[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Let's hit the first question if you would. What are the plans for the future church building?
[0:13] Did you just type that in real quick, Robert? You had somebody type it in. Okay, well we just talked about that. I think Robert did. Micah, Chuck, do you all think he did?
[0:26] We just talked about that. But there's some exciting things. Of course, it will take a year or so. We're going to try to get some plans together. And the guys will be talking to you about what our needs are in the church.
[0:37] There is a trust or a grant, I don't know what you call it. What did you call it? David? Trust that will give us half of the cost of our auditorium.
[0:49] And David just found out about the auditorium of the church in Sylva, North Carolina. And that they were connected to, I think, through Mr. Boy's family.
[1:01] And they gave them, how much did you say, $480,000? $420,000. I just gave that to them for helping on the building. And the church that, the brother Watson that was here from Calvary Baptist Church in Ashland, their church, I think, got $600,000.
[1:20] And it's mainly for independent Baptists. It's a good thing. So you help get things together. We'll be planning and working over the next year. And after that, we're always going to be trying to come up with the money because we need a lot of money in the bank.
[1:33] And so one, two, three years from now, maybe we'll start building. So who knows? It depends on what God does, how the money comes in. And so if you would start praying about that, I think that would be good.
[1:45] And we'll get us a building built. And I think that's going to be exciting. So I hope you'll help. But there's a lot of things, you know, the guys are going to put together a have-to-have list and a everything-we-want list.
[1:58] And you don't get everything you want. You can sell you want. But we'll be left with what we can afford to pay for. It's kind of like when you go to the store. You'd like a whole lot of stuff you don't get to buy. That's the way it's going to be. So talk to the guys.
[2:10] Talk to any of the men that go to the Deacons or Deacon and Training meeting, and they'll be glad to talk to you. And I understand we want a bathroom in the nursery, for example. And I bet that potty is a little bit shorty.
[2:23] What do you think? So anyway, all right. That's that question. Next one. I bet that was not part of the 10 I was warned about. In your first message of the Beatitudes, you spoke about repentance.
[2:35] Is this still applicable for a believer? If it is, then how do we live it out? And somebody was listening. Obviously, I believe you get saved.
[2:46] I believe that repentance is necessary for salvation. Among independent Baptist circles, that is often questioned because a major group in the independent Baptist movement tried to say you don't really need to repent.
[3:00] But in the Bible, the word is a very common word. It's a very normal word. Repent and believe. Repent. Be saved. Repent is a common word. So repent just means I would realize that what I'm doing is wrong.
[3:13] I'm in the wrong way. I have the wrong attitude. I have not turned from that way. It's not about you quitting sin. It is about you realizing it's wrong. The main problem, the main sin we have that we're getting saved from is not smoking, drinking, cussing, dancing, and going with them to do.
[3:33] The sin is you went your own way. And repentance is you'll turn from your way to his way. That's what repentance is. You turn from your way to his way. By the way, you need to repent if you're a very good person.
[3:45] You need to repent if you're a very good person. If you're a very good person, you're an extremely good neighbor, you take care of everybody, you pay all your bills, you never do anything wrong, you're a member of every benevolent type club in the city, you could go to hell because you're going down your way.
[4:00] So you repent. Now, I think the real question is, is it still applicable for a believer? I really think it is because I think we live a life of repentance. Not to keep saved, but I will tell you this.
[4:13] If I'm going to work with you, you know, I've hurt people's feelings in the ministry. I've hurt people's feelings. As new as Vision Baptist Churches in Cobb County, I've already hurt somebody's feelings.
[4:25] And I could tell I did, so I just went to him and I said, man, I'm very sorry. I did not intend to do that. I did not intend for you to take it that way. I'm sure I could have said it better. And I said, would you forgive me?
[4:35] That's repentance. So the idea, no, you don't have to repent to be saved. No, you're not doing any works to be saved. But as you read the Bible, as you say the Bible, as you come to church, you ought to come to church saying, if I'm doing things my way and I find out what God's way is in that, I'm going to say, I'm sorry for that turn and do the other thing.
[4:52] So it's not maybe you would change the word. Maybe you wouldn't use it the same way. But I would say to you that any Christian ought to have this attitude. When I find out that God wants something a different way than what I'm doing, I'm going to do it God's way.
[5:03] And I'm going to turn from my way and turn to his way. So does it get me saved? No, it doesn't get me saved. Does it keep me saved? No, it doesn't. Do I have to do it to get saved? No, that's not the point. Or to stay saved?
[5:14] No, that's not the point. But, you know, you don't stay close to anybody if you don't have a repentant type attitude. Marriage.
[5:25] You know what the big problem in marriage is? The big problem in marriage is I want things my way. People have marriage problems because they're two stubborn people, two selfish people that both want things their way.
[5:37] And so the only way you get a marriage to work is for both of you, really, but I can only work on me, to have an attitude that says I'm going to do things like I ought to do to work on our marriage.
[5:49] I am going to say I fixed me. I fixed me. There are things I'm doing wrong, things I'm saying wrong, attitudes I'm showing I shouldn't show, and I'm going to say I'm sorry, and I'm going to work on that. So I really believe that it's a major part of your life to say I realize that what I'm doing as a Christian isn't pleasing to God, and I want to change.
[6:08] You say, well, what if I don't want to change? Well, you know, the deal is if you continue to live in your own way and do your own thing, there will be consequences. You won't go to hell, but sin brings consequence.
[6:23] So if, you know, here's a Christian, let's say, who has a drinking problem and continues to drink, and he gets drunk, and he gets drunk, and you'd say, well, does he lose his salvation?
[6:35] No, he doesn't. You say, is God going to kill him? No, but some drunk driver will or he'll kill somebody and he'll be in jail and he's going to be very sorry for doing that. We had a man who was a member of our church, and he got real mad one day and he got drunk.
[6:50] Now, this is not a made-up story. This is a true story. He's been gone years, so you don't know him, but we're only eight years old. This really happened, and he got drunk out of his head and went to prison because he attempted to kill a police officer or kill some people on the sidewalk.
[7:05] He probably didn't, but he didn't even remember it. He didn't even remember it. They threw him down on the ground and handcuffed him, and he kept screaming he wanted to talk to his pastor, Austin Gardner. And so when I got there, they knew who I was.
