[Dan Preston] Did you hear about the computer programmer? His wife asked him to pick up a loaf of bread on the way home, and if they had eggs, get a dozen. So, he came home with a dozen loaves of bread. It makes sense if you're a computer programmer, if-then statement. Maybe you heard about the thief that went to the Apple Store. He got there and he snuck in. You know, it was during the day and there were people around, but he was very, very crafty. But he managed to lift an iMac, an iPad, and an iPhone. And he would have gotten away with it, but they had an eyewitness. That was for you, Steve. Or maybe you heard about the gal who walked in the convenience store. She went to the clerk and she said, "I'd like to get a pack of gum." He said, "Well, I'm sorry. We're all out." She said, "Okay. Well, maybe I'll have a candy bar. instead. He said, "No, sorry, we're out of those too. She said, "Well, how about a bag of potato chips?" He said, "Nope. Out of that. So, she said, "Wow." She said, "Okay. Well, I really need some chapstick." He said, "Well, sorry, we're out of that too." She said, "Wow. Well, I at least need to fill up, give me $10 out there on pump 5." And he says, "I'm sorry, we're out of gas too." She was really exasperated at this point, and she said, "You're out of everything. Why don't you just close the store and go home?" He said, "Well, I can't, we're open 24/7. There's no locks on the doors."

You probably don't give a lot of thought to convenience stores. And we know what convenience stores are, right? They're just about on every street corner. Back in the day, they used to be service stations, places, you know you went to get gas and they could check your oil, and fill up your windshield wiper fluid. You can get repairs done there, whatever needed to be done. And, you know, over the years, though, they started to kind of evolve a little bit. You know, they would typically have, you know, some chips on the counter there if the customers had to wait to get the car repaired, and then maybe a soda machine outside, and then maybe the little gumball machines kind of came along. As time went on, they got more and more away from service and more and more into the food. You had a full cooler full of all kinds of different drinks. You could buy, you know, sodas, teas, beers. You could buy all kinds of varieties of chips, of candy, everything else. And then they really started to take off where they began to carry things like staples, well not, like, staples for paper. But I mean the basics that you need like milk, bread, maybe even a few things you would need in an emergency, maybe diapers for the kids or some cold medicine.

I don't know if this is a true statement or not. But about four or five years ago, we were at the Feast down in Texas, and we went to what claimed to be the world's largest convenience store. And I believe it probably was. I used to work for a company that made gasoline nozzles, nozzles you actually stick in your car. We would sell those to, you know, gas stations, of course. And most gas stations had anywhere between 12 and 24 nozzles. Some of the bigger ones might have 36, 48, something like that. I once visited a gas station that had the record for the busiest gas station in terms of how many millions of gallons they sold a month. And it had something like 60 or 70 nozzles. It was right on the New Jersey Turnpike. This gas station in Texas had over 200 gasoline nozzles. That was on the half of the side we went to. The other side was for semi-trucks, diesel. And I would guess they probably had another hundred over there.

So, it was huge on the outside, then you walk inside and it was not like walking into a convenience store at all. It was like walking into a department store. I mean, every wall was lined with coolers of all varieties, of soda, of tea, of beer or wine. They had candy aisle after candy isle. They had one aisle that was devoted just to all different types of rock candy, probably 40 feet long. In the center of the store, they had two big islands. One of them was devoted to different types of jerky. They had, of course, probably, 50 different varieties of beef jerky. They had alligator jerky, elk jerky. They had another one that was fudge. And they were actually making the fudge on site. And then there was a barbecue restaurant and they smoked the barbecue outback. And what really got me is that you got to the far end of the store, and they had a full-fledged sporting goods section in this convenience store. Now, they didn't sell guns and ammo, but they sold everything but. They had hunting boots. They had all your camo gear. They even sold tree stands. It was something that my family and I will not forget. It was more than just a convenience store, to say the least.

