Baptist Distinctives: The Priesthood of the Believer

We should give our bodies a living sacrifice, right?

Surrender all to him.

If you put in your Bibles, turn to Revelation chapter one tonight.

Revelation chapter one.

And we are continuing our series on the Baptist distinctives.

And we are on the fifth of those number five.

And so again, the Baptist distinctives are a collection of

biblical truths that are unique to Baptists.

Again, I want to clarify because I've had this question a

lot and that is, again, we're not saying at all that there's not

other groups, other churches, other denominations that aren't teaching

some of these troops.

What we're saying is the collection of them.

If you take all 12 of them together and some Baptist will do

eight, it's around eight to 12.

But this unique collection makes us Baptists.

It's what we would call the historic Baptist faith.

And so it does make us unique again, others may teach part of this,

but to believe all 12 is unique to Baptists.

The series theme verse akin that the church churches are the

caretakers of God's truth, that is that we are responsible,

we are accountable to make sure the truths the faith is carried

on to the next generation.

That what we've been taught, that those things that we have been

heard.

I'll go ahead and quote it second Timothy 2.

2.

The things that thou hast heard of me, among many witnesses,

the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to

teach others also.

So the same things that were given to me, I should take those

same things and commit those to others also.

And again, inference here is making sure that the faith is passed

on to the next generation.

Look at Revelation, chapter 1, verse 4.

Revelation 1:4

John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto

you, and peace from from him which is and which was and which

is to come.

And from the seven spirits which are before his throne.

Verse 5.

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first

begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth,

unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own

blood.

Aren't you thankful for that?

Listen to this.

Verse 6.

And hath made us kings and what priests Unto God and his Father

to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen.

Made us kings and priests.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, again, I've just already prayed.

I'm telling you, my mind is in 35,000 different directions.

35 death generations.

Y'all pray for me tonight.

I think about the Baptist distinctives.

I again think about the uniqueness of being a Baptist.

I'm thankful it's a privilege to be a Baptist.

I'm Baptist from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head because

Baptists, the historic Baptist faith, what Baptists have believed

historically lines up with Scripture, lines up with the Bible.

If some other denomination or some other group lined up with the

Scripture like that, I would be one of those.

But I'm Baptist by conviction.

The first four Baptist distinctives we cover is number one,

the Bible is the final authority for faith and practice.

The Bible is the final authority for faith and practice.

In other words, the Bible is the final authority for our life.

It is the guide.

And it's again, not only the truth, but the application.

It tells us again not only what is true, but how to live that

out in our lives.

And then secondly, salvation is by grace through faith in the

personal life and work of Jesus Christ.

And we all believe that here tonight, salvation is in Christ alone.

Jesus said himself, I am the way, the truth and the life.

No man cometh to the Father but by me.

And then the third Baptist distinctive that we covered is eternal

security.

Eternal security of the believer that once you're saved,

you're always saved.

And again, if you believe you can lose it, then that means you

are earning it, you're doing something to keep it.

The Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith and that

not of yourself.

It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

And salvation is by grace, through faith.

So again, you could knock out number two with number three.

If you don't believe, if you believe you can lose your salvation

because again, if you believe you can lose it, then you're working

to keep it.

Number four, we covered this last week.

Soul, liberty and competency again, that each of us are personally

accountable, that one day we'll each give an account to God.

If you're saved, if you're a born again believer, then you will

give an account to God.

Not for your sins.

I'm thankful my sins are under the blood.

Been tossed in the depths of the sea, never to be remembered anymore.

Thrown as far as the east is from the west.

My sins are gone.

Thank God, my sins are gone.

Amen.

And understand that I am personally accountable for what I

do when it comes to serving.

In other words, my works.

My works.

I'll be judged according to our works, whether they be good or

bad.

The Bible says.

And that has to do with whether or not what was your motive

for serving?

Was it for his glory or for yours?

And so this sole liberty means that our kids are born to this world,

but our kids ultimately responsible for their own faith and

trust in Jesus Christ.

