5. The Church's Fruitful Partnership: Proclaim the Gospel Message

[0:00] Well now, we're thinking today about our fruitful partnership and mission, and our title is Proclaim the Gospel Message. You might want to turn up Ephesians chapter 4, where we read earlier, but we'll also be looking at Colossians chapter 4, page 985 in the Church Bibles, and then briefly at 1 Corinthians chapter 14, page 960.

[0:25] So, you might want to put your fingers in those places, and you'll have it before you. Now, I don't know if you're like me, but I often find that books about evangelism, or talks about evangelism, tend to leave me feeling very much like a bit of a failure.

[0:50] I find that some approaches to talking about evangelism can be very guilt-inducing, because they seem to want to tell everybody that they've got to do things and say things that many of us just find very, very difficult to do.

[1:08] We just find it's not in us to do these things. And what that does is, instead of encouraging our efforts in evangelism, it rather discourages us completely. I don't know if you find that, perhaps it's just me.

[1:22] But I often find that when I'm listening to somebody urging on about evangelism. But I don't think that the Bible, when it wants to talk to us about spreading the good news of Jesus, I don't think it talks to us in that way.

[1:35] It certainly doesn't want to induce guilt in us. I think the Bible is very realistic. Let's not forget that the Great Commission was not given to you or to me personally.

[1:47] It's not your personal individual task or mine to evangelize the whole planet. It's the task of the worldwide church. It was the task given to the apostles and for them to teach and to cause others to follow in their train.

[2:04] It's a partnership that the Church of Jesus Christ is called to together. And even that part of that task, which our particular congregation here in Glasgow is called to, even that is a partnership.

[2:17] We've been seeing that in our studies, that we're called together as a fellowship, as a body to prioritize a gospel mindset. We're called to pray together for the gospel means, for God to be at work.

[2:32] We're called also, and we've just been hearing about that, to provide together for the gospel means, to pay for the mission of the gospel. And doing all of these things means that we are all involved collectively in that ministry of gospel mission.

[2:47] We're all, if you like, in the supplies division of the army of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we're all in that together, but it's also true that we are all called, in some measure, to what we might call frontline gospel mission.

[3:08] And I want to think about that this morning. Every one of us does have a part to play in proclaiming the gospel message. And I want to think about that, hopefully in a way that will encourage us and not in a way that will dispirit us this morning.

[3:23] And if that's to be so, then we need to recognize what our own personal role will be in that, what it is and what it isn't. We need to recognize that, if I can put it this way, that there are within the church both what we might call general offices, in which we're all called to serve, but also special offices, where we recognize that there are some people whom God has gifted particularly in some particular way, for the sake of the whole church, so that they may serve us in that specific way for the sake of everybody.

[4:06] And we see that, actually, in every single area of gifting in the New Testament. Whether it's serving, whether it's administration, whether it's ruling wisely, whether it's teaching, whatever it is, all Christians have common responsibilities in all of these areas.

[4:22] All of us are called, in some way or other, to do all of these things. But some people, God has specially gifted and set apart for a particular sphere of service.

[4:33] That's what we've been reading about here in Ephesians chapter 4. And that's certainly true in the area of what we might call the particular gift of evangelism.

[4:46] I think it'll help us if we think today about three distinct ways that God uses his people in the church to proclaim the gospel message to outsiders, to proclaim the gospel message to those who do not know personally the Lord Jesus Christ.

[5:02] I want to think about these three different ways this morning. The first is this. God speaks through gospel-centered evangelists. There are some people that God has set apart in his church who have a special gifting for ministering God's word in the context of evangelism, in the particular context of sharing the gospel with those who do not know Christ.

[5:29] Let's just read again Ephesians 4, verses 11 to 13. And he gave, says Paul, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ until it reaches maturity and so on.

[5:49] Now you'll see that evangelists there is listed along with the prophets, the pastors and teachers. They are all gifts of word ministry. So evangelists are not in a different category in that sense.

[6:00] They're all teachers of God's word, but they have a distinct focus, we might say, in evangelism, in teaching the gospel to unbelievers. Now sometimes people want to argue about the terminology of that and whether there is in fact a distinct office in the church of the evangelist and so on.

[6:19] I don't really think the terminology matters that much, and I think it's a bit of a fruitless argument. The point is that the scriptures seem to be teaching, and we certainly seem to recognize in the life of the church that there are people whom God is specifically and specially gifted in that way.

