All right, everybody, find Acts chapter 2 in your Bibles. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Acts, fifth book of the New Testament. Start a new series today. The Great Commission series, we do one every year, talking about the DNA and distinctives of our church. I'm calling our DNA, our Great Commission series this year, More and Better Disciples. Before we get going any further, I want to congratulate the young women in our church who play volleyball for Lewisburg and Center Hill. They both won state championships on Thursday. And we got a bunch of y'all, and y'all are good, and I'm not going to play volleyball with you because I don't want you to spike it in my face. So you guys are really, gals are really good. You climbed the mountain, and we congratulate you. Today, I'm going to preach a message about why you shouldn't miss church. And you're here? It's the people that aren't here that need it. Isn't that true? This is going to help you. I want to preach a message I call The Power of Showing Up. And let me give you the big idea first. The big idea in our message today is that God uses the gathered church. Everybody say gathered church. God uses the gathered church as one of his ordinary means of grace to save the lost, build up believers, and grow disciples into maturity. You see, one of the most common questions that Christians ask today is, do I really need church? I mean, after all, yes or no, can't you watch sermons online? Better preachers than me. Can't you sing music? Can't you sing praise music in your car? You don't even have to be on key, right? Doesn't matter. Can't you read your Bible in the early morning on your back porch? Can't you watch church from your couch in your pajamas? Not recommended, but can't you do it? Yes? You can do all those, but none of those things is what Acts 2 describes as the normal rhythm of the early church. The question's not really, can I be a Christian without attending church? The better question is, can I become everything God intends me to become while neglecting one of his primary tools for my growth? Let me say that again. Can I become everything God intends me to become while neglecting one of his primary tools for my growth? Acts 2, verses 42 to 47, gives us a clear answer to that question. I've got so many sermons on this text, but you can never exhaust it. We pick up in verse 32, the early church in Jerusalem. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all as anyone had need. So, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. My brothers and my sisters, the word of God. Let's pray together. Father, we bow in our hearts today as one church. We want to be humbled and hungry and ready to receive. Some of our bodies are too tired in our normal way to receive anything, God, so I pray supernaturally that you'll revive us, regenerate us, give us your attention for half an hour or less. Make us like Jesus in these next few moments. This is our prayer, our fervent prayer, in Jesus' name, and a faith-filled church said. Are you full of faith today? You fired up? I am too. All right. So, the early believers did not only believe together. They gathered together. They learned together. They worshiped together. They prayed together. Now, in our More and Better Disciples series, especially this sermon and the next two, I want to introduce you to something we call the Great Commission Engine. I got a graphic for you on the screen. Let me show you this right here. The Great Commission Engine. In the middle of the engine, the thing that makes it go is your one. You're a person who's close to you and far from God that you want to become a Christian. And then there are three pistons around the one. Piston number one is the catalytic weekend experience. We call that Sunday church. Piston two, life-changing relationships. Do you know what we call those? Small groups. And piston number three is surrendered living. That is when you're on a ministry team, you're walking with God, you're supporting the church financially, and every other way you're surrendered. So, we're going to do these out of order. I'm going to do number one this week. We're going to do number three next week. We're going to do number two the following week. It won't matter. It'll be fine. But [00:56:00 - 01:04:00] the catalytic weekend experience. In other words, what catalyzes you? What sets the spark and starts the fire? The front door of our church is this gathering on Sundays. Preached this whole message, and there was a guy, he was on the second row, his name's Ian, third row, in the first service right over here, where the Langstons are sitting, Ian, and then he had two friends, and they looked like they were married, and they were just on it the whole time. And when the service was over, they sprinted up, they had to wait in line, sprinted up to talk to me, and they said, look, we walked in here today, and we were saying, God, we just got married in September. They're late 20s, early 30s, and they don't have any children yet, they're starting their