I can't save my children.

I can't get them saved.

They have to make that choice themselves.

Individual soul liberty.

So everybody see that?

Because tonight's Baptist thing was going to be super close

to the same thought, but it is different.

Soul liberty means I am personally accountable, by the way.

People ought to be.

We're personally accountable.

Ought to be in everything.

We'll personally give an account.

And then tonight is the separate.

A separate and equal priesthood of the believer.

So you've probably heard the term priesthood of the believer.

That again is the number five tonight.

Baptist distinctive.

The priesthood of the believer.

And I do like the way Brother Stewart terms it.

Separate and equal priesthood of the believer.

Brother Stewart always likes to be so precise.

We think about priests, we think about, again, the Bible makes

it clear that the priest represents man to God.

The prophets represent God to man.

Represents God to man.

And so we see the definitions of this number one, separate.

That means we are individually equal.

Means no less or more than any other believers.

Priesthood representation or representative interceder, one who

intercedes and then all believers, every Christian and church

when it is assembled.

This does apply corporately as well.

And we'll cover that a little bit at the end.

But God has made us priests.

I mean, revelation makes that clear.

You can go to Revelation chapter 5 as well.

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

We won't do that.

But again, makes it very clear that God hath made us priests.

And the role of the priest is to mediate.

All right, so every New Testament believer, each New Testament

believer functions in the role of a priest in the area of prayer.

And this is why I didn't want to combine the two.

The individual soul liberty and the priests to the believer.

Because it is similar but different.

And that is, as we mentioned last week, that I do not need another

person to mediate between me and God.

I don't need another person.

Now, I'm thankful for the Heavenly Father, but I'm thankful

for Jesus Christ, who's my mediator, who is my great high priest.

The Bible says.

But I can come boldly before the throne of grace.

I do not have to go talk to the pastor in his office.

I don't have to have a pastor pray in my stead.

No, I have equal access to God as the pastor has access to God.

Some guy in a black coat with a little white collar, he doesn't

have any more access to God than you do.

That's what the Bible Makes clear the priesthood of the believer.

Each believer, each born again child of God is.

Is a priest.

Turn over to Romans chapter 8, Romans 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Most of this passage is familiar, but we'll back up a little

bit before you get to verse 28.

The priesthood of the believer.

I appreciate our youth pastor the other night who preached on intercessory

prayer.

Tonight, again, I want to just emphasize prayer and what a privilege

it is to be able to go before the throne of God to pray.

Romans 8, verse 26.

Romans 8:26

Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know

not what we should pray for as we ought to or ought.

But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings

which cannot be uttered.

And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of

the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according.

Notice that intercession for the saints according to the will

of God.

I'm thankful that I have the Holy Spirit who abides in me.

And the Holy Spirit is there to help me, is called alongside to

strengthen me, enable me, encourage me, comfort me.

I can go on and on and on.

The Holy Spirit is there, but the Holy Spirit is there also to

help me when I pray, to help me when I'm interceding for others,

when I'm praying for others.

He's there helping me.

But notice he's there helping me.

He's not doing.

We have access ourself.

How do we have access?

We have access, the Bible says through the Spirit, through Jesus

Christ.

We have access through Christ Jesus.

Alright, so what is this priesthood and how, as a believer

or a group of believers, how are we to get ahold of God?

If a priest is a representation of man to God, how

are we to get ahold of God?

Not only individually, but corporately as well.

Corporately as well.

I'm going to try to do this.

Ready?

Here we go.

Hang on.

Y'all don't know what I'm doing.

Hang on.

The story is told.

Going to try.

A story is told about some scientists in Scotland who dug a

thousand feet down and found copper wire.

And they decided that Scotland had telecommunications a thousand

years ago.

So the English said, well, if the Scottish had it a thousand years

ago, let us do some digging.

And they dug down 2,000ft and they found telecommunication wire,

copper wire and said, well, the English had it 2,000 years ago.

Of course Texans had to get involved, right?