[6:38] In the New Testament, the word evangelist isn't all that common. It tends to be in the later letters of the New Testament. But even in Acts, as we saw a little while ago in our studies, we read about Philip the evangelist.

[6:53] And we read about his evangelistic activity in Samaria and then out on the Desert Road with the Ethiopian eunuch. And he was just such a person, somebody who seemed to have a particular gift from God in that proclaiming the gospel to those total outsiders, unbelievers.

[7:13] It wasn't his only gift, of course, was it? Remember, Philip was one of those of the seven. He was obviously an able administrator. He was somebody who was recognized to be gifted in that way.

[7:24] And so he was set apart to help the food distribution too. But he was an evangelist. And there's Epaphras. You read about Epaphras in Colossians chapter 1.

[7:34] He went out very probably from Ephesus and planted that first church in Colossae, founded the church there. And there are lots of others like that who worked alongside with Paul.

[7:45] Often he calls them co-workers or just sometimes brothers. But those who are involved in front-line evangelism, taking the gospel beyond the boundaries of the existing church.

[7:56] Now, we very probably all know people who have particular gifts like that in evangelism, in teaching the gospel to complete outsiders.

[8:09] Sometimes it's particular preachers who have a very special gift in that direction. Think of Billy Graham. He probably preached the gospel to more non-Christian people than anybody else in the history of the world.

[8:24] Almost a unique gift. Sometimes it's quite different from that. It's not about a public gifting or speaking at all. Sometimes it's somebody who's very gifted in a personal way with one-to-one evangelism.

[8:40] They might be somebody who works full-time for a church, but they might just as well be somebody who has that great gift and exercises it in their workplace, in their staff room, the common room, in their university, their college, whatever it is.

[8:54] But the point is that some people just seem to have been specially gifted by God in that area of evangelism. It almost seems that that's just what they're made for. They're absolutely in their element.

[9:06] Speaking to people, sometimes people they've never met in their life before, they just get into a gospel conversation. And that means, I think, that often such people can simply do things that the rest of us find much, much more difficult, sometimes impossible.

[9:26] Some folk can go out into Buchanan Street there and stand in the middle of the street and just get people engaged in conversation about the gospel, just like that. There's folk in this congregation who do that. Some of our staff can do that.

[9:37] Others of us find that very, very difficult to do. Maybe you can do it with a friend that you know or a family member and you can sit down one-to-one and do it.

[9:49] But go out there and just cold call on somebody or knock on somebody's door. That's very difficult for you. Now, of course, that can be just because some of us are actually embarrassed about the gospel and we don't really want to share the gospel.

[10:03] But it also can be just because it's something that we find very difficult to do in that way. We could no more go out and speak to somebody about anything else that we've never met before.

[10:16] It's not our gift. God hasn't gifted us specifically in that way. And so the church is always going to need people that God has specifically gifted in the way of speaking to unbelievers about the gospel, both to exercise those gifts themselves on and on the behalf of the church, but also to use those gifts to help train and to equip others so that we can all be just a bit better than we are naturally at doing these things.

[10:45] And so it's great when a church or even a group of churches is able to perhaps employ somebody full-time who has that particular gift of evangelism in that way. Now, you might not be able to do those things yourselves.

[11:00] And neither might I. But we can pray for them. And we can pay for them. And we ought to be looking, aren't we, to ensure that where there are people that God has gifted particularly, very special ways like that among us, that we're able to recognize those gifts, that we're able to find a place for them to be used in the life of the church.

[11:20] And that may very well mean finding a way of them to be taken away from their full-time employment so they can give themselves totally to that work of evangelism. Not every church is in a position to do that, but where we are or where there are groups of churches, it's certainly something we should be thinking about.

[11:41] So don't feel a failure if you can't personally do all of these things that some people can do evangelistically. It's probably just that God hasn't gifted you very particularly in that way.

[11:55] But you can pray and you can seek to support that in very practical ways, by paying. Now if you won't pray or if you won't support in these other ways, then that probably is.

[12:10] Because it's not just a matter of not being gifted, it's probably that you're not actually all that interested in evangelism. And that's wrong, of course, and we must repent of that. But God doesn't demand that individuals do things that he has not gifted them for.

[12:27] So don't be discouraged. Not all are evangelists in that sense, in that special sense of gifting. God's church are all part of his mission, even as he speaks to outsiders through those he has called as particularly gospel-focused evangelists.

