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Bible, please, and turn to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians 1, as Rance read for us here just a moment ago, we'll read beginning in verse 20 here in just a second. Ephesians 1 beginning in verse 20. So appreciative for the presence of all, and we have a number who are visiting with us this morning. We're so grateful that you're here.

And I'd let you know that for this year, our congregational focus has been built on the foundation. And we've divided the year into three sections where we talked about the cornerstone, Jesus Christ. And then in the second section, we talked about the laid foundation, the message of Christ by the apostles and prophets. And here in this last third of the year, we're talking about the holy temple, Christ Church. And Harold did a great job introducing this concept in this third third of the year back in September.

Preston had a good lesson last week on the tabernacle and temple of God and our reflection of God's glory into the world, and I appreciate that very much. What I'd like to do this morning is maybe just talk about some things that that might seem simple to us. But I think if we can see things from this biblical perspective, it's gonna clarify a lot of things both for us, but also in our conversations with other people about the temple of God, about Christ's church, and what that church really is. And so our purpose this morning is to clarify what we mean when we say Christ's church, what that looks like in a real and practical way as we go through our New Testament. And if you have a handout there, you'll be able to follow along with some of the things that we're gonna talk about this morning.

I propose that we need to appreciate the glorious nature of the church, the body, the temple of God. Because Christ Church is not flawed in its design. It is not obsolete in what it provides. It is not an afterthought by God that was hastily thrown together at the last minute. No.

The church of Christ is glorious. And in Ephesians, the apostle Paul describes the church of God as perfectly planned from before the foundation of the world, as an expression of the manifold wisdom of God, as the temple of God with living stones, as we will talk about tonight, and as the fullness of him who fills all in all. That's what the church is as it's described, but what is the church of Christ? And how would you answer that question? Well, that's our purpose for the lesson this morning.

Because there's a lot of confusion and different uses of that word church in the religious world. But if we can get this clearly in our mind, it's gonna help us so much in what the church is supposed to do and who we are as members of that church and how that relates to everybody else that we see in the religious world. Ephesians 1, God has been talking about through the apostle Paul. He's been talking about his grace and his power that he has bestowed on all people, but certainly on those who are in Jesus Christ. And in verse 20, he speaks of that grace and power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.

Far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. Listen. And he has put all things under his, Christ's feet, and he gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. So when we are talking about the body of Christ, the church, what are we talking about? Or maybe more specifically, whom are we talking about?

Because as suggested by the PowerPoint, the church is people. It is not an institution or organization separate from those people. It is not something that you get into in order to be saved. It is not something that dispenses God's grace and salvation to those who would come and be a part of it. No.

The church is the saved. It is saved people. And literally, that word church, ecclesia, is the called out ones. And while that was the meaning for many centuries by the time of the New Testament, it just came to mean the congregation, the congregation of God's people. And that's what the church is.

The congregation of God's people, whenever they lived and wherever they live or lived. And this is sometimes called, I think rightfully so, the universal church, all saints, all Christians. And when I became a Christian, a long time ago now, the Lord added me to a group of people. And that group of people includes Peter and Paul and Dorcas and Mary and Martha and Barnabas and Stephen and Lydia and Aquila and Priscilla. It includes all the faithful in Christ that we read about in our New Testament.

It includes all the faithful in Christ who are alive today, but it also includes all the faithful in Christ between the New Testament and those who are alive today. All of us are part of that church, and this church is located in heaven and on earth. If we go further in the book of Ephesians, look in Ephesians 3. Ephesians 3:15. Paul is praying another prayer here, and he talks about the father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice verse 15, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. And that's another image that is used of the church that we are the household, the family of God. And he says the whole family in heaven and on earth are named after our our Lord Jesus Christ. And it isn't just the past and the present. This church includes the future also.

Drop down there to verse 21. To him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ to all generations forever and ever. Amen. This church was brought into existence, but it continues in existence for all time. It is eternal in that sense, and it includes all of those people who will be part of that church.

All of us together make up the body of Christ, the church, the holy temple of the Lord, redeemed by the blood of Jesus and added to his church. And speaking of church in this way means that there is only one of these churches. Go to Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4:4. The church is his body, we learned in chapter 1.

And in chapter 4 and verse 4, we learn, 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. We have been called by that one spirit into this one body made up of god's faithful people, all of those who are approved by god. And the question that begs to be asked is, who is that? Who are those people?

