voice tonight. Seems like I picked up some bronchitis Saturday when I was driving over here I began to have this cough and it's gotten down in the chest but I appreciate this microphone that's going to see me through and I'm sure the Lord will bless our hearts in spite of the poor voice. We're looking again at Ephesians five I want to read these two verses every night, because they are the very theme of our week's meetings. Ephesians five, verse twenty-seven, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, a glorious church. That's our subject. The glory of the church and of the churches. Verse thirty-two. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. What a wonderful subject, the church. And for tonight, I'd like for us to go to Revelation chapter one, please. Chapter one of Revelation. Verses twelve and thirteen. Revelation chapter one, verse twelve. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. and in the midst of the seven lampstands, one likened to the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and gird about the patch with a golden girdle. In verse twenty he explains what the seven golden lampstands are, the end of verse twenty. The seven lampstands which thou sawest are the seven churches. That almost seems like a contradiction, doesn't it? To say, church is plural. When we've been finding the Word of God teaches there's not but one church. The Lord Jesus said on this rock I will build my church, not my churches. He doesn't have but one. There is one body, Ephesians four, verse four says. then how can we have churches if there's just one church? Well, very obvious. We can't get the whole church together on this earth, can we? It's a physical impossibility to get the whole church together. Just can't do it. They're too far away. I don't care what. how fast an airplane you get. You can't get from here to California in time for the breaking of bread and get back home the same day. We just have to meet in different places. And that's the only reason for churches, plural. It's the geographical fact that makes churches In other words, since we can't all get together wherever the saints gather together in his name to carry out his word, that's a church. That's a local church. But the amazing thing is that local church carries with it everything that's true of the church. The brother William McCartney gave me a good illustration of that. Brother McCartney is a brother you remember from Chicago who's now in God's country in Georgia and he's publishing primitive tracts and doing a great work of course. Brother McCartney said the church is like a wall of mercury. you took a ball of mercury and put it in your hand. It's a beautiful thing. When we worked with it in chemistry, when I was in high school, it fascinated me. I always liked to fool with mercury. He said if you took a ball of mercury and dropped it on the desk, it would scatter into a jillion little balls of mercury. But if you examine each ball of mercury, It's exactly like the original. Same chemical properties, same color, same shape, just like the original, just smaller, that's all. And that's what the local church is to the church. The local church should be an expression of the church. Whatever is true of the church, should be carried out in practice by the local church. Another thing, we've seen the glory of the church. My, what glory it has. It's His bride and He loves it. Or can we measure the love of Christ for His church? Thank God. And if His body a living union with Him, just as your body is linked to your head in a living oneness, one body, one head. So the Lord and His church, and then we've seen that it's this lasting union, that it's a building. He said, on this rock I will build my church. you are builded together for a habitation of God by the Spirit. Ye are God's husbandry. Ye are God's building. And the foundation of it is none other than Christ himself. And the chief cornerstone which gives the real significance of the building, the real purpose of it, the real glory of it. is the Lord Jesus Himself. Yes, we've seen the glory of the church. But a writer by the name of Lincoln pointed out something to me that really just gave me a new view of a local church. And that was, he pointed out here in verse twelve, Revelation one twelve. Being turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. Seven golden lampstands. Golden. This isn't just any old word. This isn't just a nice word he put in here. This is a Bible word. Gold in the Word of God is used to speak of Scripture itself. Gold is taken to be the very picture of deity. It's the picture of that which is divine gold. And the Lord Jesus looks at these local churches with all their weakness, with all their sin and failure. And he calls them gold. And I don't care how small it is, Oh, I love to go to these little struggling assemblies you find here and there, where there might be two couples sometime, maybe three couples. But they have their eyes on the Lord Jesus. They are gathered in His name, and they're seeking to carry out His word. And they are worth every ounce of my life, every ounce of my being, because it's gold. We need to see the local church through the eyes of the Lord Jesus. It's a golden lampstand. This assembly