in which the pastor compromises the Word of God is a weak church. Where the people compromise their convictions, it's a weak church. God wants a strong church, based and built on the solid unwavering truth of the word of the living God. Then, of course, there is the strong emphasis on faith and prayer. If a church is going to be strong, you've got to be strong about prayer and about faith.
Now a few people realize this, probably most of our members do. But under this pulpit right now, every Sunday there's a group of men down there praying. Praying for the service, praying for me, praying for the Spirit of God to work, praying for the invitation when that time comes. We call them the under, under the pulpit prayer warriors. If you don't pray, you're not going to live a godly life. And you've heard me say it week after week after week, you ought to begin the day on your knees. If you can't get on your knees, sit in a chair, whatever, but talking to God. Not just talking to him and reading his word. Listen. If you don't read the Word of God, you can drift into all kind of things. If you will read the Word of God daily and you'll, listen, start the day, here's what you're saying. You're saying, God, I acknowledge that I need you this day, Lord. I want you to speak to my heart. I want you to give me guidance and direction for this day all day long. I want to walk in your will. When you start the day like that, you think God's not going to answer that prayer? Yes, he will. And here's what'll happen. You'll find there'll be times when you read a passage of scripture, you'll think, what does that mean? What does that mean? But somehow it struck your heart. Before the day is over, something will happen, you'll think, oh God, you gave me a warning and I ignored it.
God is a personal God. He's intimate. He wants to work in your life in such a fashion that the two of you have an intimate relationship. That intimate relationship is only going to come through the reading of the Word of God and absorbing it in your mind and heart. You say, well some things about it I don't understand. You know what? You just keep reading and you'll understand. You just keep reading the Word of God and God will show you the truth. He will show you the truth. Listen. He is going to show you the truth, especially things that you need in your life, he's going to show you how to accomplish that. He's going to show you where to go, when to go, who to avoid, what to avoid, how to spend your money. That is, God is an awesome, listen, he's the best friend you can possibly have. And you can't lose being obedient to Almighty God. No way.
So, faith and prayer are absolutely essential. If you think about this, it's faith that draws me into a relationship with him so that I can believe what he says. My faith will determine my life: because if I believe what he says, here's what'll happen. If I don't believe what he says, these things won't happen. We're to live by faith. He says the just shall live by faith. We accepted Jesus Christ by faith. We accept the truth of the Word of God by faith. When you got married you made a promise to your husband or your wife, and by faith you've lived together believing that they meant what they said when they stood at the altar to promise their love for you. Faith and prayer are absolutely essential in a strong church. Where it's lacking, you're not going to have strength, because the power of the Holy Spirit flows through people of prayer and faith.
Then of course, the worship service. The worship service would provide the atmosphere in which the people experience the presence of God and leave renewed in their commitment to obey God and serve him. That's what should happen in every strong church. That's the kind of worship service. Now, this is why I have a problem with the people who have twenty-minute sermons. Listen. You can hardly get the world out of your mind in twenty minutes. And so a worship service is where we focus our attention upon God, not upon the preacher but upon God: upon his word: upon what God wants to do in our life. We open our heart and ask God, speak to my heart. And when you come into church, I think one of the first things you should do when you come in, you should say, Lord, you've brought me here this morning. I want you to speak to my heart. I want you, I want you to show me what I need to hear. Help me to hear it, to believe it and to accept it and to apply it to my heart.
Because listen, this is not a theatrical place. This is a place of worship. This is a place where we meet God together. I can meet him every morning, every day, any time of day or night. But, I'm meeting with fellow believers. And there's something about meeting him with fellow believers and, and the songs we sang a few moments ago, all of these lift our spirit and cause us to have joy in our heart when we think about what we sing and we pray and we give, worship. And people say, well you know what? And I just don't need that in my life. Oh yes you do. The Bible says, "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together," which some do. And you just think about what kind of life people live who never go to church. And so Sunday comes along and so what do they do? I can tell you what a lot of them do. They go straight to the mall. Now you say, are you opposed to malls? On Sunday, yes! You, you can look at the malls, and I could name two, the ones closest by, you can't find a parking place on Sunday. Now do these folks all go to a worship service and listen to the Word of God and begin to apply the Word of God to their heart? Or were they sitting in church thinking about what they were going to buy? And here's what happens. When you neglect fellowshipping with fellow believers, you're going to be weak. The truth is, listen, we not only need God, we need each other. And the wonderful thing about a fellowship that's a strong fellowship, it's a fellowship where people recognize their interdependence upon each other.
