Pastor Lach Jones - "Ekklesia: The Church Assembly" - 14 June 2026

If you've got your Bibles, you can open them to Matthew 16, and we're going to start a new teaching theme over the next several weeks called Ekklesia.

Who here has heard of the word Ekklesia before? Ekklesia, and we're going to study what this means, ultimately looking at God's heart and purpose for the church, which is what we are a part of.

If we are believers in Jesus, we are a part of his church and so as a leadership team just discussing and saying you know what this is super crucial that we understand as the people of God the why the what the how and the purpose of the church otherwise we end up building this thing into something that God never intended it to be and I don't know about you but I don't have time to waste my life on something that God is not intending it to be I want to be a part of something that his heart is attached to who's a part of that who wants to be a part of that vision So the theological term for this study is ecclesiology.

And that's where we're going to study what is the church and why are we a part of the church and what is the purpose of the church in the grand scheme of God's plan for the world.

And I understand whenever you touch on these types of series, there's long season people in the church.

You're like, bro, I've been here 50 years.

I can get up there and I can tell you.

God's heart and plan for the church and you're alive to it you're alive to the presence of God you're alive to all the things that the church is about and you feel excited when you talk about the church there's others here and you've been a part of the church for an amount of time and you're like if you're honest you're bored you're bored in your faith and you're bored with the church And you would say, man, I don't believe the church.

There's some people giggling right now as I'm saying this.

You're sitting there saying like...

I don't believe the church, the way that we do it right now is biblical.

And I have some deep questions revolving around in my heart that I'd love to look into.

And there are many people that I come across that have that kind of question bubbling around in their heart.

And I just want to say, hey, I'm very much on the journey as a believer asking the questions of like, God, what is your heart for the church? Then there's other people who are brand new, brand new into the church.

And you've just got all these kinds of questions revolving around in your heart, just around like, what is the purpose of this thing? Like, why do we gather together like this? And why do we sing songs? And why do we give money? And why are we told to go and witness to the world about Jesus? And there's questions revolving around in your heart, around what is the purpose of the church? I know my children now, 13, 10, and 7, as they're growing up, I just see these questions in their heart around all things God and the world and the church.

And they get to openly ask me those questions.

Like, what is the purpose? Why do we do what we do? And I don't shut those questions down.

I welcome those questions.

Do you know the Jewish culture of how to keep the conversation of God alive in their tradition is to actually to ask and answer questions.

That is something that we as the church should be open to.

Let's ask some questions about the church and about God's heart for the church.

And so I believe it's really important.

So we just want to dig in over the next several weeks.

And I felt the Lord put this statement.

If I could put the church into one statement of what this is about, I believe it's this.