[7:17] But I don't think he even remembered asking to speak to me. And so I get there, and the policeman said, oh, you're Austin Gardner. We didn't know about you. And, whoa, what do you know about me? But so repentance is a part of everyday life.
[7:31] It's a part of your marriage. It's a part of I want to be a better dad. Any dad that won't say he's sorry is probably a sorry dad. How does that come across to you? Because dads make mistakes.
[7:43] They may not think they do what they do. Moms make mistakes. Husbands make mistakes. And we ought to say I'm sorry and move on. And if so, if that's what you mean by repentance, then I believe we ought to. I'll just say this.
[7:55] You need to understand the real problem, and that is you have gone your own way. I have gone my own way. And I have my own way. You know, that's just the way gardeners are.
[8:08] You hear that, don't you? That's just the way the men in this family are. Well, that's not a good excuse. That's not a good excuse. If it's wrong, we stop it. Next one.
[8:22] Scenario. Spouse. Spouse A falls into a brief time of unfaithfulness, but fully repents, seeks the help of the church, and makes every effort to restore the marriage.
[8:34] Spouse B refuses to restore the marriage. Divorces spouse A and will not forgive. Is spouse A free to remarry, or are they to remain single?
[8:47] Lord help me, Jesus. I love how you all put me in these binds publicly. Spouse A falls into a brief time of unfaithfulness.
[9:00] That would mean adultery, fornication, sex outside of marriage. They fully repent. They seek the help of the church. They make an effort to restore the marriage. Spouse B refuses to restore the marriage.
[9:12] Divorces spouse A and will not forgive. Is spouse A free to remarry, or are they to remain single? No. I'll just give you my answer and get crucified.
[9:23] Here we go. In the Old Testament, spouse A would be dead, so spouse B would be free. How's that one?
[9:35] In the Old Testament, you run faithful. I don't care if you came back and got it right. They'd have stoned you to death. Whoa. And so then there would have been no... This question would be a moot question.
[9:45] I don't think... I think sometimes, you know, people always ask the question, are they free to marry, or are they to remain single? And I think the question that comes up...
[9:56] I think the question that comes up... That doesn't... That's a lot of times has a Catholic root. Let me just say it to you that way. Because I lived in South America a long time. And the Catholic Church won't sanction that marriage.
[10:07] And if you do get married as a Catholic, you'd lose your salvation. And so that's what... That's a lot of, I think, where that comes from. You know that if you were to be divorced and remarried, you don't lose your salvation.
[10:18] I have a young man in Cobb County who constantly asks me... I mean, I dread seeing him. I'm fixing to see him in just a little while. I'm going to drive to Cobb County. The guys who go already know who he is.
[10:29] They know what he does. And he will ask me tonight... He will ask me tonight, Pastor Godner, have I committed the unpardonable sin? And I will say... And I will say, We have discussed this a hundred times already.
[10:43] And he will say to me... But let me tell you what I did. And I tell him all the time, I say, There's no sin you can commit that makes you lose your salvation except refusing to repent and turn to Jesus Christ.
[10:54] So, biblically, I would challenge you to do some reading. And so let me give you some passages. Go to Matthew. Look up the word divorced later on for yourself.
[11:05] Let me just give you this one. Malachi. 2.14. Can you throw that up very quick, Cannon? Let's see if Malachi 2.14 is what I want. Yes.
[11:17] Maybe it's above that or below that. You can read around this verse. God hates divorce. So we should know already that though there may be mercy shown on the part of other believers, God hates divorce.
[11:30] So among us, no matter what anything else I'm about to say, I want you to know we hate divorce. God hates divorce. Divorce is a horrible thing. I should get an amen there.
[11:43] You should be committed to the wife of your youth. You should be committed all of your life. And you should work at your marriage. God hates divorce. And you should not be trying to get out of it.
[11:56] There was a preacher named John Wesley. He is technically the founder of the Methodist Church. John Wesley had a horrendous marriage. Horrendous marriage.
[12:07] And she, one of his friends came into the parsonage one day and caught her holding John Wesley by the hair of the head and dragging him across the floor.
[12:21] Latasha, don't be getting any ideas. He got no hair. For anybody that's watching, he's bald-headed. Okay. So, she died and he didn't find out about it for three days.
[12:39] That's how good their marriage was. And he founded the Methodist Church. So, but the Bible is strong about marriage. You ought to consider your marriage vows as being very strong.
[12:51] You ought to do them. But you ought never put anything on the line of, if I, if I do this, I'll lose my salvation. That's not happening. That's not happening.
[13:02] By the way, you say, well, what if the church doesn't agree? The church can't pull your salvation papers. I mean, we can't vote here as a church and say, we don't like the step you just decided to take, so we just revoked your salvation.
[13:14] Only the Catholic Church can do that. And they can't really, but they fooled people into thinking they can. Nobody can do that. Nobody can do that. So, I'm going to say to you on the question that I think probably from a biblical standpoint, God would say in Matthew that you ought to be working on getting your marriage back together if there's any way possible, or not marry.
[13:37] I don't know that you're ever going to do that or be able to do that, but I would say that that's probably the best answer. Can you just throw the question back up so I don't get too confused? So I don't get too confused. So, so, you have gotten your life right, but you did commit adultery, and your spouse refuses to restore the marriage, and so you're separated.
[13:55] I also want you to write down 1 Corinthians chapter 7. That's a chapter everybody needs to study if you're going to talk about divorce. So, if you have an unbelieving spouse, there's some leeway given there.
[14:07] Then in Matthew 18, there's a verse in Matthew 18, I believe it is. You can check those out later on and study those. So, I would say to you that spouse A, free to remarry.
[14:21] No, probably, shouldn't remarry, probably, free to remarry.
[14:32] It's all a semantics thing. I would say to you that God is not, God does not want you getting another wife. He'd rather you stay with your wife. But if you've gotten your life right, and you were seeking remarriage or seeking to get married again, and you're not going to lose your salvation.
[14:55] If you want more information than that, whoever asks the question, come see me in private, and I will be glad to tell you more of what I might, would say to you than I'd rather say publicly for people to twist and make into something I don't want them to make into it.
[15:07] That's going to be a coward's way out, but I just took it. Next question. We'll have this one, I think, and then we will... I think if you'd come talk to me in private, we could work this out right here real good.
