Sermon
4-16-23 PM Service: Turning the World Upside Down
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Welcome to the Liberty Baptist sermon archives.
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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty, Baptist
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Church in Eastern Massachusetts. You can find out more about us
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or contact us at my Liberty, Baptist dot org or just look us
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up on Facebook. And now, we hope that this
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message from God's word will be a blessing to you.
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It's coming up in less than two months and it's my desire that
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we just put it this way. Just pull out all the stops when
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it comes to what's going to happen on June 11th and like I
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mentioned we're looking at having an outdoor service.
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We're looking at, we already have Heartland, Baptist Bible
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College coming to sing during the afternoon service.
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We have Pastor George Kurt, be sending pastor of ours from
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Westgate Baptist in Tampa, who will be here as well.
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Well, we're looking to having a meal in here.
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We're looking at doing extensive Outreach in the community
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Through online and Direct Mail, as well as us giving out
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materials as well. And we are really looking
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forward to having a wonderful wonderful day.
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A day that I pray that we will not forget in the history of our
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church and the there's a lot that we have to do to prepare
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for a day like that. And I mentioned this morning
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that next week will officially roll out a program that I'm
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calling a tuning up for the Which is getting us ready in
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every way conceivable, whether it's here on the property,
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preparing to put a tent on the property, or just getting the
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outdoor Landscaping. Done the indoor maintenance
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repairs, getting accomplished making sure that we're ready for
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outreach and getting involved out in the community.
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Preparing the funds that we need to be able to raise for some of
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these things, to be able to reach out in the community
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greater than we ever have in the past.
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And then also making sure that we're most importantly, ready,
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spiritually. That's why we're having A
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Revival meeting in May then also while will be having some prayer
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meetings not just here at the church, but also an individual
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homes or will gather together with families and have some time
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of prayer as well. I want to make sure that we know
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that. When it's time for the 10th
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anniversary, when it's over, as they would say, when you're
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playing sports, you left it all out in the field that, you know,
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that we've done everything that the prayers have been made.
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That the money has been given that we have all done our dead
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level best. It's going to require a lot of
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work. I'll be honestly.
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It's going to require some funds as well.
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Well, for the reasons, I want us to raise some money because I
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want to make sure that we hit every single door here in
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Easton, whether it's physically going to the door or most likely
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also having extensive Every Door.
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Direct Mail approach as well. He say, why is that important?
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Well, let me give you an example.
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It was two days before. Liberty Baptist Church started
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that there were some people from Tampa.
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Florida, that were wandering down some Podunk little road
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called Pequannock it. That they ended up happening
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upon a home where Jim Jerome open the door, let them in and I
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think that was a Saturday and the very next day he came to the
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first service at Liberty Baptist Church because someone invited
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him to come and he's been here now for ten years, you know,
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there are more people like Jim Jerome that are out there.
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And what we want to do is to not just honor the past but also
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look forward to the future. We've already invited a couple
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of folks that have been here in the past that we're going to
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honor during the service. One, the one of the very first
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people that were here, Miss Dorothy.
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Dupont she's actually be traveling here.
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We're going to honor her during the morning.
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Really the first person ever to reach out to our church about
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two weeks before the church started, she got a flyer in
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heard or emailed and said my sister and I want to come to
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church. Can we come and die and pick
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them up this that morning? They're the first people enjoys.
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Her sister is in Ohio now. Not able to come but Dorothy
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will be here will be honoring her really the first two
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workers. Ever had at our church.
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Dan and or Woodward are going to be coming that morning and we're
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going to be honoring them as well for their service and we
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have one other that we want to honor as well one who has gone
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on to heaven. And it's my prayer as we talk to
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their family over the next few weeks that will be able to have
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their family come. And I'm going to honor her,
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whether the family is here or not, but it's my prayer that
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their family will be able to be here and be a part of the
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service and just have a really tough time of rejoicing because
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we have so much to thank the Lord for over 10 years.
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But we also know this that the 10th anniversary is not mission
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accomplished. The 10th anniversary is really
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to be continued and we want to make sure that we do continue
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all the way until the Lord comes.
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And so I really just in your mind, I want you to mark that
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day on your calendar just to be part of it invite folks.
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It's just going to be a wonderful day and I want to talk
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to you more about it later and then we'll do more of that.
