Still a Baptist

I'm glad that you're here today.

Why don't you be seated?

I'm sure there'll be others joining us this morning.

That's usually a Baptist thing, right?

They trickle in.

But I'm sure glad you're here today.

Let me first of all introduce my wife.

She's on the back seat back there somewhat close to our book

table.

Ms. Susan, would you raise your hand?

Let folks see who you are back there in the back.

Alright.

She'll be the one that'll help you with the book table back there.

There are books back there that I've published.

We have a ministry of the church.

LWBC Publications is a ministry of Lake Worth Baptist Church.

I don't personally profit for any of the books that we sell that

goes back into our book fund.

And so if you would like some information about that, hopefully

you'll be able to get help today sitting today.

I'll go ahead and tell you during preaching I'll be standing,

but I'm sitting today because life changes for an 80 year old guy.

And in February of this year I was diagnosed with early Parkinson's.

And so I've been adjusting to a new lifestyle of trying to conserve

as much energy as I can for doing ministry.

I'll be standing up preaching during the preaching hour today.

But I'm trying not to be distracted by that.

I hope that you won't either.

Matter of fact, this is very rabbitical.

Jesus stood to read the Word and then he sat to teach.

So I'm just following the example of Jesus.

If you got a problem with it, take it up with him.

Okay, as you can see on the screen, I'm going to spend my two

days with two sessions with you today talking about still a Baptist,

neither angry nor ashamed of it.

And that comes from a book that I wrote in 2017 by the same

title.

317 pages, 111 sources, 263 footnotes.

It's a fully documented book on Baptists.

I'd been raised a Baptist since I was a boy, was saved when

I was 10.

Within 15 minutes of being saved, I became a Baptist.

I was baptized and I've been a part of this Baptist group for a

long time.

And I told my wife when I stepped down from being a pastor,

I said I need to, I need to write a book on Baptist.

And she said, well you better get with it.

That's code for your getting old.

She denies that story, but I'm going with mine.

Okay.

So I spent the first year plus of my Retirement to writing this

book on Baptist.

So I want to just spend my time with you today and we'll move

along with the screens help today.

And I want to talk to you in this first session today about what

do Baptists believe?

If you'll get a Bible and turn to Luke chapter one.

Luke chapter one.

Luke introduces his gospel with some very interesting and powerful

observations that we could make.

Luke chapter 1 and verse 1.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

Forasmuch as many have taken into hand to set forth in order a

declaration of those things, notice the next phrase which are

surely believed among us.

There was things that was believed among various people who

were Christians during that time.

They were believed among them.

There weren't skeptics in New Testament churches, there were believers

in New Testament churches.

He goes on to say, even as they delivered them unto us, which

from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the

Word, they were eyewitnesses.

These weren't fables.

These weren't mere stories.

They were eyewitness accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus.

Verse 3 says, it seemed good to me also having had perfect understanding,

really, how about that, you know, if you know the truth, the

truth is still true.

Perfect understanding of all those things from the very first

to write unto thee in order, most excellent, Theophilus, that

thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein

thou hast been instructed.

Those are very important terms that we need to lay hold on that

we have a.

A faith that can be tested, it can be studied and investigated,

and it can be shared with other people, which we ought to do.

John writes his gospel and at the end of the gospel, instead of

the first, like Luke, he gives the kid and he says, these are written

that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,

and the believing you might have life through his name.

The reason for the Gospel of John was so that people would know

about Jesus and they would trust him for salvation.

Jude 3 says that we're to earnestly contend for the faith.

There has to be a faith to be able to be contended for.

So there must be something that you and I can know and have

certainty of.

And Jude tells us that we need to earnestly contend for that faith

first.

John 5, 13 says that these are written that you may know that you

have eternal life.

Anybody saved here today, you have eternal life.

And the reason that we can have that confidence is we have the

written word of God that promises and validates the fact that

we're born again.

I want you to Turn over to First Corinthians before I continue

on here, First Corinthians, Chapter 4.