[15:30] You're not going to lose your salvation if you get remarried. Let me just say a couple of things to you about divorce. Did you know almost everybody who's ever been divorced gets divorced again?
[15:42] and again, and again, and again. So look up this way real quick. You're not going to listen to me, but I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the big problem with divorce. The big problem with divorce is when you get remarried, you didn't fix what was wrong with you before you got divorced the last time.
[15:59] And I would like to see you be able to fix things. Recently, in another church, a man was remarried who had been unfaithful, and that's why he got divorced, and he got remarried, and everybody in the church was excited about it, and he's divorced again.
[16:16] So let me explain something to all of you. I love you. I am not a legalist, I don't think, too much, maybe, possibly. I try not to be. But I would just say to you that divorce, the problem with divorce is that divorce is caused by you not doing right.
[16:37] I mean, just be honest. You don't get divorced if you're both doing right. Second, since you got a divorce, in a lot of ways, divorce is similar to what goes on with a child that's playing, and it's my toy, and you will not touch my toy.
[16:53] And so they finally get a divorce because they're fighting over stuff, and then when you get married to the next person, you still want to play with all the toys and you don't want to share. And so you can say what you want, but your problem is much deeper than can I have a new life?
[17:06] Your problem is much deeper than going to have a new life. I don't think God wants to curse you the rest of your life. I don't think God wants to take away all your joy, but I want to tell you, and I say this out of as much love as I could possibly express it, you don't know me.
[17:21] I've told you that I'm not the kind of pastor that's going to be there for your bunions, but this week I spent a lot of time with the Clap family. I will be there for you, and I love you. From the depths of my heart, I love you, and I care about you, and I think about you, and I try to pray for you, but let me just tell you, the divorce isn't a problem, it's what caused that divorce that's a problem.
[17:40] And you can blame it on your other spouse, but you had some fault there. And so what you want to do is fix it before you ever get married again. You want to make sure you do deep heart surgery before you get remarried.
[17:54] You want to make sure that you confess and fix whatever was wrong. If you're going to think about remarriage, you better think this, okay, I know, I messed up right here. And this is one of the things I do.
[18:06] And by the way, we could go to your ex and she could list them for you. And you'd say, well, they're not true. But your second's going to say the same thing. I know because I've been a counselor for many years.
[18:17] She's going to say the exact same thing. So it's amazing how it repeats. And let me just say this. I do believe you can change. I believe you have victory over every sin. I believe you can fix it where you could not have those problems and you could remarry and have a happy marriage.
[18:30] But I think you need to know you're going to do some real heart work. My in-laws were both divorced and remarried. And Betty is the product of their family. And they had over 50 years of marriage after one of them had been married like seven years, the other had been married a year or two.
[18:48] A few months. And they got married together and they kept their marriage together for well over 50 years before he died. And she's still living. But they worked at it.
[19:01] And I made a comment to him one day when he was being extremely kind to her and I said, Boy, I mean you, I'd like to punch my wife right now if she did something like that. And he said, Yeah, well that's how you end up divorced.
[19:12] I was like, Yeah, I never thought about that. Hadn't been there yet, I wouldn't really punch her. I just want to. But I'm just saying to you, yes, I think that there's a way you can remake your lives, separate lives.
[19:24] But I would like to say from a heart of a pastor who truly loves you, fix yourself. Get alone with God. Get the Bible in you. Look back through your life and stop blaming the other person.
[19:38] Because it's always the other person. By the way, Betty and I, every time we fight, it's always her fault. And it's always my fault until we get it fixed. And then we both say, Well, it's really my fault. We never get it fixed.
[19:51] But when the fight starts, I'm like, Why didn't you say that? And she said, I didn't say that. I said, Yes, you did say it. She said, No, you didn't. I said, If I had to record it, I'd play it back for you. I mean, and the next thing you know, man, we're going at it.
[20:04] I know y'all will never do that in your house, but we can get loud. I can get loud. She doesn't get loud. She just cries. But crying is the meanest weapon of all. I mean, it's like the atomic bomb. When she looks at me, I can't cry and I can't punch.
[20:17] I mean, it's not fair. But you know, before it's over, I will say, I'm sorry, and I'll realize what I did. And that's how you stay married. Just to be blunt honest, that's that repentance thing. And so I would just like to say to you, go back through your life and say, Where do I see?
[20:32] Maybe I wasn't grateful. Maybe I wasn't forgiving. Maybe I was snappy, snippy, rough, mean, whatever happened, and work on replacing that.
[20:42] Work on taking out the bad stuff and putting in the right stuff so you're a new person. God, is it working your life, rebuilding you anyway? But I would say to you, you know, I don't really think the divorce is the major issue.
[20:58] I think that major issue is junk you're still carrying. And I don't know if you ever noticed, boy, I'm going to really make you mad at me. You know, we've got a small enough church now and I guess I'll be pastoring my wife. But let me just say this.
[21:12] You become a bitter person because you hang on to that junk and now you think it was all her or all him and you blame it on another person and you develop a whole lifestyle of blaming others. The biggest sinner in this room is me.
[21:26] And the biggest failure in this room is me. And the biggest person with the most problems in this room is me. And you say, no, you're saying that to be humble. No, I'm saying that because I read the book. The apostle Paul said he was the chief of sinners.
[21:37] Your attitude ought not be, well, I'm not that bad. Most Christians walk around the room just like this. Well, I'm not near as bad as those guys. I'm not near as bad as those guys.
[21:49] And we rejoice in evil instead of being honest and looking at ourselves. And I can be so prideful. I can be so selfish. I can be so arrogant.
[21:59] I can be so defensive. I can be so, I can have my inferiority complex on my sleeve and get my feelings hurt so easily. And so, I beg you to do this.
[22:10] Fix yourself. Fix yourself. Get in the Bible. Get the Bible in you and be honest. And then, in your friendships, you know, this is what's great about a church.
[22:22] There's a million things that are great about a church. It's not just that you have a great preacher because, you know, if we were going to go by great preachers, there's only a handful of really great preachers. But the community really helps you.
[22:36] Listen to this. If you're around the community, the body, us, we hurt each other's feelings. That's good. You see, because if you hurt my feelings, I hurt your feelings, we can help smooth each other out.