[12:46] That's a special calling. But, to say that God has gifted some people like that specially is not a let-off for all the rest of us to say, well that's fine.

[12:58] God hasn't gifted me to be an evangelist, so I'll just sit back and let the evangelist do it. Absolutely not. The Bible is clear. We are all nevertheless called to our own personal ministry of proclamation of the gospel.

[13:11] Because not only does God speak through gospel-centered evangelists, evangelists, the New Testament also teaches very clearly that God speaks through gospel-centered daily lives.

[13:25] He does give us all general opportunities to speak a word for him, just as he gives some people very specific and special opportunities for the outlets of those particular gifts.

[13:39] Let's turn over to Paul's letter to the Colossians, it's just a few pages on. Colossians chapter 4. Now we looked at this passage a few weeks ago when we were thinking of the partnership in prayer.

[13:55] But that's not all that these verses speak about. Let's read verses 2 to 6. Paul says, Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us, that is, Paul and his colleagues of frontier evangelists, that he might open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I am imprisoned, that I may speak, I may make it clear which is how I ought to speak.

[14:29] He doesn't stop there. conduct yourselves wisely towards outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your word, I don't know why the ESV translates its speech there, it's the same as in verse 3, let your word always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

[14:55] Now do you see, these verses we said were about a partnership of prayer. Paul is out as the front line evangelist proclaiming the gospel and the church in Colossae are part of that mission through their prayers.

[15:08] But it's not just that, is it? Paul does have a particular speaking and preaching ministry, declaring the mystery of Christ, he says, as God opens the doors in frontier mission through him and the other evangelists.

[15:24] But, Paul equally says that the Colossians themselves also have a word ministry. In verse 3, you see, they're to pray for Paul that there would be an open door for the word that he declares.

[15:37] But in verse 6, he says, let your word always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know always how to answer each person. What he's saying is, they're to be ready in their daily lives to give an answer, that is, to give a gospel answer.

[15:55] He doesn't mean that just when they're asked specific questions. He's talking about giving a word in season for Jesus, wherever the opportunity arises. In fact, he says plainly, we're to make the best use of time.

[16:07] The NIV, I think, says to make the most of every opportunity. So we are, in our daily lives, to be conscious that God will give us opportunities, and we are to make the most of every opportunity to say a word.

[16:22] That is a gospel word. Now, there are many, many opportunities that each one of us will get every single day to do that, unless we hide from them.

[16:36] So tomorrow morning at work, somebody's going to say to you, aren't they, well, did you have a good weekend? Now, what are you going to say? Yes? Just get on to the work, have a cup of coffee?

[16:51] Are you going to say, yes, oh, see the football on Saturday, Celtic at the top of the league again. How could Rangers lose to Aberdeen? And immediately, you're off into a conversation about football. But what about, yeah, I had a great weekend.

[17:08] It was terrific to be in church yesterday with God's people. Just a few words, isn't it? But even that one line will open up all kinds of possible doors, won't it?

[17:24] I don't think you need special gifts to say something like that, do you? You just need a little desire to make the most of every opportunity. The King James Version translates that to make the most of every opportunity, redeem the time.

[17:41] And I rather like that translation because that implies perhaps that there's a cost. Buy back the time. redeeming the time perhaps means paying a price.

[17:53] But you can do that, can't you? You might say, well, what if I said that? What would I say next? What might they ask? Well, you don't know, do you?

[18:05] But it could be a wonderful opportunity just to share a little bit about the Gospel of Jesus. Maybe you, somebody who comes to our Wednesday lunchtime service could be just the same thing, couldn't it?

[18:18] You go back to the office or the shop or whatever it is and somebody says, well, what were you doing at lunchtime? I noticed you were out. Well, you could say, oh yeah, I'd just like to get out of the office.

[18:29] You know, it's nice to get out and get a breath of fresh air and have a walk, isn't it? Or you could say, yeah, I go every Wednesday to this 30-minute service at that church down there in Buchanan Street.

[18:41] It's just great to get a reorientation of sanity in the midst of a busy week, to hear the word of the one who created the heavens and the earth and to put my whole life back in order.

[18:53] I think you'd love to hear that too. Why don't you come with me sometime? You could say that, couldn't you? That's giving an answer for the Gospel even without a question being asked.