life, and they had this thought, we should probably start our marriage in church, but we're not for sure, so God, if we go visit this church with Ian today, say something to us in the message about whether we should go to church or not. I promise you that's what they told me. So at the end of the service, they're like, well, we heard from God, and apparently this is where we're supposed to be, so what do we do next? It's like, you guys made that pretty easy. I was like, hey, it's gonna be a million dollars a week. No, you know what we said? We said, if you like today, this is the front door, wait till you get a peek inside, and you meet some people. And I was able to tell them, because they didn't have Christian backgrounds necessarily, I said, I don't want you to think that you came into a church today filled with people that have been going to church all their lives and are like Sunday school veterans. Like, you're in a crowd with folks who've walked in some very serious darkness, who come out of some very difficult addictions and other problems, and they hadn't known God very long, but they met Jesus here, they've met people like them, and we're just kind of stumbling forward in grace, messing it up all the time, letting Jesus put it back together. We're just trusting him together. If that's what you're looking for, welcome home. They're like, that's exactly what we're looking for. So listen, catalytic weekend experience. The Christian life is a lot like an internal combustion engine. When one piston of those stops firing, the entire system loses momentum. Look, you can go to church every Sunday, and you can go to small group but not be surrendered, and you're still struggling in your Christian life. Or you can kind of surrender, be on a ministry team here when we ask you once a month or so, or however that goes, and you come on Sundays, but you're not in a small group, and that big community is missing, and so when things go bad, it just compounds and you don't have any momentum. Gotta have all three of these pistons firing in your Christian life. And so today we're examining the weekend gathering. When Christians neglect the gathered church, we're not just losing one activity from our week. We're neglecting one of God's ordinary means of grace that he uses to grow us in Christ. In fact, when you're in a church that teaches the Bible the way we do very regularly, there's a humbling effect it has on your heart. You positioned yourself under the teaching of God's word, and it's made you humble like Jesus more and more. It's what it does. It's what the preaching of the word does in the gathered church. But listen, every Sunday is bigger than us as individuals. You believe that? Somebody needs Christ in the room. Somebody needs encouragement. Somebody needs to hear from God. And God has chosen to do something powerful when his people gather. So let me give you four truths about the weekend gathering. Number one, the weekend gathering is a commitment, not a convenience. About halfway through this sermon point in the early service today, the air went out of the room. It was heavy. People were not enjoying what they were hearing. That wasn't on purpose. It was the ministry of the Spirit putting his finger on getting us out of this kind of cultural Christianity that we have to fight our way out of. So Acts 2, verse 42 says, they continued. Everybody say continued. This was what they did all the time. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. And the apostles' doctrine has been made into books of your New Testament, so we might as well just say they continued steadfastly in the scriptures. And fellowship. Fellowship requires you and your body to be around other Christians. The breaking of bread initially points to the Lord's Supper and also fellowship meals with other believers. And in the prayers. Now look, if you just are a part of our church, we're going to force feed you prayers. Isn't that true? We've got a praying culture. It's hard to get away from praying in our church. There's somebody to pray for. There's somebody to pray with you. These are good things because God hears these prayers. It's the others in the list that I want to talk about today. And our New King James says steadfast. They continued steadfastly. The ESV says they devoted themselves. You know what that means? Not occasionally attended. Not showed up when nothing else was scheduled. Not if they felt like it. They devoted themselves. Then you have a parallel verse, the writer of Hebrews, Hebrews 10, verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some. Hey, listen to me. There's always some who do this. We're never going to bat a thousand. You just don't want to be in the group of the some. But exhorting one another. And let me say exhorting is encouraging people to continue on in the faith, admonishing, urging. If I'm the only one urging, encouraging, and exhorting people on Sundays, it's not working. God designed us that we mutually do this. So the writer in Hebrews assumes that the believers are going to