1 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

There's an interesting phrase that Paul uses here that we may need

to underline in our Bibles, 1st Corinthians 4:17.

For this cause I've sent unto you, Timotheus, who is my beloved

Son and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance

of my ways which be in Christ.

Notice the last phrase as I teach everywhere, every church.

Now, Paul didn't have a different plan for Corinth and a

different plan for Ephesus.

He said, every place I've gone, every place I've gone, I've

taught the same thing in every church.

Aren't you glad about that?

If you, if you go to some other Baptist church, you should

be able to see in that Baptist church the commonality of what we

believe.

So let's talk about that this morning.

Joe Odle, who wrote a little book called Baptist Handbook, said

there is no single distinct doctrine which make men Baptists.

It's their position on a number of beliefs which, taken together,

make them a distinctive people.

In other words, there's not a singular chapter or book in the New

Testament that can define for us what we need to believe.

As Baptists, we're going to have to know our Bible.

And that's really the problem today among many people and as well

as Baptists is they really don't know their Bible real well.

And we need to be students of God's word.

It's one thing for you to come here and sit every week.

It's another thing for you to soak in what you believe and then

put that in practice in your life and by sharing that with other

people.

George McDaniel was a Baptist pastor a hundred years ago.

And by the way, let me just, if you can see it on the screen there,

it's got a birth year and a death year.

Do you see that?

That'll kind of put a context for us about when these people believe

this so that we're not either talking about something that's just

a recent belief.

But we're going to show you that there's a lot of documentation

that Baptists believe what we Baptists believe today here in this

church as well as the church that I'm a member of as well.

George McDaniel said in other decades, Baptists were better indoctrinated

than they are today.

How about that?

100 years ago, George May Daniel said, we're losing the fight.

Hundred years ago, there was a time when people were better indoctrinated

the environment in which they lived, sometime unfriendly to them,

was conducive to the mastery of their principles.

Now, what he's saying is this.

The more you're challenged in your beliefs, the better off you

are.

Don't be embarrassed by the fact that somebody says, well, I

don't believe that, because you should be able to know what you

believe, and you need to be able to stand for it.

And there are people today that call themselves Baptists that

aren't very Baptistic at all.

Amen.

McDaniel goes on to say this.

Of latter years, a tendency to depreciate doctrinal discussions

is easily discernible, and young converts particularly are not

rooted and grounded in the faith.

Now, I should say this.

It is the job of every scriptural church to do what Jesus

said, and that is to teach believers who've been baptized to

observe the things in the commandments of Jesus Christ.

That's our job.

Once people get saved and baptized, we need to train them so

that they'll be rooted and grounded in the faith.

McDaniel closes that paragraph by saying this modern nonchalance

he's talking about.

People here act as if it made little difference what one believes

with cavalier air.

It belittles the man who has the nerve to make a denominational

affirmation.

Well, I'm going to make a denominational affirmation before

I leave here today.

And that is, Baptists are God's people, God's churches are

Baptist churches.

And you and I should not be angry nor ashamed of that.

We should be aware of it.

So I'm going to answer the question in this first session.

Well, before I do, let me talk about George again.

He pastored the First Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia, for

those years there that are on the screen.

And that church is now separated from the Southern Baptist

Convention celebrates their female pastors.

Let that get you a hold of you a little bit today.

That church has slipped a little bit, hasn't it?

That church has slipped a little bit.

And here they were, they had the good and godly pastor by the

name of George McDaniel.

Matter of fact, he was trained by Dr. B.H.

carroll.

He roomed while he was going to college with BH Carroll.

And a lot of the things he understood, he understood from Dr.

Carroll.

But here the church is these years later, and they're not standing

for the faith.

Well, may God save us from that.

Amen to that.

May God save us from that.

So I want to answer the question.

Are Baptist churches New Testament churches In other words,

can you read your New Testament and see your church operating

and believing like those churches did?

