The Beautiful, Imperfect Church: A Review of ‘We Believe: In the Church’

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That was funny.

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That was so exciting.
[00:01:26] That was great.
[00:01:27] That was the best year ever.
[00:01:27] That was the best year ever.
[00:01:28] That was the best year ever.
[00:01:29] That was the best year ever.
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[00:03:09] Let's pray.
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[00:03:46] Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy
[00:04:14] Thank you!
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[00:05:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
Let's pray.

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
In Jesus name we pray.
[00:05:57] Amen.
[00:06:12] Let us pray.
[00:06:39] Let us pray.
[00:06:50] Let us pray.
[00:07:14] Let us pray.
[00:07:17] Let us pray.
[00:07:48] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:08:15] Amen.
[00:08:16] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:08:44] Amen.
[00:08:44] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:09:08] Amen.
[00:09:33] Let us pray.
[00:10:02] Let us pray.
[00:10:09] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:10:33] Amen.

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
Well good morning church.
[00:10:40] This last weekend we were at middle school retreat and we learned a fantastic song there.
[00:10:45] We loved it so much we wanted to sing it for all of you and so would you join us in singing I Know That My Redeemer Lives.
[00:10:52] Can I ask people to stand?
[00:10:53] Am I allowed to do that?
[00:10:54] Well if I'm not I'll get in trouble on staff meeting on Tuesday.
[00:10:56] Would you stand please?
[00:10:59] And we're going to sing I Know That My Redeemer Lives.
[00:11:01] Ready guys?
[00:11:03] The words will be on the screen.
[00:11:04] Sing it with us.

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
I know that my Redeemer lives, glory hallelujah What a comfort this sweet sentence gives, glory hallelujah Shout on, pray on, we're gaining ground
[00:11:29] Glory, Hallelujah!
[00:11:33] The dead's alive and the lost is found Glory, Hallelujah!
[00:11:42] He lives triumphant from the grave Glory, Hallelujah!
[00:11:50] He lives eternally to save Glory, Hallelujah!
[00:11:59] Shout on!

[00:12:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Pray on!

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
We're gaining ground!
[00:12:04] Glory!
[00:12:05] Hallelujah!
[00:12:08] The dead's alive and the lost is found!
[00:12:12] Glory!
[00:12:13] Hallelujah!
[00:12:16] He lives to crush the fiends of hell!
[00:12:21] Glory!
[00:12:22] Hallelujah!
[00:12:25] He lives and doth within me dwell, glory, hallelujah Shout on, pray on, we're gaining ground
[00:12:38] Glory, Hallelujah!
[00:12:42] The dead's alive and the lost is found.
[00:12:46] Glory, Hallelujah!
[00:12:49] Let's sing that again nice and triumphantly.
[00:12:52] Shout on, pray on, we're gaining ground.
[00:12:56] Glory hallelujah the dead's alive and the lost is found glory hallelujah great job guys amen let's continue singing this morning that was awesome

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy

[00:14:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
We are weeping through the night Come those who tell of battles won And those struggling in the fight For His perfect love will never change And His mercies never cease But follow us through all our days

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
Every land, men and women of the faith Come those with full or empty hands Find the riches of His grace Over all the world His people sing Short to short we hear them call Those true to Christ to every age are now

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
We are gathered here today to rejoice in who our God is and what our God has done in redeeming for himself a people and inviting us into his mission in this world wherein he is making all things new.
[00:17:33] as we begin our service I just want to ask you to let us know that you were here today if you're using the church center app you can check in there that's very helpful to us and if you're a guest with us we're really excited that you are here and we would ask that you would look to the center of your row there should be a white folder there and we'd love to have your name and then whatever contact information you feel comfortable giving to us we want to be able to reach out to you and thank you for being here and find out if there are ways that we can further connect with you and
[00:18:02] and potentially serve you as well also want to let you know about some things that are going on in the life of our church and there is a lot because we are entering our advent season next week so next sunday at 5 p.m we'll all meet out on the front porch in the courtyard
[00:18:20] We'll start with Light the Way.
[00:18:23] We enter the Christmas season together with a short liturgy that's friendly to all ages.
[00:18:31] After that, we'll sing some Christmas carols and we'll light up a tree that's in our courtyard.
[00:18:36] We invite everyone to come out for that.
[00:18:38] It's a fun time and a great way to mark the beginning of the season together.
[00:18:43] Also, on December the 7th, there will be a group going out caroling and so we want to bless some of our senior saints through Christmas carols and through our presence with them and so we'd encourage you to take part in that as well.
[00:18:58] And there are opportunities to connect, opportunities to serve.
[00:19:03] We're part of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church and we're a small denomination but by God's grace
[00:19:30] He is doing big things through us and so one of those things is through the ARP fund and so if you would like to give to that above tithes and offerings to the church then you can certainly do so if you look in your pew there should be an envelope there and you can give or if you write a check you can simply mark that it's for the ARP fund for the Thanksgiving offering but as we have already declared we're here to worship the Lord our God
[00:19:58] And he himself calls us to worship this morning from Psalm 106 verse 48.
[00:20:04] Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
[00:20:10] And let all the people say, Amen.
[00:20:13] Praise the Lord.
[00:20:15] Let's go to the Lord together in prayer.
[00:20:18] O Lord our God, it is our eager desire this morning to praise your name, to give thanks to you, to exult in you, to exalt you.
[00:20:29] Lord by the praises of our mouths by the lifting of our hands and our heads and our hearts to you by our expectation that according to your perfect promise you will meet us here that you will allow us to be in your presence and that you will meet us with your grace through the means that you have provided Lord as we seek to hear from you
[00:20:54] You would bless the songs that we sing, Lord, as we seek to sing Your Word.
[00:20:58] The prayers that we pray as we seek to echo Your Word in our prayers, to pray Your promises.
[00:21:06] Lord, as we hear Your Word read and preached, we ask that we would indeed hear from You and that by the power of Your Spirit, in hearing from You, that we might be changed, that we might be transformed to be more like Jesus, our Savior.
[00:21:22] Lord, would you end this time by your words sung and prayed and read and preached.
[00:21:28] Lord, give us a fresh vision of Jesus, a fresh apprehension of the truth and the hope of the gospel, a greater grasp of who we are as the body and the bride and the building, the beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ, who we are as the church.
[00:21:48] And Lord, give us a renewed sense of our mission in this world of connecting people with the hope of the gospel.
[00:21:54] Do all of this, we pray, not for our sake only, but even more so for the glory of your name and the prosperity of the good news of Jesus Christ among our neighbors and the nations who do not yet know him.
[00:22:10] And we pray these things in Jesus' name.
[00:22:12] Amen.
[00:22:13] Let's stand together and sing to the Lord.