Well, I would suggest the simplest way. And I heard this probably twenty years ago. I heard this idea of when you think about who are the people of God, think about who are gonna be there in heaven, think about those who are written in the lamb's book of life. In Luke 10:20, when Jesus sent out the 70 who could work miracles and do all of these things, and they're preaching the gospel of the kingdom, he says, nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you. They came back and they were so excited.

We could cast out evil spirits. And Jesus says, here's why you should rejoice. Rather, rejoice because your names are written in heaven. That god doesn't just know your name in a general sense. Your name is written in heaven.

Paul picks up on this imagery in Philippians 4:2-3. I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Y'all quit fighting. And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. I want my name to be written in the book of life, and that is how one might know that they are a part of this church, this body to which Paul refers.

And we see that a lot in the book of Revelation, this idea of the book of life. Turn to the book of Revelation in chapter 20, if you would. Revelation 20. Revelation 20:12, what a scene is described here. John has seen this great white throne, and he sees the one sitting on the throne.

In verse 12, he looks to those before the throne, and he says, I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things that were written in the books. And so the imagery is there are all these books, and maybe a good way of thinking about it is you have a book and I have a book, and in it is written all of the things that we've done in our life. Have we submitted ourselves to Jesus or not?

And then there is this other book, the book of life. And in verse 15, he expresses it in a negative sense. And anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. This is the book of life. And only if your name is in there can you find life.

Otherwise, it is the path of death. And we see in chapter 21 in verse 27 of the book of Revelation, in describing this new Jerusalem, the bride of Christ, the paradise of God, in describing the place and this people, this is what John says, But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the lamb's book of life. What is the church? It is those whose names are written in the book of life. And what a blessing it is to be a part of the body of Christ now, anticipate being part of the body of Christ fully then with all of those who are members of that body.

Now this and all of its beauty and majesty and glory, the fullness of him who fills all in all, this is not Timberland Drive Church of Christ. Timberland Drive is not the church. It is just a church. A local church in a specific time, here we are in 2026, in a specific place, Deep East Texas, assembling at 912 South Timberland Drive. We are what we might call a local church, a group of Christians who happen to live at the same time and in reasonable distance of one another who have agreed to worship and work together.

And what's amazing is in our modern time, you know, in the ancient world, that would have been people who are right there in your town or in your city. But we're blessed in some ways because through modern transportation, we have people who are coming from all around Lufkin, not just Lufkin itself. We have people from Dybal and Huntington and Central and Hudson. We have people who make the drive up from from Moscow, and we have people from the other side of Zavala down by the lake. And we come together because we've made a commitment to one another that we're gonna work together, and we're gonna worship together, and we're gonna submit ourselves under the oversight of our group of elders doing those things which the Lord has authorized or commanded his local churches to do.

And so we read about local churches in the New Testament, the church at Jerusalem and Antioch and Ephesus, the seven churches in Asia Minor to whom the book of Revelation is addressed. We have letters written to the local church in Thessalonica and the church in Rome and the church in Philippi and others, local churches. And so Timberland Drive Church of Christ is just a group of Christians who all live in a reasonable distance from here, who live in 2026, who have agreed to work and worship with one another, who have submitted ourselves to the oversight of a group of shepherds who who oversee us and help us and shepherd us. And we are striving to merely do those things that we read about in the scriptures that local churches do. Now having given those definitions, I suggest that only Christ determines who is a part of his body, the church, the church that belongs to him.

And people, to some degree, determine who is a member here in this local church on the other side. Churches in the New Testament determined for themselves based on the words given by Jesus and the apostles whether or not to accept someone into their membership based on whether there was evidence that person was part of the body of Christ or not. And you say, well, why wouldn't they just accept anybody? Well, here's a great example of this. And we think about this group of people who come together because they're all part of this

This universal church, but they're in a reasonable distance from one another and say, we're gonna come together in this way. Now here's a good example of somebody when they said, are you really a part of the body of Christ or not? In Acts 9, after Saul who became Paul had become a Christian, He had spent some time in the wilderness. He had spent some time preaching up and around Damascus. Now he comes back to Jerusalem.

And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples to be a part of that local church in Jerusalem, but they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple. You, Saul, persecutor of the church, this has gotta be a trick. Your name is written in the lamb's book of life. You're not gonna join us. That's what they're saying at first.

You're not a part of the body of Christ. And so Barnabas has to come along and vouch for him. Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. So they got together, and they talked about it. And what did they figure out?

