[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you'll be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Well, tonight's Q&A night, and some people take pleasure in pulling the Twilight Zone on me.
[0:13] And so we're going to do that. Well, we just had a very serious deacons and deacons in training meeting. The most serious we've ever had, I think. You'd have to go to one of them to understand how bad they can be.
[0:27] But anyway, so let's start with some questions. You've got a question back there. Would you serve and be part of VBS? I will be silly Billy in VBS, all right?
[0:44] Yeah, I would do something if you had a good enough class for me to teach. Make sure they're over 40. Next. How is the building project going? Well, since I'm not in charge, I don't know who's putting those in there.
[0:57] I'm not in charge of that one, so Micah could answer that. It's in the discussion stage, right, Micah? And so it's being discussed, and building plans are being looked at, and so on is that.
[1:08] And so just I think it's going good. Next question. Now, we're going to get some Bible stuff. Maybe I can handle it. Would it be biblical to say that the law is not for New Testament believers?
[1:20] That all depends on what you mean by that. You know, the law was to bring us to Jesus, and so it's the schoolmaster.
[1:32] And the law is written on our hearts, and so we are not what they call antinomian, which means that there's no law for us. But we do not need to try to keep the law.
[1:43] So most people, when they tend to talk about the law, they tend to talk about trying to obey the Ten Commandments. So I would say that's not really what we're supposed to do. We're going to want to do that by basic nature.
[1:54] That's who we are. We got saved. It's in our hearts. It used to be written on rocks outside. There it was a ministry of death. It was a ministry of condemnation. And today we have the ministry of justification, the ministry of redemption.
[2:11] We have all that God has done in our hearts and our lives. So, you know, it all depends on what you mean by that. So let me just say we're not a rules-keeping group of people.
[2:22] You don't need rules when you know who you are. If I were to sit down and talk, and my favorite one to pick on about this is Catherine, and everybody knows that by now. But Catherine on the way out of her wedding was skipping.
[2:34] I don't know if that meant to be with Micah or to be away from John. I haven't figured that out yet. But she was skipping. She literally took a young girl's skip. And I think if I were to sit down with Catherine and say, Catherine, you need to love Micah.
[2:47] And I said, here's ten rules that you need to obey to love Micah and to be the kind of wife you ought to be to your husband. I think Catherine would say, I want to do that so desperately. It's in my heart.
[2:58] It's what I live for every day. And I think that would be normal. So on one side, she doesn't need it. It's in her heart. But it would be foolish to go to the other side without realizing, hey, if somebody could show me better ways to work in my marriage, to help me love my husband better, then I would want to take that.
[3:15] So it's not a matter if I need a series of rules. If you have a maid working for you, you'll have to tell her what to do. You'll have to tell her what time to be at the house.
[3:27] You'll have to tell her what time she leaves. You'll have to tell her. We had a lady that worked in our house. Literally, she changed David's diapers. And today she works at David's house, taking care of David's kids.
[3:38] And I would come into the house all the time. And I'm the only one talking to sit on top of the refrigerator. And I'd say, baby, that top of that refrigerator hadn't been cleaned. And one would go, ah, which is a Spanish way of saying, I'm getting in trouble.
[3:51] And I'd say, do you mind trying to get up on a ladder so you can see the top of that thing so I don't have to see it? And so it's a total different situation. And so you just know this. We don't need rules. We do it because we want to do it.
[4:04] I love Jesus. His law is in my heart. I want to please him. I wake up in the morning. I don't ever wake up in the morning and say, I think I might kill somebody today because, you know, that's against the Ten Commandments.
[4:14] No, I better obey the Ten Commandments. That never happens with me. I don't think it happens with you either. And I think even down to the hating part, we all know when we do wrong. You don't need anybody to tell you you're doing wrong.
[4:25] The Holy Spirit tells you. Is that a fair statement or not? Amen? But that doesn't mean that I don't need to study the Bible. So in Colossians chapter 3, let me help you see where the law fits in. Anytime the Bible tells you something you ought to do, it spends a long time telling you who you are.
[4:42] So R.B. comes before do. Colossians chapter 3 says, Mortify, put off, kill, get this stuff out of your life. But it didn't say that until after it spent two entire chapters saying, You know who you are in Christ?
[4:57] You are complete in Him. There's no rules against you. They've all been nailed to the cross. You're in great shape. God loves you. And after He tells you all that, then He said, I know you want to put away that junk that doesn't belong.
[5:08] And so you slowly get rid of that old life. You slowly put that off because you want to. So the law doesn't work for us like a set of rules on the outside. It's more a set of spiritual principles He put in our heart.
[5:23] They are rules, but they're in our heart and we want to do them. Next one. Why would a loving God punish people by sending them to hell for eternity? It seems extreme.
[5:36] I think it is extreme. You know, I am not a Calvinist, so I'll just tell you that up front. So I believe you choose whether or not you will obey God or love God or put your trust in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross at Calvary.