Texans dug down 5,000ft, found nothing.

So the conclusion was, we already had wireless.

I thought that was pretty good.

Actually, I actually hit it pretty good, man.

We love our wireless phones, don't we?

Whoever would have thought.

I know we take it for granted now, but I'm telling you, whoever

would have thought you could call somebody and there's no phone

line there, you know, I remember using the little cups with

the string on them and all that.

I remember the very first time I used a cell phone.

My boss in the oil field, when I worked in the oil field, he had

a little money and so he had one of those big old phones inside

the truck, you know, and had the big old bag.

And I remember making phone calls on it.

But it's amazing how far we've come.

We can now, not only can we call, but we can talk to somebody.

But now we can see them.

We can see them as we're talking to them.

I mean, that's like, that's like from the movies.

That's sci fi.

That's, you know, that's Inspector Gadget stuff.

Nobody.

Yeah, it's amazing, isn't it?

And the technology, it's super.

It's just amazing.

But can I tell you that prayer has always been wireless and more

than just talking to, you know, someone across the country

by wireless, you could get to talk to the God who created all things,

the Creator of the universe.

What a privilege it is.

What an amazing, amazing thought.

Talking to the God of the universe.

And understand that each believer has equal access to God,

The Bible teaches, makes it very clear that each of us have access

to God equally through the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our great

high priest, and with the Holy Spirit, without the help of another

person.

Without the help of another person.

Many churches and denominations view the pastorate.

We'll use the word clergy when it comes to this many, in fact, I

would say even most have a wrong view of this.

They don't have a biblical view of this.

And if we're not careful, we can even do that with in Baptist

churches too.

The pastor does not have some, you know, magic connection, some

special connection with God that every other believer has.

No, it's all equal.

It's all equal.

I don't have.

Again, I have a nice library and I thank the Lord for a good reference

library.

I have people come up to my office all the time and they haven't

been there yet.

And they go in, they see all those books, and what's the very

first thing they say?

Have you read all these?

No, I haven't read all these.

95% of my library is a reference library.

It's meant to be used like an encyclopedia you would use.

I'm talking about the old encyclopedias.

When you used to have a book, it's where you go to, to find references.

If I want to read what somebody else thinks about the verses

I've read tonight, I can go read 10 or 15 or 20 opinions on that

and what some other commentator or some other scholar

thinks that that verse means.

But my library, in fact, in today's world, my library is almost

worthless because each of you can go online and you can Google

it and you could just go type in Alexander MacLaren and you could

go to his commentary, type in Charles Haddon Spurgeon, which y'all

know is my favorite.

Type him in.

There are free websites, easy websites that you can maneuver through,

and you can read every Spurgeon sermon you want to read.

Type in, you know, John Phillips or many of these commentators

that I enjoy reading after.

And maybe you don't enjoy reading in that way, but I'm just

saying you have as much access as I do.

Amen.

This is a big deal because this is in a lot of other denominations,

beliefs, churches, whatever, misunderstood.

And thus sometimes the priest, or whatever they call him bishop,

whatever he gets put up here, and he shouldn't be when it comes

to prayer or when it comes to biblical interpretation.

Let me again clarify, as I said last week, it doesn't mean we

don't need teachers.

It doesn't mean that we don't need some good saints, seasoned saints

who do know more than we do or do know.

I'm thankful I have a brother, Stewart.

I email him once a month at least, and say, hey, I'm preaching

on.

Will you send me whatever you got?

Or I may have a problem with a verse.

And I'll talk to Eddie Johnson, or I'll talk to Dick Webster,

or I'll call Chris Chadwick, or I'll call someone.

I'll talk.

I'm thankful I have men who teach me.

But all of us have equal access.

And unlike the Gnostics, as we said from Colossians, unlike the

Gnostics, nobody has a special corner on the market when it comes

to biblical interpretation or prayer and access to God.

So when it comes to the priesthood of believers, what is

it?

How do we get a hold of God?

Well, number one, believers are a royal priesthood.

