The church is the weekly place of blessing, the weekly place of encouragement, the weekly place of comfort, the weekly place of fellowship, the weekly place of upbuilding that's intended to be a blessing from the Lord.

And when the Lord establishes a blessing, or we to say it's not necessary for me.

Do we need to go to church? Is it even necessary anymore relevant? These are questions that are increasingly being asked, especially after many churches moved to streaming their services online.

But as we are being challenged to stand firm this week on renewing your mind, we must stand firm for the necessity of the church.

Recorded at Ligonier's 2023 National Conference, a gathering of thousands of Christians over three days, Ligonier's Chairman, W. Robert Godfrey, looked to polls words who describe the church of the living God as a pillar and a buttress of truth.

But before we get to today's message, remember that this week only, you can request RC Sproul's hardcover book, Truths We Confess, your donation of any amount at renewingyourmind.org.

In this volume, Dr. Sproul outlines the truths of the historic Christian faith, the truths upon which you and I ought to stand firm.

Well, here's Dr. Godfrey from this year's National Conference.

I was thinking about my dear wife, she's at home in California, recovering from knee replacement surgery. She had hoped to be here with you. She's recovering marvelously, but a six hour plane ride with her leg down didn't sound so very attractive.

And as I was approaching the subject of the church, I thought of how she has had to live her life sort of surrounded by ministers.

Her husband's a minister, her two sons or ministers, many of our friends or ministers, and you'll be surprised to learn this if you're not a minister.

That ministers, when they get together, talk about the church. And not always in glowing terms.

Since most of us can't pass through our Briarwood, our churches have flaws and struggles, and apparently we're willing to admit sinners into membership.

So the talk about the church amongst ministers can somewhat get discouraging at times. And I have heard my wife observe about the church more than once.

Couldn't have God have found a better way. Now she says that with a twinkle in her eye because she's good Calvinist and knows that God's ways are always better than our ways.

And that if this is the way God has chosen, it's the good way. But we can be honest, just a minute can't wait.

The churches have problems. The churches can disappoint. It's easy to make a list, isn't it, of what's wrong with churches.

And we may need then a lecture on address a semi-Serman on the importance of the church for standing firm.

God does not want us to be alone. He made that point in creation.

He is not good that man should be alone. And he makes that point in recreation. It is not good for us to be alone. It is not right for us to be alone. It is not God's plan for us to be alone.

What did Jesus say? We've heard it already in this conference several times. I will build my right, not I will build a boat for you to be in the middle of a lake by yourself reading your Bible.

I will build my church. And the language of Paul and Ephesians is almost extravagant, isn't it?

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