here is divine. God planted this assembly. I don't care who the preacher is or the preachers or the workers that are used and God bless them and God will honor them. But it's God who It is his. It's golden. And it's worth your life and mine just for that reason. The Apostle Paul had that vision of a local church. He saw the glory of the church. Even though Paul's great passion was, as he expressed it, woe is me if I preach not the gospel. And he said he wanted to preach Christ where he had not been heard. As you follow Paul in his first missionary journey, he goes westward across the ocean to Cyprus. And he goes from the east side of Cyprus to the west. And he crosses the ocean northeastward and goes up into Pamphylia, preaching Christ all the way to these people who had never heard him. Then he gets up at the northernmost point of his missionary journey. And I can imagine Paul saying, well, Brother Barnabas, it's time we go home and tell the saints what the Lord's doing. And so I would think he would say, let's go on around this way back home. Actually, it's better because we don't have to risk the sea and all its dangers. We'll just go by the land route. And we hit all these new towns where Christ has never been heard. Wouldn't you think that's what Paul would do? But he didn't do that. He turned right around and came right back through the same towns he had just preached in. What for? Acts fourteen tells you what for. It says that he was establishing the souls of the disciples and ordaining elders in every church. He was exhorting those saints and teaching them and establishing them in local churches. Don't you see the burden of the Apostle Paul was twofold? It was not just preach the gospel. but it was established then, as he says to the Corinthians, my ways which be in Christ, which I also teach everywhere in every church. Paul was very careful to establish a local church wherever he went. When he missed his things that he suffered, For Christ's sake. Seventh Corinthians, eleven. When you read that list, I guess you feel like I do. You'd like to hide someplace. When you hear what that dear man suffered for Christ's sake. How pitiful. And yet, not really pitiful. He'll get a turn of glory for every gram of suffering. And he wouldn't take back any of it, I'm sure. But as he lifts that suffering, he finally puts the climax on it. In Second Corinthians, verse twenty-eight, he says, And beside those things that are without. Notice he calls all these sufferings being beaten with rods, being stoned and left for dead, having that catamined tail whip that the Lord Jesus received. He had it. Was it twice in his life or five times I've forgotten which? But no wonder he said in Galatians, From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of our Lord Jesus Christ. And someone's pointed out, you could translate that that his body was a scar. That is, there was no part of his body that hadn't been scarred for Christ. And then he sums all that up by saying, besides all those things that are without him, that's what he calls all that physical suffering. That which presses upon me daily, anxiety, for all the churches. Notice, not the church, the churches. Now that isn't an expression of official care like some bishop of some big area might say he has the care, the supervision. No, it's that word that the Lord Jesus forbid us to have. It's the very Greek word the Lord says not to have. Don't be careful about the affairs of this life. And that the cares of this life were the thorns. It grew up and choked the word. Yet Paul said that's what's pressing on me daily. But notice it wasn't the cares of this life. It was the care for the local churches. That was his chief suffering. He climaxed the list with that inner suffering. Paul saw the glory of a local church, and he gave his life not only to preaching the gospel, but to establishing local assemblies. Yes, what my point is here is the glory of a local church. and all that we would see it, and we would say it's worth my life, and I'll devote myself to it for His sake. Well, we haven't seen what the word church means yet, haven't we? You can't study the church without looking at that for a moment. So let's consider the church. What does the word mean? Well, you find the word ecclesia used a hundred and fifteen times in the New Testament. And it basically means an assembly of gathering. And the word is used for different kinds of gatherings. For example, Acts seven, verse thirty-eight. Would you turn please to Acts seven, verse thirty-eight? Acts seven verse thirty eight. This is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spoke to him in the mouth Sinai and with our fathers who received the living oracles to give them to us. Acts seven verse thirty eight says the church in the wilderness. I may have said Acts eight that I am sorry. I meant to say Acts seven, verse thirty-eight. Now, this word church, that would sound like the church existed in the Old Testament, wouldn't it? Well, that is simply a mistake in translation. That's all it is. It should have been translated, the assembly in the wilderness. It's ecclesia. Now this word is used for different kinds of gatherings. Let's look a little further and you'll see what I'm talking