The Dependence of the Church on Christ

The church is not separate from Jesus Christ, as every metaphor used to describe it relies on him. The church is compared to a body, a building, and a bride. In Ephesians, it is stated that the church is the body of Christ, with Christ being the head. Just as our physical bodies are designed to serve, the church is meant to serve and honor God. Jesus Christ, in his physical body, did the ministry and the work. After his ascension, he passed on the authority to the church to continue the work. Jesus is the fullness of God and the glory of God. He gave himself, his body, in service to the church. The church is also likened to a building, with Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone. The Word of God is the foundation of the church, and Jesus Christ gives credibility to the Word of God. The church represents Jesus Christ and relies on his authority. in each one of these, and how the church is not an isolated, separate identity, but every single metaphor that he uses relies upon Jesus Christ. And so, if we look at this dependency of Christ on the church, I mentioned this morning that there was three different metaphors. We have a body, we have a building, and we have a bride. Now, there's other ones that are there, and some of the ones can be put under these categories. But these are the main three that refer to the church. And the first one is the church is likened unto a body. And I hope and I pray that a lot of what we talked about this morning and what we're talking about tonight is familiar stuff. And I'm hoping it's nothing new or earth-shattering to you. It shouldn't be. But yet, hopefully it will help to clarify our understanding on some things that are there. If you remember back in Ephesians 1, and I don't know why I don't have a slide that didn't come up on the slide, but you've got your Bible, which is better than a slide, and you can kind of keep up with me tonight. We're going to be bouncing around. But in Ephesians 1, in verse 22, and we'll further Ephesians quite a bit, and I'm using that. There's other Scriptures and there's other places, but I'm using Ephesians because that was the last book that we went through. And so it's kind of fresh on our mind and kind of tie in all of this stuff together with that. But in Ephesians 1, in verse 22, it says that He has put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. And so here we find that the church is likened to this body and Christ is the head. And so when we think about that, if you go to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and Paul breaks all of this down for us and talks about the members of the body and everything. But in verse 27 of chapter 12, it says, now we are the body of Christ referring to us collectively as all of us members, and then members in particularly individually. And so we come as members individually, but together all of us make up the complete body and the complete picture of Jesus Christ. When we're talking about a body, I want you to understand tonight that we're talking about service. Your body was designed to serve. Your body was designed to go. And it's with our physical bodies that we labor. It's with our physical bodies that not only in this world, but also as we're serving God, we honor Him in our flesh, in our bodies. Paul said, therefore, I beat my body into subjection that I myself won't be a castaway. And so we're talking about service. And when Jesus was on this earth in the body, Jesus was doing the ministry. I pointed out to my students that kind of neat going through teaching Acts this semester and looking at Acts, which is a transitional between this kingdom of God and Judaism and bringing it into the church in this transitional period as it goes from Judaism to the church. And we look at this, and it was neat because you find in Acts the first recorded message from an apostle. Not one single time the apostles are recorded in Matthew, any of their sermons. There's not anything, any of the miracles of the apostles recorded in the Gospels. Why? Everything that's recorded in the Gospels is about Jesus Christ because He was here, He was in flesh, and therefore He did the ministry. Yes, He sent them out, and yes, He authorized them to go, and He sent out the 70, and He sent out different ones. But yet the ministry and the life is focused around Jesus Christ. It was as they go, the people wasn't attracted to the disciples and the apostles, no, they were attracted to Jesus Christ. He was the one doing the miracles. He was the one that was doing the preaching. He was the one that was doing the service. And so 1 Corinthians chapter 12 tells us this, that all of us are different body parts, and we all come together to make up, but yet the head, the most critical part of the entire body, is Jesus Christ. In John chapter 9 and verse 4, Jesus said, I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day, the night cometh, when no man can work. Just prior to the ascension of Jesus Christ, before He goes into heaven, He is commissioning and authorizing His church to continue the work. He said, go to Jerusalem and what? Wait until you receive the Holy Spirit, and then you shall be what? Witnesses. Then you are able to do the work. But as long as Jesus was there, in His body, He did the work. He worked through Himself. And then in John chapter 20 and verse 21, Jesus said to them again, Peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. This is a passing of that authority that is there. And so we see that Jesus Christ, He was doing the work. At the end of the gospel though, what did He do? He said, just as I have been sent, now I send you to His disciples. Back in Hebrews, which kind of started all of this, in Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 1, it says, God, who at sundry times and in various manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the world, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. See, Christ Jesus is the fullness of God. He is the glory. That's why Jesus Christ in the gospel said, If you've seen me, you've seen the Father, because I am God in the flesh. And so as we think about this and we look at this, in Ephesians chapter 25, you remember it says, Husbands, love your wives, even as what Christ loved the church and did what? Gave Himself for her. He gave His body. He gave Himself of service to us. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 19 says, And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe according to the working of His mighty power? And so when Jesus Christ was here, He was the body. He was the work. He was the one that was doing it. But then He said, I'm turning this over to you. I'm going to send it to the Father. My job is done. He has paid for sin. He has given us salvation. And therefore, His work is finished. Then He turns it over to us. It's our job to go into all the world and make disciples. And as we think about that, He said here, according to the working of what? His mighty power. It's His authority. When you read the parables and stuff in the Gospels, you read this idea that we are stewards. He is the King when He has given us this realm here that is our responsibility to take care of. And He's going to return. The King shall return. And guess what? We're going to give an answer how we took care of what He has provided us. Ephesians again in verse 22 says, He has put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church. And so what does He say in there? That Christ is the head of the church. Ephesians 321 says, Unto Him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ throughout all our ages, world without end. And so this is awesome. When we think about it tonight, the kingdom of God is seen in Jesus Christ, right? And so Jesus Christ, remember John the Baptist came preaching. Remember, I gave you the chart there. Somebody had asked about that this morning because I went through it, but I put the chart there at the bottom of this. The difference between the kingdom of God and the New Testament church. The kingdom of God was universal. It was one. It was invisible. It was entered through regeneration. All members were saved. Members is permanent. No officers, no ordinances. Christ was the King. He did the work of the kingdom. But then we come to the church. And then in the church, we're local. And so the church is the representation, the body, the picture of Jesus Christ that is here. But Jesus Christ holds the most important part. A body cannot live and a body cannot function without a head. And so everything that we do is because of God, Jesus Christ. He guides us. He directs us. He leads us. And the head is always talking about authority. That's where we get our authority. And so when we talk about this local church in a universal, invisible thing, there's only one. The King has authority. But yet, in here, it's passed down to the church. And then the second metaphor that he gives us is the church is likened unto a building. And he tells us in Ephesians, again, chapter 2 and verse 19. Now, therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And then notice this. Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, the foundation in every New Testament church is the Word of God. Amen. The Word of God is our foundation. However, Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of that foundation. He is the cornerstone of the Word of God. In biblical days, when you look at the cornerstone, and it's a little bit different from our building and stuff today, but in biblical days, the cornerstone was a large stone that was used to actually hold and lock in two walls together with the foundation. And so it was very, very critical that the precise stone was placed there because it locked everything together within that building. And so everything rested upon that. That cornerstone was down right by the foundation. It was right down at the very bottom. Everything rested down in that. And when we think about that, the chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ, is our foundation. But what gives Jesus Christ the credibility? The Word of God. If you've read the Word of God, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh. And so Jesus Christ is that foundation proven by the Word of God. He is the cornerstone. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 14 through 19, tells us that these two walls that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of is the Jews and the Gentiles. And that's what we're studying in Hebrews is because what? You've got Christians that have been saved, that have come into this building of Jesus Christ, and what have they done? They've decided they want to go back to Judaism. But Christ tied it all in together. He brought Judaism and the church together. In Ephesians chapter 2, verse 19, he says, We are the household of God built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. The foundation is that every New Testament church is the Word of God, has Jesus Christ as the cornerstone. And when we look at that, notice what he's telling us here. We are the stones in a temple. All of these buildings make up this great big temple, this housing place for God. Peter told us that we're the stones in this building. In 1 Peter 2, verse 5, he says, You also, as lively stones, living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. No building is complete unless every one of the bricks or stones is in its proper place. And so he says we are them stones. We are that building that is there. What is the purpose of the building? What is the purpose of the church? He tells us here to grow into the temple of God. Now, when we think about what is the temple of God, when you go back and look at the Old Testament and you look at the temple and you study that Word out, you will find that the temple was a habitation of His Spirit. In other words, what do we mean? If you remember back even with the tabernacle, Solomon's temple, what happened when the tabernacle set steel? The cloud, you remember, would come in and the shatanic glory of God would go into the tabernacle, would go into the holy place, into the Holy of Holies, and He would rest there above the mercy seat that held the Ark of the Covenant, the Ten Commandments, the manna and Aaron's rod, that budded. And so it was there in the presence of the whole community that God dwelt. When Solomon got ready to dedicate his temple, you remember the glory that came in and filled that temple. The temple was a habitation for the Spirit. When the Spirit moved out, what did they do? They followed Him. They went with Him. The tabernacle moved