That's what you need to know.

You need to be able to say, you know, that's what our church

does.

That's the reason our church takes that stand is because it's

in the New Testament.

Now, I appreciate a little bit of a trick tradition.

I don't appreciate the old kind of tradition of buildings that

didn't have air conditioning.

I like air conditioning.

I, I don't, you know, I don't have to any kind of problem using

these screens to help us learn a little bit better.

I, I'm not opposed to that at all.

But I am telling you this.

You and I ought to be able to look in our Bible and see our church

believing and preaching and practicing what is in the New Testament.

Hey, anytime you want to, anytime you want to get excited and

say Amen, you're, you're free to do it.

Okay?

And by the way, let me just educate you a little bit.

Amen doesn't mean I agree with you.

It means go on.

I got it.

Move on to the next point.

So let's go on.

Let's go.

Number one.

New Testament churches believe the Bible is the sole and final authority

of a New Testament church.

Your Bible is the guidebook for everything your church does and

believes or the New Testament Church.

And maybe just I can give you this little formula, God is true.

God inspired the Scriptures.

All scripture is true.

It's not inspired in spots.

And scholars are there to spot the spots for us all.

The Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible, preserved word

of God.

You say, well, don't all people believe that the Bible is

the sole and final authority?

No, Catholics don't believe that.

Catholics believe that if the Pope sits in some kind of formal

setting, ex cathedra that he can give revelation for, for the

day.

They also believe that their tradition is very, very important

to what they believe and teach as well.

And they, they have the apocryphal book, seven of them in

their Bible as well.

And then you have to have one of their priests interpret the Bible

for you.

Aren't you glad you got a Bible that God can help you understand?

And Protestants aren't really much bigger, better than that.

The way I like to say it is the Protestants walked out the front

door of the Catholic Church, but they stayed on the porch.

They still do a lot of Catholic stuff.

They don't let the Bible completely affirm why they do what

they do.

More about that later, charismatics believe they can have

a revelation from God.

Now I tell folks, if you have a revelation from God, you ate pizza

late two, late at night.

If you want a revelation from God, read the Bible.

If you want God to speak to you audibly, read the Bible out loud.

The Bible is our sole and final authority on matters of faith

and practice, not only of the church, but of your family and your

life as well.

Number two New Testament churches have a simple single message

of salvation.

A single.

It doesn't modify.

It's very simple.

Even a child can understand that.

You say, preacher, do you believe children can be saved?

I even believe adults can be saved.

It's simple.

And what is that?

The saving gospel of Jesus Christ, offered by grace alone, received

by faith alone, to whosoever will, is the exclusive means of a

noble eternal salvation.

Boy, aren't you glad you're saved today?

Aren't you glad there's still churches preaching a true salvation

story, offering that not only in this building, but out there in

the world as well.

That's the simple single message of salvation of a New Testament

Church.

It's all centered in Christ.

Without Christ, we have no salvation.

It's all by grace.

It's received by faith, not by works.

It's to whosoever will.

We're not among those reformed or Calvinistic groups that don't

believe that.

And you can know you're saved.

If you're saved, you're saved eternally.

I'll apologize for getting excited later on.

Say, doesn't everybody believe that?

No, Catholics don't believe that.

Matter of fact, you can.

You can ask the highest ranking Catholic, the Pope, the cardinals,

the bishops, the local priests.

None of them will ever declare they know they are saved.

They're hoping they're going to be saved.

They hope they can do enough good things to be saved.

Aren't you glad God did the work for you when he saved you?

Christ did enough on the cross to give his sacrifice once and for

all.

And we're saved through that.

Protestants aren't much better.

They still sprinkle their babies.

They still do not.

They believe that they recovered.

The doctrine of justification by faith, my friend, that was never

lost.

That's the only way anybody's ever been saved.

To believe that they recovered what had been lost in the apostate

Catholic Church is to say that for more than a thousand years there

wasn't people being saved.

God had people saved all during the ages.