[5:53] I believe that man in the Garden of Eden had every opportunity to obey God had they wanted to. They chose not to. I do not believe that God made them not obey.
[6:04] I do not believe it was ever God's plan. So man willingly shook his fist in God's face and said, I will do what I want to do. I will choose my own way. I will go my own way and I will do my own thing.
[6:17] And when man did that, then he received the punishment. He was warned, and every man is warned to trust the Lord Jesus, to trust what He did on the cross at Calvary. If we don't do that, if we don't do that, then the punishment's there.
[6:31] Jesus is life and everything outside of Jesus is death. So I think it is extreme. I think that, but I think men choose to do that. I think men choose. Now your next question might be, what about the sovereignty of God?
[6:46] Nobody ever surprises God. He already knows what's going to happen. I don't think He made you do it. You chose to accept or reject, to believe or not believe. You chose. And so if you spend eternity in hell, it'll be because you chose to disobey God.
[7:01] One more, and then we'll do something else. Do you think this is a myth, or was it really a place of healing? Well, you know, I don't think anything in the Bible is a myth, but let me see here.
[7:14] John 5.2. The Bible says, Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
[7:29] And you said to read down through what verse? You don't know if the pool of Bethesda was there. Okay. That question comes because many translations would leave out the first part of Matthew, or John chapter 5.
[7:49] They don't believe that was in the original scriptures. And so they would skip all of that and get down to the other part. And so I would instruct anybody who's doing that. I preached a whole message on that passage of scripture in John chapter 5.
[8:02] It should be on our church's website. And I don't call anything in the Bible a myth. And I don't skip any verses either. I don't ever say this verse wasn't there, so let's not work with it.
[8:16] You could say, well, one day we're going to find out that verse didn't belong in the Bible. And I say, well, you might. You might find it did belong in the Bible. And you're not really in much of a position to be making that choice. And so I would strongly suggest that you just take it for what it says.
[8:29] And what it says is there was a man there who got no help. And that man, Jesus, came along and brought help. And so I just believe it just like it says. I'm not as deep as I probably could be.
[8:41] I'll answer one more since I didn't do a good job on that one. John 5, 4. That's not a question. I said I didn't question that one.
[8:52] Okay, how does this apply to people in the Bible who have died and been resurrected? Hebrews 9, 27. Boy.
[9:04] Okay, Hebrews 9, 27. The Bible says, and it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. Well, it doesn't really matter whether they've been resurrected or not.
[9:16] Here's the deal. When we die, we're all going to be judged. Every person on the planet gets judged. You'll either be judged at the great white throne judgment, which is for lost people, or you'll be judged at the judgment seat of Christ.
[9:28] The judgment seat of Christ is a rewards judgment for us. There's no Baptist purgatory. You're not going to get yelled at about what you did wrong or didn't do right or whatever. That's not what's going to happen.
[9:38] He's going to reward us for what we have done that was of value to his kingdom and a value to what he said. And so everybody's going to get judged. So we're all going to die or we're going to be raptured out.
[9:51] If we get raptured out, we're only getting raptured out because we're in one who already did die, and that's Jesus. And we're in him, and we're already dead in that sense, and we go to heaven, we're still going to get the judgment.
[10:01] So if you were to get raptured out, you don't feel like that skips you on the judgment. You don't want to skip the judgment. The judgment is like the Olympics when they give out the gold, silver, and bronze medals.
[10:13] It's not a bad day. Everybody's painted that like we're going to get to heaven, and it's going to be a horrible thing because God's going to show a movie screen of all your bad actions. Actually, all your bad actions were always put on Jesus already.
[10:26] And so your slate's clean. Your slate's clean thanks to Jesus. Your past sins were taken care of. Your present sins were taken care of. Your future sins were taken care of. And so it's a rewards time.
[10:38] You will get there and be rewarded by our God. And you'll be given, there's a whole series, but you'll be given crowns, and then you will one day kiss those crowns at Jesus' feet, and we will be excited that we got to.
[10:50] All right, let's take a couple more questions, and then we'll sing a song. Boy, y'all are slowing the questions back there. Why do you use the King James Version?
[11:03] Aren't there other versions that go with the formal equivalence translation? I use the King James because I believe that God has preserved his word, and I believe that it is a fine Bible, and I'm 60 years old, and I've always used it.
[11:16] And I think there are other versions that are trustworthy that you could use. You've got to be careful to be with a formal equivalent translation.
[11:29] But I would say to you that, you know, we decided as a church when we started the church that we would use the King James. We want a common Bible in the church. We trust the Bible. We trust the King James.
[11:40] The fact is, if you were reading commentaries today, you'd often find people that use a newer translation will say, it's like the best way to translate this is like the old King James does. I know I read commentaries every week, and so I think it's a great Bible.