[19:07] And that's what the New Testament expects of us as Christian people. The Apostle Peter says a very similar thing in 1 Peter 3, verse 15. Always be prepared, he says, to give a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that's in you.

[19:24] And sometimes we are asked directly, aren't we? Sometimes, these days, we're challenged in quite a hostile way about what we believe. And that can be harder. But we needn't fear.

[19:36] And just with a little help, there are many things that we can say that are just quite simple and plain. In fact, there are many books in the bookshop there to help us. There are quite a number of things that just help you to give answers to those kind of questions, sometimes hostile questions that you get.

[19:53] There's a book by Richard Bewes of the Hundred Commonest Questions. There's another one by Barry Cooper called If I Could Ask God One Question. Because the kinds of questions that people ask are almost always the same kind of things.

[20:07] Why does God allow suffering? What about other religions? Don't they all lead to God? Why do you disagree with people having any sexual preference they want?

[20:17] These are the kinds of things, same old chestnuts. It's not that difficult to pick up a book and just have a think about it and so you're ready when somebody asks you these things. It's being ready to give an answer.

[20:32] You don't need to be fearful. Peter himself in 1 Peter 3 there says we're not to be fearful even of hostile interrogation. He tells us set apart Christ as Lord.

[20:44] Then you won't need to fear anybody else if you fear the Lord and the King of the universe. So don't fear when somebody asks you for a reason that the hope that's within you.

[20:57] But at the same time it's also important not to fight. That's what Paul says here isn't it in Colossians 4 and 6. Always be gracious he says. That's the distinctive seasoning that brings out the full flavour of the message that we give as Christians.

[21:14] And that's very important. It's not your cleverness in answering people that is going to have an effect. It's actually your graciousness your manner that's going to be much more important.

[21:27] there is a place of course there's a place for bold and uncompromising proclamation of the gospel for authoritative declaration of the word of God.

[21:37] That's what Paul is asking them to pray for that he would do. But there's equally the place day by day in our daily lives for the gracious words one to one seasoned with the salt of the mercy of God.

[21:50] So he says we're to conduct ourselves wisely verse 5. That means living conspicuously godly lives lives that will attract attention.

[22:03] Nobody's going to ask us about the hope within us if they don't see any evidence of it. Jesus says sometimes living conspicuously in a godly way for him sometimes it will attract praise in Matthew 5.

[22:16] He says people will see your good deeds and praise your heavenly father. In the same chapter he equally says sometimes living in that way will bring the opposite. It will bring persecution.

[22:29] They will revile you and hate you as they did with all the prophets. But both of these things will give us opportunities to speak opportunities to give a gracious answer or a reasoned defense.

[22:45] And we can all do that. The gift that we need to do that is simply the presence of the Holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus in our hearts to enable us to speak a word for him.

[22:59] We can do it naturally if we're Christians. Well of course we can always learn more and that's why our bookshop is there. It's not for decoration. It's to equip us and help us in these things.

[23:12] A seasoned word in time can be very very powerful. John Dixon in his book Promoting the Gospel gives an illustration of this. It speaks about a person he knew called Steve who was a plumber.

[23:25] And Steve was a typical Australian bloke. He didn't have much time for the church or for Christians. He thought they were mostly hypocrites. He did have one Christian friend who he would go out regularly cycling with on a Saturday morning.

[23:39] And one day he was out cycling with this friend and he brought the subject up and said, you know, most of these churchy type people they're real hypocrites aren't they? Real rat bags. I can't stand them. Well, his friend said as he cycled along he said, oh Steve, I wouldn't worry about those kind of hypocrites.

[23:56] God will deal with hypocrites like that. Maybe you should just worry about yourself and God. That's the important thing, isn't it? And off they went cycling on. And you know, that just little, one little thing niggled away in that man's mind.

[24:13] And he thought that is absolutely right. And a few weeks later it took him to church and he began to investigate and he began to understand the gospel and he came to believe in the Lord Jesus.

[24:25] And when he told his friend about this and the sequence of how it all happened, of course his friend on the bicycle had no recollection of even saying what he said to him. He wasn't trying to evangelize him. He was just naturally giving a word in season, wisely, making the most of every opportunity.

[24:44] God speaks. Through gospel centered daily lives. The mundane, the ordinary. You and I just going about living our lives in the name of Jesus.

[24:58] But thirdly, the New Testament teaches us for our great encouragement that God speaks to outsiders through gospel centered corporate church life.