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But I really say that all now because it goes into what we
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have here with the message tonight because Yes.
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Programs or wonderful. I'm thankful for a patch Club.
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It was because of patch club that we had nine young people
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come to church, seven of which would not normally be on
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Wednesday night. Some of their parents staying
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here for church, which was a blessing and kind of the hope
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and prayer. When we have something like
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that, programs are great. I'm glad we have a junior
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church. I'm glad we have a
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sunday-school. We're looking here in a few
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weeks to add a Another Sunday school class.
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We have Bible studies, we have Outreach, we have program after
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program after program. We're looking at adding programs
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as the Lord allows I'm all for. G but programs don't build
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churches. In and of themselves programs,
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don't build churches programs. Don't build the kingdom of God
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in and of themselves programs. Don't build the kingdom of God.
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What builds churches and more importantly, what builds the
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kingdom of God is what we see here in Acts chapter 17 tonight.
Acts 17 chapter mention
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And what we see here in Acts chapter 17 tonight is missing by
Acts 17 chapter mention
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and large from the contemporary church today by contemporary.
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I'm not talking about style of worship.
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I'm just talking about the Church of today and is missing.
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Maybe impart here at Liberty, Baptist Church because I'd say
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this, as much as I love. Liberty Baptist Church.
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And as much as I think this is a wonderful Church.
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We don't follow the first century model in the word of
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God, in the sense that really most churches today.
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Don't because they were not just churches of programs.
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They didn't really have many programs, but they were churches
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of prayer and they were churches of the power of God.
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And I think we can have all of them.
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I think programs are good but without prayer, without the
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power of God, we're really missing the mark.
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And that's what I want us to focus on.
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As we draw closer to that 10th anniversary, you know, a tent
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may bring a crowd and weep. Praise the Lord for that a free
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meal we find out brings a crowd breakfast.
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Who would have thought right? I've never seen people come to
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church so early as they did last week.
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I was shocked. No one was more shocked than me.
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A breakfast. Can draw a crowd of food can
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draw a crowd at a concert can draw a crowd but to change lives
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requires more than a program to change.
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Lives requires something far greater than maybe we as a
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modern church today and again I'm careful using that term
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modern More contemporary. Because I'm not saying that we
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are trying to follow in to modernism or into contemporary
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theology. Or contemporary quote-unquote
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worship? No, I'm just talking about as a
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church today in the time frame that we live in.
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We need more of Acts and Acts chapter 17 in our lives.
Acts 17 chapter mention
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Would you stand, please for the reading God's word Acts chapter
Acts 17 chapter mention
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17 will begin in verse number. One Acts chapter 17 beginning in
Acts 17 chapter mention
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verse number one, The Bible says this, now when they had passed
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through and fibulas and uphold Nia, they came to thessalonica,
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where was a synagogue of the Jews in Paul as his manner was
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went in unto them and three Sabbath days reason with them
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out of the scriptures opening and alleging that Christ must
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needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and that
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this Jesus whom I preached unto you is Christ and some of them
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believed and consorted with Paul.
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And Silas and of The Devout Greeks, a great multitude of the
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chief women, not a few, but the Jews which believed not moved
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with Envy took unto them certain lewd, fellows of the baser sort
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more. What a term that is right there,
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lewd, fellows of the baser sort. If you can't enjoy the King
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James language right there. I can't help you lewd.
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Fellows of the baser sort. These are some Bad Dudes, all
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right, and gathered a company and set all the city on an
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uproar and assaulted the house of Jacob jasen and sought to
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bring Then out to the people and when they found them, not they
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drew Jason and certain Brethren under the rulers of the city
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crying and note this, these are they or these that have turned
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the world upside down. Are come hither also, look at
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that phrase, I'll say it, correctly.
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This time, these that have turned the world upside down are
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come hither also. I think many are not bothered by
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Churches today because we're not turning the world upside down.
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Oh, I'm certain. We're having an impact to a
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certain level, but I wouldn't say we're turning East in upside
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down or Brockton upside down and this is not an indictment of our
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church. I'm talking about Christianity
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today but wouldn't it be wonderful if we could be noted
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as the church? That turned Easton upside down?
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I think we can but it's not about what we can do, because if
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it's up to our own capabilities, we can't do it.
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It's all about what God can do and what God can do through.