where the Spirit led them and where the Spirit guided them. And so it was a habitation for His Spirit. Now look at verse 21 of Ephesians chapter 2. It says, "...in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit." When we come together as a church, Jesus Christ said, where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them also. And I said that's the unique thing about us assembly. When we all get together, it's a special thing that comes together that the Holy Spirit enters in and dwells within us with the Spirit. But He also says not only is it a habitation for the Spirit, but the building is also the pillar and ground of truth. We see that in 1 Timothy 3.15. Paul said, "...if I carry along that thou mayest know how thou ought to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God..." The comma. He's defining the church of the living God. The pillar and ground of truth. The foundation to every truth is the Word of God. And he says here is the church. The church has to be founded upon the Word of God. It's not founded upon an individual. No man has created the church. It's founded on Jesus Christ. He is the cornerstone founded upon the Word of God. And so we are a pillar. What is a pillar? A pillar is that tall thing that stands outside in front of the temple that holds it all up. You remember the pillars of the Colosseum go back into the Old Testament. Samson was tied against the pillars of the Colosseum. And what did he do? He prayed, God, restore my power one more time. And what did he do? He pushed on the pillars and the whole Colosseum came down. Our church is not a true church if it's not founded and supported on the Word of God. It is the pillar and ground of truth. We are the ones, the church is who is responsible for keeping the Word of God pure and holy. We are the ones that have been entrusted with the authority of the Word of God to go into all the world. As a matter of fact, you say, well, how do we know that? Well, because there's also what serves in the temple. Priests, right? Only the priests were allowed to go into the temple. Now look at what Peter says in 1 Peter 2.5. He says, You also, as lively stones, part of that building, are built up a spiritual house. And then notice the next phrase. A holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. He goes on down in verse 9 and he says, You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. In other words, it's kind of like at our candlelight service, right? When you get one candle, it's great. But when you put a bunch of candles together, collectively, what happens? The light's brighter. There's more glory. There's more light that is there. When we come together as priests, when we are all serving and doing our part, I sent out a deal Wednesday nights and it was kind of late and I apologize for that if some of you was already in bed or whatever, but Wednesday night with our fellowship over there and our service for Barbara, I thank everybody for their work and their service. Everybody came together. Everybody did different things in different places and everything. But what happened? Man, the night went smooth and everything. We had over 100 people there Wednesday night in our fellowship hall and everything just kind of functioned. Everything just kind of happened. And guess what? That's a testament to our community of Jesus Christ. The fact that it all worked. We had a lot of people there that don't go to church, that are not in church, but guess what? They saw Jesus Christ and we ministered and so that's what we are. We are servants. We are priests. We are ministering for God and we do that as we come together in the church. By ourselves, we're nothing. It's when we come together that we are a royal priesthood. We're not individual priests. We're a priesthood. You know, the pastor, the deacons, we're not any more important than what you are. We're all in this together to serve the world in order to show them and glorify Jesus Christ. Romans 12, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you might present your bodies a what? Living sacrifice. Living stones. Living sacrifice. Holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service. Our first thing is to be conformed to God. Our first thing is to give our life to God and then what did He say? Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed. Right? That you may prove what is that perfect will of God. That service. And so we are this royal priesthood that is there. In 1 Corinthians 3, it says we are laborers together with God. You are God's husbandry. You are God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another buildeth their own, but let every man take heed how he buildeth their own. So what's Paul saying? He's writing to the church. Now Paul wrote a good portion of the New Testament. Right? And so his word is his apostleship. He has that authority to speak on behalf of God. He says I have laid the foundation. I've given you the Word of God. I've given you something to stand by, but then you are taking, you are building upon that. And then he goes on in verse 11. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest or revealed for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. What are we being tried on? How we built upon the foundation. What is the foundation? Jesus Christ. Where are we being built at? In the building, the temple. We are part of the stone. And so we're going to be judged by it said every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire. If you remember that Peter talks about the trying of your faith. He refers to it as gold. The more it is tried, the more pure it gets. Because when we're shaken, when we don't know what's happening in the world, but we have faith in Jesus Christ. We have that foundation in repentance from dead works, faith toward God. We're settled into this church. We have a purpose and a reason we are priests. We are glorifying God as we go about in this community and in this world. Then what does he say? He says that fire, that pressure that's in the world should purify us. Just like the Apostle Paul when he wrote the book of Philippians. Right? He's in prison. He's not in the best of situations, but he says what? He says, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, everything focused and pointed to Jesus Christ. Even