Thank God for salvation.

Amen to that.

And charismatics lose their salvation.

I don't know if you ever kind of follow that, but it could be humorous.

But it's not all of their major failures.

You know, they're public figures that have been found doing

immoral things, stealing money, hanging out with women that

aren't their wives, and on and on and on.

Have you ever noticed they never say they got they lost their

salvation or they never give a time when they recovered their lost

salvation.

But they want you to think that you can lose your salvation.

I'm glad I don't have a I have a doubt in my heart that I'm saved.

I'm saved, saved, gloriously saved all by Jesus Christ.

I may not look glorious yet, but I'm headed for that one of these

days when I lay down this old body and get a new one.

Number three, by the way, we're going to have 10 points by

Baptist church and we're going to get out on time.

I expect a memorial to be built right here on the property

that a Baptist preacher has preached.

10 points and we got out on time.

You remind the pastor of that, will you?

Number three New Testament churches believe Christ founded the

church during his personal earthly ministry.

Now I'm going to preach more on that at the 11 o' clock service,

so I'm not going to say very much about that.

I will give a quote if you'd like.

1.

By B.H.

carroll B.H.

carroll was the founder of Southwestern Baptist Theological

Seminary.

More than a hundred years ago he said this Christ alone founded

his church.

I mean that, that the church was established in the days of his

sojourn in the flesh.

That work of its constitution commenced with the reception material

prepared by John the Baptist.

That organization commenced with the appointment of the 12 apostles

and that by the close of his earthly ministry there existed at

least one church as a model, the Church of Jerusalem.

Now that's what Southern Baptists used to believe.

They don't believe that today.

They believe in a modern founded Baptist church that established

itself during the Reformation.

I'll talk more about that later.

Don't get me distracted.

Number four New Testament churches are local, autonomous assemblies

of baptized believers under the headship of Christ.

I'll talk more about that at 11 o' clock as well.

I'm doing this to get out on time.

All right.

Here's what the first president of the Southern Baptist

Convention, William Johnson, said.

The term church indicates one church, one body of the Lord's people

meeting together in one place and not several congregations forming

one church.

There's no such thing as the Baptist church.

Baptist churches are independent.

They are autonomous, self governing.

We're not a part of an organization that appoints our pastors.

We're not part of that, of organizations that give us our Bible

study information for our Sunday school.

We're an autonomous, self contained, self governed church.

And all of it is under the headship of Jesus.

And he can only do that in a local church.

And he does that by authority.

I wish I had time to talk about it.

You might want to get my book on the chapter entitled In Search

of the Body of Christ.

The most misused term for the local church is the body of Christ

as the universal invisible church made up of all believers.

I will say more about that later as well.

And you ought to be happy about this number five New Testament

churches practice two ordinances instituted by Christ,

baptism and the Lord's Supper.

A.A. davis, who wrote a book called Baptist the Trail of Blood,

preached the charge of my dad's ordination in 1943, 82 years

ago.

And this is what Brother Davis said.

Baptism has been the battleground of many hurtful religious

heresies in the world today.

That is where the religious world has had its first argument,

the waters of baptism.

And significantly, the man who is wrong on the baptism question

will invariably be wrong on the Lord's Supper question without

a single exception.

Now, if you don't know what that means, hang around a little

bit.

We'll talk more about that eventually.

Let's talk about baptism.

Baptism is not optional.

Every believer should be baptized.

We should not be trying to put off the fact that, well, maybe one

of these days you'll come forward and submit to baptism.

Every believer needs to be baptized.

Baptism is an issue in a lot of Baptist churches.

As a matter of fact, Southern Baptists recently had a baptism Sunday.

They were having so few people baptized that they had to declare

a day to be baptized.

Listen, we ought to be baptizing regularly in a Baptist

church.

We ought to be able to see people saved and followed up on and

instructed on what baptism is and what it does.

It's not optional.

It's for believers only.

That's why it's not for babies.