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
Christ the true and better Adam Son of God and Son of Man Who when tempted in the garden Never yielded, never sinned He who makes the many righteous Brings us back to life again

[00:23:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Dying He reversed the curse, Then rising crushed the serpent's head.

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Come, O come, let us praise the humble Son of Sacrifice,

[00:23:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:23:50] Amen.

[00:24:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
Christ the true and better Moses Called to lead a people home Standing bold to earthly powers God's great glory to be known With His arms stretched wide to heaven See the waters part and tiller

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy,
[00:26:44] Alleluia, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
We believe in one God the Father The Almighty, the Maker of all The One who rules the seen and the unseen We believe and we adore Jesus Christ, one Lord of creation

[00:27:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
From the Father begotten our name He is the light from life eternal And the God of every age All glory to the Father now All honor to the Son
[00:28:17] and Praise the Spirit now and always.
[00:28:34] He came down from the heavens above Born of a virgin and a spirit Truly man and truly God He was crucified under Pilate
[00:28:56] So for death that was laid in the grave And in accordance with the Scriptures On the third He rose again All glory to the Father now All honor to the Son
[00:29:27] Holy Spirit, now and always, this is the God we love Christ has made His ascent into the heavens above Where He sits at the Father's right hand now And He will come back again, He will judge in truth
[00:30:02] The Spirit has come, voice of the prophets of God Sent to us, He has given us new life Forgiven now and baptized, one holy church we rise
[00:30:25] The Father now all honor to the Son And praise the Spirit now and always This is the God we love
[00:30:52] In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
[00:31:05] Amen.
[00:31:22] Now we wait to be resurrected And we look for the world without end This is our creed, our faith, our anthem This is the God we love This is the God we love

[00:31:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
And all of God's people said, Amen.
[00:31:54] You may be seated.