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Us. And that's what I want to look
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at tonight. Heavenly Father, be with us as
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we get into the word and again I know this was not the plan today
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for me, but this was the plan for you.
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And so I pray that you would just have us go in the
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direction. You'd want us to go tonight and
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we ask it in Jesus name. Amen.
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Thank you, may be seated. Paul and Silas on their second
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missionary journey, were accused of turning the known world
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upside down. Did I say this?
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Tonight? This is what our culture.
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This is what our world needs today.
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In many ways, it is being turned upside down, but it's being
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turned upside down by the forces of sim, it's being turned upside
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down by the culture and it's being turned upside down by
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those who would try to take those things that are so
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evident. And those things that are so
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clear from the word of God, Odd. But yet to make left, right and
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to make right left and to make up down, and make down up.
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And we live in a day where two plus two doesn't even equal for
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anymore. That's the day that we live in.
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The world is getting turned upside down.
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Maybe we could put it this way tonight.
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We turn it right side up again in the sense that we need to be
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out there in the culture, not just out there.
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Meekly, just saying, well I hope that they don't shut us down
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hope that the world doesn't shut down our church in the sense of
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you know silencing us and quieting us.
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No I'm saying that we must broadcast what?
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Do we must do far greater we must do far more but we don't do
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it in and of ourselves. We do it with the power of God,
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but how do you change a community on its face?
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How do you change a community? There's a lot of different ways
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that people would say you could change a community.
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Some would say that it's by feeding the homeless or some
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would say that by providing weekday programs for families.
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There were some that would suggest you open missionary
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hospitals or have doctors or dentists are optometrists go on.
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On missions trips and and listen in, and of themselves, there's
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nothing wrong with those things. If I've learned anything from
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some of the track distribution, I've done.
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And some of the things that I've heard from others that have gone
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out and done more than I have, is that when you get out on the
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streets and you see the homelessness, and you see the
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difficulties that you see the mental illness and you see the
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drug use. Certainly, there are people that
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need physical health. We've had Facebook ads, going
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out the last couple weeks, and we've had several people who've
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talked about needing financial help and I wish that we just had
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the type of funds that if it would solve the problem, get
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what I'm saying. If it would solve the problem
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that we could just plug all those financial holes in
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people's lives and turn their life around.
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I wish that we could do that if and I think it's great when
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missionary hospitals are open and I I have friends that have
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gone on missions trips, that are nurses and doctors and that have
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gone and done great work on. Mission field.
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There's nothing inherently wrong.
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With any of those things. The problem is, is that none of
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these things are bad in and of themselves.
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But if this is all a church does, than they are treating the
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symptoms instead of the disease, and the disease is sin, and the
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prognosis is hell. We are not going to change
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someone's life for eternity by giving them bread, but we will
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change their life for eternity by offering the bread of life,
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Jesus Christ, not by giving them water.
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Water to drink that's clean on the mission field.
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But by giving them the Water of Life now, I have no problem.
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If there's a feeding station that is there, that's operating
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to preach the gospel to people as they go through.
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I think that's a wonderful thing.
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I know missionary, is it open Clean Wells to be able to help
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Villages drink properly? And guess where they open it?
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Right? Next to the church so that
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they're able to have people come in and out where they can
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witness to them and talk to them.
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I think that's a wonderful thing if that's the need.
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Why? Because they realized that that
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to feed One, once they'll be hungry in a day to have someone
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drink once they'll be thirsty in a day, but to give them of the
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bread of life to give them of the Water of Life.
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They will never hunger, they will never thirst again.
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This is what changes alike. And so while we even we as a
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church, if we had a homeless Ministry or even if we as a
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church went out and had a Ministry where we helped a
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families during the week with their children in childcare and
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different things like that, there's nothing inherently wrong
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with them. But if you do that for any other
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Other purpose than trying to give people.
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The gospel you've missed the point because those things in
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and of themselves don't change communities, the gospel changes
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the community. Why?
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Because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to
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everyone, who believeth to the Jew first and also, to the Greek
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Romans 1:16, there is power in the gospel.
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The problem is, we're keeping that power under the bushel.
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And not only that, we are not implementing God's program, not
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of of children's programs and things like that.
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Although again, there's nothing wrong with those but God's
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program of prayer and God's program of power that comes from
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him. But these folks had something
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different, they turned the world upside down.