Now you may get it all warm and fuzzy about the fact that some

high, dignified, robe wearing person sprinkle a little water on

your baby.

But that's not baptism.

Matter of fact, the old Baptists would not call any of that

baptism.

They would call it a water ceremony.

Do that to your friends, you know, who want to christen their

little babies.

It's for believers in Christ.

All through the Bible, it was believe and then be baptized.

You can be baptized in every creek and lake this side of the Dallas

and know all the frogs and tadpoles by name.

But you're not.

You're not to do that.

You're to be baptized only if you're a believer.

And you're to be baptized by immersion only.

The word baptism baptizo means immerse or plunge, not sprinkle.

It's also symbolic.

And not saving baptism is significant, but it's not saving.

You're not saved by being baptized.

Don't be ever confused by that.

That doesn't save you.

It's an answer of a good conscience toward God.

It's the first act of obedience of a believer.

And church authority is necessary for you to have scriptural

baptism.

I was talking about baptism with a collection of local guys that

we used to get.

They weren't church people at all.

And I was explaining baptism to them.

And one guy said, well, my buddy baptized me down and he named

the creek.

And this other friend that had picked up on what real baptism was

said, you've got illegal baptism.

If you don't have church authority, church authorized baptism,

you've got illegal baptism.

You may feel good about it, but that doesn't qualify for what

scriptural baptism is.

Baptism also adds you to the membership of the church.

They that gladly received his word were baptized.

And the same day they were added of them about 3,000 souls.

You can't be a part of a church without being baptized.

And that baptism gives you the privilege of having membership in

the Lord's church.

Now, I want to answer a question that some people wonder

about, and I didn't mean for that, that we're not getting the

kind of movement on it.

But what makes Baptist baptism or immersion different from other

baptisms and immersions?

And.

And the.

The answer of that is the blood of martyrs is in our baptismal

waters.

Do you know that people died for us to be baptized in the way

we baptize?

Do you know that people actually were drowned?

They've been.

They were martyred for believing in immersion as baptism.

And some of the most prolific enemies of scriptural baptism was

Luther and Calvin.

Both of them were involved in killing Anabaptists because of their

belief of baptism.

They called the drowning of those people their second baptism.

They were mocking Baptists.

And I think we ought to treasure the kind of baptism we're

able to offer today.

As a pastor, I never apologize for saying to someone, you need scriptural

baptism, you need Baptist baptism.

I never apologized.

I Always said to this, you know, you know, God's leading you

along and he's giving you the privilege to have Baptist scriptural

baptism.

We shouldn't back up on that.

Come on now, help me out a little bit today.

Church has to take a stand on that as well as the pastors thank

God for scriptural baptism.

Let's talk about the other ordinance, the Lord's Supper.

There are three positions on that.

Some people believe it's open to any Christian that happens to

show up.

And then there are others that believe it's a Baptist ordinance,

that all who are Baptists can go from Baptist churches and take

the ordinance just because they're Baptist.

Then there are others that believe in a closed position where

it is the congregation alone, where you're a member, that you're

to take the Lord's Supper.

Can I get an amen on that or no?

Move.

That's the way the Bible talks about it.

The Bible talks about it in a way that's always in context of the

local church.

It's not about how you feel about it.

I appreciate your feelings, but your feelings can be dead wrong

about that.

And you need to make sure that you're part of a church that holds

a strong stand on that.

Let me give you a quote here by George Truitt.

You know that name if you have a little bit of a local history.

George Truitt was the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas

right before W.A.

criswell.

He pastored the church for almost 40 years.

And this is what George Truitt said about the Lord's Supper a hundred

years ago.

And really a little bit less than that, I suppose, but right at

100 years ago.

You ready?

I hope you're alive out there.

I'm not sure about that.

Alright, thank you back there, brother.

I hear you.

Since the church is an ordinance of the church, since the

supper is the ordinance of the church, it must invariably follow

that whatever would debar a man from the church he's talking

about, church membership must also debar him from the Lord's table

in that church.