gather. The command in Hebrews 10, 25 is not, I need you people to start gathering. The command is don't stop gathering. And here's where it gets very practical. I want to illustrate this to you. Imagine a family sitting at the kitchen table earlier in the summer and their phones all begin to buzz and beep and the schedule for the ball tournament comes in as a text message. They're all looking at it. Saturday, there's two games. And then they look at the next text and it says, and then somebody notices, and there's another game scheduled on Sunday morning at 10 o'clock. Here's what nobody says when they get the schedule and they read that. Nobody says, well, we don't love Jesus anymore. That'd be ridiculous. Nobody says that. Nobody says, well, we got our scheduled church, doesn't matter. Because that isn't true. You just say, well, I guess we'll miss this week. Look, and then the next Sunday following, there's no tournament, but check this out. Saturday was a beautiful day and we worked in the yard and we mulched the flower beds. And I mean, it was sun up to sun down and we are, everybody say it with me, tired. Listen, it's not one of the 10 commandments. It's probably one of the 11th, probably the 11th one. Everybody's tired, always. Everybody's tired, right? So Saturday was exhausting. So the alarm goes off on Sunday morning and somebody says, can we just sleep in today? And they do. And then a few weeks later, dad gets offered overtime pay if he'll just come in on this one Sunday morning. And then the following weekend, the weather's beautiful and everybody wants an early start at the lake. [01:04:00 - 01:12:00] Can I tell you, none of those things by themselves are bad, is bad. Listen to me, the issue is the pattern. And let me tell you what the pattern is now. I was talking to my mentor last week and I was like, have you noticed how many bad Sundays we have on the schedule? He says, oh yeah, it's more than you think it is. It's like, well, here's what I think. Let's just go with the school schedule. You got all these three-day holidays and look, if you really celebrate Columbus Day and President's Day, I'll eat my hat. No, you don't. You don't know who Columbus was and you can't even name four presidents, all right? Well, we get that off. That's a three-day weekend, so we're not in church. And then there's spring break. Well, that's spring break weekend on this side and spring break weekend on the backside. So that's two more. And then there is Easter weekend and everybody knows you got to go to grandma's Easter. Why would you want to come to your church on Easter? You got to go to grandma's dead church. Isn't that right? Then after spring break and Easter, then you have, if you don't have anything between then, you have Memorial Day. But in the middle, you have July 4th and you got to go somewhere on that day. And then school starts back after Labor Day and Labor Day kills all that momentum. And then you have this thing that they've invented called fall break. Have y'all heard of this? So fall break actually hurts the attendance at church more than spring break does. And it's a weekend here and a weekend there. And then you have something called Thanksgiving. And can't none of y'all even name a pilgrim or an Indian. They stopped teaching that in the 80s, right? But then that's a whole week now. And so, all right, those are just the calendar scheduled times that folks excuse themselves from church. That doesn't count the days that your daughter really is sick or you really woke up with a fever or you had to be out of town on business. And that doesn't even count your normal vacations. And look, I'm glad that God has blessed you financially so that you can do multiple vacations. I'm trying to paint a picture to you of how you may think you're committed to church. There's 52 Sundays a year, but you can start whacking off like 12, 13, 14, 15 of them that you excuse yourself for. And then we're gonna be committed on the other ones. Now, let me ask you a question. What has God said about his day? What has God excused? Hey, let me tell you this. Did you know that you can be gone out of town 13 days in a row and only miss one Sunday? You just have to own your schedule and make it glorify God. Now, look, I told you the air was gonna go out in the first sermon point, didn't I? And I'm just getting started here. When gathering with God's people is an option on this hand and something else extracurricular over here repeatedly wants a piece of your life, which one keeps winning? You see, your calendar is one of the most honest statements of your priorities that you'll ever make. Let me say it this way. A commitment is most clearly seen when keeping it costs you something. Well, pastor, if my son doesn't play the Sunday games at the ball tournament, he won't be the starting shortstop. And what if your son gains the whole world in sports or in intellectual pursuits or whatever it is that you see that they're good at? What if they gain all of that? But by your permission, they've learned God's important