This is the Lord's Day, and here we are, a group of his people, assembled in worship together. We are doing what others have done for 2,000 years almost - we are meeting in the fellowship of common worship, a thing of vital importance to others before us, to us now, and to our world always.

So far as the church is concerned, and the whole institution of Christian Faith in the world today, there would be none had it not been for this Lord's Day practice maintained over the centuries. Imagine for just a moment that, after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, his scattered followers had never again assembled themselves together! Suppose each had gone his or her separate way? Suppose those people had never met to talk about the meaning of Christ, to share their experiences of him, to pray in his name?

Do you know what the result would have been? Nothing. Nothing would have happened. With each of those persons going his own way, doing his own thing, there would never have been a church, and the Christian Faith would be totally unknown in the world.

But they did assemble. The very first thing the disciples of Jesus did following his resurrection was meet, get together with one another. This Faith took form in the fellowship of the assembled people of Christ, and it has been maintained and perpetuated in that same way from the time of Christ until now.

Great, my friends, is the significance of what we do here today.