[22:49] We can say, you know, that's something you do that's offensive and I can fix it. That's what's great about a family. You ever know, every family's got that weird uncle. Every family's got that other weird person in the family. But as the family is together, as the family is together, they begin to work these little issues out.
[23:04] And family learns to love family and that's what's good about the church. And so, if at church, people, somebody ever comes up to you and they mention something that your ex-wife used to say, maybe you ought to take a hint.
[23:16] If they say the same thing your ex-wife said or your ex-husband said, maybe you ought to take a hint. Maybe somebody sees that for real in you. Because I want to protect Austin. Austin's a big deal to Austin.
[23:28] And that causes a major problem in our marriage. Could you at least shake your head? How many of you get this? The divorce isn't the real problem. The problem is that you get divorced, you're going to get remarried, you're going to get divorced again.
[23:40] I've known people in my ministry over the years that have been divorced three and four times. And they're like, it's just that no good women. I'm like, maybe if you was a good guy, some women would be good women.
[23:51] I mean, if you've run through that many girls, maybe you're the problem. And so, I would just say to you, man, I understand you want to get on with your life, but it's typical for us to say, I can't help it.
[24:08] That's just the way I am. Not true. Not for us. We're believers. We are believers and we can change. We don't have to be the person, that person. And we can learn and we can grow and we can mature in the Lord in our marriage.
[24:24] Well, I'm going to let Eric come lead a song so I can take a breather before there's another follow-up. We'll have the next question. No specials because they told me there's still 11 questions they're multiplying.
[24:38] We'll just, we'll just, I'm going to, I'm going to say something. I think you can go, I want you to know I think you can remake your life. I don't want to leave you thinking that I don't think you can go forward. I don't want you to think that it's over, you messed up and you ruined your life and there's no way out.
[24:53] I don't want you to think that. I don't want you to think that's what I was saying to you. I just want you to know this. Man, Sunday school is a great place to come and to get around other Christians and share the word of God and learn.
[25:07] Discipleship, foundations is a good place to get to work with somebody else and get into the Bible and learn how to overcome junk in your life. Discipleship, Sunday school, all the preaching services, body functions, things this body does together are great.
[25:23] As you rub shoulders with other Christians, you will grow and mature. And I want you to know that you, it's not like your life is over. I don't want you to leave here saying, man, Austin made it sound like our lives are over.
[25:35] I'm not saying that at all, but I am saying to you that the problem is far greater. This is the honest truth. Years of Bible study and years of people study, I'll just tell you this, it's probably not your spouse as much as you think it is.
[25:52] It is probably much more you than you want to admit it is. And I know you're already at the end of that, maybe you're already divorced and that would be the person who asked that question and I'm not making fun of you.
[26:04] I am not. I hurt for you. If I were in your position, I would want somebody to show compassion and I want you to know I'm trying to. But I would just say to you that before you move on and try to move into another sphere of your life that you need to work on fixing things.
[26:18] Fix what's broken in you. Your marriage broke because there was broken stuff. And by the way, broken marriages break more things. Because when you get a divorce, you break more stuff.
[26:30] It was broken enough to get a divorce and when you got a divorce, you broke even more stuff. Because the thing about the way God made marriage work and the way God made intimacy work, and boy, I'm being blunt with you, but you are welded together.
[26:44] When you become one flesh, it is in essence like being welded. And I've talked to tons of people that are welders over the years and if you take a piece of metal that's been welded to another piece of metal and you break it, it probably won't break in the well.
[26:57] And some will come from this side and some will come from that side, but everything is broken. It doesn't just break apart nice and easy in two whole pieces again. And so I'm going to say to you, let's work on fixing you.
[27:10] And I want to help you. And our church wants to help you. And we love you. And we care. And I don't want you to leave here saying, man, there's no hope. There is hope. But you better learn the right thing to do.
[27:20] Now bring up the rebellious child. Well, we're going from the mama to the daddy to the kid. What's the Bible say to do with a rebellious child? Take him outside the city and stone him until he's dead. That's what they did with a child that cursed its parents or hid its parents.
[27:33] Don't do that. Don't do that. No, this is basically what's going to go on for a week now at missionary orientation.
[27:49] We'll talk about all kinds of things like this. Let me just say this to you. First off, most rebellious children are caused after the age of five or six because you didn't take care of things when they were young enough.
[28:00] And honestly, if you work at it when they're small enough, you can avoid it. And the bad thing about raising children is you do not want to discipline them until they're so big that you want to kill them. So you don't discipline them until they're big enough that you want to kill them.
[28:13] So like he's three years old and you won't discipline him. But when he's 13 years old, he's too big to discipline and so you want to kill him and so you want to take him outside the city and stone him.
[28:24] So I would say, here's what I would say. I would give you just, this is an opinion. It's an opinion of a dad and a granddad. I would set my child down and I would say, I love you with all my heart.
[28:35] We're going to make some very clean, clear rules. This is expected behavior and when expected behavior is not met, this will be expected punishment for not meeting that thing.
[28:49] In our day and time, you're probably going to end up, you know, you're probably going to end up taking that electronic device away from them or whatever is coveted. I will tell you that if you believe in spanking, which I do believe in spanking, that you can spank a child until they are, the Spanish word is cortido, until they are like cured leather.
[29:12] You've got to whoop them and it won't do a bit of good. They get used to the pain and it don't do a bit of good. I love watching my daughter-in-law, Katie, discipline my grandchildren and the other day, she picked Allie up and she gave her a spanking and it was literally like this.
[29:29] But the kids screamed. The kid's like 18 months old, two years old, whatever. And that little bit, there was no pain there. It was just, mama don't like what you're doing. It was very obvious. And I was like, man, I used to beat my kids a lot worse than that.
[29:42] But I think if you work at T to take care of your children when they're small, then you'll have a lot less trouble. But after they're bigger, man, there's two or three things I would suggest. Number one, get a set of things to sit down and say, you know this is the way it has to be.
[29:56] You've got to follow these things and make them very clear. And then carry out the punishment immediately. And the things that goes wrong with parents is, I told you I'm going to take away your iPad if you do that again.
[30:09] And then the kid does it again. You say, that's the second time I'm warning you. And they already know that you're going to warn them 52 times. And they know how to count. I've seen so many kids jumping up and down on furniture and the parents say, get off the furniture.
