[0:00] Thank you.
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[1:30] Thank you.
[2:00] Thank you.
[2:30] Thank you.
[2:44] Baptist Church, go ahead and sing with me. Let's sing together. Wonderful grace of Jesus Greater than all my sin How shall my tongue describe it Where shall His praise begin Taking away my burden Setting my spirit free For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me Wonderful the massive grace of Jesus Deeper than the mighty rolling sea Higher than the mountains sparkling like a fountain All sufficient grace for even me Broader than the scope of my transmissions Greater far than all my sin and shame
[3:44] Oh magnify the precious name of Jesus Praise His name Wonderful grace of Jesus Reaching to all the lost By Him I have been pardoned saved to the uttermost Save to the uttermost Chains have been torn asunder Giving me liberty For the wonderful grace of Jesus Reaches me Wonderful and natural grace of Jesus Deeper than the mighty rolling Deeper than the mighty rolling sea Higher than the mountains Sparkling like a fountain All sufficient grace for even me Farer than the scope of my transgressions Greater far than all my sin and shame
[4:47] Oh magnify the precious name of Jesus Praise His name marvelous grace of our loving Lord grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt yonder on Calvary's mount outporn There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled Grace Grace God's grace Grace Grace that will pardon and cleanse within Grace Grace God's Grace
[5:47] Grace Grace that is greater Grace that is greater than all our sin Dark is the stain that we cannot hide What can avail to wash it away Look there is flowing a crimson tie tie Wider Wider than snow You may be today Grace Grace Grace God's Grace Grace Grace that will pardon and cleanse within Grace Grace God's Grace Grace Grace Grace Grace Grace that is greater than all our sin Marvelous infinite matchless
[6:48] Grace Grace Freely bestowed on all who believe You that are longing to see His face Will you that are longing to see His face Will you this moment His grace receive Grace Grace Grace Grace God's Grace Grace that will pardon and cleanse within Grace Grace Grace God's Grace grace Grace that is greater than all our sin Well, good morning to everyone.
[7:41] Thank you very much. You can have a seat. We are honored to have the Couser family with us visiting. You don't get to say hi to them except from a distance, but anyway, glad they're here. And this morning we are going to see a young man baptized.
[7:53] Chase has been working with and discipling. And so, everyone knows without me saying it, but baptism does not give you any merit to go to heaven.
[8:04] Baptism is simply a sign, an outward sign of an inward reality. So, Wyatt, how did you get saved? I just believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and that He rose again to save me.
[8:20] Here I am, safe and sound from sin. I'm going to heaven. Praise the Lord. Thank you. Wyatt, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? Yes.
[8:31] Well, upon this profession of faith, I now baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost. Well, praise the Lord.
[8:51] That's a good thing to have happen today. And I am glad you're here. Glad we can be together. Some of our people, many of our people are probably still watching via the internet.
[9:03] And I praise the Lord for you too and excited. I do know that some of our church, our missionaries are actually going to start having meetings. And so, things are looking up. Take your Bibles if you would and turn with me to Psalm chapter 19.
[9:15] You are in for a wonderful Psalm. I know they all are. But my favorite one is only the one I'm preaching. And so, this will be my favorite for today until this afternoon.
[9:28] Psalm 19. Psalm 19. We're going to read the whole Psalm. And after we've read this Psalm here, you will get to see the new Trent Cornwell.
[9:43] We have some very hard working young people that, you know, we're in the process of the mission and training center of buying a piece of property. We need $600,000.
[9:54] We're currently at about 500 and something thousand. And they raised $105,000 in 36 hours. And so, it has been wild and crazy. And I really appreciate them.
[10:06] Read with me if you would. Psalm 19. The heavens declare the glory of God. And the firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech.
[10:19] And night unto night utters knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Do you realize that nowhere the creation can't be understood?
[10:30] Every speech, every language. Every language. Their line is gone out throughout all the earth. And their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun.
[10:41] Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. And rejoices as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the earth. And his circuit under the ends of it.
[10:52] There is nothing hid from the heat thereof. The law of the Lord is perfect. Converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord. I'm going to start over in verse 7.
[11:03] And just for the fun of it. When I get to one of these colons. You can just say amen. Because we're talking about the word of God. How about this? The law of the Lord is perfect. Converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure.
[11:16] Making wise the simple. The statute. That was weaker. Speed up there. The statutes of the Lord are right. Rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is perfect.
[11:27] The commandment of the Lord is pure. Enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean. Enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
[11:38] If you just memorize that one section. You'll know you have the word of God in your hands. And you will always trust it. And I mean this is not the time for the preaching. But just if you got your Bible open.