We are a royal priesthood.

Of course, royal means kingly.

A kingly priesthood.

Turn, if you would, in your Bibles to First Peter.

First Peter.

First Peter.

We'll look at chapter two and we'll begin reading in Verse one,

A royal priesthood.

We already read Revelation, chapter one, verse six.

If you want another reference you can go to later, you can write

down Revelation, chapter 5, verses 9 through 10.

Revelation 5:9–10

Also referencing believers as being priests.

And I'm not even touching the book of Hebrews.

I mean, there's so many places where again, the Bible makes it very

clear.

1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 1.

1 Peter 2:1

Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies

and envyings and evil speakings, as newborn babes desire

the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.

Again, the Bible is referred to as the milk of the Word.

It's how we grow.

It's how we grow in our faith.

If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious to whom coming

as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen

of God and precious.

So here Peter refers to Christ as a living stone, again chosen of

God, but rejected by man.

Verse 5.

Ye also talking to believers.

Ye also are lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy

priesthood.

A holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to

God by Jesus Christ.

Notice again by Jesus Christ.

Look down at verse nine.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and

holy nation, a peculiar people.

We are all peculiar.

That ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you

out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past

were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not

obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

So refers to again Christ Jesus as a lively stone, disallowed

indeed, but chosen of God.

Then it says, ye are living stones building up a spiritual house.

And some of you who've been around heritage for a while know

this is one of my favorite passages when it comes to the church

and that understand that each member of the church, each member

of the church is a lively stone.

Is a lively stone.

That's the illustration, what Peter's doing.

Just like Paul did in Ephesians, chapter two, he's going

back to the Old Testament and he's drawing an analogy from the

temple.

And when they there, when Solomon built the temple, when they

quarried the rocks for the temple, they quarried those rocks

and they cut them out of the mountain in numbers.

So number one, number two.

And they kept track of the numbers of these stones.

And when they brought them back down to the temple, they stacked

these stones.

The Bible says they were fitly framed together.

The Bible says in the Old Testament.

That's the New Testament term.

The Old Testament was that they were.

That they were.

There was no hammer used on the site.

And just like the landscape, you know, little landscape bricks

we use that slide together.

That's the way that.

That's the way it worked.

So the stones would have the edging on the side and the stones

would be set up and they would slide together.

They would slide them down.

But historians say that the.

That the temple was built in such a way and built to such.

Such precision that you couldn't get a piece of paper between

two of the stones.

I was watching a special on the pyramids in Egypt.

Do you know they were the same way?

It's pretty neat.

You can go study those too.

It's not pretty neat.

It's amazing, actually.

There's still things on the pyramids they can't do today with

all the technology we have.

There's still things on the Great Pyramid that they cannot do

today.

They cannot figure it out.

Isn't that amazing?

Can I tell you that just because we have all this technology

doesn't mean we're the smartest who've been on the earth.

I can't wait to meet Adam.

Right?

We are all going to be blown away how smart people were before

the flood anyway.

That's a whole nother sermon.

I chased a rabbit for a second, but those stones were so

put together in such a fashion that there was no need for hammers

and no need.

They just slid together fitly.

The New Testament describes the spiritual house that we are building

when you came in tonight as a member of Heritage Baptist Church.

And we're not discounting friends and those who are non members,

but here specifically, it is talking about the membership of the

church.

And we are building up a spiritual house fitly framed together.

Ephesians, chapter two.

And says a holy what?

Habitation of the Lord.

Habitation means home.

So as you came in tonight, you are a lively stone to build up the

spiritual house.

This spiritual house.

That's why we don't have to meet in a building.

We could meet down to the Haslett park and we're still all

lively stones building up a spiritual house.

Right?

Because the church is the people, not the building.

We have emphasized this over the years and I emphasize it again.

These buildings mean nothing spiritually.

Amen.

I know you don't want to say amen because you're thinking I'm

tricking you.

No.

What makes these buildings special is they were paid for by

people of God with God's money.