It is logically inconceivable that one should be deprived of membership

in the church and yet not also be deprived of coming to the Lord's

table in that church.

Since the first privilege, membership is the source and foundation

of the second, the Lord's Supper.

He goes on that the local church is the custodian of this ordinance

and must judge the qualifications of those desiring

to partake of it.

It's shown by the fact that the commandment to observe it was

given to.

Not to individuals, but to a company manifestly.

This.

This table is inside and not outside the church.

It gets better.

The church alone can therefore be charged with the responsibility

of its government.

The local church is the only body known to the scripture which

has any competency or jurisdictions in.

In the government of her two ordinances.

Now, that's good stuff.

And that's what Baptists believed in some circles years ago.

That's what our kind of Baptists still believe in our day.

Because it's scriptural, it honors the Lord's church.

Number six, we're right on target.

I'm telling you, I'm doing so good, I can't believe it.

Number six.

New Testament churches believe in soul competency and the priesthood

of the believer.

You know, when Jesus died, something happened in the temple.

The veil of the temple was rent from top to the bottom.

Now, you don't have to be a high priest.

You are a priest.

If you're a believer in Christ and you can come boldly to the throne

of grace.

It's good for you to ask somebody to pray for you, but you

can pray yourself.

You can come to God yourself.

You can.

You can ask God yourself.

You now become a priest.

And we believe that there's nothing that should inhibit you from

coming to God because Christ paid for that privilege through his

own death on the cross.

Let's talk a little bit now.

Number seven.

New Testament churches are led by a pastor, served by deacons and

governed by the congregation.

I saw this ad in a Baptist publication.

Said the pastor delivers the Sunday morning message and leads

the Bible study on Wednesday evening.

Our deacons and various committees run the church.

I'm sure you want to.

If you're a preacher, I'm sure you want to put your name in on that,

right?

Hey, listen.

Churches in the New Testament were led by a pastor.

The pastor is to lead the church.

That the Bible terms are elder and bishop and pastor.

But they're talking about the same person who is called by God

to lead the church.

And thank God you've got a good pastor.

I have not been able to have a close relationship with him, but

I have great confidence in him.

And this work here is an evidence that you have a good pastor.

Amen.

That pastor needs to be gender specific.

You know the problem with a lot of Baptists?

They're listening to people beside their own pastor.

We've got so many sources nowadays.

And you just need to cut off all your Beth Moore videos.

She's not a Pastor.

She never could be a pastor in a sound Baptist church.

Baptist pastors have always been men.

Now I love women.

Matter of fact, I married one.

I thought that was a good idea.

And matter of fact, it's even got better.

I have a daughter.

I love her as well.

And it even got better than that.

I've got a granddaughter.

I love women.

But none of those dear, precious women who are dear to me

could ever be a Baptist pastor.

I have a son that's a pastor.

I have a grandson that has been trained to eventually be a pastor.

And I'm glad about that.

I'm happy about the fact that we've got this thing figured out

because it's the pattern of the New Testament gender.

Biblically qualified.

First Timothy 3, Titus 1 tells us about those qualifications.

And we need to make sure that we're holding to that with regard

to the ministers who serve in our church as well as those that

we're sending out as our missionaries.

They need to be biblically qualified.

They need to be Holy Spirit appointed.

I really try to correct churches that talk about hiring a

pastor.

You can only hire a hireling.

You call a man who's been appointed to be the pastor of a church.

It says in Acts 20:28 that the Holy Ghost has appointed them.

Acts 20:28

And we thank God for that.

And then I believe we're going to be divinely accountable.

Now I've stepped away from being a pastor nine and a half years

ago.

It'll be ten years ago this coming July, and I smile a lot now.

I'm, you know, when somebody comes to me and they seldom do now,

I'm not around there as much as I need to be.

Probably they're glad that I'm not there from time to time.

But I just point my finger at my pastor and said, go talk to him

about that.