Now you may not look around and say, I'm dependent on him, her, but when it comes to... for example. One of my very special dear friends, very, very sick last night, could not breathe, very, very, very sick: the sickest I've ever known them. What did I do? I called seven of my friends and they're members of this church. And I said, would you please pray for this person because I'm very, very, very concerned? So what happens? I needed them. And they came to, and so, this is the truth so help me. In thirty minutes I called that person back and she said, you know, about thirty minutes ago, I began to feel a little better. I could breathe a little better. God answered that prayer very, very quickly. We need each other. And worship is for a time for us to focus upon God, upon his word and to praise him and to sing.
I wonder about people, for example, who never sing. They, and some people, lot of people sing stuff they shouldn't even be singing but I'm thinking about people who never sing a hymn: who never sing when we all get to heaven, amazing grace. Who've never sing, just as I am. Who never sing the hymns that we sing during the invitation. I think of people who never sing, never sing anything religious. Look at all the garbage they put in their mind, in their spirit. And they can sing the world's trash and never think about the awesome songs that we sing. Listen to this. "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound," what makes it sweet? "That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found: I was blind, but now I see". When I think about the awesome songs we have in our worship service, they're to lift us up, to focus our attention upon God, not upon a man.
And then, of course, when I think about the, all of these characteristics, faithful and generous in their giving. You don't hear me begging for money. You don't pleading, putting pressure on anybody, because here's what I believe. I believe if you obey God and you walk in his will and his way and you choose to follow him, you will give: because the Spirit of God will motivate you. And he's going to motivate you, listen, for this reason. He wants us to learn to do what? To worship him with our tithes and our offerings. And very seldom do I mention it. And people once in a while say, well, why don't you preach on money? Well I don't think that's what God wants me to do at times, most of the time. But sometimes I will make those explanations and challenges if there's a reason. But my belief is simply this. If you are listening to the Word of God and you're obeying him and you're believing him and you're trusting him and you want to have a strong family, be a part of a strong church, you will give. And every Sunday morning when I have the privilege of giving, if I miss, for example, I missed about three Sundays, then I'm going to have this Sunday's offering and I'm going to have those three. I'm not going to get behind.
Because, listen. God never gets behind with me. He's always ahead. And so I owe him my life. I owe him my life, and somebody says, oh my goodness! I've got to tithe. No, you don't have to. You can be disobedient and not, and not tithe. But what I want you to see, listen, it's the privilege of not just talking to God but saying, Lord, I mean what I say when I say I'm thankful, I'm grateful for the wonderful privilege. I know that you say we're to bring a tithes and our offerings into the storehouse of God so that the work can be carried on. I thank you for the privilege of giving. And I think about this. And I'd challenge anybody. When somebody works, makes a salary, and spends it all on themselves and never tithes, you are not going to enjoy and you're not going to be successful financially. Listen, I can tell you about people who said, well listen, I've got millions. I don't need to tithe. Can't guarantee your health. Can't guarantee your safety. Can't guarantee what happens to your family. Listen. We are blessed and protected and provided for in ways that we oftentimes do not think. You have no promise whatsoever that you're going to get to work tomorrow morning.
Somebody says, ah, you can't scare me. I would if I could. If it gets you right with God, I would. I'm simply saying this. Listen. Do you realize how blessed we are and privileged to live in this country? You've got a job: you've got income. You've got a family: you're taking care of your children. Times are tough: they're going to get tougher. And you know what? And we're going to be faithful right through the tough times to prove that, listen, to allow God to prove that taxes and government does not change his gifts, his love, his grace to us. It does not do it. And then, listen, a strong church is strategically organized to reach their God-given goals. We have preschool: we have school-age children: we have teenagers and so forth. We have adults. We have programs for each age group. We have Bible studies for each age group. We have our Wednesday night prayer meeting and we have a wonderful dinner on Wednesday night. We're organized for everything imaginable.
You say, well the first church didn't get organized. Oh yes they did. Because if you'll notice, for example, in acts, early in acts, here's what happens. The Bible says nobody was in need. Listen. If you had three thousand people get saved and nobody's in need, somebody got that crowd organized. It could have been Peter, whoever it might have been. And, for example, Jesus, Jesus was organized. He said, "I want to feed five thousand, set them in groups and we'll get them all fed". We had some left over. Church is organized. The organization, listen, the organization is beneath the surface. We're organized, why? So, when you want to come on Sunday morning we're going to start at the time we say we're going to start. That's organization. We're going to have a service that lasts so long and that's organization. We're going to have singing: we're going to have preaching: we're going to have offerings: we're going to have invitation: we have a conclusion, all that's organization. Your home is organized.