[11:54] I think it's the word of God. I think you ought to trust it. Next one. Why didn't God kill Aaron after he made a golden calf? I think you're going to have to ask God that.
[12:06] I'm not sure why he didn't kill Aaron. I'm not sure why he doesn't kill me. I'm not sure why he doesn't kill you. So I don't have an answer for why God didn't kill Aaron after he made the golden calf.
[12:19] But if he killed Aaron for making a golden calf, he'd end up killing you for your golden account you have at the bank. And he'd kill you because of every other little sin that you've done.
[12:30] And, you know, I would just remind you that our God's really not the killing God as much as you probably think he is. Next one. That's a long one.
[12:41] When we are saved, God the Spirit indwells us. In Luke 1.15, Scripture says, For he, John the Baptist, shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink.
[12:54] He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb. Was John a saved person even before he was born? No, I don't think so. I think that God had special people that he used throughout the Bible.
[13:09] Jeremiah, from the time he was separated from his mother's womb, was a special person like that. So I don't think he was saved from the time he was in his mother's womb. I think he, just like you did, had to realize he needed a Savior.
[13:22] The law had to bring him to Christ. He had to accept Christ. There's no verse that says he got saved before he was born, so I definitely don't believe that. Next one. How pressure are you when you give the gospel?
[13:35] Or do you leave the person to make the decision? Is it wrong, or am I being counterproductive when I don't force someone to make a decision? The only decision you can probably force someone to make is to hate you.
[13:49] And so I would say to you, we don't need to be that high pressure. I think, you know, there's two alternatives. There's some people that would be high pressure soul winners, and they're at least trying.
[14:00] And then there's some of us that are never high pressure. We never mention Jesus. And so we're not very high pressure. So I would say to you that if I were witnessing to you, I'm going to stop at every point. I'm going to ask you what you understand, and are you understanding that you're a sinner?
[14:12] If I feel like you don't understand it, I want to stay there and deal with that and move on as I can move on. But I used to force people. In my old days, I would force people to make decisions.
[14:25] I was pretty high pressure on people, but I didn't find those people to stick. In most churches where you're very high pressure soul winners, lots of people make decisions. Very few people ever come to church. I count people that come to church.
[14:37] I didn't count people that get baptized. I count how many people are in the auditorium. And so I used to get letters all the time back in the old days when we were in Ida Kipa, and they'd say, Brother Gardner, how many people are you winning to Christ on a weekly basis?
[14:50] How many people are praying their prayer with you, et cetera, et cetera? And I would say, come down. I will take you to the churches. You don't even have to announce yourself, but I will show you the people. We don't count them. I think counting can lead to a prideful attitude.
[15:04] I think counting can lead to getting distorted. I don't believe everybody who is forceful is wrong. I'm just not very forceful. And I could easily be criticized for that.
[15:15] I'm sure I could be more forceful. Next question. What is the best way to present the gospel to some? You only got two more questions? Boy, that's good.
[15:27] We go home early. We got prayer meeting after this anyway. What's the best way to present the gospel to someone beyond one? I ain't sure I got that. Does that mean one-on-one?
[15:40] Okay. What's the best way? I can really go slow on this one because it is still 626, or 526, and we're out of question. What's the best way to present the gospel to someone one-on-one?
[15:54] I'm going to assume is what that means. Let me tell you, as you witness to people, I would be very careful not to try to rush people into making a decision.
[16:08] You're not going to like what I'm about to say, probably, especially depending on your background. We take longer to choose who we will marry than we do where we will spend eternity.
[16:19] We often think it is a simple, outward decision if we can get them to pray the prayer, but they're not surrendering to Jesus. Jesus had many people that followed him, but few of them from their hearts believed him and were born again and on their way to heaven when they died.
[16:36] Because thousands followed him, but by the end of his ministry, there's only 120 people left. When Jesus spoke to people, he didn't do it in any way like I would do it. He was very high pressure.
[16:48] A rich young ruler comes to him and says, what must I do to inherit eternal life? He says, keep the commandments. The guy said, I did. I've done it all my life. And Jesus said, they go sell everything you have and give it to the poor.
[17:00] I just said, well, give a good offering. Join the church. Get baptized. We've been looking for a guy like you here at our church. I've been wanting to get him in. And Jesus confronted him. And the woman at the well, Jesus confronted her about her sin.
[17:12] So I would walk somebody through the gospel. And your gospel is you can't get saved. You cannot get saved until you know you need to be saved. You're not going to get help until you know.
[17:23] So take the time to open the Bible and show them from the word of God how to put their faith and trust in Jesus. Show them the need to be saved. The problem, I think, in the southeast United States of America is that we have done too many cultural Christians, too many people who believe whatever they need to believe.
[17:42] They join our churches, but they don't know Jesus. And it's not a true changed life. All right. We've got two more questions. And I'm just finding out where I'm about to preach. I'm going to preach.