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It's the second missionary journey there, there in
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thessalonica. They did some things, they gave
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us a model that we can follow. Here today.
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They're very briefly. I want to give you these three
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things. The first thing I see, is they
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lifted up Jesus Christ. They lifted Christ.
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Do you see what it said here? In verse number 2, it says in
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Paul as his manner was, what does that mean?
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This is what he normally did everywhere.
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Pole went, this was the model that he followed.
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He went somewhere and baked bread and handed it out to the
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poor. Now, let's not what it says.
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It says, and Paul, as his manner was went in unto them.
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And again, at the synagogue and three Sabbath days reason with
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them out of the scriptures, he didn't give them a TED Talk.
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He didn't talk to them about what the Contemporary issues of
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the day were. He said this?
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I want to take the scriptures, what we would call the Old
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Testament today, and I want to talk to you about the meaning of
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the Old Testament. Well, what's the meaning of the
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Old Testament, little points of Jesus Christ.
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And so, what was he doing? He was leading them to the place
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where they could understand that the Messiah Had come and his
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name is Jesus Christ. Verse 3 opening and alleging now
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that word alleging today is used a little bit differently.
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You know when we hear the word allegedly it's usually on the
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news and they said you know so-and-so killed so-and-so
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allegedly or so-and-so stole from this Bank allegedly and
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what they're saying is this is they're saying we have heard,
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this is the case we're not saying that it's true, we've
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just heard that it's the case. Because if they were to not use
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that word allegedly, they could be liable for, you know,
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slandering someone's name someone's character.
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What if they didn't actually robbed the bank or what if they
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didn't actually commit that murder?
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So they have to use that term allegedly well, we see allegedly
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here in verse number 3 opening and alleging, we might think
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that Paul is may be hedging his bets a little bit.
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It's almost as if Paul is not truly saying Jesus.
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The Christ who let me ask you knowing Paul the Apostle knowing
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Paul the missionary. Do you think that he softened
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the blow The gospel at all though.
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I would say quite the opposite. Wouldn't you know that word
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alleging here, the connotation of it in the Greek is setting
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down a meal. Believe it or not, he's sitting
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down a meal in front of them. He is alleging.
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That's the connotation if you go into the Greek, Paul is
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literally making a meal for the Thessalonians and laying it in
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front of him. He says, this is what I want you
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to understand. I'm laying this before you open
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opening and alleging, I'm presenting to you.
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You that Christ must need have suffered.
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Oh, and here's something from Sunday, school.
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He must needs have risen again from the dead.
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Sounds like there's a need for a bodily, Resurrection?
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Isn't there? Having suffered and risen from
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the dead? And that this Jesus whom I
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preached unto you is Christ. That's a powerful message, right
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there. And he says, this is what I have
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to tell you that Jesus is Christ, he alleged it out of the
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scriptures, he set it down in front of them.
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And he says, I am going to lift Christ to these people.
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What is our plan here at Liberty?
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Baptist Church. Here's what we have to do.
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Lift up Jesus Christ, we have to lift High, Jesus Christ, so that
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everyone knows that at Liberty Baptist Church.
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If you want to learn about Jesus Christ, this is the place you're
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going to go. You're not going to hear about
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dead Dogma. You're not going to hear from
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Old Church fathers. You're not even going to hear
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from a preacher that's giving his slant or opinion on things
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know what we're going to have here.
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Liberty Baptist Church is someone who's going to stand
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before you with an Open Bible and no other book.
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No Book of Mormon. No old church books.
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No, Apocrypha and old. Catechism, just simply the word
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of God, and we're going to open and allege that it was the Jesus
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Christ that was put on the tree that was dead.
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Who was buried who rose again and lives today, that will save
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Souls. That's what we're going to
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allege here in this building and we've got to do more of it, not
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less. And it's got to be known in this
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area. If you want to learn about Jesus
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Christ, if you want to know what salvation is, if you want
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people, who will love you. Who will love you that?
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This is the place to go. Jesus Christ.
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You know what we pick? Give people a warm greeting,
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when they come in because we're lifting up Christ.
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Do you know why that's so important?
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We're lifting up. Jesus Christ.
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What Pastor? I don't see how that's lifting
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up. Jesus Christ.
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Do you remember what Jesus said when you give a cup of water in
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my name, what are you doing? You're doing it unto me.