[00:32:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
The truths that we have just sung together, we now confess in the Nicene Creed.
[00:32:16] Christians, what do you believe?
[00:32:20] We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
[00:32:34] Begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of the same essence as the Father.
[00:32:48] Through Him all things were made.
[00:32:51] For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven.
[00:32:56] He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made human.
[00:33:02] He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate.
[00:33:06] He suffered and was buried.
[00:33:08] The third day He rose again according to the Scriptures.
[00:33:12] He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
[00:33:17] He will come again to judge the living
[00:33:21] and the Dead.
[00:33:22] His kingdom will never end.
[00:33:25] And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life.
[00:33:30] He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.
[00:33:37] He spoke through the prophets.
[00:33:39] We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church we affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins we look forward to the resurrection of the dead and to life in the world to come amen amen
[00:33:56] Now we have one of the great privileges of life together as the church and that is to welcome together new people and new families into our faith family.
[00:34:08] And so I want to invite the Tarasovich family to come along with John and Elaine and also Owen.
[00:34:28] It's going to get crowded, so let's just move on.
[00:34:34] This is Owen and John and Elaine and Kelly and Isaiah and Nick and Joey and Evelyn and Nate.
[00:34:43] Guys, and we are so grateful for God's grace in your life.
[00:34:47] We're so grateful for the way that he has called you to himself, united you to his church, and how he's led you to be a part of this local church.
[00:34:55] and we're so grateful for the gifts that God has given to you and the way that you are already using them and have been using them to be a blessing not only to our church but also to our neighbors and we are so excited today we know that you're already members you've already interviewed with the elders you've already made these affirmations we've already approved you and admitted you into the life and family of this church
[00:35:15] But now is our opportunity to welcome you publicly.
[00:35:19] And so we're going to once again ask these questions and ask you to respond individually with, I do.
[00:35:27] Do you confess that you are a sinner in the sight of God, that you deserve his punishment, that you are unable to save yourself, and that you are without hope of salvation except for God's love and mercy?
[00:35:43] Do you?
[00:35:46] Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of sinners?
[00:35:52] And do you receive and trust in Him alone for your salvation?
[00:35:55] Do you?
[00:35:58] Do you accept the Bible, comprised of the Old and New Testaments, as the written Word of God and that it is the only perfect rule of faith and how to live?
[00:36:06] Do you?
[00:36:09] Do you promise to trust in the guidance and strength of the Holy Spirit so that you can live all of life as a Christian following the example set by Jesus Christ?
[00:36:18] Do you?
[00:36:19] Do you promise to exercise faithful stewardship of God's resources entrusted to you for the furtherance of God's kingdom and purposes?
[00:36:29] Do you?
[00:36:32] Do you accept that the doctrines and principles of the standards of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church are founded upon the Scriptures?
[00:36:39] Do you?
[00:36:43] And lastly, in loving obedience, do you submit yourself to the government and discipline of Back Creek Church, promising to seek the peace, purity, prosperity, and unity of this congregation as long as you are a member of it?
[00:36:56] Do you?
[00:36:58] Thanks be to God.
[00:36:59] Let's pray together.
[00:37:02] Our Lord and our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we praise you and thank you for these believers.
[00:37:11] Lord, thank you for your call on their lives.
[00:37:14] Thank you for the grace that they have received through the good news of Jesus Christ.
[00:37:18] Thank you for the gifts that you have poured out on them.
[00:37:23] That we might be blessed through them.
[00:37:26] And Lord, just thank you that you have called each one into this fellowship.
[00:37:32] Lord, we ask that you would allow them, Lord, to be a great blessing to us and through us to many, many others.
[00:37:39] And oh Lord, please let Bat Creek Church be a blessing to them.
[00:37:44] We love you, Lord, and we thank you.
[00:37:45] In the name of Jesus, amen.
[00:37:58] After worship, I'd encourage you to find these folks and to extend to them the right hand of Christian fellowship.
[00:38:14] I want to invite one of our elders, Nathan Holbrook, to come and to lead us in a prayer of intercession for the needs of our church as well as those of our neighbors and the nations.

[00:38:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Good morning, Church.
[00:38:34] Good morning.
[00:38:35] Let's pray.
[00:38:38] Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Lord, your love is never-ending.
[00:38:43] You created us out of your love, and you loved us before we even knew you.
[00:38:49] Lord it is our sin that broke relationship with you yet you gave your only son to save us and you did this out of your love for us thank you Jesus for coming into this world as a baby you came here fully God and fully man to provide us a way to have relationship with you our triune God
[00:39:10] For those who do not yet know you, I pray that they will hear your word preached this morning and that they will look to Jesus alone for the forgiveness of their sins and eternal life with you.
[00:39:23] I thank you for the upcoming Advent season.
[00:39:26] There are many events that we have planned and I ask that each of us would participate and that you would use that time together to point us to you as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
[00:39:38] We know that as we celebrate together, this is a difficult time of year for those who are unable to be with us.
[00:39:44] Please be with our homebound members who cannot physically attend services.
[00:39:49] Bring them comfort, peace, and joy as they focus on the meaning of the holiday season and worship you in their hearts.
[00:39:58] Lord, please continue to be with our kids and students.
[00:40:01] Thank you for the volunteers who regularly give of their time to invest in the lives of the young ones in this congregation.
[00:40:09] Our children and students face so many difficult challenges today that are hard to understand.
[00:40:15] Please be with each of them and draw them to you.
[00:40:21] Lord, please bless our missionaries who are doing your work full-time at home and around the world.
[00:40:26] I ask that you would encourage them as they face discouragement, that you would protect them when they face physical harm, and that you would work through them to make your name known and expand your kingdom.
[00:40:39] Please also continue to work on our college campuses, specifically through RUF at Queens and Charlotte.
[00:40:46] I pray that you would work in the lives of the students who know you and that you would use those ministries to make change on those campuses so that many more students will turn to you.
[00:40:57] God, there are many among us who are sick.
[00:41:00] I ask for you to provide miraculous healing for those who are fighting cancer and other serious illness.
[00:41:06] Please sustain those who are fighting and give them patience and endurance.
[00:41:12] God, thank you for the financial giving of this church.
[00:41:15] Please continue to give the leaders of your church a vision for the future and help us to seek your wisdom as we desire to do your work in the university and Harrisburg areas.
[00:41:27] Please use the funds that we give to glorify your name alone.
[00:41:31] We love you, Lord.
[00:41:31] It's in Jesus' name we pray.
[00:41:33] Amen.

[00:41:47] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
In Jesus name we pray.
[00:41:58] Amen.
[00:42:17] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:42:45] Amen.
[00:42:47] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:43:17] Amen.
[00:43:37] Let us pray.