Saul actually is a part of the body of Christ. And so he was with them at Jerusalem coming in and going out. We might say that he was now a member with them in Jerusalem. We see this in other places like Acts 18:27. And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote exhorting the disciples there to receive him.

And when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace. Now this idea exhorting the disciples to receive him implies what? That they might not have received him, and he's trying to show, I'm a Christian. I am part of the body of Christ, and now I wanna be received by this local church. So imagine, somebody comes here.

Maybe you're here and you're visiting today. You say, hey. I like what's going on here. I see good things that you're doing. It looks like y'all are trying to do what God would have you to do.

And so you say, I wanna be a member of this church. What do we do? Well, the elders have to make a determination about whether this person, this man or woman should be received into this group, this church or not. And they have the right to ask questions about that, about your life and your salvation. But understand this clearly, whatever the shepherds in any local church might decide, the Lord has already determined whether that person or persons are part of his church or not.

In Acts 2:47, the Lord added to the church daily those who are being saved. It is the Lord who adds because the Lord knows those who are his. 2 Timothy 2:19. The Lord knows those who are his, and the Lord knows those who are not his also. And someone might be part of body of Christ and then live in such a way that they are now outside of Christ.

And so that name that was written there in the book of life, Revelation 3:5, he who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life. But I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. Only Jesus has the right to blot out anybody's name, to erase what it is has been written down, and the lord is the only one who can do that. So the lord would be the one who removes them from this church. You see that?

You see our little guy down here? We feel bad for him. Right? Like, the lord is the only one who can do that. Now what about in a local church?

These folks who are part of the body of Christ have come together and we say, we're Christians and we're trying to do what god would have them to do. Well, Christ is perfect in either adding or removing someone from his body, but we are likely not. People make mistakes. Elders make mistakes. Hopefully, less mistakes than the rest of us, but they make mistakes too.

And we might accept someone into our number who is not a part of the church, or we might reach someone who comes and says, they want to be a part of this church. And we say, I don't know if you're really a Christian or not, and so we reject them. But the Lord makes no mistakes in this regard. And yet in the first century, we see that there were people who made mistakes, and usually, it was out of a bad heart. We think about 3 John 1, only one chapter, verses 9 and ten.

John says, I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds, which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren and forbids those who wish to putting them out of the church, not out of Christ's body. He didn't have the power to do that if he wanted to. But that local church, Diotrephes, had the power and the influence.

And so we see the idea somebody comes and they are rejected. They are put out of this local church. They're not a part of this group anymore, but they're still part of the body of Christ, still part of the Lord's church. And you have people who are part of the local church who have no part of the church, the body. I hope that's clear.

I hope we see that concept, and I know for many of us, this is a review of things that we've known, for a long time. And yet we know that this occurred because of false brethren. Paul says in Galatians 2:4 that there are those who have no part in the church, and yet they're in the local church of Jesus Christ. Thinking about these things in a clear sort of way, I really like this comparison chart. And I stole this from a man named Robert Turner.

He's dead, so he didn't know I stole it from him, but I'm grateful for his work on this. We think about the church, the body of Christ versus the local church, and I think these contrasts are helpful to us as we think about these things. Okay? And this is on your handout with all of the references. If you wanna go back and look at all of these things for yourself, But think about it in these terms.

The church is in both heaven and earth, but the local church is earthly. It's limited. It's just here on earth. The Lord adds members, but we join ourselves as members, and the local church adds us to their number. The church, the body of Christ, is entered by baptism, but a local church is entered by agreement with fellow saints.

We're gonna work and worship together. We both agree to do these things together. All saints in all times and places are part of the church, but only certain saints a given time and place are in the local church. The church is only the saved, but again, there are some not of us or false brethren might be present. The church is under the head, Jesus Christ.

He is the shepherd, and yet there are lesser shepherds. Peter talks about them in those terms. Right? You're like Jesus Christ, but you're a lesser shepherd. You're imperfect, but you still have that oversight and service that is due to the local church.

We see that these... The church in the New Testament is sometimes referred to as being assembled, but that's figurative. It's not like we get a big Colosseum or a big stadium and everybody comes together at one time. We couldn't do that because some people are dead and in heaven, some people are alive and on earth. And so it's assembled figuratively, and we also see in the New Testament that it's assembled in the future.

When we find ourselves before God in heaven, we will be assembled there. But that's in the spiritual realm, not in the physical realm. Yet here in this local church, we assemble literally. We are really here this morning, and we are here in the present in this physical realm. But maybe most importantly, and I think this is helpful to us, and it's helpful to those who have experienced difficulties and struggles and sin in local churches.