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And so what are we doing? When we are loving someone,
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we're loving them in the stead of Christ?
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That's what we're doing. I'm not trying to be weird about
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this. This is what the book says and
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so when someone comes in and we just sit down and we don't
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engage and we don't talk what were showing is that that we
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don't want to lift Christ in the matter though.
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Someone should come here and be so overwhelmed by the fact that
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people I want to love on them and people want to talk to them
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and people want to engage with them and listen.
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I know not, everyone can do that all the time.
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Sometimes you have other things going on and sometimes you're
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having a bad day and sometimes you just don't want anyone to
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talk to. You can tell you, that's a great
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time to get up and go talk to somebody.
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If you're having a day like that because we all have days like
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that and I understand it. But what do we do?
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We want people to come in here and say we lift up Jesus Christ.
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When people ask me what's different about your church,
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then from the Catholic church, if I had a nickel for every time
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someone asked me that brother, Dan how Different about your
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church, then the Catholic church, and I say this, without
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having to try to say anything that's disparaging about the
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Catholics, there are wonderful, Catholic, people are very kind
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Catholic people and I don't want them to feel like I am trying to
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disparage them personally, but this is a very simple way to
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explain it. Well, at our church, we just
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believe what the Bible says in no other book.
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We're just going to teach and preach from what the Bible says
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in no other book. And you know what?
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I find that most people respond in this way, that's Refreshing.
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Most people say, well, I didn't know that.
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And why, because what are we going to do?
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We're not going to lift up a catechism.
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I tried to do that. For 16 years is a Lutheran, I
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memorized. What Luther said about the
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Bible, but it memorize the Bible.
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I mean, think about that for a second.
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I memorize paragraph after paragraph to paragraph about
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what a man in the 1500 said about the Bible.
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But I didn't know a lick about the Bible.
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But that's the way it is in many churches.
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So what do we do? Well, we believe what's right?
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What we may believe, what's right?
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But it's only because we lift Jesus Christ and believe that
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book. So what do we need to do?
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We need to lift Jesus Christ, by the way, if we make much of our
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tenth anniversary which I hope that we do, it's not to make
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names for self. What we sing every anniversary
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is what was saying this 10th anniversary.
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The very first song We sang with his church open and it's the
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very first song. We sing at every anniversary to
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God, be the glory great things. He hath done.
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We lift Up. So let's see that.
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First of all, Paul here lifted up Christ.
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But number two, I also see this. They launch churches, they
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launched churches. I'm not going to get too deep
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into this tonight for the sake of time.
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But this is what churches do churches plant, churches
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churches, start churches. No God ordained in the garden
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that everything would reproduce after its kind.
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By the way, that's still true today.
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That's still the way God has designed things and plan things
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that that's just the way very nature is but that's true for
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churches. As well.
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Churches start churches, I'm thankful that when I went up to
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Pastor George perk in 2011 and I said, God has laid upon our
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heart to start Liberty Baptist Church in Boston even though I
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was the assistant pastor, even though I was the choir director
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even though I was a youth director, even though she was a
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teacher even though we were very integrated and what was going on
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there, he never flinched. He never thought about it.
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He said this, let's get you going.
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Now, maybe he was trying to get rid of me.
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In hindsight, and some of you say, just Westgate, still want
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you because maybe know they don't.
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I'm fine here. All right.
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But the idea was this, he knew that it was a blessing for a
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church to start a church. You know what happened?
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A few years after that that Westgate started a church in
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Oklahoma outside of Tulsa happens to have the same
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anniversary as us was started on our sixth anniversary.
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So therefore years behind us or six years behind us, I can do
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math. But the idea is this church is
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start churches, and God's plan is that God's plan for us is
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that churches start churches? Do you know my desire for
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Liberty, Baptist Church has been and will continue to be that we
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start more churches. To a pastor.
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We're a small Church ourselves. Well, churches, start churches.
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Well, what if we spread ourselves too thin here?
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I don't know that we're in any danger of that.
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Let's just go ahead and give the Gospel wherever we can.
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And when God gives opportunities, let's walk
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through those doors when God gives us those export
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opportunities. Let's walk through them, because
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that's what happens here. Paul left thessalonica on a
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rail. But you know what, it got left
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behind a church. Well Pastor, you can't prove
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that, it doesn't say that there. Well, I have to whole books,
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it'll prove it to you once called first Thessalonians.