[00:44:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
You may be seated.
[00:44:53] If you're a child second grade and younger, you're welcome to stay with us for the message.
[00:44:59] But if you and your parents agree, then you can be dismissed right over here with Miss Kelly for kids worship.
[00:45:07] We will see y'all again as we're responding to God's word in song.
[00:45:37] We're going to be in the New Testament letter to the Ephesian church.
[00:45:41] So Ephesians chapter 4.
[00:45:43] Ephesians chapter 4, we're going to be looking at verses 1 through 16.
[00:45:47] Ephesians 4, 1 through 16.
[00:45:50] We've been marking...
[00:45:52] A significant event, the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed that we can confess a little bit earlier and not only celebrating that but also refreshing ourselves in the foundational truths that we believe through this series.
[00:46:12] The first three messages in this preaching series are focused on what we embrace and confess about God.
[00:46:21] We believe in the Father who is the one almighty maker and Father.
[00:46:28] We believe in the Son who is the one begotten Savior and King.
[00:46:33] We believe in the Holy Spirit who is the one Lord and giver of life who speaks and leads.
[00:46:40] And this last section of the Creed is focused on the church.
[00:46:45] The people of God that God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Trinity and Unity has redeemed.
[00:46:53] The Father purposing our salvation and sending the Son.
[00:46:57] The Son accomplishing our salvation and sending the Spirit.
[00:47:00] The Spirit applying our salvation and gathering and empowering His church to live as new creations in Christ and to make disciples of all nations.
[00:47:15] I want to say something that should be obvious.
[00:47:19] The church is not God.
[00:47:22] And we need to be clear about that, right?
[00:47:24] We believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
[00:47:27] One God in three persons.
[00:47:30] The triune, only true and holy God.
[00:47:35] And so when we confess these four parts of the Creed, we need to notice that one of them is not like the others.
[00:47:44] The fourth truth that we confess is not focused on God, but focused on his people.
[00:47:51] The church is not God, but the scriptures teach us that the church is the beloved, the body, the bride of Christ, and the building of God.
[00:48:04] The Apostle Paul also says that the church of the living God is the pillar and foundation of the truth.
[00:48:11] The purpose of the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD was to protect and promote the truth about God from dangerous errors that could lead people away from Him.
[00:48:24] So it makes sense.
[00:48:26] That we as the church, that they as the council, that the Nicene Creed as a creed would confess what is true about the church since it is the church's God-given, God-entrusted responsibility to guard and to proclaim what is true.
[00:48:44] And I want to be clear.
[00:48:47] God is perfect.
[00:48:50] Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, absolutely, eternally perfect in every possible way, and the church is imperfect.
[00:49:01] The church is imperfect.
[00:49:04] The church is made up of human beings.
[00:49:08] And because the church is made up of human beings,
[00:49:12] It is made up of people who are absolutely made in God's image with all of its implications and applications.
[00:49:20] But that also means that because of the fall the church is made up of sinners.
[00:49:26] And because the church is made up of sinners, though redeemed sinners, she is always falling short of what she is created and called to be.
[00:49:39] If you have been around the church very much in your life, it's pretty likely that you have been disappointed, that you've been discouraged, that you've been hurt, or you've been rejected at some point.
[00:49:55] If that's your story, I want to say to you just as a representative of the church, I'm sorry for that, and I'm with you in that.
[00:50:04] The truth is that all of us who may have been disappointed or discouraged or hurt or rejected have also to some extent or another played a role in other people having that experience within the church because the church is imperfect.
[00:50:24] And if you're still a part of the church,
[00:50:27] Having caused harm and having been harmed yourself, just living in the imperfect reality of the church and the tension that that creates, if you are still then a part of the church, it's because God is still at work in your life.
[00:50:42] And it's because God is still at work in His church, preserving and protecting and building her toward the beautiful bride adorned for her husband that we will be.
[00:50:56] Part of our calling is, in the midst of the tension of living in and among and ourselves a being, an imperfect church, is to strive to see the church the way that Jesus sees the church, which is why we confess these five truths about her.
[00:51:22] So I'm going to read from the scriptures and ask you if you're able to stand in honor of God's word.
[00:51:27] We're going to read Ephesians 4, 1 through 16.
[00:51:34] The Apostle Paul, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, writes these words to a local church.
[00:51:42] I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
[00:51:51] With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.
[00:52:02] There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
[00:52:19] Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
[00:52:24] Therefore it says, When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.
[00:52:30] In saying he ascended, what does it mean that he also descended into the lower regions of the earth?
[00:52:37] He who descended is the one who ascended far above the heavens that He might fill all things.
[00:52:45] And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood.
[00:53:00] The measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes.
[00:53:15] Speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ from whom the whole body join and held together by every joint with which it is equipped when each part is working properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love the grass withers and the flowers fall but the word of the Lord endures forever let's thank the Lord for his word Lord I
[00:53:45] Week after week come weak and needy to the task of preaching your word.
[00:53:53] So I ask for your grace now so that your people will hear only what you have to teach them.
[00:54:00] And I pray that you would give this message power by your spirit, that we would be refreshed and convicted, that we would be comforted, that we would be moved, that we would be blessed for your namesake.
[00:54:10] And it's in that name that we pray.
[00:54:12] Amen.
[00:54:13] You may be seated.
[00:54:18] While the United States were divided and at war with one another on our continent, there was a bit of an ecclesiastical civil war going on on another continent.
[00:54:35] In South Africa, the Anglican Church was experiencing conflict over the false teaching of a particular bishop.
[00:54:44] and when the church leadership rose up and did the right thing and removed this false teacher from his position as bishop he appealed to the church authorities in the mother church in england and so there was debate in the mother church among the pastors and bishops there and one of the pastors who was involved was brokenhearted over this church conflict and he was also a poet