[30:23] And the kid keeps jumping until he sees daddy start moving. That's when he knows it's for real. He knows the cues. They are just like people working in football. You know, in football, you don't listen for the hike.
[30:35] You don't listen for that. You watch and you see the movements. They know if you really mean it. And so I would suggest you sit down some guidelines and you carry out the guidelines. I would strongly suggest that you begin to work on the B level of every child.
[30:49] Stop telling them to be moral. Stop telling them to be moral. So many parents try to make their kids live like sheep when they're still pigs. Don't tell your three-year-old Jesus is in their heart.
[31:00] He's not. He's as far from their heart as he is from a demon-possessed kid. They're not saved. I hate it when Christian parents try to act like their kids are saved. Then you try to get them to pray the prayer at two and a half so you can say they're saved now.
[31:13] They need God to change them. They need God to change them. And so put the Bible into them. Have family devotions. You don't need to make it hard. You don't need to make it long.
[31:24] But sit down and start little by little getting the Word of God into them. Maybe turn off some TV. Maybe turn off some TV. I mean, sometimes, and I know, you cannot say that I'm an alarmist and say this, but like when a guy in Ackworth or Kennesaw goes in and is 19 years old and takes a gun and shoots about six people at the place where he works, I wonder if he thought he was playing some kind of electronic game and he could go in and shoot them and get a new life.
[31:49] I mean, you know, I grew up in a day when people had a lot more guns than they have now and people didn't go around shooting each other. I grew up when everybody was carrying guns. I mean, I grew up, I carried a gun. I mean, I can remember being 12 years old and shooting snakes with them.
[32:03] I never shot anybody else though. And so I think some of it is maybe you're not, you're not, you're not teaching. So have some Bible. Turn off some TV. Get rid of some of the games. And you don't hear me preach about that, but if it's a game that's teaching them violent junk, maybe you ought to get rid of it.
[32:19] If it's a game that's teaching them to go around shooting people, get rid of it, stop them from watching some of that and have some devotions. Another good thing to do, by the way, my children by the age of two could sit still in the service because we taught them to sit still.
[32:33] And if you have family devotions, they'll have to sit still. By the way, the time you take them to school, they will learn to obey rules. It's amazing how the teacher can do what you couldn't do. But the teacher's like, no, this is how it's working.
[32:45] This is expected behavior. Set your rear down. It's amazing how parents don't raise their kids. And in kindergarten, a kindergarten teacher almost immediately, within a week, can change their kid.
[32:56] That shouldn't be. Next question, there's 11 of them, so I need to hurry. If there's no sin in heaven, does that mean we'll have no free will when we get there?
[33:07] What will keep us from sinning? I would say you'll have no free will when you get to heaven. I would say that your will will be lost in His will. I would say to you, let me just say, even now, you do not have an old nature trying to pull you down and make you do wrong.
[33:22] That's just something preachers have sold you on. You like to make excuses for sinning. But sin has no more dominion over you. The Bible says that in Romans chapter 6. If you're a born-again believer, there's no power that makes you sin.
[33:35] You can never say the devil made me do it. You can never say my old nature rose up and did it. No, your old nature's dead. Your old nature's dead. Go read Romans 6. Your old nature's dead. You did it because you wanted to.
[33:46] Quit blaming somebody else. Quit blaming somebody else. So now we do things out of habit. Now we do things because we want to fit in with other people. Now we do things because we want to do them.
[33:56] But you have power over all sin. All sin. Somebody comes to me and says, I was born genetically a homosexual. And I say, absolutely not. If you were born again, you're a new creature.
[34:06] Even if you had been born genetically a homosexual, the second you got saved, you're a new creature. You are not genetically predisposed to anger. Because when you became a Christian, you got a new nature.
[34:17] And your new nature is a nature like Jesus. So the honest truth is start living out who you are. Start living out who you are. Find out what the Bible says that you are and God will help you to live it.
[34:28] So when you get to heaven, no, we're not going to rebel against him. We're going to, fact is, here's what happened in the book of 2 Corinthians, what is it, chapter 2? We went through it as we preached through it. You remember what happened? The law was written on tables of stone and it's a ministry of death.
[34:42] It's a ministry of condemnation. The Ten Commandments are only to condemn you. The Ten Commandments are to kill you. The Ten Commandments are to bring you to your knees knowing you can't.
[34:56] And then you go to the ministry where he writes it on your heart. Watch this. You see, if you went to Betty and told her you need to love your husband, I got this question actually on a missionary email ring within the last 30 or 40 hours.
[35:12] I got this question. They said, what about all the people that are predisposed to be homosexuals? And I said, they're not. You see, if you went home to your wife and said, why do you not want to live with me?
[35:24] Why do you want to wander around and go with... If a wife is in love with her husband, she doesn't want to be unfaithful. If a wife has her eyes towards her husband, you really don't even need to give her a whole lot of instruction. I remember when little Catherine skipped out of the room.
[35:38] I can say little because I'm 60. But I can remember when little Catherine skipped out of the room on the arms of her husband. There was no need for me to go back and say, now you sit down and listen to me, you little Catherine. You are to love him, you little punk.
[35:50] You are to love him. I don't want to. It's pretty obvious she did want to. And when you got born again, there was a new want to put in your heart. You fell in love with Jesus. And that's who you are, and so it affects what you do.
[36:01] So none of us have any excuse to drink or commit any other sin. If we do, it's because that doesn't mean that you are sinless. It just means that you have no excuse.
[36:12] We do believe that the law still works, but it works written in our hearts now, not written on tables of stone on the outside. Next question. Can you discuss Bible study and how you prepare a Bible lesson for presentation?
[36:27] Can you throw that to the last? I do that in teachers' workers' meeting. If I have time, I'll say something about that. How does Jake and John walls affect what we, Vision Baptist Church, are going to do and how we're going to do missions in China?
[36:43] Not at all. That's a good question. I don't know who asked that, but that's a very good question. Let me explain something to you. John walls and Jake Talby have been kicked out of China because they did what they were sent to do.
[36:56] They were kicked out because they did what they were sent to do. There are tons of people that have been in China for years and not gotten kicked out because they don't do anything. If you walk around in a 007 mindset, nobody will ever catch you.