[11:50] It's perfect. It's sure. It's right. It's pure. It's clean. It's true and righteous. You should underline that. That's a good definition.
[12:01] A good picture of the word of God. Amen. Verse 10. No more. You don't have to say amen unless you just want to now. I hope that you could say amen to this part. More to be desired are they than gold.
[12:15] Yea, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned. And in keeping of them there is great reward.
[12:27] Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me.
[12:40] Then shall I be upright. And I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth. And the meditation of my heart. Be acceptable in thy sight.
[12:51] Oh Lord. My strength. And my redeemer. Father in heaven I love you. And thank you for the chance to be in your house today. And I pray that you would speak to your people.
[13:02] I thank you because you are such a good God. And I thank you because you gave us your word. You oversaw it. You kept it perfect and pure and sure.
[13:14] And righteous and all the other adjectives that you used for it. And today I get to hold that book up. And to talk to your people about your book. They love your book.
[13:25] We love your book. You love your book. And we thank you for that. Now I just pray God that you would bless our folks. Thank you for Wyatt getting baptized today. And this stand of following Jesus that he's taken.
[13:36] And I pray to your God that in every way. Your name will be glorified in this service. I pray you bless those that are watching at home. I pray God that you keep all of our folks. In the word.
[13:47] And in holiness. And in truth. And we'll give you honor and glory for all that you do. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. And then the service. I encourage you to fill out the connection card.
[14:00] Before the offering devotion. But we have moved the connection card online. During this time. So if you go to visionbaptist.com. In the top right corner. There's an update button. And we're really trying to update everybody's information.
[14:13] So we could have that. If you could do that. We would greatly appreciate it. If you'd like to laugh. We'll just go ahead and get this out. Let's kind of get out of the way. I wasn't going to say anything at all. But some of you can't even look me in the eyes.
[14:24] All right. Let's get it. All right. I'm glad we're done with that. For those that are visiting. Normally I have a beard. It was a very beautiful beard. And I miss it very much. I didn't know how attached I was to it.
[14:35] But starting the day. It's a renewable resource. And I will be going after it. All right.
[14:48] Yes. We still have the same ways to give that we have had for the past couple of months. You can give to the right. Write a check to our P.O. box. You can give through tithely.
[15:00] And we're also going to have people walking around with baskets as well. We are in Genesis chapter 26 verses 21 through 25. I'm going to read a little bit larger of a section here. Verses 21 through 25.
[15:12] Verse 22. And they digged another well. And strove for that also. And he called the name of it Sitna. And he removed from thence and digged another well. For that they strove not.
[15:23] And he called the name of it Rehoboth. And he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us. And we shall be fruitful in the land. And he went up from thence to Beersheba. And the Lord appeared unto him the same night.
[15:34] And said, I am the God of Abraham thy father. Fear not. For I am with thee. And will bless thee and multiply thy seed. For my servant Abraham's sake. And he built an altar there.
[15:46] And called upon the name of the Lord. And pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants digged a well. I've been doing a bit of digging myself here recently. No wells.
[15:57] Just post holes for me. And I've got to tell you I'm not a fan. I'm not sure if you dug post holes or something bigger than that. I know Josh has. Because he's helped me. But it's one of the least enjoyable parts of any project that requires it.
[16:12] The thing is though. It needs to be done. And I have several more to go. I'm sure there are things of much deeper theological significance in this passage. Than what I'm going to point out today.
[16:23] But what I see in this passage. Is Isaac going about his day to day. Getting things done. You know I doubt Isaac did a whole lot of the digging himself. He had servants or employees for that. But his work in this endeavor was still tedious.
[16:36] And he kept at it. Until he found the prophet. We have four wells named here that were dug. But the indication is that there were several more besides this. There was a lot of effort put into this.
[16:47] And the produce. The yield didn't even directly correlate with the effort that was put in. Isaac didn't even get to keep a lot of the wells that he dug. But he still kept working.
[16:58] And then God blesses him. You see in verse 24 that Isaac was blessed with the vision of the Lord. Where he gets assured that the Lord is going to be with him. Like he was with his father Abraham.
[17:08] So this is what I see. I see the Lord blessing Isaac during a time. When Isaac was struggling in the day to day labor. Of providing for his family. And that blessing was given through Isaac's efforts.
[17:20] Through Isaac's sweat and his labor. God didn't dig any of those wells for Isaac. Someone had to pick up a shovel. Now this isn't a God helps those who helps themselves lesson.
[17:31] That's not Bible. But it does show that God does indeed bless the work of our hands. If those hands are persistent. What's beautiful about this to me. Is that once the blessing came. Along with the peace with some neighbors that Isaac had.