when there's not something better to do. What if he gains all of that and loses his soul and his thoughts of God? You see, the weekend gathering is a commitment. It's not a convenience. And if it's never inconvenient for you to gather with the saints, you're missing out. You're missing it. I wonder this. I wonder how many of you have ever heard a sermon on the sin of missing church? I'm gonna guess about as many pilgrims as you can name, right? Because that costs churches and preachers something today to preach on this because you know what you can do? You can just go to another church that'll never make you feel guilty or never challenge you to gather with the saints. But I fear God's displeasure more than I fear yours. And look, he needs to win in your life on the gathered church. Don't hear me say you can never be gone. You need to be gone some. You just don't need to be gone without a plan. Does that make sense? You need Jesus to be Lord of your schedule. I want you to think about Mary and Martha in Luke chapter 10. Do you guys remember Mary and Martha? Jesus is good friends and they're brother Lazarus. They were just close family friends. And in Luke chapter 10, now let me ask you this way. If the White House called you this week and said, hey man, president did a lottery, they drew your name and he's gonna bring his entourage and he's coming to your house next weekend. Would you do nothing? Would you not clean your house? Would you not paint it? Would you not get ready for an important person to come and see you? Well, look, in Luke chapter 10, God Almighty goes to visit Martha and Mary. And Martha has a gift of hospitality and she's like, I'm gonna clean everything up. It's gonna be perfect. Oh, and my sister is gonna help me. Well, when Jesus showed up, all the housework wasn't done yet. And Mary's like, all right, I'm out. I'm going to talk to him. Do you remember the story? Mary had legitimate things demanding her attention, but Martha had legitimate things demanding her attention. But Mary recognized something more important was in front of her. Here's what Jesus said to Martha when Martha goes, nobody's helping me. He says, Martha, Martha, you're worried and upset about so many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen what is best. Look, all I'm saying to you today is the gathered church coming before the Lord on the Lord's day, it's best. There's a whole bunch of good things. Sometimes the best needs to win over the good. Mary's chosen what's best and it won't be taken away from her. You see, let me say it more clearly. Mary positioned herself where she could hear the voice of Jesus. And every Sunday when the church gathers, we do the exact same thing. We're positioning ourselves to hear his voice. Okay, there was one of Jesus's apostles was named Thomas. What was his nickname? Doubting Thomas. Do you know how he got it? Because after Jesus rose from the dead, he missed the next meeting. And he wasn't there when Jesus appeared through the wall and comforted the other 11 or 10 by that time. And so Thomas doubted because he missed it. John 20, 24, now Thomas called the twin, one of the 12, was not with them when Jesus came. [01:12:00 - 01:20:00] was not with them when Jesus came. John doesn't tell us why Thomas missed the meeting, why he was absent. We don't know why he wasn't with the others. He just missed what happened among them. Well, the next week, Thomas goes, I'm not going to miss it. And he was with them, and it changed everything. And it's where we get Thomas' great confession, my Lord and my God. Well, Pastor, will one missed Sunday ruin my life? What's the answer to that? Not a trick question. Pastor, will one missed Sunday ruin my life? No, probably not. That's not the point. The point is that those who consistently place themselves where God is working experience what God is doing. And parents, your children are learning from this too. They learn what your family values by what you consistently make room for. So if your child grows up knowing, hey, unless we're sick or out of town or on vacation, our family is going to worship on Sunday mornings. That's what Daddy said. Then they know what matters. We gather because Jesus matters, and His Word matters, and His people matters. The weekend gathering, it's a commitment. It's not a convenience. All right, did you survive that point? Are we good? Was that too much? Was it true? Okay. Number two, the weekend gathering is where God forms us through Word and Spirit. Listen to Acts 2, 42 and 43. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. That's Word. Then fear came upon every soul. Many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. That's Spirit. I want you to see what God joins together in those two verses. Teaching and wonder. Truth and power. Word and Spirit. Now, some of you, our church is a hodgepodge. So some of you, your background is Pentecostal and charismatic. And if you were in an unbalanced church in the Pentecostal or charismatic movement, you were a church that was a Spirit church. And it was all about God's power and God showing up and God doing awesome stuff. And so you were unbalanced over there. If you come from the Baptist, Presbyterian, evangelical side, on the other side, you came from the Word side. And it was all Bible and teach me and teach me the Bible and Bible and teach me. Look, both of them are needed. They're both good. You need both. So we want to be balanced. We want to be Word and Spirit. Healthy churches refuse the false choice between the Bible and the Holy Spirit. Yes or no? Did God's Spirit inspire God's Word? Yes. Yes or no? Does God's Word teach us how to walk in the Spirit? Yes. We have to have both. I want you to think about Nehemiah chapter 8. I bet you didn't read it this week. Nehemiah is a book in the Old Testament and one of the key figures is a scribe named Ezra. And so the people gathered in Nehemiah chapter 8. They built a big wooden platform and Ezra the scribe climbed on top of it. He had the law of God in his hands. He opens the scriptures and verse 8 says, So they read distinctly from the book. Hey, look. You need to be in a church that's about the book. You need the book taught to you. You need to be urged to read the book. The book is what God has written to us so we know His Word. So they read distinctly from the book in the law of God. I want you to see this part. They, the scribes, the Bible teachers, gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading. I know you've had a time in your life where you tried to read the Bible and you said, that just doesn't make sense. Well, the teaching job of the local church is to give you the sense and help you understand what the Bible means. That's Word. And if you read on in Nehemiah chapter 8, when Ezra the scribe and the rest of them stopped reading God's Word and teaching it, the Bible says the people began to weep. That's Spirit. First, their minds were instructed and then their hearts were broken. All right. Now, bring that into an ordinary Sunday. You know how Sunday mornings can go. Maybe this was just at my house when my kids were little. You were already running late before anybody got into the car. One kid couldn't find a shoe. The other kid hid it. Somebody spilled something. It was dad. Husband and wife had one of those little tense conversations on the way to church. And then you pull into the parking lot and a miracle happens. Good morning. Praise the Lord. We're so glad to be alive and we're so glad to be together as we walk into church. See, five minutes ago, you weren't really speaking to one another. And now you sit down in here and your mind is everywhere. And then somewhere in worship, your heart, though, begins to soften. Something changes. Or the Word is preached. And a verse that you've read 50 times strikes you a little differently. You've never seen it before. And then the Holy Spirit puts His finger on something. And it sounds a lot like these. You know, you need to forgive your brother for what he said to you at Christmas, even though he's never apologized. You need to call your daughter. You've both been waiting six months for the other one to make the first move. You need to trust me with that job situation instead of lying awake every night wondering what your family will do if the company lets you go. You see, you came to attend church. God showed up to change you. And that's the goal. The goal is never to leave this building going, well, that was a good church service. The goal is to leave more like Jesus than when we came in as we exalt Him. So parents, point number one in the sermon was about teaching your children to prioritize the gathering. Well, now, this second point is to teach them to expect God to meet them here. How do I do that? Hey, look at me. Let them see you and hear you sing. In here. Open your Bible. Open your Bible app. I have to throw that in now. Respond when God speaks. And look, don't waste the ride home. On the ride home, ask the family, hey, what did God say to you today? And when your 12-year-old says, I don't know, then fine, you go first. Hey, here's what God showed me in today's sermon. You see, when you do that, you're teaching them our family expects God to speak. [01:20:00 - 01:28:00] The weekend gathering is where God forms us through word and spirit. Number three, the weekend gathering is where God ignites his mission. Did you remember Acts 2 47, the last verse we read, and the Lord added to the church those who were being saved? I pray for people to move in all the time that are mature Christians that can help out. But what I pray for more is God, just give me a nursery full of baby Christians. Just give me new ones. God, add to your church those who were lost and now they're saved. They were in darkness and now they're in light. Who does the adding according to that verse? God does. Here's what I'm saying to you. Sunday is not the whole Christian life. And if it's your whole Christian life, you need to repent. But Sunday is often where faith is awakened. And Sunday's often the time that somebody takes a first