Generally speaking, we don't really think about convenience stores a whole lot. They're there when you need them. Many are open 24/7, 365 days a year. But, you know, generally, during the day, you don't stop and think about a convenience store much. You get up in the morning, you're having a cup of coffee, you're reading the newspaper, you're really probably not thinking about the convenience store. You know, if you're at work and you're working on a project, whatever it might be that you're doing, you probably don't think about a convenience store. If you're at home in the evening, watching TV, maybe getting ready to go to bed, you don't think about a convenience store. They're just not on your mind. But the great thing about them is that if you need them, they're there. At a moment's notice, they're there and they're ready to be used. The question I would like to ask today, is our church a convenience store for us? Is our church a convenience store for us?

Let's begin by considering the various reasons that you might go to a convenience store. Well, the first is right there in its name, it's convenient. It's on the way to go, you know, where you're going to work or play. It's convenient. Maybe you've been out on a warm summer's day like this and maybe you went for a walk in the park, you know, back to the car, and you think, "Oh, boy, I'm thirsty," and you didn't bring any water with you, so you just, you know, whip in a convenience store on the way home, pick up a bottle of water. Maybe you're on the way home from work, and you get that call from home, it says, "Hey, you know, we need a quart of milk for dinner tonight." So, you just stop in and pick up a quart of milk. You need a little something, so you stop in there and pick it up.

Is going to church a convenient way to meet our needs? Is going to church a convenient way to meet our needs? Now, I think it's probably safe to say that for the majority of us, you know, church usually isn't on the way. I don't think any of us live that close where it's just right on our route. Most of us have to drive a bit to get here each week. But do we look at it as a place where we pick up kind of what we're needing that week? Maybe we're feeling kind of lonely, a little bit, you know, depressed or just feeling down, and we need a little pick me up. So, we thought, “Well, I'll go to church and, you know, see some friends.” Or maybe we think, "Oh, hey, there's a potluck this week, you know. I could use a good free meal. I'll go to church and pick that up." Or maybe we want to just catch up on what's going on with somebody's health trial and their personal lives. So, we go to church and we kind of fill that little emotional need that we need for the day and then we go home or we go out to eat and we go back and we forget about it for a week. And we don't think too much about church in the meantime.

Now, this isn't to say that seeing our brothers and sisters, and having a meal together isn't a good thing. In fact, it is a very good thing. It's even a command. Let's turn to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, of course, we know obviously, the Sabbath is a commanded observance. We read that there, right in the Ten Commandments, we read how the Sabbath was set apart at creation as holy time. So, we do obviously know, first and foremost, that it is a commanded observance. But here in Hebrews 10, we get a little bit of a further insight to our weekly Sabbath-keeping. Hebrews 10, let's start in verse 24. Hebrews 10:24 says this, it says, "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." You know, even at this point, in this first century, we see there were challenges with people who thought, "I don't feel like coming to Sabbath services this week, I'll just kind of sit back at home, do my own thing." But here we see that we need it. It says we need this so that we can “stir up love and good works.”

Now, a lot of times when we see that term "stir up," you know, maybe we think of somebody who's stirring things up in a negative way, that's causing trouble in some way or another. But here, it's used in a positive way. It says, "You know, we need to be together. We need to be together so that we are stirred up." We feel more enthusiastic about our calling, about seeing one another and knowing, you know what, I spent all week dealing with the things I have to deal with in the world, and now I can be with brothers and sisters of like mind. We won't turn there but 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4 all remind us we're part of a Body. And that Body isn't right unless every piece is there. You know, if we lose an eye or if we were missing an arm or something like that, our body wouldn't quite be right. If you talk to somebody who's had to lose a part of their body, they'll tell you, "You know what, my body just doesn't feel right." And they may adjust and adapt in time but, you know, the body needs every piece. We need to be there. This support is best done in person from Holy Day to Holy Day, from week to week on the Sabbath. And that's what we're reading here in Hebrews.

So, these are certainly very good things and aspects of being here at church each week, but they shouldn't be our only reason for coming to church. A second way that we might think of the church as a convenience store is that if we have an emergency. We've probably all had some sort of a scenario that comes up. Maybe you've had a child that was sick in the middle of the night, and they couldn't sleep, and maybe you needed cold medicine and the regular stores are closed. So, you know, at midnight, you get up and you go down the road, and do that. Or maybe it's, you know, Thanksgiving Day and everything's closed, and trying to make a big Thanksgiving dinner and realize, "Oh, wait, you know, I'm out of milk." And you know, run down to the local corner store and pick up a gallon, and sure you pay, you know, twice as much what you normally pay for it, but you can get it, you can go on and do what it is you need to do.