[17:44] That Isaac built an altar as a testimony. That he understands that even though Isaac's expended the sweat. Resources and difficulty. He knew that the blessing was from the Lord. After all of the effort.
[17:56] For Isaac still knew. That it came from God. And one more thing. After all that persistence. And when God blessed. When it may not have looked like he was going to. You see Isaac going right back to work.
[18:07] And he digs another well. We have work to do. The blessings may not come in the way. Or in the timing that we desire. But when they do. We must know that every last one of them came from the Lord.
[18:18] And after we say thank you. And give back to him. We need to get up. And get back to work. Let's pray. Father we thank you so much for your goodness to us. And we thank you how incredibly you've blessed this church.
[18:29] And we thank you that we get to meet together. Lord I pray that you bless this offering in your name. Amen. Wonderful merciful Savior.
[18:46] Precious Redeemer and friend. Who would have thought that a lamb could.
[18:58] Rescue the souls of men. Oh you rescue the souls of men. Go ahead and stand with us.
[19:09] Thank you. Thank you. Counselor, comforter, keeper. Spirit we long to embrace.
[19:24] You offer hope when our hearts have hopelessly lost the way Oh, we've hopelessly lost the way You are the one that we praise You are the one we adore You give the healing and grace Our hearts always hunger for Oh, our hearts always hunger for Almighty, infinite Father Faithfully loving Your own
[20:29] Here in our weakness You find us Falling before Your throne Oh, we're falling before Your throne You are the one that we praise You are the one we adore You give the healing and grace Our hearts always hunger for Oh, our hearts always hunger for Who, O Lord, could save themselves
[21:33] Their own soul could heal Our shame was deeper than the sea Your grace is deeper still You alone can rescue You alone can save You alone can lift us from the grave You came down to find us Let us out of death To You alone belongs the highest praise You, O Lord, have made a way The great divine you heal
[22:33] For when our hearts were far away Your love went further still You alone can rescue You alone can save You alone can lift us from the grave You alone can lift us from the grave You came down to find us Let us out of death To You alone belongs the highest praise How deep the Father's love for us How vast beyond all measure That He should give His only Son
[23:35] To make a wretch His treasure How great the pain of searing loss The Father turns His face away As wounds which mar the chosen one Brings many sons to glory Behold the man upon the cross My sin upon His shoulders Ashamed I hear my mocking voice Call out among the scoffers
[24:38] It was my sin that held Him there Until it was accomplished His dying breath has bought me life I know that it is finished I know that it is finished I will not boast in anything No gifts, no power, no wisdom But I will boast in Jesus Christ His death and resurrection Why should I gain from His reward
[25:38] I cannot give an answer But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom His wounds have paid my ransom Why should I gain from His reward I cannot give an answer But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom Great singing, you can have a seat Have a seat No pen or a quill
[26:42] No scribe in perfect skill With flawless words With flawless words Could capture all you are No lofty thought No scholar of this world Could grasp an inch Of such infinity Though we cannot comprehend Such a mystery Just a glimpse of you revealed Is compelling us to see The Lord God Almighty Worthy Worthy Worthy Worthy Worthy Worthy Worthy Worthy Is your name All of heaven All of heaven Joins the universe Ever crying Worthy Worthy Worthy Worthy Is your name All of heaven
[27:43] Joins the universe Ever crying Worthy Worthy Worthy Is your name With hearts Laced And songs That never frame The fullness Of your worth And majesty The fullness Of your worth And majesty We come again And fall and bend in me And here adore The God that we don't see Though we cannot comprehend Such a mystery Just a glimpse of you revealed Is compelling us to see Holy Holy Is the Lord God Almighty Worthy Worthy Is your name All of heaven
[28:45] Joins the universe Ever crying Worthy Worthy Worthy Worthy Is your name When you return We'll hear the trumpet sound You'll lead us home Riding on the clouds Where we will stand And sing forevermore The honor and the praise The glory is the Lord Holy Holy Holy Is the Lord God Almighty Worthy Worthy Worthy Is your name All of heaven All of heaven Joins the universe
[29:47] Ever crying Worthy Worthy Worthy Is your name Amen Amen Holy Holy Holy Is the Lord God Almighty Worthy Worthy Worthy Is your name All of heaven All of heaven Joins the universe All of heaven Joins the universe Ever crying Worthy Worthy Worthy Is your name Amen Well take your Bibles if you would and turn with me to the book of Psalms chapter 19.
[30:35] Let me remind you of what goes on in the Psalms. We just finished the Psalm part of our service. The song part.