step toward Jesus. It's just positive peer pressure. There's just the ministry of the spirit in the room. In Acts chapter two, before the ones that we read, the Pentecost miracle happened. The spirit came and Peter preached Christ and the crowd was cut to the heart. And they say with one voice, what shall we do? And Peter says, repent and be baptized every one of you and your sins will be forgiven. You'll get the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2 38, we know about that. And then you know what it says? It says about 3,000 received the gospel and were baptized where the church was gathered. Well, how does that help me, pastor? Well, maybe you've been praying for a wayward son and he's grown and he's godless and he doesn't care about any of this and he's doing his own thing and he's in the world. And you're tired of all of it and you don't see any progress. But during a song about the faithfulness of God in this room, you could barely sing that morning because you were overwhelmed by the truth of it. And you left with enough faith that day to keep praying another week for that young man. Or maybe you came here and somebody noticed you kind of just weren't yourself. And they pulled you aside and they said, hey, are you okay? I love you. Can I pray for you today? And for the first time you told somebody what was happening at home. Listen to me. You never know what God may do through an ordinary Sunday. That's why I'm inviting your one matters. Let me illustrate it this way. I want you to picture a man pulling into this parking lot for the first time. What you don't know is he and his wife have been sleeping in separate rooms for three weeks. Every one of their conversations turns into an argument. Their 16-year-old daughter who used to be a motor mouth and used to tell them everything has become angry and withdrawn. And then a guy at work, a member of our church, a guy who's been quietly praying for this gentleman, says to him at work one day, hey, why don't you come sit with me on Sunday? Sunday morning, for some reason, the guy wakes up without an alarm. And he's like, that never happens. He remembers his friend's invitation. He doesn't know why he's doing it, but he's putting on clothes. And he gets into his truck and he drives to this church he's never been to. And he can't believe that's happened. And he sits in his truck out in the parking lot for a moment. And he's debating whether he's going to go inside. And then somehow he opens the door and he walks in the building. And he doesn't know the songs. He doesn't know when to stand. He doesn't know when to sit down. He's watching all of you. But then something from the scripture that the preacher said lands uncomfortably close to his life. And he goes, man, it's like God's been reading my mail. And then he gets this overall feeling that this whole sermon was for him. And he doesn't know that guy. How did that happen? And then he begins to think, maybe God is in this room. Afterward, his friend says, hey, you want to talk about what's going on in your life? And he goes, come to lunch with me. And the guy agrees to go to lunch. And one conversation happens and he opens up. And then another conversation. And maybe a few months later, that same man standing over here in the baptism tank telling everybody how Jesus changed his life. And the friend who invited him is just sitting over there going, all I did was ask. You see, the weekend gathering is where God ignites his mission. Number four, lastly today, the weekend gathering only works when we engage. Do you remember the continuing steadfastly part? It means they didn't just hear the apostles teach. They devoted themselves to the teaching. They didn't just sit in the crowd. They shared fellowship with one another. They did more than the rose. They didn't just listen to somebody else pray. They committed themselves to prayer. And what was the result? The result was a community that nobody could stay away from. Acts 2, 44 to 46. Now all who believed were together and had all things in common, dot, dot, dot. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house in small groups, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart. My favorite part about that verse right now is how the Bible endorses eating food together. Amen. Did you know that in your Bible, if you go back to like 2 Kings 19, God is going to prescribe for some of you, go eat something and take a nap. Look, the scriptures are real and God understands where you are and what you're feeling. And he says, look, in the awesomeness of the Christian life, people eat together with glad hearts because they can't believe what God's done for them and to them. You see, when somebody had a need, that first church helped meet it. They worshiped together. They opened their homes. They shared meals. They weren't consumers evaluating a religious event. No, they were participating in a spiritual family. See, that's not an audience. That's a church. So friends, when we talk about the power of showing up, we don't only mean