We know and see clearly that Satan will not prevail against Christ's church. Amen? The gates of hell will not prevail against it. I've always been interested by that phrase. The gates of hell will not prevail against it.

That seems wrong, doesn't it? How are gates gonna prevail against anything? And maybe we think about it backwards. Right? We think about Satan attacking us, and certainly that metaphor is found in Ephesians 6 and other places.

But the gates of hell is the idea of Satan in a defensive position. And the church itself, those who are called out by Jesus Christ with him as our head, we will be victorious, and we will destroy the work of Satan. And yet here on this earth, have you been there where people are not acting the way they should in a local church, and we get so discouraged about that? But the reality is Satan can and sometimes does prevail against local churches. Where the love that they should have for one another becomes bitterness, where the grace that they show...

Should show becomes judgmental sort of attitudes. Or on the other hand, maybe the judgment they should show against sin, against false doctrine. There is no judgment to be found there, and therefore, there is no real love to be found there. And Satan prevails against this local church or against some of its members. But no, beloved Christian, if you are in Jesus Christ, Satan will not prevail against his church, against the church that belongs to him.

Alright. So pop quiz. You have it there on your handout. You tell me which use of the word church is being referred to in each of these passages. Okay?

And you can write an l for local, a u for universal on your handout right there. Even if this is a new concept to you, I think you're probably gonna be able to get these. And even without a great deal of context in these verses, will you go through this with me? Look on the screen here. Matthew 16:18.

And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter... I don't know why I copied that from the old King James, but it reads great, doesn't it? That thou art Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So if that is the universal church, the body of Christ, all Christians, give me a one.

If that is a local church, give me a two. K? One or two. Yeah. That's all Christians in the universal church.

We just talked about it. Okay. How about this one? Matthew 18:16-17. Now we see that this is just a couple of chapters later, but if he does not listen, this one who is in sin, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. So universal church or local church. Universal church or local church. Yeah.

It's a local church. Those people in that place have accountability for one another. They're they're holding one another to the standard of Jesus Christ in love and mercy and truth. We wanna gain our brother back. But if he won't listen to the church, then he can't be a part of that local church.

Acts 14:23. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. So universal or local. K? So that's the local...

These local churches in this area of Galatia. Ephesians 3:20-21 that we read earlier. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. Universal church or local church?

Universal church. Yeah. 1 Timothy 5:16. Last one. If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them.

Let the church not be burdened so that they may care for those who are truly widows. K? So local... Lo... Oh, local church or universal church?

Local church. Right? And so the work of this local church and caring for those who are in need, well, you have a responsibility as a family member who believes, first of all, to take care of your own, and then that responsibility falls to the church if you are unable to do so. And so we see this really clearly, I think.

And yet we know that there are other models out there for what the church looks like. And this idea of the universal church, all Christians, and then local churches, there there is what we might call the denominational model of that. Denomination is just the idea of dividing like a pie or a pizza. Right? And here's how that might be explained.

You've got all of these different denominations, Baptist and Methodist and Pentecostals of various kinds in the Church of Christ. And, yes, there is a church of Christ denomination, but I don't claim to be a part of that nor do we. And these parts, while not ideal, most people would say this is not really what it should be, but it is. And all of these different denominations, they teach different things, and they make up the so called visible church. And there's great disagreement among denominations about how far this goes.

You know? Which denominations are included? Who's in? Who's out? What do you do with the Mormons, what do you do with the Seventh day Adventist, what do you do with some of these other groups, the Jehovah's Witnesses, are they in, are they out, all these sorts of things.

And you see those things play out among your friends, among the people you know online, those sorts of things. And yet the general idea is, well, there are all of these churches and all of these churches, when you put them together, those churches, those denominations make up the church of Christ, Christ's church. And some of them would say, well, there is one true church, and they or maybe they and a few others are a part of that. And many we come in contact with daily think this basically explains the idea of there being one church. But may I say this clearly, Christ's church is not made up of a bunch of churches.

Christ's church is made up of a bunch of Christians. Made up a bunch of individuals. Individual Christians, the assembly, the called out ones. That's what makes up Christ Church, and it's not divided up into different denominations that teach different things. It is all those who are written in the lamb's book of life.

All those who are truly Christians as god only knows. Those are the ones who make up his church. Well, one church, only one church. Well, there's another model out there. We might call it the Catholic model that that there is a universal church, and that's the way they certainly think of it.

