While preaching at the Ninety-Seventh Anniversary Celebration of New Salem Baptist Church in Decatur, IL, Dr. T. D. Stubblefield draws insights from 1 Peter 2:9-10, exploring the theme What Makes the Church So Special! The church, empowered to engage the world, possesses a unique status, vital mission, and invaluable blessing because Jesus lived a sinless life, died for our sins, and rose again. Before returning to heaven, He entrusted the church to share the Gospel with all nations, promising His continual presence throughout this journey.

British Prime Minister and prominent leader during World War II, Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get but we make a life by what we give.” He could have very well been gleaning truth from a passage that King Solomon wrote centuries earlier that is recorded in Proverbs Chapter Eleven, verse twenty-five. That verse and this sermon addresses the question, “What do we gain when we give?”

In Psalm 12, David feels isolated and marginalized as a man of faith amid a rising tide of wickedness in his world. The challenges he faced highlight a harsh reality that echoes across generations and speaks to our own era. Societies face dire consequences when the faithful falter. From a spiritual and moral perspective, the dangers of such a collapse are more severe and far-reaching than a nuclear Iran, a global pandemic, or another economic recession. What unfolds when godly men and women disappear from marriages, families, churches, communities, and nations? This message dives deep into that pressing and urgent question.