That does make them special.

But spiritually, we could meet in the park and be just as spiritual

as we are here in this room.

This is God's house.

I'm not discounting it.

I'm just saying we are the church.

The people are the church.

If this place was to burn to the ground, we would still be a church.

It's an amazing analogy from the Old Testament as Paul and Peter

and these apostles draw from that and say, we are lively stones,

we are living stones building up a spiritual house.

And who's the cornerstone?

Jesus Christ.

He's the one who keeps us in line.

He's the plumb line.

He's the one that keeps us level.

He's the one that we gauge everything off of to make sure we

stay square.

You ever built anything and got to the end of it and you rattled

square.

I'm thankful that we have a perfect cornerstone, Jesus Christ.

As we think about this royal priesthood that we are the.

We are priests.

We are designated as priests in the Old Testament, Israel, Israel's

history from the time of Abraham to Solomon, the priests were

in the forefront.

They were the leaders.

It was, you know, Samuel and whomever, they were the leaders.

But once Solomon died and Rehoboam came to power and the kingdom

split, you'll notice that the priesthood kind of became.

Came a secondary thing to what the prophets.

Because now you have the prophets who represent God to man,

telling them to get right with God, you know, preaching to them

to go back to surrender and to go back to God.

And the priests were no longer in the forefront.

And the analogy tonight I would say to you is when we walk

with God, when Israel was walking with God, when Israel was

right with God, prayer was prominent.

When Israel was not right with God, hard preaching was prominent

and needed so that Israel would get back right with God.

When we walk with God, as we should, prayer will be prominent,

prayer will be emphasized.

Prayer will be a part of our lives.

Believers, we are royal priests.

And then believers, it is a position.

And this position we have is in Christ.

That is the theme of the book of Ephesians.

The Bible says in Romans we have been clothed in his righteousness.

That we have become joint heirs with God.

That we are children of God.

Think about that.

I'm a Crawford.

I'm a child of the guy over there, but I'm a child of the king.

I'm a child.

I am the great high priest.

Jesus Christ is my big brother.

It's an amazing thought.

Joint heirs with Jesus Christ again clothed in his righteousness.

What is our position?

Our position is that of righteousness.

That Our supposed righteousness has been erased, our

deficit has been erased, our debt is gone, our sinful record is

erased.

It's gone.

And Christ's sinless righteous record is put in its place.

And the Bible describes that as we preached here a few weeks ago,

as imputed righteousness, that his righteousness has been put to

our account and we are clothed in his righteousness.

Clothed in his righteousness.

What is righteousness in one word?

Righteousness in one word is selflessness.

That we as Christians ought to be selfless, selfless to live selfless

lives, that we ought to be more concerned of others than self.

So we conclude from that that we ought to feel the need to pray

for our families, Right?

If we are royal priests and our righteousness, we are robed in

his righteousness, selflessness, then that would certainly

entail us praying for our family or praying for co workers,

praying for other church members, praying for missionaries,

praying for our government, praying for the lost, praying for

souls to be saved.

Because as believers, this is number three, we're responsible.

We're responsible because of our priesthood and the position we

have in Christ.

Then we are responsible.

We are responsible to pray for others, their needs.

Their needs.

The others motivates us who have access to prayer to pray motivated

by what may happen.

Do you believe that prayer, that prayer has an effect on God?

How many examples in the Bible can you go to, Elijah?

I mean, we could start in the Old Testament and work our way through.

You say, well, does prayer really have any effect on God?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Prayer is the muscle that moves the arm of God.

You say, well, he's God.

You just preached here a while back that God knows the beginning

from the end.

So he knows he's going to change his mind.

Yes, that'll blow you away.

Just keep trying to think that through prayer, our accessibility

to prayer, to pray to God individually because we do have that

opportunity, because we do have that ability and because we're

robed in the righteousness of Christ and we want to live as Christ

would live, we want to walk in his steps.

Then that motivates us to pray for others.

It motivates us to pray for Kevin Davis tonight.