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The others called second Thessalonians.
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Why to the church? That is at thessalonica?
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Greetings, that's what Paul says.
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And we know that a church was established god-ordained.
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The church as the institution where the gospel is preached and
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people who grow, that's why we've been given the Great
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Commission Now. How how does this happen?
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How does this happen? Well, Matthew chapter 9 verses
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36 through 38 says this but when he saw the multitudes Jesus he
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was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and
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were scattered abroad as sheep. Having no Shepherd, then saith
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he unto his disciples. The Harvest is plenteous but the
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laborers are few pray. Ye therefore the lord of the
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Harvest that he will send forth laborers into his Harvest.
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You know what? Jesus is prayer request for us,
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is pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send laborers.
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Can I just be extremely blunt with you tonight?
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I have tried for the last year and a few months to have an
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associate assistant, pastor, come and work with us here at
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Liberty Baptist Church. I've talked to other Bible
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colleges. I've talked to men that work at
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other churches. I have offered Sterling, pay
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packages. I have offered to help them find
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employment, but I've and I've told them about the need here
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and how I believe there's great opportunity here and certainly
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we've seen that opportunity very much over the last few months,
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especially that opportunity growing and Rising once again.
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But do you know what I've seen? And I prayed to the lord of the
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Harvest to send laborers and I prayed on the outside that he
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would send laborers from Oklahoma, from Washington, from
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Oregon, from Kansas. These are some of the states of
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places. I've talked to men, And you know
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what? I've heard every time no.
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No. Can I tell you it?
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Bothers me a little bit because I love do England.
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I'm not from New England, but I love New England.
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Like this is where I am from now, and I love it.
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I'm fiercely loyal to it. And when people from other
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places don't want to come where I live, it's kind of like, you
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don't like Boston, we don't like, you know, I'm just
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kidding. We don't, that's not the right
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Spirit. That's the Boston Spirit, but
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that's not the right spirit. So, that's, that's not the right
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Spirit. But you know what?
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God has made abundantly clear to me, the laborers.
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Have to be here. if you're waiting for the Cavalry to come
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in, God hasn't sent it. No, he's given us Calvary, but
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not the Cavalry. There's a difference.
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So what are we saying? Now?
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God has brought some, I believe in this local area to come and
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get saved in a join with us, I believe that's part of it, but
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God's calling us to be the laborers in the Harvest and have
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seen some who have gotten that spark.
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I've seen some who have gotten excited because God uses the
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church to be able to go out into the community and be the
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battering ram that can turn the world.
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Down and listen, Easton's the community.
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This upside down. A lot of ways people get upset
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about the strangest things. I was online last week and
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there's somebody that was upset. That was my first mistake being
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online. Last week.
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Somebody was upset really team. You probably saw this.
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Some was upset because on Depot Street where they remodeled the
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street somebody they started hanging the signs for the new
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side streets. Not with one post but with two
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posts. And someone said, why would they
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use to post on a street sign? And people started arguing about
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a thread that was 50 or 60 comments long about street signs
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of whether they have one post or two.
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You know, he still needs the gospel to cut through all the
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mess and cut through all the, the difficulty and cut through
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all the things that people argue about and fight about.
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Well, what about this, political issue?
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What about that? Political issue, guess what?
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The gospel solves all of it, the gospel solves all of it.
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And I'm not saying we shouldn't be involved in politics and I we
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should make sure that we have honor and respect for the
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government. I'll say that again, because
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it's not very popular. We should make sure we have
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honor and respect for our government, but I also know
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this. What's going to solve the audit?
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Would they honour issue, respect issue with the government was
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good? Sold the mess that the
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government is in, is you and I going out instead of complaining
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about them, go reach them with the gospel.
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That's what it's going to take. And again, I'm all for being
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part of the political process, but we need to make sure that we
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understand the dynamic that will change a community is the local
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church. And maybe I'm not been clear
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about that in the past. Maybe I've not been clear about
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our relationship with the government here, and our
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relationship with, how we are to respond, to it, for instance,
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Romans 13. But I will say this, if you want
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to make a difference here in this community, It's by being
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part of a local church and be part.
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That's not very popular today. That's not very popular but it's
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what it is and and to change and make a difference.