He's divinely accountable for the work.

And you're supposed to obey them that have the rule over you.

The Bible says, thank God for that.

And what's the job of a pastor?

Well, it's really simple.

He's to feed and lead the church.

His principal job is to stand this pulpit every week and give you

God's word and to lead you in making the kind of decisions for

the church and for your spiritual growth that'll help you

honor the Lord and be glad you meet Christ when he returns.

Number eight.

When we get to number nine, I want you to really get excited, will

you?

Number 8.

New Testament churches respect the privilege of church membership

and dismiss from their fellowship ungodly Members who refuse

to repent.

Now, you might all choke that one down, but the problem with modern

Baptist churches is we've lost the handle on who should be a member

and who should sustain membership.

Our church ought to be a forgiving people, but we also ought

to be strict about those who have decided to hold on to their

testimony of sin and not repent and come get right with God.

John Dagg, who was an early Baptist theologian, said, when discipline

leaves the church, Christ goes with it.

See, there needs to be a church not only needs to be an assembly

of believers, but they need to be pure believers.

We need to make sure we're walking with the Lord and obeying

the Lord.

And when people defiantly say, I'm not going to do that, even though

they know what God's word teaches, they need to be dismissed

from the church.

Now you say, can discipline be misused?

Sure.

But that doesn't mean we don't need to use although some disused,

misused discipline.

Number nine.

All right, here we go.

I'm telling you, I'm getting you out of here on time.

As a visiting preacher, I know this deal.

When you're given a time allotment, you do it.

And if you'll come back in the afternoon, I'm gonna do a 20 minute

sermon.

This is gonna be a great day for you.

You've never seen it happen in a Baptist church?

Probably.

Number nine.

New Testament churches are Great Commission focused.

Winning the loss, sending missionaries and planting churches.

It ought to matter to you that not only did you get saved, but you

want other people to be saved.

It ought to matter to you that there are some people willing to

go beyond the neighborhood to the nations.

And we need to be helping as many of those as we can to preach

the gospel in other places.

And the end result of winning people and sending missionaries is

planting sister churches.

You know, that's the fault of today's modern satellite church.

They're not really churches at all.

They're just under the umbrella of a celebrity bishop.

Baptist churches in days before now send guys out to establish

a church, not to have a video screen where the celebrity pastor

gets up and preaches.

And then there's a grunt preacher that gets to do all the

work during the week.

Thank God for churches that focus on winning the law, sending

missionaries and planting churches.

Number 10 New Testament churches.

Look for the imminent return of Christ and his ultimate reign

on the earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

That ought to get all of us to say amen today.

Even so, come Lord Jesus Now, I'll give you a little truth here

about Baptists of days before now.

While they have always believed in the truth of the Second

Coming, they have not always agreed on the timing.

BH Carroll that I quoted earlier was a post millennialist.

He believed that we were going to be able to preach the gospel and

bring the kingdom in.

Later on in his life he saw the World War I changed his mind

and he wished that he could go back and redo all the work that he

had done and been published as a believer in post millennialism.

He wanted to be a premillennialist.

I'm a premillennialist.

I believe that Christ is going to come, he's going to rapture out

believers and that God's people are going to be taken into

heaven with the Lord.

We're going to going to get a new body.

I'm seeing some of you that need them today.

We're going to get a new body and then we're going to come back

with him at the end of the tribulation.

We're going to reign on this earth for a thousand years and then

eternity begins and we get to be with God forever and forever.

Aren't you glad you're saved today?

I am so glad.

I'm so glad that God's allowed me to to live to be 80 years old.

It's all happened faster than I ever thought it'd happen.

Nobody told me it's going to happen this fast, but it's been a

good 80 years.

I've been so excited about serving the lord now for 62 years

as a Baptist preacher and thanking God that what I started

preaching way back then has developed into its fullest form today

as a true Baptist according to the New Testament.

Are you glad you're a Baptist today?

Let's pray together.

F.