Now if it's not, you need to go home and work on it a little bit. But the truth is a strong church is organized because it has goals, goals given to us by God to reach people. And so that's why we are organized. And I think about churches that are not organized, there's something wrong. And what happens is, if they're not organized, before long they are missing something. And if you come in, for example, it's clean. It's clean everywhere. And we want to present the kind of relationship and fellowship and building that we would invite Jesus in here. This is the Lord's house. We don't throw trash around here. In other words, if we, for example, if I told you next Sunday Jesus will show up and I'm expecting you to do your best. How many would you, would dress up in your best? Don't give me that. Stick them up, sure you would. You would dress up with your best. You'd look your best. So, there's going to be an organization. Then of course, a strong church, the people serve in the strengths of their spiritual gifts.
Now you say, well, some people would say, well I don't know what a spiritual gift is. So let me just give you a little briefing here. In the twelfth chapter of romans, you might look there for a moment. He says in verse six of romans twelve, "Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us," that is, according to God's grace and what he wants to do in and through your life, he gives you certain gifts. So listen. He says, "Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly". Now watch this. So he names them: the gift of prophecy: the gift of service: the gift of teaching: the gift of exhortation: the gift of giving: the gift of leading or administration: and the gift of mercy. Now you say, well, how does that work?
Okay, watch this. You come to my house and I'm going to serve you dinner. And, so I have a wonderful dinner and everybody is served ice tea. So not thinking, I reach over to get the fork or knife and I knock my tea glass over. It falls over, it breaks, it shows tea everywhere, and all over my pant leg and lady was sitting right here, it's on her dress. It's just a big mess. And the person with the gift of mercy says, ohhh, I'm so sorry. Oh I'm so sorry. The gift of service says, don't worry about it: I'll take care of this and I'll, she's the first one to go clean up. The gift of administration says, let me tell you what we ought to do with this whole situation right now. And, the gift of giving says, well you can buy another glass: don't worry about that. And the gift of prophecy, for example, says, well let me tell you something. You should be more thoughtful about things like that and, and so you've broken the glass and wasted money. The gift of exhortation says, well look, next time, push the glass a little further this way and you won't knock it over.
Now you say, well that won't really happen. Let me tell you something. You respond in that way and you don't even realize it. Now you, not probably sitting around the table, because you have a spiritual gift that God has given you as a believer, that's how you operate. In other words, for example, I don't have the gift of mercy, though I'm merciful to some degree, but in other words, my gift is, what do you think it is? Exhortation, that's right. I want to encourage you to do your best, be your best, look your best. So what I would say, I would say, exhorting I'd say, well you know, here's what we can do. And I'd be kind with it, but mercy is all over herself. And the gift of service, she already has the broom and the mop in here before you can turn around. I'm simply saying you have a gift. You as a mother have a gift. And you operate in your business out of your gifts.
For example, if, is somebody gave me a job, some jobs I couldn't, I couldn't operate. I might can teach a little bit and I'm an exhorter. That is, watch this. When you operate out of your gift, you are the most efficient. And secondly, when you operate out of your gift, you're the, listen, you're the happiest, because you sense your ability and talents and skills, for example. And people have all different kind of gifts. People who are very creative in their spiritual gifts. So, that's the work of the Holy Spirit. Now, you put that into the church and this is why we have people who teach: people who are head of the organization: people who, for example, who exhort. And you have all the different gifts in the church. And God has given us different people who do different things better.
There are some people who can do many things better than I can. And if somebody says, what have you ever done besides preach? Well I delivered newspaper and wash cars, and maybe a few other things. But this is what God created me for. I'm the happiest doing this. I do my best when I'm doing this. If I had to teach in a classroom of about twenty people and teaching calculus, I'd be a total flop, because that's not who I am. You are who you are. And you need to find out what your spiritual gift is. You say, well, I never heard of it before. Well I'll tell you what. A person who is the daughter of one of the most famous people in America said to me on one occasion, you know, my husband and I were getting ready to get a divorce. I heard you preaching about spiritual gifts. And she said, we listened to them. And she says, I want to tell you, I started saying, oh, now I know why he operates that. Now I know why he thinks that way. Now I know why she thinks that way. And said saved their marriage. It is a powerful lesson to learn, and a freeing, liberating lesson to realize what your spiritual gift is, that when somebody expects you to do something God hasn't gifted you to do, you won't be frustrated.
A very strong church is a church where the people are operating out of their gifts. So, then of course, united in Spirit. A strong church, people are united in Spirit. You know, when I was coming along, my first church was up in the mountains. They're wonderful people and I loved being there, but sometimes they can get out of sorts with each other, and when they do, I'm sitting on this side: you can sit on that side. I'm going to listen to the gospel about love, but I'm not going to forgive you for what you did to my husband. And people do that. There just is division and I think for example, of several large, very large churches, split, that's always destructive. It's always destructive, when the people of God, something comes along that divides them. Listen. And I may be understood or misunderstood, but it's the truth.