[37:08] If you've got a little bitty Bible you can hide under your fingernail and that's all you carry and you never talk about Jesus, you won't get kicked out. If the Apostle Paul went to China, he wouldn't have lasted as long as Jake did.
[37:22] Hey, when Peter and John show up in town, they say, those that have turned the wall upside down have come here there also. So, when we send a missionary out, we want them. man, the fact is, it was so funny, I'm talking on Google Hangout and I've got like five people up to ten and sometimes we have nearly 20 guys all around the world were discussing all this and John Walls got kicked out in two years and Jake probably got kicked out in seven and Mark Tolson said, what have you been doing, Jake?
[37:51] You didn't work very hard. It took you a long time to get kicked out and then Mark told me, I think I'll put a sign up and just say, this is a church and we are here to do church because we want to spread the gospel and the Apostle Paul that he had gone anywhere would have spread the gospel.
[38:06] He would have gotten beaten, kicked out of the city, locked up, shipwrecked, a whole dozen things would have happened there but he wouldn't have stopped and so, that's a very good question. Let me just say that we are going to keep promoting people like Jake Tauvey and we are going to promote exactly what he is doing.
[38:22] They are heroes. If you, honestly, they deserve a hero's welcome. I want this church to give them good offerings to get set up in Taiwan or maybe they are going to get back into China. When they get here they are going to change passports.
[38:34] They are going to get a new passport and they are going to apply again for a visa and hope maybe the number is what they were connected with. If they get turned down they are going to Taiwan. They are not quitting. They will work in Taiwan. They will still work with the preachers.
[38:45] The end of three to five years they will go back into China. Lord willing, unless they are so stuck in Taiwan they don't want to go back. We are sending two more in. Ed DeLorelles and Ben Johnson. We are sending them in. How long are they going to last?
[38:56] I don't know. Two to seven years. And then when they get checked out we will send in two or three more. And what would be really neat was so funny we were talking and the guy said Jake made the comment on the way out of China as he is going out the door he would love to see about 30 of us going back in on the other side.
[39:12] And that is exactly what we want to do. So that is a good question. Thank you. Next one. What can we do to be a blessing to the missionaries in China? Fantastic question. I would I would Ben I would be emailing them I would be you can text most of them I don't know if you know that if you have an iPhone you can easily text them.
[39:30] If you have a Mac if you have any kind of Apple type product you text just like you were just like you were somebody here in America I text them all the time. I mean while it's happening I'm usually I mean they're sitting there we're in the police station I'm saying alright what's going on?
[39:45] And I mean texts are just flying back and forth. I wouldn't expect them maybe to text you as much as they text me but I think they'd text you back eventually. So try to text them. I think that we ought to take an offering for them.
[39:56] I think they ought to be prayed for. I think you ought to spread in social media how much we love and respect them and I think you ought to pray that they get support if you have any connections to another church help them to get more support.
[40:07] I think we should get Ben Johnson to China tomorrow. Ben Johnson as quickly as possible let's get him to China. Ben is a solid Bible preacher sorry Miss Johnson he is a solid Bible preacher and Mark Tolson is still going to be there but Mark's days will be numbered and so we just keep sending people.
[40:30] Next one. Since we all descend from Adam and Eve how did the different races come to be different skin colors bone structure and characteristics? Well that's a good question and I really don't know but I will give you a rough idea.
[40:44] There are some people that have written good books about Genesis that I would suggest that you read. I think that God causes God caused our bodies to adapt more to where we lived and in the past and so he adapted he adapted us.
[41:01] If you were if you were a Quechua Indian living in if you were a Quechua Indian living in Bolivia Ecuador or Peru in the high mountains you would be amazed at the physical differences that they have.
[41:13] They have they have at least another unit or two of blood above how much you have. It's amazing but they live at a high altitude. When I came home my family came home from furlough the first time we came home we went to a doctor and he came out after our blood count and he said that's the highest hemoglobin count I've ever seen in a human body and I said well we live at 8,000 feet and he said okay that explains it so your body had to adapt to be able to get enough oxygen in.
[41:41] It's amazing you can go to a Quechua Indian I'll talk about him for a second because I happen to know pretty much about them they stand in snow in their bare feet they are wrapped up with clothing and they're shoveling snow to get you across the place and they don't feel near the cold in their feet and I say how is that?
[41:59] They say I don't know they don't know they just know it don't hurt them that bad and so I'm just going to say to you that God we are all the same race really there's only one race the human race and God has adapted us and so there's no I mean the difference is you know amazingly if your skin is darker my skin doesn't really change you from being one of me I mean I'm sorry but we're kinfolk and so you peel us we all look alike if you peel us we all got the same color innards and so we're the same people but what happens is God helped us to develop now in America in America it's you know we have air conditioning so it doesn't matter how hot it is we're fine doesn't matter how cold it is we're fine I think it would shock you to know that the Quechua the Quechua people up in Puno and the different areas that these are people that live in 11,000 feet above sea level 13,000 feet above sea level they don't have heat in their house and it'll get down to 10 degrees 20 degrees outside they will bundle up and they'll be fine
[42:59] I have been in bed in one of those towns with so much cover on me that I literally had to lift weights to turn over I mean it's just ridiculous so God made us where we can adapt amazing and wonderful thing you know they talk about Mile High Stadium and how if a ball team is going to go play there they need to get their days enough early their body can start to adapt the people from Cusco it's 11,000 feet above sea level some of the old men from Cusco beat another team in South America they won it was shocking to everybody but the thing was they made the other team come to Cusco and they were older and their bodies were adapted so man they run they run around 11,000 feet like it's nothing and so the other guys came up and you know soccer game goes on like what 60 or 90 90 minutes or whatever and by the end of 90 minutes everybody else would go and the old men from Cusco I mean there were 40 year olds playing these 20 year olds and the old men just jogging along like ain't nothing going on here no big deal because their body adapted next question you got a good God knows how to do all that by the way there's never ever a reason to think you're better than anybody by the way color your skin the width of your nose the highness of your cheekbones the type of hair that you have none of that makes you any better than anybody else you are a person and every person is going to go to hell there are only two groups of people on the planet those on the way to heaven those on the way to hell we are the same family so I hope you always know that and believe that we as believers stand righteous before God since we are in Christ but in 1 Corinthians 4-5 it tells us that the Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness to reveal the counsel of hearts what does this mean not you not you your stuff is already forgiven