[30:46] And so these Psalms are their hymn book. And we're basically reading and studying their hymn book. And they use their hymn book to teach great truths.
[30:57] And so whenever you're reading this you literally are just like taking your song book and saying let me read that. And so you just heard great truths taught to us.
[31:08] And sometimes you remember them better because you sang them. And you can remember words to a song a whole lot more than you will to a sermon. And so that's what's going on in this passage of scripture.
[31:20] So I want you to look with me at Psalm 19. But I'll give you the outline to start with. So here's what happens in Psalm chapter 19. David is teaching the people to sing a song that says, you know I was outside.
[31:36] And I was looking up in the sky. And I realized somebody had to make this. And this isn't an accident. And that everywhere all over the world the message is preached there is a creator.
[31:50] Because this language goes everywhere. And everyone can understand it. And there's no tongue that hinders it. And so the very first step in getting truth to people was you can't wake up on this planet without realizing this wasn't an accident.
[32:06] Something got us here. But then you don't have enough with just that. But you have enough to be condemned. You have enough to be without excuse.
[32:17] You have enough to realize that there is a God and you should have sought him. And if you did not seek him, then obviously the consequence will be eternal death and hell and suffering.
[32:28] So then he gives us the word. So the skies lead you to the scriptures. And so all of a sudden now you're in the scriptures. And the scriptures explain everything you didn't know, but you knew that you didn't know.
[32:43] You looked around like where did all this come from? How did this happen? So God said, I'll write a book and tell you how it happened. I did it. And he explains it all to you. And then he says in the middle of all that explanation, he says, and by the way, you can count on my book.
[32:56] You can count on my word. It's all these wonderful things. And that's what's going on in Psalm chapter 19. And then just for the sake of having another S, it gets all the way down to your soul.
[33:08] It gets down to you, to you as an individual, down to the human heart. Because when you get to the end of the chapter, he's talking about its relationship with him. I know there's a God because I can see there's a creation.
[33:20] The scriptures tell me there's a God and I'm going to accept that there is a God. And so that's your whole plan in the book of Psalm chapter 19. God revealing himself to mankind.
[33:32] Go with me if you would to Psalm 19.1. Now I will say to you, because you know, you are often affected by evolutionists and lost people and a science community that would deny the word of God.
[33:48] And you would believe them. Which is a mark of lack of spirituality. That probably made you mad at me. But it's the truth.
[33:59] And no one's got the courage to admit I'm right, but I'm right. You either believe the Bible, you either believe the Bible, or you believe a lie. The Bible is the word of God. The creation is fundamental.
[34:12] And the seasons still happen. And so the Psalmist said, you know what? Everybody everywhere is seeing what I'm seeing. There's a God. 19.4 says, their line is going out throughout all the earth.
[34:26] The truth of the creation is everywhere. Their words to the end of the world. In them has he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as bridegroom coming out of her chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to run a race.
[34:41] It's going forth from the end of the heaven and it's circling in the ends, and there's nothing hid from the heat thereof. So just know that this Psalm says that this Psalm says God created the heavens.
[34:52] That the heavens declare his glory. That they speak a language everybody can understand. If you're speaking Spanish, you can understand. I'm pretty small and this stuff is pretty big. And I don't know how this could have gotten here by an accident.
[35:05] I don't believe that. In Peruvian history, there was a great Inca leader called Bitacocha. And Bitacocha, in this history, somewhere along the way, began to do some thinking that went against everything.
[35:22] You see in Peru, the money is called a sun. So when I arrived in Peru, when you went to change dollars, you changed dollars to suns. And so you would get, at that time, 95 suns to $1.
[35:35] Like 95 pesos is 95 weights, in case you didn't know. So I was getting suns for dollars. And the money got so terrible and the government so bad that one day they just came out and changed money and named it a inti.
[35:49] And the word inti was the Quechua word for sun. And then that money got so bad, one day they came out and said, we have another new money and we're going to call it the new sun.
[36:00] And so now when you change $100, you'll get like 340 new suns for $100. And so sun was very important to them.
[36:12] When you go to Cusco or other major landmarks in Machu Picchu and all these famous places, wonders of the world, they will take you to where the Incas tied down the sun.
[36:24] They were able to control the sun. This is what they believed. So when the summer solstice and all the different solstice, they could stop the sun. They knew if the sun got too far away, they'd die.
[36:36] They needed the sun. And so they figured out what day it got away and they had this thing and they celebrate. We stopped it when it was going that way. And now the other over here, we stopped it when it was going that way. Because I don't know if you have any idea what it's like, but in Arequipa, where we used to live for 18 years, what happens is when the sun comes up, it is a beautiful and wonderful day.