when he was there, he told the Philippians, Don't get upset that I'm in prison. It's going to work out for God's glory. God's glory. That's what we should be doing as Christians that is here. He goes on in verse 14, and he says, If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. In other words, you cannot lose your salvation. But you can lose your rewards because God has laid this foundation and He has given us this church and He has passed that authority over this church and we are a building. We are a habitation for the Holy Spirit to go into the world. And so in the future, we're not going to be judged according to our sins. The sins are taken care of when we stand at the judgment seat of Christ after the resurrection, answering the question. The question is going to be, how did we build upon the foundation of the New Testament church? How did we build and what did we give to that? And so the last one, the church is likened to a bride. He tells us in Ephesians 5.25, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it. If the church is likened to a bride, Christ is the bridegroom. He is the bridegroom. Now, He tells us in verse 26 there of chapter 5, He says, what is His purpose as the bridegroom? That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, a glorious assembly, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. And so He is that bridegroom. In 2 Corinthians 11, He says, for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you, I'm engaged to you, to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. And so here He is that groomsman and the church, the assembly is referred to as a bride. Then you go over to Revelation, and this is where we're going to wrap it up tonight. In Revelation chapter 19 and verse 7, notice what He says. He says, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife hath made herself ready. She's made herself ready. Now look at verse 8. It says, and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white for the fine linen, and He tells us, what is this fine linen? It's not a gown. It's not a physical gown, but what is it? It's the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. What is righteousness? Our standing before God. Not only have we been declared righteous before God, but we're living in this time of sanctification. In other words, we are not controlled by the power of sin. So we are becoming like Christ. And so our righteousness is as a fine linen. Verse 9, He saith unto me, Write, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And He saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And so what this does is it demonstrates this love relationship between Christ and His church. It is a special thing. He has espoused Himself to us. And He's waiting for that day in Revelation, that marriage of the Lamb, where He can present us pure and holy before Him. But what's happened first? First, there has to be the judgment seat of Christ where we're tried on how did we build? Are we pure? Are we faithful? Have we done what we are supposed to do upon the foundation that Jesus Christ laid? And He said what? Some will be rewarded, but others will be saved as by fire. When we get to that and we go back to the kingdom at that particular time, and it talks about that there's going to be those that are in the bride, but there's also going to be people out in the audience that wasn't found faithful. They wasn't chosen to be a part of that bride. And then in Revelation 17, He gives us a cross example of this because Satan tries to imitate everything that God does. And in Revelation 17, in verse 1, it says, There came one of the seven angels which had seven vows, and he talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters. Notice that this great whore is universal. I put the words there, what it's declaring there. In other words, it sits upon many waters. What are we comparing? We're comparing a whore versus a chaste virgin is what Jesus Christ said. I want to present a chaste virgin. But we find in Revelation this great whore that sitteth upon many waters with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication. This state institution. In other words, Christ is not the founder. It's the kings that are the founder. They're in control of what's going on. And so they're fornicating. They're coming into this relationship with what God has designed. And the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with wine of her fornication. So He carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast full of names and blasphemy having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman, notice the phrase here, was arrayed in purple and scarlet clothes. You go and you go through the Bible. The harlots, the prostitutes were always in bright clothing. Read Proverbs. Solomon warns his son about the women, the wine, all of these deals of a prostitute that is there. What is the church, the bride supposed to be? She is arrayed in white, linen of righteousness. But this woman is arrayed in purple and scarlet color. She's decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand. What's full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. All of this ritualistic, formalistic organization. In other words, it is about what's going on and the enticement from Jesus Christ and the foundation. Just put yourself and understand what a prostitute does. It says here that this cup that she's offering is full of abominations and filthiness of her fornications. Now look what it says in verse 5. And upon her forehead was the name written Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of martyrs of Jesus. In other words, she persecuted the church. She has killed Christians. She has martyred people in the name of Jesus Christ. And he says, when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And so we have here the two. We have the bride of Jesus Christ that's represented in the church as pure and chaste. We have the great whore that is almost, it sounds exactly like the universal church. She is what? Universal? She's invisible? She's enticing? She doesn't stand on a foundation? She takes anything and anybody? Anyone? And what happens? She ends up killing the Christians and she takes over. And so when we see that, we have these three deals. And if you'll look at that chart