[00:55:14] We need more pastors who are poets.
[00:55:16] It ain't me, but we need more pastors who are also poets.
[00:55:22] And with a heavy burden for the purity and the peace and the prosperity and the unity of Christ's church, this pastor poet wrote a hymn.
[00:55:33] He actually wrote several hymns, but only one of them has endured.
[00:55:37] It's this one.
[00:55:39] The Church's One Foundation.
[00:55:41] is Jesus Christ her Lord.
[00:55:44] She is his new creation by water and the word.
[00:55:48] From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride.
[00:55:54] With his own blood he bought her, and for her life he died.
[00:56:02] The church is imperfect, but Christ makes her beautiful.
[00:56:10] And we see this in these five truths that we confess and declare in the Nicene Creed, which we also find in Ephesians 4.
[00:56:19] And then at the end, we'll also see from Revelation chapter 21.
[00:56:24] The first truth that we confess in the Creed is the church is one.
[00:56:32] The church is one.
[00:56:33] What is the word that we heard repeated more than any other word in Ephesians 4?
[00:56:38] What word was it?
[00:56:40] One.
[00:56:40] One body.
[00:56:42] Church.
[00:56:43] One spirit.
[00:56:44] One hope.
[00:56:45] One Lord.
[00:56:46] One faith.
[00:56:46] One baptism.
[00:56:47] One God and Father of all.
[00:56:49] The church is one.
[00:56:51] Because what it means to be a part of the church, what it means to be a part of the church is to be united to Jesus Christ by faith.
[00:57:03] In Galatians 2, verse 20, Paul says,
[00:57:09] By virtue of his faith, I have been crucified with Christ.
[00:57:15] Therefore it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
[00:57:20] In the life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
[00:57:29] We are individually
[00:57:31] United to Christ.
[00:57:33] When we look away from ourselves and look to Him alone for our salvation, when we receive and rest in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, we are united to Him by faith.
[00:57:45] Which means that His righteousness becomes our righteousness and covers up our failure.
[00:57:50] It means that His victory over sin and Satan and death becomes our victory.
[00:57:56] It means that the future that He has secured for us is one that is eternal and full to overflowing with joy.
[00:58:05] It means that we have been adopted into the very family of God and that He calls us His children.
[00:58:10] And there are millions of other implications and applications of what it means that we are united to Christ by faith.
[00:58:19] One of the things that it means is that every individual who is united to Christ by faith
[00:58:26] is necessarily then united to one another in all of those implications and applications.
[00:58:35] We regularly have opportunities for those who want to know more about our church or want to explore what it would look like to be a member of Back Creek Church to gather and to talk about that.
[00:58:47] We call those meetings Starting Point.
[00:58:49] We'll have another one just after the new year and I'll be sending out details about that for those of you who maybe have been visiting for a while and you might want to know more or you might want to pursue membership.
[00:59:00] One of the things that I always try to say to every group, what I know those who stood up here earlier heard me say to them, is that you're here today at starting point because you are in a discernment process.
[00:59:16] And we would love for you in the course of that process to discover that God is leading you to join our faith family.
[00:59:24] But in actuality,
[00:59:27] If God uses this discernment process to lead you away from Bat Creek Church and to another Bible-believing, gospel-proclaiming church, you know what we're gonna do?
[00:59:39] We're gonna rejoice in that.
[00:59:40] Why?
[00:59:40] Because there is only one church.
[00:59:46] There is one church.
[00:59:47] And we, Bat Creek Church, we are one expression of the one, united church.
[00:59:55] Now practically,
[00:59:57] Historically, and right up to this very minute, the church is not visibly united on all matters.
[01:00:06] Correct?
[01:00:09] I said earlier when we were talking about the offering for our denomination, we're part of a denomination.
[01:00:13] We're part of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian denomination.
[01:00:15] There are all kinds of Christian denominations, all because of what?
[01:00:22] Well, it's because, frankly,
[01:00:25] The world is a fallen and broken place as a result of sin.
[01:00:30] We are sinful people.
[01:00:32] So when we come to the Bible, we come with our fallenness, with our inability to read and to understand perfectly.
[01:00:38] We come with our sinfulness, with mixed motives.
[01:00:42] We want to know what God says, but we also want to hear what we want to hear.
[01:00:45] And so Christians have come to differing conclusions on what the Bible says on, listen, I want to be very careful about this and very clear about this, on secondary and tertiary, okay, so second level and third, fourth, fifth, etc., level issues within the church which has led to many practical divisions in the church.
[01:01:07] Does that make sense?
[01:01:09] One of the reasons that I'm here right now in front of you, one of the reasons that you are in the pew is that we have decided together that we have found the closest thing that we can find to what we believe God says about the Bible.
[01:01:21] About the church and the Bible.
[01:01:22] Does that make sense?
[01:01:24] And listen, if at any point you're convicted or convinced that there is another church that actually more closely aligns with what God says, tell me and we'll go.
[01:01:37] What matters is not what we think.
[01:01:40] It's what God says.
[01:01:41] But because we have come to differing conclusions on that, because we're imperfect in our interpretations of Scripture, we don't see the practical universality and unity of the church.
[01:01:53] And part of our calling that Paul describes is to pursue our objective, eternal, and spiritual oneness practically.
[01:02:06] So because of sin, we're divided from one another.
[01:02:10] Not in the essentials, which we confess in the Nicene Creed, but in the non-essentials, in the secondary and tertiary issues.
[01:02:17] And one of our goals as the church is to move toward one another.
[01:02:22] We start in the local church, but we also try to move toward fellow believers in other expressions of Christ's church so that we might pursue the oneness and the unity of the church, which is why
[01:02:37] We make the vow that you guys just heard our new members take that they will seek the unity of this church.
[01:02:49] But the implication is that the unity of this church is a parable about the unity of Christ's church, the spiritual, objective, and eternal unity that we are called to pursue practically.
[01:03:01] That is not easy.
[01:03:04] But it is what God, in His Word, calls us to do.
[01:03:08] Elect from every nation, yet one o'er all the earth, her charter of salvation, one Lord, one faith, one birth, one holy name she blesses, partakes one holy food, and two, one hope she presses, with every grace endued.