[25:11] Christ. The New Testament teaches us that just by being gathered together as the church of Jesus Christ centered upon the gospel word, making sure the word of Christ is being spoken and heard in our meetings together, then the gospel is proclaimed collectively by all of us, even to the total outsider.

[25:34] There's a very remarkable little text in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 that you might like to turn to 1 Corinthians 14 at verse 23, page 960 in our church Bibles.

[25:49] Let me read to you verse 23. If therefore the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you're out of your minds? But if all prophesy an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all.

[26:07] He's called to account by all. The secrets of his heart are disclosed and so falling on his face he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. Now in these chapters in 1 Corinthians Paul is giving a lot of instructions about what the gatherings of the church ought to be like and what they ought not to be like.

[26:26] And in verse 23 he says plainly here that if an outsider comes in and everything is unintelligible completely, they'll think we're a man. That's what the media loves to portray, isn't it?

[26:38] The kind of mad, happy-clappy evangelicalism. They'll have to discredit that sort of thing. Now Paul says don't let them do that, don't be like that. Rather, he says let everything be prophecy.

[26:50] What does he mean? Well he means what he describes in verse 26. He means all the intelligible words that are spoken in that gathering.

[27:03] Hymns, lessons, revelation, interpretation and so on. Everything that builds up the congregation and the Christians in an intelligible way. Now if somebody from outside comes in then, he says, it's totally different.

[27:18] When all the words that are heard in that meeting are gospel words of teaching or of prayer or of praise, not only will the church be built up and strengthened, he says, but look at verse 24.

[27:31] If an unbeliever or an outsider enters, he's convicted by all. He's called to account by all. He'll fall down on his face and worship, knowing that God is present in that place.

[27:44] Isn't that striking? A complete unbeliever, an outsider, somebody who knows nothing of the faith, being totally transformed to faith in the living God. That's what it means to bow down and worship.

[27:56] transformed like that, just by being part of an ordinary church meeting. Not something that's specifically evangelistic at all. It's a meeting to build up Christian believers.

[28:13] But when it is truly a gospel centered corporate meeting, then all the congregation here is seeing, in their praise, in their prayers, in their listening, in their responses of heart, all of them are evangelizing.

[28:28] All are proclaiming the gospel of God to the outsiders who are in the midst. All are convicting that person and holding them to account.

[28:41] Of course, that depends upon the content of the words that are being said and sung and prayed and so on, being truly edifying gospel words, not being just a load of claptrap and rubbish.

[28:52] church. But when they are, he says, that is the power of God being manifest in the midst of his people. God is truly in the midst when they gather in his name, when they focus on his word.

[29:05] He speaks through the corporate voice of the whole church gathered together. Now, that's not new.

[29:16] The Psalms in the Old Testament speak about God dwelling amidst the praises of his people Israel. And Peter, the apostle in his letter, speaks in exactly that same way.

[29:27] He talks about the church as being a royal priesthood who proclaim the praises of him who called us out of darkness and into his marvellous light. That's the same language of praise that the Psalms use of the Jerusalem temple.

[29:43] And just as the praises of Israel and the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem rang out to all the surrounding nations of the world proclaiming the excellencies of the one true God of all the earth.

[29:56] So also, when we are gathered as the church of Jesus Christ in that way, we too are declaring his saving glory to the world. We are the temple, says Jesus, and his Holy Spirit dwells in our midst.

[30:10] That's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3 also. And that's why he takes it up here so clearly in chapter 14. When God's people are gathered in the name of Jesus Christ, when they are focused on his word, on what's said and what's sung and what's prayed, then God's own voice is heard in the midst.

[30:31] And God's own name becomes known even to the outsider in the midst. I wonder if you've ever thought of that, that when you gather here on a Sunday morning or on a Sunday evening or on a Wednesday or whenever it is, that we're gathered.

[30:46] That we are all of us proclaiming the gospel. We are all evangelizing, glorifying our God and Savior. And people will come to know the Lord Jesus Christ in these very ordinary gatherings of the church.

[31:02] Not in special focused evangelistic events necessarily. In fact, people who are not Christians often find it that they get very defensive.

[31:13] They get rather ill at ease if they're coming to an event that they know is a specifically evangelistic event trained and targeted on them. They know they're going to be got at. Well, it's understandable.

[31:24] You would feel like that too, wouldn't you? But often they're much, much more relaxed when they're just coming to sit in and observe and see what it is that Christians do when they get together.