It motivates us to pray for Chalene.

It motivates us.

It's so good to see Ms.

Smith here tonight.

It motivates us to pray for our fellow church members who are

hurting and those who have lost loved ones and on and on.

It motivates us.

It motivates us to pray for that person at work who we know is

lost.

It motivates us to pray for that neighbor who may be lost.

It motivates us to pray for family, to pray for our kids.

To pray our kids.

That God would give us wisdom in raising them.

That God would give us help and trembling fear as we have this

great and wonderful opportunity to raise children, to

pray for them, to pray for their future spouses, to pray, pray

for our families, pray that God would protect them.

Things we should be praying for.

To pray for our government, to pray for our leaders, to pray for

missionaries.

A lot of you are rope holders being faithful to pray for your missionaries.

Pray for our missionaries of the week.

Be faithful in praying.

Why?

Because we are priests and because we've been given that privilege.

We ought to be motivated by the righteousness of Christ to pray

for others.

What do you think of politicians or policemen or doctors

or judges that do not live up to their position?

Ever get on your nerves when you find out a politician speaks

out of both sides of his mouth?

Does it make you mad a man in that position or a woman in that

position wouldn't take it seriously?

Doesn't line up or live up to your expectations?

What about us?

We've been given the privilege to pray to an Almighty God directly

to him to come before the throne of grace.

In other words, we ought to be practicing priests.

And we as a church ought to remember again that the focus of

our church should be Jesus Christ.

Each church is a spiritual temple.

When we're assembled now again, it's when we're assembled.

A church is a called out assembly of born again baptized believers.

You can't attend church over the tv.

We learned that.

Well, that's biblical.

But also it's not the same.

Now if you're home sick tonight and this is what we have,

you know, this wonderful, wonderful livestream for if you had

to work tonight or whatever the case is.

But because you're watching online, remember that's not going

to church called out assembly.

When we're assembled together, we are a spiritual house.

And each person again.

And this is found in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 18 through 22.

Ephesians 2:18–22

You can look it up later.

But each person again is building up the spiritual house.

The illustration again is being fitly framed together.

And you've heard me say this before, but the analogy is that so

many times we allow mortar and other things to keep us from being

fitly framed together.

If every member of Heritage Baptist Church had walked through

the doors, every member.

Now when we have membership missing, it means we are missing

some of our wall.

So if you decide to miss church, whether it's a Wednesday

night, Sunday night, Sunday morning, you are hurting the spiritual

house.

You say, well, I had to do this.

And again, that's between you and the Lord.

I'm not saying you should never take a vacation.

Amen.

I'm just saying there is absolutely biblical basis for Hebrews

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10 that says you should not forsake the assembling

of yourselves together as the manner of some is.

But what we should meet together more so as the day approaches.

And so when we miss church, our brick is missing and then the

mortar is sin.

That's the analogy when we allow sin in our life and sin affects

us spiritually, when we're not walking with God during the week,

when we're not living and practicing the Bible, when we become

Dead Sea Christians where we just take it all in.

But.

But nothing is applied.

We ought to be and we ought to strive to be fitly framed together

to build up a spiritual house where the Holy Spirit will feel comfortable,

where the Holy Spirit would want to make himself at home.

How do we do this?

How do we do this?

By giving people what they want at church, by more programs.

And I'm thankful for Heritage Baptist Church and our programs.

But can I remind you, programs cannot produce power.

The power that we need, the power that is evidenced at Heritage

from time to time, I wish it was every time is found in keeping

our focus on Christ Jesus.

The Holy Spirit will activate, if you would, or make himself evident.

When.

When Christ is exalted, when Christ is lifted up, when we worship

in truth, when there's fervent prayer going on, when there's strong

biblical preaching on truths, especially those concerning Jesus

Christ, that we all are concentrated thinking, focusing on

the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that's so hard.

You've all worked today.

Some of you have to drive in traffic, some of you didn't get to

eat supper.

I would die.

But some of you didn't get to supper.