Convenience stores are there when we have an emergency and we need the help. The Church is here for you when you have an emergency when you need help. Now, this happens in a variety of ways. One of them we probably think about is that in terms of sickness. Let's turn to James 5, just over one book, just a few pages in my Bible from Hebrews, James 5. And let's think about this. Note what's said here in James 5:14, says, "Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." Now, it's a practice that we carry on today. When people are sick, we anoint them. Sometimes we try to do that in person when it's at all possible. Other times, we may send out an anointed cloth. But, you know, when there's that emergency, we get that phone call and says, "Well, such and such happened, and so and so is in the hospital." And oftentimes, an elder or pastor will drive down there be there for that person to anoint them and be there to counsel them during that time. This is as it should be, this is one of the roles that God placed elders in.

We talked about that a little bit a while back when we covered structure roles and authority within the church. So, there's those types of physical, those types of health-related emergencies, what we might call on our church for. Sometimes there's a financial emergency. Let's turn to James… excuse me, not James, 1 Timothy 5. Going back a little bit, 1 Timothy 5, we read here about assisting the widows. 1 Timothy 5:16, I won't read the whole chapter. But let's just note this in verse 16. 1 Timothy 5:16, it says, "If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them." So, this is talking about someone who, you know, maybe is older in church, and they have family that can help them out saying, well, that family, the help should try to come from them first in a financial or physical sense. It says, "And do not let the church be burdened, that may relieve those who are really widows.” Saying there is that need. There are some that don't have anybody to help and the Church is there to help them.

The point is, the Church is there in emergencies for other types of assistance other than health. Sometimes it's financial assistance to go to the Feast or other things that might be happening in life, some sort of a financial emergency comes up. Could be something other than finances. Maybe a big storm came along, knocked over a tree out in the yard, need some help and, you know, a couple of guys jump in a pickup truck, bring the chainsaws over and help clean up the yard. But our church is there for us and we should think about that. We should think about that and consider the fact that you know, in that way, the church can be like a convenience store, and it's there for us in an emergency. Again, that's a good thing. That's a very positive way to look at it. We don't want to take advantage, of course. But is that the real reason we come to church each week?

There's a third reason, like, for us to consider that we might go to a convenience store. Probably, I'm guessing for most of us, the main reason we go there, and that is to fill up our cars. As I mentioned, I used to work for a company that made the actual gasoline nozzles. That one particular gas station that I visited New Jersey, that was at that point in time, this would have been the early 2000s, it had a plaque on the walls, "The busiest gas station in the world." And it pumped something just out of that station like 1.3 million gallons in a month. For an average-sized city, something along the lines of like Columbia, Charlotte, Cincinnati, most gas stations are probably doing maybe 100,000, maybe 150,000 gallons a month. A lot of people are buying gas. You know, this country practically lives in its automobiles, so I think we're all aware that's kind of part of our culture now.

That's the main reason most of us go there. We go there to fill up our tanks and we might go inside use the restroom, to stretch our legs, you know, to get a snack, or for one of those other reasons we talked about. But by and large, the main reason we go there is to fill ourselves up. I think the parallel is pretty clear. While all the reasons we've talked about so far can be very good reasons to come to church. The main reason we come is to be spiritually fed, to be spiritually fed. Obviously, the Sabbath is a command, we know that. But why we come here each week is to be spiritually fed. Let's turn to John 21. John 21, let's note what Jesus Christ told Peter. This was, of course, after Christ's crucifixion, His death, His burial, and resurrection.

Just some of His last words that He spoke before ascending into heaven. John 21:15 says, "So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?' He said to Him, 'Yes, Lord. You know that I love You.' He said to him, 'Feed My lambs.' He said to him again a second time, 'So, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?' He said to Him, 'Yes, Lord; You know that I love you.' Christ answered He said to him, 'Tend My sheep.'" Verse 17, "He said to him a third time, 'Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?' Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, 'Do you love Me?' And he said to Him, 'Lord, You know all things; and You know that I love You.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed My sheep.'"