[01:03:30] The Church is one.
[01:03:32] The second thing that we confess here is that the church is holy.
[01:03:37] The church is holy, like the oneness of the church.
[01:03:43] There is an obvious disconnect between the spiritual and eternal reality and the practical present reality.
[01:03:51] Spiritually, the church is holy because we are united to Christ by faith.
[01:04:00] We have been called by him and set apart by him.
[01:04:03] The set apart aspect of holiness is described by Paul in this passage as the calling with which we have been called.
[01:04:12] Christ has made us holy by calling us out.
[01:04:15] Out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his marvelous light.
[01:04:20] And he has set us apart as his own.
[01:04:23] He calls us his bride.
[01:04:26] He calls us his body.
[01:04:30] Practically, we have to live out this holiness.
[01:04:35] Paul says we have to walk in a manner worthy of that holy calling that we have received.
[01:04:43] That's the righteousness aspect of holiness.
[01:04:46] We have the eternal and spiritual set apart aspect of holiness.
[01:04:50] It is true right now and always.
[01:04:52] And then there's also the progressive and the practical righteous aspect of holiness.
[01:05:00] Paul's immediate application of this in our local expressions of the one holy church is to embrace humility and gentleness, patience, to bear with one another in love, to be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.
[01:05:24] Which is why when we
[01:05:26] Aligned ourselves with this church when we stepped into this faith family we made a vow to seek not only the unity of the church but also the peace of the church as the church we are holy and we are being made holy in real time and we are in the messy middle which is the reason for Paul's commands in Ephesians chapter 4 starting in verse 12
[01:05:54] and reading through 16 to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine by human cunning by craftiness and deceitful schemes rather
[01:06:23] Speaking the truth in love.
[01:06:28] We are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow, so that it builds itself up in love.
[01:06:51] The holiness of the church
[01:06:54] is under assault from outside in the world and the devil it's under assault from inside from sinful people from not only sinful people but truly those who are also opposed to God that was the problem that led to the Council of Nicaea in the first place is that there was someone who was ostensibly a follower of God who was proclaiming false things to deceive the church though with a scornful wonder
[01:07:24] Men see her sore oppressed, by schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed.
[01:07:32] Yet saints there watch her keeping.
[01:07:34] The cry goes up.
[01:07:36] How long?
[01:07:38] And soon the night of weeping will be the morn of song.
[01:07:42] The church is one.
[01:07:44] The church is holy.
[01:07:46] Thirdly, the church is Catholic.
[01:07:49] Now when I type in the Nicene Creed, apparently I haven't learned copy-paste yet, but when I type in the Nicene Creed so that we can confess it together on a Sunday, and I type in the word Catholic, autocorrect always capitalizes the C. And I always have to correct autocorrect and make that capital C a lowercase c, because this word is not a proper noun as in Roman Catholic Church,
[01:08:19] but rather it is an adjective and it's an adjective that means universal or general or of the whole and to make sure that we understand that you'll see in the bulletin that I've even put a little asterisk next to the word small c catholic in the bulletin to explain this truth about the church and when we confess this we are saying the one holy church is inclusive
[01:08:48] of all people in all times and all places and all denominations who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
[01:08:58] Ironically, it is the Roman Catholic Church that violates and denies Catholicity by claiming to be the only true church.
[01:09:11] We're doing the opposite.
[01:09:12] We're saying the Associate Reformed Back Creek Church, the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, we are not the only true church.
[01:09:18] But every church that would confess the Nicene Creed, that every church that would meaningfully declare the gospel is a part of the broader family of God.
[01:09:29] We're not confessing the Roman Catholic Church.
[01:09:32] Rather, as Protestants, that name comes from the fact that we protest the claim that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church, and we protest their additions to Christ and their formula of salvation.
[01:09:48] What we are confessing is that every person anywhere on earth who believes the true gospel and is part of Christ's church is my brother or sister, that we are forever family.
[01:10:05] And this is why.
[01:10:07] This is why a multicultural
[01:10:11] Multi-ethnic, local expression of the one holy church is such a beautiful and powerful witness to the transformative hope of the gospel and to what Kevin DeYoung calls the oldest, most diverse, most global institution on the planet.
[01:10:32] That's why I'm so glad that in this room right now we have generational diversity.
[01:10:38] We have cultural diversity.
[01:10:40] We have ethnic diversity.
[01:10:43] We have socioeconomic diversity.
[01:10:45] We have a diversity of stories of how God brought us to himself.
[01:10:50] And that diversity is a beautiful expression of the Catholicity of the church.
[01:10:56] So also
[01:10:58] is the fact that in the Creed we confess one baptism for the remission of sins.
[01:11:05] Water baptism is a sign and a seal given to us by God of our faith in Christ, of our union with Him, of our new life in Him.
[01:11:14] It is a sign and seal of the righteousness that comes by faith.
[01:11:20] The reason that we apply this sign not only to believers but also to their children is because that's the promise and pattern that God set forth from the Old Testament and the New Testament telling Abraham to apply circumcision, the sign of the righteousness that comes by faith, to his infant son Isaac.
[01:11:36] According to the promise, I will be God to you and to your children.
[01:11:41] When it comes to the New Testament, the Apostle Peter, standing in front of a room full of Jewish converts from all over the known world,
[01:11:50] When they ask him, in light of the good news of Jesus, what should we do?
[01:11:55] He says, repent and be baptized, every one of you, and you will receive the Holy Spirit.
[01:12:00] And the promise, using the same words that God used with Abraham, the promise is not only for you, but for your children as well.
[01:12:07] And for all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.
[01:12:10] He's talking about us.
[01:12:11] We're the Gentiles who are brought in through baptism to the church.
[01:12:14] So believers together with their children.
[01:12:17] We confess one baptism because the church is Catholic, which is why when people come to join Bat Creek Church, as we saw just a little while ago, we don't re-baptize them.
[01:12:28] God has spoken once and for all in the triune name in the waters of baptism, whether as an infant who's helpless or as an adult who is professing or anywhere in between, mind.
[01:12:45] And therefore, because God has spoken and said, mine, we speak and say, ours.