[44:41] God will bring it about like in our lives God is an amazing way of showing who we are and helping us receive the consequence you will suffer consequences for doing wrong but know this there is not one sin going to be mentioned I often hear preachers I often hear preachers say how are you going to handle that at the judgment seat and I always say I ain't my lawyer took care of it already and so when I get there they are not going to have any of that to say to me so I would love to beat you over the head with you don't tithe bless God and you are going to pay for that at the judgment seat that would be a good way to manipulate you but it wouldn't be a true statement your sins were taken by Jesus on the cross you say what about my future sins they were all future when he died and they are all paid for it is all finished and so lost people can say what they want you can say what you want and God does reveal even for a Christian and I would like to read the context I preached that passage you can go look at what I said when we went through because we have been through 1 Corinthians but I would just like to say to you that right now
[45:45] God reveals if I got the right attitude of spirit a lot of that comes out in your marriage a lot of that comes out in other things it shows what is going on in your heart and it is God's way of dealing with you to grow you next question sir is that a different one ok confess your faults man I'm telling you confess your faults can you explain how this should be practiced in the church yeah I think when you do wrong you should say you're sorry and I think in James chapter 5 just a verse or two below this is going to tell you that we are we can pray for each other we can anoint somebody the prayer of the fervent righteous the prayer of fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much something like that and so as Christians you know when you're asking God to do something it's amazing it's amazing by the way let's watch this one did you know that if I want to talk to God and I haven't been treating Betty right God doesn't listen to me it hinders my prayer it's not about my salvation it's not something about the judgment it's the hindrances now look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 7 with me 1 Peter 3 7 1 Peter 3 7 look what the Bible says
[47:02] I'm to live with my wife according to knowledge and I treat her as a more valuable vessel that doesn't mean by that that she is weaker like she's dumb or weaker like there I've met plenty of women that can whoop men you know it's not about that kind of weaker it's like fragile it's like special it's like that so it says being heirs together we are equal there's no thing of I'm the big man I'm the man of the house and you are not you can't get to God without me we're joint heirs we're heirs together but that my prayers be not hindered so here's what God's doing with all of us when we do wrong I don't have to face it at the day of judgment I've got to face it right now I've got to face it right now so here I am dealing Betty and I are fighting and I'm praying God will give us a good offering for the church and God in heaven said I'd like to hear you Austin but you and Betty have been fighting and so if you'll go fix it we'll talk because God wants me to work on my marriage God wants me to work on my marriage it's important same thing with our brothers if we don't have this as far as I know in fact as in the deacon's meeting it was discussed just a second ago you know how some churches split over buildings and over building projects and the comment was made that's not how vision is but the point is we don't want to keep hard feelings ever so confess your faults if you hurt somebody say you're sorry repent say you're sorry don't always be going around saying that they ought to repent
[48:23] I ought to be the first person to say I'm sorry I'm sorry I was wrong I won't do it again please forgive me I'm sorry I was wrong I won't do it again please forgive me you might even say I'm sorry I was wrong I might do it again but I don't want to do it again please forgive me learn to say that it ought to be a regular part of our vocabulary next question it is 6 o'clock I'm reading the book of Leviticus right now and while the sacrifice and temple traditions are interesting I'm struggling to find application for my walk with Christ what can I do to make the make the most of my reading of Leviticus read Ephesians with it and that's what we preached here in our church we went through Ephesians and Leviticus at the same time but let me just explain something to you every time you read Leviticus I love those books but I'm going to give you the answer every time an animal is killed and his blood is shed that's Jesus that's Jesus so when you read that thing man they did wrong and an animal died
[49:30] I did wrong and Jesus died see that's what that'll change that whole perspective so yeah the traditions but those traditions are all they were all pointing to Jesus and so every little offering every way they dressed everything they did was to say Jesus is coming and he's the son of God Jesus is coming and he's going to pay the sin debt we don't make sacrifices anymore because Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice and so that'll help you with Leviticus but you know don't get bogged down if you're having trouble read it if you're reading three or four chapters a day you'll be through it pretty quick go on to the next book and every time you go through it you'll learn stuff I find stuff all the time I learn new stuff out of the Bible I wish I could tell you I've already learned it but I haven't next question what's the difference between the permissive will of God and the directive will of God go told Isaac specifically do not go to Egypt Genesis 26 2 but in Genesis 46 3 he's allowing Abraham to join Joseph there how can you tell if God is allowing it because it's best or if God is saying okay fine that's not best for you but it will work
[50:35] I'll just say this to you most of the time it won't work too good and it didn't work too good for old for old Isaac and Jacob and the family so let me just say this God's will is that everybody be saved but not everybody will be saved and God's will is that you would obey him God's will is not that you get a divorce but you may end up getting a divorce God's will is not that you would do wrong but God's love will still be there for you and let me just say for all of us don't push the envelope we are very guilty of trying to find out what we can get away with with God that ought never be the attitude my relationship with Betty ought not be I love you baby let me see what I can get away with I love you but let me see what I can get away with I love you but let me see if I can't let me see if I can't pull something slick on you no that ought never be the attitude and so the best story I think to maybe explain that question is the story of Balaam and the story of Balaam he goes these these these princes come to him and say we want you to go curse Israel he says
[51:40] I can't curse Israel I'm a man of God I have to bless Israel and they said no we'll give you some money and he said oh I didn't know you was going to give me money let me go ask God if I can go and he goes and asks God if he can go and God says no and he said but God you're going to give me money he said alright go so he goes and he curses him and when he starts out with the curse God changes it to a blessing and and he and it just keeps going wrong until his donkey talks to him and you know the story the whole point is as a Christian God will let you ask and push for things until you hurt yourself he sent leanness to the souls of those who wanted meat in Israel as they traveled in the wilderness he said you can have the meat but it's going to cost you and so whenever we push it let me just say this as a Christian you can try to enjoy this world too much if you enjoy this world too much you'll send leanness but let me just say let's take a family in our church that would say as a Christian I don't really have to be in church I can really miss church I don't really have to show it as a you know it's not I mean I'm not a legalist bless God we don't go to one of them churches where you gotta go but watch this everything you do is influenced on somebody who's watching you everything you do is influenced on somebody who's watching you and so as my children watch me not show God first place they will learn to do the same thing and they will become what we are and we'll influence them so