[17:52] You ain't going to come up with no last minute questions. Did Saul, Israel's first king, go to heaven? I think that's a word about that. I think he probably did personally.
[18:04] But I think that that's probably one of the biggest argued things in all the Bible. I think he was probably God's man. He got off track and messed up his life. And I think he went to heaven. All right. Next question.
[18:15] I'm ready to preach. So go ahead. They did preach that this morning. Good. I'll just have to skip further down. Next. Why can't the devoted thing be redeemed, but instead be put to death?
[18:27] Open your Bibles to Leviticus 27, 28. Y'all are straining to get questions now. Genesis, you're just trying to kill me. Leviticus 27, 28, and 29.
[18:39] The Bible says in that passage of Scripture, Notwithstanding no devoted thing that a man should devote to the Lord of all that he hath, both the man and beast of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed.
[18:50] Every devoted thing is most holy unto the Lord. None devoted shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed, but shall surely be put to death. I think the pretty obvious answer that I'm going to give you is this, that they said this is for God.
[19:05] And you could easily start playing a game. I have been in churches where people gave their wedding band, and somebody later on came up and bought their wedding band and gave it back to them. So it was almost a false gift.
[19:15] People were giving gifts to get recognized. And so God said, If you want to give it to me, you give it to me. You don't get to take it back. It belongs to me. He wants to be first. He won't say he's given to him. I did find it very interesting.
[19:28] I was with a pastor this week that wanted to talk to me. He called and asked me to come see him. We ate lunch together. And years ago, his church was in financial trouble. And he had on a $500 ring that his mother had given him.
[19:41] And he put it in the offering plate and told the men of the church, Go hock it and see what you can get. And they went to hock it and found out it was worth $150. And one of the deacons bought the ring and kept it 30 years.
[19:54] Just in a case. And so after 30 years, he called him up and said, I'd like to see you, preacher. You gave this a long time ago, and I've got it for you. That's pretty sweet. That's the closest I've heard of that happening or coming to pass.
[20:05] But there you go. All right. Next question, please. Does the Bible teach the age of accountability? I know of no place in the Bible that teaches the age of accountability.
[20:18] The age of accountability is commonly referred to as 12. It was always that when I was a kid. That's when Jesus went to the temple. I assume that's why they thought that. In the Bible, everybody who gets baptized is old enough to make their own adult decisions.
[20:34] They're old enough to make their own adult decisions, and they choose full well knowing what they're doing. So we use that term age of accountability without ever assigning an age. I think, personally, you're asking for problems when you let your little children get saved with any prodding by you.
[20:51] Any prodding, any pushing, any trying to get them saved, I think you make a big mistake. Because later on in their lives, when they could make a decision, for Christ, they'll think they did make a decision.
[21:02] We had a young man from Alaska in Atikipa. He was there, I don't know, a long time, months. He stayed with us with a whole group of young people, and he was always doubting his salvation.
[21:13] So we all talked to him about his salvation, and the next guy talked to him about his salvation, and the next guy talked to him about his salvation. Every preacher that came through, they talked to him about his salvation, because he always wanted to talk about that.
[21:24] So one night when he finally kept pushing me, I looked at him and I said, man, why do you even think you're saved? You keep asking, so you must not think you're saved. He said, well, I know I got saved when I was four. My mother told me.
[21:35] And I said, well, do you remember? He said, nope, don't remember a bit of it. And I said, well, maybe you didn't get saved when you were four. And that day he prayed, got saved. I baptized him, I believe.
[21:46] If I didn't, one of the team did, and I think he's still serving the Lord. I don't think the Bible teaches an age of accountability, but I suggest to all of you parents, let your children make a decision.
[21:58] Don't push them into a decision, because you think that by praying the prayer they're going to be saved. They've got to pray the prayer when their heart's ready to ask Jesus to forgive them and to be saved. Next question.
[22:10] Notice y'all replaced Robert. He must not do too good back there. What are some practical ways I can show Christ's love to my college-aged child who shows little or no fruit of being a believer and who is also somewhat disrespectful when they come home for breaks and such?
[22:27] Don't hit him in the teeth. Don't knock him in the teeth. That's what you want to do when your kid comes home from college and doesn't show respect. I think that college-age kids are in a really hard time of their life, and they're trying to decide if they're a kid or an adult.
[22:43] And I think they're having a hard time figuring out who they are, and so that tends to make it a rough time. I know that when our children were young and Betty was trying to deal with Chris, and later with David, but more with Chris, Chris became quite difficult for Betty to deal with.
[23:01] He's a man, she's a woman, telling her what to do, and so I would talk to her about some of the things I might say to you right now. And, you know, I would just say to you that you need to make a decision about what's right and what works at your house.
[23:19] And if you come to my house, this is how we're going to do things. That doesn't mean that they're always going to be sweet and kind and respectful, which you might not have been when you were at that age in your house.