It's tough.

I mean, around, around work all day, home all day.

Some of you retired, but they're still, you know, man, we

have a hard time coming back to church and remembering, hey, this

is a place to come apart from the world.

This is a place to come and fellowship with fellow Christians.

And I don't have to listen to the cussing because my fellow church

members aren't going to cuss at church.

They shouldn't be cussing anywhere.

But you kind of get the point, though.

I don't have to come to.

I can come to church.

I don't have to worry about the jokes or the stories being told.

I can come to church and I can fellowship with fellow members who

care about the same things I care about, who have the same standards

that I do, biblical standards that I do, and just enjoy, enjoy

encouraging each other.

And sometimes we're proving each other.

And it's an amazing thing, isn't it?

And focusing.

That's what the song service is supposed to help do too give a

few minutes.

That's why I emphasize with Caleb.

I mean, it's important that we have a shorter, you know, prelude

service on Wednesday night.

But we need a little time, just a little time to get our brains,

try to get our brains in the room.

I wasn't in here tonight.

Took me a little bit.

Just so much going on.

True, absolute, true revival will happen.

The fruit of focusing on Christ.

The fruit of you coming into the church, having already spent

time with the Lord during the week, having already walked with

God as a priest, having already fellowshipped with him during

the week, and you coming into this sanctuary, if you would, and

building up a spiritual house.

If every member came and did that, if most members came and did

that, the fruit of that would be revival.

And that's why the philosophy of ministry around here has been

let's lift Christ up.

You shouldn't have to come to church and be told how to live every

week.

I am not.

I'm not a sergeant to tell you what you can wear and what you can't

wear, what you can't do, what you can't do.

And though we do cover and we will not compromise when it comes

to those things and standards.

But no, I want to come here and tell you, you know what, Follow

in the steps of Jesus fellowship and walk with him.

Have a daily walk with him.

If you daily walk with Jesus Christ, then those things will fall

in place.

Why?

Because you are a priest, you have access to God.

Amen.

You have the same ability because of the Holy Spirit to ask

the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit, Lord, help me to understand, Open my eyes that I may

understand and see wondrous things in thy law.

Lord, open my eyes as you read your Bible.

Just pray.

Ask him to help you understand.

Well, I still don't understand it all.

Well, none of us do.

But you have the same access.

You have the same Holy Spirit.

Isn't that amazing?

Priesthood of the believer.

And I got to quit.

What a privilege it is to pray.

Prayer is a spiritual matter, maybe the most spiritual matter.

Think about it.

I can serve and do other things, but when it comes to prayer.

That's absolutely spiritual.

We can come to God.

Unlike the Old Testament.

Old Testament, the Levi's were representation to God.

The priests.

If you wanted to speak with God, if you wanted to worship God,

you had to come to the temple, not the New Testament.

We can practice.

We are our own priests.

Have you been to God today?

Have you talked to him today?

Have you spent time with him today?

I'm thankful I don't have to kneel to pray though if I'm where

I can, I ought to.

I believe that.

I believe that worship is kneeling, that part of that is kneeling.

But I can pray in the car.

Don't close your eyes when you pray in the car.

I can pray anywhere.

Isn't that amazing?

Spiritual.

So thankful for our church.

I'm thankful that I could come on Sundays, the first day of the

week, give my first day to Jesus, come to a place where I can

come apart from all the other stuff going on and focus on Jesus.

Think about him.

What a wonderful Savior.

Let's all stand.

We're going to sing a verse of invitation, hymn 337, trust and obey.

Maybe tonight you need us to come and pray.

Maybe tonight you need to practice the priesthood of the believer.

Lord, we love you.

And we thank you, God, that you have given us the privilege of

being priests.

Lord, we just thank you for the ability to come directly to you.

Lord, help us not to take it for granted.

Lord, help us to see the wonderful privilege.

It is afresh anew.

And Lord, may we as Christians practice.

May we be practicing priests.

We thank you.

We love you.

In Jesus name, amen.