about. Acts chapter nineteen. Acts chapter nineteen and verse thirty-two. Some therefore cried one thing and some another. This crowd all upset because Paul has preached the gospel and He cast a demon out of a girl that was serving these craftsmen who sold idols. And he's hurting business. And so they are all up in the air about it. And verse thirty-two says, For the assembly was confused, and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together. This was a bunch of heathen here. And some of them don't even know what they'd come for, you notice. They're just all in a state of riot. And yet if they had translated here, like they did in Acts seven thirty-eight, they'd have said the church was confused. Because it's the same word, ecclesia, an assembly. Well, they translated it right here, assembly, a gathering. You see it again in verse forty-one. verse order one of that chapter. Well, thirty-nine also. He says, if you inquire anything concerning other matters, it shall be determined by lawful ecclesia assembly. In other words, he means a secular gathering, a civil gathering, the citizens gathering together. Verse forty-one, and when he had thus spoken he dismissed the ecclesia, the assembly. This is a bunch of heathen. They are not a church, but he uses the word ecclesia, which shows that just because you have the word ecclesia in Acts seven thirty-eight, the ecclesia in the wilderness does not mean it's the church. That's the only time you find this word Ecclesia used of Israel. And it obviously does not mean the church. We've already seen that the Lord Jesus said on this rock, I will build, not I have been building, I will build my church. So the church didn't exist in the Old Testament. We've seen that it's a new thing. Paul has told us in Ephesians chapter three, and then he's told us in Colossians one, that this was hidden in God in times past, and is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. The church has to have the Holy Spirit to exist, and the Holy Spirit wasn't given. back in the desert days in Israel's time. There's no way that the church could have existed in the Old Testament. So is it simply, in Acts seven, thirty-eight, it's just a bad translation to call it the church. It's simply like in Acts nineteen, an assembly of gatherings. But then the Lord Jesus says, I will build my ecclesia. Oh, that's a different story, isn't it? My ecclesia. Here is an assembly, but it's His. My ecclesia. And that's what we're talking about, the church. Now the word for church is different from the word synagogue. For example, in James, James, you know, was the first letter written in the New Testament. And James is still quite a legal person. He's quite sort of in the transition from the church, from Israel into the church. And James uses the word assembly there, but it's the word synagogue. And we don't catch it because we read in English if any come into your assembly and come out in rich apparel, you give him a front seat. Well, really the word he used was synagogue. For you see, the church was still meeting in the synagogues. The Jews that were converted was still just gathering in the synagogues and talking about the Lord Jesus. It was so early in Christianity. The word synagogue is similar to the word assembly. Synagogue means, synonym means with, and ago, the other part of it, means to bring. Or with can also mean together. So it means to bring together. That's what a synagogue was. It was to bring together the Jews. And it started back in the days of Babylon when they couldn't go to Jerusalem to worship. And they began to put up buildings. to read the law and to hear God's word in these foreign lands. And they call the building a synagogue, a place where they brought the people together. That's not the word for the church. The word for the church is et calel. Et means out of, and calel means called. And so the word church means a called out company. On this rock I will build my called out company. The Lord Jesus looks at those that are saved as those he's called out of this world unto himself. And that's what the word church means. The called out one. That's the meaning of the word church. Now let's go back to this matter of the local church representing the church. Whatever's true of the church should be displayed in the local church. All right, what are the things that stand out about the church? Well, one of them is oneness. If there's anything emphasized about the church, it's that there is but one, and that all believers belong to that one church. As we quoted Ephesians four, four, there is one body and one spirit. First Corinthians, twelve, thirteen, by one spirit, where we all baptized into one body there isn't but one one church on this rock I will build my church just one and so the local church should manifest that oneness how do we do that well he says in Ephesians four three keeping and that word keeping means To look after, to guard by watching after it, looking after it. Guard, keep it. Guard the unity, the oneness, of the Spirit in the bond of peace. What's the unity of the Spirit? I don't think the unity of the Spirit is our thinking all the same thing, as nice as that would be. But he explains what the unity is. Keeping the unity of the Spirit. For