[36:57] When the sun goes down, it is cold. When you're standing outside in the sun, it can be 80 or 90 degrees if you held a thermometer out. You step back into the shade and it'll drop like 20 degrees because the sun is so hot.
[37:11] So the sun was everything to them. And Bidacocha was doing some thinking and Bidacocha said, they all worship the sun. And Bidacocha said one day, I just don't believe that the sun could be God.
[37:24] It doesn't make sense. I'm a king and I do what I want, but we can stop the sun from doing what he wants. How could he be God if I could stop him? I stop him over here and I stop him over here. Don't think he can be God.
[37:36] And if he's God, how could a cloud hide his glory? And if he's God, how come he's just so easy to protect? I think there must be somebody behind God or behind the God's sun, the sun God.
[37:49] I believe there must be a creator God. And Bidacocha believed in a creator. Because Bidacocha, without a Bible and without anybody else realized, the sun couldn't be God.
[38:00] I want you to know the heavens declare the glory of God. God's people are to never worship the creation.
[38:11] Romans chapter 1 and verse 25 tells us what pagan, wicked man does. He changes the truth of God into a lie. And he worships and serves a creature more than the creator, who is blessed forever.
[38:26] Amen. You should really underline that. I believe the Bible teaches very clearly you ought to take care of a good man takes care for the nature of his beast.
[38:37] But you need to understand something. Plants and animals and solar systems and ecological systems are never the end. God is the end.
[38:48] We don't worship the creation. We worship the creator. By the way, I hear big name preachers today that would say, well, the first 11 chapters of Genesis aren't really Bible.
[39:01] We can't prove them. Which is just about as silly and stupid as you can get. First off, you don't have to prove the Bible. I don't need to prove the stupidity of the guy that said that. Because if you say you don't believe the Bible, then you've admitted something.
[39:13] Say amen right there. Come on. But when Paul started preaching, you know where you like to go? Creation. Did you know that? Look at your Bible with me if you would.
[39:25] In Acts chapter 14 and verse 14. When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of, they rent their clothes and ran in among the people saying, Sirs, why do you do these things?
[39:39] We also are men of like passions unto you and preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities to the living God, which made heaven and earth and the sea and all the things that are there in.
[39:53] When he gets in there in the middle of them, he says, you're serving these idols, you're worshiping Jupiter and you're worshiping the other planets and you're worshiping these other gods with these other names.
[40:06] And he said, why don't y'all turn from that and turn to the one who made the heavens and made the earth and made the sea and all the things that are there in. In verse 16, who in time past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.
[40:19] Let you do what you want to do. But he has not left himself without a witness in that he did good. It was God that gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons.
[40:30] It was God that filled our hearts with food and gladness. And with these sayings, the apostles were scarce able to contain the people. So when Paul wanted to talk, he didn't bypass the creation.
[40:42] That's a non-essential doctrine, not that important. Well, Paul needed that lesson. Somebody should have told Paul that's non-essential because Paul was like, I've got to preach the gospel to you. Let me start with where it is.
[40:53] God made us. Let me give you another one. Acts 17, 22, they're up on Mars Hill and they're setting up these false gods. And they got a marker to the unknown God.
[41:04] And Paul stood in the midst, 17, 22, Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, you men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you're just too superstitious. For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with the inscription to the unknown God, whom therefore you ignorantly worship.
[41:25] That's the guy I want to talk to you about. Him I declare unto you. Verse 24. God, look at him, that made the world and all things therein.
[41:37] Amen. You know, Paul said he believed that creation stuff. Can I get an amen right there? You're in the New Testament. And Paul believed the creation stuff, seeing that, that he is Lord of heaven and earth.
[41:49] And he doesn't dwell in any temple you can make with a man's hands. Neither has he worshiped with men's hands. As though he needed anything. You should underline that. You know that God doesn't need us.
[42:03] God existed forever before he ever created the earth. And he will exist forever after the world is gone. He is a forever God. No beginning, no end, no father, no mother.
[42:16] And he doesn't need anything. Look at this. You got your Bible open? He gives to all life and breath and all things. You breathe, he gives you the breath.
[42:27] You breathe, he gives you the breath. I love these words. I don't know if you got your Bible open. Verse 26. He hath made of all men, of all blood, one blood, all nations.
[42:39] So he made all the races of people, but he gave them all the same blood. But I just like this. I wish you'd have none. He hath made. God did the making. God did the making. And then he says, and God picked out where y'all could live.
[42:51] If you was going to live on a planet or under the sea or where you was going to go. He said, he hath determined. And then he said, verse 27, that they should seek the Lord. You know what God wanted you to figure out when you realized he made you?