[23:29] So I would just say to you, love your child. Tell your child you love them. You don't have to bend over backwards to make life like they want it to be. So tell them, man, you're only here for a while just going on what we're doing.
[23:42] I'm not so worried about showing Christ's love to my college-aged child, to be blunt and honest. I am walking in that love. I am that way because I love Jesus.
[23:52] But when my children were that age, I don't think that I was very worried about that. I'm going to say it to you this way.
[24:05] It's time to kind of back off telling them what to do a little bit. Unless you're paying their bill, they're adults or almost adults, and it's very difficult to be an adult and not be an adult, to be on your own and not be on your own.
[24:20] And I think it leads to a sprained time sometimes at home. So I would, the best I could, leave my home and do what I ought to do as the head of my home. And then when my child came home, I wouldn't change except for being as kind and sweet as I could when they come to visit.
[24:36] But I would, but I do think that they've got to make their own decisions. I think sometimes parents want to keep making all the decisions. And a kid's 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and you're not backing off a little bit.
[24:49] That didn't go over good. You probably didn't like that. Next question. Robert's back. Why don't Christians get tattoos or piercings in weird places? I don't know if they do or not because I don't see weird places.
[25:03] Amen. So that's my best answer on that. I don't want to know if they got them in a weird place. Blunt on it's true. I don't get tattoos because I'm fat and old and sagging.
[25:22] And I think that if anybody knew that this was ever going to be like that, they probably wouldn't. But I'm not going to preach to you against tattoos or piercings. I'm not going to tell you that the Bible says that you can't do it.
[25:33] I'm going to tell you, I think you're stupid, but that's just Austin. That's not Bible. It's just Austin. I don't think that the Bible, when it talks about don't mark your flesh, it's talking about not getting a tattoo. I think it was talking about when they did stuff that was for the dead, they marked their bodies.
[25:51] And we should not do that, but that's not what people are doing. And so, you know, I can't answer for other Christians. I think lots of Christians do have tattoos. I'm not going to be, I'm just not going to, it's just a place I'm staying out of.
[26:05] It's none of my business, and especially what you do in weird places. None of my business. Next question. I think you need to anticipate when I'm going to finish.
[26:16] How do you help a believer struggling with addiction? My dad said, when he was alive, I would say, Daddy, this guy's a Christian, but he can't beat alcohol.
[26:33] And my dad said, well, if they get saved, they could. I don't know if the Bible says that anywhere, but I will tell you first off, when you know who you are, you can beat addiction.
[26:45] So can I just kind of walk you through what I think you should know? Who are you? You are a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
[26:56] Nothing has control over you. In Romans chapter 6, even your old nature is dead. It has no power. Sin has no dominion over you.
[27:06] No power. So nothing can make me sin. The devil never makes a Christian do anything. And by the way, your old nature doesn't make you do anything. You do it because you want to do it.
[27:19] So I would say to you, here's what you do. Find out who you are. Find out that you're a new creature in Christ. Find out that all that you are in the B level, the do level is far less important.
[27:30] That's where tattoos and piercings go. We're talking about the B level, who you are way down deep inside. And so the same thing with addictions. When you know who you are, it will change things.
[27:43] I don't think little Catherine needs anybody. She ain't little Catherine. Just a little because I'm old. But young Catherine doesn't need somebody to say, you need to love your husband. She does.
[27:53] It's who she is. Way down deep inside. Way down deep inside. That's who she is. And so when you figure out who you are, it will change the way you deal with things.
[28:04] So once you know who you are, then you decide, is that who I am? Are you that addiction? Is that addiction what you want to do? Do you feel comfortable being that guy? If you read Colossians 1 and 2, are you comfortable?
[28:16] Is that who you are? I don't think it is who you are. You don't want it to be who you are. You don't want alcohol to be who you are. You don't want drugs to be who you are. You don't want porn to be who you are. You don't want sex to be who you are.
[28:26] You don't want any addiction to have any power over you. And it has no power unless you give it power. So the next thing after you figure out who you are is this. Make a decision and make it regularly.
[28:38] You cannot pray and have power over an addiction. Because we all want something where we can say, we all want to be able to say, God, I'm going to pray one time and get victory the rest of my life.
[28:50] Not going to happen. Not going to happen. If it would happen, I promise you I would weigh 165 pounds and I'd have bulging muscles. Because I have prayed that God would make me skinny.
[29:03] And here's how God says it. You want to be skinny, quit eating. Amen. Everybody in the room understands that. But you don't understand it when it's something else. So I make a decision every time I sit down to eat.
[29:15] I don't really care about being skinny. I make that decision. I just figured out, hey, I'm fat. The liberal soul shall be fat. I'm liberal. I'm a big giver. Amen. That's a joke.
[29:25] You got to know an Old Testament King James Bible there for that one. So I would just say to you, know this. You make a decision. So tomorrow morning when you get up, wake up and say, I'm going to live out who I am.