[01:12:53] Because the church is Catholic.
[01:12:57] Not only all people in all places, but also all times.
[01:13:05] We are not only the Church Catholic with all people on earth who profess the name of Christ right now, we are also the Church Catholic with all those who profess the name of Christ who have gone on before us.
[01:13:17] Yet she on earth hath union with God the three in one, and mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is one.
[01:13:28] O happy ones and holy, God give us grace that we, like them the meek and lowly,
[01:13:36] on high may dwell with thee.
[01:13:39] The church is one, holy, catholic.
[01:13:42] Fourthly, the church is apostolic.
[01:13:44] It just means of the apostles.
[01:13:46] And there's two crucial aspects to the churches.
[01:13:49] This is a hard word.
[01:13:50] See, I can't say it.
[01:13:52] Apostolicity.
[01:13:54] I'm not even gonna try.
[01:13:55] Two crucial truths to the fact that the church is apostolic.
[01:14:00] The first is the Apostolic Gospel.
[01:14:03] The Apostolic Gospel.
[01:14:05] Acts 2.42 tells us that the very first local church in Jerusalem was defined by what?
[01:14:10] By its devotion to the apostles' teaching.
[01:14:13] And what did the apostles teach?
[01:14:16] They taught many things.
[01:14:18] Many things that we find in the New Testament.
[01:14:20] But all of those things were given to them by Jesus and led by them by the Holy Spirit.
[01:14:29] But the core of the apostolic teaching is the gospel, the good news about Jesus.
[01:14:37] As Paul says in verse 7, Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gifts.
[01:14:44] What is the apostolic gospel that defines the church?
[01:14:53] We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ.
[01:14:55] The only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of the same essence as the Father.
[01:15:06] Through Him all things were made for us and for our salvation.
[01:15:14] He came down from heaven.
[01:15:16] He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made human.
[01:15:23] He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate.
[01:15:27] He suffered and was buried.
[01:15:31] The third day he rose again according to the scriptures.
[01:15:36] He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
[01:15:40] He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead.
[01:15:44] His kingdom will never end.
[01:15:47] This is the good news about Jesus.
[01:15:49] This is the apostolic gospel and this is what we proclaim.
[01:15:55] The second aspect of the church being apostolic is the apostolic foundation.
[01:16:01] In verses 11 and 12, Paul says he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ.
[01:16:12] If we go back a couple of pages to Ephesians chapter 2,
[01:16:16] We'll see in verses 11 through 22 how the apostolic gospel lays an apostolic foundation with Jesus as the cornerstone.
[01:16:27] Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
[01:16:46] but now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off y'all this is us we who were once far off alienated from God from the patriarchs and from the promises you who were afar off have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace who has made us both
[01:17:03] 1.
[01:17:03] And has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
[01:17:22] And he came and preached peace to you who are far off and peace to those who were near.
[01:17:26] For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father.
[01:17:31] So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.
[01:17:39] Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Christ Jesus himself being the whole cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord In him you are also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit The church is a structure that is being built
[01:18:04] And we as a church cannot compromise the apostolic gospel and the apostolic foundation, the structure of the church, which is why we make a vow to seek the purity of the church and the prosperity of the church.
[01:18:19] It's why we lean on Jesus' promise, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
[01:18:26] The church is one, holy, catholic, apostolic, and lastly, the church is eternal.
[01:18:34] The church is eternal.
[01:18:35] We look forward to the resurrection of the dead and to life in the world to come.
[01:18:44] Amen.
[01:18:46] If the apostolic gospel is true, we have hope of an eternal future in which we as the church will finally and fully be the one, holy, catholic, and everything that we fall short of being now.
[01:19:05] And what will that look like?
[01:19:07] I just want to read from Revelation 21, 1-7 and then 22-27.
[01:19:14] Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
[01:19:20] And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
[01:19:28] And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
[01:19:33] He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
[01:19:39] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more.
[01:19:44] Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
[01:19:49] And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new.
[01:19:54] Also he said write this down for these words are trustworthy and true and he said to me it is done I am the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end to the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment the one who conquers will have this heritage and I will be his God and he will be my son skipping to verse 22 and I saw no temple in the city
[01:20:19] For its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb.
[01:20:24] And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
[01:20:31] By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no night there.
[01:20:41] They will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations, but nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
[01:20:57] Mid toil and tribulation and tumult of her war, she waits the consummation of peace forevermore, till with the vision glorious her longing eyes are blessed,
[01:21:11] and the great church victorious will be the church at rest.
[01:21:19] Let's pray together.
[01:21:21] Oh Lord our God, we thank you and praise you for the vision of your church given in your word, secured by your promises, confessed in our creed.
[01:21:32] And Lord we ask that you would help us.
[01:21:35] We know that we are
[01:21:38] Struggling to be one holy catholic apostolic church but we know believe that you are at work in us individually and corporately that you are making us into a beautiful bride adorned for her husband that you are washing us by the water of the word that one day we will be without blemish before christ our husband and we will worship him in absolute purity and joy
[01:22:08] Oh Lord give us a foretaste of that in our unity in this local expression of your body and our Catholic commitment to your truth and the foundation of Christ Lord in our seeking to be holy to live out our set apartness before a watching world and Lord in the eternal hope that we share
[01:22:35] As we look forward to the resurrection of the dead and life in the world to come.
[01:22:40] We thank you and praise you that this is who you have made us to be, your church.
[01:22:46] We pray in your name.
[01:22:48] Amen.
[01:22:49] Let's respond to God's word in song.