[43:03] He wanted you to go, how am I an accident? How am I an accident? There must be somebody. I need to seek him sometimes.
[43:16] Sometimes I come driving into my house and my grandson Caleb has chosen to make a new creation in my yard. Sometimes it is a spear stuck in the ground.
[43:31] And sometimes it's rods and sometimes it's wood. You know, I have never pulled in and went, I'm not believing what the molecules did this morning. Every time I'm just like, Caleb, come get that stick out of the yard and quit messing with my plants.
[43:47] Amen. And so, look at this. He said, God, you ought to see God made you and you ought to go seeking for God. Can I get an amen right there? Hey, there's not a person in China that can't figure out something.
[43:59] There's a God bigger than them. They might not want to admit it and they might want to figure out a way to get rid of him, but he's true. And he's not far from any of us.
[44:10] Verse 27. And we're his offspring. Verse 28. And in verse 30, he has commanded all men everywhere to repent. God wants them to repent in China and Russia and India and Australia and Africa and in South America.
[44:28] God commands all men everywhere to repent. And here comes a really bad verse. Verse 31. He will judge the world in righteousness.
[44:42] He'll do the right thing. But you need to understand something. The Creator God owns the world. And the Creator God will judge the world. And the Creator God has commanded all men everywhere to repent.
[44:55] And he is so big that he has raised Jesus from the dead. I need you to go with me to Romans 1.20. Romans 1.20. I see y'all getting nervous for you kids. Nobody has to get nervous for you kids.
[45:07] We're here. I can preach over it. If I can preach an empty altar room, I can preach to a kid. Say amen. Romans 1.20. I want you to look at this. Romans 1.20. Romans 1.20.
[45:18] It's the creation that leaves men without excuse. This is a driving force behind us being missionaries. Because you might think that all the people of all these other countries that don't know about God, you might think they'd go to heaven.
[45:31] If they died and never heard of Jesus. You might think that God would somehow bring a merciful thing in and say, no missionary ever arrived and you didn't have a chance. And so that's being your excuse.
[45:42] And I'll let you into heaven without Jesus. But the Bible says very clearly, no man comes to the Father but by me. And there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved. It's just the name of Jesus.
[45:54] But in Romans 1.20. The apostle Paul says, creation leaves all mankind without excuse. Look at it. Romans 1.20. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen.
[46:09] You can know there's somebody you can't see doing something. You can know there's somebody bigger than all of this. I mean, I've never driven down a highway and thought, I wonder how this got here.
[46:22] I wonder if the molecule's in. I always think somebody planned this thing. And yet you look at a human body with all its intricacies and think two atoms bumped into each other somewhere in an explosion and made you.
[46:33] Come on, get a life. Your elevator's not reaching the top floor. Your creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.
[46:45] These things didn't happen. They are made by his eternal power and Godhead. And if you don't believe that, if you don't know Jesus, you are without excuse. Now listen, the creation is going to drive them to the scripture.
[46:59] But you need to know something. All the Hindus, all the Buddhists, all the Muslims, this may make you mad at me. But I'd walk away from this place before I let you change me on this.
[47:13] So it's like God made it. And here I got a book that's saying, it's the Lord, it's the Lord, it's the Lord, it's the Lord, it's the Lord, it's the Lord. I think that's five, it's the Lord, that's number six.
[47:25] It's the Lord. It's a book about God. It's a book where God reveals himself to his people. It's a book about the creator God. It's a book about the judge God.
[47:37] So you got to realize we have now seen the creation and we're in the second verse and the second verse is in, but the scripture. You can know there's a God over there, but how do you know the God who did all that?
[47:51] It's the book. It's the book. In chapter 19 and verse seven, the law of the Lord, the teaching, the instruction, the direction of God is perfect. It's perfect.
[48:02] It's flawless. It's complete. And it's brings men back to God. Now you got to know a little bit of Bible. But if you know Bible, see, the truth is you might not know who created the world, but he gave us a book to tell us who created the world.
[48:15] And then we know that man would still be in a relationship with God, but man chose to disobey God and do what he wanted to do. And when he did that, he was separated from God. And so now God says with the scripture or with the skies, he says, notice I'm God.
[48:28] And then he says with the scripture, here's how you come back to me. And the Holy Spirit of God does a work in us. It's the testimony of the Lord. It's the Ten Commandments. That's in Exodus 25, 21 for your later looking up.
[48:41] The testimony of the Lord is sure. And it makes wise the simple. If you're humble enough to quit being so cocky, so know-it-all, so superior, so smart, and you'll just say, I believe what the book says, it'll make you wise.