Christ states clearly to Peter, "Feed My sheep." We understand that means taking care of the people. He put the commission there on the disciples to take care of the church. This metaphor is used throughout Christ's Ministry, of course. Christ was referred to as the bread of life in John 6:48. In John 10, Christ is referred to as the Good Shepherd. But some of His final words before His ascension, Christ said, "Feed My sheep." And that's what He did. And that's exactly what the disciples then went on and did. We can read through the book of Acts and see actually many examples of this. Let's just turn to one here, just for reference, Acts 20. I'm going to read one specific exhortation.

This is from the apostle Paul to the leaders in Ephesus. Acts 20, let's start in verse 25. Acts 20:25 says, "And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more." This is Paul's tearful goodbye. It says, "Therefore I testify to you this day that I'm innocent in the blood of men. For I have not shunned to declare you the whole counsel of God." You know, Paul had done some difficult, wrong things in his life. But he was called to a special purpose. And that purpose was to preach the gospel, to take it to the Gentiles. That's what he did. So, he goes, he does that. He says, "For I have not shunned to declare you the whole counsel of God.” Verse 28, "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." He says, "Be a good shepherd. Oversee the flock." Because guess what? This congregation, this isn't my congregation. This is the congregation that I pastor.

But this is God's congregation. This is Jesus Christ's Body. One of the main functions then of the Church is to care for, to feed the sheep, to give you the spiritual food you need, to give you the support that you need to do whatever needs to be done to help you on your individual journey to the Kingdom of God. When I worked as an assistant pastor, I still lived back in Cincinnati, of course, I worked with Steve Myers. And Steve taught me a great deal of things and gave me a lot of very sound advice, and wisdom, and insight to being a pastor. I remember one day, it was after a long day, it had been kind of a difficult day for a variety of reasons. Everyone else was gone out of the office, and he and I were just kind of sitting there and debriefing. And he said, "You know, Dan," he said, "At the end of the day, we have to remember, our job as pastors is to help people on their journey to the Kingdom of God. And we're not here to micromanage people's lives." Now, we give guidance, we give direction, we help. But our goal, our role, is to help feed those sheep as they journey towards the Kingdom of God.

The weekly Sabbath, of course, is a commanded observance. We come to be with one another to stir up love and good works. We know that the Church is here for us in an emergency when we need it. But one of the main reasons that we come every week is to be spiritually filled. Oh, we still have our responsibility to study, to pray. One of the main reasons we come is to be filled. As strange as it might seem, I think we can see, in a few ways, that the Church is sort of like convenience stores. Now, in some ways, it could be a negative thing, if we were to just look at it as a social event or if we were just looking for, you know, a financial handout or something like that. But we can also see it as a good thing. It gives us that support we need. It's there in an emergency when we need it. And it's also a place that we can go for that special spiritual feeding each week.

There's another way to consider this analogy though. Thus far, we've looked at the idea of the Church as a convenience store from the standpoint of the customer. What if we flip this analogy for a moment and we look at it from the standpoint of the store owner or the store manager? Interesting thing about a convenience store or actually, I suppose, anybody who owns a business is that even when we don't spend a lot of time thinking about that convenience store, I guarantee you that convenience store is thinking about you. Now, in the case of a store or something like that, they're thinking about you because they want you to come in the door. They want you to come in the door and they want you to spend your money. Now, they might do that a lot of different ways. You know, they might say, "Well, you know, what seems to sell better, those, you know, plain M&Ms; or the peanut M&Ms;, or those weird strawberry M&Ms;," which has anybody tried…? I haven't tried those yet, I'm kind of afraid to. Yeah. I see a bunch of you shaking their heads. So, I got a feeling probably won't see those on the market much longer.

But, you know, they think, "Well, what are people going to need? How are they going to come in the store? What am I going to do…?" Because a convenience store is literally on every corner, "What am I going to do to make that customer come in my store and not the one down the road a half a mile?" You know, and you see they try all kinds of different gimmicks. I remember a few years ago, when gas was really expensive, you know, around $3 or $4 a gallon, there was a station where we lived at the time. And the frequency was something like you know, $1.02 or $1.03 something, so they had a big promotion that they sponsored the gas station for an hour and they sold gas for, you know, $1.02 or $1.03 per gallon. So, you know, people were lined up to go to this gas station.