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So I see where to live Christ with a launch churches, but I
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also see this we're to live. Consistently number three, we're
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live consistently. Having the mechanisms in place
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for a community to be turned upside down is one thing, but we
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must be living our walk each and every day.
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We have to live or walk each and every day.
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Here's the problem. All this sounds good.
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But we've got to do it. We're going to be consistent
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turn if you would to 1st Thessalonians chapter 2 because
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Paul is going to talk to the people of thessalonica about
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something that I think will be helpful to us.
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First Thessalonians chapter 2. You're going to few pages away.
1 Thessalonians 2 chapter mention
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First Thessalonians chapter 2 Who is in verse 14 yourselves,
1 Thessalonians 2 chapter mention
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Brethren know, our entrance in unto you that it was not in
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vain, but even that after that, we have suffered before and
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we're shamefully entreated as you know, at Philippi.
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We were what's that next word? Bold in our God to speak unto
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you? The gospel of God with much
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contention, even though there were people that were not happy
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about them, preaching the gospel, and by the way, he's not
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even talking about thessalonica, he's talking about Philippi,
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why? Because this was something that
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regularly happened to him everywhere.
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He went, he preached the gospel, And people didn't want to hear
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him. But yet in the wake of the
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Calamity that took place in every city and town, churches
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were established. Why?
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Because Paul, if I could put it this way, was who he said he
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was. He didn't just preach something
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and live something else. He lived.
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Consistently the message for exhortation was not of Deceit,
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nor of uncleanness nor in guile or craftiness, but as we were
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allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel even so we
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speak not as pleasing. Pleasing men, but God, which
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Triathlon hearts for neither at any time used, we flattering
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words as you know, nor cloak of covetousness, God is witness,
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nor of men salt, we Glory, either of you, nor yet of others
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when we might have been burdensome as the Apostles of
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Christ. But we were gentle among you
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even as a nurse cherish at their children.
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So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing
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to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God, only but also
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our own Souls. Because you were dear unto us.
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What made the difference for the Thessalonians was that they
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literally saw Paul and Silas give their own souls for them to
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be able to come to Christ. They live consistently with what
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they were saying. By the way how many communities
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have been turned off to God by watching people say, they love
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God and do something different. How many times have people said,
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you know, I really want to go to church, but I don't want to go
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because of the Christians who were at the church.
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Now sometimes that's their problem because they don't want
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to in their heartbeat in church and they're they're projecting
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that onto another church. But I will say this, there were
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times there were churches in the communities that are not a good
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testimony for Christ and so because they don't live,
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consistently people say, I don't want to be any part of that.
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Paulie, the consistent life. Charles Spurgeon, put it this
-
way. A man's life is always more
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forcible than a speech. When men take stock of him, they
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reckon his deeds as dollars and his words as pennies.
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If his life and Doctrine disagree, the mass of onlookers,
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except his practice and reject his preaching.
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Think about that. If his life and Doctrine
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disagree, The mass of onlookers, except his practice and reject.
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His teaching. Meaning this if you were saying
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one thing and doing another people believe what you're
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doing, not what you're saying? And we know that from life,
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don't we? We know that to be true, but yet
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we forget that in our lives. We can't talk about being people
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of prayer, and not be people of prayer, because if we do, we're
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going to miss the power that God wants to give us.
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That's why tuning up for the 10th anniversary, isn't just a
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program about. Let's get a lot of people here.
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And here's some tricks that we can do to get people here and
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let's drop it when we're done. No, we need to pray before the
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10th anniversary. We need to pray during the 10th
-
anniversary. And guess what, what do you keep
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praying with the 10th anniversary?
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This is my prayer that we grow in prayer.
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Over that time we as a church have grown in prayer over the
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last several years with it. Men's prayer meeting ladies,
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Bible studies, where they pray together, Wednesday night prayer
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times are all of these different things, but I want us to grow in
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prayer. We need more prayer.
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Not less. We need to make sure that we're
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living a consistently. That we're living lives that,
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that when we say that we live for God, we actually live for
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God, and this is what Paul did. This is how Paul lived, and this
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is how we must live. I look at thessalonica, we get
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sum of two of the most encouraging Epistles.
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You will find are written to the people of thessalonica.