[29:38] How does a marriage go south? How does a marriage get bad? One little decision after one little decision after one little decision until it breaks.
[29:49] How does a marriage go strong? One little decision after one little decision. After one little decision, it just gets stronger and stronger. And so there's no, I wish there was a magic.
[30:00] I wish I could anoint y'all with oil. I wish I could call you up here and say, boom, you got the Holy Ghost. I wish I could strike you dead like those guys do on TV. Boom. You'd fall down. You'd never have another problem with your addiction.
[30:11] But that's not going to happen. You're going to have to make up your mind tomorrow morning when you get up. Tonight when you go home. This coming weekend, you're just going to have to make up your mind. No, that's not who I am.
[30:22] No, that I'm going to live out who I am. And in Christ Jesus, you are more than a conqueror. You are more than victorious. In Christ Jesus, no sin has power over you.
[30:32] Nothing. So anytime you fall in sin, it's because you choose to. You simply want to. And I think you want to because you don't think about who you are. I think you don't think about who you are.
[30:45] You are a new person in Christ Jesus. Go ahead. You have eight more questions after this. How can you figure out what your purpose is in the church or your life?
[30:56] What in the world? Is that just so I know I had eight questions? Okay. You could have just held up your fingers like that. That's how I knew I had two. You have eight more questions after this.
[31:06] Thank you. How can you figure out what your purpose is in the church or in your life? Period. I think what you're saying is how you're supposed to serve. This is the best answer I can give you.
[31:19] Romans 12. 1. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. When I was a young kid, I've always wanted to serve God since I can remember.
[31:30] After I got saved, I got saved just before I turned eight. My dad didn't want me to get saved. I went up to him. Every Sunday he says, I don't even remember this, and every Sunday I'd say, Daddy, do you want me to get saved?
[31:41] He said, nope. Go sit down. He said, on one Sunday, I just walked up to the front and told the preacher I wanted to get saved. On the way back, Daddy said, that's what you needed to do. If you wanted to get saved, just do it. Don't talk to me about it.
[31:52] I don't even remember any of that part. I do remember getting saved. But I can tell you that ever since I was a little guy, all I wanted to do was serve God. I haven't done a good job of it, but here's how I found out where I belonged.
[32:04] I was at every church service that was possible. I have never missed church. I was always with other brothers, and I did every job possible. I promise you, the floors at First Baptist Church, McEwen, I polished them over and over.
[32:21] Remember, the pastor would say, there are hardwood under the pews, and there was a carpet down the aisles, and the pews are nailed to the floor. And so about two or three times a year, I would go in there with a couple other guys, and we would crawl under the pews and wax the floor.
[32:37] Why'd you do that? I don't know. He asked me to. I wouldn't do anything he wanted me to do. I went to him, and I said, I remember rolling bandages for Africa. It was way back in the dark ages. You didn't have to have sterile things.
[32:48] They would bring old sheets to the pastor's house. We would cut them up and roll them into circles and mail them off to Africa. And you say, why'd you do that? I don't know. They wanted me to. And then I was in training union, which is at 6 o'clock hour on Sunday.
[33:02] I was at church at 7 o'clock. That's because my parents took me. When we got married, I've done the same thing. I just wanted to do anything I could. You name a job, I wanted to do it. I have kept the nursery. I've only kept the nursery 10 or 12 times.
[33:13] I did it mostly when I was in high school. And the reason was a pastor, he knew I'd do anything they had told him. So they'd get ready to go out on visitation. He'd say, who wants to keep a nursery? Nobody registered. He'd say, all right, Austin, you're in charge.
[33:24] Thank you, man. I love kids. Just let me have them. And I did not enjoy that. But I just did what I was asked to do. And I think if you do that long enough, you start figuring out where you belong and what you can do.
[33:36] Do every job. Clean, cut the grass, take care of the pastor, take care of the deacons, take care of the old people, take care of the young people, teach a Sunday school class.
[33:48] The pastor used to say when I was young, he'd say, who has a word of exhortation for the church tonight? And I found out that meant get up and preach a little bit. So anytime he said it, I got up and preached a little bit.
[33:58] I preached two or three minutes. People came up to me afterwards and said, well, you did a good job. I said, good. I'll try it again. And so finally, little by little, you learn. So the best way to do it has been just get in. Just get in.
[34:11] You know, what would you do on a football team if you were given a choice? If you wanted to be on a football team, if I couldn't play quarterback, I'd play in. If I couldn't play in, I'd play tackle. If I couldn't play tackle, I'd play defense.
[34:22] If I couldn't do that, I'd be on the special team. If I couldn't do that, I'd carry water to the guys that could because I want to be in. I just want to be in. That's the way I've always been about the church. Church, my honestly, my favorite place on the planet and my favorite thing to do is be around church people.