getting your body in one of these chairs. Because did you know that you can be present but not be engaged? Did you know that two people can sit 10 feet apart in this room in the same worship service and experience the same Sunday completely differently? Let me illustrate. One guy slips in during the second song. He doesn't know it's the second song. It's the first song to him. He's never gotten here any earlier than that. And when he gets in there, not only did he slip in, but he checks his phone because he's got to have that thing. And so he's scrolling and he thought that was just going to be 30 seconds, but five minutes later. And then during the sermon, he remembers he needs to check his fantasy football team. And so he looks at that and he misses point number three. And then before long, he's thinking about, man, where's everybody going to go to lunch today? I'm going to avoid the crowd. And then the final prayer ends and he's halfway through the parking lot. And on the drive home, he says to his wife, hey, I don't know. I just didn't get much out of church today. Well, like all of life, you're going to kind of get out of this a little bit of what you put into it. But look, 10 feet away from him was another lady. And she walked in and she said, Lord, I need you to speak to me. And she sang the songs and she [01:28:00 - 01:36:00] her Bible and she listened. And then the preacher starts talking about generosity because, of course, he does. And she realizes that she spent the last six months asking God to give her more material things while ignoring a struggling family that she can already help. So she writes their names in the margin of her Bible and she puts a date and she goes, this week I'm going to go and I'm going to give to them. And before leaving, now she's turned on to Christ and so she notices a woman standing alone in the lobby and she goes and introduces herself to her and encourages her. Listen to me, same room, same preacher, same worship service, same Sunday, different approach. One attended, the other engaged. Do you see the difference? Doesn't the power of showing up usually begin on Saturday night? Let me give you one more scenario and I'll be done. It's nine o'clock on Saturday night and dad says, all right, church tomorrow everybody, go find your shoes tonight because I'm not going to go on some search and rescue mission at 8.35 in the morning. So they all set out to do that. Mom gets what the younger kids needs ready. You decide what time everybody's leaving and before bed somebody says, hey, let's pray for tomorrow. They don't do anything dramatic, they don't do anything King James, just Lord, thank you that we get to worship with our own church family tomorrow. Speak to us. Help us encourage somebody. Use us tomorrow. Amen. You see when that happens? Now Sunday is not something that just occurs to your family. Your family's now preparing to meet with God. That's engagement. Let me show you. Attendance asks, was I there? Engagement asks, was I available to God while I was there? I'm done preaching now. Did y'all get any of that? Well, if you did, come ready next Sunday. Bring your one.

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We are a family-friendly, non-denominational Christian church in Olive Branch, serving individuals and families throughout DeSoto County and the greater Mid-South. People looking for Christian churches in Olive Branch often discover a vibrant community where faith comes alive and lives are transformed through the Gospel.

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Families searching for a church with strong children’s programs love our engaging Kids Ministry and safe, caring environments. Students can connect through our Youth Ministry, and adults of every stage can find community through groups, prayer, and discipleship opportunities. As a multi-generational church, we love seeing every age grow in faith together.

Meaningful Worship

Experience contemporary worship with modern Christian music, heartfelt prayer, and Gospel-centered messages designed to help you encounter God personally. If you’re looking for vibrant worship near Memphis, you’ll find a place that feels both authentic and inspiring.

Grow in Your Faith

We offer Bible studies, small groups, and discipleship opportunities that help you understand and apply God’s Word to everyday life. If you’re looking for a place to grow spiritually, you’ll find support and encouragement here.

Connected to Our Community

We are passionate about serving our neighbors through outreach and local partnerships, making a positive impact in Olive Branch and beyond.

Conveniently located in Olive Branch, we serve families from surrounding communities, including Southaven, Germantown, Collierville, Lewisburg, and Byhalia.

You’re Invited

If you’re looking for a church family, meaningful community, and Gospel-centered worship, we would love to welcome you.

Join us this Sunday at Great Commission Church — where faith, love, and community come together and lives are changed by Jesus.