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And what's ironic about those Epistles is that in most
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Epistles, Paul has to deal with those people in that City having
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done wrong. You know, Galatians Corinthians
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Paul has to deal with some problems that they have
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encountered, but mostly in first and second Thessalonians polls,
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giving them encouragement and they were started in the midst
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of a disaster. And yet through the midst that
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because of the power of God, a church was established in an
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unlikely place. And Paul and Silas, and many
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others were accused of turning the world upside down.
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I know this, I don't want people to talk about Liberty, Baptist
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Church, because we're the best protesters on Earth.
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I don't, I don't want people to talk about Liberty, Baptist
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Church, because we're out there with signs and placards, and
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we're going to, we're going to show the government what we
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think about XYZ. I don't want to be known for
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that. You can, I be honest with you,
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there's people already doing that.
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They can have that lane go with there's not a lot of people
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doing that are out there. Passionately patiently
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prayerfully trying to turn the world upside down for the sake
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of the Gospel. How do we do that?
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We have to lift up cross, we all lift him up, it's not my
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message, but his message, it's not your life, but his life.
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The message His Life For Mine is, what the message is.
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We have to win to launch churches and I know that in the
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future, I would like for us to do more as far as starting
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another church, but we need to establish and strengthen what
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God has given us here. And that doesn't mean just
-
sitting around, waiting for God to give us a building it means
-
just going out. Thanking God for the building.
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We have now and doing the best we can with it and using the
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funds that God has given us. Now to reach more people,
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instead of just waiting for a building that we don't know.
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God will ever just give us in the future said pastor.
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God doesn't just give church buildings and churches.
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I'm watched most of my friends. It seems like get Church
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buildings that way and I'm just kind of waiting for our ship to
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come in. But the Lord says this in the
-
meantime they strengthen churches that mean more money
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needs to go to tracks and distribution and materials.
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I think we should do that to the glory of God carefully.
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Making sure that we're not being unwise and how we spend, but
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understand at the same time, there's a whole world out there
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that needs to be saved. And I I can't reach the whole
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world, but we can do something about this town.
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And then when you live consistently tuning up for our
-
10th anniversary is not just a neat thing that we should just
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do for one day and then drop. No, it's really just an
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extension of what we should do because we're a church.
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Oh, Soul winning. Yeah, we do that anyway, prayer,
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we do that anyway. Reaching people.
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We do that. Anyway, preaching the gospel, do
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that anyway, but we didn't do more.
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You know what I would do after the 10th anniversary.
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What if we do too much? Well, I'll tell you, if we end
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up reaching the whole world, then we could suck.
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But until then we've got work to do and they say this and I'll be
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done. If you don't know Jesus Christ,
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your savior to them, if you don't know that heaven is your
-
home, then maybe none of this makes any sense to you to them,
-
but I do know this is that there is only one way to Jesus Christ.
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There's only one way to Jesus Christ and that is by faith,
-
repenting of your sins, and calling a bomb to save you.
-
And there's only one way to heaven and that's through Jesus
-
Christ. So what do we know that?
-
The scripture says that it's through, Jesus Christ that we
-
are saved and it's through faith.
-
Faith in Jesus Christ by repenting of our sins and
-
calling me Christ to save us. The good news is that anyone can
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do it? How do I know that a child was
-
small? As that one back there?
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Can accept Jesus Christ, Our Savior, And a man or woman on
-
their deathbed that humbles their heart, like a child can
-
receive Jesus Christ as Savior, but every person has to make the
-
decision for themselves. And I want to remind you tonight
-
that there is no greater decision that you can make it.
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If you don't know that, you're going to heaven when you die
-
say, people can't know that. There's no way that people can
-
even be sure about that. I would contradict you and say
-
this, there's a group of people here tonight that are very sure
-
where they're going to go where they die.
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And it's not because they're overconfident and sound, because
-
they placed their trust in themselves.
-
It's because they Place their trust in one who has much higher
-
than any of us. The one, whose highest of all
-
and holiest of all and that's Jesus Christ.
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Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
-
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
-
to you or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
-
know by contacting us at info, at my Liberty Baptist dot org,
-
or you can visit us this Sunday at eight hundred Washington
-
Street in Eastern. Massachusetts, may the Lord
-
bless you as you grow in his word.
-
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
-
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
-
to you or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
-
know by contacting us at info, at my Liberty Baptist dot org,
-
or you can visit us this Sunday at eight hundred Washington
-
Street in Eastern. Massachusetts, may the Lord
-
bless you as you grow in his word.