[53:03] God allows you to do everything God's will is always right and God will allow you to do stupid stuff but why would you do it if you could have start back up and say God what do you really want me to do not what I want go to God with a blank sheet of paper and say here's a blank sheet of paper write your will on it and I'll do it don't go to God and say this is what I want you make it work because in the long run it's going to bite you in the rear end you're going to get hurt we can't play with God he's bigger than that you can't play with him is that it one more alright what does the phrase will worship mean in Colossians 2 23 can you throw the verse up real quick which things indeed a show of wisdom and will worship and humility and neglecting of the body not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh you know
[54:04] I preached a whole sermon on that in Colossians and you can find that if the guys in the back can't tell you how to find it you can find it in Voke and I know Voke knows where a lot of things were uploaded I'll give you a brief answer there's a part of us that wants to do things grace is hard to accept that somebody just loves me without me having to pay back is hard to accept that somebody would just care about me like I am is hard to accept and so sometimes we want to beat our bodies and bring our bodies into subjection neglect our bodies be harsh to ourselves so God will like us and it might make you look good but it doesn't do any real good and so many of us I was raised with the idea that I had to live a certain moral life code and I had to do this and not do this do this and not do this and I was raised with most of the emphasis on me most of the emphasis was on me I had to do do do do not not not not do not do not and that was the way I lived and so it was very hard for me so I was very judgmental
[55:07] I would have easily come in this room and looked at the way some of you are dressed and I would have said God ain't pleased with that bless God they dress like that God ain't in that yep yep against that I'd watch the way you and your wife work and I'd walk out of the room and I'd tell baby I'd say that family ain't doing good because I was raised with Austin get it under control get it under control but it comes up very frustrating way to live becomes a very frustrating way to live with all the rules and all the junk you put on yourself that's what will worship is it is it is I'll make much of doing right and so that's what the Pharisees did and they made rules about rules and they wouldn't even move them with their little finger and so what happened was once Paul preached grace it was the craziest thing everybody had ever heard Paul came in and said no you don't have to get circumcised no you don't have to keep the Ten Commandments no you don't have to make sacrifices just here's the way it works God saved you because he's a good God and you stink and God saved you you stink and you got a Savior that's how it works and the Jews came down and said whoa whoa whoa that don't work you got to do stuff and so they started putting rules on the people and Paul said in Galatians he said in Colossians he says in Ephesians he says stand on your liberty enjoy your liberty in Christ he said people come in to spy out our liberty and so we fall into this trap of things that we do because we think that by doing or not doing these things
[56:29] God will like us more but it's not how it works and so I spent many years of my life being a pretty rough preacher and talking about in fact it's pretty hard if you preach through the Bible it makes it very difficult because he doesn't do that much but I knew where every verse about your dress was and I knew where every verse about things you shouldn't do smoking, drinking, cussing, dancing don't want them to do I knew every verse but when you preach through the Bible you don't run into them very much I mean honestly if you want to talk about even about how a lady dresses or a man dresses there's two or three passages of scripture but I used to work them in every message I could work them in every message but if you're preaching through the Bible you're like stank it's going to be a long time before I get there and then you're going to say I didn't preach that book I don't know when I'll get back to it and so just say to you we don't live under those rules and you're I know some of you because you're got your very rule conscience you say whoa whoa you're really messing up there they need to obey rules no watch this how many rules do you have for your wife and I won't embarrass anybody but I'd like to call on Chuck he's a deacon
[57:34] I can say it I won't Chuck how many rules you got I'd say to Mike how many rules you got for your wife and you know here's the deal their wives don't need rules they got a heart well if you listen this will change your life you hire a maid you better have a bunch of rules you will show up at this time you will change the baby within this much time when they when they mess a diaper you will dust this you will you will and if you don't you don't we'll fire you if you come in late we'll deduct money from your salary and you need to make a whole bunch of rules it's been going around Facebook quite a bit here lately about the the call to be a mother you know the interview to be a mother and after they get through here and all that a mother does the interview says nobody would ever take a job like that stand on your feet all the time be available 24-7 and it goes through all the things all it is the things a mother does at the end of it it says that job describes a mother because Mother Day is coming so they got that on the internet you know what you know what
[58:35] I can tell you right now I can tell you right now that Catherine and Lisa do everything any rule could mention and they do it because they want to they do it because they're in love and when you fall in love with Jesus you don't need will worship you don't need beating of the flesh you don't need a bunch of rules you just need to be in love with Jesus and as you're in love with Jesus you're like man what what do you like so in my house for example we don't eat sweet potatoes I mean I just say we don't eat sweet potatoes at my house nor lima beans okay I mean I don't mind her fixing them for her but she ain't fixing them for me we've been married 41 years so we go to a restaurant she goes to Cracker Rush she loves I think it's Saturday they serve lima beans we go in there and she goes it's lima bean day I say I'm glad you can have lima beans eat them and enjoy them but she never comes in there and says I fixed lima beans tonight my daddy and mama used to but when I got out of that house I never said Betty there will be no lima beans but amazingly Betty never fixes lima beans amen and she knows what I like and that's what ends up happening and so when you love Jesus that's what bee do serve trains about the bee level it's because it's who I am it's what I want
[59:49] I don't need to go back here and say Catherine you are not a Pearson you're a Rustelli if I said it to her she'd say duh and if I said you need to love your husband she'd say old hat she'd say you don't need to tell me this junk she'd say I'm so in love with him I do things he wants me to do just because I want to do them I could say we go hire a maid to do what Catherine does you're going to have to watch her like a hawk you better get a whole list of ten commandments maybe a thousand commandments we had a lady who worked for us for eighteen years in Peru she could never see the top of the refrigerator but I can and I'd come in I'd say when was the last time you dusted the top of the refrigerator I did that last week I said I don't think so see all that right there pretty easy so remember this we don't we don't follow a list of external rules that's why you don't teach your children to be moral little brats you teach them they're depraved little brats that need to get saved and then and don't try to make them live a life that they're not just make them obey you of course bring them to church tell them about Jesus and pray like crazy for God to convict them and save them because we do it because it's who we are be listen to this we don't do anything so God will love us we do things because we love him because he made a change in us because he made a change in us so be affects do do does not affect be that was the last one is that not correct alright 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