It's straightforward. The Catholic church literally means... Brent Slatter talked about this a lot in a class he taught not too long ago. Catholic means universal. Right?

So this is the universal church. That's the way they think about it. And in fact, reading some of their own writing, this is from the diocese of Lansing, Michigan. He says, we are the original Christian church, which began when Jesus... With...

When Jesus himself, when he said to the apostle Peter, you are the rock on which I will build my church, the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And the way they keep that church together is by having this hierarchy. They remain one church by this long established institution with these levels of authority and organization. And father Thomas Hurley, who is a longtime Catholic pastor of Old Saint Thomas' Church in Chicago, Both of these are charts, by the way, that are put out by Catholic people, and so I'm not misrepresenting any... Anything here.

You see this idea of, okay, you got the pope at the top and the cardinals, and this is the way it's laid out. And when you think about all of these people, you get all the way down the laity. That's all the normal people, the regular people, right, who aren't part of this hierarchy. And that's how the church stays together in their model, in their thought. Father Thomas Hurley says this hierarchy is the foundation of the whole structure of the church.

You gotta have all of this if the church is going to function, if there's gonna be one church. Notice, without it, there would be no organized institution, but only many people trying to live by the teachings of Jesus Jesus, to which I say, amen. Yeah. Because that's what the church is supposed to be, the body of Christ. Many people trying to live by the teachings of Jesus who have been added to that church by him.

Because the church isn't an institution you have to get into in order to be saved. You don't see that anywhere in the Bible. It is the saved. In other words, the church does not save. The church is the saved.

And the universal church is not a collection of local local churches working together after finding common ground. That's true even in the sense of local churches like the one we're a part of. It's not... You know, you got Timberland Drive and you got other churches in other places, and you add all of those churches together, that makes up the church of Christ. That...

That's not right either. It is individuals who make up that body of Christ. And then those individuals find other like minded, like hearted people who love God with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength who have been added by Jesus to the church and say, we're gonna come together, and we're gonna work and worship together. So I know what you're thinking because I've thought the same thing myself. Well, Reagan, why don't we just kinda get all of those people together in the Lufkin area, and let's all come together, and let's work and worship as a church that belongs to Christ, to which I say, that's exactly what we're trying to do here.

We're just trying to be a church that belongs to Christ, filled with people who are members of the body of Christ. And there are others in the area who are trying to do the same thing, and I bid them God's blessing if they are. But a phrase that gets thrown around a lot in our world is nondenominational. Well, may I suggest we are truly striving to be a nondenominational church? Not any denomination is welcome to come and be a part here.

No. Just the opposite. I don't wanna know some denominational affiliation, church of Christ or otherwise. I wanna know if you've been added to Christ Church. Is your name written in the lamb's book of life?

Are you a faithful part of the body of Christ? If you are, you can be a part of this church. We have no right to reject you. But if you aren't a part of that universal church of all faithful Christians, then then would you please allow us to talk to you about what you need to do in order to become a part of Christ Church? And then adding yourself to this local church is just the next step in that process.

You can only become a part of that body of Christ by hearing, understanding, and responding to the gospel message with repentance and baptism. Baptism is into Christ, into his body, not into any local church. No one has ever been baptized into the Timberland Drive Church of Christ. Instead, when we baptize, we follow 1 Corinthians 12:13. For by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free.

By one spirit, the teaching and doctrine and guidance of the holy spirit, we are baptized into that one body. Now don't get me wrong. Local churches are part of God's plan, and we should be loyal and faithful and working and active members of a local church, not just floating around from place to place with no local church family who can help us and hold us accountable. The local church is important and fulfills so many of God's purposes, but our hope is not in the local church. This is the best local church I've ever been a part of in my entire life.

I am so blessed, so blessed to be here, so blessed to be a part of this group of people. But my hope is not in Timberland Drive. And as wonderful as all of you are, my hope is not in you and your hope should not be in me. Our greatest concern should be, am I a part of Christchurch? Because my hope is found in him.

Is my name written in the lamb's book of life? Christ adds it, and Christ can remove it. He is the head of the body. He is the foundation of the temple. He is the king of the kingdom.

And if you know that you need to be part of his kingdom to receive salvation, won't you come in humble submission to your king and do what he requires to be added to his church, his body, which is the fullness of him who fills all in all. And if we can help you with that even this morning, come now, while together we stand and while we sing.