[48:58] You understand that? Cocky people have a hard time with scripture. Know-it-all people have a hard time with scripture. Know-it-all people got to think, no, I'm the guy that makes decisions.
[49:09] I'm the guy that determines what's right and wrong. But the word is perfect so far. And now it is sure. And then it gives us detailed instructions on how to live.
[49:21] The statutes of the Lord are right. And they make us happy. They cause us to rejoice. That's verse 8. They give detailed instructions.
[49:34] God's truth changes lives. And when it changes lives, it gives us joy. You need to know why you were created, what your purpose in life is. And there's one book that explains all that to you.
[49:46] It's the word of God. And so I can know who I am and I can know what I'm supposed to do because I have the Bible. I'm not going to be nice, but it'll help us to know what marriage is.
[50:01] Because it's going to tell us. See, if we made up God, we could determine what marriage is and gender is. But if he made us, then we don't get to, it's not our call. If we are creation, we obey, we have to obey.
[50:15] It is pure. If you've ever decided you're going to live 70 or 80 years, you can pretty well mark that one down. That's about right. That's what he said. Amen.
[50:26] Like we like to rebel against that. We're like, no, no, I can live to 150. Well, probably not. Anyway. Go with me to 1910.
[50:39] What's your attitude towards the scriptures? Now we've talked, we've seen what they are. What's your attitude towards them? These are such beautiful verses. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold.
[50:54] Sweeter than the honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is a servant warned, and in keeping them there is great reward. So I would ask you some questions.
[51:05] Do you desire the word of God? Do you consider it precious? And don't say you do if you never memorize it, and you never read it, and you never share it, and you never talk about it.
[51:19] Because what's precious to you, you talk about. I came home from the hospital with my oldest son, who's an old man now, 40, goodnight, five or six, I don't know how old he is, he's old.
[51:31] Four, my wife knows everything. And I had his little rear end down here in his head here, and I went all over the, they told me, he said, don't take that kid out, he'll die. You know, you got to keep him in the house six weeks.
[51:44] So within six minutes, I had him at the store, and I was going around going, he's precious to me. He's precious to you. If this is precious to you, how come it never comes up in your conversations?
[51:57] If it's precious to you, how come you're not involved in discipleship, getting it or giving it? If it's precious to you, why aren't you, and every time the word's open, this is precious. You want me to tell you something that's more important than the economy?
[52:10] It's more important than political stuff. It's more important than everything. When it's all said and done, nobody will remember who the president was, but you will remember who the king was. And his name is Jesus.
[52:21] How valuable is the word of God to you? More than gold? Do you realize that your attitude towards the word of God says much about your attitude towards the God of the word? Many of you pray, but you don't study, you don't listen to the Bible.
[52:37] The word of God ought to be important in our lives. So let's review. The word of God clearly shows us what creation illustrates.
[52:48] The word of God is a book totally about the person of the Lord Jesus. By the way, it starts in Genesis 1, and he is there creating the world, by the way, according to the New Testament.
[52:59] And then man falls and Jesus comes with a sacrifice, and you go all the way through the Bible until you get to that last book. Because when you open the curtains on the stage, and you have the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[53:13] I've been talking about him all the book. Now watch this. He is Jesus. The word of God converts us and brings sinners back to him. The word of God instructs us in holy living, starting with salvation.
[53:26] The word of God and the Holy Spirit of God opens our eyes to truth. The scriptures teach us to reverence God. What's your attitude towards the scriptures?
[53:37] What's your attitude? Go with me, if you would, to the last part now. Before I leave that, can I just throw this in? If the world could know the truth of the word, then they would be clearly in obedience or rebellion.
[53:56] They would be without excuse. They're already without excuse, but now they shouldn't be without a witness. Now listen to what I'm going to tell you. If you're a Bible believer, this is what you believe.
[54:09] That God in heaven loves everybody and wants everybody to be saved. And Jesus died so that all could be saved. And he shows that in the creation that he is God, but they need this book.
[54:22] That's why world evangelism is paramount for everything we do. If they're going to go to hell, they ought to hear the truth. Many of them might turn to Christ if someone just told them the truth.
[54:35] By the way, they've been in a place, they've been in China where they laughed at them when they mentioned Jesus. Or call the Bible the myth book. But when they opened the Bible and started showing them the truths of the Bible, they got saved and now they are pastoring churches.
[54:52] Because this book and the Holy Spirit of God changes lives. The truth of God now works in me.
[55:03] Go down with me to verse 12 if you would. The psalm kind of follows what happened with the wise men when we celebrate Christmas. Have you ever noticed that? The wise men saw a star and took up some folks that could open the Bible and talk about Jesus.