Do you know what has divided most churches in the past twenty years? Music. When you bring in music, for example, that's hip-hip-hip-hip and secondly, you lay aside the hymns, here's what happens. People like us and others who've grown up on the hymns and so forth, and you drive all those away, take that away, get rid of the choir, put yourself a band, you divide the church. And I'm telling you, I'd say, for example, in the last twenty years, it's divided more churches. I mean, I think about churches in Georgia, let alone all the other places in the world. And somebody says, well, we have got to make it contemporary. Let me just say this. You can be contemporary without driving out members who've been there for forty years. And, I would say this. Any pastor, if you, listen, people who've been there forty years, they're the foundation of the church when it comes to people being there. They've been there. They built it. They gave their money. They trusted God.
And so, you have to be careful. And I would say disunity is a horrible thing. And think about churches getting split and next thing you know, they're closing the doors. And it's a tragedy to walk by or to drive by a church that's closed and is for sale. I was in another country two or three years ago and I saw a number of churches that they, one of them was a bank: one of them was a library: one of them was a store, just for three examples, closed up. How can the church die? When the gospel is preached, it will not die, no matter what. But you just think about what people get upset about. And so I'm simply saying this. The fact that you and I together, we have people from all the different countries in the world, and we have people from every race, every nation, every nationality, all kind of languages. We've got people here from about fifty-five different languages that belong to our church. Well I think that's fantastic.
And so, because we are the body of Christ. We're not this kind of body, that kind of body and this kind of body, we're just the body of Christ. Unity, oneness: loving each other: helping each other: under girding one another, and finding out who is in need and being one. That's what the New Testament church did. That's why they were so strong. They revolutionized their day and conquered Rome. And because they stuck together and believed the Word of God. Then of course, a genuine love for one another, and that's part of that being united. And love is what holds, it's like glue that holds a church together. You see, if you sit in church and look across the aisle and you saw somebody that you just can't stand, you need to get right with God. In other words, if somebody doesn't love me, you know what it does for me? I just think, okay, God, what you got in mind? I start praying for them. Next thing you know, whatever it was gets all settled. Loving one another was what Jesus was all about. And when he said, I'll build my church, what did he build it on? He built it upon the recognition of who he was, the Son of God, and loving him and loving one another. That's what he said.
Then of course, the last one that I'll mention is a vision for a lost world that would result in the going of some and the giving of others. A church that doesn't have a vision for the world is not going to be a strong church. If we're expecting God to honor us and bless this church and bless the members and the families of this church, one of our responsibilities is to get the message of this church to the world. One of the reasons that, the primary reason that in touch exists is because, for example, I would keep preaching Sunday after Sunday and I'd think, Lord, in the four walls of this church, it never gets out of here. And I began to pray for God to get it out, get it out of the four walls of the church. And begin to realize that God could do something, I didn't know what, and next thing you know, and here we are today all over the world. And that's, that's no compliment to me. That is the work of God. We decided we were going to do what Jesus said.
Now listen to this carefully. When you, listen, when you get committed to God's will and purpose and plan for your life, you remember this. Almighty God comes to your rescue to help you and enable you and to open doors of opportunity. I would never have imagined thirty-five years ago that we'd be preaching the gospel all over the world. I don't brag about that. I don't talk about that necessarily, but and our goal is to get it in every language we possibly can. We want to get the message in every language we can so that anybody and everybody who wants the truth, loves the truth, desires the truth, are ignorant about the truth, will be able to hear it and be saved by the grace of God. That New Testament church had a vision for the world. And the reason I know that is that I'm sitting here as a child of God. And that's thousands of miles away. They never stopped. They were persecuted. Rome tried to destroy them. And the gospel is strong today and getting stronger all over the world.
So what you have to ask is this. What is a strong church? Well I've given you what I do believe with all of my heart eleven very, very important characteristics of a strong church. Now, here's a question I want to ask you. Are you listening? Say amen. What are you doing to contribute to the strength of your church? Members of this church, visitors this morning and all of you who are watching: all of you who are listening, what are you doing to contribute to the strength of your church? Second question: if others in your church follow your pattern, will the church continue to be strong and fruitful for the kingdom of God? If they follow your pattern. Now would you agree you've heard the truth this morning?
Well, say that like you mean it. Okay. All right, here's what I want. Here's what I want to ask you. You've heard what a church is like. Many of you belong to this church: some of you have your own church and many of you out there have your church. But I want to talk to you right this moment. You believe what you've heard, the gospel of truth. If you're willing to say to God today, Lord, I want to make a commitment today, that I want to make whatever contribution I can make, whatever it may be, to the strength of my church, this church. If you're willing to tell him that today with me, as I stand, would you stand? Well here's what we're saying. We're saying, Lord, we want this to be a strong church, based on the Word of God and committed to reaching as many people as we possibly can. Amen? A strong church develops when godly people love one another and share a vision for the world.