But there's all sorts of promos that you see whenever you go into a gas station. They're trying to get you to have, you know, part of their buying program or this and that and the other thing. They do all sorts of things. Now, the Church, for similarity, only goes so far. We're not trying to figure out how to get you in the door and squeeze every dime out of you. We can't. The Church obviously needs tithes and offerings to function, but that's not what we're here for. We're not a for-profit organization like a convenience store is. We, by definition, are a nonprofit. But as a group, as an organization, as a church, we do think about the customer, the members of the congregation. What is it that you need? What is it that the Church as a whole needs?

Now, recently, a new studio was built for the Beyond Today program, large studio, significant amount of money spent on it. People had to get together and make a decision. Are we going to do this or we're not going to do this? What should our budget be? By the way, the results, if you've read in the last couple of e-news, have been very positive. The highest responses we've gotten so far are from the newest Beyond Today’s that are produced in that new format. But the point is, you know, that decision had to be made as an organization. Other decisions have to be made for an organization. Pastor gets older, he's ready to retire, who's going to take this place? Where might we have a Feast site this year? What hotels will we use? Where should we have a camp? What should be the subject of the next article in the next Beyond Today Magazine or the next, you know, blog, on the website? A lot of decisions have to be made. That's just on the national level.

On a local level, well, the thought goes on, where are we going to have services? What time are we going to have services? You know, a lot of folks, it seems like the majority of people over the years I've talked to in the Church of God want to have services, like say, maybe around 1:00 in the afternoon, which is all fine, except when you're, you know, pastoring three congregations, it's hard to be at three places at 1:00. You know, so, we compromise. So, some people meet at 10:30, some people meet at 2:30. And these things, like programs, what sort of programs might we have? We have a ladies tea now. Do we need to have a club for the men as well? What about for our young people? Who am I going to have head up those things? Who might organize those things? What all's going to go into it? How much money should be budgeted for that?

And then there's the matter of the messages that you get every week. You know, I have to admit, I didn't think too much about planning out the sermons I was going to give months and months in advance when I first began to give sermons. I would receive a speaking schedule from the pastor of the congregation I was at. And I would see I was on for a sermon, you know, maybe two months from now. So, I started thinking, "What would be something interesting to speak about?" I'd start doing some studying and started to put together a sermon. Later on, as I became a pastor, I realized, I'm the guy putting together that speaking schedule. “Let's see, Passover is coming up here in a few weeks, I should probably have a Passover preparation sermon. Or the Day of Atonement coming up, you know, should I wait until the Day of Atonement to talk about reconciliation with God or might it be good to start talking about that beforehand?”

Now, I don't say this to, you know, toot my own horn, I'm just saying I never thought about these things until I had those responsibilities. But, you know, your church thinks about you. Your church thinks about the things that you need and how to provide them for you. Of course, as with everything we do, we look at the Bible for our examples. I've got three examples here of ways that the church looks out for the congregation, looks out for the needs of the congregation. Let's start with Galatians 4 and look at one way which a church looks out for its members. Galatians 4, and we'll start in verse 8. Galatians 4:8. Galatians 4:8 it says, "But then indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods." So, Paul's talking to those in Galatia, those who had come out of systems of false religion, false worship.

Verse 9, he says, "But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to what you desire again to be in bondage?" Seems what he is referring to here is the basic elements that were thought of at that time that made up the world. Basically, that was earth, wind, fire… not the group. But earth, wind, fire, and water, before people understood things like iron and carbon, and hydrogen, and nitrogen, all these other elements. You know, the world thought, "Well, there's basically four things that make up the world." It was the dirt, the air, the water, and fire. And so, as such, people worshipped those things. So, some of the people that Paul's addressing this letter to were coming out of that system of belief.

And he says, "You observe days and months and seasons and years." Now, he's not talking about God's Holy Days, he's talking about the holidays that were associated with those elements that were worshipped. He said, "I'm afraid for you, lest I have labored in vain." Paul was looking out for the people there. He was worried for them. He said, "You know, I saw you come out of this particular type of a lifestyle," and he said, "and I don't want you to go back into it." Paul was on the lookout for dangers to the flock. There are a lot of other dangers out there that we think about for the flock. Of course, we don't want to see someone who's come out of a system of false religion to go back into that, but there are other things as well.