there is one body. You see, the oneness of the Spirit is this one church. He's put us all into one church. We're all members, one of another. We are linked to each other, just like your hand is linked with your foot to the one body. And your foot's never going to hurt your hand. And your hand's never going to hurt your foot, not deliberately. Every number looks out for each of the other members. And so we are one body. And every number is to watch after the other. We are to keep. the unity, the oneness that the Spirit of God is made. Now this is what has struck so many who were in denominations. This is what convicted, I suppose, my dear brother who wrote this track that Brother William let me read today. Brother, what's his name? Yes. What's his name again? Don Weldon. Yeah. Weldon, is it? Weldon. Weldon. Thank you. He said how he got convicted of being a Baptist. Well, it was my experience. I kept reading that scripture, keeping the unity of the Spirit. And it was like the Lord would look straight at me, you know, and I could hardly bear it. Because I knew I wasn't keeping it. I was wearing a sectarian label, and that's not keeping the oneness. That's dividing it. I don't think that I can treat that lightly, dear Christian. I believe sectarianism is sin. I believe it is the finance of the word of God. It's taught us too clearly that we should not take any other name. And oh, how I thought that thing. I used to tell the Lord, I say, Lord, you know I'm not a Baptist. I'm just your servant. And I'm trying to preach the word here the best I can. And it was like the Lord took me by my nose and carried me around in front of that building. and said, what's that name on that building for then? And I realized, no matter what I said, that my testimony, and yes, my ministry was building sectarianism. The very name of the church was divisive. It was contrary to the oneness of the Spirit. I'd like to point out to you In First Corinthians three, what the Lord Jesus, what the Apostle Paul is giving us here to meet is so strong. Let me sum up what I believe he's saying here in First Corinthians three, beginning at verse three. I believe Paul is saying, any name you take, other than the name of the Lord Jesus, you are putting that name in competition with his name. Now that's serious, isn't it? But you listen and see if that isn't what he's saying. Verse four, while he says they're carnal because they have these divisions, then verse four, for while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am Apollos. Are you not carnal? Who then is Paul and who is Apollos? I'm reading the wrong chapter. Would you please go to chapter one? It's the same thought, but it's in different words. Chapter one of First Corinthians, I'm sorry. Verse twelve. Now this I say, that every one of you said, I am of Paul. And it reads this way, but I of Apollos, but I of Cephas, but I of Christ. Notice it's not just and, it's that adversity of conjunction, dead, which is argumentative. You can feel friction. One says, I'm Apollos, then the other one says, but I of Apollos. Another, but I. Christ. And Paul rebukes the whole lot of them. Even the of Christ group. Why? They used the same language the others did. They used the same conjunction, dead. But I, if they had only said, aren't we all of Christ? The kids say that. They said, but I of Christ, as if the others weren't. And he rebukes them as much as he did, those that said, I of Paul. But notice where he says they're putting other names in competition with the precious name of Christ. Verse thirteen, if you take these names, is what he's saying, is Christ divided? If you take another name, that's what you're saying, that he's divided. Was Paul crucified for you? Don't you see what he's saying? Take the name of the one who was crucified for you. And in the other name, you're putting it in competition with that precious name. Again, or were you baptized? in the name of Paul don't you see he's just saying just take the name that uniting name the name of the Lord Jesus but take it not in a divisive sense saying but I am of Christ take it in the sense we are all of Christ look how beautiful this is in first Corinthians one verse two unto the church of God which is at current to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints and all this is beautiful with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs Oh, how lovely. Paul puts his arms around every Christian, wherever he is. He might be over there in the Catholic Church. I'm quite sure there are only a few, but grant there might be some in the Catholic Church. He puts his arm around one in the Church of the Nazarenes, in the Pentecostal Church, in the Episcopal Church, He includes every believer there is. For he says, with all, that in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours. My that's keeping the unity of the Spirit. He's put us all under one banner. the name of the Lord Jesus. And we carry out this oneness of the Spirit by receiving all that belong to the Church. That's what we're doing. When we receive a Christian, we're not doing a thing but saying Amen to what the Spirit of God has already done. We feel that person is a saved person. They give us reason to believe it. Maybe it's by a