WEBVTT

00:00:05.287 --> 00:00:07.579
What is it that causes us to

00:00:07.579 --> 00:00:11.340
fall out of ranks?

00:00:11.340 --> 00:00:13.905
Brethren, it's petty indifferences

00:00:13.905 --> 00:00:17.575
that we make into huge deals.

00:00:17.575 --> 00:00:19.634
It's our own pride

00:00:19.634 --> 00:00:22.431
seeking to set ourselves up over others.

00:00:22.431 --> 00:00:23.869
Brethren, I'll tell you what

00:00:23.869 --> 00:00:25.417
keeps the ranks in order

00:00:25.417 --> 00:00:26.906
is humility.

00:00:26.906 --> 00:00:29.004
What keeps those ranks tight

00:00:29.004 --> 00:00:32.075
is when we're willing to be stepped on

00:00:32.075 --> 00:00:34.153
that Christ might be glorified.

00:00:34.153 --> 00:00:35.912
We're willing to be passed over

00:00:35.912 --> 00:00:38.784
in honor, attention, recognition

00:00:38.784 --> 00:00:40.871
that Christ might be exalted.

00:00:40.871 --> 00:00:42.693
We can't build churches.

00:00:42.693 --> 00:00:44.926
It's God that builds churches.

00:00:44.926 --> 00:00:49.076
It's Jesus Christ that 
establishes churches.

00:00:49.076 --> 00:00:52.623
But as the weeks and
the months went by,

00:00:52.623 --> 00:00:55.144
because I was here so often,

00:00:55.144 --> 00:00:59.414
I developed a sense
that God was here.

00:00:59.414 --> 00:01:02.457
No matter how small it was.

00:01:02.457 --> 00:01:05.095
No matter how many
discouragements came,

00:01:05.095 --> 00:01:08.201
there was a sense that
God was here,

00:01:08.201 --> 00:01:11.285
and really, isn't that all we need?

00:01:11.285 --> 00:01:14.214
To know that God is with us
and among us?

00:01:14.214 --> 00:01:15.783
Brethren, I'll tell you what,

00:01:15.783 --> 00:01:17.706
you start trying to start
a local church

00:01:17.706 --> 00:01:21.935
full of nine members

00:01:21.935 --> 00:01:24.872
here in the middle 
of Satan's battleground.

00:01:24.872 --> 00:01:26.317
He is going to seek to come in

00:01:26.317 --> 00:01:28.372
and cause division in the church.

00:01:28.372 --> 00:01:30.417
It's going to happen.

00:01:30.417 --> 00:01:31.902
Brethren, you need to be committed

00:01:31.902 --> 00:01:34.381
to something bigger than yourself.

00:01:34.381 --> 00:01:36.193
You need to be committed to something

00:01:36.193 --> 00:01:37.523
bigger than your own honor

00:01:37.523 --> 00:01:38.812
and your own recognition.

00:01:38.812 --> 00:01:40.630
There's absolutely no reason

00:01:40.630 --> 00:01:42.761
that a new little church

00:01:42.761 --> 00:01:44.046
on the edge of the ocean

00:01:44.046 --> 00:01:45.313
down in Corpus Christi

00:01:45.313 --> 00:01:47.748
cannot have an incredible impact

00:01:47.748 --> 00:01:49.675
on the world.

00:01:49.675 --> 00:01:52.572
Because Jesus Christ is
the Lord of the harvest.

00:01:52.572 --> 00:01:54.171
And if we pray to Him

00:01:54.171 --> 00:01:57.094
and He promises to give what we need

00:01:57.094 --> 00:01:59.736
there should be no reason

00:01:59.736 --> 00:02:03.454
that He cannot do very great things

00:02:03.454 --> 00:02:04.828
for this church.

00:02:04.828 --> 00:02:08.872
Lift up your eyes on Christ.

00:02:08.872 --> 00:02:11.106
Love Him supremely.

00:02:11.106 --> 00:02:12.370
Treasure Him.

00:02:12.370 --> 00:02:14.135
Above all else.

00:02:14.135 --> 00:02:16.900
Abandon yourself to Christ.

00:02:16.900 --> 00:02:20.485
Strive to maintain unity

00:02:20.485 --> 00:02:22.824
for the sake of the Gospel.

00:02:22.824 --> 00:02:24.329
Shoulder to shoulder, brethren.

00:02:24.329 --> 00:02:27.414
When your shoulders are together,

00:02:27.414 --> 00:02:29.914
one is not way above the other.

00:02:29.914 --> 00:02:32.142
You're side by side.

00:02:32.142 --> 00:02:35.186
You've been chosen by the 
God of heaven

00:02:35.186 --> 00:02:38.386
to be His representatives at
this time and this hour,

00:02:38.386 --> 00:02:43.458
this day, this age, 
in this city.

00:02:43.458 --> 00:02:45.761
I guarantee you, that there are

00:02:45.761 --> 00:02:49.547
not massive numbers of people

00:02:49.547 --> 00:02:53.549
in this city faithful to the 
faith of the Gospel.

00:02:53.549 --> 00:02:55.701
You are some of them.