[01:23:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ alone.
[01:23:20] She is dispensation by water and the Word.
[01:23:35] To be his holy bride With his own blood he borrowed And for a life redone He led from every nation Yet one or other
[01:24:03] Her Charter of Salvation, One Lord, One Faith, One Earth.
[01:24:19] All glory in Him she blesses, All taste, one holy food.
[01:24:25] And to the Lord she present with every praise endure
[01:24:36] With joy and tribulation and tumult of the world She waits the consummation of peace forevermore
[01:24:58] Till with the mission glorious The lowly Christ I bless And the great church victorious Shall be the church at rest Whom with the scornful wonder
[01:25:28] The Churches are oppressed My sins and truths go sunder My heresy's distressed Yet saints their watch are keeping Dear brothers of the law
[01:25:54] and soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song.
[01:26:20] Yet she old earth hath no vision of the three in one, and mystic sweet communion
[01:26:23] With those whose rest is won, O happy ones, and holy, Lord, give us grace that we, like them, thou we can own,

[01:26:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Thank you so much for gathering with us for worship.
[01:26:57] If you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, then you go out into the world with God's blessings.
[01:27:02] So lift up your heads and your hands and your hearts and receive now the benediction of the Lord our God.
[01:27:07] The Lord bless you and keep you.
[01:27:09] The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
[01:27:12] The Lord lift up His countenance toward you and give you peace now and forevermore.
[01:27:17] And all God's people said, Amen.

[01:27:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
I am not made for that.

[01:27:53] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
The world is too high.

[01:27:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]:
Thank you sir.

[01:28:27] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Thank you.