[34:37] Always has been. I just love it. I love being around you. I love being at this church. Next question. We as believers stand righteous before God. But 1 Corinthians 4.5 tells us that the Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness to reveal a council of hearts.
[34:52] What does that mean? Well, show me 1 Corinthians 4.5 right quick. Is that not about judging? Therefore, judge nothing before the time until the Lord come will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the council of the hearts.
[35:09] Then shall every man have praise of God. Notice this. Then shall every man have what? Then shall every man have what? There it is. And here's the deal. I could easily be sitting here thinking to myself, you know, Canon doesn't seem to really serve God like he should.
[35:24] I think there's some things in Canon's life ought to get straight. Here's what Paul would say. You don't. That ain't your place to judge that, buddy. You don't know what's going on in his heart. You don't know how God's using him. You don't know what's happening. Stay out of it.
[35:34] One day God will show us what was really going on in that man's heart. And guess what will happen? Then shall every man have praise of God. God's going to say, good job, Canon. I'm going to be like, I didn't seem to do that much.
[35:46] God's going to be like, you didn't see everything I saw. You didn't see everything I saw. And there are people in this church that will never be a discipler. And you'll never do some of the things I think you ought to do.
[35:59] But you're loving Jesus and training your kids and spending your money and doing everything you can for Jesus. And maybe none of us in this room would rank you as the guy who ought to get the rewards. But the God of heaven knows what's going on.
[36:11] He knows what's going on in your heart. And he's going to judge you for that. He's going to give you a reward. Then every man shall have praise of God, which is a beautiful thing. You're going to get the praise of God. Amen.
[36:21] Next. Also, why did the scapegoat bear the iniquity of the people if the other goats offered at the same time for a sin offering? Two pictures of Jesus Christ.
[36:34] That's all it is. Two pictures of Jesus Christ. He dies and he carries our sin and our garbage.
[36:47] They prayed over this goat. The goat was sent out carrying all the sins. And the other goat died and paid for our sins. And what does Jesus do? Everything that needs to be done with your sin, he does it for you.
[36:58] Everything. He doesn't pay for it and you later on carry it. He just does the both of them so you're in good shape because of what he did on the cross at Calvary. Next one. How do you get your kids to go from morally obedient to gospel-centered?
[37:13] I think that you have to be very careful raising children to say to your children, you know, this is what you're going to do and this is what's right.
[37:25] But along the way, you've got to show them sin. You know, one of the problems with being raised in a Christian home is that it's so easy to be real good and still go to hell.
[37:38] It's so easy to have mom and dad march you down. I mean, I was this perfectly obedient little kid in front of everybody. My four children, even when they were doing wrong, were the most, if you'd have seen them here in the service, you'd have been like, man, those are some of the finest kids we've ever seen.
[37:55] But their hearts were filthy. They weren't saved. They were playing the game and they knew how to play the game. By the way, you don't even know what your kids are doing right now. Give it 10 years. Give it 20 years. We'll find out whether they're gospel-centered or moral.
[38:07] And so I would say to you, man, let's teach them the truth. What's the truth? Good little boys and girls don't go to heaven. And Jesus doesn't love good little boys and girls. Jesus loves sinners.
[38:19] And you are one. That's what the Bible says about you. So tell them the truth. And so, yes, still make them obey and still have the rules in your house. Like, good night. You don't walk in your house and say you're all sinners.
[38:30] Live like sinners. You're going to have rules. But don't ever let them think that being a good kid and obey. Just because you don't break the speed limit doesn't mean you're not a sinner. Next one. How do I disciple someone if I'm not sure I know enough?
[38:47] Well, I would tell you, I don't know who you are, but I would tell you that I don't know enough. I would tell you that I struggle every day of my life and every week of my life with how much I can teach you guys and how much I love you and how much I want to share the gospel with you, how much I want to share what the Bible says.
[39:09] And I've been learning. If you were to ask me, Austin, are you where you were 20 years ago? Nowhere near it. And I am still learning. So you disciple someone to where you know.
[39:21] That's what you do. You go to where you know. If I took what you just said in the question there, and I appreciate you asking the question, but if I took that and said, how do I raise children if I'm not sure I'm that well raised myself?
[39:32] Because ain't none of us doing that good as adults. So none of you be parents. The facts are, but what you can do is help a child get to where you've gotten to.
[39:44] And so I would tell you, go through foundations. And then whenever you're through foundations or halfway through foundations, you can start teaching somebody else. And all the questions they ask you, you're going to dig deeper than you ever had.
[39:57] And then you're going to go back to the guy who discipled you, and you're going to say, help me understand what I ought to say about this. And I think some of you aren't really connected in foundations. I think you've been discipled, but you're not discipling.
[40:09] And you're not really discipled until you're discipling. Because a real disciple will become a discipler. So it's not a lesson you take and you finish.