Some things that we watch for, as a church, to make sure they don't creep into the congregation. Things like concerns over sacred names, over calendar issues, about false prophets or wolves in sheep's clothing that would come to steal sheep. Things that most can discern, most can look at and understand, and be wary of but you know, if we're not careful as a church, those things can begin to creep in and cause division. So, that's one way in which your church cares for you, is to protect you from things that can harm you. Of course, it's not all just, you know, negative things that we look out for.

There's some very positive things that, we as a church look out for, for our people, for the brethren here. Let's turn to 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1, I want to read the first eight verses here. And I'm not going to spend a lot of time expounding on each thing. I want to kind of get to an overall point, but please just read along as we read these first eight verses, and think about what Peter is saying. So, 2 Peter 1:1, it says, "Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: Christ and peace be multiplied…" or, excuse me, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, and as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

So, Peter starts by giving some encouragement, saying “you know what, you're called out to be special, to be partakers of this divine nature." Verse 5, it says, "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." Here, Peter is, in essence, saying, “You know, you're called to a special purpose. You're doing a good job. Keep it up, continue to grow, continue to grow in faith to be stronger.” Peter is encouraging the congregation. It's another way in which our church serves us, as individual members, is to encourage us.

We won't turn there for sake of time, but you read also in the beginning of 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy 1, where Timothy's history is kind of accounted from the time he was a little boy, his grandmother, his mother, and how he grew. How he was watched and the Church observed Him, Paul observed him, and Timothy went on to be a faithful servant. So, the church doesn't just watch for bad things that could creep on up in the church. It also watches for good things, things that are positive, ways in which people are growing and perhaps ways in which people can serve in the future.

So, the third way in which the Church serves us, its people, or the "customer" if you want to think about that analogy. Let's go to Philippians 1. Philippians 1, and read here a little bit. This isn't so much away that the Church serves the people per se as it is something about the relationship between the Church and its people. I think we'll see that as we read through here. Philippians 1, we'll start in verse 3. This is our memory scripture for this week. Philippians 1:3 it says, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; just as it is right for me to think of this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ."

Paul was in prison at the time. But he took time to write the brethren in Philippi to say, "I love you. I'm thinking about you. And I thank God for you." If I was in prison, I don't know if I'd have that presence of mind and stability to be able to think that way. But, you know, Paul did. It's recorded for us. And so, we see then this third aspect of the relationship between the Church and the people in it. He was telling the sheep, "Thank you. Thank you for being there. Thank you for growing. Thank you for being diligent." And I want to say today, to you, thank you. Thank you to each and every one of you for being here. Thank you for making the choice when you got up this morning to come here today, to be in this room.

I'm not trying to be funny when I say this or sound like an airline pilot. But, you know, I recognize, you have a choice of where you go to Sabbath services each week. Unlike a convenience store, you know, one of us goes to the one that's just the most convenient, we have to make a choice. But I recognize you had a choice, and you came here today. So, on behalf of the Columbia congregation, on behalf of the United Church of God, thank you for being here today. Are we  convenience store, Christians? Well, in some ways, I hope the answer is no. I hope we don't come here every week just because it's handy or just because we need an emotional pick me up, or that we come only because we have an emergency and we need help with some things. It's good to have that pick me up. And it's good to get that help when we need it. But, of course, those aren't the only reasons that we come.

We come, of course, because it's a commanded observance, but we come here to fill our spiritual tanks. We need the fellowship. We need those structured messages to help with their growth. And although I know it may be a bit of a drive for some to be here, I hope that coming to church is never an inconvenience for you. Your church is here for you too, to help you in those emergencies, to help keep you safe, to help navigate you through those tricky scriptures, and keep you from that occasional wolf that might sneak in to steal a sheep. We're here to encourage you on your journey, on your journey to the Kingdom of God. For your part in being here, thank you. Thank you. We're glad to have you. We couldn't do it without you. This church, this congregation would not be the congregation it is unless you were here and a part of it. None of us is in this alone, we need God, we need Jesus Christ, and we need to be led by the Holy Spirit as we move forward collectively and individually on our journey towards the Kingdom of God.