letter from another assembly that says we know them and we commend them. And that's probably about the best way in the world for a person to come into a local gathering is to come with a letter for that relieves the assembly of any concern, any fears. that person came vouched for by some other Christian that we know. But at least some way we have some assurance that this person is a Christian. They might not have a letter. There might have been some mistake or some, maybe they got it in their hotel or whatever, who knows the reason. And we just have to take their word for it. And just the best we can, we just have to determine whether they're Christians or not. And so if we have reason to believe that, that they are safe, they belong already. Their seats already paid for. If they belong to the church, then they belong to this church. For there is one body, and the local church is nothing but a display of the church. There is one body. We just dwelt on the one, didn't we? Now I'd like for us to dwell on the word body. The church is one body. That means then that it's composed of living members as we were looking at last night. Why don't we have just one man as the pastor? I remember when I was pastor of my first church in Orlando, Florida, there was a man in that church that was so godly that his faith actually radiated the Lord Jesus. And what a blessing he was to me. He's much older than I was, more mature in the Lord. And yet I was the Reverend, you know, and I had to stand behind the book. And I wrote my folks home, you know, I wrote them letters about how things were going, and I told them about this dear man, and what a blessing he was, and that he radiated the Lord. And so one Sunday my wife, my mother, came down to visit us from Augusta to Orlando, Florida. And I wanted the folks to meet her, so I asked if she would stand where they could all shake hands with her after the meeting. And so they came by and shook hands with her. And there were about three hundred people there. And she shook hands with them, you know, one after the other. And suddenly she stopped and she said, Oh, I know who you are. She said, You're Mr. Stater, aren't you? He said, Yes. How did you know me? She said, My husband... wrote me to tell me what a wonderful Christian you are, and that Christ was even visible in your face. And she said, I could tell from your face you were that man. But did you know that man couldn't stand behind the bullet? I, a green horn, just fresh out of college, with a few books under my belt, I was the reverend. And only I could stand there. And that man's gift was smothered. Don't you see again why I was so convicted to be in that unscriptural position? For you will never find in the scripture Paul addresses the pastor of any church. Never. That in itself should show us there's no such thing. Now I can imagine an assembly being so small that that might become the case, but that's an extreme thing. You don't find Paul ever addressing the pastor, but you will find him addressing the elders, the bishops and the deacons, plural, but never to, not just to one. Obviously they didn't have just one. There were gifts. The assembly allowed the gifts to be developed. And if a man had a gift, then there was a place for him. And it didn't matter whether he'd been through the first grade or not. If he had a gift from God and was a godly person and loved the sheep, he was as important as a man with a string of degrees after his name. Maybe more important. Oh, the gift of God. is what makes a person a mighty power for God. It's not education. Education has its place, but my friend it's a very small place. I wouldn't throw education out the window, but oh, it is so small in comparison with a God-given gift. And that's what the body is. The body is seeing Each of us has his or her own gift. God has put us in the body as it pleased him. And each of us has a gift. And the local church should manifest the church in that we allow every gift to have full development. Let it go its full length. and be usable, serviceable to the Lord and to the church. Now, you know, some people get their own idea when you mention that we don't have one pastor and they think we don't believe in such a thing as a pastor. Well, Ephesians chapter four says he's given some pastors and teachers How could we dare say there's no such thing as pastors? But here's what's so obvious. If you read about elders, almost every time he writes at length about elders, he tells them, take heed to the flock of God, shepherd the flock. Peter says it's not seed but shepherd the flock. You see, he uses shepherd language for the elders. And the word pastor is nothing but a shepherd. That's what the word means in the Greek, shepherd. And he addresses the elders in Acts chapter twenty. You remember Paul called for the elders in verse seventeen. And when they got there, he talked to them and he said, Take heed unto the flock of God, over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God. He's using pastoral language and he's talking to elders. Elders are the pastors. Just check it out. You read First Peter. Chapter five, read Acts twenty. And you'll see that he does that. Well, then what about bishops? Do we believe in bishops? Well, we better.