[55:19] That ought to be our heart. That this book floods our heart, changes our thought pattern and gets us in line with Jesus. The Bible says, be not conformed to the world.
[55:32] Be pressed in the world's mold, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We ought to memorize this book. We ought to live this book. We ought to meditate on this book.
[55:44] This book ought to be changing our lives. Father in heaven, I love you. And I thank you so much for the chance to share your word. And I thank you for a people that are willing to listen to it.
[55:57] And that believe you did create the world. And that believe that not only did you create the world, but that you gave holy scriptures that you have perfected and preserved and kept for us.
[56:09] And that believe that you work in our hearts. Bring honor to your name. And with every head bowed and every eye closed, just a second. It won't be a formal invitation where you get to come forward or anything like that.
[56:21] But if you're not saved, you need to trust Christ right now. And somebody in this room would be more than happy to talk to you about Jesus. The scriptures teach very clearly he is God. The firmament, the heavens, the creation teaches that he is God.
[56:37] And right now I believe in your heart the Holy Spirit is saying to you, he is God. And I'm asking you to trust Jesus. Why don't you tell him, I have sinned against you. I have failed you.
[56:49] And I will put my faith and trust in you. And let him save you right now. Father in heaven, change lives. Bring honor to your name. And I'll give you praise for all you do. In Jesus name, amen.
[57:00] Amen. I'm in person. Many are meeting online and through Zoom, and we appreciate that.
[57:11] We look forward to the time we can get back into our life groups. It's important that we get together, pray together, study the Bible, have activities outside of the church together. We're trying to put some events online.
[57:22] So tomorrow at 7 o'clock on the church Facebook page and on YouTube, we're going to stream an old sermon, either from our church sermon archives or some other one, historically maybe a famous sermon.
[57:34] And you can watch together and correspond. Tuesday night, the Bible Institute takes place at 7 o'clock. All of you are welcome to join online and see that. It also meets in person following the same guidelines that we have meeting here.
[57:47] And then Wednesday night, we have family game night. We're going to move that to 7 o'clock as well. We put it up a little bit earlier upon request. And that's a Zoom meeting where kids can see each other and interact together and play a game that we will give.
[58:00] And then, as you know, Thursday nights. And so besides online opportunities, at 10 o'clock today, we sent out a text message. And I hope most of you got that. If you didn't, I'll go straight to the Welcome Center.
[58:11] Let me know you didn't get the text. I want to make sure that you can get that information. And I sent out a link for a church app. And I really hope that you will download this. It's available for all platforms.
[58:22] I don't know about Blackberry, Brother John. But I probably guess and know. But it's available for other platforms. And I want to give you a few features because we really think it's going to be helpful.
[58:35] It brings a lot of different websites and sources all together. So it has our online giving that we set up during this time. And that's the company that built it out. And so that's super easy to go through the church app and to give online.
[58:49] It also has events. That's our church calendar that you can see what's coming up. Sermons. We have the audio sermons that are recorded that go out on Sermon Audio. And then a link to the YouTube as well.
[59:01] We have a Bible in there. I hope you already have one on your phone. But we have one inside the app. Vision News. That's the email that pastor will send out occasionally. Usually about once a week. One always comes out on Monday.
[59:13] And the latest Vision News will be on the front page so you can see it. You maybe missed it in your email box. Event Bright are events that we have you sign up for. We don't have you sign up for church and normal events at the church.
[59:25] But we have a special event where we're inviting our friends like the Sam Rotman Piano Concert. We plan to reschedule. Those are events we want you to sign up for and your friends. Event Bright will take you to that.
[59:37] There's a prayer wall. You can share prayer requests and let other people know that you're praying for them. And one of my favorite features is called News Feed. And so if you're not on any social media but you would like to get the information that gets posted on the different places.
[59:52] You can click on the News Feed and it brings all the social media and the blogs and the events all into one place. And you can see what's going on so you won't miss anything. So with every head bow and every eye close.
[60:04] How many of you are going to download this app today? All right? I really hope you do. We'll make good use of it. We see now more than ever we've got to find ways to stay connected throughout the week.
[60:14] And I hope you'll use the prayer wall. If the prayer wall isn't being used we'll take it down because we don't want people sharing prayer requests and then nobody praying for them. That would be the opposite of the effect that we're going for on the prayer wall.
[60:26] But if you'll submit your prayer request others can go in there and say that they're praying for you. I think it's going to be a great resource for our church. We'll meet again tonight at 5 o'clock.
[60:37] And I hope you all have a great afternoon. I'll go to Welcome Center if you have any problems downloading the app. Have a great afternoon. Welcome Center. Thank you.