[31:37] And yet just by being there, by being in the midst and hearing the word of the gospel being proclaimed in the word that's preached, in the song and in the prayers. And even just by experiencing the way that it's said and done.

[31:51] Not in a sort of dead duty of religious rote, but by people who are alive with the presence of the Spirit of God in the midst. There's a deep and penetrating effect on people.

[32:05] In that book that I quoted from a minute ago, there's a chapter that I've written lots of scribbles in the margin.

[32:17] And there's one part where I've written a great big yes. And it's where John Dixon says this, that special events and special visitor services are not an evangelistic necessity. And that normal church meetings conducted properly, meetings that are there to simply build up the believers in the church, that they will, through this effect of corporate evangelism, draw people to the Lord Jesus Christ.

[32:43] And friends, that is absolutely true. In all my experience, I've known far, far more people who have come to know the Lord Jesus just through ordinary churches, just through being invited to an ordinary church service, or just through happening in off the street.

[32:59] And in all kinds of special evangelistic events. I'm not saying we don't need to have those things. But the New Testament is teaching us about the power of God who delights to be present in the midst of his worshipping people.

[33:15] Psalm 38, that we read at the beginning, says, God has exalted above all things his name and his word. That means that when we are in our gatherings and we are focusing above all things on his name, his unique name, and his word, his unique and powerful word, then here he is in the midst, ready and delighting to bless his people and to call people to that name.

[33:43] So let's rejoice, every one of us, to play our part in proclaiming the gospel message, whether we are specially gifted evangelists or not. Whether it's through our daily lives as Christian believers.

[33:55] And when it's through our corporate life together, honoring his name and his word. God speaks, yes, through gospel-centered evangelists. Thank God he does.

[34:07] Thank God he gives us some specially gifted just like that. He also speaks constantly through gospel-centered daily lives. And let's rejoice and make the most of every opportunity.

[34:19] He also speaks through gospel-centered churches. Whenever we're together and gathered in his name, when we're focused on his name and his word, not just here to meet one another, not just here to indulge ourselves in our own self-absorption, looking for a spiritual experience, looking for particular things to be done the way that we like them.

[34:44] But when we come determined to play our part in the corporate witness to Christ our Savior, so that whenever an outsider should come in, it just can't help being struck by the presence of the living Christ in the midst.

[35:02] By the presence of a God who really is real and is here in the midst of a people whose whole focus is on worshiping him and serving him. In all of these ways, you see, different as they are, we're called to proclaim the gospel message.

[35:22] And God has given us the various gifts of his Spirit in the church and for the church to do that. And every single one of us, every one of us, has a vital part to play in that.

[35:35] Whether it's in public, whether it's in private, whether it's seen and heard, whether it's not seen and heard by anybody. Not one of us is not called to the ministry of the word of the gospel in that sense.

[35:52] To speaking the truth in love. Because that's how mission happens. That's how the church is built up. That's how the church will extend and will grow and Christ will be honored in our midst.

[36:03] Let me just leave you with Paul's words once again from Ephesians 4. 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 joined and held together by every joint with which it's equipped.

[36:25] When each part is working properly, makes the whole body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Church, like ours, will have a fruitful partnership in mission as we all proclaim the gospel message in these ways.

[36:49] Let's pray. Lord our God, we thank you that you do not leave any one of us out, but every one of us has the privilege of this great calling to make Jesus Christ our Savior known.

[37:04] We thank you for every opportunity you give us, whether it be public or whether it be private, whether they be many or few. We pray that you would help every one of us together to encourage one another to redeem the time, to be able always to give a gracious answer seasoned with salt.

[37:28] That men and women and boys and girls may sense in us and see in us and hear from us the gracious message of life. And so find that life in all its fullness that is to be found only in the Lord Jesus Christ, the one Savior and the one Lord of all this world.

[37:49] For we ask it in his name. Amen. Well, let's close to sing number 860 in our blue books.

[38:00] Lord, speak to me that I may speak in living echoes of your tone as you have sought, so let me seek your wandering children, lost and lone. number 860.

[38:12] Thank you. Thank you.

[38:29] Amen. Thank you.

[39:00] Thank you.

[39:30] Thank you.

[40:00] Thank you. Thank you.

[40:32] Thank you. Thank you.

[41:06] And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God our Father and the fellowship of his Holy Spirit be with you all now and forever.

[41:42] Amen.