there, as a body, He tells us to go into all the world. Remember, service. Go they therefore and make disciples of all nations. Matthew 28.18 As a building, we are fitly framed together. And Paul tells the church at Corinth, know you not that you are the temple of God. And what you shouldn't do is defile the temple. He's not talking about us individually. He's talking about the defilement of this temple. All these churches that are built together into what? A great temple. A great temple that is there. And then the bride is fitly arrayed. And he says, come up you hither. In Revelation 4 several times, he says, come up hither and let me show you. And every time that he comes up, he's looking down on earth and the fleshly stuff because the church is already there in the tribulation period. And so as we think about this, the question is, is what foundation are we building? And that's the whole purpose. And so when we get into it next Sunday, I wanted to tie all of this together because when we get into baptisms and laying on of hands, what he is talking about is this authority that is there. This authority that he has passed on to the church. There is only one way into the church of Jesus Christ. What is it? Baptism. Baptism is the only way that you can get into the church of Christ. And so what does he say? Huh? You've got to be saved, but then it comes. Salvation is the given. That's the first thing. That's in the past. We've repented from dead works and we've already had faith toward God. The next parentheses that's dealing with the present dealing with the church, what does it have to be? Baptisms and laying on of hands. The only way to get into the church and the authority is through the church. And what we have is this society and this world that has dismissed the church. The church is irrelevant and it really got bad and it really got worse. In 2020 we saw the reality of it. I think it had already existed, but the reality came out in 2020 that people found out, you know what? Well, I can worship at home. No, you can't. You can't. I tell my classes, you know, it's kind of neat this semester because I teach pastoral epistles at seminary on Monday. And then I go back and I teach pastoral epistles on Thursday night at the prison. Even though you've got the same Word of God, you've got the same lessons, you've got the same material prayed and put together. When you throw different people in there and you mix that with the Holy Spirit, what begins to happen? Every situation and everything is different. And sometimes the lessons and stuff will take a whole different turn and a whole different deal. And so when we have this authority, and that's why I'm not doing a prison ministry. I'm doing it out of Kentucky Missionary Baptist Church. And so it's not a single ministry. It is out of the church. Fairview Missionary Baptist Church sponsors the seminary. When I go to mission fields, when I go to Mexico, I have representatives. I'm under your authority to go and preach the gospel to them. That's there next Sunday night, youth night. I'll be I'm going to the Queen to share the prison ministry with a memorial there at the Queen. When I go there, I am under the authority of Kentucky Missionary Baptist Church. I'm not doing my own thing next week. And so even though I'm not here, the blessings, see, and that's why when you look at laying on of hands, and we'll get into that on the Sunday morning, but when we get into laying of hands, there was only two reasons to lay hands on people throughout the entire Bible. One was for blessings. The other was for authority. Every father laid their hands on their firstborn son in order to do what? To bless them. They become the spiritual leadership and all the blessings flow through that firstborn. Every father laid their hands. The other laying on of hands was always done by the people unto the king. Even when the priest, you go back into Exodus and read when the priest were ordained. Aaron and his son you can go back and read the entire congregation gathered around Aaron and his son and they laid hands on them. In other words, they were a symbol of their authority as being preached before them. And so that's what we have lost and what we're getting away. And that's what Paul is warning these people in Hebrews. And that's why I wanted to take time this week to kind of lay this foundation before we go into the deal because what's happening? They are taking these heresies and these things that are true. And it's driving them back away from Jesus Christ, back to Judaism. And falsehood will always lead us away from Jesus Christ. And he said, man, we've got to get back to some basic principles. We've got to find something that we agree because why? We're supposed to be one. We're supposed to be united. And if we can't understand, if we can't just get the basic under the name that you have to be saved, you have to be baptized. You have to be in the authority under the authority of Jesus Christ. And guess what? When you get to the end, the resurrection of the dead and the eternal judgment, it's too late to fix things then. And so we need preachers. We need people that are teaching the authority of the church. And that's what makes us different as Baptists. It's that authority. We was not started by a man. There's been the gospel, the baptism, and the Lord's Supper. These two ordinances that you can follow all the way from Jesus Christ. These teachings have always been there before any of these other things. So anyway, we're going to wrap things up. Does anybody have a question or a comment or anything? I gave you that chart and you can kind of look at it and everything. Like I said, there's more next week in the discipleship stuff. I'll give you even a whole lot more to deal with the baptisms and the washings, looking at the Old Testament washings and then looking at what we do in the New Testament. But later. Let's stand and have a conversation because we don't want to be the one being lifted back with great wonder and admonition. And we don't want to be the one that is turned against God. We want to be what we're supposed to be. We want to be a serving body. We want to be that habitating, cooling body, building. We want to be that faithful, pure-faced body. And so Christ has to be number one, the foundation, the head, and the dream.