[40:20] It's a lesson you take and you share. And so you go and you share it with somebody else. And every one of us ought to be saying, I can teach somebody. But I'll just tell you, every day of my life, it's like a stinking new day for me.
[40:34] I don't know. I've got so much to learn. So much Bible I don't know. So many things I don't understand. We finish these questions and answers, and I often go home and think to myself, man, I could answer that better.
[40:44] I need to go study that more. I don't think any of us ever get there. So start where you are. A 10-year-old can help a 5-year-old. Because a 10-year-old has been where a 5-year-old ain't never been.
[40:56] And a 20-year-old can help a 10-year-old. And so if you've been through, hey, man, if you've gotten saved, you can help somebody that ain't saved. If you've been saved and baptized, you can help somebody that's gotten saved but ain't been baptized. If you've learned how to disciple or learned how to give or learned anything, you can share that with someone.
[41:11] And the beauty about Peruvians from my past experience is this. They didn't know they didn't know enough. They just said, I can teach that lesson if you owe me to. I'll teach it to somebody else. I said, good. Go teach it to somebody else.
[41:21] So everybody was teaching somebody. And that's where we ought to be, teaching as many as we can. One or two more? None? Three more? Should I enroll in some type of Bible college if I want to know more about the Bible?
[41:38] I'm concerned. You know, a lot of people go to Bible college and they learn a whole lot of big words and no Bible. And they want to talk to me about the immutability of Christ when the Bible says he doesn't change.
[41:52] You can be a simple-minded guy and just learn you don't change and you'll be all right. You don't have... I remember when I got ordained, it was a five-hour questioning time. I'm sitting in the room with the pastor who ordained me and his staff.
[42:05] And we started after church. It went until late in the night. And so he said to me, Austin, we would like you to explain your position on sorteology. And I said, okay.
[42:16] If you'll tell me what that word means, I think I know. He said, that means the doctrine of salvation. I said, oh, cut that one down good. And so I explained all I knew about salvation. And he looked at me and said, all right, we want to know your doctrine of eschatology.
[42:30] I said, I know that one. I read that one before and I gave him that. And they kept throwing out all these big words. I can't even say some of them. And so I think a lot of times Bible college might not be the best. Discipleship, that'd be where I'd learn.
[42:41] Get involved in the discipleship thing. One other guy like you who's studying the Bible, walking with Jesus, talking about Jesus, talking about the Bible is a great way to learn the Bible. One guy talking to another guy that's really studied the Bible.
[42:55] And there's plenty of people in this room that could carry you. Be in Sunday school. You want to learn, be in Sunday school. Be in Sunday school. You want to learn, get in discipleship. You want to learn, be in the services where we preach the Bible.
[43:08] Two more. Why do you post so much about Anabaptist? That had to be a college student that asked that one. Because I like Anabaptist. Because they, and I don't think anybody reads my blog, so I'm not sure why you even know that.
[43:24] But Robert made that question up probably. Did you make that question up, Robert? We'll dock your pay. The Anabaptists were people that believed much what we believe today.
[43:40] And they were known as rebaptizers. And they're great historians. And I like them. That's why. Next. This is the last one, right? No, I've got one more.
[43:51] Was it right for David to kill the Amalekite in 2 Samuel chapter 1? And the Amalekite is the guy that came and told him about killing David, right? That's who we're talking about. Well, you know, I ain't David.
[44:02] I ain't never been a king. I ain't never had the power to kill anybody in my hands. And so he lifted up his hand against the Lord's anointed. And David killed him.
[44:13] So I would say I think it probably was. Let me just explain something to you. In the Old Testament, you couldn't kill the king. And that's who the anointed was. And so if somebody killed our president, whether he was a good president or a bad president, whether he was the one you liked or whether you didn't like, I think, man, somebody shoot him.
[44:28] That's fine. He shouldn't have killed our president. And so that's what ends up happening. Now, I'll say this to you for a good independent Baptist brothers. I'm not anointed like that. So when somebody says don't lift up your hand against the Lord's anointed, and Austin's the Lord's anointed, not true.
[44:43] I am a brother in Christ. I stand no higher than you except when I stand up high enough to be able to see you when I talk to you. I have no power greater than you. I'm nobody more than you.
[44:54] I'm not the anointed. All of us are anointed in the Holy Spirit to do a work for God. So y'all can't talk bad about me. I gave you permission. Is there a link between the tree and Jeremiah 10, 3-3-3?
[45:07] I like that. No. No link between the tree there. How many of y'all worship your Christmas tree? Hold your hand up. David, the boy worships his. You know, if you get on your knees before your Christmas tree and say, Oh, Christmas tree, please hear my prayer.
[45:23] Then I think there's a link there. If you put stuff on there so you can worship that tree, then there's a link. People who don't like Christmas trees like to use Jeremiah 10, 3. I wish they'd use some of the verses about a new heart and get out of the Old Testament so much.
[45:36] It'd do them a lot of good. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com, where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.